I started to reach for my coin purse at my hip, but Kendra’s foot kicked my shin into submission. She said in a soft voice, “People like us? Travelers, you mean?”
The woman turned up her nose.
Kendra still smiled, but it was the smile of a house cat before swatting a mouse, and I almost felt sorry for the woman for what was to come. My sister knew how to play this game. “I assume your rooms are clean and you have a pair we might inspect before turning over our money? I’d also like to inspect your kitchen for cleanliness before eating.”
Sighing heavily, the woman said louder than necessary, “We have no available rooms and our serving hours are closed.” She said that despite the people at other tables who were eating.
Kendra stood and spoke across the table. She said in the same louder volume the woman used. “No rooms at all, or no rooms for us?”
The woman turned and walked away, her nose held high in the air. She assumed we would slink away, shamed and humbled. Kendra threw her arms wide as if gathering in the attention of all in the room, and turned to me, drawing the eyes in the dining room with the action. She spoke directly to me in a stern tone that would be heard by every ear in the room, “You were right, Damon. I know I told you that I believed Princess Elizabeth would enjoy this inn when she arrives here the day after tomorrow, but no, you said that you heard the owner of this inn is a cold prig of a woman who does not deserve royal approval.”
The murmur of conversation had utterly ceased. Nobody ate or spoke. I said, picking up the story Kendra had started to spin, “So, I win the wager? This inn is certainly not suited for royalty, and you admit it?”
Kendra flipped a gold coin with her thumb high into the air, so high it almost touched the ceiling as it flashed in the candlelight. She was acting as if it was our wager, and I snatched it from the air, a large coin worth enough to purchase half the inn if it were for sale. She headed for the rear door, me at her heels as I continued, “That’s why the princess sent both of us to judge the quality of accommodations before she arrives.”
As I glanced at the stunned expressions on the faces of those who had been eating, I realized that if our story was true, and more than half of it was, they were also deprived of meeting the princess. The scornful looks turned to the innkeeper.
The dour woman raced ahead to get to the door first and block our exit. “Perhaps I was mistaken. We do have a pair of rooms, a very nice pair that you will love.”
Kendra pulled up short, her voice cold and carrying to the far reaches of the room. “No, I was mistaken in thinking the Princess would enjoy herself here. Damon, draw your sword. If this woman has not moved aside by then, run her through with that fancy sword the king gave to you last year.”
I pulled the sword, but the woman had already leaped aside. We slowly walked to the stable and saddled the horses, but didn’t mount. Instead, we took the bridles and walked them out to the street and to the front door of the Crown Inn where we stood looking in both directions while trying to decide what to do. Kendra asked the next person she met, a well-dressed man of tall stature, the location of a good nearby inn, one clean and where travelers were welcome.
“You do know you’re standing out front of the most expensive inn we have in Andover?”
“But it is not one where tired travelers are welcome or treated with grace,” she said, knowing full well the story would travel all over the city by dawn. “We just left there.”
He pointed to another building not far away. “There is what you’re looking for. Not even the second-most expensive, but the food is the best, and you’ll be welcome and treated well.”
We walked with him down the street, his eyes on our magnificent horses. He said, “Old Hannah at the Crown gave you a bit of trouble, did she?”
Kendra said, “I gave it back. We are the personal household servants of Princess Elizabeth, appointed to our positions by her father, the king. She will arrive in two days and stay elsewhere because of the uncouth manners of that woman.”
The man laughed aloud and with a wave of his arm to indicate our destination, he said, “Serves her right. This is the alley leading to the stable. Will the princess be staying here? If so, and the word is spread by someone like me, the Raven Inn will become very popular.”
After thanking him, and neither of us asked him to hold his tongue, we walked down the narrow alley between two stone buildings, I walked behind her because two couldn’t fit side by side. A small courtyard behind the building opened into a nice area with a few outdoor tables and a few chickens pecking the ground for treats. A one-story stable stood behind. An old man dozing under a straw hat leaped to his feet to welcome us with a broad smile.
His eyes passed right over us, and to our horses. Kendra’s horse was one from the king’s own stable, and of better quality and lines than any horse in Andover, but only a skilled eye would pick that out so quickly. Then his eyes fell on Alexis—and he was in love.
He promised to care for them, never again looking in our direction. The man might not even recognize us when we reclaimed the horses in a day or two. I’d seldom seen a man so happy to go to work.
We entered a rear door that took us into another dining room just as the candles were being lit and a small fire cheerfully burned in the fireplace despite the air not being cool. I hoped Kendra didn’t manage to get us thrown out of another inn because I was starving and the smells from the kitchen were so good that wrestling her to the floor for dinner was an option.
She spied the innkeeper, a man wearing a semi-clean apron and requested two clean rooms.
The thin man said, “Through the door and up the stairs. Want a look, first?”
“We do,” she said. “Which are available?”
After he told her, a pretty serving girl with long brown hair flashed a smile my way. I said, “I’ll wait down here for you to return.”
Instead of chairs, the common room had short benches made for seating two on each side of wide tables. The tables were also long, the tops scarred from use. Countless mugs had spilled, knives sliced the wood, candles dripped, and bowls banged the tops. A few had names or initials carved into them. The room held a warm and pleasant atmosphere from the small fire and candlelight, and it smelled of spiced smoke. The pretty serving girl came my way.
“Something?” she asked with a smile that appeared genuine.
A thousand clever answers should have come to mind. Instead, I gave her a smile of my own. “White wine? Then dinner?”
She swirled away, with a glance over her shoulder to make sure I watched. Kendra returned with a nod of approval and ordered a bowl of fish stew for both of us. She said, “Clean as can be. Nothing fancy, but what there is, they offer with a friendly smile.”
The white wine was good, so I downed it quickly and motioned for the same girl to bring me another.
“Oh, not again,” Kendra moaned.
“How are the rooms, again?” My innocent remark was to draw her attention away from my love life.
She said, “Clean. Comfortable. Like I said.”
The fish stew arrived, and we ate. The warmth of the room, a full belly, and two mugs of spiced white wine had my weary head almost on the table. Kendra escorted me to my room, pushed me inside and firmly closed the door as if she was my mother.
There was a chair, a chest with two drawers, and a raised bed with a cotton sack stuffed with yellow straw so clean it must have been placed inside this day. The pillow was filled with soft feathers, and there were two blankets, one for under and one over unless it got cold. Then, both were for over because there was no fireplace for warmth. I barely got my clothes off before falling asleep.