Jakob: Amazing! Just look at this room service! You can get an entire sampler with buffalo wings and cheese! Cut into SQUARES! SQUARES!!!! It says there's enough here for 10 people. I'll order two. We're going to need our energy for what's coming up, right, Geoff?
Katie: Planned? Are you guys forming a conspiracy behind my back?
Geoff: It's nothing, Katie. Aren't you busy in your story? Like, shouldn't you be breathing fire in Bertrum's face or something?
Katie: Um...no? Now what are you guys planning?!
Jakob: sigh I guess we have no choice...explains Are you happy now?
Katie: I don't see how ANYONE would get it! .
Geoff: I still don't know what we're going to do. I could get more info from a freaking dry cleaning label the way Jake describes things.
Jakob: Look! They've got little pigs-in-a-blanket too! I LOVE THOSE!!!!
Katie: You're not going to tell me, are you? sigh
"Katie!" I heard someone call out from behind me. I felt a hand grab my shoulder and yank me around. I was face-to-face with Amy whose eyes were a whirlwind of questioning blue depths.
"You don't even know where the smithie is. You shouldn't go off wandering around by yourself!" She snapped and linked our arms, frog-marching me back into the inn. Gaia smirked at me, and I made an effort not to look him in the eye. She forced me down on a bench and bent over the table to ask the Clavats where the blacksmith was located.
"Oh. I think she'll like Johavsven's shop the best eh?" The pretty female Clavat who had rescued me earlier said to her companions.
"Oh yeah. He's so amazing. He made me…," Another male Clavat, a black-haired one, this time, reached beneath the bench and pulled out a leather sheath which he brandished with pride. His fellows sounded their sudden agreement.
"OK. It's a sword. I get that. So this guy's a blacksmith, right? Big deal. McCarthy's weapons are much better anyway," I scoffed at his blade.
He seemed offended. He unsheathed his blade and leaned quickly across the table, pressing it against my throat.
"Oh. I think she'll like Johavsven's shop the best eh?" The pretty female Clavat who had rescued me earlier said to her companions.
"Oh yeah. He's so amazing. He made me…," Another male Clavat, a black-haired one, this time, reached beneath the bench and pulled out a leather sheath which he brandished with pride. His fellows sounded their sudden agreement.
"OK. It's a sword. I get that. So this guy's a blacksmith, right? Big deal. McCarthy's weapons are much better anyway," I scoffed at his blade.
He seemed offended. He unsheathed his blade and leaned quickly across the table, pressing it against my throat.
"Do not offend that of which you know so little, young one." He snarled.
My friends jumped up, ready to defend me. Jakob withdrew his weapon.
"Sir, you would do well to take the blade from her throat. Unless you would wish for your own death so swift," He snapped, stepping forward menacingly. He was atleast six inches taller than the male Clavat.
"Bertrum, please. Do not offend the prince…!" The female Clavat who had rescued me from the perverted come-ons of Gaia stepped forward and grabbed Bertrum's arm.
"Lay off, Nadia! I do not need someone by the likes of you to defend me!"
After this little outburst, Bertrum turned and furiously stormed out the door, mumbling curses in a tongue none of which I could understand. The door was swung open so hard that it banged loudly against the opposite wall, leaving a rather awkward silence in its wake. I turned hesitantly to my fellows.
"Urm…Nadia, was it? I apologize. I'm still rather new to this whole world thing. I don't quite understand what it means to be an honorable person. I have only made a terrible mistake, and I must apologize before I further my mistake. Please, excuse me. I'm sorry for bringing trouble to your inn, Margaret," I bowed politely and, feeling for the money pouch in my pocket, ran out the door to apologize to Bertrum.
"Am I the only one who's noticed a change in her personality?" Amy asked after a moment or two of stunned silence.
"Hmm…," Sarah contemplated this new development and asked aloud of her group, "Was she always so…not immature? I mean, she's never had a boyfriend or anything before, right?"
Jakob coughed and cleared his throat, remembering rather fond memories of him and me in the bath, and that kiss, which I still had to work out in my mind. He flushed and said he had some things to work out, then turned, grabbed his sword which he always seemed to have on him, and ran out after me.
Amy cocked an eyebrow and turned to look at the innocent Geoff who had a frown on his face, but a perplexed expression lining his eyes and cheeks.
"Did you do anything to her? See anything?" she asked, leaning in close.
Geoff snapped.
"Dammit! I don't like the cocky bitch, all right! Leave me the hell alone!! GOD!!!" He was a furious red color and left the room, going up to the guys, grabbing his sword and leaving the inn entirely in a bloody rage.
Everyone's eyes were wide.
"Uhhh…wow. Katie's sure got some wild boys after her, huh?" Hanna asked nervously, glaring at Amy and Sarah for bringing up a touchy subject. "I mean hell. Sarah's the only one outta us who've had a BF, right?" She smirked triumphantly.
Amy and Hanna blushed. Nich and Morgan glanced at each other. They'd gone out previously, and for quite a while, from what I'd been told. They got up to defend their honor. Sarah got up as well.
"Gaia, can you show me where the smithie is? I need to fix my shield," Sarah said offhandedly, leaving her remaining party to bicker as she went to get said shield.
Gaia looked hopeful at getting a chance to go after me as well. "Sure. No prob. What's your name again?" he asked.
"It's Sarah," she told him.
Margaret came out of the kitchen with her hands so topped with trays that she almost couldn't see over them. It was a miracle that she managed to get to the table without spilling anything or killing something with the cutlery that was balanced on top of more plates. She set down her monstrous stack and, without a word to anyone, but with a rather angry disposition on her face, went about dispersing the foods to the many inhabitants of the inn who had been waiting for a bit of time for breakfast.
She came to the table and sat on its edge with a huff, wiping her hands on a rag, and dabbing at her sweaty face.
"What's up, Margaret?" Hanna asked curiously, bending in to see if the elderly woman was OK.
"Nothing. It's not that bigga deal. It's just…Well that, girl—Justine—has run off again! I don't know where she's at, and, truthfully, it's starting to piss me off!!"
All at our table was quiet, though not as quiet as they were at Geoffrey's sudden outburst. The Clavats seemed a bit perturbed by this and got up to go. Sarah and Gaia came down at this time and seemed to feel slightly out of place.
"What happened?" Gaia asked curiously, looking at his comrades as they made to leave on that day's adventure.
"Justine's gone. She's not been here a lot recently. And I'm sorry to say, but I think it's due to the fact that you guys have shown up." Margaret gestured apologetically to the remaining caravaners a bit sheepishly at placing the blame on them.
"Ah—but I just saw her through the window. She seemed a bit…erm, dirty is probably the best word. She seemed to have some form of dust or something on her front. She was wearing a cloak, though. It was as if she had something to hide. It was very odd…!" Sarah told us.
"Indeed. And did you see her enter the inn?" Margaret asked worriedly. Sarah shook her head no. "Oh, dear..!"
Without another word, she hurried out of the front rooms and into the back ones. It was very faint, but the sound of another door opening could just be heard, somewhere within the recesses of the place.
"Urm…Let's go, Gaia!" and without further ado, Sarah took Gaia's sleeve and pulled him out the door post-haste. Within the inn, the muffled sounds of a fight, both verbal and perhaps physical, were going on.
At the tables all over, the guests hurriedly dumped their money on the surface and bolted, either up to their rooms or out the door, hoping to escape Margaret's wrath, which was sure to leak out.
I, myself, was caught up in my own mess. I was stuck in a crowd of people, none of which I knew, and none of which seemed to have any common courtesy. I was getting jostled and shoved aside as if I were some sort of sack of potatoes. Their rough language frightened me, and the looks they gave me held a form of hostility. Particularly from the Selkies. I went on to presume they thought I was a Clavat. Perhaps there was some sort of racial dispute between the groups?
Suddenly, I felt warm hands grab my own and pull me to the side of the street, out of the way of the pedestrian traffic, and into the shadows. I turned around; a grin on my face, about to thank the person who'd saved me. My grin fell. It was Bertrum.
"What's that look for, huh? I saved your sorry ass, so feel free to cop up a thanks or two!" He snapped irritably.
I instantly went back into my "bitch-mode". I scrunched up my eyes and got in his face,
"Yeah? Well, who the hell asked you to save me anyway? I was just coming after you to apologize, and here you are, getting off of rescuing me, hoping I will thank you?! Well, hell no! I'm not some damsel in distress, so don't save me! I can take care of myself, so just leave me alone! Oh, and just so you know, McCarthy, yeah, the royal blacksmith, his weapons can kick Jo-have-shoes's any day of the week, so THERE!" I smirked triumphantly and turned my back on the angry man I left in my wake. Sure, I had absolutely no idea where the hell I was going, but I didn't want this to come back and bite me in the ass anytime soon.
"Hey! Hey! Hey!!" Bertrum's angry voice rang out behind me, filled with malice and something that I quite strongly suspected was hatred.
I moved faster. This ugly bastard was so not gonna catch me.