Realms of Shadow - Lizz Baldwin [65]
"I expect that you ask too many questions," said Entreri, and Jarlaxle tossed him another scowl.
"You do seem rather inquisitive," the drow added, mostly to downplay Entreri's tone.
"Well that's me business," the innkeeper replied. "Folks'!! be askin' me about the strange pair that came through."
"Strange?" Entreri asked.
"Ye got a drow elf with ye."
"True enough."
"So if ye're tellin' me yer tale, then ye're really saving yerselfs some trouble," the innkeeper went on.
"The town herald," Jarlaxle said dryly.
That's me business."
"Well, it is as we have already told you," the dark elf replied. He stood up and offered a polite bow. "I am Jarlaxle, and this is my friend, Artemis Entreri."
As the innkeeper replied with the customary "Well met," Entreri put another frown on and glowered at the dark elf, hardly believing that Jarlaxle had just given out their names. The innkeeper offered his name in reply, which Entreri didn't bother to catch, then began telling them a few tales about men who had gone up to fight in Vaasa, which interested Entreri even less. Then, after a call from the bar area, the man excused himself and walked away.
"What?" Jarlaxle asked against Entreri's frown.
"You are so willing to give out our identities?" "Why would I not be?"
Entreri's expression showed clearly that the reasons should be obvious.
"There is nobody chasing us, my friend. We haven't earned the anger of the authorities-not in this region, at least. Were you not known in Calimport as Artemis Entreri? Do not be ashamed of your name!"
Entreri just shook his head, sat back, and took a sip of his wine. This whole adventure on the road was too out of place for him still.
Some time later, the inn clearing out of the nightly patrons, the innkeeper ambled back over to the pair.
"So, when're ye off to Vaasa?" he asked.
Entreri and Jarlaxle exchanged knowing looks-the way the man had spoken the words showed it to be a leading question.
"Soon, I would expect," Jarlaxle replied, nibbling at the bait. "Our funds are running low."
"Ah, ye're lookin' for work already," said the innkeeper. "Killin' goblins only? Well, goblins and orcs, I mean? Or are ye in the game for more subtle forms?"
"You presume much," said Entreri.
"True enough, but ye're not tellin' me that ye're fighters of the open road, now are ye?"
"Would you like to see?" Entreri offered.
"Oh, I'm not doubtin' ye!" the man said with a broad grin. He held his huge paws up before him, warding the dangerous man away. "But ye look like a pair who might be doing better work for better pay, if ye get me meaning."
"And if we do not?"
The innkeeper looked at Entreri curiously.
"If we do not get your meaning," Jarlaxle explained.
"Ah, well, there're plenty of jobs about Heliogabalus," the innkeeper explained. "For the right crew, I mean. The authorities are all up at the wall in Vaasa, fighting monsters, but that leaves many citizens wronged back here in town with nowhere to turn."
Entreri didn't even try to hide his smirk, and in truth, just hearing the man ramble on made him feel a bit more at home. Heliogabalus, after all, wasn't so different from Calimport, where the laws of the land and the laws of the street were two very different codes. He could hardly believe that he and Jarlaxle had been sought out so quickly, though, with no reputation preceding them, but he didn't think too much about it. Likely, most of the fighters of the region were away in the north, along with most of those who had made their living by keeping order on the street, as well, whatever order that might be.
"And you know of these jobs?" Jarlaxle asked the man.
"Well, that's me business!" said the innkeeper. "In truth, Fm a bit short o' help right now, and I got a friend askin' me to hire out a job."
"And what makes you think that we are capable of such a job?" Jarlaxle asked.
"When ye been doin' this as long as ol' Feepun here, ye get to know the look," he explained. "I watch the way ye walk. I see the way ye lift yer drinks, the way that one's eyes keep movin' side-to-side,