DarkFyre Ch. 11

Rael chuckled softly and gave a thin smile. "I'm hungry, too. But no. We need to get out of the streets and hidden away. We'll find an inn on the docks and hide out. They'll have plenty of food there."

Silmaria gave one last wistful, disappointed look toward the sizzling meats, but swallowed her protests and followed as Rael led them out of the square and down the streets leading west toward the waterfront district.

"How do you know your way around here so well?" Silmaria asked him as she became ever more lost in the twists and turns and intersecting backstreets and side alleys they took.

"I spent most of my childhood in Trelling's Rest, remember?" he answered. The streets all had a downgrade now as the land sloped downward toward the Lake, the buildings standing in rowed tiers as they got closer to the docks.

"You were a squire in the Knighthood. I didn't think they let you run free in the city."

"They didn't," Rael said, and Silmaria was surprised to see the Nobleman actually smirking. "I wasn't always very good at doing what I was told."

"That's a surprise," she returned as she stepped gingerly over a ragged old man sprawled out across the alley they were cutting through.

Rael waited at the alley mouth for her to catch up, then they continued down one of the more heavily trafficked roads. They could see the blue expanse of the lake here, its waters as crystalline and clear as its namesake, its surface dotted liberally with small fishing boats.

"Why's that?" He asked.

Silmaria shrugged under her torn, unkempt cloak. "I don't know. You just seemed such a serious boy. I never once saw you smile. I can't picture you running off on your own, wandering all around the city with the Knight Brothers chasing you down to drag you back to task. You didn't seem like the sort."

Rael shook his head and smiled lightly at her words. "Even serious boys need a bit of adventure once in awhile."

They arrived at the Lake docks. The docks were a busy, bustling place, full of fishermen and workers and boat crafters and traders and the closest thing the North had to sailors. The largest boats at the piers were small two mast vessels that were just large enough to carry a respectable haul of netted fish. The men at the docks were a noise some, cheerful lot that shouted greetings and laughed freely. The docks smelled of fish and sweat and the cool crisp freshness of Lake Glasswater.

The inn Rael selected, on the other hand, kept all the smells of fish and sweat from the docks, and traded the freshness of Glasswater for stale beer.

The Siren of The Lake was a dilapidated little hole-in-the-wall. If it had ever seen better days, it was probably before Silmaria was even born. It was a two story, wide building with a big common room clustered with tables and chairs, a stone hearth in the far wall, and a few windows that would have commanded a nice view of the waters if they weren't tightly shuttered. The common room was stuffy and dark, with the only light for the big room coming from the hearth and a few lanterns hanging from hooks on the walls.

The innkeep was standing behind the long, weathered bar running the length of the right side of the common room. He was a lanky, lean Elven man who somehow, despite being an Elf, managed to look old. He wore a rough spun tunic in shades of brown and mustard, and his flaxen hair hung across his brow where it escaped the tail it was tied back in. It was strange to see an Elf with wrinkles at the corners of his eyes, and the creases at the corners of his mouth were from the constant frowns of the long-suffering.

When his wife came out from the kitchens, it became apparent what had aged the poor man who should have been ageless. A great rotund Human woman, she had streaks of gray in her short brunet locks, sharp hazel eyes, and a wide mouth that seemed to be perpetually in motion. Rael and Silmaria hadn't been in the room but a few moments, letting their eyes adjust to the dim light, and already the henpecked Innkeep had been berated by his dear loving wife for half a dozen things big and small. The small cluster of regular customers, deep in their cups even in the early afternoon, were apparently so used to the woman's griping and berating that they paid no attention whatsoever.

For his part, the Innkeep didn't bat an eye as she laid into him, replying with a simple 'Yes, dear," once the woman had finally said her rather large fill and gone stomping off to the kitchen once more.

Rael cleared his throat. Twice. The Elven man looked up at last, blinked at him, then frowned and held his hands up in a dismissive manner.

"Sorry, we don't have no work, and we don't have no handouts. Out with you, no begging in here, I have respectable patrons trying to enjoy their afternoon in peace!"

Rael pulled the pouch of coins from his belt and tossed it onto the lacquered, much scratched bar. The Elf looked down at the pouch dubiously, then back up to Rael.

"No begging here," Rael said firmly. "You can take my coin and render services, or I can take my coin elsewhere. Choice is yours."

"Take the bleedin' coin!" The Innkeep's wife screeched from the kitchen. Silmaria flinched and shook her head slowly. How in the world had the woman heard their conversation from all the way back there? She decided then and there she was going to stay as far away from the woman as possible.

Rael, having arrived at the same conclusion, arched a dusty brow. "Well?"

"Of course, Sir, my mistake, my mistake," the Innkeep nodded and offered an uncomfortable smile. "What do you and the Missus be needin'?"

"I'm not his..." Silmaria began to say, then bit her words short as Rael helpfully stepped on her foot.

"A room. The cleanest bed you have. We'll also be needing three servings of whatever is hot and fresh, and a tub brought up to our room for bathing."

The Innkeep scratched at his long, slim nose. "The tub'll be extra. We only have one and it's usually reserved for nobles. It's gonna cost quite a bit for me to lend it to common folk."

Rael gave him a hard look and motioned around the room with one hand. "Do you see any Nobles here clamoring to use it before us?"

"Might be one comes in while you and the Missus are using it. What then?"

"Let's be plain, goodman," Rael said, leaning forward and bracing his hands on the bar, causing the Innkeep to step back a pace as he realized anew just how big his new patron was.

"We both know you haven't had a Noble set foot through those doors all winter. Hell, probably the entire year. And it's like to be just as long from now before one finally does. So why not just give me a reasonable price for use of your tub, and then your tub will help you collect some coin instead of just collecting dust."

"Take the man's bleeding coin!" The Elf's wife screamed once more from the kitchen.

Rael stood there, waiting, and after just a moment of embarrassed hesitation, the Innkeep bobbed a nod and the two men got down to bargaining a fair prices.

***

A deep groan of satisfied appreciation pulled itself from Silmaria's throat as she sank into the steaming hot water in the surprisingly spacious brass tub. The water was just shy of scalding, but she didn't even care. It felt too blissfully wonderful, even mildly uncomfortable as it was, to finally wash away the grime and filth that had accumulated on her body during their desperate flight. She sank lower into the water, submerged up to her neck, letting herself go limp and relaxed and simply drift for a moment in the delicious warmth.

"Whatever you paid for this, it was worth it," she said as she shut her eyes.

Rael sat on the edge of the bed, his broad back turned to her, stripped to the waist to try not to dirty the bed covers too badly. He was eating the last of his meal of roast mutton chop and potato soup, and very pointedly staring at the wall. Right now, Silmaria could have cared less if he'd blatantly ogled her from the side of the tub. She was in hot, fresh, clean water, and she had a sliver of soap that didn't look like it had been much used by anyone else, and she could feel the dirt coming off her already.

"It wasn't too much, really. I think the man was so worried that his wife would take it out of his hide if he didn't take my coin instead of waiting for some non-existent Noble to walk through the door, he wasn't much worried about cheating me anymore."

"She seemed the type to do just that," Silmaria smiled, and then gave an uncharacteristic giggle. "If only he realized he really did rent his tub out to a Noble."

"If he realized he'd done that, I would be paying three times what I'm paying for it now, and we don't have that kind of coin to throw around."

"Yes, yes," Silmaria sighed. Damn the man for ruining her happy moment with reminders of their present situation. "How much do we have left, anyway?"

"Enough," Rael shrugged. "We can stay in this inn for the better part of a week and still have enough left over to buy supplies. Food. Clean clothes."

"Are we going to be staying here for a week, then?" Silmaria asked as she straightened a bit. She glanced over at him, her eyes studying the corded knots of muscle in his back, shifting under the grime and dirt still covering his fair skin. His hair fell down his back, the bright, burnished copper barely hidden by the dirt and mud they'd rubbed into it. It was tangled and snarled, nothing like the usual glinting, beautiful locks he kept so neatly bound in a warrior's braid.

She swallowed softly, quickly grabbed up her soap, and began to scrub the filth from her short, smooth pelt.

"I don't know," Rael admitted. "I'm not sure what comes next. Most of my thoughts were wrapped up in getting someplace safe."

"This is someplace safe?" she scoffed.

"It's someplace unexpected. Someplace they wouldn't think to look. That makes it safe. For now."

"It's not going to stay safe forever," she observed.

"No, it's not," he sighed, and shook his head. "But it doesn't have to be. It just has to be safe until I find us someplace better. Someplace we will have allies, and power."

"Any ideas on that, then?"

Rael sucked briefly on the bone left from his mutton chop. "I don't have many options. I'm going to have to pay a visit to my Commander. Knight Commander Dern of House Mireon."

"House Mireon...I know that name," Silmaria mused as she soaped her breasts and then ran her soapy hands along her flat stomach.

"You should. Our houses are linked. My Cousin, Iri, was married to Commander Dern's brother, Jessop Mireon, years ago before my Uncle Ferin died of the Gray Plague."

"That's right! I remember now. I met Iri once. She was so quiet and soft. She wore a cream colored dress with lilac lacing and a little choker of pearls. She seemed a Lady born, even as a girl."

"Yes. She was all that. And she had a hell of a right hook, too," Rael smirked.

"No!" Silmaria gasped, and then laughed.

"Seriously. Bloodied my nose more than once when we were barely knee high."

"Oh, that's rich," Silmaria grinned to herself and stuck a long, shapely leg up to brace her foot on the edge of the tub and scrub the dirt from her firm calves. "So if you've family ties to your Commander, why didn't you go to him with all this to begin with?"

Rael rubbed slowly at his scraggly beard. "It's complicated. The short end of it is...Commander Dern doesn't care for me."

Silmaria stared at the man's back hard enough to bore holes into it. "He doesn't care for you?"

"He doesn't care for me," Rael repeated.

"Seriously? What are you two, ten?"

"You'd think," Rael grumbled. "Commander Dern believes that joining House Mireon with House IronWing was a bad move, politically. He's of the opinion that House IronWing isn't high enough in the Court standings to be worth marrying his brother and the second in line to inherit to Iri, who isn't even in line of succession. He's been holding to that grudge as long as I can remember. He was loath to grant me a Captain's station, and only did so because I worked too hard and accomplished too much for him to find a justifiable reason to deny me.

"Dern has never done anything directly malicious against me," Rael explained, "But I know quite well that he has no love for me. So I am very reluctant to go to him for any kind of aid. I only do so now because I've no real choice. He may be the only person who can protect us and keep us safe while I search for answers."

"Great. So our best hope at this point is a Nobleman with too many swords at his command and too long a stick up his ass," Silmaria sighed.

Rael gave a sudden burst of laughter. Silmaria, caught off guard, stared at him and had to struggle to keep a foolish smile from her face, and then wondered why she was bothering at all since he wasn't even looking at her.

"That about sums the situation up, yes," he nodded. Then he stood and stretched, groaning softly as his back popped. He pulled his dirty tunic back on and then wrapped his much battered cloak around his shoulders.

"Where are you going?" she asked. She scooted to the edge of the tub and propped her arms across the rim, her breasts pressed to the warm side. "It's okay, you can look."

Rael turned just enough to glimpse her as he stood by the door. "We need supplies. Dried food and travel rations, just in case we end up having to bolt unexpectedly. Clean clothes and blankets. Anything we may end up wanting if we have to take to the streets for awhile."

Silmaria tilted her head slightly as she watched him. "You're not expecting this to go well, are you?"

"I'm trying not to expect anything, while expecting everything," he returned.

She nodded slowly, caught a wiff of her hair, and swore as soon as he left she was going to scrub it until it smelled fresh as a rose or it all fell out. "That makes sense."

"Stay in here while I'm gone. Bolt the door and don't answer to anyone. Even if they sound like me. If it's me, I'll knock three times, and when you ask who it is, I'll answer, 'Rael, Son of Edwin'."

Silmaria swallowed softly and then nodded. "Okay. But I'm getting hungry again."

"I won't be long," Rael assured her. "I'll bring some more food from the common room when I return."

"Okay. How come you got two portions, anyway?" She asked, and tried her best to feign petulance.

Rael, evidently, was not buying it. "Because I'm bigger."

He grinned, pulled his hood up, and slipped from the room.

***

Thank you all who bore with me through the shock of the previous chapter. I know it was hard going for some of you. It'll be worth reading through, promise ;)

As always, please send any and all questions, comments, and feedback.

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