Keeping Body and Soul Together by Jim Webster

Author:Jim Webster
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fantasy, mystery, adventure, romance, Land of the Three Seas, Benor, Port Naain
ISBN: 9781785386299
Publisher: Andrews UK Limited 2017
Published: 2017-03-20T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 5

The Dilettante’s Repose was a larger inn than Benor had expected. It was laid out like the letter H, with a front courtyard which flaunted a fountain and some statuary; the rear courtyard was the stable yard. It was easy to secure a room with a double bed overlooking the courtyard. He tried to ignore the sniggers of the girl who led them to their room, as she ostentatiously overlooked their lack of luggage. He also ignored her soft-voiced suggestion that he might like to try the oysters for dinner. Once in their room, Kara looked in the mirror hanging above the fireplace and combed her hair. As she was doing this Benor realised she was using the mirror to watch him. “Benor, somewhere in this inn is our mutual friend, Mister Thane-Freely. Do you fancy taking a turn round the inn, see if you can spot him? Then we can find out what he’s up to.”

Benor raised a hand in a half salute and left the room. He had been thinking about the situation and realised that the man they were hunting had a problem. Obviously he had business associates he wanted to meet, but equally obviously he would be nervous about some of the people who might be looking for him. Benor walked quietly down the stairs and into the main entrance. The dining room and kitchen was to the left, the bars to the right. He decided that he’d check the dining room first. There was one other couple sitting there, a handsome woman of fifty and a man in his thirties. The man had black hair and was starting to thin on top. It didn’t look like a wig, and the man wore no ear-rings, so Benor withdrew back into the entrance hall. He discovered there were three bars, a main bar, which was for passing travellers, and beyond that, off a corridor leading to the jakes, were two small snugs for residents. Benor made his way to the jakes, glancing casually into the snugs as he passed. One had a small group sitting round a table. They looked young, students perhaps, and obviously all knew each other and were travelling as a party. The second snug was more interesting. It had three small booths to provide privacy, and Benor could hear men’s voices coming from one of the booths.

Past the jakes was a door which led out into the stable yard. Benor walked into the stables where an ostler was bedding up Kara’s two horses. He’d obviously just finished wiping them down and grooming them.

“Nice to see a job done well.”

The ostler stopped shaking out straw, “Thank you sir.”

Benor glanced around the stable. “Busy tonight?”

“Not as busy as we can be, but we’ve had some gentlemen arrive out of Port Naain during this afternoon.”

Benor nodded out into the yard, “And a carter with that wagon by the look of it.”

“No sir, a gentleman drove that here himself. Then he wanted us to carry a dozen bluidy chests into his room.

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