I: The Three Guests

Hello everyone, and welcome to my book! I will update on Saturdays, as well as any other day I like, but at least on Saturdays. This is already fully written, but once again please bear in mind that it is the first draft!

Anyway, please enjoy, and leave a like or comment if you do!

-Sky :)

AVEN

It was always at the best part of her book when Aven was drawn away to serve a customer. This time, she was in the middle of a very particularly action-packed fight scene when she heard the sound of the bell ringing at the counter downstairs.

Sighing audibly, the girl dog-eared her page and tossed the book onto her neatly made bed before heading out of her room. “Coming!” She called, her voice automatically converting to a sweet sounding customer voice.

She lifted her skirt slightly and clomped down the wooden stairs as quietly as she could. But like most of her family’s inn, they needed to be replaced, and creaked dreadfully. The bell rang again, much to her irritation.

Aven reached the counter and slipped behind it quickly, before lifting her eyes up to see two figures, cloaked in the dark, rich colors of the elven kingdom. Her breath caught in her throat as she raised her eyes farther to come face to face with the most elegant elves she’d even set her eyes upon.

The first stood slightly in front of her companion, her cloak a deep purple, and black hair spilling out of the lowered hood. She was tall, and the lump at her side indicated a weapon. Aven could not discern anymore about her both because the she-elf had her hood lowered so low no facial features were exposed, and it was clear that she’d been kept waiting long enough.

“Welcome to the Knight’s Inn!” Aven chirped, plastering a smile on her face and forcing herself not to stare. “How can I help you on this fine day?”

It was then that the other elf stepped forward elegantly, taking the place of his friend, who let out a soft scoff. The male elf ignored her, and placed a single, very pale hand on the counter. He was taller than his friend, and his cloak was cobalt blue instead of purple. He also had hair spilling out of his hood, which was tugged as low as the former. Aven found herself intrigued by the two.

“I’d like to get a room with two beds, please,” The male elf informed her, his voice soft and deep as velvet.

“Of course,” Aven flipped open the pad of paper they kept to keep track of which rooms were which. “We have room eleven, and room eighteen open.”

“Which one is closer to the exit?” It was the she-elf who spoke this time, and Aven felt herself chilled by the tone in which she took. It was just as smooth as her comrade, but the air to it seemed quite a bit more deadly than she liked.

Suppressing the urge to gulp, Aven managed to keep her voice steady as she replied, “Room eleven, miss.”

“Right, we’ll take that one,” She held out her hand for the key, but Aven wasn’t ready to give it to her yet.

“How long will you be staying?” She asked, her hands trembled slightly with fear, but she forced herself to continue. She would not allow her parents to be robbed of their earnings.

It was the male elf who answered this one, “Two or three nights,” he replied casually, “How much?”

The she-elf looked as if she was about to protest, but Aven didn’t give her a chance. “Four piso.”

He dropped a small pouch onto the table. “Will that cover it?”

Aven opened the pouch and peered inside, her eyes widening immediately as she caught the faint, glimmery opaqueness of a utopis. “This is too much,” She said, taking out one of the coins and exchanging it for six piso from the little pile they kept in the drawer for times like this. “Here’s your change,” she dropped the piso into the bag and slid it back across to him, before turning and retrieving the key from the wall behind her. She dropped it onto the counter in front of him. “And there’s that. Can I have your names to put down in the reservation book, please?”

This seemed to make the elves uncomfortable. The male elf shifted warily from side to side and the she-elf had suddenly gone very still. Aven suddenly felt uncomfortable, but she forced it down. To make her point clear, she pulled the book out onto the table and pulled a pencil into her hand, looking up at him innocently. “It’s tradition for all customers, just liability if something is stolen or broken, you know? Not that I mean to imply that you’ll steal anything, of course.”

“Eldrin and Mae,” The male elf finally spoke.

His words caused the she-elf, Mae, Aven assumed, to emit a hiss of irritation. “El-” She began to protest, but he cut her off with a wave of his hand.

“Relax, Mae, the girl’s only doing her job,” He assured her, before turning towards Aven. “Not that we’re in any trouble, but neither of us like a lot of company, and we’d both be pretty appreciative of you to keep quiet about us being here. There might be a bit more piso in it, if you do.”

“I don’t need money to respect someone’s privacy,” Aven retorted, sharper than she intended.

Eldrin held up his hands in defense at the aggressiveness behind her words. “Apologies, miss, I didn’t mean to offend,” He said gently.

Aven forced herself to give a stiff nod in response, even though the tone of his voice when apologizing had been very condoning. She didn’t like being treated like a child, her parents did that enough. “Alright. If there’s anything you need, just come up here and ring the bell and someone will come. We turn the lights off in the parlor at ten, so if you don’t want to sit in darkness I suggest you retire before then. The town’s curfew is 10:30, and going out in the streets after that is forbidden.”

“Right, thanks. We’ll be sure to call if we need anything,” Eldrin assured her, before turning stiffly on his heel and walking to the hall where the rooms were. Aven didn’t miss the fact that he reached a hand out to pull Mae with him as he left. The she-elf was just as stiff in posture as he was, and Aven wondered if she’d offended the two by mistake.

Ah, well, guess it’s neutral then, she figured, despite feeling guilty about the possibility. She wasn’t supposed to get so cross with the customers, but sometimes her anger got the best of her and she couldn’t help herself.

Forcing her body to relax slightly, Aven wrote the names down in the guest book, adding a small note beside them that they were elvish, and turned to go back up the stairs. She was just stepping from behind the counter when the front door banged open and a very tall, intimidating creature stepped inside. He was wrapped in a colorful variety of furs, despite the warmer spring weather as of late, and stood at least twice as tall as her, she presumed.

He stomped to the counter, feet clomping louder against the floor than she could have imagined possible. Yet until that moment she hadn’t known anything of that sheer size was possible, either.

Stepping back into the center of her workspace, Aven looked up at the creature in fear. She couldn’t help it any more than she could help the shiver that ran down her back. “C-can I help you, sir?” She questioned him meekly.

“’Much for two nights?” He responded, his scratchy voice so vastly different compared to the musical tones of the elves that Aven winced slightly.

“Four pisos,” She informed him, making sure to speak clearly and in a normal tone. If there was one thing her mother had taught her, it was never to show her fear. And although she’d already quaked visibly under his gaze, she forced herself to straighten and pretend she hadn’t.

The creature grunted in irritation and dug his massive hand into a satchel hanging by his waist. Aven hadn’t noticed it before because it blended in with the many different furs so well. It was, of course, made of the same materials.

A moment later, she jumped back as he dumped the whole thing on the counter and began digging through it. He grunted again, this time in satisfaction, as he pulled a piso out of the pile. It took him a while, but eventually, he found another, very dirty piso and eight creds. He dropped the money into Aven’s palm and scooped the whole rest of his junk lot back into his satchel.

“Good enough for ye, girl? Now where’s ma key?” His voice was a bit more growly, if that was even possible, after she’d put the money safely away.

Aven pulled out her log book, grabbed the same pencil as before, and said, “I need your name first.”

The creature leaned forward, grinning a row of yellowed teeth at her, and she had to force herself not to recoil in shock at the sight of his face. His hair was long and greasy, splaying out around his furs but not noticeable until that moment. It blended in very well. His face was scarred and warped, and glistening as if it were made of wax. And his eyes were the scariest eyes she’d ever seen. They were pitch black, with not a single twinkle of warmth showing within them, colder than the ice her papa cut for selling in the winter.

“Now, do you think you can get by without ma name, little missy? I would hate for somethin’ to…happen to your pretty little face,” He whispered as he reached out toward her.

He never got that far. Out of instinct, Aven’s hand slipped into a cleverly disguised cubby hole in the counter and closed around the familiar handle of a rusted dagger. Without so much as a half-second of hesitation, she whipped it out and put the blade to the creature’s throat. His eyes widened.

“Touch me, and there will be consequences,” Aven promised darkly. “Now, you can either give me your name and I will give you the room key, or I’ll force you out of this inn and keep your money as compensation for your idiocy. What will it be?”

The creature seemed to gulp, before straightening his face, and giving her an icily murderous look. “Name’s Djoshe, alright? Now don’t you go tellin’ anyone that.”

“I won’t,” Aven promised, forcing her voice to be just as icy as his was. She stepped back and pulled the key for room thirty-four down from the shelf, offering the creature a cold smile as she dropped it into his hand. “Now run along, you’re on the west hallway, at the end.”

Without another word, the creature turned and clomped down the hallway. Aven lowered the dagger as soon as he’d gone, and made sure to copy his name down and make note of his…interesting qualities.

She was about to return the dagger to its hidey hole when a voice spoke, “May I see that?”

She jumped about a foot in the air and whirled around to see none other than Eldrin leaning against the doorway to his hall, which was the opposite way the crea-Djoshe-had gone.

“Why? It’s just an old, rusted dagger that we keep in here for jerks like that dude,” She responded edgily, still jumpy after Djoshe’s boldness.

Eldrin sighed. “I feel bad for offending you. I was going to go ask if you needed help with anything, but I could polish and sharpen that dagger for you instead, if you like. It’s not going to do much harm like that, and I have been told I have quite the skill with that sort of thing.”

Aven really didn’t think he needed to apologize at all. “It’s fine, mister,” She told him with a small smile. “I was the offensive one, really, and I must be the one to apologize.”

The elf grinned at her, “No, no, it’s quite alright. And call me Eldrin, will you? Titles have never sat right with me.”

“Sure.”

“So what’ll it be? Scrubbing the floors or polishing the dagger?” He asked again.

Aven sighed and pinched her temples, “Eldr-”

“Please?” He begged, his knees bending slightly as if he were about to drop onto them and plead to her.

“Fine,” She relented, trying not to laugh. She’d never met someone so interested in doing such hard and tedious work. “You can polish the dagger, if you’d really like to. But you really don’t have to-”

He cut her off with a grin, “Okay!” And then promptly held out his hands.

Aven handed the artifact to him carefully, feeling an odd sense of protectiveness toward it as he walked away. She forced the idea out of her mind, and decided she needed to see her mother. Their three very unique guests needed to be discussed with someone who actually knew what she was talking about.

So, here's the first chapter. Please, once again, let me know what you think and give me some constructive criticism! Thanks so much and have a great Saturday!!

-Sky :)