Free Through the Flames by Ryne Billings Page A

to their right. It was behind that bar that they saw the only other person in the room. Dressed in all black clothing with long black hair tied back into a ponytail and dark gray eyes, the young man’s very light colored skin stood out.
     
    Walking around the bar, his lips pressed together into a small smile. His right hand was resting on a dagger that was at his belt on his right side.
     
    “Katie, it has been a while,” he said as the smile deepened. “I haven’t heard from you since my dear uncle had you sent away about a month and a half ago. How are you?”
     
    “It hasn’t been that long. I’ll admit, it does feel like it has much longer than it really has been, Nicolas,” Katie said, adding his name more for Caleb’s sake than anything. “And yes, your uncle sent me away, as you so aptly put it, about a month and a half ago.”
     
    As the discussion was going on, Caleb’s eyes narrowed and a frown formed upon his face as he tried to figure out what exactly was going on between the two.
     
    “I see… anything interesting happen?” Nicolas asked as he stopped about ten feet away from them.
     
    “Not much,” Katie replied dryly. “When I was on my way back, I encountered some highwaymen. As it turns out, I was tired and they were actually slavers.”
     
    “You were captured by slavers?” Nicolas asked in surprise. A trace of anger could be seen in his eyes. “I hope they are dead.”
     
    “My new friend killed most of them,” she said with a small smile as she gestured towards Caleb, who looked a little confused at the interplay between them.
     
    “That explains the blood,” Nicolas said as he looked Caleb over carefully. The dried blood on his clothes was even more prevalent to the trained eyes of the raven haired young man. “My name is Nicolas Edge, the proprietor of the Black Raven Inn. I’m sure our lovely friend has told you all about me already though.”
     
    “She’s told me that you’re a fence,” Caleb said, bristling at the man’s smooth voice.
     
    Nicolas nodded his head curtly in response. “Of course she did,” he remarked. “After all, that’s the function that you two need me for. Isn’t that right, Caleb of Kirakath?”
     
    At those last words, Caleb and Katie both froze, shocked that Nicolas knew the former’s name.
     
    “A young man calling himself Caleb of Kirakath freed about a dozen peasants from the slavery that they were to be sold into. With the man’s name and description in mind, they’ve ensured that you are a hero to their villages,” Nicolas said as he sat down on a nearby table. “I deal in illegally procured objects primarily, but I also deal in information.”
     
    “You obtained that information incredibly quick,” Katie noted with a frown. “How is it that you learned of it before we could even get here?”
     
    “My sources are very good,” Nicolas said simply. “Now, am I to assume that you would like to get some new clothes, two rooms, and a bath or two?”
     
    “That’s correct,” Katie said, seeing that Caleb was about to say something. “We can talk about everything after we have cleaned up.”
     
    “Fine,” Caleb said as he crossed his arms. His eyes darted towards Nicolas again. “Do you have clothes that will fit us?”
     
    “You’re not a large man, but neither are you small,” Nicolas remarked with observant eyes. “If I don’t have something that will fit, then it will at least be close. Wait here.”
     
    With that, Nicolas walked behind the bar and went through a door behind it.
     
    Once the door was shut, Caleb turned to Katie. “Why are you stalling? If he deals in information like he says, then I might be able to find out something from him.” His words came out more harshly than normal, anger clearly reflected in his tone.
     
    She looked at him with piercing eyes and said, “Shut up. I don’t care what you think we should do. You have no idea how to go about this. Without me to hold your