Chapter 11 - 10: The Inn
Chapter 10: The Inn
Kael tries to find a place to stay. Even though it was daytime, he was very tired.
The city sprawled around him, a labyrinth of noise and color. Merchants shouted, children dashed between carts, and the occasional armored patrol clanked past, their eyes sharp for trouble. Kael kept his head down, his hands in his pockets, fingers brushing the pouch of coppers.
Then he saw it.
Tucked between a blacksmith’s roaring furnace and a dimly lit apothecary, a wooden sign creaked in the breeze. A rusted lantern swung beneath it, the glass panes smudged with soot. The words beneath were carved in rough, uneven letters:
THE RUSTY LANTERN INN
Cheap. Probably dirty. Perfect.
Kael pushed open the door.
The air inside was thick with the smell of ale, roasted meat, and the faint— something— of burned wood. A hearth crackled in the corner, casting flickering light over a scattering of wooden tables. Most were occupied—rough-looking men in leather tunics, a pair of women in travel-stained cloaks, a lone figure hunched over a bowl of stew, their face hidden beneath a hood.
At the far end of the room, a broad-shouldered man leaned against a counter, polishing a tankard with a rag. His beard was streaked with gray, his nose crooked from at least one break. The innkeeper, no doubt.
Kael approached, keeping his steps casual.