K. Taylor - The Shadow's heir

“’Scuse me. .”

The woman looked at her. “What d’ye want?”

“I was hopin’ t’find an inn or somethin’ like it around here,” said Laela. “I ain’t been here long, an’ I need somewhere t’stay.”

A suspicious glare. “Where did ye get that accent?”

“Dunno. Found it lyin’ around somewhere,” said Laela, trying to sound nice and light-hearted though the woman’s unfriendly tones weren’t helping. “Look, can yeh help me? I’m in a hurry.”

“Try the south end,” the woman said briefly, and went on her way.

Laela glared at her back. “Hope that didn’t cost yeh life savin’s or nothin’, yeh bitch.”

Lacking anything but these brief directions, she headed in what she hoped was a southward direction. The streets darkened as the sun sank lower, and although the city guard were lighting the lamps, it had the effect of making the shadows that much deeper and gloomier.

Laela, beginning to feel nervous, sped up. Eventually, after much wandering around and with her belongings chafing painfully on her shoulders, she did come across a public building of some kind. She couldn’t read the sign over the entrance, but light and loud, cheerful voices spilled out of the windows, drawing her toward it.

The door was open, so she peered through. Her heart leapt. A tavern!

She strode in, ignoring the curious stares from the almost exclusively male customers. At the bar, a young and not exactly overdressed Northern woman was serving drinks.

Laela walked up and leant on the bar. “Oi. You.”

The barmaid shoved a mug of beer down the benchtop toward a customer. “What’ll it be?”

“I’m lookin’ to find a room,” Laela said, raising her voice over the chatter. “D’yeh have one here?”

The barmaid looked slightly puzzled. “Ye’re lookin’ for a place t’stay, is that it?”

Laela opened her mouth to reply, and shut it again as a chorus of shouts and clinking mugs from behind her drowned her out. “Yeah, I’m lookin’ t’spend the night somewhere,” she said rather irritably. “Have yeh got anythin’?”

The barmaid only increased Laela’s bad temper by taking a moment to sell several more drinks. Laela waited and growled under her breath until the woman’s attention was on her again.

“Sorry, love, what was that?”

“I said-” Another uproar from behind her. “I said , do yeh have any rooms here where I could spend the night?” said Laela. “I can pay.”

The barmaid gave her a look. “How old are ye, girl?”

“Nineteen,” said Laela. “Can yeh just answer me?”

There was a long pause, while the woman gave her a long, slow look. Then she put down the mug she was trying to clean and leant down toward her. “What sort of place d’ye think this is?” she asked kindly. “Does this look like an inn?”

Laela glanced around. The place was full of tables, and there were men everywhere, drinking and laughing among themselves. The few women were dotted around the room, some of them sitting in laps or pausing to caress a face.

She looked back at the barmaid. “Well, there’re men drinkin’ here, ain’t there?”

The barmaid laughed. “Well, yeah. We don’t get that many women here. Most of the girls what come here are lookin’ for a job, not a drink.”

“What does that have t’do with anythin’?” Laela snapped. “D’yeh have a room or not?”

“We got a few, upstairs,” said the barmaid, going back to her cleaning. “But I don’t think ye’d want t’stay in any of ’em. Pretty noisy up there, if ye get my drift. Them rooms sees a lot of use.”

Laela frowned. “What are yeh talkin’ about?”

“Good gods.” The barmaid wiped a grimy arm over her forehead. “Where’ve ye been livin’ all this time-under a rock?”

“I ain’t from around here,” said Laela, still thoroughly mystified.

“This ain’t an inn,” said the barmaid.

Laela turned to look at the clientele, and the scantily dressed young women walking among them. Realisation finally dawned.

“Oh, holy. .”

She almost ran out, her ears ringing with raucous laughter and lewd comments hurled at her, face burning with humiliation.

Outside, she flattened herself against a wall and breathed deeply. Then she let it out again in a string of swear-words. Her foster father had known plenty of curses and had never been shy about using them, but just now they seemed hopelessly inadequate.

She rubbed a hand over her face-it was actually as hot as it felt. Gods damn it. She swore some more, and then dusted herself down and walked away as quickly as she could.

Well, how was I supposed t’know? she thought furiously. I couldn’t read the damned sign. I was too tired t’notice. .

It didn’t make her feel any less of an idiot.

She stopped on the corner of the street to wipe the sweat off her forehead. It was completely dark now; how was she supposed to find anything in this twice-damned city?

A hand touched her shoulder. “Lost, are ye?”

Laela turned and saw a couple of men. “Yeah,” she said cautiously. “A bit. I’m lookin’ for a place t’stay.”

They glanced at each other. “Ye could stay with us,” said one.

His breath stank of beer. Laela tried not to gag. “No thanks. If ye know where there’s an inn or somethin’, though. .”

“We know a good one,” said the other man.

“Yeah,” said his friend. He hadn’t taken his hand off Laela’s arm. “C’mon, we can show ye.”

Laela tried to pull away from him as politely as possible. “Just tell me where t’go, an’ I can find it myself.”

“Oh, c’mon,” said the other, somehow managing to get behind her without seeming to move at all. “We’re all right; just a couple of friends lookin’ t’help a nice young lady like yerself. Nothin’ t’worry about.”

Laela didn’t trust them in the least. “All right then,” she said, deciding to play along for the time being.

They led her away up the street, keeping uncomfortably close. Laela had the feeling that they were ready to grab her arms if she tried to run. Her heart beat fast. But she didn’t want to risk making them angry-they were obviously drunk, and besides, maybe they were just being overfriendly.

She walked as quickly as she could, hoping to outpace them. They sped up, too, not moving away.

“Could yeh move back a bit?” she said at last. “Yer kinda crowdin’ me.”

“Oh, we’re sorry,” said one. “We din’t mean t’scare ye, girl. We’re just makin’ sure ye keep safe, like. Wouldn’t want anythin’ t’happen to ye.”

His friend sniggered.

The instant Laela heard it, she snapped. Without a sound, she twisted away from them and ran.

After her first mad dash, she began to look at where she was going, hoping to find somewhere she could lose them. But the crowds had thinned out by now.

And they were chasing her. She could hear their pounding footsteps behind her. Her heart pounded, too, as if it were trying to keep pace with the sound.

She sped up and darted away in a random direction, searching now for a place to hide. But the two men were fit and strong, and she was exhausted after days of long travel and too little sleep. They were gaining on her.

Finally, unable to run any further, she ducked into an alleyway and huddled into a shadow, hoping they would miss her.

She kept as still as she could, scarcely breathing, offering up a silent prayer to Gryphus that he would keep her safe, stop them from seeing her. .

For a few moments, nothing happened, and she began to think that maybe she had escaped.

“Where are ye, miss?”

The voice came drifting down the alley toward her, full of hateful confidence. Laela felt her stomach twist. She started to edge her way toward the end of the alley, but it was too late.