“Seems I chose wisely, then,” Sean grinned.
“Not really. Now you have to put up with Gert,” Jay snorted.
“We have company, tone it down,” Bill sighed. “Fifty years and they still act like damn kids.”
“And you’re still not my dad,” Gert snapped, “so mind yourself.”
“What variant are you playing?” Sean asked, hoping to find out more about the game without being pegged as an Outsider.
“No variant, just plain old Knuckles,” Bill said.
“Ah, I thought you were playing something a bit more complex,” Sean said as if he understood.
“We’re too old to try keeping up with whatever nonsense the Lords come up with every year,” Jay said.
“Ain’t that the truth,” Gert agreed. “I watched them playing Bones once, where the lowest toss was the winner. What is the point of that?”
“Who knows what the Lords think?” Bill shook his head as he collected the dice and placed them in the cup. “Now let’s see if our guest can bring me luck for the Quadital drop.”
“Get real,” Gert laughed as Bill shook the cup before upending it on the table.
“It seems no such luck today,” Bill chuckled. “Still, five eyes are a damn good drop. I’ll stay with that.”
Jay picked up the cup and dice, and began to rattle them around. “I would say so; five anything is hard to beat.”
After a few rounds of the game, Sean thought he’d figured out the rules. It was close to Yahtzee, except that each game was a single round, with the best hand taking the pot. They could reroll any number of dice once before their turn was over. Oddly, it wasn’t five sixes that were the best hand possible, but five fives.
Making a note to ask Fiona about that later, he just watched them play and ordered them all a second round. Almost an hour after he came downstairs, the inn began to fill as the sun sank below the horizon.
“Well, it looks like the night has come,” Bill said as he gathered up the cup and dice, stowing them in his pouch. “It was good to meet you, Sean. We’ll see you here tomorrow, if you’re still about.” The other two drained their mugs and stood, agreeing with Bill.
“Leaving before dinner?” Sean asked.
“Oh yes. The night crowd can get a little rowdier than we care for, and each of us has dinner waiting for us at home.” Bill clapped a hand to Sean’s shoulder, “If you’re game tomorrow, you can join us.”
“I’ll be heading out early tomorrow to make it back to the village,” Sean said, standing and shaking hands with the others. “If I make it back this way again, I’ll make it a point to stop by and say hi.”
“Fair enough,” Bill said. “I take it you’re down south, with Darragh?”
“Yup, it’s slowly building into a fine village,” Sean said.
“I hear he has more than a few unusual ones with him,” Gert said.
“A few,” Sean agreed, “but they’re better people than others I’ve met.”
“Isn’t that always the way?” Jay nodded. “Good travels to you tomorrow, then.”
“Good travels,” Gert agreed as he and Jay headed for the door.
“Safe travels,” Bill added, following the other two.
Sean smiled as he watched them go. The three men had been some of the most normal people he’d met so far in this world. They reminded him of the old army buddies his father had over for poker when he was little.
The bar was filling up, so Sean shifted to a smaller table, freeing the larger for others. When he’d gotten settled, Matilda came over to see if he wanted another mug. “Maybe something a little less potent this time?” Sean asked.
“The light ale it is,” Matilda said as she walked through the growing crowd to get other orders.
Chapter Twenty-five
By the time Matilda brought Sean’s ale, the seat across from him was the only empty one in the room. She walked away before Sean could thank her, her tray full of drinks for other tables.
The light ale was even sweeter than the dark had been, tasting of pears instead of blackberries. His internal musings over the ale were cut short when the room went quiet. Looking up, he saw Fiona at the bottom of the stairs, and the center of attention. Quickly taking in the dropping temperature of the room, Sean raised his hand. “Over here, Fiona,” he called out in a clear tone.
When she started toward him, all eyes left her and turned to Sean. She took the seat with a weak smile. “Thank you.”
“Never leave a woman in distress, my dad always told me,” Sean said. “What are you going to have?”
“Probably mead,” Fiona said as she looked at his mug. “I hope you haven’t had too many.”
“Less than a handful. The light ale is much lighter than the dark.”
A sardonic smile came to her lips, “Really?”
“Words are hard,” Sean sighed, earning him a giggle from Fiona.
Conversation began to pick back up around them, letting both of them breathe a little easier. Not long after that, an overly endowed waitress came over to the table. “Are you ready for dinner, and can I get you a drink?”
Sean looked over, directly at the expanse of freckled skin on display, scant inches away. He blinked and looked away, feeling his cheeks burning. -That-is the outfit I expected to see, Sean coughed internally. Caught up in his thoughts, he missed what Fiona said. He looked up to find both of them staring at him. “Err…”
“I asked if you were ready for food,” Fiona said again, noting his coloring cheeks.
“Yes,” Sean managed, keeping his eyes on Fiona. “As well as another light ale, please.”
“Two dinners, one mead and one light ale. I’ll be right back,” the waitress said as she swayed away from the table, dodging a number of reaching hands from other tables as she went.
“You like them chesty, do you?” Fiona asked.
“I wasn’t expecting so much skin, is all,” Sean said, looking into his mug. “The maid earlier wasn’t flaunting what she had.”
“Of course she wouldn’t. That is not in the nature of her bloodline,” Fiona told him. “The waitress, though, is Life Bonded, and probably wears the outfit to advertise other services that Gosrek charges heavily for.”
“She’s a whore?” Sean blinked, having half expected it, but still taken by surprise.
“She’ll have sex with whoever pays the price that Gosrek sets. It happens. It’s a reason to be aware of who you Bond to, especially a Life Bond. The Holder can have you do anything; you give them your soul, after all.”
“Okay, no Life Bonding for me,” Sean said.
The waitress returned, setting down their drinks. “Food will be out in a moment.”
“Thanks,” Sean said, meeting the nearly lifeless eyes of the waitress. As she walked away, Sean sucked at his teeth. “She hates her life.”
“Who can blame her?” Fiona said softly. “Look at the table near the door.”
When Sean spotted the table of obese men all leering at the waitress, he shuddered. “Exactly,” Fiona continued, “she’ll end up with one, or more, of them—if they pay Gosrek for her time. Who would want that life? For her to end up here, something terrible must have happened. Either a debt too large to pay off, or perhaps something similar.”
“Shit,” Sean muttered as he finished off his mug. “The more I learn, the more I wonder why I’m even here.”
“I’m glad you are,” Fiona said quietly, sipping her mug.
“I’m glad to have met you, and happier still you’re helping me learn. I’m just not sure if I’ll be able to adjust to what this world is and how it works.”
“I’ll help as much as I can,” Fiona said, placing her hand on the table.
Covering her hand with his, Sean smiled. “Then I’m in good hands. With you helping me, I’m sure things will work out.”
“Your food,” the waitress placed two platters before them, her tone cold.
Glancing at the waitress, he found her eyes locked on their han
ds. “I’m sorry,” Sean said sincerely. “I wish I could help.”
Eyes snapping to his and seeing only honesty, the waitress looked away. “There’s no help for me now. Even though she’s Shamed, she still has someone who actually cares for her…” Touching the band on her neck, the waitress let the sentence fade. “Is there anything else I can get you?”
“No,” Fiona said softly. “I do hope Gosrek charges heavily for you, at least, to keep most of them at bay.”
“It depends on the week,” the waitress sighed, but gave them both a nod. “If either of you wishes anything, please tell me.” Walking off before they could respond, the waitress deftly avoided more hands on her way back to the bar.
“Poor girl,” Fiona said as she looked at the meal.
“Life is full of hard choices and worse outcomes, it seems,” Sean agreed.
The platters had pieces of cubed meat and mashed potatoes covered with gravy, as well as small, still steaming, green shoots. The meat and potatoes were about what he expected, though the gravy was thicker and had a bitter note that enhanced the meat and potatoes. The green shoots turned out to be something he hadn’t encountered before. Crunchy and firm, they vaguely reminded him of snow peas, but the flavor was a mixture of asparagus and honey dew. Pushing the veggies to the side, he made a face at them.
“You don’t like aspon?” Fiona asked as she watched him.
“Tastes awful,” Sean said. “Do you want them?”
“I’ll take them,” Fiona smiled as she edged her plate next to his.
The rest of the meal was eaten in silence. Sean was listening to the surrounding conversations, but other than the occasional comment about Fiona, nothing of note was said. Sean idly noted the other two buxom waitresses that had appeared during dinner. The trio of servers with black bands on their necks had their work cut out for them, avoiding the roaming hands of the patrons.
Sipping the last of his ale while Fiona polished off the last of her food, Sean caught a commotion starting by the doors. A trio of rough looking men were scowling as they looked around the room, one of them arguing with a server. Frowning at the idiots, Sean was about to look away when the lead tough locked eyes with him and sneered.
Wondering why the man was focused on him, Sean missed seeing Venar, who was watching the scene with a smirk from his seat at the bar. Before Sean could figure out what was going on, the men shoved past the waitress and headed right for their table.
“Trouble,” Sean warned Fiona, who was just pushing her empty plate away.
Looking where he was staring, Fiona saw the toughs a few feet away. Before she could speak, the leader slapped his hand on their table.
“Why is Silvershame preventing proper, upstanding folk from getting a table?”
“Maybe because she’s still worth four of you,” Sean replied out of reflex.
The room, which had been paying attention, went dead silent. All three of the men stared daggers at Sean. “What did you just say?” the leader asked in a snarl.
“We’ve just finished and will be going,” Fiona said, briefly pulling all eyes to her.
“Shut it,” the leader snapped, turning his gaze back to Sean. “Did you just say that she’s worth four of me?”
“I apologize,” Sean said as he got to his feet, “I was wrong. She’s worth six of you at the very least.”
The thugs all went red at his words, and a collective intake of breath was heard in the silence. “You’ll pay for that,” the leader snapped and pulled his arm back.
As soon as the man pulled back, time seemed to slow down for Sean, just as it had with the wolves. The leader’s punch came forward at the speed of someone throwing a mock punch. Slapping the arm up and away, Sean transitioned the block into an attack, resting his hand briefly on the man’s chest before shoving him backwards.
The other two toughs had started to come forward, but stopped to catch their leader, who had been thrown off his feet into them. A startled murmur was heard throughout the inn at the casual show of strength Sean exhibited.
“Stop it, and leave us alone,” Sean said coldly as the trio untangled themselves.
“Like hell I will,” the man snapped, scrambling to his feet. “Flank him,” he hissed to his two followers, who started edging around the table.
“Sean, don’t kill them,” Fiona said worriedly, her eyes darting from Sean to the thugs.
One of them snickered, “As if he could.”
Taking her warning seriously, Sean knew he would have to pull his punches. Myna had mentioned that he’d hit her far harder than he should have been able to the other day. Not waiting for the other two to get into position, Sean lunged forward and grabbed the leader by his shirt.
Hoisting the man up, Sean turned and tossed him lightly at one of the others. The two men went down in a tangle that rolled to a nearby table as the third rushed Sean from behind. Knowing that the man would attack his back, Sean didn’t turn, but kicked out lazily behind himself. A gasp confirmed what Sean’s foot told him as the third man went down hard.
“Stop it. No one needs to get hurt,” Sean said, backing up to bring the men all into view.
“Take it outside,” Gosrek snapped, pulling a crossbow from under the bar.
Sean looked at Fiona and bowed his head to her. “I’ll be right back. I’m sorry about my mouth. I’ll try to do better.”
Shaking her head at his apparent flippancy, Fiona covered her face with a hand. “Just don’t get hurt and don’t kill them.”
“Sure thing,” Sean said, heading to the door and waiting for the thugs to get to their feet. “You guys coming? Or are you done now?”
“Get him,” the leader snarled as he and the others rushed at Sean, who was calmly walking out the door.
As the rest of the patrons rushed to the doorway and windows to watch the fight, Fiona slipped upstairs. A certain warmth had radiated through her at Sean’s praise, but another part was angry that he still hadn’t learned his lesson. Comments about her Shame would be commonplace, and he needed to learn not to react to them.
Sean was waiting in the middle of the square when the trio burst out of the inn. He’d never had any formal martial arts training, but when he fought, time seemed to slow for him, making control of the fistfight trivial.
The leader trailed just behind his two friends as they rushed at him. Waiting for them to close the distance, Sean slid to the right and put his shoulder into the first attacker’s gut. The tough wheezed heavily as the wind was driven from his lungs. Tossing the winded attacker from his shoulder toward the leader, Sean sidestepped a kick from the third man.
The kick missed by inches, but it allowed Sean to grab the man’s leg and pull him off balance. Using the leg as a lever, Sean flung the attacker at the winded guy that the leader had managed to dodge. “Are we done yet?” Sean asked with a smirk.
“I’ll teach you to mock me and my boys,” the leader snapped, drawing a bronze blade from his boot.
“Don’t do that,” Sean said, backing up a step. “This doesn’t have to turn deadly.”
“I won’t be the one dying,” the thug snarled and went after Sean.
Not seeing an option, Sean backed away, circling as he went. The leader rushed, but Sean slipped away, pulling in his gut as the swing went wide. Spinning, he came back at Sean again, only to find a body flying at him. Stabbing out of reflex, his eyes went wide as he found himself killing his friend.
“NO!” he yelled as his friend’s body slid off the blade. Dropping the knife, he tried to staunch the gut wound. “Ungus, I’m sorry, Ungus stay with me. Get Doctor McFlynn, somebody!”
Seeing the leader panicking over his friend, Sean figured the fight was over and walked back towards the inn. Everyone backed away from him as he entered. “Someone needs to get that guy some help.”
Without further comment, Sean went up the stairs to his room.
Chapter Twenty-six
Entering the room, he found Fiona sitting at the table.
“Sorry about that,” Sean said as he closed the door behind him.
“I told you I don’t need your interference when it comes to my Shame,” Fiona said quietly. “I will always be targeted. My Shame is so obvious and too many people have heard skewed versions of what happened.”
“I understand,” Sean said as he stood across from her. “I still hold with what I said, though, you’re worth six of him.”
Fiona fought the smile that tried to come to her lips. “That isn’t the point.”
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