“And then one man said, ‘Let me help even it out!’ and he came at us with two kitchen knives,” Wolf held up his hands a good foot apart, “about yay big. Almost short swords, they were so long.”
“If they’d had a hilt, I’d have thought they were,” Tran agreed. “Anyway, he comes straight at Wolf. Without that metal hand of his, he’d have lost a hand.”
“Then the rest of the crowd thinks he’s got a point, or something, ‘cause they pull out swords too and go at us.” Wolf shrugged, a grin on his face in memory, because in truth, he didn’t care what the reason was as long as he got to be a little rowdy. One quelling look from Siobhan and his smile instantly dropped from his face. “Anyway. We were defending ourselves,” he ended with righteous indignation that almost sounded genuine.
The master of the tavern came from a back room with a broom in his hands. He’d apparently overheard most of their exchange, as he came up to them with a deferential bow and offered, “It truly wasn’t them that started this, Miss…?”
“Siobhan Maley,” she introduced herself with strained politeness, offering a hand. “I’m their guildmaster.”
“Oh, pleasure, certainly, a pleasure,” he bobbed his head nervously and grasped her hand in a quick, flimsy way before letting go. “Guildmaster, don’t be too harsh on them. As I said, they didn’t start it. And they did their best to end it quick, to not let things get out of hand. But well, most of the men here are from other places and far from home, so they tend to drink too much and things like this…” he trailed off as he looked around him in dismay, “well, this isn’t the first time it’s happened.”
The poor man. If this was a regular occurrence, how by the four winds was he staying in business? “Regardless, my men were in the fight and caused damage. I’ll compensate you as much as I can.”
He gave a duck of the head, rubbing at his neck sheepishly. “Obliged, much obliged, I’m sure. But I won’t take more than two golds. I know these men’s taskmaster, I’ll get the rest from him.”
Well that wasn’t half-bad, compared to the other spectacular fights these two idiots had gotten involved in. Siobhan, with a secret sigh of relief, handed the golds over. Then she turned back to her enforcers with a quirked brow. “Since you two aren’t screaming with pain or bleeding anywhere, I assume you got through it relatively safe?”
“A few bruises,” Wolf admitted.
“I think I did get cut on my back,” Tran twisted about as if to see, which of course he couldn’t. “But I’m not sure how bad it is.”
Fei came around the table, opened up the small black satchel, and set about tending to Tran.
Siobhan just sighed, eyes closed for a moment, offering a silent prayer of thanks to any god listening. Then she called out, “Rune?”
From somewhere above her head, the assassin responded, “Yes?”
She’d just known he was around somewhere. “You didn’t get involved in this too, did you?”
There was a suspicious moment of silence. “I might’ve knocked a few heads together.”
Of course he’d joined in. She pointed an accusing finger at Wolf. “You’re setting a bad example for the children.”
“He had bad habits before he met me,” Wolf protested, not at all upset with the accusation.
“I don’t want those bad habits to continue. Having two of you is bad enough. I do not want THREE.” That said, she craned her head around, trying to spot Rune. In vain. How a man could possibly hide up in those airy log rafters, she had no idea, but he’d managed it somehow. “You didn’t get hurt, did you?”
“Naw, I’m fine,” he assured her, voice amused.
Under her breath, she muttered, “Thank the winds for that. Alright, now that the fun is over, I expect everyone to go to bed and stay there until dawn. At least. Am I clear?”
A chorus of obedient “Yes, ma’am” came to her. Satisfied, she turned on her heel and went back to the inn, shivering. As she went, she grumbled to herself, “Seriously. What part of ‘we do not want to start a war here’ did they not understand?”
Ugh. Men.
ӜӜӜ
After the late night misadventures, Siobhan found it hard to get up the next morning. Since the ship was at their beck and call, she took advantage of it a little