vs. Zorro [3]

We enter the Mertortue Inn. And it is an Inn - the sign swinging outside with a sea-turtle emblem says so - but it is also a tavern, with a dining space and bar that stretches across the first floor.

It is this tavern that is the most cosmopolitan part of Kameleon Town. At a table in the corner two fair-haired humans talk animatedly, spears resting on their chairs.

“Even for that price, is this place worth defending?”

“The kameleons refuse to fight for their own town and most humans have left. We can’t enjoy the money if we’re slaughtered by Imperia troops…”

Perhaps they’re a pair of mercenaries. Meanwhile there’s a lady sweating in a dark habit pecking at a breadloaf who’s almost certainly a nun.

At the bar, a sturdy granite countertop with scratches and water-stains, kameleons and humans drink and mingle. The humans are red faced, while the kameleons run a whole rainbow of colors. But when any patron becomes drunk, doubles over, and keels - their face is always green. A blue lameleon hurriedly sweeps away the bile and approaches us.

“A table, a bar seat, or a room…?” He asks. He’s dressed nicely but dirtily in a what-had-once-been-white suit and tie.

“Rooms,” I say. “I’ll take two-” and then I glance at Zorro, remembering what she had said - and the comfort I had felt, and read in her face too, when she woke up close to my arm.

“One’s enough.” I say. And she seems quite pleased.

“One room it shall be.” says the blue Kameleon. “For you and your girlfr-”

He withers under my and Zorro’s glare. Book the room, hotel-booker, our looks both said. Zorro and I aren’t in a relationship like that even if we sleep in the same room.

The Kameleon coughs. “My name is Ganeleon. I’m the owner of this bar and inn - if the two of you have requests, call me and I’ll attend to your every need.”

He goes behind the bar, opens a drawer, and fishes up a set of iron keys, snapping two off the ring.

“Your room will be the second from the left upstairs. The length of your stay?”

“One night,” I say.

“Good.” says Ganeleon. “The Imperia may move in any day now; and I don’t know what will become of this place when they do.”

He gestures at the bar, tables, and the quest-filled bulletin-board he’s set by the stairs, and he continues a gravelly tone:

“The Imperia tells of world peace, security, and all kinds of pleasant things that for Esterreria would certainly be good. However, I’ve also heard that the Imperia take over most businesses they conquer. The politics is of little consequence, but the economics sounds very bad to me.”

“They won’t attack while I’m here,” says Zorro. “Whether its bandits or soldiers, I, Zorro the level-100 hero will subdue them all.”

Ganeleon wears a strange expression that’s oddly possessive, as if she were a long-lost family jewel. “Zorro, yes. That’s a familiar name."

He snaps out of his trance. "It’ll be 2 emprientes a night, then. Drinks will cost you extra, but you’ll be given dinner and breakfast with our compliments.”

[12 coins left]

***

The ‘dinner’ he provides us are two loaves of bread and five slices of mystery jerky, but it’s enough to sate our rumbling stomachs. Meanwhile, the ‘chairs’ we sit on are barrels, and the raised rings dig into our bodies. Zorro squirms on her seat til she squeezes into the rim.

“Ish deslishish…” Zorro says. “Can we get a second helping, pretty please, pretty please?”

This girl! Is dried-out chicken and buttered white bread really a five-star meal? Maybe for an insect-eating gremlin it is… though I think she just likes food in general.

But her face is kind of cute. There’s a little dab of butter smeared at the edge of her lip.

I sigh, wave over a server and give them another empriente.

[11 coins left]

“So, we need to accomplish two things here. We should do a quest, for Bertrand and for funds. And we need to purchase equipment… I guess we can do that tomorrow.”

Zorro nods, mouth full. She’s in no shape for conversation.

As she digs in, I look around at the bar. The mercenaries stare into their soup, as if consulting it.

Meanwhile, sitting at this angle, I can see that the nun has a dove in a cage at her feet. Is this jerky dovemeat? Why on earth would a nun carry a dove? These are the kinds of thoughts that one contemplates while eating a meal, as my eyes wander the bar.

Much closer to us, there’s poster on the support column that rises to the ceiling. I tear the pinned leaflet from the pillar.

“Zorro…”

“What?” Her cheeks are pouched.

“Look at this-” 

---

WANTED

ZORRO

A menacing-blonde haired killer capable of slaying 1,000 men!

Report her whereabouts to Violeta of Rosa Imperia…

---

-Zorro takes the poster and wipes her hands with it. “Thanks for the napkin.”

“This place may be more dangerous than you think.” I say. “Kameleon Town’s part of Dragon Confederacy, but I’m sure the people here would turn you in for a price.”

Every kameleon, every patron, from the owner of the inn to the nun in the corner suddenly seems a spy.

Zorro falls into a thoughtful silence. She doesn’t look at me, and her voice shakes when she talks again.

“When I was raised here, I never talked to Ganeleon - and never talked to Guillaime either. But I’ve known Bertrand and Regis and Pascal, Renaud and Armel and Thierry, Bernard and Guivret and Ignace - they would never betray me. Kameleon Town is open to all people, no matter where they come from. A civilian from the Imperia must have put up the posters.”

“And Ganeleon let the posters stay up…?” I say.

“It’d be rude to his guest to take them down right away!” Zorro snaps, and I let it be.

We finish the bread, the jerky, and half a stick of butter. Zorro allows a post-meal drowsiness to wash over her and she yawns.

“I'd still think it’d be best to gather our things and leave.” I say.

There’s a clattering as the mercenaries maneuver their spears and leave, and another as Zorro stands, pushing away her plate.

“Bertie’ll be coming to see us tomorrow about our quest! Did you forget that? I can’t let him down!"

“Then let’s at least get everything done quickly, so we can leave right after we meet him.” I say. “One of us will do the quest, and the other will do the shopping.”

“I know it’s been a decade since I’ve lived here, but I’m telling you, we can trust everyone - everymeleon.”

“What about the meleon whose wares you half-ate?

Zorro hesitates. The bartender glances at us and we lower our voices.

“...we’ll split up.” Zorro admits. “I take the quest and you take the shopping?”

“I’ll quest and you shop. You know where the shops are, and the locals know who you are. Most merchants hike up their prices when they see foreigners or tourists.”

Someone new to the area won’t understand what the fair prices for goods are. I don’t look like I’m from another world, but with my jeans and t-shirt, I definitely look out of place. Unscrupulous lizardfolk would gouge me with their prices, even if they spared me their claws.

“Alright,” says Zorro. “I’ll find everything. Just take a quest that isn’t about combat, please.”

“I won’t take anything dangerous,” I say. And our eyes linger on one another a touch and she clomps out.

[11 coins given to Zorro]

Zorro has left the party… MY PARTY, I mentally add.

Now,  let’s take a look at the quests on the bulletin board.

---------------

Kill rats

The inn has a rat problem in the basement! Kill all the rats for 10 emp.

---------------

Wanted: Max, Giselle, and Lucio

The ‘right arms’, the ‘right leg’, and the ‘right eye’ of the Diamanto Sindicato notorious bandits and kidnappers. 400 emp per head. Send to Violeta.

---------------

Recruitment Drive

The Dragon Confederation is looking for youth to join the fight against the Imperia! You can too turn the tide of the war. Weekly salary 25 emp; report to Kracheur.

---------------

Build 10 Stockades

As the Confederation army withdraws to the capital, we need more defenses built around Kameleon. 5 emp.

---------------

“Killing rats should be easy.” I say. And there’s a hush and the eyes of all the bar patrons fall on me.

Then they all go back to the conversation as if nothing happened.