Azure bonds - Kate Novak [2]
Grasping her flame-seared sword, Alias flung herself across the room in one fluid motion When she reached the window, however, the creature was gone and the alleyway empty. The short-haired dog yipped at her feet, rising on its hind legs and placing its front paws halfway up her boots
"I don't suppose you know anything about this?" she asked the dog. The puppy merely wagged its tail and whimpered.
Alias picked up the small creature, petted it briery, then dropped it outside the window. The beast barked at her a few times, then began sniffing the rubbish.
*****
"The lady has risen from the dead!" shouted the barkeep in a merry voice as Alias entered the common room. She did not know this particular barkeep, but knew others just like him who ran inns from the Living City to Water-deep. He was a loud, boisterous man, full of "hail-fellow-well-met" attitudes, favoring adventurers in his trade because the additional gold they usually carried made up for the damage their barroom arguments caused.
A few heads turned to look at her, but there were no familiar faces among them. Alias had decided to wear her armor plate after all. She looked more suited for battle than for a few drinks, but many of the merchants, mercenaries, and townsfolk were similarly armed and armored, so she fit in. Like most of those in the room, Alias wore her weapon at her side. Like all of those doing so, she had the blade's grip tied to its sheath by white cord, fashioned in "peace knot."
She took a table near an interior wall, away from any windows, where she could keep an eye on both doors to the common area, and the barkeep as well. He was a portly, balding man, obviously guilty of sampling his own stock. He took her attention as a request for service, and after a few obligatory passes with a rag over the bar, he filled a large mug from the tap and brought it over to her table. Foam ran down the mug's sides, and beads of water condensed where the rivulets did not run.
"Hair o' the dog what bit you?" offered the barkeep.
"On the house?" asked Alias.
"On the bill," the barkeep replied. "I like to keep things on a cash-and-carry basis. Don't worry, you're still covered."
For the moment Alias was more interested in the blank spaces in her memory than in who was covering her tab. "I was here last night?" she asked.
"Yes, lady."
"Doing?" Alias raised an eyebrow.
"Why, sleeping it off. And it must have been a Hades raising drunk indeed, for it is the seventh day o' Mirtul." When Alias stared at him blankly, lie explained, 'You been here since the evening o' the fourth, done nothing but sleep the whole while."
"Did I come alone?"
"Yes. Well, maybe not. May I?" He pointed to the empty seat at the table. Alias nodded, and he lowered his ponderous weight into the chair, which groaned under the load.
"One o' my regulars, Mitcher Trollslayer," he continued, "stumbled over you that evening after the last call. You wuz laid out on my front stoop like a sacrifice to Bane."
The barkeep drew the circle of Tvinora on his chest to ward off any trouble uttering the evil name might bring. "Anyway, there you wuz with this sack o' money alongside. I put you up. using the money in the sack to cover your tab. Here it is, too, with only the cost o the room deducted." From his apron pocket he fished out a small satin sack "Doesn't count the beer, o course."
Aliais shook the contents from the sack. A small, greenish gem, a couple of Lantan trade bars, some Waterdeep coinage, and a scattering of Cormyrian coins. She shoved a silver falcon at the barkeep. "I don't remember coming here. Someone must have left me. Did you see anyone?"
"I figgered you must have been carousing with a bunch o' mates who, when the effects caught up with you, left you on mv doorstep with enough cash to guarantee your comfort. No one told us about you until Mitcher found vou on his way out. You wuz alone."
Aiias looked at the mug as the foam on top diminished