The day had turned to night as Jana and Alleran entered the village. The light of the moon illuminated their way forward, as well as the odd oil lamp suspended from tall wooden stakes. The path had turned to cobbles; the clattering of Snowdrop’s hooves now the main sound in the otherwise sleepy village. However, as they approached the main village inn - rather aptly named The White Horse - the sounds of revelry emanated from the large building.
Alleran led them round the back of the inn, where a friendly stableman greeted them. “Good evening, sir and miss,” the man said with a cheerful voice.
Jana estimated him to be in his late fifties, and she thought he had a kind face.
“Evening, sir,” Alleran replied. “Our brave horse has been injured and requires food and drink, may we leave her in your care for the night?”
“Of course!” he seemed delighted, throwing his arms into the sky before clapping them together. “Come, my beauty, let us have a closer look at you.” Alleran thought for a minute he may have been referring to Jana, but he seemed far too interested in Snowdrop even to notice Jana perched atop the mare. The apothecary helped Jana down gently, but she cried in pain as her foot landed on the hard ground a little too clumsily.
“You ok, miss?” asked the stableman, genuine concern on his face.
“I’ll live, I hope.”
“You get yourselves inside and rest. My wife Ellory is waiting the bar - she will look after you. My name is Fryd. A pleasure to meet you.”
“I am Jana, from Barnesbay. This is my friend Alleran, and my horse is Snowdrop. We are grateful for your aid, Fryd.”
Fryd smiled, nodded, and led the horse away. Jana put her arm around Alleran and hobbled inside the inn.
As soon as they entered the inn, they were met with warmth and friendliness. A kind middle-aged man helped with the door as Jana - supported by Alleran - limped into the large bar area. The man gestured them to take a seat at a vacant booth near the entrance, and to Jana’s delight – close to the roaring open fire.
The inn was well occupied. A handsome young man with shoulder-length red hair sat atop a tall wooden stool, expertly playing on a lute whilst singing a song that Jana did not know, but found very pleasant to listen to. He stood, smiled and nodded his head at Jana as she took her seat, before winking at her and retaking his stool. A group of four older men with shaggy hair and beards huddled around a wooden table, drinking ale from tankards, the froth from their beverages sticking to their beards. A large group, of whom Jana presumed could be farmers, sat around a circular table in the opposite corner, also drinking ale and occasionally laughing raucously. Amidst the other occupied tables scattered across the inn floor, a pretty young girl with flushed cheeks and long, dark hair scurried from table to table delivering ale, plates of food and collecting empty tankards and plates. She seemed very flustered and liable to burst into tears any second; Jana thought she must be the only serving girl the inn had that night. Just as they had both sat at their booth, a plump lady with a round, kind face greeted them with a warm smile as she introduced herself.
“Hello! You certainly look like you need to take the weight off your feet, young lady,” she said in a rather deep voice. “My name is Ellory, but call me El. Can I get you some drink, food maybe?”
“Alleran and Jana,” the apothecary answered for them. “I believe we have just met your husband at the stable. He is tending to our horse.”
El nodded and smiled.
“I’ll have an ale, please. Jana?” Alleran said.
“Ale for me also please.”
“Coming right up. Do you wish to eat tonight? I have fresh chicken.”
Jana’s mouth watered. “Oh! Yes, please!” she exclaimed excitedly.
“For two then, please,” Alleran added. “And fresh bread, if you have any.”
“Consider it done. Just sit and relax, anything else you need, just get my attention.” El bowed her head at them before shuffling away behind the bar.
The young serving girl brought their drinks over quickly, and they both took long swigs from their tankards. They did not have to wait much longer before the food arrived, and it was delicious. They had half a freshly roasted chicken each with boiled potatoes and carrots, plus a hunk of bread each, as Alleran had requested. They were both starving and ate with vigour.
When they had finished their meals and mopped up the last of the food with the bread, they requested a jug of wine from the young girl, who promptly brought it over for them. Alleran poured them each a mug full, and they drank a toast, to “staying alive”, and giving thanks to Snowdrop for saving their lives. The wine was excellent and easy to drink, and the pain in Jana’s foot seemed to ease with each mouthful she took. They sat opposite one another across a wooden table in their booth, the wine beginning to loosen their tongues.
“So what made you become an alchemist?” she asked.
“Apothecary, please,” Alleran corrected, slightly taken aback. “Alchemists are completely different.”
“Oh, sorry!” she sipped at her wine and looked down at the table, feeling rather foolish.
“That’s ok. Easily mistaken.” He reassured her with a broad smile. “It was my father; he ran the family shop that was passed down to him by his father, and his father before that. As the only child, I felt almost like I had to continue the family’s work.”
“Is he still around now?” The wine was making it easy for Jana to ask more personal questions.
“Sadly not,” he replied, forcing a brave smile. “He passed away a few years ago after a short illness, but he did manage to pass on some of his knowledge before he left us.”
“I’m sorry, Alleran.” Jana reached across the table and put her hand on his. He liked the way it felt, and he smiled at her.
“Thanks, I’m over it now. I’ll never forget him, though.”
“You never do.” It was Jana’s turn to force a brave smile, although she was not as good at it as Alleran.
“It hurts, doesn’t it?” He turned his hand over and gently held her slender hand in his own.
“Hurts like hell.” She took a long drink of wine. “I never finished telling you what happened.”
“You don’t have to if it makes you feel bad.”
“It’s ok, I think this wine makes it easier,” she drained her mug, and he refilled it with his spare hand, then filled his own.
“Thanks. Where did I get to? Oh, yes, I remember. We were woken in the middle of the night by the screams, me and Esteri that is. Not sure who’s screams they were, but they were loud. We didn’t actually see how it happened; it was C who told us later, years later. But we saw some of it.”
Alleran could tell that this was hard for her to talk about. She spoke in a low voice full of sadness and regret.
“None of us knew this, but Cerana was an insomniac as a child. She would creep out of the house at night to go play because she could not sleep. Us sisters were all together in one room so she couldn’t play inside, so she went out.”
“No-one knew she was going out in the middle of the night?”
“Not until this happened, no. Not even our parents. She has always been light on her feet,” she said, a smile creeping from the corner of her mouth. “We used to have a barn in the fields outside. It’s not there anymore.”
“The house you live at now?”
“Yes. C would take her oil lamp and go play in the hayloft. She had taken some toys and dolls there and would pass the nights in the loft, just playing by herself. Anyway, one night, she managed to knock her oil lamp over whilst she was playing, into the straw. It caught on fire, and she panicked. Her first instinct was to run, so she made for the ladder that led up to the hayloft, but in her panic she knocked the ladder down onto the floor below, trapping her in the loft. She kicked at the straw that was on fire, thinking that she would be alright if she got it out of the loft, which she did. But that turned out to be the worst thing she could have done.”
“There was straw on the floo
r below?”
“Lots of it. And it took flame almost immediately. I still can’t imagine how she must have felt. She started to scream as the fire grew, and thankfully for her, father eventually heard her screams. He ran out and saw the barn in flames, and realised C must be inside.”
Alleran sat and listened intently, fearing that he knew what she was going to tell him next.
“He was so brave,” Jana continued after a sip of wine. “He ran inside the burning barn trying to find her. Then he saw her up in the loft, trapped. By this time, mother had gone outside too, after coming to us and telling us to wait inside. But we were scared too, so we followed her out. Father couldn’t get to the loft as the fire was stronger there, and he must have almost frozen in panic for a few moments, trying to figure out what to do. That was when the beam above collapsed right on top of him. Mother saw all this and ran in to try save him, but she couldn’t. Neither of them got out. The flames got so bad that C lost sight of them both, and in her terror, she ran wildly to the outer wall. Miraculously, the boards she ran to and kicked at were rotten, and she smashed through, falling all the way down to the ground. She broke both her legs in the fall but lived, somehow. It was such a long way. I remember seeing her fall.” Jana wept, tears rolling down her face. “I can still see it, Alleran. The barn on fire, Cerana’s crumpled body on the floor. I knew mum and dad were inside, but there was nothing I could do. I just froze, we both did. Then the whole barn collapsed.” The end of her last sentence trailed off as she cried uncontrollably.
Alleran got up from his seat and went across the table to comfort her, taking her in his arms as she wept. When she regained herself and wiped her eyes, she finished her story.
“Thanks,” she said. Some of the patrons in the bar had noticed them and were looking over with concern.
Jana eventually continued. “So that’s why C feels so much guilt. She blames herself for their deaths, always has. But what gets to her as well is that mother and father never knew she got out. She thinks that they died in that barn knowing they had not been able to save her. But she did. She got out. That’s why she has always acted as a mother to us. To try and get rid of some of the guilt.”
Alleran did not know what to say. He just sat and held her in his arms as she cried into his chest.
CHAPTER 15 – Trouble at The White Horse Inn
After getting through another half-bottle of the rather fine wine, Jana had composed herself again after her mini-breakdown.
She had even forgotten all about her wounded foot, at least for the time being. A mixture of the wine and the apothecary’s anaesthetic had undoubtedly done the trick.
Alleran had waved away her apology for opening up to him, telling her that she had nothing to be sorry for and he was glad that he could at least be a shoulder for her to cry on - literally. Jana’s story had come as a shock to him, and he felt pity for all the sisters for what they had gone through as children. Even now, as young women, without the care and guidance of their parents. They had done remarkably well to have grown into the women they were now, with little more than each other’s input into their own lives. Alleran was impressed.
Having just told him all about a considerable influence on her childhood, Jana was keen to know more about Alleran’s early days, so they sat and drank more wine as he told her stories of his time with his father. He regaled her with happy times at the apothecary shop as he was learning his trade, and she laughed at the stories he told of some of his less-successful lessons. They laughed and joked together, and the wine was flowing well, when they were interrupted by a tankard being firmly deposited on their table.
Their conversation disturbed, they looked round together at the source of the intrusion and saw two men had sat themselves down opposite them in their little booth. Both men stared at them without saying anything. The one who had slammed down the tankard grinned at Jana with a toothless smile. He was a thin, scruffy man of around thirty years, she thought. Shaggy brown hair curled slightly to his shoulders, and he had one glass eye that stared blankly at her. A long, thin nose pointed straight at them like a scarecrow’s, and a scarecrow it was that reminded her of his overall appearance.
The second man looked about the same age but had much broader shoulders and a strong frame. He had cropped, light brown hair, a round face with a small nose. His expressionless face regarded them through eyes that seemed to be only half-open and were too close together. Alleran and Jana suddenly felt very uncomfortable in their intimidating presence.
“’Ello, darlin’,” the scruffy one said to Jana, his one moveable eye darting between her face and breasts, grinning like a madman. “You’re a pretty one, ain’t ya? ‘Ow much you chargin’ ‘im?”
“What?!” she stuttered, taken aback by the man’s boldness.
“Excuse me?” blurted Alleran.
“Not talking to you,” the stranger said, shifting his eye to Alleran before quickly back to Jana’s breasts, which he appeared to be talking to more than her face. “Bet you’re at least a gold piece, eh?”
Jana pulled a face in disgust.
“I don’t like the way you are talking to my friend,” Alleran pointed out.
“Friend?!” he sneered, spittle flying from his mouth. “So you ain’t lovers then? Must be a whore, I was right. Well, I wanna go next.”
Jana and Alleran were disgusted, and the apothecary could feel the tension starting to rise in his chest, his heart beating faster as he sensed a confrontation.
“Please leave us alone,” he said. “We’ve had a long journey and just want to rest. We don’t want any trouble.”
“Ah, so maybe that is your horse outside then? Pretty little mare that one, just like you.” He turned to Jana. “You’ve got nicer tits though.”
Jana could not believe what was happening, and Alleran had heard enough. “Look, I want you to leave us alone now. Both of you.”
The stocky man had remained silent throughout the conversation, but Alleran made the point to both.
“We will not sit here and take your insults,” he added when no reply immediately came.
“Forgive him,” the other man finally spoke, smiling at Jana. “He likes you, that’s all. He’s been staring at you since we got in. I agreed to let him come over and talk to you.” He had a strong voice that sounded full of intelligence, despite his appearance.
“Who are you, his keeper?” Alleran asked.
“Something like that. Lucky for you I am here though. Lucky for both of you.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Jana asked with a frightened voice. She was starting to get very scared of the ominous strangers now.
“Never mind.”
“I will ask you once more to leave.” Alleran glared at the men with the meanest look he could muster, although he was terrified inside. He could sense malice in the pair opposite them.
“Or what?” the scruffy one blurted, sending more spittle flying. “What you gonna do, big man?”
“Come, Jana. Let’s go.” The apothecary stood and held out his arm for Jana.
“Jana? That’s a pretty name. Think I’ll come too,” scruffy said jovially, before Jana had a chance to get up from her seat.
“There’s no need for that,” the stocky man announced. “We will leave you alone. Just a bit of fun, that’s all. But first, there is something we would like to know.” He stared at Jana intently, leaning over the table towards her.
“What is that?” she asked, trembling.
“Are you wearing anything under those shorts?”
“Wha- ” Jana did not have time to finish her sentence before the man’s hand shot under the table and grabbed at her crotch, over her shorts. She instinctively jumped back in the bench and shrieked as Alleran looked on in horror. Pain blazed through Jana as she instinctively drew both her legs together and caught her injured foot on the table leg. She threw her arms out across the table and grabbed her wine goblet, throwing it at the groping man’s face where it landed with a soft
thud, its contents spilling all over his face.
“You bitch!” he yelled, quickly rising from the table.
The commotion had alerted the other occupants of the inn, and one man who had seen what happened rushed over and tried to grab the stocky man. However, he was far too quick and agile, swatting the arm out the way before landing a vicious right hook to the inn patron’s jaw, knocking him out cold. Others had now joined the fray, and it took four men to restrain the stocky man who was shouting obscenities at Jana, who stood with her arms wrapped around Alleran in fear.
The innkeeper, Ellory, rushed from her bar and demanded answers from the stocky man who was being held by the tavern patrons. “What in the hell is going on here?” she shouted, her face reddening by the second.
Alleran was first to respond. “This idiot groped my friend here.”
“T’is true,” one patron confirmed.
“Aye, we saw it as well,” said another.
“Right, get him out of here boys,” she yelled, before pointing to the scruffy one. “You an’ all. And don’t bloody well come back!”
The inn patrons roughly marched the two troublemakers out of the inn. Just as he was being bundled through the door, the stocky man shot a glare at Jana that had more malice to it than she had ever seen.
If she was not frightened enough already, she was now terrified.
Their assailants now outside, Jana and Alleran were ushered back to their table by the innkeeper.
The Kiss From a Dragon Page 8