The Star of Morcyth: The Morcyth Saga Book Five by Brian S. Pratt Read Free Book Online Page A

and destroy everything of
his that he could find. So far, it seemed the man had heeded the
warning. James is usually a patient man and has the philosophy of
live and let live but Lord Colerain has pushed him beyond that.
    As the sun begins to set, a cluster of
buildings begins to appear ahead of them, just another of the small
areas set up to cater to travelers. Most of the ones they’ve passed
the last two days only had an inn, a chandler’s shop, and little
else. This one is no different.
    No sign on the inn, but the fact that it is
an inn is unmistakable. “Shall we stop here for the night?” James
asks Illan.
    Nodding, he replies, “I doubt if we’ll find
another before dark.”
    “Alright.” Dismounting, he and Illan go
inside to see about rooms while the others stay with the
horses.
    Inside they find a man bearing a tray of
drinks over to a table. He pauses when he sees them enter and says,
“Just a moment and I’ll be with you.”
    “No problem,” responds James.
    After setting the mugs of ale on the table
before two customers, he makes his way back to where they’re
waiting. “My name is Jared, welcome to the Restful Traveler. Can I
help you sirs?” he asks.
    “Need three rooms and stalls for six
horses,” replies James.
    Nodding, the man says, “It’ll be three
coppers a room, meals are extra. And another copper for each of the
stalls.”
    “Very well,” replies James and he removes
the required number of coins from his pouch and hands them to the
man. Walking with Jared over to the counter, he accepts three keys
from him for the rooms.
    “The stalls for the horses are around back,”
he tells them.
    “Thank you,” says James and then he and
Illan return outside to the others.
    Leading their horses around to the back,
they get them situated in their stalls before returning to the inn.
They then go upstairs and put their things in their rooms before
heading down to the common room for dinner.
    During the course of eating dinner, a
commotion near the entrance of the inn draws their attention.
    “I said not to come around here again!”
Jared the innkeeper says sternly.
    James looks over and sees a young woman,
obviously very poor and looking destitute turn around and leave.
When their serving girl comes near, he asks her what that was
about.
    “Oh, she comes by here from time to time,
looking for a handout,” she explains. “My father used to give her
food but then she started coming every night and annoying the
customers. That’s when he put a stop to it. Poor girl, I feel sorry
for her but what can you do?”
    “Thank you,” he says.
    “You’re welcome,” the girl replies as she
moves along to help another customer.
    “Kind of feel sorry for people like that
don’t you?” asks James to no one in particular.
    “Some,” agrees Fifer.
    Before the end of the meal, an itinerant
musician sets up in one corner of the common room and places a bowl
on the floor before him for any donations the patrons would care to
give. Most musicians of this world have no paying patrons and just
go from tavern to tavern looking for a place to play. If the
proprietor has no one to provide music already, he’ll let the
musician set up and play for tips, often supplying his dinner if he
plays well.
    They sit back after the meal and listen as
he plays. Not nearly Perrilin’s standard, but who is? Still, he
does play well and the songs he sings are on key. During one
intermission, James goes over and puts a silver in his bowl.
    Sitting back down, he notices Dave is gone.
“Where did Dave go?”
    “Who cares?” says Jiron. His feelings for
Dave have hardly become better over the last couple days. While
Dave has done nothing further to antagonize anyone, if anything
he’s been trying hard to get along, he still has yet to allay
Jiron’s feeling of distrust.
    “Jiron, stop that,” Illan says
disapprovingly. To James he adds, “He said he was tired and was
going up to sleep.”
    A big yawn escaping