“At least ask how much the room is.” Maggie pocketed coins faster than I pushed them back across the counter.
“Why? I don't haggle like a fishwife. I will negotiate the price of an elven bushel of luma grass no lower than 535 talons, but for this? It’s just gold.”
She looked hard at me.
“Okay. I don't pay for things like this ever. But surely what I put on the counter was enough? Right…”
“It’s Arthur, Your Highness.” Again, a beautiful little bow.
I smiled at my new friend.
“Your Highness?” She eyed me like I forced poor Arthur to call me that.
I shrugged like her judgment didn't bother me.
“This is enough to buy the whole inn and probably the town if you wanted.” She put a few talons on the bar top and the innkeeper snatched them up.
“That sounds like too much trouble.” I sighed heavily. “Okay. Your assistance is duly noted. You are dismissed. I’ll find you transport once I change upstairs.”
“Dismissed!” she cried in outrage.
“No, that's not what I meant. Don't be difficult.”
“Rat Face, I was born to be difficult.”
Yes, yes she was and, usually, I loved it. Today, I needed her safely tucked in the Keep. The nickname didn’t thrill me either, but she flounced up the stairs to a room before we argued further.
“Any of the rooms are open,” Arthur called up to us.
I bet they were.
In the privacy of the one I chose, I took a moment to fortify myself. Brush out my hair, wash, change into something comfortable and not too grabbable. I heard Maggie banging around in the next room like she was really going to stay the night. Heavy was the head that wore the crown. Perhaps we could pick this up when I had my throne back. As refreshed as a change of clothes might make me, I stepped back out onto the landing and stood before her door.
“Time to go, Pumpkin.”
No response. Or the deafening silence was some type of response. I tried the door. It wiggled but she must have barred it from the inside. I shook my head. She still didn’t understand who she was dealing with. I slipped into shadow and through the door, reveling in her yelp of surprise when I stepped back out of the dark and kicked the chair away from the door.
“What the-”
“No time for flattery. I need to get searching. So you need to go.”
It wasn't easy to corral Maggie, but I straightened to my full height, lifting my chin and snaking my hand around her upper arm. Her pack, her person, left the room in my grip.
“I won’t leave until you’re dead.”
“You will.” I shook her.
“You won’t escape me.”
In that she was right. She was already a permanent fixture in my dreams.
“I’ll live somehow.”
“That’s exactly what I’m afraid of.”
Arthur wisely remained silent as I carted Maggie out the door and called a Galather Raven from the Dream Realm. It was an egregious use of magic. I would be hurting tomorrow, but I found I didn’t trust her in anyone’s company. I plunked her on the raven’s back and it accepted her well enough for a cart-sized nightmare creature. A few shadows strapped her to it and the almost-bird took her pack in its beak.
“Home.” I ordered it.
