Part 11 (1/2)
The horses hadn't been taken very far, and once we were back on the road with my miniature sun doused, I discovered that the line of march had been s.h.i.+fted without anyone saying a word. Su was still out front with a ner- vous, tired Soffann Dra beside her, but the men had rearranged themselves so that Zail rode to my right, Kadrim behind me. and fearless leader to my left. I didn't like the new arrangement and tried to talk mem out of it, but they were all too busy looking in seven directions at once to listen to me. Even Su had muttered something about al- most losing me because she hadn't been bright enough to follow the trail to the inn rather than the trail that was taking us to the balance stone; the two were supposed to have been the same, and would have been if we'd gone on to the, real inn. At that point I discovered I was too tired to continue me argument for that day, and simply saved my strength for any further emergencies.
Happily, all emergencies proved to have retired for the night. Another half hour^s riding brought us to the place we should have reached the first time, and my companions were faintly upset to see that it looked exactly like the inn mat had been reproduced for us back in the woods, right down to the three boys who came running out to see to our horses. I, myself, took a good long look at the place before dismounting, and immediately Saw why the trap had been set at the duplicate.
”Take it slow until we've checked this place out, Laciel,”
Zail fussed at me as I handed over me reins of my gray men turned toward the house. ”We don't know what can be waiting for us inside.”
”There's nothing to worry about here, Zail,” I said with a sigh, stopping because of the hand on my shoulder.
”They couldn't set the trap here because Graythor warded
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this place, with a spell to keep out anyone with evil intentions. Considering some of the people who usually ride this road on a regular basis, we might even find the place empty.”
That seemed to settle them down a bit, but it was still Kadrim and fearless leader who walked into the house first, their right hands loose and ready. The big room held about five people aside from the serving girl and the innkeeper, and none of them looked familiar including the last two. The girl was small and blond and tired-looking, and the innkeeper was tall and lean with a long, unhappy face. Our sudden, group appearance made him uneasy, but mat disappeared quickly enough when Rikkan Addis stepped forward and threw three gold coins on the bar.
”We need meals and lodgings for the night,” he told the suddenly happier innkeeper, watching as the man made me coins disappear with a single movement of his hand.
”For the food we'll take the best you have, but for sleep- ing we want one of your dormitory rooms. Our group will be staying together, but alone; if there's anybody already in the room, clear them out.”
”Just a minute,” I said as the innkeeper began nodding in surprised but nevertheless eager agreement, moving past Kadriro to get to the bar. ”I don't care what the rest of you do, but 1*11 be sleeping in a private room tonight. Crowds tend to keep me awake.”
”You can't be guarded as easily in a private room as you can be in a dormitory,” Rikkan Addis said with a touch of annoyance, looking down at me with those eyes again. ”As long as I'm me one with the gold, we'll do things my way.”
”Then isn't it lucky for me that I can afford to pay my own way?” I remarked, opening my hand to show the three gold coins I'd just produced before handing them over to the innkeeper. ”As far as being guarded goes, I've already told you that this place is safe. If you're in the mood to ruin what will probably be everyone's last decent night's sleep just to play fearless leader, don't try to count me in on it. Tonight I make up for what I missed last night. Give me my key.”
The last of my words were for the innkeeper, who had a
8?.
THE FAR SIDE Of FOREVER
key in my outstretched hand before the final syllable died away. He hadn't missed the fact that there hadn't been any gold in my hand when I'd first walked over, and knew exactly what that meant. If his odd new guest was about to get into an argument with a sorceress, he wanted no part of it.
But his odd new guest apparently decided against an argument with a sorceress; I was able to leave the main room with nothing but silence following me, find the stairs leading upward, then locate the room that matched the number on my key. The room was dark when I opened the door, but a snap of my fingers brought the lamp to life, dimly illuminating a small, not particularly neat and clean box that had a bed and a chair and one window, and nothing else. The patch-quilt on the bed was faded, the linen was more yellow than white, and the greasy brown chair had one leg snorter than the others; nevertheless I closed and locked the door behind me, threw the key on the chair, then sat down on the bed.
”You still haven't learned to follow orders very well, have you?” a voice asked, a voice I'd been half expect- ing to hear. I looked up to see Graythor's image sitting on the chair, paying no mind, of^course, to the key it wasn't really sitting on. It was his true image that he had sent, and his dark eyes were staring straight at me.
”I had the feeling you were watching, checking to see how well we could take care of ourselves,” I said, making no attempt to avoid his gaze. ”Did we pa.s.s?”
”You've had no real opposition yet and you know it,”
he came back, his voice as even and undisturbed as it had been. ”We'll find out what you're all made of once you get a little farther down the trail.”
”Why didn't you stop it?” I demanded, too tired to play any more word games. ”You were there at the replicate inn, 1 know you were! Why didn't you stop the h.e.l.lfire?”