Descent Into Darkness (Book 2) (12 page)

"You're lucky to have me around, little man. This is the second time I've had to save you. You should be thanking whatever gods you pray to that I happened into your life."

"I'm pretty sure this time it was your fault I was in danger in the first place," he mumbled back.

"Details, details. Let's get you inside. I've been told that the drinks here are good at relaxing the body and making a person forget their troubles. I prefer the sweet taste of emotions, but that won't help you. So let's get you nice and drunk and enjoy the rest of the night."

Looking out at the crowd, Azalea waved them off before moving towards the inn. "Nothing to see here, fight's over. Go about your business." When the crowd refused to move, Azalea stopped and swept a finger pointing to the entire crowd. "Unless someone else wants to limp home with more than a broken ego."

That got the people moving. Most hurried off in different directions, even those that had come out of the inn to watch the excitement. Only a few that appeared to be more drunk than brave wobbled back into the inn ahead of them. Azalea seemed pretty content as she walked Ean up to the door and practically carried him inside.

THE INTERIOR OF THE
High Horse Inn fit its name. The main room was thrice the size of the inn in Rensen with silver trim running around the room and large paintings of horses adorning its walls. The main room was divided into three sections by waist-high dark wood partitions. As you entered the room, a section for circular tables sat to the left, where small groups of families and workers sat peacefully enjoying food and drink. To the right situated in front of a large but empty stage, sat six long tables with large seat benches. Both sections were barely half-filled but were still crowded enough to create a lot of noise. Straight ahead, following a dark red carpet that ran in between the two sections of tables, sat a bar almost half as long as the building. The stools of the bar were all filled with a variety of patrons drinking and talking loudly. The bar ended on the right side into a wall that jutted out into the room, where a little further down a swinging door let out the smells and sounds of a very busy kitchen.

Sensing his discomfort, or more disturbingly tasting it, the Yulari led him over to one of the circular tables and dropped him abruptly into a wooden chair. The jolt made him grimace. Azalea collapsed into a seat next to him, arms and legs splaying out in every direction.

"Whew, what a delicious evening!" she said as her head rolled back and stared at the ceiling. "First a nibble of puppy love, then a nice helping of hatred, ending with the main course of pain and violence. And it's only our first day here!"

Leaning forward, Ean put his elbows down on the table and rested his head in his hands, carefully avoiding putting too much pressure on his aching jaw. "I'm glad you're enjoying yourself. I've barely been inside the city and already I've been beaten up. Not exactly my favorite kind of welcome to a new place."

"Oh, stop being such a crybaby. You're just a little bruised is all, it's not like parts of you are falling off. My older brothers and sisters always told me that it takes a good beating to tell you how strong you really are, and they certainly did their best to prove that point. What you really need is a drink."

Sitting up, Azalea looked around until she spotted a serving girl and waved her over.

"Yes? What would you like?"

"My brother and I would like your finest tasting wine," Azalea said, her voice switching to a haughty tone. "Two glasses. No, on second thought, just bring out the entire bottle."

The waitress gave the two of them--dirty and bruised from the scuffle outside--a quick once-over before replying.

"Our finest tasting wine is twenty silver pieces a glass. An entire bottle would cost three gold coins. Between the two of you, I doubt you could scrape together enough coin for a glass of burnbeer, let alone our best stock."

Seemingly happy with her insult, the serving girl began to turn and walk away, but Azalea shot forward and grabbed her arm, spinning her back around.

"Is that any way to behave towards your inn's most important patron? I doubt your boss would think too highly of you acting snobby to a high paying customer like myself. Why don't you run off and ask him if you should be treating Azalea and Ean with such a dismissive attitude."

Releasing the girl and giving her a little push, Azalea leaned back in her chair and stared at the girl with one raised eyebrow. With a scowl the serving girl hurried off, weaving through the tables and through the door to the kitchen. Azalea let out a little laugh and turned to Ean.

"Watch this, it should be quite entertaining."

Too tired and sore to respond, Ean simply nodded. A few moments later the same serving girl burst out of the kitchen, a dark bottle in one hand and two glasses in another. She came hurrying over, almost knocking over a few patrons in the process, until she halted in front of their table. A smile touched her lips, but her eyes were tear-streaked.

"I am so sorry for the misunderstanding," she blurted out. "I had no idea who you were Ms. Azalea. We get a good deal of riff-raff that just stumble off the street and cause trouble in our fine establishment, and I thought--"

"You thought," Azalea interrupted, her tone cold, "that we looked like riff-raff? Like some poor, pathetic travelers without a coin between us?"

"Yes, I mean no, I mean, I've never seen you before so I figured you were from one of the outlying villages..."

"Oh, so you think that a simple villager would never have any real money? That we don't deserve to stay here?"

"No, it's not like that at all. It's just part of my job to make sure that the patrons here are of higher quality and..."

"You were just being rude. Which is laughable since all you are is a serving wench. You are no better than those you talk down to. I bet if I were to get you fired, you wouldn't last very long in the city."

"Please, please do not!" Dropping to her knees, she carefully placed the bottle and glasses on the ground before taking Azalea's hand in both of hers. "I beg you. I'm the only one that can work right now in my family. My father is sick and my mother ran off a few years ago. Without this job, my father and I will be out on the street in no time, and he won't last long."

"Maybe you should have thought of that before you spoke to us in such a way. I care very little for the well-being of a serving wench and her decrepit father."

"Please," the poor girl was sobbing now. "Forgive me. I'll do anything. Anything you want! Just don't make me lose my job!"

Glancing around, Ean noticed that the girl's sobbing was starting to attract the attention of many of the guests at the inn. He couldn't help but feel bad for the poor girl.

"Enough, Azalea. I'm sure she is sorry. Stop frightening her and let's just enjoy the wine."

"Brother," Azalea said, still sounding a bit haughty. "Weak minded people like her need to be taught a lesson about how they should speak to those better than them. If we let her keep her job, she will have learned nothing."

"No, no, I know I'm wrong," the sobbing girl pleaded. "I've learned my lesson. Honest."

"No, I really don't think you have," Azalea said as she snatched her hand away from the girl. "I think being put out on the streets--"

"Azalea, enough!" Raising his head, Ean slammed a fist down on the table and immediately regretted it as the shock of the impact rattled his jaw. Azalea turned to regard him coldly but he pointed a finger at her anyway. "We will not get this girl fired, and you will stop tormenting her. Do I make myself clear?"

A single eyebrow rose on Azalea's forehead as she looked at Ean for a few moments, and then she shrugged. Lounging back in her chair, she waved away the girl.

"Fine, whatever you say." Azalea reached out and patted the serving girl on the head. "Serve us our wine and be thankful my brother is much kinder than myself. Then get out of our sight until we've at least finished this bottle, understand?"

"Yes, of course!" Jumping to her feet, the serving girl grabbed the bottle and glasses and set them on the table. Ean remained silent as the girl popped the cork off the bottle and poured them two full glasses of the dark red liquid.

"Thank you for your mercy, sir. You have a kind heart." Curtseying slightly to him as she finished pouring, the girl glanced fearfully one last time at Azalea before moving away from their table. Ean watched her go as she swayed about between the tables and disappeared through the kitchen door. Then he turned back to Azalea.

"What was that all about? You didn't have to scare her so badly. She was just doing what the owner trained her to do."

"I don't care what she was told to do. I will not be talked to that way by some lowly human. I can barely stand the way you talk to me sometimes, but I put up with it because of our arrangement. I had no arrangement with that child, so I felt the need to put her in her place."

Leaning forward long enough to grab her glass, Azalea returned to leaning back in the chair and took a small sip. A smile touched her lips for a moment before she continued speaking.

"Besides, the fear coming off of her tasted delicious. Now, why don't you relax and give this wine a try? It does taste rather sweet."

Grumbling to himself, Ean did as the Yulari suggested, not because she had told him to but because he wanted a drink. That was important. As he brought the glass to his lips, the smell of the wine hit his nostrils first, the aroma quite pleasant. Taking a small sip, he immediately agreed with Azalea's evaluation. The wine was quite sweet and tasted wonderful. Ean quickly finished off the glass and poured himself another one. He slowed down on the second one, taking smaller sips and enjoying the flavor.

"Now," he said in between sips. "Why don't you tell me why that girl was scared about displeasing us?"

"Oh, that's such a simple story." Azalea placed her glass down on the table. "As soon as we arrived, I charmed the foolish young guards into letting me into the city ahead of all of you fools standing in line. Oh, and I smelled the stench of imp on my way inside, so your annoying little friend is probably lurking about somewhere." She glanced around, burping loudly as she slammed her glass on the table. "You hear that, Zin. I'm onto you."

Well, that was good to know, the part about Zin at least. Hopefully the imp had a better day than Ean. He took a moment to concentrate and feel for any sign of the imp, but he couldn't even get the slightest feeling where he was.

"So," Azalea continued. "I began walking around, taking in all of the emotions of the people walking by until I found myself slightly tipsy. I focused long enough to ask someone where the best inn was and was quickly led here. From there it was just a matter of getting to meet the owner, charming him as well, and now we find ourselves as guests here in one of the larger rooms of the inn with an unlimited bar tab. I did quite well for us, didn't I?"

He hated to admit it, but after spending so much time with very little shelter, eating small rations of food, and sleeping on dirt and rocks, Ean was looking forward to enjoying everything the inn had to offer. It did make him nervous though, how easily the Yulari could manipulate the people of the city. He could only hope she wouldn't draw too much attention to herself.

"So I'm guessing," Ean said, pausing to take another sip, "that the owner of this inn thinks we're a wealthy family ready to spend large amounts of money in his inn?"

"Actually, he believes I already paid. If he is a good book keeper, eventually he'll figure out that he is missing a substantial amount of coin, but I can keep him charmed until we feel the need to leave." Leaning forward, she smiled broadly at him. "Although I hope that isn't anytime soon. If today was any indication, I'm going to enjoy this little city immensely."

"Yes, well, don't get too comfortable. We're only staying to find out where Zin's old master used to reside, and then we're leaving. So try not to get me in any more trouble. The longer we take, the more damage that creature is doing to my village."

"Fine, but for now, how about you sit back, relax, and enjoy all of the pleasant things I've provided for you."

With the dimming twilight bathing the bar in serene shades of indigo combined with the warm glow of candlelight on each table and the cares of the day weighing him down, sitting back with drink in hand sounded like a good way to salvage the day.

"I think I will, Azalea," he said, leaning back now as well and swirling the liquid in his glass. Taking another sip, he decided it wouldn't hurt to at least be polite to the Yulari. "Thank you, I appreciate the nice things you've done for me today."

She gave him a strange look after his thanks then shrugged uncomfortably. "Whatever, I did it for myself mostly anyway."

"That may be true, but I still appreciate it." Tilting his head back, Ean poured the rest of his wine into his mouth. Leaning forward only long enough to fill his glass, Ean returned to his lounging position and let himself get truly comfortable.

The loud chatter from the other patrons blended together into a sound like the soothing patter of a heavy rain on a roof. Each sweet sip of the wine relaxed his body and mind even further. When they had finished the first bottle, they ordered some food to go along with the next one. A large plate of roasted chicken was quickly placed before them. Just the smell of the food made Ean's mouth water and reminded him of how little he had eaten throughout the day.

They downed another bottle of the wine before they finished their dinner, or to be more accurate, Azalea poured herself another glass while Ean glugged down the rest. The Yulari seemed to enjoy the taste but didn't seem to experience any of the soothing effects Ean was enjoying. Her eyes constantly scanned the room, occasionally falling on Ean before quickly looking away again. Ean thought it was funny, although he didn't know why. The wine was starting to make it difficult to think clearly.