of town and said, “Seth, get us a room.”
“Just one?” he asked.
“Yes,” replied Bart. “I doubt if we’ll be spending much time here.”
“Then why get a room?” Soth asked.
“Just do it,” said Bart. “I’ll explain when there’s little chance of being overheard.”
Seth glanced to Bart and nodded. Quickening his horse’s pace, he was soon at the inn and dismounting. By the time the others arrived, he had emerged. “Got one on the second floor, all the way in the back,” he told Bart.
“Excellent,” Bart replied. Dismounting, he secured his horse to the rail outside. To the others he indicated the rail and said, “Go ahead. With any luck, we’ll not be here long.” Once the others had dismounted and secured their horses to the rail, they went inside the inn.
A few people were about; the innkeeper, his daughter who waited tables, and a group of what looked to be four merchants having an early morning meal. Moving quickly, Bart and the others passed through to the stairs and were quickly in their room.
“Now,” Seth said after they were inside with the door locked, “what’s your plan?”
“I’ll need you and your brother to do a little shopping,” he explained. “A town this size should have what I need.”
“And what would that be?” asked Seth.
Bart told them the items he would require, and it soon became apparent what he planned to do. The two items that confused the others were a cheap longbow and an empty arrow quiver.
“It’s for Kevik’s staff,” he explained. When the others still had confused looks, he clarified. “He can’t very well go around with his staff exposed for all to see. Those who are after us know we have a magic user. So what we will do is cut out the bottom of the quiver and slide Kevik’s staff up into it as far as it will go.”
“All of it isn’t going to fit inside,” argued Kevik. “Won’t it be even more conspicuous if half of it is sticking out the bottom?”
Bart shook his head. “That’s what the bow is for,” he explained. “With it strung and over your shoulder, not to mention carefully arranging a pack or two behind your saddle, it won’t be readily noticeable.” Turning to Seth and Soth, he said, “Better get going.”
Seth nodded, then he and his brother left the room.
All the while they were gone, everyone but Kevik waited anxiously for their return. He on the other hand, had passed out on the bed and was fast asleep. By the time the twins returned with Bart’s items, there was still no sign of their pursuers.
Once they were back in the room, Chyfe took the bow and quiver from them. He then awoke Kevik and together, they began working on concealing his staff. Bart took the cracked wooded bowl from off the small table by the window. Bringing it over to the room’s main table, he got to work.
First he checked to make sure that the small envelopes of powder the twins had purchased contained the correct substances. Then he poured half of each into the bowl with a little bit of water. Immediately, the water began turning dark. He said, “With this, we can dye our skin to look like Tribesmen.”
Chyfe looked dubiously at the liquid in the bowl. “Are you sure?” he asked.
“Fairly,” replied Bart. He stirred the mixture for another minute then picked up a small piece of cloth. Turning to the others he asked, “Who wants to be first?”
When no one stepped forward to volunteer, he sighed. Taking the cloth, he dipped it into the mixture. After scraping off the excess, he dabbed the mixture tinted cloth to his arm. He applied it from his elbow to wrist, and when he was done said to Seth, “Come here and place your arm next to mine.”
Seth came forward and laid his arm on the table next to Bart’s. It was clear that the dye had worked. It wasn’t an exact match, but the dye had darkened Bart’s skin to almost the same color as Seth’s.
“Satisfied?” he asked Chyfe.
“Yeah,” Chyfe nodded.
Holding up the cloth, Bart asked, “Now, who wants to finish me?” Riyan stepped forward and took the cloth.
“I’ll get some food,” suggested Seth. Leaving the room, he headed downstairs to the kitchen.
Over the course of the next hour and a half, everyone but the twins had their skin darkened. Once it dried, the dye tended to become a bit lighter, so they started in on a second coating. When the mixture ran out, he used the rest of the powders to make more.
They had just begun the second coating of Chad when Seth said, “I think they’re here.” Standing at the window, he glanced to the others. “Soldiers, lots of them.”
Bart was at the window in a flash. “Time to go,” he said.
“But you haven’t finished with me,” stated Chad. He was the last to have the second coating applied. He looked pale compared to the others, but may escape notice as he was nowhere nearly as pale as he had been.
“It’s going to have to do,” Bart said. Moving to the bed, he pulled off the sheet and then went back to the table. As he started putting everything used in making and applying the dye onto it, he turned to Riyan. “Take Seth, Chad, and Chyfe and get out of town. Head north and don’t stop until you reach Hylith. They’re looking for a group of seven. So if we split up, we may be able to escape their notice.” Turning to Seth he asked, “You still have the ring?”
Seth nodded and held up his right hand which bore the ring.
“Good,” Bart said. To Riyan, “If you get into trouble, let us know.” When they hesitated, he hollered, “Move! They’ll be here any minute.” He glanced to Riyan and said, “Don’t worry about us, we’ll be right behind you.”
Riyan nodded. “Good luck,” he said. Then he and the others grabbed their packs and were out the door in a flash. Their footsteps could be heard thundering down the hall and then down the stairs.
Kevik indicated the bundle in Bart’s hand. Stains from the mixture were already starting to show through. “What do you plan to do with that?”
“Taking it with us,” he explained. “Can’t leave it here and let them know what we did.” He paused a moment before leaving the room to give Kevik a once over.
No longer wearing his robe, Kevik didn’t look himself in regular clothes. Of course the strung bow slung across his back didn’t help any either. The bottom end of his staff was visible despite being behind the end of the bow. But he figured that once he was mounted, they could hide it. He positioned Soth on that side of Kevik so his body would help keep the staff’s end out of sight. Giving Kevik a nod, he moved to the window.
Down below, he saw Riyan and the others mounted and moving off down the street. His attention was then drawn to a soldier standing near the inn speaking with a local. The local nodded and pointed to their inn. As the soldier began crossing the street toward them, Bart turned to Kevik and Soth. “They’re coming,” he said. Stuffing the bundle containing the dye paraphernalia into his pack, he headed for the door.
Panic leapt into Kevik’s eyes. “Easy,” Bart said. “Only one soldier is headed this way,” he explained. “We’ll go down to our horses, mount, and then leave town.” As Kevik nodded and headed for the door, Bart laid a hand on his shoulder. “If we give them no reason to think we’re the ones they’re after, we’ll be able to sneak out of town under their very noses.”
“Absolutely,” agreed Soth with an air of optimism.
Kevik took a calming breath to get himself under control. “Okay,” he said.
“Now, quick but not too quick,” Bart told him.
Moving from the room, they made for the stairway and without hesitation, descended to the ground floor. Bart was in the lead, with Soth walking next to Kevik to help conceal the protruding end of his staff. Bart cast a quick glance back to Kevik before they reached the last step. If he hadn’t of been looking for it, he probably wouldn’t have noticed where the staff stuck out. Turning back, he came to an abrupt halt as he almost ran into the soldier he had seen from his window.
Stepping out of the soldier’s way, Bart said, “Excuse me.”
Without replying, the soldiers glared at him as he passed by.
Once the soldier was on his way up, Bart quickly headed for the front door of the inn. There, he paused and looked out. Other soldiers were about, but none looked as if they were giving the inn any special attention. Their three horses remained tied to the rail.
This was the place where things could go bad. As Bart left the inn, he knew that if any of the locals who had
