Something in her tone made him doubt that, but he didn't want to haggle. The scarf around his head felt light now, almost transparent. If someone could make out his features . . .
"Two silvers. Sounds fair. Here you go."
Surprise lit up the girl's face as he placed the two coins on her counter, but she quickly replaced her surprise with a small smile. She even managed to roll her eyes and look put out.
"Well, I could probably get more, but since I said two coins, I can't take it back. Are you sure I can't interest you in--"
But Ean had already turned and was moving towards the inn, the figure gripped tightly in his hand. He maneuvered past the people, trying not to jostle anyone. Did their eyes linger on him a little longer than they should? He felt exposed, and all because of a stupid little carving. He was becoming paranoid. Silly even. But he didn't relax until he was through the doors of the inn. And then, only a small amount of tension left him.
Azalea and Dao were still at the same table he had left them. They appeared to be in the middle of a heated debate. Azalea was hunched forward, talking animatedly with her hands while Dao waved her off. Ean noted that they had managed to secure a few mugs and what looked like a loaf of bread, although the coloring of it made it appear like a large, oval piece of granite cut into slices. Ean's hand went to his pocket where he kept the room key. He considered heading right to their room, but he noticed a third cup and plate sitting at their table waiting for him. It was as good of a peace offering as he could expect from either of them. Even so, he took a few calming breaths before walking over to rejoin them.
Dao and Azalea stopped arguing at his approach.
"Am I interrupting something?" Ean asked.
"Just a disagreement," Dao replied.
"We were having a difference of opinion," Azalea said right over top of him.
"Something I should know about?"
"No," Dao said with a dismissing gesture. "Just two people with different views of the world. Probably because we come from two different worlds. I'm sure you've had plenty disagreements with this woman over similar matters."
"Quiet, fool." Azalea growled. Turning to Ean, she forced a smile that held no warmth. "Take a seat. Have a drink. I am guessing you're finished with your little tantrum?"
Ean shot her an angry look. The Yulari just stared back at him, but after a few moments a tiny amount of embarrassment trickled through their bond. He took that as a minor victory and moved to take a seat. Everyone at the table remained quiet as Ean lifted his mug to his lips. The drink tasted like ale that had been out for too long—flat with no bite to it. He tried a piece of the strange bread next. It tasted off as well. Not stale or moldy. Just . . . not quite right. He still ate two more pieces.
"Can we put our little disagreement behind us?" Dao said, breaking the silence. "These little spats are starting to wear on our happy little group."
Ean returned his mug to the table. "Do you have any more surprises planned that have the potential to cause us problems?"
"I wouldn't say my little sale caused us problems . . . "
"Dao, you're the one that told me people might start asking too many questions about where fresh food was coming from if they knew we had it."
"Which is why I sold it all to someone I knew could be discreet."
"Are they going to eat it all?"
"No, of course not. He'll sell it off and make a nice profit of his own."
"And how do you know those people will be just as discreet?"
"I don't, but then it will fall back on the person I sold it to, not us. Give me some credit, Ean. I've thought it through."
"Good, because people looking for us because of the food would lead to them figuring out who I am."
Dao shrugged and took a drink from his mug before replying. "I probably over exaggerated how recognizable you are. We're keeping you covered up, and I doubt this little village has heard that much about what happened to Ulundkin."
"Oh really?" Ean placed the carving of his likeness on the table and pushed it towards Dao. Before the man could grab it, Azalea snatched it up with a laugh. Moving it about, she examined every inch of the figure.
"This is quite good," she said with a straight face, still turning the carving in her hands. "The artist has caught your dull face and vacant stare perfectly!"
"It's a little too perfect." Ean ignored her insult and returned his attention to Dao. "The girl I bought this from said that it's her father's most popular piece. She also said that posters of my likeness have been going up all over the village. If that's happening here, I would imagine it’s more prevalent in the larger settlements in your land."
"Are you sure the girl wasn't just trying to make a sale? We didn't see any posters walking into town."
"Azalea, let him see the carving." He waited a moment as she reluctantly handed it over. "That is too accurate to be from blind luck. Besides, she mentioned that people have been tearing the posters down."
"It is a well-carved piece that resembles you . . . " He paused a moment, turning the figure over in his hands slowly. His eyes, though, were focused on the table. "Maybe this is more serious than I thought . . . "
"Who cares?" Azalea asked. "You feel threatened by a bunch of farmers coming after you with pitchforks? I could tear through a dozen of these blue-skinned humans without breaking a sweat."
"Azalea, I'm not even going to say--"
"Yes, yes, I know." She leaned back in her chair and rolled her eyes. "You're not even going to say something that reaffirms your role as a spoilsport. It's not like I would even need to kill them. Take off an arm here, a leg there. They can survive much better without body parts than your kind, Ean. Look at no-nose over here--"
"Hey," Dao replied, but his protest didn't have any force behind it. He was still staring at the table, deep in thought.
"—he does fine. Could you imagine a few of his kind, all angry and hopping around on one leg? I don't know about you but I might die from laughter at a sight like that."
"Not happening."
"Killjoy."
He waved her off. "Dao, what are you thinking?"
The man was silent a few moments longer before looking up. "I'm not sure. Certainly a problem that your face is well known, but we were going to be careful about keeping you covered up anyway. The mystery to me is what kind of people are ripping down these posters of you."
"Why is that a problem?"
"It’s a problem because it could be a number of things. Could be that the people here are so scared of you that some don't even want your likeness up. Or they don't want them up on the off-chance you did breeze into town, saw them, and left before you could be caught. Those would be cases where we should worry."
Ean took a quick drink. "And the other cases?"
"Could be a few things," Dao said with a shrug. "Maybe The Silent King has people going about pulling the posters down. Like I mentioned, he hasn't had his people speak out in your defense, but if he wants this deal with you to work, he will want to limit any growing fear about you. That would be a good thing. And then it might be something else entirely."
"What's that?"
"Just rumors, but before everything that happened in Ulundkin, there was mention of a group that supported the Plaguebringer. Even after he started doing less than savory things. If they exist, then they are more secretive than any other group I know. They held the Plaguebringer up almost like a god, but beyond that, nobody knows their desire or motives. Then again, there's no proof that they ever really existed."
"So,"–Ean paused to rub at his eyes–"either these people don't exist, or they could be doing who knows what in some blind attempt to serve me. I don't need people going around creating fear about me. I seem to be doing that well enough on my own."
"Like I said, probably nothing. Just wanted to bring it up. No more surprises, right?" Not waiting for a response, he tore off a piece of the bread and stuffed it in his mouth.
"No more surprises," E
an agreed before taking a piece of bread for himself.
"Where is the fun in that?" Azalea leaned forward and slapped Ean on the back. A bit of bread tried to go down the wrong pipe, causing him to sputter and cough up small chunks of chewed bread. "I think a cult devoted to you could be quite interesting. Just imagine all the mischief we could get into with a group of secret followers at your command."
"We don't want to get into any mischief, Azalea."
"You don't want to get into any mischief," Azalea replied. "I, on the other hand, love it and think you need more of it in your life."
"I don't need cults to worship me with their own agendas, that's for certain."
Ean glanced at Dao for help, but the man grabbed another piece of bread and stuffed it into his already full mouth.
"Mmffmph" he said, giving a shrug and a smile that held more bread than teeth.
Ean gave the man a withering look before turning it on Azalea.
"I would think you would want less people around, what with your sudden fear of them."
"Low blow, Master. No need to say hurtful things when I'm just teasing you."
"Sorry, you're right. I--"
"After all, I never bring up how many painfully stupid mistakes I've watched you make and had to save you from in the short amount of time we've been together."
"Now, wait a minute. I've not made--"
"You don't think so? Should I count them off for you?"
"No." Ean blurted out.
"Yes!" Dao said right over him.
"I vote yes, so that's two-to-one," Azalea said with a humorless smirk. She held up her hand. "One: You summoned me without having an inkling of what kind of creature I am."
"That's not fair. I was at a low point. Bran and Jaslen . . . "
"Waa, my friends were being mean to me." She rubbed her eyes in an exaggerated way. "I suppose that's a good enough reason to summon one of my kind and give the two humans to her as a free meal."
"That's not what I meant--"
"No, you saw a picture of a beautiful woman and summoned her in an attempt to make a girl jealous. How did that work?"
"Not well," Ean mumbled.
"She wasn't impressed with our companion's beauty?" Dao said, giving Azalea a look over. "If I didn't know how dangerous she was, I would certainly be a bit jealous of Ean."
"Oh, they were impressed." Azalea laughed. "I charmed them within moments of entering this world. They were all ripe to be my first meal but Ean tried to stop me."
"I did stop you. Long enough for them to get away."
"My hero!" Azalea cried out, clasping her hands together and batting her eyes. She earned some disparaging looks from a few tables away but didn't seem to notice. "So strong! Until I landed on top of him. Then his face became red as dawn and he lost himself in my eyes."
"Yes, well--"
"What happened next?" Dao reached across the table and slapped Ean on the shoulder. "Did our brave leader get a kiss?"
"Not quite," Azalea said, her smile growing as Ean's face filled with heat. "I smashed my forehead into his face. While he was out and drooling, I was going to finish my meal, but the imp appeared and talked me out of it."
"And now we work together," Ean rushed the words out before Azalea could say more. "So, I wouldn't call that a mistake."
"A mistake to summon something you didn't understand, even if it worked out for you in the end. But that was just the beginning." She raised her hand again. With each sentence, she folded one of her own fingers down. "I had to save you from being lost and starving in the forest. I had to save you when that bandit tried to drug and murder us. I had to save you from that muscle-bound dolt that tried to rough you up in Lurthalan--"
"He only attacked me because he was pining after you and got jealous--"
Azalea kept right on with her list.
"I saved you when the,"–she lowered her voice before continuing–"mob in Ulundkin were going to kill you because you disintegrated one of their men. And, let's not forget, I single-handedly fought off those horrible flesh monstrosities down in . . . Zin's old master's lair so you could get away."
"I did save you from that madman, Sadiek, in the end." Ean hoped his voice didn't sound as feeble as he felt.
"Yes," her eyes softened for a moment. "Yes, you did. Saved my life in more ways than one . . . "
A sad smile touched her lips for a moment, then her smirk returned. "Until you got run through and I had to finish the crazy old man off by shoving a flagpole through his back. So, I believe we are even in that regard."
"Amazing," Dao said, shaking his head.
"That Azalea and I have been through so much together?"
"No, that you managed to survive at all before you were lucky enough to have Azalea join you."
With a grunt Ean pushed his chair back and rose.
"If you'll excuse me, I think I will go get some rest. We have a long journey ahead of us, so I suggest the two of you do the same."
"We'll be up shortly, lad," Dao said with a straight face. His lips trembled slightly as he glanced at Azalea for a moment. "I want to hear a bit more about your past adventures before turning in for the night."
"Fine," Ean gave them both a curt nod before stoically walking towards the inn stairs. When he heard a short laugh escape from Dao behind him, Ean held tight to his decorum as he finished crossing the common room. His pride, on the other hand, he left in his chair.
Chapter 24
When Ean opened his eyes, he was relieved to see light sneaking through the sides of the window's shutters. Nightmares had kept him from a restful night. Visions of himself as a dark tyrant had returned in full force. He watched helplessly as a distorted version of himself had burned villages like Rottwealth and Driavarage to the ground. Had ordered Crux to herd humans into pens and force them into slavery. The worst of the nightmares had involved him murdering his friends, Azalea, Zin, and Jaan—even his Hound and Dao hadn't escaped his wrath.
While sleep had drained him more than provided him with rest, dawn flooded him with relief. He had not become that monster from his nightmares. Not yet, at least, and hopefully not ever.
Lifting his head, he saw Azalea splayed out on top of her sheets, her body almost perpendicular to the mattress. Her head hung off the side, a bit of drool escaping her mouth along with an occasional snort or snore. Her armor was scattered about the side of the bed. She appeared to be wearing a simple white shirt and black short pants, but Ean never knew if her clothes were real or just part of the illusion she covered herself with. Zin was curled up into a ball on her bed as well. The imp had scrunched up some of the covers and made himself a makeshift pillow from them. Dao, or what he assumed was the man, was hidden under his blankets over on his bed. Their supplies sat at the foot of Azalea's bed. Someone had been smart enough to, at least, not leave them in the cart.
Ean hadn't heard any of them come in last night. Which, considering his mood when he left them, was probably a good thing. But a night of sleep, even a restless, nightmare-filled one, had cooled his anger. All he felt now was worry. The combination of his dark dreams and what he had learned the previous day made him want to put some distance between his group and this small village.
Climbing out of bed, Ean changed behind a divider into a fresh pair of underclothes, then put on his new set of leather armor. The scarf he had worn over his face was hanging on the divider. Not wanting to wear the hot and filthy thing until he absolutely had to, he decided to wait until he was ready to leave to put it on. Then he moved about cleaning up the room, packing up what little they had out, and making as much noise as he could.
"I get it," Azalea growled. Her head still hung off the bed and her eyes were closed, but she wore a scowl that could wilt a flower. "Just because you got to bed early, the rest of us that might have been up a bit later don't get to sleep in."
"And some of us had more to drink," came a groan from under the covers on Dao's bed. "And I was not told that a Yulari can't get drunk."
"You were the one that bet he could drink more than me." Azalea sat up and turned so that she was facing Ean. "Don't feel bad, though. It took Ean a few nights of embarrassing himself before he realized he needed to watch what he drank around me."
"I'd love to hear those stories . . . on a day when my brain wasn't trying to escape my skull."
"Aww, the poor corpse can't handle his alcohol."
A blue hand snaked out from under the covers and made a not so nice gesture towards the Yulari.
"We aren't dead, you ugly Brayurat. And we find it very offensive to be called that."
"Brayurat?" Azalea gave a laugh. "That was unexpected. How did you even know about that pathetic creature? Not something that Ean's predecessor would call up to strike terror in his enemies. If anything--"
"Just be thankful you got to sleep in a bed for a change," Ean cut in. The conversation was starting to turn towards a topic he had no interest in expanding on. "You chose to stay up later, so if you didn't get a good night's sleep--"
"Oh, I heard you talking in your sleep." Azalea's face was expressionless, but the smallest bit of concern floated across their bond. "You even cried out a few times."
He waved her off. "Bad dreams, nothing more. The ale must have distorted my dreams."
"You barely finished a cup--"
"Then it must have been something else, but I said it doesn't matter. Drop it."
Azalea glanced at the mound of blankets that was Dao for the briefest of moments before nodding.
"As you wish." The Yulari swung her legs over the side of the bed and grabbed a boot. "Get up, Dao. Our leader woke up with a needle in his back, and I don't think he'll remove it until we are well on our way."
"I've never heard . . . Uh oh . . . " Dao paused to cough which sounded like it almost turned into more. When he spoke again, his voice was strained. "False alarm. As I was saying, I've never heard that expression, so I'm going to ignore you and remain curled up in a ball for the time being."
"Let me be more clear then!" Azalea sprang from her bed to Dao's mattress. The impact of her boots made the mass that was Dao bounce a bit into the air. With a grin from ear to ear, she began hoping up and down on the bed. "GET UP GET UP GET UP!"
Enemies and Allies (Bound to the Abyss Book 3) Page 20