The Reformation Wars: The Unmarked Swordsman

Chapter 5

Ten minutes' travel took the party to the gates of a Mintfeldian border town. The gatekeepers had just finished cranking the last entryway closed for the evening when the group trotted up, but with one glance at Alice inside the carriage, they relented and pulled it back open. Tom found himself unsure whether her status or looks had been key to their entry, but at any rate, in they went. 

What appeared to have been a bustling marketplace in the daytime now transformed into a vacant congregation of shacks and stands lining the quiet road. A few vendors remained at their posts, but even they only lingered to pack up their supplies for the night. 

One kindly old lady handed a tulip up to Tom with a grin, telling him to give it to "whoever's in that there carriage" when they stopped. With a generous grin, he thanked her and gave his word that he would. 

Only a few minutes of easy walking later, they had reached the center of the town, and Guistan stopped the carriage to ask a townsman for directions to the inn. The man paled at the sight of him, but soon recovered and hastily instructed him. Guistan saluted the man, and he readily departed. 

At last, Guistan eased the horses to a stop along the side of the broad road running parallel with the inn's length. Alden offered to guide all the beasts to the stable, to which Alice's head of security gruffly agreed. After unharnessing them from the carriage, the old knight coaxed the equestrians to follow him. They did so willingly, as if they understood the comfort they'd soon enjoy as a result. 

Tom, meanwhile, opened the carriage door and first guided Alice's maidservant down with a graceful touch. Once she had stepped away, Alice herself took his hand and stepped down. 

After shutting the door, Tom smirked and handed the tulip to the senator. Her fair eyebrows inched together as she stared up at the young man. 

"You can thank that kind old florist down the road for that." Tom said with a chuckle, "I may be as transparent as men come, but I assure you, such forwardness is beyond even me." 

"Keep telling yourself that. A man should retain his ability to sleep at night." Alice retorted, handing the flower to her maid for safekeeping. 

"I sleep perfectly well, thank you." 

But Alice had already walked away. With a sigh, Tom fell into line in the back of their party, with Guistan spearheading the advance to the inn, followed by the two women. The pair of silver-armored guards flanked Alice and her maid, with Tom not far behind. 

Guistan swung the homely wooden door aside, and the sound of fiddles washed outside, past the travelers' ears, and into the street. A pair of red curtains stretched across the doorway, so the guard held up a hand to halt the party before stepping in to scout ahead. A few seconds passed before he returned. He beckoned them in. 

Lifting her skirt to step over the high threshold, Alice entered. Her maidservant followed closely. A metal hand met Tom's back to nudge him in after them, and then one of the silver guards took up the rear, his comrade agreeing to stand outside and wait for Alden. 

Tom glanced around the interior with an approving nod. From where he stood on a wide landing with a pair of steps leading down to a lower elevation, he viewed a large open area littered with tables and chairs in abundance. Jovial faces smiled at him, heads bopping up and down to the rhythmically sophisticated melody played by a pair of fiddlers to Tom's right. Their furious streams of notes wove around each other in harmonies both beautiful and unconventional. 

Not far from the musicians' corner stage stretched a long bar counter, behind which stood the innkeeper. He grinned agreeably at a young couple sitting on a pair of stools as he poured their drinks. Muscle and fat in equal quantities bulked up his physique, a sign of one who worked hard and justifiably ate all the heartier for it.