A Questionable Quest

Chapter 16... in which I unintentionally terrorize a village

Much to my disappointment, we didn't jump.

We'd climbed. Like the boring, predictable adventurers we were.

Ugh.

Then, once we'd been safely on the ground, we made our way back to the path and followed it for the five-or-so miles it took to reach the village I'd spotted.

(I would have called it a town, of course, for its bell tower and stone shop-fronts, but I'd never actually bothered to learn the difference between a town and a village. When I asked, Van didn't know either.)

(Plus, 'village' sounds more adventurous.)

Once in the village, we located the first inn, hid Dero in our near-empty food pack, and rented two available rooms. Unlike the tavern nearer the palace, few people had recognised Van as more than a simple knight, and my pant-legged attire was much more unusual compared to the other women wandering the streets.

All in all, it was a rather anticlimactic end to a rather climactic day.

"Two rooms, with a bed each, if you please," Van was saying to the innkeeper, while I wrestled with Dero silently. (He wanted to poke his head out of the top of the bag, but I didn't think the innkeeper would take well to bringing a dragon into his institution.)

Then, a lot of really boring things happened, in quick succession.

First, the innkeeper explained that they were all booked up (with the Midsummer Festival approaching, apparently every inn for about a hundred miles was filled), and recommended the tavern. Then, a surly-looking old woman in the corner pointed at my bag (where Dero had popped his head out again) and shrieked. Then, with some very angry words and a lot of pushing, Van and I were forced out onto the street. The door closed behind us with a definitive slam.

Oh, and I made strangely awkward eye contact with a person sitting by the door. (He was slouching so his mop of dark black hair fell over his dark blue eyes, and he couldn't have been any younger than I was.) (I had a feeling he would be important, otherwise I wouldn't have bothered remembering what he looked like.)

Van and I looked at each other, speechless. Within nearly twenty seconds, we'd been effectively and efficiently expelled from the inn. Well, first declined, and then expelled.

I fought the urge to laugh. Van grinned.

"Well."

"Indeed."

"So..." I paused. "Should we go find that tavern?"

Van nodded. Dero pushed his head out of the bag once more. I pushed it back down. He popped back up, with an indignant squeak! Van watched the scene, and then blew out a breath. "Let me get Jester, and then we can find that tavern." He moved a total of two steps before turning back. "And you should figure out a way to keep him in there before we enter the tavern."

"In my defense," I called after the prince's retreating back, "this bag was your idea!"

"No it wasn't!" he shot back over his shoulder.

I harrumphed.

"Is he a knight," said a male voice from behind me, "Or a prince?"

I spun on my heel, so fast that I nearly toppled over. As it was, I did manage to kick into one of Van's bags which lay at my feet. It clinked.

The man from inside -- with the mop of black hair and the slounch -- leaned casually against the tavern door. I hadn't even heard him leave the building (which was saying something, considering the door had creeaaaaked as loudly as Portsburring's front gates when we'd been pushed out).