Daughter of Ice and Fire

Twenty-Nine

Three days after the conversation on the ship, Lihleih stood in front of the address listed on the paper. She had spent the entire day after speaking with the man inside the cabin wishing she were dead as the violent motion of the ship increased. The storm the man had warned her about had indeed struck and she discovered she wasn't the only one now feeling the adverse effects of the ship's roll. Fortunately, she had not eaten much so the privy bucket remained empty of vomit, although not being able to rid it of her other bodily functions wasn't helping the smell. Warshade seemed immune and she would periodically open the door so he could go tend to his business below. But she never left it open for his return as the smell, as bad as it was in her cabin, was a thousand times worse in the passageway. Instead, she retreated until he whined, then let him back in before climbing into bed.

When the storm finally passed and the seas calmed, she left the cabin, preferring to sit on the deck under the moon and stars. She made sure nobody saw her and returned to her berth before first light, trying not to gag as the stench once more clogged her nose and throat.

The ship had docked that day and she hurried off, stumbling as her legs tried to trick her into thinking she was still on board. She saw the man she had spoken with striding away and noted the direction of his travel but remained silent. He had told her to find him, and she was pretty sure that meant on her own. Instead, she entered the twisted streets that bordered the docks and began searching for a cheap place to stay.

It took several hours. Many of the inns were either ridiculously overpriced or refused to allow Wolfshade. She wandered further away from the shore, entering an even more rundown part of town. Ignoring the calls from the women hanging around the streets or leaning against the brothels, she eventually found a tiny inn tucked away in a forgotten corner. The price was a little more than she wanted to pay but she was tired, her legs still didn't want to work right, and she had a lot to do before her appointment. Plus the door had a lock.

Leaving Warshade asleep on the bed, she went back into Westhyl, searching for a market in a better area. The man said she needed to be presentable, which meant clothing better than the ones she had on. She still needed to dress as a boy, which made things more difficult. She couldn't dress as a merchant or a Noble and even if she could, she didn't have the coin for it. Dressing as a serf or farmhand was out as well. She eventually settled on clothing a clerk might wear, haggling with the merchant over both the price and the alterations. After coming to an agreement, she left one mark as a deposit, promising to return the next day to pay the balance and pick up the clothes.

She next found an apothecary. She needed to change her bindings and bandages would work as well as fabric and cost less. In addition, she needed supplies for her courses. It hadn't come but she could feel the heaviness and knew it was only a matter of hours. When the merchant questioned why a man would need them, she ducked her head as if embarrassed and explained his wife was unable to obtain them herself as her time was accompanied by heavy cramps that made it difficult to walk. The merchant nodded sympathetically and handed over the supplies along with several coppers as change. Thanking him, Lihleih left and made one more stop before returning to the inn.

Placing an order for food to be delivered to her room, she retreated and stripped, settling in the wooden tub filled with water. That luxury had cost one of the coppers, but she needed to get clean and despite the water being lukewarm, she sighed contentedly as she slipped into it, scrubbing herself until her skin glowed. Exiting the tub, she wrapped herself in the drying sheet and spread her last purchase on the floor.

A map of the city lay before her. She rotated it a couple of times, trying to determine her exact location. When she finally found it, she pulled out the parchment the man had given her and laid it alongside, studying the map intently.