130: Pour House

The giant man held Hari at arm’s length by his shoulders.

“You’ve fought something more dangerous?” Wyatt said seriously.

Hari shook his head. “The wording was encounter something, but we won’t talk here. Got somewhere quieter? I have some people to introduce to you.”

Wyatt straightened up. “Right, right, of course. CORAL! Watch the bar for me, just stepping aside for a little.”

A female voice from the distance cut through; I couldn’t see her, but the volume was something else. “No worries, boss, I got it.”

A moment later we were following him through the inn as he cut a path through the crowd. It was hard to get a good look at the inn itself with so many people, but it had a very high roof, with the bar on one side. There were tables all packed with adventurers, and in the far corner looked like a stage, but no one was currently playing.

Wyatt made it to the door in the back of the room by the stage, and entering after him, it opened into a wooden staircase leading to the second level.

I expected a hallway of rooms similar to the guild in Grey Rock, or even Larry’s inn, but instead the top of the staircase opened into a large room filled with cushioned chairs all seated around a fireplace. The sound from downstairs still travelled up, but it was muffled considerably.

“Take a seat. Come in, come in. Welcome to The Pour House. We won’t be bothered here. This floor is private for staff and myself,” Wyatt said, falling into one of the seats as it groaned under his weight.

He peered at us all as we entered. “Jen, since when do you have a companion—is that an elemental?”

“Crisplet is not mine; it’s the companion of our new support member. It’s just safer for me to carry the brazier around most of the time—less attention that way,” Jen said.

Crisplet came out of the brazier with a burst of sparks before dashing into the fireplace, which burst into flames as all the old coal that was still there lit up. Immediately, warmth spread through the room.

“Handy. New support?” Wyatt looked around at Micca, Darren, George, and myself.

Hari was about to say something as he sat down, before Wyatt waved at him. “No, no, let me guess. It’s not the two boys there; they appear to be warriors or something, and you said support.”

Wyatt studied Micca and me for a moment, a grin appearing on his face.

“It’s got to be the girl. They don’t give you greenhorns anymore; it’s too dangerous; he’d be too young!” Wyatt looked to Hari, who just had a giant smirk on his face.

“No—the boy? You got a fresh adventurer?” Wyatt looked shocked.

Hari laughed. “That’s Trevor, or Trev, and yeah, we did. But it’s going to get even stranger, especially when his other companion shows up.”

We all took seats around the room as Hari made introductions for everyone else.

“You said his other companion, so the fire elemental is his, and there’s another one which is off on its own right now? So, a bird or something then?” Wyatt said, studying me closely.

I had never seen Hari acting like this before, but he smirked again. “You’ll see soon enough. It’s hard to miss—she’ll make quite the entrance, I suspect.”

Wyatt looked confused but didn’t push the matter. “Well, what brings you here? What’s happened?”

Liane chuckled. “What hasn’t happened…”

Hari got comfortable. “It’s a long tale, so before that—Trevor, this is Wyatt. He’s an old mentor and friend of mine.”

Wyatt scoffed, “Old friend he says. I basically adopted the boy when he was kicked out of home and taught him everything he knows.”

Hari then started a tale that began with their job in the north, escorting Troy to Boltron. He got all the way through the tale until it came to our first encounter with Lily.

Hari paused, smiling. “And that’s where I won the bet for the first time—we encountered a continent-destroyer in the form of a Shadow Cat.”

Wyatt waved him off. “Bah, rubbish. No Shadow Cat would be more powerful than the frost wyrm I encountered. They are city-destroyers at best. I’m still winning the bet.”

The smile never left Hari’s face. “You know, I thought you’d say that. Hypothetically, what would be stronger—an ancient drake, the first mate of the Storm Dragon in Boltron, or your frost wyrm?”

Wyatt considered for a moment. “Probably the drake… but where are you going with this? Did you face the drake too?”

Hari pushed his chair back, clearing a large space on the floor. “Well, you see, there’s a funny thing about this particular cat. It killed that particular drake for a snack. Trev, do you mind? You know which one to pull out.”

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

Hari left it ambiguous, but I knew he wanted me to bring the head out, so not wanting to get in the way of this clear showboating attempt, I pulled out the head, which landed on the floor with a heavy thud and took up most of the room.

It caused Darren and George to jump back in shock. They knew we had killed it, but I couldn’t remember if I had shown them the head yet. Whether I had or hadn’t didn’t matter—its appearance now gave them a shock.

Wyatt’s jaw just dropped open.

“It killed it for a snack? How do you know it was the cat and not the dragon?” Wyatt said.

Figuring this was as good a time as any, I looked over to find the nearest shadow. Her presence had been with us all day. I knew she was there—her presence never fully left today.

“Lily, want to come out and meet a new friend?”

For extra incentive, I also pulled out the couple of pieces of bacon I had cooked that morning.

As soon as the food was in my hands, the real pressure came. It was still dull to me, with no real emotion behind it, but all the noise downstairs ceased immediately, sweat appearing on Wyatt’s brow.

“Wha—” he said as Lily appeared and cut his sentence off in its tracks.

I was impressed that Hari managed so well under the pressure now, because he didn’t miss a beat. Lily was already inspecting the head of the drake before pushing it away as if not wanting to see it anymore.

I stored it.