Chapter 17 - Chapter Sixteen

~𝑯𝒂𝒊𝒍𝒆𝒚~

"Miss, you really shouldn't. It's indecent."

I rolled my eyes. "This is my castle, I have every right to go wherever I want to." There was no way I was just going to let Ryker off the hook after he'd ghosted me for almost two weeks. After what had happened in the dining room the other night, I was worried about him. And since my dad hadn't given me anything to work with, I had to go with the source.

"But, they're training, Miss," Luisa said, eager to keep up with my steps.

"That's what I'm counting on," I said as we reached the doors. I wasted no time in shoving the doors open, cutting off all movement and sound in the room. Luisa remained outside, too embarrassed to barge in.

I was annoyed to find that my father was among them but I disregarded everyone—including him—as I made my way to Ryker. He was looking at me with wide eyes, dropping the sword he'd had in hand as I grew nearer. Beside him, Dallas and Dexter both bowed and, as Ryker saw them, he hurried to follow suit.

"You know, it's rude to keep a lady waiting," I said and a series of wolf whistles went about the room but as I sent a glare around, they cut off. Dallas stood back up, bowing his head lightly as he dragged Dexter away from us. Ryker kept his head down as he straightened.

"I'm sorry," he said, his voice soft. I narrowed my eyes, placing my hands on my hips. I thought he'd become more comfortable with me.

"It's been a week and you haven't spoken a word to me, much less showed up at the stables," I said. "And after what happened last—"

"Hailey." I curled my lip as Ryker visibly relaxed at the voice. I whirled around, meeting eyes with my dad's.

"Yes?" I asked, innocently.

He sighed. "What are you doing here?"

I glared at him and then turned back to Ryker. "I feel like I'm being left out of something and I hate that so how about you spit it out already so you can stop treating me like the plague." I raised an eyebrow. Ryker's eyes widened and he glanced at my father and then back to me.

"Um, well, its kind of sensitive," he said, scratching the back of his neck.

"I can take it," I said, crossing my arms. He smiled softly, his head falling once more.

"I went through the magic-injecting process and, well, now my magic levels are in the nineties," he said softly.

I felt my throat choke up as I registered his words. I cleared my throat, taking a deep breath, and gave him a reassuring smile. 𝘋𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘴𝘭𝘪𝘱. "And? That's no excuse," I said. Ryker looked surprised, his mouth hanging open slightly. "That's no reason to avoid me. Rembrandt just foaled. She probably would have liked it if you were there."

"Do you underst—"

"Yes, father," I said, glancing at him. "I understand what this means but what's the point in making a big deal out of it?" I met Ryker's eyes. "Because you're not going to die. You can't." I shook my head. "Now, please, stop ignoring me and come to the stable and see the baby, would you?" I turned around, leaving the room as quickly as I could, ignoring the many eyes on me.

As the large doors closed behind me, I leaned against the wall, placing a hand over my mouth. Tears pricked the corners of my eyes but I fought them back.

I knew Ryker's inevitable fate but there were monsters out there that could manipulate pure magic. They may be just legends but there had to be some truth to it. So there was a chance he'd survive. There was a chance that he'd survive and become the first mage. If anyone could do it, it'd be him, right?

Not only had my father and I both noticed something different about Ryker, but Tairen had. There was something special about him, no doubt about it. But was that enough?

"Miss? Are you alright?" I looked up to see Luisa. I instantly straightened up, brushing off my dress.

"Of course. I'm fine," I said, turning away from her. "I think I'll go to the stables. You're free to do whatever you like."

Without another look, I left her in the hallway.

The next day, Ryker showed up at the stables. I did my best to keep everything light but there was a shadow over us that was difficult to ignore. He'd named the filly Lady—said he'd had a dog once named Lady and they had the same color fur. It fit her well.

After that, I had him help me clean up the place. He joked around and climbed on the hay bales, and once it was supper time, he was covered in hay. It was stuck in his hair and his clothing. I couldn't imagine how itchy it was.

"I'll have to change before I go to the dining room," he said as we left. I nodded. He stuffed his hands in his pockets as we crossed the arena. Through the dark, I could make out a faint smile on his lips. He held the door open for me. Ever since I was a little girl, I thought it was stupid that boys were supposed to treat girls like fine china—like we'd break any second.

𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘱𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘦, they always said but every time they'd hold a door open for me or help me down from a carriage, I just felt inferior. I could do things myself, lady or not.

But Ryker didn't look at me like he was expecting something in return like everyone else did. Even my father looked at me like he expected something. He basically told me to behave with his eyes. Like opening a door for me put me in debt with him.

"Thank you," I said and Ryker nodded, following behind me.

"Thank you," he said, surprising me. I rose an eyebrow at him and he smiled softly. "You're the only one that didn't treat me any different after I told you about what happened."

"Oh," I said, looking ahead. "I saw no reason to. If you die, I'll kick your butt so just don't, okay?"

He laughed. "Okay."

I decided to show up to supper a little late. After hearing about what was going on with Ryker, I wondered how Tairen was taking it. I hadn't seen much of him these past weeks. I didn't know whether that was his normal attitude or if it was worrying. He'd seemed to be opening up with Ryker but then he just suddenly relapsed. Now I understood why.

I knocked on his door, folding my hands in front of me as he swung the door open. He narrowed his eyes at me before stepping aside, allowing me to enter his room. I nodded to him and walked inside. He closed the door behind me and then leaned against it, tilting his head with a smirk.

"Do you need something?" he asked.

I gulped. "I wanted to see how you were doing," I said, looking down at the ground. "I heard about Ryker."

He stayed silent and didn't move for what seemed like forever before he stepped forward, walking past me and collapsing into the chair at his desk. "What about Ryker?"

"Well, how the magic-injecting process went," I answered, looking up at him. His elbow was propped up on his desk, his finger tracing his lower lip. He looked spaced out.

"Yeah," he said. I rose my eyebrows but immediately schooled my expression back into place as he looked up at me. "Do you think the people of the kingdom doubt me?" he asked but didn't give me a chance to answer. "If they do, what do you think they'll do about it? Is there really anything they 𝘤𝘢𝘯 do?" His hands trembled as he folded them on his stomach.

Maybe this was a bad idea, coming here.

"I'm their king, why does it matter what 𝘳𝘶𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘴 say?" his jaw clenched as he turned to face me.

"What are you talking about?" I asked. Rumors?

"The rumors of an evil organization or something," he said, rubbing his palms together, his leg bouncing anxiously. "Cedric said the kingdom could start 𝘥𝘰𝘶𝘣𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 me. It's the kingdom's fault that I was forced to send out a recon group. It's their fault that Ryker is leaving."

"Wait, where's Ryker going?" I asked, scrunching my eyebrows together. Tairen scoffed, leaning back in his chair.

"I don't know. They're leaving at dawn to get information," he said and then went silent. They were leaving at dawn to get information? Of this evil organization, I assumed. Why was Tairen so ticked off about it? "He put me in a corner because he knew I would have no choice. 𝘊𝘦𝘥𝘳𝘪𝘤 wanted me to let go. Why was it such an issue in the first place? I just wanted to be—why not?"

"You're not making any sense, Tairen," I said, taking a step forward. He abruptly sat up in his seat and I jumped. He let out a shaky breath.

"Nothing makes any sense so why the fuck does anything matter? Why can't I just have what I want? Why the hell can't I just have what I want!?" he yelled. I took a step back, my hands shaking as if they were freezing. He dug his hands in his hair. "Get out."

I immediately spun around, my sweaty hand slipping on the handle and my eyes widened as I felt his presence behind me.

I held my breath as he reached around me, closing my eyes.

The door clicked open and his presence disappeared from behind me. I sighed, swinging the door open and leaving.

𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘱𝘪𝘥 𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘢. 𝘋𝘪𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘩𝘦'𝘥 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦? 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘸𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘺𝘰𝘶? I shook my head. No matter how much time I spent with him, I couldn't figure him out. I wondered if I would be like that if I had to stand under the pressure that he did.

~𝑹𝒚𝒌𝒆𝒓~

"Hey." I groaned, rolling away from the voice. It was definitely too early to wake up. "Ryker, wake up, you got ten minutes to get up."

I jumped. "What!?" I asked, looking up at Dallas. "Ten minutes? Why didn't you wake me up earlier?" I asked, jumping up and slipping on some light clothes.

"I tried," he said. I looked at him, finding he was already dressed in armor, both his rapiers tucked in his belt. The armor was a deep red, padded fabric. It was lightweight but had thin plates of magic-infused metal inside it that made it almost impenetrable in most places. The metal was located on the shoulders, torso, legs, and back. That meant not only were there plenty of places something could slip through but with enough precision, a dagger could penetrate in between the metal plates. However, Cedric said that the magic in the plates helped defend the weak points, making it the best armor they have. But there was a limited amount of magic in the plates so if it was used too much, the plates would break and be rendered useless, creating another, much larger, weak point. That's why they were given to TKG, because they specialized in defense, too. We were supposed to be the elite soldiers of the castle, after all.

I hurriedly tugged on my armor, switching to put on my boots halfway through putting on the armor.

"Hey," Dallas said but I ignored him, too focused on the time limit. Why didn't he, like, kick me or something? I wasn't 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 heavy of a sleeper. "Hey, Rye."

I stood up, finishing the cuffs on the armor, and then realized I'd forgotten the gloves. I annoyedly unbuckled the cuffs, slipping on the fingerless, scarlet gloves, and then buckled them once again.

"Rye, you got like twenty minutes, actually," Dallas said. I stopped turning to him with a glare. I shoved him as I bent down to buckle up my boots. He laughed. "It got you up."

"Yeah well, you could have told me sooner," I said.

"You weren't listening to me," he said, shrugging. I glared up at him once again.

He laughed. "Well, I got the horses ready, so that can be my apology," he said, grabbing his bag and throwing it over his shoulder. I grabbed my bag, pretty much identical to his, and threw it at him.

"Your apology can be putting that on my horse." He shook his head, walking towards the door with a groan.

"Ugh, are you serious?" he whined. "I'm gonna have back problems."

"Well, too bad, you made me wake up anxious," I said, standing up. "Now, imagine how I'm gonna be all day." He laughed and left the room.

I grabbed my shortsword, sheathing it and hooking it into my belt so that it rested against my thigh. I tucked two daggers in the other side of my belt then looked around the room for my cloak.

We were going to be starting the mission in the lower end of the kingdom, meaning it was dangerous for us there, more so than in any other section of the kingdom. At first, I was worried but now I was sure that as long as we didn't draw attention to ourselves, we'd be fine. However, cloak or not, that was easier said than done.

I threw on my cloak and grabbed Dallas'. Of course, he'd forget his.

I waited for Dallas to put on his cloak before we left. Since there was only one way in and out of the inner wall, it'd probably take all day before we reached the other side of the kingdom. The morning chill bit at my face. I didn't want to put the hood up until I had to. Who knows how long I'd have to keep it on after that.

We'd just reached the end of the inner wall when Dallas stopped talking. I pulled my horse to a stop, looking around as I heard the gentle clop of a horse's hooves.

"I thought nobody was supposed to be outside this morning?" I asked Dallas. He turned around, nodding as the sound cut off.

"No one is."

I nodded and then jumped off my horse, handing the reins to Dallas.

"What are you doing?" he whispered. I pointed towards a house, big enough that it covered most of the path behind it.

"We're being followed and they're coming from that way," I said, turning back to him. "Keep going. The houses are too close for them to see us so they must be navigating by sound. If they hear the horses moving, they'll move, too. I'll hide behind there and catch them, okay?"

Dallas hesitated before straightening in his seat. "Fine, be careful." I nodded as he continued, pulling his hood up. I followed suit and hid behind the house.

Just like I suspected, the third set of horse clopping started back up. Soon enough, a bay horse stepped forward. Its face was covered with a dark purple mask of sorts, a black marking on the forehead but it was too dark to make out what. The person riding the horse was cloaked in a deep red cloak. I tilted my head.

They didn't look like a thief, not with the horse tack they had. They looked wealthy. I stepped forward, placing my hand on the horse's flank to calm it as I unsheathed my sword and walked along the horse.

I rose the sword and placed the tip against the person's back. They instantly stilled, pulling the horse to a stop.

"Why are you following us? Who are you?" I asked, pressing the sword into their back.

"Hey, it's just me."

My eyes widened, lowering the sword. They brushed off their hood, releasing red locks.

"Hailey? What the hell are you doing here?"

Once we rendezvoused with Dallas, he looked more surprised than I felt. He handed me the reins to my horse before turning to Hailey.

"Um—why were you following us?" he asked.

She sighed. "I already told Ryker, I'm not going to repeat myself," she said, turning her head away.

Dallas turned to me. I smiled. "Well, she wanted to come with us but didn't want anyone to see her leaving with us," I said and then turned to Hailey. "But following us is even more suspicious. You're lucky nobody else was around."

"I know," she said and then looked at Dallas, clasping her hands in front of her. "Please, let me come with you guys. I won't be any trouble."

Dallas' eyes widened and I could see a light blush dust his cheeks. He ducked his head. "The Queen can't be seen in the lower end of the kingdom. It's too dangerous. Plus, if something came up, protecting you would only hold us back." Hailey glared and I hesitantly took a step away from them both.

"What makes you think I need protecting!?" she snapped, raising her chin. "I can protect myself just fine, thank you very much."

"Well, it's only right for us to—"

"I don't need your protection!" she said. "You make me sick! How dare you just 𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘶𝘮𝘦 I need protecting? Is it because I'm a woman? Is that why?"

"No, it's because you're the Queen, Miss!" Dallas, said, raising his voice. Hailey snapped her mouth shut, her eyes widening. "It doesn't matter whether you're a woman or not, you are my leader just as much as the King is and my duty is to protect you. That's all."

I smiled, jumping on my horse and throwing on my hood. "Hailey, if you're going to come with us, take off all that flashy stuff on your horse and your jewelry. Oh, and tie your hair back, it's too obvious," I said.

"Wait, you're letting her come with?" Dallas asked as Hailey began to take off her horse's tack, removing the mask and the bling on the saddle. She tossed her them off and quickly pulled her hair back, pulling up her hood.

"If she can stay inconspicuous, we really have no reason to deny her," I said. "It's her decision, after all." I looked at her. "Come here." I gestured for her to come closer and as she did, I pulled out my dagger. Her eyes widened and I rolled mine subtly. 𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘣 𝘩𝘦𝘳. I leaned down and dug the blade into the saddle, scraping at the engraved sigil. When I finished, I sat back up. "Well, are you ready?" I asked. She nodded. "Then lead the way, Dall."

Hailey seemed a lot less hostile with Dallas now that we'd been riding for a few hours. I understood how their personalities clashed. Dallas was not only a knight, a good one at that, but he was also a gentleman to the point it hurt. He believed women were 𝘨𝘰𝘥𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘴, as he'd said before. It was no secret among the knights how he thought of the Queen. He'd treat her with the utmost respect but Hailey didn't like that. She was independent and might take that the wrong way.

It was only when Dallas offered to stop for food that she stopped calling him out on every comment he made.

We'd been riding for hours and Dallas had said we'd reach the gate to the lower end soon enough but that'd been about an hour ago. I started to wonder if he was lost but then I looked up to see the wall. Like every section, the gate into the lower class section was embedded in a wall connected to the inner wall and the outer wall. In the distance, I saw the top of the castle over the rooftops but it was too far away to make out much detail.

As we neared the wall, I realized there seemed to be a lot more guards than there were in the middle-class housing. There were also plenty of guards on top of the wall, most of them holding onto loaded crossbows. Their helmets made it even more ominous.

It was late into the day, probably almost seven, but the atmosphere didn't fit the warm glow.

Dallas pulled out a piece of paper and showed it to the guards. "We're on a recon mission regarding the rumors. I assume you were notified," he said.

The guard nodded, looking at the paper and then looking at us, stopping on Hailey. "We were told only two of you would be coming," he said.

"Well, plans changed," I said. "If you have a problem, take it to the King, he made the decision."

The guard went silent and after a moment handed Dallas back the paper. He turned around and gestured up at the people on top of the wall. As the gate creaked open, the guard turned to us, stepped back, and gesturing for us to enter.

Dallas led us in through the gate and as the gates closed behind us, I immediately felt like we were being watched. It was a disgusting feeling—like bugs were crawling across my skin. But it didn't seem like anyone around us was watching us.

The houses were all run-down or extremely small. Ever since we left the castle, the quality of everything was just being cut down. I guess that's how a kingdom was formed, though. The people around us looked sickly. An old man dressed in ragged clothes hobbled down the wet street, pushing a cart filled with molded fruits. A mangy black cat ran across the rooftop, knocking off a shingle in the process.

Dallas jumped off his horse and I followed him. "Why are we getting down?" Hailey asked.

I turned to her, offering her a hand that I knew she'd decline. "We don't want to draw attention," I said as she got off herself. "The area we have to investigate is near the North Gate, right? Where's that?"

Dallas pointed behind me and I turned around, my eyes widening as I saw the giant gate, not unlike the gate I'd first entered. The section gates and the inner wall gate was nothing compared to the colossal outer wall gate. Only now did I realize how big the wall really was. I wondered how anyone ever managed to open the gate.

"If that's the area, I suggest we go to the tavern that way," Hailey said, petting her horse.

"The tavern?" Dallas wondered. "How do you know there's a tavern that way?"

She shrugged. "I know my kingdom."

We then began to walk that way. Hailey led the way in the beginning until Dallas managed to convince her to let him lead, saying she'd be safer in between us.

An unnaturally cold wind brushed my skin, sending a chill through my bones. Every few seconds I'd glance behind us, the feeling of being following making the back of my neck tickle. 𝘠𝘰𝘶'𝘳𝘦 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘪𝘥. I glanced at my horse as it blew, shaking its head. I pat his neck. "Yeah, I know."

It didn't take long before we reached the tavern and Hailey was happy to find that they had rooms to rent. She said that it'd be smart to get some sleep tonight and then head out in the morning. Dallas stayed silent and I assumed it was because he didn't want to tell her no just yet. We still hadn't gotten any information and nothing was decided.

After we hitched the horses in an alleyway a couple of blocks from the tavern, we briefly filled Hailey in on what was going on. We wanted to make sure no one in the tavern identified the horses as ours just in case someone decided to snoop and find out we're not who we say we are.

Joyful laughing and loud music poured out of the tavern. A man was laying at the bottom of the stairs. Whether he was dead or passed out, I didn't know. Dallas passed me and Hailey a bandana that we tied on to cover our faces.

When we entered, we were barely spared a glance. Everyone was too busy either playing games or drinking to mind anyone else's business. The bartender walked over to us with three glasses and a bottle of some dark liquid, setting them in front of each of us and filling them.

I took off my hood but declined the drink. I wondered if this was just his way to get us to show our faces. Maybe he was working for someone. Dallas, however, took off his hoods and his bandana and took a drink. His bandana covered the collar of his armor so I guess there was no danger in being identified as TKG members. I followed suit and hesitantly took a sip of the drink. It burned down my throat, the common taste of alcohol. I wondered if there were any age restrictions for alcohol because if it was like it was in the real world, my drinking would be illegal.

"I don't drink," Hailey said but took off her hood and bandana, sending the bartender a smile. He smiled back. I looked up at him and started. It was the first I'd actually taken a good look at him.

He wore a smirk, not unlike Tairen's, black hair slicked back like Cedric's usually was. What surprised me were his scarlet eyes. I didn't think humans could have naturally red iris' but this man proved me wrong. He met my eyes and his were filled with a dark mischievousness. He winked and chuckled when I looked down at my drink.

"That's on the house," he said and then walked down the bar to help another customer.

I leaned over to Dallas. "He reminds me—"

"Of the King?" he finished. I nodded and he glanced at the bartender. "Yeah, just without the sugar coating." He laughed and took a tipped his glass back to take a drink. I scrunched my eyebrows. If the Tairen I knew was him sugar coating, I couldn't imagine him not sugar coating.

"Don't drink too much," I said before turning to Hailey. "Hey, do you think you could ask the bartender about the rumor?" She rose her eyebrow.

"Why can't you?" she asked.

"Um—well, uh, I just don't think—" I cleared my throat, running my hand through my hair and looking away. "I just don't really want to," I said quietly and then looked up at her, scratching the back of my neck. "Plus, you're a girl, it wouldn't seem suspicious."

She cleared her throat, scratching her chin. "Well, I don't really think he would like me," she said.

"What do you mean? He doesn't have to fall in love with you. Just be—"

"That's not what I meant," she said and then ducked down, her voice dropping. "I don't think he likes 𝘨𝘪𝘳𝘭𝘴."

I scrunched my nose, looking down. I thought he was just flirtatious but maybe he really did play for the other team. "Well that makes it worse because I'm susceptible to his charm a lot more than you are," I said.

"What?" she asked and I shook my head. 𝘑𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘣𝘦.

"Just—please," I said. She sighed and then knocked on the bar.

"Oh, bartender! I have a request!" she called. I turned away, taking a drink as the bartender returned.

"Yes, love?" he asked, sending her a charming smile. Maybe he was just a flirtatious person.

"Do you have any red wine?" she asked.

"I thought you didn't drink," he said, taking the untouched glass and switching it out for an empty one, grabbing a bottle and popping it open.

"I don't but I'll make an exception," she said, leaning forward as he started pouring the drink. "On my way here, I heard someone mention some sort of evil organization going against the King. Do you know anything about that?"

I almost face-palmed as he stilled, glancing around before setting the bottle down and handing her the drink. He quickly recovered from his surprise and gave her another smile. "Why are you asking? Don't you know how dangerous knowledge can be?" She smiled innocently at him.

"Yes, I assure you, I do," she said, leaning on her propped up hand. "Are you willing to fill me in?"

He bit his lip and glanced at me. My gaze dropped and he sighed.

"Okay, but you didn't hear it from me," he said.

"Naturally," she agreed.

"There's not much information about it but a few weeks ago, a rumor went around that there was some evil force or organization that was planning on moving against the King," he said. He jerked his chin towards the other side of the room. "You see those three people in black cloaks, with the phoenix pin on their chests?" I glanced to where he was talking about and saw a trio of people. Each one of them was wearing black cloaks and with a golden pin on their chest, like he'd said. But that's about all. They were so inconspicuous that I couldn't even tell whether they were male or female.

"Are those—"

"Yeah," he cut Hailey off. "The Corderoy's decided to get involved so they're here doing the same thing you guys are. Gathering information."

I wrapped my hand around the dagger in my belt but even if he did know, what was I going to do? I couldn't kill him or threaten him. I don't think I could kill someone and threatening would just cause a scene. "How did you—"

"Don't worry, I won't say anything," he said, raising his hand.

"Do you know what The Corderoy's found out? Like, maybe, the source?" Dallas asked. I hadn't even realized he'd been listening.

The bartender sighed, shaking his head. "I think someone may have mentioned a druid. Must have been a fairy druid," he said.

"A fairy druid?" I asked.

"A type of monster," Dallas clarified then turned to the bartender. "Do you know where the fairy druid is?"

"Well, there is only supposed to be one left so it must be in the forest just outside of the kingdom," he said. "Now, that's all I'm telling you." He walked down the aisle, leaving both bottles on the bar in front of us.

"Do you know where this 𝘧𝘢𝘪𝘳𝘺 𝘥𝘳𝘶𝘪𝘥 is?" I asked, turning to Dallas. He nodded, his eyes following the bartender.

"I find it odd how loose-lipped he was. He didn't seem like the type, especially having a business in this side of the kingdom," he said.

"Yeah, well, it's good for us," I said, looking up at the bartender. "Whatever reason he had, it didn't harm us in any way."