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.I saw only one option."Good ale and fine stories," I mumbled, and in I stepped.I crossed the threshold into sudden blinding light and a chorus of voices talking, shouting, singing, and cheering.As my eyes adjusted and I looked around, I saw an entirely different room.Every table was occupied, every chair filled— except a few whose occupants had fallen out in a drunken stupor—and many more people were standing or were seated on the floor around the hearth.Many of the patrons were not human, I noticed, and especially prominent were the dwarves and gnomes.Half a dozen women movedaround the room, carrying trays that patrons simply plucked drinks from as they moved past.Around the fire was gathered a group of dwarves, standing arm in arm and mug in hand, singing loud, raucous drinking songs—which, to dwarves, apparently meant songs about killing goblins.At each reference to a new and creative means of killing goblins, whether smashing goblin heads with rocks, bashing goblin skulls with hammers, or crushing goblin noggins with.another goblin, the dwarves let out a loud cheer.They sang in detail exactly how to use a goblin as a weapon—hold him by the ankles, spin in place to build momentum, then slam him down in an overhead chop as if swinging a battle-axe.I knew from my reading that the goblin's head is the hardest part, and the best results are reached when the goblins hit head to head.The sound of the cracking can be quite loud and clear, and pleasing to the ear.In all my years of traveling with Perrault, I had never seen anything like the place.And I couldn't help but listen, imagining the stocky,sturdy people swinging ugly goblins by the ankles, using the nasty creatures as weapons against themselves.Probably a sport in dwarven cities, I mused.I decided that someday I would have to travel to dwarf lands and see it firsthand."Perrault, my friend, it is good to see you again." A voice to my side, distinct among the crowd, broke the trance the dwarves' singing had induced.I turned to see Perrault moving easily toward the bar through the crush of dwarves.From the sound of the voice, I had expected a human or perhaps an elf, but I was surprised to see an old, gray-bearded dwarf balanced on a small pulsing blue disk of energy, drifting up and over the bar.Perrault and the dwarf talked, but their voices were low and I could not make out what they were saying.I crept closer.".waiting for you upstairs, but a man from her temple came calling and she left in a hurry.She said to leave it for—" The dwarf broke off his sentence abruptly and turned to look at me.Under that piercing gaze, I suddenly felt naked, and I felt ashamed.I had sneaked into the conversation uninvited.I tried to sink into the crowd, but the dwarf s eyes softened and his thick lips turned up in a smile.His brilliant white teeth showed brightly through his dense beard."And this must be your ward, then," he said.Though the statement was obviously directed at Perrault, the dwarf s eyes never left me.Perrault turned to look at me.There was surprise and, I thought, a bit of approval in that look.I knew immediately that Perrault had not noticed me, and was impressed that I had managed to get so close without alerting his attention."Yes, yes.This is my boy, my young apprentice," Perrault said, quickly composing himself."Maimun, this is Alviss.He's a dear old friend.Abit surly—" he cast the dwarf a sidelong glance, to which Alviss only rolled his eyes and widened his grin— "but he's offered to watch you for me tonight.""Watch me?" I asked."I don't need anyone to watch me.Where are you going, and why can't I come?""I have business to attend, and it is not your concern.You stay here with Alviss.He'll give you a bed, and you can get some sleep." Perrault looked at Alviss as he spoke, and the dwarf was nodding before he finished."I'll give you a cot in the common room.It's mostly empty, anyway."The dwarf put his hand on my shoulder and started to lead me away, but Perrault stopped him with an upraised hand.He leaned in close to Alviss and said under his breath, "Keep your eyes open.I'll be coming back fast and I'll need the boy ready to run."Alviss nodded.Before I could say anything, he was leading me away to the common room and Perrault was exiting the tavern the same way we'd come in.Chapter TwelveI couldn't sleep that night either.I forced my eyes shut, tried to empty all thought from my mind, tried to embrace the weariness in my body, but despite my best efforts, my thoughts kept racing back to Perrault and his secret appointment.After what seemed an eternity, I gave up, pulled myself from my cot, and dressed.I snuck to the door of the common room, quiet as a ghost so as not to disturb the two other people who had taken cots there, and put my ear againstthe portal.I heard nothing beyond.Slowly, gently, I pushed the door open.The tavern was empty of patrons, the chairs all placed atop the tables, the freshly mopped floor glistening.The only light in the room came from the bar—the pulsing blue glow of Alviss's magical floating disc.And there sat the old dwarf, mindlessly wiping down the bar with a rag and humming to himself.Alviss seemed sufficiently preoccupied, and the room sufficiently shadowy, for me to cross the room without being seen.The exit was almost directly opposite the doorway in which I stood, so I would have to cross a lot of open space.I moved quickly, keeping my weight on my toes—I had read a passage in one of Perrault's books detailing the proper way to move stealthily—and I used the tables for cover.The floor was slick, but not excessively, and soon I was reaching for the handle of the front door.Alviss was still humming tunelessly and running the cloth over the bar.As soon as I touched the door, though, the old graybeard jumped.He turned to look right at me.He clapped his hands twice, the sharp noise shattering the silence, and the room was suddenly as bright as it had been that evening when Perrault and I had arrived.Alviss stared at me.I thought I saw his lips turn up in a bit of a smile, but it could have been the wrinkles on his weathered face."Now, now, young'n, there's no way I'll be letting you wander out into the streets alone!" he said."It isn't safe, you know.""I won't get in any trouble.I don't get caught.You wouldn't have noticed me except for that.magic." I would have continued my protest except I saw Alviss, barely holding in a chuckle, patting his hands in the air to calm me down."I did not mean it wasn't safe for you," he said, a laugh escaping his lips."I mean, it wouldn't be safe for me should Perrault return to find out I had let his nosey young ward out alone to follow him to a private appointment!" The dwarfs chuckle turned into a great belly laugh.On and on it went, sounding so out of place comingfrom that soft-spoken creature.After a moment I joined in
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