“I don’t need to use magic to get us some coins,” Andras told him. “I’ll see you soon.”
He swaggered off into the crowd, and Drew watched carefully as he made his way through the throngs of demons. There was a well-dressed higher demon who was standing talking with one of the lesser demons inthe middle of the square, and he watched Andras stumble into them. The higher demon snapped at Andras, straightening his clothes and brushing off dust, while Andras profusely apologized. Andras held up a hand in a placating gesture, even as Drew watched him tuck a small purse of coins into his pocket, and then he was on his way once more.
Why magic up coins when you could just steal them?
Once Andras had entered the inn, Drew touched the urco’s shoulder. “Come on, Princess. Let’s go.”
Happily trotting along behind him, Drew led the giant hound down the alleyway they were in, and then through several more. He wasn’t exactly sure where he was going, and they had to backtrack twice when they hit dead ends, but they finally arrived in the rear courtyard of the inn without being seen. Andras was already waiting for them at the top of the stairs, and he gestured for them to hurry.
Drew hustled up the stairs and followed Andras into the room, closing the door firmly behind him. It wasn’t until they were in the enclosed space of the tiny room that he realized just howmassivethe urco was. The hound stood between the door and the bed and took up most of the space, leaving Andras crowded into the corner. Drew had wondered if he’d be able to glamour Princess so he could go downstairs with them, but the reality wasnot a fucking chance.
There was a knock at the door, and Drew froze. “What do we do?” he hissed at Andras.
“I have your meal,” a voice from outside called. Drew couldn’t be one hundred percent certain, but he thought it sounded like the waitdemon who had served them their meal yesterday.
“Please leave it outside, and I’ll retrieve it in a moment,” Andras called back.
There was a dullthunkas something was placed on the ground, and then the sound of retreating footsteps.
“Be a love and grab that for us, would you?” Andras asked. He waved at Princess and added dryly, “I can’t really get to the door right now.”
Drew retrieved the large bowl from outside, seeing it looked to be gathra strew. “I thought we were eating downstairs so I could look for the ring?”
“We are. That’s for Princess so he doesn’t get peckish during the night and decide to chew on my foot.”
The stew was only lukewarm, so Drew placed it on the ground right away. Princess happily began to chow down on it while Andras inched his way around him. “We’ll be back soon,” Drew told the urco, but was ignored in favour of the stew.
The taproom of the inn was exactly as Drew remembered it. In a stroke of luck, the space at the table where they’d sat last time was free, and Andras and Drew sat down.
“I’ll go order food,” Andras told him. “You look for the ring.”
While Andras headed for the counter, Drew peered at the floor. The room was dimly lit, and the floor really was filthy, and he couldn’t see a damn thing. Feeling self-conscious of just getting down on his hands and knees, he moved an empty cup that had been abandoned by the previous patrons towards the edge of the table. As nonchalantly as possible, he knocked the cup onto the floor. “Oh, no!” he said to no one in particular. Leila let out abokthat sounded suspiciously like a laugh, and he left her on the table as he ducked down to the floor, ostensibly to grab the cup.
Drew scoured every inch of the dirty floor under the table, looking right up next to the legs and even under the surrounding seats. There was no ring. He crawled all the way over to the other side of the table, emerging to find himself parked between Andras’s legs.
“Why, hello there,” Andras purred in his most seductive tone.
“Fuck off,” Drew muttered, shoving at his knees.
Andras laughed, then swung his legs over the bench seat and moved around to the other side so Drew could clamber up on that side. “No luck?” he asked once Drewwas upright.
“No,” Drew said with a pout, wiping his now-dirty hands on his jeans. “I wonder if it’s in the room we were in before? How will I even get inside to check, though?”
“I can get us in, no worries,” Andras assured him. “The locks here aren’t exactly sophisticated.”
“Okay. Thanks.”
“Our meals shouldn’t be long,” the demon told him.
“More gathra stew?”
“No, I figured you might want to try something else. There’s a root vegetable here, similar to what you would call a potato, but more filling.” He said a word that Drew couldn’t pronounce. “They roast it in gathra fat and serve it with a spicy dressing. It’s quite nice.”
Drew perked up at the sound of that. “It sounds delicious.”
When the waitdemon arrived with their food, Drew fell upon it ravenously. He’d not eaten much that day, needing to ration his supplies. The roasted potato thing was better than he’d hoped, and he’d devoured half of it before he even thought to offer some to Leila. She pecked at a small piece, then turned her beak up at it, not interested. Drew pulled out the little baggie of poultry mix from his pocket and shook some out onto the table for her.
Andras was eating his meal with more decorum, but it was clear he was enjoying it as well. It occurred to Drew that Andras had probably not thought he’d have the opportunity for a good meal anytime soon, what with being on the run from the Shadow Blades and all.
