“Indeed. Just wondering if you knew anything else.” Cero gave Aleest a glance knowing that this was not the reason that they had come.
“Well, had to let my cook go several years ago, but if you need anything, just give a holler for old Yacub. Sleep in whatever room you like. There isn’t going to be anyone else coming.” Yacub turned to leave when Urake began digging through his bag for the coin sack.
“How much for a night?”
“The others are already paid up, but you don’t owe me anything. The gargoyle practically owns this place because of all the help he has given me when the times got tighter. Be seeing ya, if you hang around for long that is.” With that Yacub shuffled down the stairs.
“I don’t understand. An inn without a cook?” Cero pushed open the door and found the room to be relatively clean with only a thin layer of dust on everything. It looked like it had been cleaned after the last guest, but then left closed up for the weeks since that time.
“This is the lower city. You have to go to the upper city in order to find an inn with a cook. There are quite a few food shops around that we can try, but I wouldn’t recommend it. Most of it is rat meat. The rest is most likely dog meat.” Urake grimaced while Cero looked outright sick as they listened to Aleest’s advice.
“I think we should have enough food in the packs to survive a couple days. Not that we will be in the city long. Emeck and I are going to go north while the rest of you sell the wares. Keep an ear out and find out what you can about the girl masquerading as the princess. You two stay away from the southern gate. Emeck and I will be leaving through the east gate first thing in the morning.” Urake checked out a couple more rooms until he discovered the locked doors belonging to their compatriots.
“Why the east gate?” Aleest inquired as he picked a room and took off his pack.
“Reigns is going to be inordinately upset when he hears about what I will have done and is likely to try and catch me. The first thing he is going to do is suspect that I passed through Shienhin and took the north gate.”
“I see. I'm tired so I'm going to turn in early.”
“All right Aleest. Enjoy the bed because we probably won’t be sleeping in a real one for a while when this all goes down. One other thing while you are both here, if you end up having to leave Shienhin in a hurry, don’t risk waiting for me. Emeck can find you again if the need arises.” Cero took the room opposite of Aleest and after barricading the door, he coaxed Bani out of the pack. It seemed like the little dragon found the smell that clung to everything to be particularly offensive.
“Sorry I don’t have any meat for you. Want a piece of cheese?” Bani turned his snout up at the offer after a tentative sniff. He then stalked under the bed. A few minutes later, Cero heard some scuffling, squeaking, and hissing. Hanging over the bed, Cero found Bani snapping his tail around and dragging something. Dropping to the floor, Cero reached under and pulled whatever it was out into the dusty light of the room. His first reaction was to jump back when he saw the large rat bleeding from a dozen wounds. It was still twitching, but otherwise Bani had done a fine job of killing it. Not that the wounds were large enough to cause such a rapid death. The frothing at the mouth seemed to indicate some sort of venom.
“I suppose you want it cut up into nice bite size pieces. It is already bleeding on the floor so I guess I should do something about it. I got some rags that I can use to cut it up on so we won’t have to explain a mess.” Bani happily curled up and watched Cero go about the task. The rat was a fat one so there was an abundance of fresh meat for the little dragon to enjoy and even enough for another meal later when Bani had his fill.
***
The sun was just rising over the horizon when Urake and Emeck left through the eastern gate. The roads were not as well