Hot and Cold

After I parted ways with Carver, it took a few wrong turns and some asking around before I found my way back to Cray, but eventually I arrived at the Drowned Drows Inn.

Although it had grown dark, the alleys and houses of Strandburgh were well lit. So I set out on the last leg of the day, with my stomach growling and feeling a bit chilly.

“Sir thane, welcome back. Would you like to have some soup by the fire?” the lanky innkeeper asked me.

“Soup? I'd rather spend the coins in my pocket on meat and cider, my friend.”

“The soup is delicious and rich in bone broth and tender cubes of tarand.”

“And what about the cider?”

“I’ll sent little Linzi to fetch a bottle.”

Linzi—that must have been the young maid. I looked at the innkeeper questioningly.

“Two bottles?”

“We understand each other.” I said smiling. “And let that young lady pour me a drink and keep me company, will you?”

For the first time, the innkeeper's friendly demeanor had vanished.

“She'll be happy to pour you a drink. But leave it up to her to decide whether she wants to keep you company. Even my willingness to accommodate others has its limits, good sir, nobleman or not.”

“I will conduct myself in a manner entirely befitting my station.”

The innkeeper led me to the dining hall, invited me to take a seat at a table near the fire.

“My wife will serve you the soup in a moment.”

He disappeared into a separate area that must have been the kitchen. A short time later, the young maid, the innkeeper’s niece, Linzi, came out, paused briefly when she saw me, looked away sheepishly, and hurried toward the exit.

The soup was indeed as hearty as promised and really perked me up. I asked for seconds, and eventually Linzi showed up again. I wonder how old she was? In any case, she wasn't married yet.

She seemed to have found her resolve and practically slammed a mug down on the table in front of me.

“H-here, sir thane.”

A pause. She must have realized how strange she was acting. Blushing, she set down one of the two bottles she was carrying in her arms with exaggerated gentleness, opened the remaining one, and poured me a drink.

“Thank you, girl. Why don't have a seat and maybe a sip too?”

She sat down.

“But I'm not going to drink anything! And I'm not going to do anything weird either.”

“Do I seem that weird to you?”

“N-no, it’s not like that. But I’m not like…”

“It's okay, I'm just teasing you a little.”

She relaxed a little and gave me a slightly sly look.

“So, you work for your uncle, huh? Do you know your way around Strandburgh?”

“Here in Cray and over in Stofe, yes.”

“Another ward?”

“Where my mother lives. I work because she’s alone.”

“Your father?”

“He’s gone.”

“Have you heard of the Humble Churls?”

The girl wasn't startled, as many had been at the mention of Halgmoryn.

“They're not as bad as some other bands. But that's just hearsay.”

“How do they earn their coins?”

“I don’t know. I think they protect people and I heard even some craftsmen and peddlers belong to them.”

I took a big sip. The cider wasn't bad, but a little too sweet for my taste.

“And what about the Golden Dozen?”

Linzi's expression changed. She frowned.

“They are vile… Thugs who deal in blue salt and get girls hooked. A friend of a friend of mine got into debt with them and now works at one of their places.”

“That’s too bad.”

I emptied the mug and the girl nodded vigorously.

The rest of the evening passed very quietly, and Linzi told me about her family, which stalls at the market had the best food, who her friends were, and which of them had already gotten married.

I took a little more time with the second bottle of cider and at one point, the innkeeper stopped by and gave me a satisfied nod when he saw his niece happily blabbering about trivial things.

Finally, it was just the two of us left, and Linzi's uncle and aunt had also gone to bed after warning the girl not to stay up too late.

By then, I had also recounted quite a bit about my travels—omitting many sensitive details—and the young maid was hanging on my every word.

So it came as no surprise that, with her hand in mine, the girl followed me somewhat shyly but determined to my room.

I felt a little bad about disappointing her, but not really.

Before Linzi had completely undressed, I threw her onto my bed; she giggled a little and turned to face me.

I, too, undressed down to my underwear, lay down next to her, and took her in my arms.

“Sleep well.”

“What?!”

“We're just sleeping together, little lamb.”

Although Linzi had tensed up at first after realizing that we were not going any further, she was now relaxing again.

“O-Okay…”

I felt somewhat sorry for the girl, but not really. I hadn't slept properly in four days, and without her warmth, I wouldn't have been able to sleep a wink again.

Dreamless sleep, such sweet rest.

When I woke up, as the bells rang the first time, I was alone again. But the bed still held a trace of the girl’s sweet scent.

I opened the window and welcomed the blue twilight of the early morning.

I did a few exercises to keep my body in shape and then headed down into the streets. Even though it was early, I found a few stalls that were already open and had some scrambled eggs with mushrooms and thick slices of crispy bacon freshly prepared for me.

After a short visit to the bathhouse, I was already familiar with, I heard the second ringing of the bells, this time in honor to the weather god, Meln.

So I strolled leisurely back to my lodging, and when I arrived, I saw Carver loitering outside.

“That scrawny geezer wouldn't let me wait inside—can you believe it?”

“Yes, I can. It’s a nice day, isn’t it, Carver?” I said as I walked by and headed into the inn.

“Good morning, sir thane. Is that little rascal really in your charge?” Asked the innkeeper, pointing at Carver who had followed me inside.

“It may be hard to believe, but yes, he serves as my guide.”

“You've treated Linzi as we’d agreed, haven't you? She's been really quiet this morning.”

“Of course. I didn't lay a hand on her. But on another note, can we use your courtyard for a short lesson? I promised the boy I would train him in the way of the sword.”

“By Eol’s antlers, surely not with proper steel?”

“Of course not. We're only going to use sticks.”

“Then feel free to do as you please, but let the other guests—or maybe even little Linzi—watch you if they feel like it.”

“Sure thing.”

In fact, Linzi joined us and watched as I began to show Carver the different angles of attack.

Fortunately, the boy knew the basics, so I was able to move right from the technique to putting it into practice.

The highlight was a little practice match, during which even the innkeeper and his wife came out and clapped along with Linzi as Carver picked up a few bruises, landed in the dust a couple of times, and we finally shook hands to wrap things up.

After refreshing ourselves with a little more apple cider and washing up at the tub, we set off.

“What's the plan? I’m starving for some information.” I asked as we walked outside.

“We're going to meet with the others; they can explain it better than I can.”

At first, I followed the boy for a while, thinking he would tell me more about the meeting with his friends on his own. But time passed, and Carver didn't seem to have any intention of explaining anything.

“Where are we going? Headquarters, a hideout, just some meeting place?”

“We don't have a real headquarters in Funa; it's in Erlenlight on Logria. But one of us owns a wainwright's workshop over in Garwich.”

“Who will be there?”

“Adalar Stooke, Herning Mandevel and Master Nixie”

“Master Nixie, really?”

“I don’t know his real name. Everyone calls him that because he's good with water elves and runes. He is in charge of the other rune makers and I.”

“And the other two you mentioned?”

“Stooke owns the workshop and mostly gathers information for us and Hern is the one that is in charge of all our operations here on Funa. But you can see for yourself right away—we're there.”

Carver pointed to a fairly large wooden gate through which even larger carriages could pass. Above it hung a colorful sign that read “Stooke's Wheels and Wagons.”

The Humble Churls were waiting.