Archives: New Marmo Republic
Chapter 17: Morning Barroom Brawl
As Zira ate, her sensitive ears picked up some of the commotion downstairs. Shouting, slamming, stomping; was there a fight down there? She wanted to go down and check on the others, but her duty to protect Itoya was more important. Instead, she would have to rely on the rest of the group to deal with whatever was going on. But...what if it was the kidnappers coming for Itoya? “What the hell is going on down there?” Zira murmured, looking down towards the floor, trying to focus on the sounds.
Itoya was so distracted by his own standing that he hadn’t even noticed any noise. Looking up from his lackluster meal, the prince couldn’t help but ask the dumb question. “What are you talking about?”
Zira frowned slightly. “Well, my hearing is better than a human’s...” she said, then continued to listen. “Whatever is going on, we have to leave it to the others, but you’d better get ready to go.”
“What does that mean ‘whatever is going on’?” Itoya stood up from his half-eaten breakfast. “Is there trouble? Oh Falis do we need to get out of here? Are they back?”
“I don’t know,” Zira replied. She realized just how scared he was now, but there was no time to worry about comfort. She’d have to turn to the spirits again, but she could get him out the window if they came upstairs. “It could have nothing to do with us, or it could be something completely unrelated.” Her mind drifted back to the men she had met out in the hall. Were they after Linda perhaps?
Itoya was half way to panic. “You don’t think they’d come after me too, do you? Oh this was all a big mistake! I can’t even lie well!”
“Just calm down,” Zira said, tilting her head toward the floor so she could try and hear what was going on downstairs. “I’ll handle anything that comes up.”
Itoya looked at Zira as if he was about to die, as afraid as a mouse cornered by a cat. “Oh Falis... Oh Falis please...” he started whispering.
* * *
Returning to the common room, Alm found that chaos had ensued. His eyes narrowed. This will make it easier to do what I must without too much attention drawn to me. The sneaky grassrunner softly padded across the room towards one of the men he saw upstairs, the more beat up one. Unsheathing his rapier, the fay folk kicked at the back of the man’s knee and caught him as he fell.
Holding a grubby hand over the man’s mouth, the rapier made it’s swift incision across the man’s throat, cutting deep through the soft tissue. With one down, the little wannabe assassin dragged his prey off towards the lavatory to dispose of the corpse and claim the ear to prove his job done.
* * *
Taking the punch, Ultarik grunted as he felt the blow, but he quickly recovered and attacked his man again. This time he went grab him by the throat and return the punch to the stomach, so he could send him into the table afterwards.
Gaidrich’s teeth crashed together painfully as the blow caught him. From what he could tell the fight had shifted, with the men at the table focusing on the newcomers. It’s a bit early for these jokers to be fighting drunk, the mercenary thought as he recovered from the punch and launched his own at the offender’s gut. Gods I hope this isn’t a setup.
Edwin walked down into the common room and blinked at what was going on. With a sigh, he muttered, “Please tell me you guys did not have something to do with this.”
As the fighters brawled on, other patrons and the inn staff swarmed around the conflict, trying to break it up, often to be rewarded with a punch or kick. Several other men, both from the fighters’ group, and from the surrounding tables, were now duking it out. Silemria had been punched in the face, which ignited the mercenary woman’s rage, and she too had dove into the conflict, fist first, intending to physically tear the fighters off each other.
With the chaos at an acceptable level, the two men who had stepped back to observe the fight earlier made their move on Linda. From behind the mage, one of the men took a dagger and hit her on the back of the head with the hilt, hard enough to knock her unconscious. As she crumpled, the other man caught her and picked her up with his arms under her shoulders, while his partner went for her legs. Once she was down, the original two she had encountered the night before moved toward the door to follow their other partners out.
Edwin cursed under his breath; he had just walked into the fight and noticed Linda being carried toward the door by two men. “Oh, by all the gods, this is not good. Gaidrich, get the others to the door, something happened to Linda!” he called, and with that, Edwin started toward the door after the two men. He knew better than to draw a weapon in this brawl, or else someone was going to lose control. Hopefully he could get over to Linda before they got away.
“Wha...?” Gaidrich looked up from the man he was grappling with at Edwin’s voice and saw the two men leaving with an apparently unconscious Linda. “Oh hell!” the mercenary exclaimed, head butted his foe, and began to try and fight free of the scrum. “Kidnappers! Somebody stop those men!”
At being discovered, the kidnappers made a rush for the door and headed out onto the street.
Silemria overheard the shouts from Edwin and Gaidrich as well, and glanced back to see the men leaving with Linda. “Dammit!” she cursed, then threw a punch at the man she had been tangling with, finally knocking him back. She turned and ran out the door after the kidnappers, who were turning down an alley next to the inn as she came out.
Noticing Linda being kidnapped, Ultarik cursed under his breath. Even though he normally wouldn’t care, this was a member of their group that had been taken. He would let Gaidrich and Silemria handle this, he decided he would break up this fight before it got worse.
Edwin struggled to get out, and as he finally got out, he noticed the kidnappers moving down the alley about the same time as Silemria did. “Damn, this is not my day already.” He was expecting Zira to kill him if he got hurt again, but he would not let Linda get kidnapped. He took off after them into the alley. “Stop right here with her!” he yelled.
The kidnappers weren’t getting very far with Sil and Edwin chasing them. They didn’t stop for Edwin’s call, but Silemria soon caught up with them, and with a quick sprint, the female mercenary was ahead of them and stopped in their path. She whipped out her cutlass, ready for a fight. The kidnappers skidded to a halt, then looked back to see Edwin catching up behind them. Even further behind him though, several guardsmen were entering the inn.
“Forget her! Drop her!” one of the original men shouted. The two carrying Linda pushed her toward Sil, then all four of them took off down a side alley. With no other option, Silemria dove to catch the unconscious mage.
The two guards sent out to check the streets soon saw Silemria and Edwin with the unconscious Linda. “Is this girl the person who was taken from the inn?” one of the guards asked as they jogged up.
“Yeah, the blokes that tried t’take ’er ran off down the alley,” she replied to the guard, and pointed off in the direction they ran. The guards hurried after them. “Gimme a hand with ’er mate. We better get her to our priest, see if he can ’eal ’er,” Sil said to Edwin.
* * *
Gaidrich had just about reached the door when uniformed men came trooping into the building. Knowing that trying to leave now would just bring more trouble, the mercenary turned around and rejoined the fight, looking to help Ultarik. He just had to hope that Edwin and Silemria caught up with the kidnappers.
“What’s going on in ’ere?” a guardsman bellowed, his voice carrying over the shouts and crashing of the fight. In reaction, the fighting stopped.
A barmaid ran toward the guard who spoke. “Several men started a fight!” she said, pointing toward the group of fighters. As soon as she looked their way, the two original fighters and their friends bolted, heading toward the back door to the stable.
“Stop them!” the leader of the guards shouted, and most of his men ran out the back after the fighters while and a few others stayed to talk to everyone else. With the fighters gone, the common room seemed to have a weight of tension lifted off it. “Alright miss, so what happened?” he asked the barmaid.
“I didn’t see the start of it...” she replied. “I came out of the kitchen and the whole room was in chaos!”
Gaidrich heaved a sigh as his enemies broke and ran, leaving himself and Ultarik to explain to the authorities. He hoped the guards were rough with the men when they caught them. The mercenary faced the guard leader squarely. “They started it. They were at that table and two of ’em started arguing, I didn’t catch what about. One of ’em pitched a mug and hit my friend...” Gaidrich pointed at Ultarik, “...smack in the face. We went to try and break it up, and they all quit their in fighting and jumped us. Then a couple of ’em grabbed another of our group and ran off with her out the front. Two more of ours went after them.”
Reaching down, Gaidrich righted a fallen chair and flopped down into it. The mercenary looked up at the guardsman. “Before you ask, I don’t know if this was personal or if we were just unlucky. I’d never seen those men before today.”
“They took someone?” the guardsman asked Gaidrich. Glancing back to his men, he motioned for two to go back outside and check the street. The rest of the men he motioned to go into the common room and help the remaining people. “Who’d they take? Can you describe her?” he asked Gaidrich again.
Edwin and Silemria returned to the inn with Linda, assuaging all worries of her safety. The guards were satisfied with what everyone had to say, so Linda was taken back upstairs to Itoya’s room.
Gaidrich’s relief at Linda’s recovery was cut short by a alarming realization. Alm. In the chaos, the murderous grassrunner seemed to have disappeared. Suddenly filled with dread, Gaidrich approached the barmaid. “Say, you wouldn’t have seen a elf child on your way from the kitchen, would you? ’Bout so tall, blond hair, looks like he rolled down a hill?” Gaidrich was anxious to get back upstairs to his team, but he felt he needed to know if Alm was even still in the building. And from there, if he had done any damage.
The barmaid turned to Gaidrich, fixing back a loose lock of her brown curls. “No, I’m afraid not,” she replied. She had been too distracted by the fight to notice someone so small.
“Alright, thanks anyway,” Gaidrich said, nodding his head to the barmaid. He’d just have to hope Alm wasn’t causing trouble, wherever he was.
As Gaidrich explained what happened, Ultarik let him. He merely confirmed what Gaidrich has said except the taking someone part, he was too focused on the fight and breaking it up. The men who started fighting had gotten him quite irritated with the mug to the head, and he was at least calmed down by now. He did want to give chase, but that would be foolish. “I didn’t want things to get out of hand, I was just gonna throw them out after knocking them out,” he spoke as to what his intentions in the brawl were, he was at least being honest about his intentions.
“That’s understandable, my good man,” the guard said, clapping a hand on Ultarik’s shoulder. “However, next time you should leave it to the guards. It looks like they were trying to bait you into a fight so they could steal away with the girl. Are you traveling with her?”
Maybe he’s just wandered off. That seems like something he’d do, the mercenary thought as he turned to Ultarik and the guardsmen. “Sort of. Most of us just met the other day, but we certainly seem to have fallen in well with each other. Besides, who wouldn’t try to stop a kidnapping?”
* * *
A knock came to the door of Itoya’s room and Zira was on her feet instantly, hand on her sword hilt, ready to draw the weapon. “Oy! Open up, Linda’s hurt,” Silemria’s voice came from the other side.
Zira breathed a sigh of relief at hearing a familiar voice, but what was wrong with Linda? Did those men have the ulterior motives she was worried about? The dark elf answered the door and let Edwin and Sil in. “What happened?” Zira asked Sil. “Go ahead and lay her on the empty bed,” she said to Edwin, then turned back to the female mercenary for an explanation.
“Some blokes downstairs started a fight, looks like it was a ruse to try and take her,” Sil explained. “What in the hell brought that on? Do ye think it was related to the kidnappin’ of the princess?”
“I don’t know, but a couple of men asked us about her a little while ago,” Zira replied.
Itoya watched in amazement as Linda was brought in. He didn’t know what to do. He couldn’t conceive of him having anything to do in the first place. “Related? How could Linda and my sister be related?”
“If it was the same people who took Elianna... It doesn’t seem likely though. We’ll have to ask her,” Zira replied absently to Itoya as Edwin laid Linda down on Gaidrich’s bed. “Itoya, can you heal her?”
“...heal?” Itoya stuttered, as if it were an irrational thought. Of course, the prince of Valis had been trained in the skills of a priest. It was tradition. But such things were never put into practice. They had professionals for that sort of thing. And besides, it wasn’t as if they wounded people for him to train on. “But that’s...” Itoya’s voice trailed off as he realized that there were no professionals here. There were no servants, assistants, or army of willing priests from the high temple. It was just him. “Yes... I can try. Please... make way...”
The prince took a quick scan of her body. While many priests were taught to simply call up for healing, Itoya was taught better. If the priest could diagnose the issues, healing could be focused and he could guide the healing light to ensure nothing was missed. In the end, the book worm learned more about diagnosing issues than he ever did healing. Itoya knew more about the human body than he did words to use in prayers. Instantly, Itoya checked her neck to make sure nothing was damaged there. No one told him what was wrong, but it took him no time to discover the tender flesh on the back of her head. “She was bludgeoned?” he asked, though he already knew the answer. The neck felt fine, so he had little concern. “Help me roll her over.”
Edwin gently rolled Linda onto her stomach for Itoya.
“I don’t think anyone saw what hit ’er,” Sil commented from across the room. The female mercenary leaned back against the door jam, crossing her arms.
“No matter,” the prince said. Pulling Linda’s hair back, he looked at the site of injury. “She was lucky.” Itoya ran a thumb through the blood matting her hair. “Any harder and something might have broke. Such an injury could cause any number of ailments, some of which healers are simply unable to handle.” Itoya’s head hung to the side as his heart sunk for her. “We won’t know for certain how she faired, though, until she awakens.”
The prince closed his eyes and cupped his hands with a loving care normally reserved for a priestess of Marfa over the head wound. At first, he said nothing, simply centering himself. Then he began to whisper. “Dear Falis, Lord of Light and Protector of the Virtuous, gift this girl with the return of her life and senses from the wicked deeds unjustly conducted...” Itoya’s voice quivered, as if he weren’t sure whether to unleash fury upon the men or cry for Linda. At first, the light that shone from his palms was weak, but it steadily grew until it was a beautiful, pure aura. Itoya hovered his hands just above the wound, gently bathing it like an infant. “Please wake up...” he whispered. “Come back...”
Linda’s hands twitched a few times before the girl’s eyes opened slowly. “Mom?” the girl asked softly as she stared at Itoya. She gazed at the prince, showing that she wasn’t fully awake, but once her mind settled, the mage sat up quickly and looked around. “What happened?” she asked as she held the back of her head and rubbed it. The girl looked at Edwin, then Silemria, then Zira, and finally at Itoya.
“You should rest,” the prince said quietly. “Let your strength fully return...”
Linda stared at Itoya for a few seconds before she replied. “Nah, I’m good,” she said as she smiled sweetly at him. The mage removed her hand from behind her head, still feeling the pain, but she didn’t feel like worrying them. “We should get moving. I am sure everyone is ready to go,” the girl said as she gazed at the prince. “I mean...” the blonde paused and blushed slightly as she looked at the group, “...shouldn’t we get moving?” she asked.
Zira looked down at the girl, concern heavy in her red eyes. “We do... but are you sure you’re alright?” she asked Linda.
Linda stared at the elf for a few seconds before she answered. “Yeah, I’m fine,” she said with a faint smile. The mage looked at the group once again. “Let’s get moving. We have to find the princess,” the girl said, feeling a bit dizzy as she waited for Zira or someone else to speak.
The dark elf put her hands on her hips and looked over each member of the group. “We’d better move out then. Everyone get your things together. We need to get back to that house and see if we can find any secret escapes,” she said, then tossed her hood over her head. Or remains, in the worst case scenario.
Itoya scratched his head. He didn’t remember being that good at healing, but maybe he was a natural after all. The book reading must have helped. Zira told everyone to gather their things, of which he had... none. For the first time in his life, his hands weren’t full of something. Given what it took to get him there, he wasn’t sure how he felt about that.
Linda nodded to Zira and stood up then started to walk. She tried to hide her dizziness, but she stumbled over her feet and ended up landing on the prince. “Oww...” the girl said as her vision became clear. The girl was hanging over the prince’s lap when fell. “Hmm...” she said as she grip onto the chair and pull herself up, which she ended up on her knees. The girl blush as she stood up straight and bowed to Itoya. “Forgive me,” she said and quickly left. The girl headed back downstairs, holding her head as she did so.
The prince watched in amazement as his patient moved much like a drunk, falling atop him. He wasn’t surprised, but the impact wasn’t comfortable either. Itoya’s eyes followed her as she pulled herself up and took off. “Hey—” he started, but she was already gone. “I hope she will be alright...” he said to Zira. “I knew she should have rested more...”
Zira watched Linda stagger with concern. The girl had lied for their sakes, but the last thing Zira wanted to do was hold up the search. “I guess Ultarik might have... Oh wait!” the dark elf tossed her head as she realized something. “Edwin and I have horses. We’ll have to make a stop off at the Mercenaries’ Guild Inn and pick them up. Linda can ride while we walk.”
“I’ve got a ’orse stabled there meself,” Sil interjected.
“Guess we should ask Gaidrich and Ultarik too...” Zira added. “Let’s go check out.” The dark elf scooped up her bag from where she had left it on the floor, then stepped out into the hall. She kept her head low as she went downstairs, so no one could peek under her hood.
* * *
Linda walked down the stairs and over to Gaidrich and Ultarik, holding her head as she did so. “We will be leaving now,” she told the two with a slight blush. The mage looked at the guard and smiled. “I am sorry if I am interrupting,” the girl said as she bowed and looked up at the men.
As the guardsman saw Linda walking downstairs of her own volition, he smiled warmly. “Ah! I see you’re up and about. I hope those thugs didn’t rough you up too much, miss. You’d like to file charges, no doubt?” he asked her.
Hooded and doing her best to be inconspicuous, Zira came down into the common room. Her hidden eyes widened at the destruction in the common room; tables and chairs were tipped, a couple chairs broken, mugs and plates and food scattered everywhere. The maids were beginning to clear up the mess, but it would be a lot of work. Hopefully they got some reimbursement from the whoever started the fight.
The dark elf overheard the guard talking to Linda. She knew what pressing charges meant; they would need Linda to give a statement, then possibly even testify against the thugs. They couldn’t waste time with that. As much as she hoped these men got what was coming to them, they had much more important problems. Hopefully Linda realized that. Stepping up besides Gaidrich and Ultarik, her head bowed under her hood, she whispered, “Do either of you have horses?”
Linda watched the guardsman then shake her head. “I’d rather not sir,” she said smiling sweetly at him. The girl touched her neck softly and started to rub it. She was in pain, but also nervous. Did she made the right choice or not? The girl giggled softly as she thought to herself, If I ever see those men again, I will brutally murder them. Seriously... The girl continued to smile at the guardsman as she slowly looked at the stairs.
“Oh...well then... If you don’t want to press charges, we probably have enough witnesses to have them punished for starting a brawl,” the guard replied, disappointed. “Good luck, miss.”
Gaidrich was about to comment on Linda’s forgiving nature when he caught Zira’s question. The mercenary’s eyes went wide and he clapped a hand to his forehead. “Gods above, I’ve forgotten my horse! She’s probably wondering where I went. We’d better go and...” Gaidrich’s stomach complained, reminding him that it had been a long time since waking and no breakfast. The mercenary rolled his eyes and scanned the room, eventually spying some bread on a abandoned table. He sauntered over and took the bread, leaving some coins in its place. “Alright, back to the guild then?”
Giving a gruff nod to the guard, Ultarik stayed silent, until Zira asked about horses. “I have a horse, I should be fine,” Ultarik replied as he nodded at the suggestion to return to the guild. After that he looked to Linda who had been the target they were distracted from.
“Yeah,” Zira replied to Gaidrich, then turned her attention toward the stairs. Silemria had come down, but Itoya and Edwin weren’t down yet. Suddenly, she realized that they were missing Alm as well, and she debated if they should even worry about him. He had his moments of usefulness, but even worse moments of uselessness. The dark elf bit her tongue, not wanting to say anything about him. If she had her way, they would just sneak off without the little annoyance and leave him to whatever half-baked scheme he came up with next. Hopefully he had forgotten about claiming that ear he promised...
Linda smiled at the man as she rubbed her neck. “Thanks,” she said as she looked back at the group then walked over to them. “Ready?” The girl asked as she looked at the door.
“Wait for Edwin and I...Tristan,” Zira said. She almost called Itoya by name, but remembered the alias she had decided to call him by.
Linda stared at Zira with a lost expression on her face. Tristan? Who is... Oh, Itoya, Linda thought as she nodded at Zira. “Alright,” the girl said as she looked at the stairs.
“I’m ready. How much longer will they be? And who is Tristan? Is he someone new?” Ultarik asked, glancing to the stairs, unsure of who this Tristan was. He was unaware that Itoya was using an alias to travel now.
Zira rolled her eyes; she should have expected the barbarian not pick up on the concept. “You know Tristan, the young man traveling with us,” she said, jerking her head toward the stairs where only Edwin and Itoya could be.
Itoya had hung back in the room after the others had hurried down. There was too much to worry about. His sister, Linda, fights, abductions, his father... He needed every bit of help Falis could give to keep his head clear. The prince whispered his prayers to the heavens, hoping somehow that his god would deliver him something. But he didn’t have time to wait, either. Giving one last glance up to the ceiling, Itoya promised he would never sneak out of the castle again. Or do anything bad. Ever. His only stipulation was his sister safe.
The prince in disguise scrambled out of the room and to the stairwell as he realized how long he had taken. The wood above the group pattered and squeaked in awkward rhythms, announcing none other but royalty. The rough lamb-skin shoes that bound his feet held no grip on the stairs as Itoya rushed down them; he practically slid down. Itoya knew that Falis was watching out for him, since it was a miracle that he didn’t hit the landing arse-first. But, after a few seconds to gain his balance at the bottom, Itoya jogged across the room to the door with Zira. “I’m here—quite ready—very fine, thank you,” he sputtered, erratically brushing off his shirt.
After Itoya’s less than graceful entry, it was only a moment longer before Edwin came down to join them, traveling gear on his back. With the group together—sans Alm—Zira turned toward the door and headed out. Within such a large group, and with the inn so distracted by cleaning up after the fight, she wasn’t so concerned about Itoya being spotted. After all, he was dressed as a commoner, and not in the priestly vestments the people of Valis may have recognized him in. As the dark elf stepped into the street, she was silently praying that no one would bring up the missing grassrunner.
Ultarik clued in finally and looked to the stairs as Itoya entered. So Tristan was the prince under an alias. They had been traveling with one other, and that had been the prince. Keeping quiet, he nodded to Tristan and grinned, he was going to act like he knew nothing. “Now that we’re all here, are we going? After all we’ve got a long road ahead of us, and knowing our quarry, they probably have a good lead on us,” he spoke looking to Zira. The grassrunner was missing still, and though he was a bit annoying, he seemed like he was quite useful and yet if he got left behind it was his own fault.
Alm finally returned to the group, the front of his mucky clothing drenched in the man’s blood whom he had killed. It took the grassrunner a long time to cut the man into pieces small enough to fit down the latrine hole, and cleaning the mess was the real killer of the job. “So, where are we going?” he piped up, tagging along behind everyone. In one hand he carried the man’s right ear, and in the other, the purse he snatched from the man before disposing of the corpse.
Zira felt as if a brick had just been dropped in her stomach as Alm’s voice came from behind her. The dark elf’s shoulders fell and she turned to look down at the grassrunner... and when she saw him, her red eyes went wide in shock at his grubby clothes soaked in blood. “What... in the name of Falis...” she gasped, fearful of the answer. He was holding two things in his bloody hands, but she couldn’t quite discern what they were—and she didn’t think she wanted to know.
Ultarik saw this and held his tongue, the grassrunner seemed to act like nothing was wrong and yet he was covered in blood. Unable to determine what was in his hands, Ultarik kept a grim silence. He really didn’t care what company he kept as long as he was getting paid for his services. After all, he served his own ends by working as a mercenary and he had seen much worse in some of his battles back home.
Gaidrich nearly choked on his bread at the spectacle Alm presented. Apparently the little twerp was as good as his word! Swallowing his meal, the mercenary took a deep breath and shook his head. “Gods, little fella! They roughed you up bad! You all right?” Gaidrich suspected what had actually occurred, but it wouldn’t do to speak of that in mixed company!
Itoya stopped at the sound of someone injured. Zira had set somewhat of a precedent: someone gets hurt, he heals. It was fair enough, since he was the only one trained in the art. “Oh, you’re injured?” Itoya asked as he turned to Alm. “Let me—Oh Falis, Lord of Light!” he yelped, incredibly unprepared for the amount of blood all over the grassrunner. “He’s going to bleed to death. Where is the wound?!” The prince, ignorant of any alternatives besides innocence, quickly knelt before him and began to hunt for the wound through the blood.
“Huh? Injured?” Alm looked down at his clothing. “Oh, this. Nosebleed. Pretty big one. Took me a while to stop it.” Alm shrugged. “They come and go every now and then when my head has too much pressure in it. Tends to flow like a river and cover me in blood. It don’t really matter too much, I got more than enough blood to spare. My ma said that I was more like a blood bag than an actual grassrunner. Back in Alecrast I used to scrap with all sorts of stuff and nosebleeds were far more common. Guess it’s the elevation change that does it to me.” He wiped his nose with the bloody hand holding the ear. “They may have made my nose bleed, but I cut off their ear!” he said triumphantly holding up his grisly trophy.
While Zira had a feeling that the blood on Alm was not his own, she decided to accept his lie for the ease of the mission. He did offer to bring her the ears of the men after all. The dark elf sneered and looked a little pale; she was no stranger to gore, but she never liked looking at it. “Just drop it and let’s go,” she said to Alm with a touch of a growl to her voice. What the hell am I going to do with this little nutcase? she bemoaned to herself as she started walking back toward the Mercenaries’ Guild, Inn, and Stable.
“Nose bleed...? But... Oh Falis, that is someone’s ear!” Itoya’s hand went to his face. The blood from Alm was forgotten, leaving a ring of it around his mouth. “Zira! Someone has... lost an ear...” The facts were still lost on the prince. “I don’t understand... I... I think I may be ill...”
Ultarik heard Alm’s explanation and didn’t really care if the grassrunner was lying or not, as long as he didn’t get harmed by Alm, all would be well. Looking to the others’ reactions, he wondered if they would be alright, especially Itoya. It was probably his first time seeing that much blood and someone proudly holding a severed body part. “Must have been quite the nosebleed, looks like the ear was worth it.”
Alm shrugged. “Dunno, don’t care. A nosebleed is a nosebleed, it’s over, it’s done, I’m up an ear and a purse, he’s down one both.” He yawned nonchalantly. “Can we drop the subject. please? Just know that I’m safe and sound, and we’re one less pursuer.”
Gaidrich grimaced over Alm, but there was nothing for it. At least he still seemed to be on their side. Shaking his head, the mercenary crossed to Tristan and gently laid a hand on the young man’s shoulder. “Come on, kid. Don’t be sick in the middle of the road. That’s what the gutter’s for.” Gaidrich made to help Tristan to the side of the street.
Planting her face into her palm, Zira turned around and started marching southwards, towards the Mercenaries’ Inn where they had all met the night before. “Let’s just go,” she grumbled, not wanting to deal with whatever Alm had gotten himself into.
