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My eyes burned as we approached the small wooden desk of the tavern. The walls were polished, but the stench of piped tobacco clung to the wood, nonetheless. I could feel the stale aroma soaking into my clothes as Nikolai coughed behind me.
The Piper’s Pub was too fitting of a name. I never stayed at the inn while traveling through Caerth. Its reputation for a poorly stocked bar was enough to have kept me away. But it was also known for being cheap. And where most saw it as an inn for grifters, Gerarda saw it as the most responsible way to spend the Crown’s coin.
I knew this was the only place she’d allow the Shades to stay.
“I don’t need to see your faces, but if you insist on keeping your hoods on then I need payment up front.” A rough voice called from the other side of the desk. I peered over the edge as two brown eyes blinked up at me. The woman’s back was bent with age and her legs shook violently as she stepped up onto a stool, popping her head out from behind the desk.
Nikolai began to laugh, but I pressed my heel into his toe.
“I’m looking for the Shades that have been staying with you,” I told the old woman. Her eyes widened, but then settled onto the silver sword fastened at my neck. In the clouds of smoke, it was the shiniest surface in the room.
“They have yet to return, Mistress.” Her words came out in a quick roll. Her hard voice faded away to a quiet creak.
“Did they say when you should expect them?”
The woman shook her head.
I looked back at Nikolai who shrugged. We would have to wait. Riven would hate it, but the Shades knew me well enough that I wouldn’t chase after them. Especially after a week-long trip through the mountain pass. I couldn’t risk alerting them that anything had changed.
We would have to regroup with Riven in the morning.
“I need two rooms then.” I slid a small pouch of coin across the counter. The woman swiped the bag, quick for her age. “When the Shades arrive, tell them to wait for me down here at first light.”
The woman nodded and passed a key to me and another to Nikolai.
“Shall I send up a flagon of wine?” The woman eyes didn’t meet my own, but instead lingered at the silver blade fastening my cloak.
The heat in my throat reignited and my hand stiffened in a fist around the iron key. It had been days since I took my elixir. My heart hammered hard enough against my chest that I could hear it. There was nothing I wanted more than some wine, but I knew after weeks of abstaining my thirst wouldn’t end with a single flagon.
Nikolai laid a gentle hand on my shoulder and my attention snapped back to the woman and her question.
“That won’t be necessary,” Nikolai said from under his hood.
My throat still burned, but my shoulders relaxed at his words. Before I could think better of it, I dashed up the stairs and into my room. I leaned against the door, pulling at the clasp along my neck. I whipped out the vial of black liquid and placed a thick drop on my tongue.
I heard Nikolai walk up the hall and pause. I closed my eyes, waiting for him to knock, but he never did. Eventually, I heard him unlock the door across the hall and close it behind him. I slumped onto the floor; I’d let Nikolai glimpse my need. He was too observant not to guess, a guess that he would tell Riven.
Maybe he was drafting a message to him at that very moment:Don’t do something stupid...But we’re spending the night. And apparently the Blade has a craving for the Bottle.I could even picture his overly flourished scrawl as he crafted his joke. One that Riven would not find funny at all.
I crawled to the bed and collapsed on top of it. I had no clothes to change into, but I didn’t care. The only thing I saw when I looked up at the pitched roof was Riven’s scowl. The one he’d have when he realized that he’d hitched himself not only to a killer, but a drunk. The thought of it stung deep in my chest.
My mind no longer craved the drink, but my body did. It had been so long since it had faded into that dark oblivion. A place too dark to see the ghosts of those I’d killed. Too cold to feel the sting of that truth.
But that’s all it had ever done. With every bottle I swallowed, I created moments of nothingness, where I could breathe just a little more freely. I had chased those moments for decades, trying to forget who ordered the deaths of those I killed. Forgetting my promise to end the king.
This alliance was the closest I’d ever gotten to achieving it. No flagon was worth risking our chance, no matter how small, to end the king’s reign. We would either succeed and the Halflings would be free, or we would die.
I was fine with either outcome.
NIKOLAI TALKED IN HISsleep. Fortunately for Riven, he didn’t reveal anything interesting. He only mumbled a few words in Elvish every couple of breaths. Though from the words I did catch, he seemed to be having a good time. I kicked his bed and smirked when he jumped, holding the sheet over his bare chest.
He really would be easy to kill. Even the most novice Shade could do it.
“The suns are about to rise,” I said in Elvish. I propped myself on the edge of his bed.
“How did you get in here?” Nikolai asked, pulling off his head wrap.
“I’m the king’s Blade. You don’t think I can pick a lock?” I replied in Elvish again. In truth, I’d come through the window. Sleep had abandoned me well before dawn and I’d decided to watch the stars fade away from the roof. And keep an eye out for the Shades.
