The Forgotten King (Korin's Journal) by Brian Beam Read Free Book Online Page B

and made our way up the stairs.  Ant was just exiting our room when we reached the top.  He looked about ready to pass out on his feet.
    “Your room’s all ready, gentlemen.”  Ant craned his neck as if trying to look behind us.  “Is that someone knocking down there?  I ain’t locked the door yet.”
    “Ant, we need to leave, and you need to keep quiet that we were ever here,” I whispered.  “Til’, give him a couple silvers.”  I may have had strong morals, but I wasn’t above bribery if it meant saving my life or the lives of those I cared about.
    Til’ pulled out three silver coins, the majority of what we had left, and handed them to the stunned innkeeper. 
    “Look, I don’t want no part of no trouble,” Ant protested shakily, trying to hand the coins back to Til’. 
    “Listen, Ant,” I began, trying to keep my voice down, “we haven’t done anything wrong.  Please, help us.”  Another round of knocking echoed up the stairway.
    Ant reluctantly closed his hand.  “You promise y’all ain’t criminals?”
    “I promise,” I replied, ignoring that Til’ had been a thief, and that I’d probably done some unlawful things inadvertently with my prior Activated Contracts.
    Ant licked his lips nervously, but he pocketed the coins.  “Okay, but if y’all need to sneak out, you got to go out that window there,” he said, pointing to the end of the hallway. 
    “What about the back door?” I asked.  “Can’t you just unlock it for us?”
    “There ain’t no back door.  Downstairs, there’s jus’ the storage closet,” Ant explained, drawing a sigh from me.  Who doesn’t have a back door to their business? 
    “ All right,” I conceded.  “Give us a slow count to thirty before you open the door.  I’m sure he won’t hurt you, but he may break down your door if he thinks we’re in here.”
    Ant, clearly shaken by the whole situation, nodded and started down the stairs.  Til’ and I ran to the end of the hallway.  The casement window was held shut by a simple hook latch.  As I flipped the latch and pushed open the window, I heard Bill’s heavy boots stamp into the inn.
    “So much for that slow count of thirty,” I muttered.  I leaned out the window to see a straight drop to the muddy ground.  I pushed Til’ ahead of me.  “You first.  He can’t hurt me.”
    Til’ climbed onto the windowsill.  I grabbed his hands and lowered him as far as I could before releasing them.  He landed hard on the wet ground, just barely keeping on his feet.  I dropped our damp cloaks and backpacks after him.
    Bill’s deep voice drifted up through the stairway.  “Have you had a Kolarin and a young man with short brown hair about yea tall come by here?”  He sounded perfectly civil, though I knew he’d be anything but if he found us.
    Ant was true to his word.  “No, stranger, can’t say—”
    Ant was cut off by the drunken man at the bar, who of course had decided that now was the perfect time to regain consciousness.  “They’s gots a room just up thur.  That K’larin’s the damnedest lil’ feller I e’er did see.  Made me this hur stick.”
    There was a terse silence before I heard Bill’s footsteps approach the stairs.
    “Malki’s blood,” I swore under my breath, practically jumping onto the window sill.  As I turned to lower myself from the frame, my eyes met Bill’s in the orange glow of a wall lamp. 
    “We need to talk, Mr. Karell,” he said, his tattooed face impassive yet still intimidating.
    “Sorry, I have plans.  Try me again next week,” I quipped, nimbly dropping backwards out the window.  I let my fingers briefly catch the window frame to keep from falling too fast.  My feet nearly slipped out from under me on the sodden grass, but I was miraculously able to remain standing.  Til’ handed me my backpack and cloak, and we started running.  Bill yelled something after us, but I couldn’t make out his words.
    “What about the