Tater said, “I can ride.”
We all faced Elizabeth. She said, “Get the horses.”
Tater took the lead, again, to my surprise. However, I took the drag position in line, where it was easy to keep an eye on the women. A bow remained in my left hand, and arrow in my right for the entire night. Sleep could wait. My mind didn’t linger on the dead husk the mage had enchanted or reincarnated. No, it kept going back to his words before he attacked us.
He had been trying to gain admission or reaction from me that would convince him of who the Dragon Queen was, wishing it was Kendra. He used shock to draw her out. When that hadn’t worked, he had tried providing information to make her identify herself, or one of us to look her way. What the blue at his fingers was intended to do, I have no idea, but not kill. He didn’t seem to want to kill her, or he would have used his powers to drop a tree on all of us, cause a landslide, call the bears to attack, or freeze us in place and slit all our throats.
Stata also said there were six mages waiting for her at Mercia and more on the way. Three were from Dire so where had the others come from? How would they know their prey?
Those questions took me to others. Who offered the reward they hoped to claim? Why were they so concerned with a woman called the Dragon Queen? They seemed to know what she could do, and they feared her, so had there been another of her kind in times past?
Near daybreak, one set of facts were self-evident. Those waiting in Mercia knew her. They probably that she was my sister, and when she was arriving. They were waiting, the mages and others to do her harm. Some of the spirits might know when she arrived by the depletion of the essence. However, it was clear those enemies were massed and working together.
Therefore, she could not go there.
And I couldn’t yet explain to Elizabeth why.
The bow was still in my hand when the trail dipped onto level ground and turned into a dirt road. Ahead, and to either side, were farms, plowed fields, even at the early hour, lights glowed in the windows. A herd of goats crowded a fence to watch us ride past. Dogs barked. Farmers looked up from their dawn-work, and a few waved before continuing with their tasks. It all seemed so normal.
A cluster of faded wooden buildings stood ahead, perhaps twenty in all. They gave the town a grayish appearance in the morning sun. There were only a few people in sight, two women hoeing a garden and a man chopping firewood. The sounds of his ax rang in the still, foggy air.
Kendra and Elizabeth now rode side by side, with the pack horse trailing behind Kendra. Tater was in front, but if the advanced swaying of his body was any indication, he needed to stop and rest soon.
We assumed the store was in the village ahead, but it might be in the next. We attracted no undue attention as we entered the edge of the village. A faded and paint-worn sign of a fat cow gently swayed over a door. A plaque said simply, Inn. A narrow alley beside the inn went to a stable where a boy of ten greeted us.
He agreed to feed and water our horses but to keep them saddled while we went inside. The rear door took us into the main room where long tables and mismatched chairs held no patrons. A small fire burned. We sat and waited. Finally, Tater called out, “Hey, you got customers out here.”
A short chubby man with hair to his shoulders but a clean face appeared. His cheeks were red, his smile quick. “Help you?”
Elizabeth spoke for all of us. “We’ll see. If an inn has no customers, I wonder why? Is the fare so poor people go elsewhere?”
He shrugged. “If the town has no travelers passing through, the best inn in the kingdom goes empty. That is what you have found.”
Rebuked, in a friendly manner, Elizabeth said, “Have you food enough for the four of us?”
The innkeeper maintained his smile and replied, “Well, since nobody else has eaten it, there is more than enough.”
She said, “What do you have, is it any good, and how long must we wait?”
As for me, who had not eaten a full meal in two days, I’d have gnawed on an old corncob if he slathered a little butter on it. Turning to the kitchen door, he said, “Let me see what I can do.”
He returned with a platter of small bread rolls, each with a hard crust and soft inside. On the tray were butter and honey. He spun again and returned instantly with four mugs and a pitcher of milk that was still warm. He said, “Eggs and slices of ham will be here quick enough, but I sensed you might like the bread and milk while waiting.”
“I like this place,” I said between mouthfuls.
Tater’s eyes were drooping despite the bread he shoveled into his mouth. When the innkeeper returned with the eggs and ham, Elizabeth motioned for him to sit with us. He tentatively did, obviously thinking something was wrong. It was a position I’d found myself in many times with her.
“Where is the nearest store?”
His cheerful look faltered. “It didn’t come from me if you please but pass on the nearest and go to another.”
“Where is it?” she persisted.
“Dayton. Down the road. Not far.”
“And why should we shop at another?”
“The owner will cheat you. There are stories of people traveling who shop there and are soon attacked by highwaymen. They might be connected, I wouldn’t know or say.”
Elizabeth said, “How much do you charge for a night’s lodging?”
“Quarter copper per person. Includes one meal, morning or evening, your choice.”
She held up a single silver coin, a hundred times as much. The color faded from his face as he shook his head, refusing to deal with a coin of such great value. She said, “We will sleep after eating, but only until midday. We will not be disturbed. Our horses will be well cared for, and you will have the noon meal ready for us when you wake us. There will be no other customers until we depart.”
She placed the coin on the table and used a single finger to push it to him. He used his whole hand to push it back as if it was hot. He muttered, “Too much.”
She didn’t touch the coin. I calculated quickly. At a quarter copper per person to stay at the inn, the silver coin paid for about two-hundred-fifty nights. She said, “No other patron until we depart, and keep it quiet down here. No banging of pans and such. Now, please show us to the rooms.”
They were tiny, wide enough to touch either wall and barely long enough to lie down. But there was fresh straw and the bedding clean. I was asleep instantly, but not before hearing snores from another room. I hoped it was Tater and not one of the women.
The innkeeper touched my foot with his toe. I climbed to my feet, still tired, but also smelling food more wonderful than in the king’s own kitchens. We gathered at the same table where a pot of stew bubbled, fresh loaves of bread waited, and more warm milk. He offered ale or wine, and we all refused. Milk was what we wanted.
The innkeeper came to our table and asked if there was any other need. After we assured him we were content, he said, “Yer going to that store in Dayton?”
“We are,” Elizabeth told him.
“You will naturally want to be wary of the big one, but it’s the little one that really runs the place. Be careful of him and don’t turn your back. He’s a killer.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
After our rest and meals, we were ready to ride. The road to Dayton was empty of horses or people walking, but most people rarely, if ever, travel. There were serfs and freemen in the palace who had never been outside the stone walls, birth to death. The travel that most experienced was from a farm to a market to sell their produce, and back.