A Bard's Story: Here There Be Dragons

Chapter Seventeen

The four travelers arrive at Ranstead mid-afternoon. Kat breaks away from the others not long after they've gone through the city walls, excusing herself for a personal errand. "I'll meet you at the Green Lyre, she says, giving them directions. "Tell Noal that you're friends of mine, I should be back before sunset, so don't have any fun without me, alright?"

Kehdem grins. "We would never," he says. "See you then!" Then Kat disappears, and Kehdem leads the others towards the inn. It's a pretty easy walk with Kat's directions, although they can't exactly avoid the staring — if not at the two clear foreigners, than certainly Ash's presence is unusual enough for people to take note. Leyha and Kehdem, however, are surprisingly used to this kind of attention, and manage to ignore most of it as they walk to the Green Lyre.

"Who names an inn after a lyre?" Leyha asks as they pass under the inn's swinging wooden sign.

"Maybe it's a part of the poet thing," Kehdem says. "I think there are tunes for most of the well-known tales."

"Is it still a story if you sing it?" Leyha wonders.

"Of course it is," says a voice in front of them, and they take stock of the inside of this inn. An incredibly old woman is sitting behind the counter, wiping mugs with a rag. "Can I help you folks?"

"I'm Leyha, this is Kehdem, and that's Ash," Leyha says. "We're friends of Kat's — Katla's. Could we get two rooms, please?"

"How long?" the old woman asks. Leyha glances at Kehdem, who shrugs.

"A few days?" Kehdem says.

"Two gold a night," the old woman says. Leyha pulls out the purse she earned the night before and fishes around for the coin.

"For tonight, then," she says, handing it over.

"Two gold a room," the old woman says.

Leyha opens her mouth to haggle, but before she can, a door opens from what's probably the kitchen and a middle-aged man comes bustling through it. "Ma!" he says. "What have I told you about fleecing the customers?"

"But they're foreigners," the old woman says.

"Ma," the man says. Then, he turns to the travelers, doing a double-take as he sees Ash, but at least he doesn't say anything. "I'm sorry about that. Did I hear you say you were friends of Kat's?"

"Yes," Kehdem says. "She said she had to take care of something and she'd meet us here."

"Lovely," the man says. "Oh, forgive me, I'm Noal, the innkeeper around here. Two rooms, was it?"

Leyha nods. "What do we owe you?"

Noal waves away her purse. "I'll put it on Kat's tab," he says. "You can settle it with her. Here you go, rooms five and seven on the third floor."

"Thank you," Kehdem says, taking the keys. Then, he turns to Leyha and Ash. "So, uh..."

"Now what?" Leyha says.

Kehdem nods. "I suppose we could start our hunt for a ship," he says.

"How will Kat know where we are?" Leyha asks

"I could tell her," Noal offers. "You're going down to the docks?"

"Yes," Kehdem says. "We're looking for a ship to Norassi, or Talerin, if any are going from here."

"Well, I don't know about Talerin," Nonni says, "but the boats to Norassi are usually at the north end of the dock. If she's there, the Huntress is supposed to be a good vessel for passengers."