The Trout's Gills

With his bag of coins weighing his pocket down, and his heavy heart weighing down his chest, Alexei pulled up his hood and stalked through the dark streets of Alandria.

In the middle of the day, the city was one of the marvels of the Drasini kingdom.

Built in the middle of a vast lake Alandria was Drasini's floating fiefdom, controlled by the Archduke Kartra as a vassal of the Drasini Kingdom's royal decree.

While most cities had dirt lining their city's roads where carts could freely be pulled by terra-drakes Alandria had waterways where boats would ferry goods and people too and fro.

With the sunlight glinting off the waters and people bustling about it was one of the most beautiful places in all of the kingdom.

In the quiet of the night, it was instead an ominous and foreboding place.

The water of the lake lapped gently at the underside of the pontoons that made up the city and the boats that were tied to their moorings.

Moonlight glinted on the still surface, serving as the only illumination in the darkened streets. If it had been a cloudy night there would have been no light at all.

Rumour had it that many people had met a murky end on a dark cloudy night at the bottom of the lake, their bodies bloated and trapped under the pontoons as carnivorous water dwellers nibbled on their distended flesh.

If someone had decided that was to be the fate of Alexei that night he would have been completely powerless to stop it, a fact he knew all too well.

This was why he had his hood drawn up high and his head stooped down low.

If he could make himself look like one of the bottom feeders that would try such a thing on someone then those very bottom feeders may be less inclined to try it on him.

Alexei had one destination in mind as he moved through the shadows of the night, a cheap tavern that doubled as an inn that he and Harold used to visit while they were still in training at the academy.

It wasn't the nicest of places, but he had a limited amount of coins in his bag and he didn't want to burn through them all quickly.  He needed time to get on his feet and staying in some luxurious hotel frequented by nobility and tourists wasn't the way to do it.

No, he needed a warm meal, some ale and a bed and that was all.

Alexei turned a final corner and breathed a sigh of relief as he came to the doors of The Trout's Gills.

As it had been the day of the ceremony the tavern was booming with business, something Alexei could tell without even having to walk through the heavy wood door.

The sounds of a bard and his lute, magically amplified by some means, were blasting as loud as could be and was backed up by the slamming of flagons on tables and merry cheering.

It was not the sort of environment that Alexei wanted to be spending his night in, but he had no choice.

Besides, perhaps a flagon of mead would help him feel just that little bit better about the situation.

He pushed his way into the bar and was blasted by the heat of the room, packed to the brim with burly men and big breasted women bouncing away to the music.

Alexei weaved through the hustle and the bustle until he made it to the bar, keeping his hood drawn at all times.

He didn't want to be noticed as the man who felt no pain during the ceremony. That would raise far too many questions. Questions that he didn't want to answer, not now not ever.

"We don't serve shady types in here," The barkeep said, just loud enough over the din of the music and revelry.

The barkeep was a butch woman with arms so muscly they wouldn't have looked out of place on a sailor.

Alexei was sure she could snap him in half like a twig if he gave her cause, and if she didn't there were almost forty men in the small tavern that could likely do it for her.

"I don't want any trouble," Alexei replied, straining his voice to be heard, "I just need a room and a hot meal."

The barkeep turned her nose up at the shorter man at her bar and furrowed her brow, thinking deeply.

"I'm sure I've heard your voice around here before," She said, "Won't ask why you've come all draped up in shady dress as you have, but fine, a room you'll have. Go through the pass, Garrick will be there. Tell 'im you're in room twelve, he'll fix you up."

Alexei nodded out of respect, both for the room and for not outing who he was seeing as she had seemingly figured that out in an instant, and then moved away from the bar and through a large archway on the back wall of the tavern.

The back rooms were instantly quieter, likely due to some kind of enchantment that had been placed onto the doorway itself to keep the rowdy noise of the bar out so that those who had come to stay overnight could sleep.

Alexei breathed a sigh of relief and finally pulled his hood back.

He'd managed to make it into the inn without being recognised by anyone. That was a major win.

Now all he had to do was find this so-called Garrick and he'd have a room for the night, and hopefully a few more besides.

He hadn't had to explain himself to the barkeep yet, but Alexei had a gut feeling that she wouldn't let him stay for long without an explanation of some sort to his current predicament.

He wouldn't worry about that yet, though.

All he wanted now was a warm bowl of stew, some crusty bread, and the warm comfort of a duvet.