TBD NaNoWriMo 2018

Beginning of the End of Land's End

It was a dark and stormy night, which meant the Land's End Inn in Kingsport overflowed with shelter-seekers.

The hearth-keeper, an old indarian with wattles on his wattles and his blue skin faded nearly to grey, shook his head to see yet another group of cloaked and hooded and soaked group of figures come through the door. Odd, though, that they didn't go flapping and chattering like most folks did when they came out of the wet. No, one of the three come straight for old Antti, with his drinking horn on his knee and the hearth keeper's clip on his shoulder plain for all to see. The other two split to circle the crowded commons, as if they looked for companions already arrived.

"All the beds are long filled," Antti called out over the general din as the new traveler approached. "If you've a mind to sleep in the commons -"

"I've need of your entire facility," the traveler said smoothly, tossing a small pouch to the hearth keeper.

With reflexes honed from years of peace-keeping at this very inn in his youth, the old indarian snapped out a clawed hand to deftly pluck the pouch from the air before it sailed past into the hearth he guarded. Antti hefted the pouch, his sensitive fingers ringing the news in under a blink. Not mere gold or platinum nested in this pouch. Sun crystals. Enough to buy the entire inn.

"For your discretion," the traveler said, lifting a gloved hand to nudge aside his hood, flashing the side of his face and the pale glint of a gold earring stamped with the royal seal of Kaina. A scar ran down the side of his stubbled face, from eye to jaw.

The indarian's toothless mouth gaped. He knew exactly who this "man" was, and what his presence and the crystals meant. It was well known that the princess of the neighboring kingdom of Kaina had an ulvec bodyguard marked thus. Recent rumors whispered that said princess had vanished from the palace under mysterious circumstances. Other rumors insisted the princess was assassinated by her brother the king's new would-be queen.

Regardless of any rumor, the bag in Antti's hand was a royal price. The crystals disappeared up his sleeve in a nearly invisible motion as he reached for his keeper's staff resting against the timber wall. Lifting it, Antti shook it over his head, the metal-filled gourds chattering. Heads turned and conversations quieted.

"I sense an evil presence among you," Antti intoned solemnly. "The inn must be cleansed. No being will safely rest their head beneath this roof tonight." The metal butt of the staff came ringing down on the stone floor to give finality to his words.

The common room rang out with alarm and protest and pleas for pity - the Land's End Inn was the largest and snuggest in all of Kingsport, and surely on a night like this all the others were filled. But within these walls, the hearth keeper's word was law, and his offspring stood by to make it so if need be.

All the beings in the inn began gathering their belongings and companions, some hurriedly if superstition was their leaning and they believed the keeper's excuse, others sluggish and complaining, all under the watchful eyes of keeper and king's man.

A lanky-legged youth of an orc with a pouf of black hair and pouched lips to hide that his fangs hadn't yet come in slipped out the door among the others ousted from the inn. He'd waited for the first wave to clear so he wouldn't seem too eager, but once clear of the inn door he broke into a wild sprint, skipping around sodden carts and leaping puddles.

Had he a bit of news to share!

                                ***

The Laid Inn was Kingsport's stone eyesore. An arm's toss from the docks, the Laid Inn was patronized by those the other inns refused to take; sailors, smugglers, peddlers, pirates, and orcs. The name had started as something fancier, probably the "Lady and the something-or-other," but a century or so it was shortened to the "Lady's Inn," which quickly became its present form.