Thanks to the two ex-soldiers and our faster pace, we reached Redgate in the early afternoon. "Do you know your way around here?" one of them asked, but Cáit just shook her head, "I've been here before, but that was about three years ago, for a day or two in total. So I wouldn't say I know my way around."
"In that case, look for a small tavern on the main square called the 'Puss in Boots'. The owner's name is Jeff and he's an old comrade of ours. Just tell him that Pawel and Piotr sent you,” one of them told us. 
I wasn't really paying attention, but somehow I got the impression that Cáit and the two men looked around and gave each other a worried look before she said, "Thanks, guys. We owe you one."
"Please just take care of yourselves and don't do anything stupid," one of the two smiled, and shortly afterwards they were on their way.

Before we were allowed through the gate into the city, we had to register with the city guard. There, our status screens were briefly checked before one of the guards muttered, "I'm really sorry about all this red tape. However, due to some events in the area over the past few weeks, we have had to increase security in the city a little."
"No worries. You're just doing your job," I said sympathetically, as the whole process took less than five minutes.
"Since you're not a member of the Adventurers' Guild, I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to fill out this form for me," one of the guards said, "It's just a formality, but with all the bandit gangs running around the area at the moment, I'm afraid we need to keep a closer eye on who's travelling into Redgate."
"Let me guess," I said as naively as I could, "The Adventurers' Guild is fully committed to solving these problems and has assigned its most senior members to the task."
The embarrassed silence of the city guards was my answer. 
"Sounds like conditions here are as bad as in Dubstep?" Cáit asked irritably, whereupon one of the guards present broke the silence for a moment, "Let's just say they don't like to get their hands dirty.”
Cáit and I exchanged a quick, amused look. 
"And when they do, they send the newbies," said another, "Their excuse is that it's not lucrative enough for experienced adventurers."
This sounded a lot like my own experience in Dubstep. In this respect, the locations of the Adventurers' Guild didn't really seem to differ from each other. Funnily enough, the idiots underestimated the bounty that could be earned. To change the subject, I simply asked, "The main square is that way, isn't it?"
"Yes. Just keep going down the road. You can't miss it," said the guard.
We said goodbye to the guards and walked along the old cobbled street towards the main square. The houses were similar to those in Dubstep, although some of the facades needed a bit of paint and minor renovations. Other than that, I had the impression that this town was dead and buried. Somehow I had expected a little more than a few isolated merchants trying to sell their wares somehow.

"I don't know why, but somehow I get the feeling that it wasn't just our pursuers that made us travel at such a monkey's pace," Cáit murmured, and I nodded, "Fear of bandits. If I had to guess, I'd say that's why it's dead here too."
"If that is indeed the reason, then the whole area has a huge problem with bandits," Cáit said thoughtfully, "When I was here three years ago, it was almost as busy as the main square in Dubstep. I'd suggest we look for this tavern first and then head straight for Noel. There are likely to be more problems here. My gut feeling is that we should only stay here as long as we need to.”
The tavern was down a small side street - how could it be otherwise when I was travelling with Cáit. She seemed magically drawn to these places.
"Over there in the alley," one of the local merchants pointed in the direction, "But are you two sure you want to go to that dive? It's not exactly the place two young girls should be."
"It was recommended to us, so yes," Cáit grinned, and it was hard to miss that she was already dying to go to this place. But she also seemed to read my annoyed look correctly, because she just grinned broadly at me and said, "It's not my fault this time. I suggest we check it out first. We can always find another place to stay if you are too scared."

Slightly intimidated, I hid behind Cáit as we entered the rather gloomy pub, where we were immediately eyed by a couple of sinister-looking guys.
"Are you sure you're in the right place?" asked a small, elderly man with a moustache, looking at us with a sinister expression. The first thing I noticed was that, unlike in Sussex, we didn't have to listen to any stupid chat-up lines. This was probably due to the fact that most of the men in the room were much older than Cáit and I. While I hid a bit more behind Cáit at the sight of the older man, she seemed completely unimpressed and just grinned cheekily at him, "We're supposed to tell someone called Jeff that Pawel and Piotr sent us here. Until the sun rises in the north..."
"...and sets in the south," some of the men suddenly said and the unbearable tension in the room eased slightly.
"Guys, you can stop scaring the girls and go back to drinking in peace," the old man joked, "I'm Jeff. You're probably looking for a safe place to stay for a few nights?"
"That's right," Cáit nodded, "But a room with a large bed will do for us. We don't need much space. We have business here and will leave the city as soon as possible."
"We can talk about the reasons for your stay later," Jeff said, "The room is twenty-five Yorkies a night. Food is extra, of course. But just a heads up - as my food is inedible, this place only serves alcohol as a precaution," Jeff laughed and I just shrugged, "I trust you'll manage to get me a cup of coffee for breakfast without giving me food poisoning."
"Whiskey makes his coffee taste good. Without it, the brew is undrinkable," one of the boys shouted in amusement, but Jeff silenced him with a harsh hand gesture.
"Room number 3. It's the only one with its own bathroom. Think of it as a girl bonus," Jeff said, holding out a key, "And since the town isn't overrun with visitors at the moment, you can stay as long as you like. We'll just settle up every day at breakfast."
"Stop pretending that this rat hole sees a lot of visitors," said one of the guests, "Even if this town was busier, you'd hardly have any overnight guests here. Most visitors prefer these clean hostels with nice receptionists - not a dive run by a grumpy old bastard who looks like he's going to kill them any minute".
"I can't help the way my face looks either," Jeff said in a grim voice before the whole pack started laughing. 
Meanwhile, Cáit had had a look at the menu and asked me, "Fancy some food poisoning? Because I'd like a burger."
"Whatever," I muttered, "If it comes to the worst, I'm sure there are some potions here that will cure us."
"Girls, I was just messing with you. I'm a brilliant cook," Jeff grinned, "Two burgers? With fries? If you're back in 15 minutes, your food will be ready."

Jeff didn't seem interested in showing us our room, so we just went upstairs ourselves and quickly found the door with a big three on it. The room was as shabby as the rest of the tavern, but you could see that Jeff or someone else paid attention to the little details, as there were pictures and other dust catchers everywhere. 
"Do you think he chose these decorations himself?" I giggled as I took a closer look at the room, but Cáit shook her head, "You don't believe that yourself, do you?"
"You're probably right," I grinned, "But at least the room has more character than that boring almost empty room in Sussex."
"And the bed is big and looks comfortable," Cáit nodded before we quickly threw the things we didn't need out of our packs.
"By the way, you have to do me a favour," Cáit said before we were going back downstairs, "From now on you have to keep your walking stick with you at all times. No fucks given - just do as I say."
Something about the way Cáit spoke to me made me realise that I shouldn't contradict her. So I quickly retrieved my shillelagh from my item bag. Only then did I notice that she had already strapped a couple of grenades to her belt.

"Just grab one of the empty tables," Jeff said as we returned downstairs, and shortly after we were seated he served us our meal, which at first glance looked simple and boring. 
"We forgot to order drinks," Cáit mused, "Do you really have nothing non-alcoholic to serve?"
Jeff muttered, "Water. Nothing else."
I thought Jeff was joking when he told us earlier that only alcohol was served here, but apparently that wasn't the case.
"Just water for me then," Cáit said, but when she saw Jeff's suffering grimace she flashed a small flame in her hand and added, "I don't think you want me to burn the place down because I'm drunk."
"That wouldn't be so great," Jeff smirked. 
I'd never paid much attention to the whole thing before, but I realised then that I'd never seen Cáit drink alcohol - apart from the small amount of high percentage stuff in her home-brewed potions. 
"You can bring me a beer," I said quickly, "I don't want us both to disappoint you." 
Cáit stuck her tongue out at me for a moment before she began to giggle, "Trust me. Sometimes I wish I had boring abilities. But then I remember that I just have too much fun blowing things up."
Shaking his head, Jeff went back behind his bar to prepare our drinks, and when he returned I asked him straight away, "Can you tell us where we can find this address here in Redgate? We need to get there as soon as possible."
"Not today anymore," Jeff replied sternly, "One of the boys will take you there in the morning."
"Erm. Right. But it's really enough if we get directions. We can go there on our own," I looked at Jeff a little irritated.

Suddenly he took one of the empty chairs and sat down with us, "Tell me, girl. Why did you come to this place?"
"Because Pawel and Piotr told us to come to your tavern," I replied seriously, and Jeff shook his head, "I guess - a guild newbie?"
"Yes," Cáit chuckled, "I forgot to explain it to Em. To be honest, I didn't think I'd ever have to, because in four years I've never been in a situation where I had to use any of the secret phrases."
"That explains a lot, of course," Jeff said surprisingly warmly, and when he noticed my confusion he began to patiently explain, "Unfortunately, the Adventurers' Guild doesn't always do its job reliably, so the smaller guilds in Yorkchester and some other groups have agreed to work together on a certain level, no questions asked, and have developed some subtle phrases for emergency communication."
"You heard one of those phrases already," Cáit smiled, "I hope you know that the sun doesn't rise in the North."
I'd noticed the error back in Sussex, but hadn't thought anything of it until now. Jeff went on to explain, "We are one of the groups that signed this agreement. Although the ‘Puss in Boots’ is open to the public, it's actually a collection point for discarded and former soldiers who occasionally do odd jobs for a bit of money - although the crowds are limited, it's common knowledge in the town that most of us have been discharged for indiscipline."
"Undisciplined or not. Given the choice between asking the Adventurers' Guild for help or some strangers, I would always prefer your company," I muttered, making Jeff smile briefly, "Everyone here can understand that. Even though most of us could use the money, we've refused to join the Adventurers' Guild for years because we don't like the direction they're taking."
Cáit then explained to Jeff what the emergency was and he just nodded, "Hopefully we've an agreement that you won't be going out today anymore. We'll let your trail get a bit cold first and then we'll see tomorrow."
I hesitated a little, but Cáit nodded and looked deep into my eyes, "Trust me. It's better this way. You would be distracted and nervously scanning the area all the time. And even worse, you'd blame yourself if something unforeseen happened again because we were careless and ignoring the possible thread."
In a way, Cáit probably knew me better than I thought, so I mumbled meekly, "Yeah. Whatever."

"I suggest we eat now and then we'll find something to do for the rest of the day. And no - getting drunk is out of the question. At least for me," Cáit smiled encouragingly at me.
"And in the meantime I'll send one of the boys out to get some information from the guards," Jeff muttered, "With any luck the inspection will have lasted long enough for them to lose sight of you for the time being."
"Or they were adventurers," I muttered, "then they could have got through the checkpoint relatively quickly. And we weren't exactly in a hurry to get to the main square."
"If that's the case, at least they're smart enough not to blindly follow you into a run-down tavern," Jeff grinned, "That would at least rule out the possibility of low-ranking adventurers following you."
It was obvious that I was anything but happy about the situation, so Jeff tried to reassure me, "I promise you'll be safe here. And in the morning we'll decide what to do next."