Lost Mage by Honor Raconteur

Author:Honor Raconteur [Raconteur, Honor]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fantasy, Fiction
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Loggers, as a whole, were a good-natured bunch. Oh, they were notorious for being rough around the edges, and you certainly didn’t want to pick a fight with them, but they weren’t a bad sort. That was why I didn’t think anything of dining in the main taproom downstairs. Most of the men that worked in these places were family men and not the sort to hassle women and children after all.

Out of sheer habit, I chose a table that had a ready escape route to the outside and gave me a good visual of the room. Aletha sat on one side of me, Becca on the other. We ordered something hot and filling from the serving girl that came by, sat back, and took the opportunity to unwind a bit.

Becca’s head swiveled in all directions as she took in the place. As taprooms went, this one wasn’t anything remarkable. Wooden beams in the ceiling, wooden floor covered in more than its share of dust, round tables and chairs clustered tightly together. We must have picked a popular place to stay, as even this late in the evening, the place was packed. We’d grabbed one of the last free tables.

When loggers got drunk, they progressively got louder, and as the beer made its rounds, the noise level in the room steadily rose. Aletha and I were more or less used to such an atmosphere, as an army barracks was rather similar in atmosphere. Becca, of course was not, and I could see her wince now and again at some of the louder yells. Not to mention the off-key singing.

I had to raise my voice to be heard over the din as I counseled her, “Ignore it and eat.”

She nodded, eyes still darting about, but focused on the food as steaming plates of baked rabbit and bread pudding were put in front of us.

Ohh, the sight of the food made my mouth water. Anything was better than fish jerky at this point. A wide smile on my face, I waited for the girls to serve themselves before loading up a plate of my own.

I had half the plate consumed when I realized that Becca’s attention had wandered again, this time to the table right beside ours. She had her head cocked, straining to hear what they said. The other table next to us was loud enough to drown out parts of their conversation, and even from just five feet away, I could only hear snatches. What did she find so fascinating?

Focusing, I put more effort into eavesdropping. Then I realized what they were saying and my eyes nearly crossed. Was that really the sort of thing you talked about in public? I was no stranger to crude words or crass conversations—I’d like to meet a soldier that wasn’t—but still, there were things that you just didn’t talk about in an open room like this. Especially with a child sitting behind you!

The main culprit had his back to me and was getting progressively louder as he drank.

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