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He’s sure that I’ll return because of my dire straits, but more the fool him, because I am now flush with coins. Without another word, I stalk out the door, feeling the brush of the orcress as she exits with me.
Once outside, I walk a ways away, not wanting to be close when the shopkeeper discovers he’s been robbed. When I’m out of the quarter, I veer into an empty alley and stop.
“Alright,” I say, “What was that?”
“That was me getting what the earrings were worth,” comes the orcress’ voice, closer than I expected. “It’s not my fault you took the earrings with you when you left the shop. That man was a scoundrel. My uncle is Airdan Sardithas, and he made the earrings especially for my mother when she was young. They are certainlynotforgeries.”
“I assumed as much. But when he looks in the lockbox . . .”
“He will not be able to find us. And how would he prove it was you, anyway? I’m holding the money and I’m invisible.”
“Not forever,” I point out.
“No, not forever,” she agrees, “but if we are in an inn soon enough, then I can lay my amulet out in the moonlight tonight to recharge it and be hidden again tomorrow when we shop for supplies.”
So she thinks. She doesn’t know that I am going to betray her the moment she can be seen. I’ll have to get the money off of her, somehow, before then. I feel a little push on my back, pushing me out of the alley.
“Now go on and find an inn for us to stay in. My charm will only last maybe another thirty minutes.”
Good to know. I consider dragging my feet, but then she might suspect something and go hide before I can spring my plan. So I obediently make my way to the hospitality quarter and go into the first inn I find.
The Fox and Thorn is a bright, cheerful establishment. There are many people eating at the tavern downstairs when I enter. A ruddy man I assume to be the proprietor steps up to me and says, “Welcome! What can I help you with, stranger?”
“I am in want of a room,” I tell him. Then I smell the delicious aromas wafting through the air and add, “And a meal.”
The man chuckles, “Then you are in the right place! Our miniature meat pies are famous throughout the kingdom and we just had a room open up. It’ll be a silver for the room and a copper for the pie.”
I feel a few coins get passed surreptitiously into my hand and I make a show of reaching into the pockets of my trousers, as if to retrieve them. When I pull out my hand, there is a silver, and also several coppers.
“I’ll have four pies,” I say, guessing that the orcress is hungry too, and that’s why she gave me so many. “And a tankard of mead.”
“Right away, sir,” the innkeeper says amiably. “Just find a table and sit down. I’ll be right back. The room will be ready for you soon.” Then he walks away toward the kitchen.
Winding my way through tables and chairs, I find a back table empty and sit in it. As I do, I hear a hissing in my ear.
“What are you doing? We need to get out of sight.”
I whisper under my breath, to avoid looking like I am talking to no one, “The room isn’t ready yet. You’ll just have to hide if the charm is going to end.”
“I’m not letting you out of my sight,” she answers, quiet yet vehement.
“Then I guess you have a choice to make.”
I can feel her standing behind my chair, hesitating, when the innkeeper is suddenly back, placing the pies and tankard on the table in front of me. Then, unwelcomely, he sits down across the table. He has a friendly, curious expression on his face.
“Where do you hail from, friend?”
“Across the sea,” I lie, taking a long pull of mead from my tankard, giving me time to gather my thoughts. This is the second time I’ve lied today, but I cannot use the same story again. Not after I had ill-gotten coin to pay with. “From Terria. I took a ship that docked in Berkbur Piers.”
“Goodness! From so far away. What brings you to Adrik?”
“I have family in Grimblton. My sister has passed . . . I am going to pay my respects.” There. Lies tied up in truths. It is how my father always said to lie. It makes the story more believable. The orcress merely stands behind me, her front touching my back, letting me know she is still here, still listening.
The innkeeper gives a compassionate look. “My sympathies. Was she killed in the fires?”
That brings me up short. “The fires?”
He looks at me incredulously. “You must be very recently in Adrik if you have not heard of our troubles in the south. The regents themselves had to address the problem and ferret out the perpetrators.”
