out there but a few temples and outposts. It’s a long, long road to Katharn.”
She assumes I know where Katharn is. Or what it is. But a long, deserted road with only a few temples and outposts sounds better than staying here. It’s a start, and I can work with that. “So tell me more about—”
There’s a crash at the back of the room at the same time thunder crackles overhead. My head shoots with sudden pain. Oh shit. That’d be Aron. I grab my coin bag, shove my last bite of food into my mouth longingly, and then race to the back of the inn, where Aron has a man by the collar and pinned to a wall.
I can’t leave the guy alone for five minutes.
“Hey Grover,” I hiss as I move to his side, crossing the crowded room that’s now completely focused on him. “Can we not?” His hood is slipping off of his head and I hitch it back over him before it falls back and exposes his pale skin and jet black hair.
He turns and glares at me. “This mewling mortal wanted my table—”
“This nice man,” I correct, peeling Aron’s fingers from the shocked man’s clothing. I ignore the sparks that touching him sends through me. Maybe if I ignore it, this other guy will too, since he’s bound to feel it as well. “Can have this table since we’re leaving.”
“We are?” Aron frowns at me, and it’s visible even through the depths of his hood. “We just got here.”
“We got what we needed,” I tell him and pull him away from the man. The “mortal” staggers, staring at us with more than a little fear. I brush my finger over my lips, indicating silence, and shake my head. “Let’s get out of here and no one gets hurt.”
Aron makes a huffy sound but allows me to drag him out, and the thunder gets quiet once more as we emerge into the night. “These people have no respect—” he begins.
“That guy was probably drunk,” I interrupt. “And again, we’re working on keeping a low profile. We just need to let that go and move on.” At Aron’s indignant sound, I’m guessing that “moving on” and “letting shit go” aren’t high on the priority list for a god of battle and storms. I might be over my head here. “I found out where we need to go next,” I tell him to distract him. “The next big city is called Katharn and it’s down the path once we get out of here.”
I don’t point out that it sounds way, way down the path. It’s all going to be the same to a god, I suspect.
“Katharn. Yes. I know this name.”
I look over at him, surprised. “You do?”
He nods even as we head through the dark, twisting alleys of the nighttime city. “Indeed. That is a city claimed by no gods, but if one is there, I will force their priests to welcome me.”
“Forcing priests to welcome him” sounds a bit like we’re going to end up in the same situation we are right now—on the run for our lives. But maybe he’s right. Maybe someone else is having a better experience with this whole “Anticipation” thing, because it sounds like a bunch of gods were dropped out of the heavens. “Great. So we just need to head in that direction. The girl at the tavern said there’s a couple of small temples along the way. We can avoid them if we need to and just do our best to hide out.”
Aron says nothing. I’m not sure if he agrees with my plan, but he’s not offering one of his own, so that’s as close to agreement as I suspect we’re going to get. We hurry through the muddy streets, and the air feels heavy with humidity, as if warning me that Aron’s just barely keeping his shit together.
I guess I can’t blame him. We’re sneaking out of the city like a couple of thieves and I suspect he expected to be greeted with naked dancing girls and riches since he was a god. He was, but not the way he wanted. Instead, he got me—a salty Earth woman who has no time for his bullshit, and a midnight run out of Dodge. Definitely not what he expected.
I don’t know the layout of the city, but I keep us heading toward the long city wall that encircles the place. I vaguely remember this gate from days ago, and