Eritance - Chapter 18

After buying the clothes we decided to go back to the food district and find a place to stay after that. It was Ciara’s idea, but I didn’t mind. I was looking forward to having the opportunity to test out some more of my new skills.

We found a random passerby and asked him about any inns that also served food. The village had two of them. One was called the Blue Sparrow and the other was called the Red Eagle. They were apparently both somewhat renowned in the area for excellent service.

We decided to go with the Blue Sparrow as it was somewhat closer to where we were now. Walking over there took around 20 more minutes. Once we arrived at the Blue Sparrow we asked if there were any rooms available for the night.

The host was a middle-aged man that was dressed in a simple yet neat set of clothes. He kept a thin mustache and had his graying hair tied behind his head in a short pony tail.

“Ho ho ho, what a handsome couple you both make” the host began, “right now we are having a special for our honey moon sweet, it comes with all the things necessary to have a night to remember”.

“Oh, we’re not- “I began, but Ciara quickly interjected “we’re not together. We need two separate rooms. The best two that you have”. At her quick dismissal of us being a couple, I felt a bit stiff. It wasn’t that I wanted to be with her.

Truly, I didn’t have any feelings for her at all. However, what kind of person wouldn’t feel a bit hurt at instantly being rejected, even in a pretend scenario. The host responded, “Ah, what a pity. There isn’t enough romance in this world, very well the arrangements will be made at once. Will you be coming down for dinner, or would you like the food brought to your rooms?”. “We’ll have the food sent to our rooms, thank you” I responded.

With that, he grabbed two keys from behind the counter and said, that will be 50 gold per room for the night. I immediately hesitated. It was such a large amount of money, I couldn’t imagine spending it. As someone who was a field worker, I dealt more with goods than I ever did in using coins for payment. I could feel my dreams slipping away as I slowly took at the bag of gold that I had.

“Can you hurry it up?” Ciara complained. “I want to rest in a bed again for a change”. Still hesitating I slowly took out the 100 gold coins and paid the host. “Excellent, tonight’s special will be delivered to your rooms within an hour, please enjoy comforts of the rooms until then”. After saying that the host led us to our rooms on the second floor and silently went away.

When I closed the door, I turned around and was shocked. I had never had a room this nice before. The room was quite large with a big bed, and extravagant decorations. Of course, I wasn’t very interested in these things at the moment. I was more interested in testing out my skills.

“Ross” I said. “What do you want?” Ross responded. “How do I make my jerkin stronger?”. “It’s simple, all you have to do is focus the absorbed power inside of your body and focus it into your hands. You can then transfer it to the medium of your choice”.

I immediately took my jerkin off and placed my hands on it and tried to push power into it. “…Ross…”. “What is it?” he asked. “Why isn’t it working?” I asked. I had been trying but I couldn’t feel anything happening.

“Well, you obviously have no sense of control over this power yet. Once you’ve learned to recognize and lead it, you will be able to move power into your jerkin” Ross flippantly said.

“Hmm.”. With that I began to meditate on my bed. I closed my eyes and tried to sense the power within me. This was the first time I had ever done so, so I wasn’t really sure what to expect.

At first nothing happened, I was becoming impatient. I sat there with my eyes closed for what seemed to be many minutes. Still, nothing was happening. Just before I gave up though, I suddenly sensed something. I wasn’t sure what it was exactly, but it felt like a wisp of smoke within my body.

Where there is smoke there’s fire I thought to myself. I decided to try to follow the smoke in my body to the source. As I followed the trail the sense of energy got stronger and stronger, however just before I could reach that place where it was all stored a knock on the door could be heard.

A voice resounded in the hallway outside, “hello young sir, I have brought tonight’s special for you, please, may I come in?”.

I sighed, I was almost there. I knew that with just a little more focus, I would be able to find the power within me. No matter though, what can be done on an empty stomach, can certainly be done on a full one.

I opened the door and it was the host, he was holding a large platter of different foods. He came in and set it on a table along with a pitcher of wine. After doing so he left, probably to go get Ciara her food as well.

I looked at the food and it made my mouth water. There was a thick and meaty soup filled with carrots and potatoes. Alongside the soup was large piece of soft white bread, and a chunk of roasted pork. The scent of it all was heaven defying.

I instantly tore into the food, it was so good that it brought a tear to my eye. The soft white bread was still warm, and it even had a hint of butter baked into the bread. The pork was roasted to perfection with a sweet sauce covering it. The soup surprised me the most, it had a spicy flavor emanating from it, but it was divine.