Blown Off Course

[Somewhere outside an inn between Brewbury and Pratha]

A hand slid through the mud and grit in a desperate attempt to pull the tortured body behind it up. The feelings that ran through Daerinnid's head were not of fear, or loneliness, or even desperation. He was only angry.

Angry at the knight for coming and angry at himself for trying to take the knight's horse to the barn. Angry at Neesa for getting hurt in the cellar. Angry at the weather for being perfectly lousy. Such a storm had not been seen in many months, and it was just Daerinnid's luck that one had chanced to occur precisely when that arrogant bastard of a knight had come seeking shelter.

The wind flying by Daerinnid's ear rose to a feverish pitch. The sound only caused Daerinnid to redouble his efforts, but he was getting nowhere fast. He had to find a more solid route to reach the top of the hill.

Daerinnid rolled to the left, where the ground was firmer, and struggled to his feet. His wet and muddy robes dragged him down, but Daerinnid's determination to kill the knight proved to be the stronger force. He crawled forward on all fours toward where he knew the inn to be. A dim light shone in the distance, and Daerinnid' heart leapt at the sight.

The wind redoubled its efforts, howling in humanlike distress. Daerinnid quickly realized it was trick: the howl actually was human in nature. Someone else was out there. Though his eyes searched the area for a hidden figure, it was too hard to see anything, much less a human. A shout erupted by his ear and Daerinnid turned. He was practically on top of the source of the noise. Whoever it was had become lodged three inches deep in the mud. Daerinnid felt the figure, trying to find a good handheld, and finally managed to pull the unfortunate upwards in a sitting position. The figure coughed and hugged Daerinnid in relief.

"Save your thanks!" Daerinnid shouted, pointing towards the faint lighting of the inn, "We still have get up there!" The figure's head nodded, understanding the pointing motion. It was small, but Daerinnid was unable to tell whether it was male or female. He guessed it to be a girl.

With a heave, Daerinnid pulled them both towards the inn. The girl was light and held on tightly, face buried into Daerinnid's robes. Daerinnid wondered how long she had been out in the rain as he pulled them both to safety.

The ground finally leveled off to where Daerinnid could stand and get his bearings. A gust of wind blew stinging raindrops into his face. Grunting, Daerinnid heaved the girl to her feet and hefted her into his arms. He leaned into the wind and began to struggle forward again until they were at the inn's front steps. Daerinnid's shoulder slammed into the door, forcing it open, and the two fell onto the floor of the inn.

---

When Daerinnid regained consciousness several minutes later, the first thing he noticed was an armored boot. The boot was connected to a leg, which in turn connected to the hip and torso of the knight. The large man made no move to help the magician-turned-innkeeper to his feet. A scowl darkened Daerinnid's face as he clambered to his feet.

"Your horse has been taken care of," he told the knight icily. At his full height, even the tall Daerinnid was an inch shorter than the golden-haired knight.

"Excellent! I see you've found my squire as well." The knight took a swig of some wine he'd found in the kitchen while Daerinnid examined the boy he had rescued. Apparently, it was not a girl as he had first thought. "Now, we'll require a room for the night. Be a good lad and prepare one."

"Sorry, we're full," growled Daerinnid,

"Surely not!" replied the knight. "I am Sir Paolos of the Royal Knights, so you may move whichever other guests you want to accommodate me."

Daerinnid continued to glare at the knight as the arrogant man took another swig of wine. "Well, you see, Sir Paolos, one room is occupied by my companion, who is in poor health, the second room is occupied by myself, the third I have reserved for your squire, who is also wounded, and the fourth was the site of a recent killing, and we've not yet cleaned the bloodstains out of the room."

At the description of the last room, the knight choked and sputtered on his wine. Daerinnid beamed and continued.

"That was my room when I came to the inn, and it was the place where I killed the former innkeeper and his wife. On second thought, you may sleep in there, since I don't fancy cleaning bloodstains from two rooms."

"You wouldn't!" exclaimed the knight, recoiling in terror.

Daerinnid reached up and pulled off his cap, letting his wet hair fall onto his face. Giving the knight the iciest glare yet, he hissed, "Wouldn't I? The way I see it, you have two choices. You can stay here -- and you'd better damn well do what I say -- or you can go outside and die in the rain."

Sir Paolos considered the options. "I think I'll do what you say," the knight said meekly.

"You can start by taking your squire and putting him in the clean room, and you can follow that up by cleaning the fourth room which is to be your own. They're the first two rooms at the top of the stairs, you can't miss them. If you want dinner, you can eat after the rest of us. The food will either be cold or you may warm it up yourself in the kitchen. I am not the innkeeper and you can do your own chores. Well, what are you waiting for? Go!"

Daerinnid could barely contain his laughter as the knight dashed up the stairs in fear.