Chapter 1
A
rather tall, well-built man stepped out of the forest brush quite casually into
the town square of Uther. No one took any notice of him and he did not make any
attempt to communicate, either. He calmly gazed around the town, his brown eyes
taking in as much as they could in the poor moonlight, then drew his broadsword
from its sheath. He studied its used countenance in silent thought.
Another
man, much shorter than he, stumbled out of the brush momentarily, fending off
stray branches. "Dammit, Ian, I told you we shoulda bought that
horse!" he said, irritably. He fished a small twig out of the small white
patch in his auburn beard as he added, "And while I'm thinking about it,
we probably could've followed the path instead of crashing through the
woods."
"You've
got no sense of adventure, Magbert," said the taller man, Ian.
"I
don't need a sense of adventure," grumbled the shorter man, Magbert.
"I've got my traveling companion for that."
"How
much money do we have?" asked Ian.
Magbert
fished around in his bag of holding, pulled out a small sack of coins and
fished through it. "Let's see, uh...15 or 16 gold pieces, some silver
ones, couple of copper. Why?"
"Remind
me to get a new broadsword while we're here," came Ian's reply. "This
one's had it." He jammed the tip of the sword into the ground and it stood
nearly as high as Magbert.
"Wait
a minute," began Magbert. "Before we start spending money, shouldn't
we check to see how much a room for the night is gonna cost?"
"Probably,"
said Ian, looking at down at Magbert with a grin. Magbert looked back at him,
then sighed and began walking toward the tavern in front of them. "Aren't
you forgetting something?"
"What?"
asked Magbert, walking backwards.
"The
average human response to gnomes, such as yourself, with money," said Ian.
"You could get brutally attacked, but why?"
Magbert
muttered a quick spell to raise his height from 3'11" to about 5'7",
then turned and walked to the tavern.
When
he got inside, the place looked much smaller than it did from outside. It was
rather poorly lit and fairly crowded. Magbert made his way through the maze of
small tables to the bar against the side wall. He was about to hail the
bartender when a little man, old and balding, slapped him on the back and said,
"Drink?"
The
smell of blueberry wine and rotten teeth was withering. "No, that's
alright, I'm just..."
"Drink!!!"
bellowed the little man good-naturedly. A few people turned to look at them and
Magbert suddenly thought the better of it.
"Well,
maybe just one," he said uncertainly.
The
little man laughed, a wheezing gasp, and shoved his bottle of blueberry wine
into Magbert's face. Magbert winced, then tipped the bottle up to his own lips.
The moment the liquid hit his throat, he felt flames curling back up into his nose.
He gasped in agony, exhaling and inhaling quickly to cool off.
The
little man wheezed again, his breath deadening Magbert's delicate sense of
smell. He crossed his eyes in misery as the little man spoke.
"Come
to hear Crystal sing, have yeh?"
"Crystal?"
echoed Magbert.
"Oh,
she's a looker, that one. Everytime she opens her mouth, these hard hearted
landlubbers keel haul and throw themselves at her feet."
"Leave
the man alone, Hite," came the voice of the bartender. Magbert turned
around in relief.
"You
the owner of this place?" he asked.
The
man nodded. "Rory's the name. What can I do for you?"
"How
much are your rooms?"
"6
gold pieces."
"A
night?" Magbert gasped. "How can you charge that much and stay in
business?"
"I
got a singer," shrugged Rory.
"No
singer is worth..." Magbert began, but he was interrupted by a woman's
voice.
"Excuse
me," she said, stepping around Magbert. "Rory, I'm ready."
"Whenever
you want, luvy," Rory smiled, gesturing to the mini platform that served
as a stage.
Magbert
stared at this woman in surprise. Most women that hung around taverns had a
hard, used look about them. But this one looked soft, innocent, almost sweet.
And her skin! Not many women he knew had skin that dark. It was nearly as brown
as her riveting eyes...
"Excuse
me!" she snapped, looking at him.
"Oh,
sorry," he said, stepping out of her way. She rolled her eyes at him and
strode over to the platform.
"Who
was that?" asked Magbert, almost breathless.
"The
singer," grinned Rory and Hite.
And
sing she did. Somewhere in her music, Magbert felt himself lifting up and
floating, like a ghost, all around the universe, finally coming to rest again
the tavern.
"What
the heck are you doing?" Ian asked him.
"Huh?"
he asked, jumping back to reality.
"You
left almost 15 minutes ago," Ian sighed. "I thought you'd gotten
ambushed or something."
"No,
I was just...listening," Magbert replied. He looked over at the stage and
saw the girl was already finished and was heading upstairs. He dashed after
her, leaving Ian standing in amazement after him.
By
the time he reached the hall, she was unlocking the door to her room. "Uh,
excuse me, miss!" he shouted, running down the hallway. She jumped,
gasping like she'd just run a marathon.
"Oh
my God, you scared me!" she exclaimed.
"Oh,
I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you. I just wanted to tell you your music
was really great. You're an incredible singer."
"Thank
you," she said, still slightly shaken as she turned to open her door again.
"Good night."
"Good
night," he replied, to the already closing door. He smiled at it for a
moment, then turned to leave.
Suddenly,
the door reopened. "Hey!" said the girl, leaning out.
"Yes?"
"You
weren't even going to try to invite yourself in?" she asked, suspiciously.
"No,"
he replied, with a shrug.
"Really?"
"Really.
That would be kind of impolite."
She
looked at him in mild surprise, then smiled warmly. "I'm Crystal,"
she said, stepping back out into the hall.
"Magbert,"
said he, breathlessly. "And I wasn't kidding. You really are a great
singer."
She
ducked her head with a giggle. "Really?"
"Really,"
he returned, laughing a little. "I can tell you really like music. And
compliments."
"Oh,
I love music!" she returned in excitement, her face lighting up. "If
only I could dance and sing now the way I can when I'm..." She stopped
herself in mid sentence, then looked at him skeptically. A smile kept playing
at her mouth as she spoke again. "Come on in, Magbert," she sighed.
"I can see I'm gonna have to get to know you."