Chapter 9
The small gate closed immediately after I walked in. There was no one behind it, just a long corridor several meters in length. It was made of the same dark wood as the gate, with a ceiling that was too high for me to touch with my outstretched hands. There appeared to be holes all around at regular intervals.
I quickly moved to the other end of the corridor when I realized I had stood there for a few seconds. The gate there unlocked itself as I approached, and slowly opened as the other one had opened. I cautiously crossed it after tying up my pouch and sliding it beneath my pants.
I had walked into what appeared to be a relatively large road, several meters in width, with wooden buildings on both sides of it, and a large building at the end of the road. There, the road seemed to branch left and right at right angles. I could see few people walking to the buildings, some of which had lights already on to combat the approaching night. Indeed, it might have been dusk outside, but due to the relatively high palisade walls, darkness had already begun to set in the town.
Looking back at the gate I had walked from, it was already closed. With no guard in sight. Must have walked away while I was staring at the town. The rest of the gate was as wide as it had been on the outside. The town employed a double gate system. Just how dangerous where things here for such measures to be necessary?
I was finally within a town, but nightfall was already on me. I needed to find myself lodging for the night, or I would be forced to sleep in the street. I didn’t like that thought one a bit. I held my staff tighter and placed my other hand on the dagger tied to my waist. That had been a hard one to get right. The bandit leader had had it in his boots, but the boots themselves were too big for me. Adding the dagger there would have been more trouble for me. Plus, it was closer to my hands at the waist.
I began walking in a leisurely pace. Or as much of a leisurely pace as I could maintain with all the nervous energy coursing through my blood. I didn’t stare too much at the buildings in the main road, I needed out of the way and they wouldn’t offer that. I took the left branch and maintained my pace.
The décor was still the same. Wooden buildings, most two or three stories high, with the single stories being the exceptions. I began paying more attention to my surroundings then, looking for anything that could be a tavern, inn, pub, anything that could possibly offer lodgings for a night. I took turns, two lefts, a right, a left, two rights, and so on. Always on the lookout for any clue.
The darkness got thicker, and the buildings became shabbier and scarier. It was hard to tell whether I had been through a street or not. I could hear my heart beating faster and faster at each turn. A little sweat at my forehead and armpits. Was I holding my staff harder? I couldn’t tell. Every person I saw looked like a bandit to me. All of them big, burly and staring at the place where my pouch rubbed against my leg. I kept telling myself not look at it, not to touch. Maybe I was holding my weapons tighter, maybe to keep my hands from drifting to the pouch.
A close approach by a shadowy figure and I shied away. Its eyes feeling like they had bored through me. My pace quickened as I tried to slow down at the same time. Ending up stumbling for a few seconds. A right, a right and another right. No! If I made another, it would be a circle. But the left turn looked far scarier than I had seen before. But I had to make it. To break through the circle, I had to take it. I steeled myself and took a left.
It was steeped in near darkness, with the end of it the only place with light. To me, it appeared to be a dead end and the lit building a maw waiting to devour me. I had made a mistake. I should have taken the right. I slowed down to take an about turn, when the building’s door opened.
A shadow walked out, big and featureless. It stood by the door for long seconds before walking forward a few steps. Then the door closed, and the shadow disappeared. A short sharp gasp escaped my throat, I could hear my heart beating through my chest. I was so scared I kept walking forward subconsciously. Turning would need thinking, and as I was, the only thought going through my head was my death.
The shadow appeared again momentarily as it took a turn to my left. At first I was relieved, then scared. Thinking that it had gone that way to lay in wait for an ambush. I slowly crossed the road in an arch, avoiding that area as much as I could without going close to the other side. I quickened my pace as I crossed, keeping an eye out to the left.
Then the door opened again and I was steeped in light.
“Hah, yo’ scare me,” a drunken voice said as it stood by the door.
I looked back at the street and saw nothing. Absolutely nothing. It was completely black. Even the hints of light from the corners I had taken were nowhere to be seen. I stepped to the side to let the new figure pass by me. Maybe my height, maybe shorter. And a little skinnier too. As it disappeared into the darkness, I approached the now closed door. But in relief, and a different kind of anxious. I slowly pushed the door open and walked in.
The whole room was dimly yellow-lit. Yes, it was a tavern. Or an inn. I didn’t really care. All I cared about was determining whether they offered lodging. The counter was directly straight ahead, and I bee-lined for it.
The patrons were being too aggressive in their statements. Calling for a girl I couldn’t see, some going so far as telling her that they didn’t mind her ragged clothing. I was just glad I wasn’t a female at that point. I was more than sure I would have opted for the forest if all that was directed at me.
The tender at the counter was black-haired middle-aged woman, heavy on the chest and with a little fat to spare. She had a light yellow skin, but that could be due to the lights used in the establishment. She had her hair tied into a low bun. Her clothes appeared grey too me. Of the ones I could see above the dark-brown counter.
“What can I get you, hun?” she asked as I stood at the counter.
I cleared my throat again to remind myself to speak out loud. But I was disappointed when all I got out was, “Lodging?”
“7 copps communal, a silv single,” she replied as she dried what looked like a glass with a dirt grey napkin.
“Single.”
She took a few steps to her right before I heard the jingling of keys. Then a drawer was pulled open, more rattling and it was closed. She went to give a key to me, but held back at the last moment.
“Payment first,” she said as she extended her left hand. Keeping her right to her. And the key.
I should have expected that. I released my hold on the dagger, which I hadn’t known I was still holding and laid my staff by the counter. It took a lot of fumbling and checking to make sure I got the correct kind of coin. With all the silvers I had, you would think it would be easier to pick a silver.
When I handed it to her, she still held onto the key. I looked back at her questionly as my hands dropped back to their weapons.
“I could throw in a hearty meal for six copps,” she said as she slid the key towards me. It still didn’t make it, forcing me to let go of my dagger and snatch it from the counter.
“No.”
We stared at each other for a few more seconds before she gave me directions for my room. Up the stairs, to the right, third from the stairs. I quickly went for the stairs without looking back at all. The sooner I got out of there, the better.
The stairs were old and worn out. Each step creaking and the wood giving a little. Halfway up, the stairs took a right turn ending near a door. To the right was a corridor that stretch all the way to the back. The rooms were directly above the tavern. I moved through the corridor, counting to the third door on the right and tried the key. It took a few tries before it opened.
Inside, the room was small and lit by the same yellow light. I could see the source at the center of the ceiling, well within reach. Barely enough to fit anything more than a bed. Even the door opened out because there was no room for it open in. The bed was thin, barely wider than my hand was long. On it was a worn out bedding with a noticeable depression in the middle. A brown blanket was folded and placed on one side of the bed. I looked at it, and closed the door as I stood in the corridor.
I locked it with the key and continued down to the end of the corridor. The two doors on either side were closed and locked. I could hear the faint snores coming through one of the wooden doors. I returned to my room defeated and walked in. Locking it after me. I checked under the bed, but there was nothing there. I looked around the room, but still came up empty. I needed to pee, and there was nowhere for me to do that.
I wished I had peed before walking into the city. With how thirsty I felt, I could have stayed the whole night without needing to pee. But I hadn’t, and it had come back to bit me. I considered going back out but decided against it. Not with the tavern so full of patrons.
I inspected the bedding for any visible unwelcome guests and found nothing. I laid supine on it, clutching my staff on my chest and stared at the yellow light. I knew I had trained my body enough not pee while I slept. But I was also afraid that that training had been left with my old body. I stared at the light keenly, trying to figure out how it worked. I wanted to come to the workings without having to ask Clare for the information. After all, I had the whole night to kill. I didn’t think I could sleep with the way my bladder felt. And the noise from down below.
It was easy to stare at it due to its dim light. From what I could see, it was a semispherical thing attached to the ceiling. I wondered how it was turned on and off. I tried saying on and off but they didn’t work. I went to try out, but when I realized I didn’t know what the compliment of that would be, I stopped. I knew it couldn’t be a fire inside a glass like thing. I had already seen glass, so that wasn’t a stretch. But fire would be waving a little. Even with no breeze, fire caused the movement of air around it. But I was in a magical world, maybe the fire didn’t obey those rules. Could it be that it was light? But how would that work? If there was light magic and enchantment, then it was possible. But was there light magic? Or even enchantment?
I blinked my eyes a few times, feeling them gritty from sleepiness. What had I been thinking about? Oh right, the light. What about it? Had it been on when I walked in? Or did it turn on when I opened the door? I couldn’t recall. I had been busy trying to get away from the loud floor below to notice whether or not the light had been on when I opened the door. It felt like the sounds below had gone quiet. When had that happened? I listened carefully, waiting patiently for a few seconds.
They had definitely quieted down. I could hear a few voices, but those were subdued. I must have fallen asleep somehow. I wasn’t feeling the urge to pee anymore and that scared me. I quickly ran one of my hands to my down below and the area beneath. Thankfully, it was still dry.
I slowly got up, using my staff for support as my strength betrayed me. The key was surprisingly still in my hand. I moved to the door and began opening it. And that’s when it hit me.
The strongest urge I had ever felt. So strong that I felt pained race through my down below. It took all my willpower and self-control to stem the flow that threatened to begin. Still, a few drops made it through. I held my staff tighter as I fumbled furiously with the door. Yanking it open when it finally unlocked. I didn’t bother locking it, rushing down the stairs and to the counter.
The tender wasn’t there. I threw a glaze around the room, but only saw unfamiliar faces. Leeching unfamiliar faces. I looked left and right, back up the stairs to no avail. I gave up and decided to relief myself in the streets.
“Leaving already?”
I was grateful to hear her voice. I turned to find her standing at the top of the stairs. Then she began walking down the stairs. Slowly. Way too slowly. I waited at the counter, trying my best not squirm under her gaze. After eons, she finally made it close that I could whisper and she would hear.
“Toilet.” I really needed to learn to create longer sentences. She gave me a look of incomprehension. Then I tried another, “Lavatory?”
That, she understood. She held up a key with her left hand, but pulled it back when I went to snatch it.
“A copp.”
“After?” I asked pleadingly. There was no way I could manage fumbling for a copper with the way I felt. I resolved to just walk out if she refused.
Thankfully, she acceded and gave me the key before adding, “Last door to the left.”
I barely heard her as I walked as fast as I could without comprising my bladder integrity. The walk to the end of the corridor felt like the longest, most torturous one I had ever been to in my whole life. I managed to open the door without fumbling and walked into a mess that would have left me gagging any other time. There were things that should never be illuminated.
I quickly relieved myself without paying too much attention to anything other than were I needed to aim. Peeing all over the place was a low I wouldn’t allow myself. Even in a fantasy. After I was done, I quickly closed the door and made my way to my room.
I slowly retrieved the necessary copper before securing my pouch again into its place. The walk to the counter was free of any torture. And I even smiled at the tender as I returned the key and handed her the copper. Then back to my room and promptly collapsed the moment I hit the bed.
