Chapter 49: A Strange Arrival and Stranger Dreams

After their bath Cinnamon returned to help finish with the laundry while Sharmon went to finish working on replacing the straps on a backpack. Then met up with the others later for dinner. Lancos brought Cinnamon and Sharmon's dinner to them and apologized for yelling at her. Cinnamon apologized for worrying him and the encounter was soon forgotten. Ernon and Vanessa also sat with them, as did Muriel who took a break from praying and healing to eat dinner and regain her strength and calm. As she sat down Muriel ran her fingers down Cinnamon's cheek while whispering a prayer healing and the powder burns vanished.

Cinnamon started, blinked, and then smiled as she felt her cheek cool. "Thanks Muriel."

"You're very welcome Cinnamon. How did you come to have powder burns on your cheek?"

"I was invited to do some target shooting today."

"How did it go?"

Cinnamon glanced nervously at Lancos but when he smiled and nodded. "Okay I think. I didn't hit any one."

Everyone laughed at that, then laughed more when Cinnamon admitted, "I did get knocked on my behind twice though."

Muriel laughing said, "It sounds like you had a good time then."

"Yeah pretty good." Cinnamon nodded grinning.

"And she's a pretty good shot too." Sharmon said proudly.

"Oh?"

"She shows definite skill with the bow, pistol, and rifle. She's still inexperienced but we can take care of that." Ernon said.

Cinnamon blushed.

When Muriel's dinner arrived, they all began eating. While they ate they each talked about their day. Every now and then someone would come up to them and chat a bit before heading to an open table or seat at the bar. There was a jovial attitude in the room that died quickly when a man wearing a uniform walked in. He stood in the doorway taking everything in while all the patrons stared at him. Silence reigned for a long moments before conversations started up again, although they were much more subdued.

The soldier walked to the bar and told the bartender, "I wish to speak with the owner of this establishment."

The older gentleman nodded his head saying, "Right away Sir." Then he turned to a row of speaking tubes, pulled a plug out of one, and spoke into it. A minute later Rose appeared at the top of the stairs and hurried down to great the soldier. Then she led him up to her office.

"Who is he?" Cinnamon whispered after he was out of site.

"Stewards guard." Ernon said quietly.

"Cinnamon I want you to stay far away from him as possible. Stay in our room or in the laundry out of site," Sharmon told her, her voice deadly serious.

Surprised Cinnamon nodded, "Okay but why?"

"Because not all of the stewards men are honorable and would think nothing of taking what they wanted. Whatever that may be," Lancos said his voice cold.

Cinnamon shivered. "Sounds like a good reason to me!"

The others smiled and chuckled softly.

A few minutes later Rose and the soldier appeared again. She led him back down the stairs and under them to the dining room. She appeared a moment later and sent a waitress and bartender in. Then she approached some of the tables and spoke to the patrons there.

When she arrived at Cinnamon's table she said, "I have a favor to ask of you. You no doubt saw the Steward's guard. Well, the Steward's son and his party will be arriving tomorrow and resting a few days on their way from Mendia before continuing to Avonlee. Unfortunately I'm short of rooms. Would it be alright for you to share a room?

They looked at each other and nodded, "Of course Rose. Whatever we can do to help." Muriel said.

"Thank you all. I believe they'll be enough rooms now," Rose said her relief evident.

"We will be receiving a discount on our rooms right?" Lancos asked.

Muriel elbowed him and hissed, "Lancos!"

Rose narrowed her eyes at him and then grinned. "Now that you mentioned it I believe you are entitled to a reduction in your room rates."

Cinnamon couldn't help but wonder if the other people Rose had doubling up would receive the same rates.

Later that evening while Cinnamon was playing games with the men Vanessa leaned over to Muriel and Sharmon and said, "We need to talk."

They looked at her and then stood up. Sharmon motioned to Cinnamon to stay and followed Muriel and Vanessa to the bathroom.

Once they'd secured the room Muriel asked, "Is something wrong?"

"I'm getting hungry." Vanessa said simply.

"After that big meal you put away earlier" Muriel asked surprised.

Vanessa and Sharmon just looked at her with blank expressions on their faces.

"Oh. Oh!" Muriel exclaimed blushing at her mistake, "and Sharmon was going to come to our room tonight. Oh dear. That is a problem."

They were silent for a while as they thought the problem over. Vanessa needed to feed but they didn't want Cinnamon to know she was a vampire. Vampires weren't among the most trusted species even though many of them were perfectly nice people. They, like everyone else, had their bad members however and those few were so despicable that they colored other people's view of vampires entirely. Some towns and villages, especially those harmed by vampires, not only would not allow vampires within their limits but they tended to react by lynching the poor person even though they'd done nothing wrong. Fortunately those extreme reactions were rare. Still most people tended to react with suspicion and fear when confronted with a vampire. Those they got close to vampires however knew they were just like everyone else. They just had a special dietary requirement.

The girl's problem was that they didn't know how would Cinnamon react. Would she be okay with Vanessa being a Vampire or would she be scared of her if they revealed the truth.

"We could tell her?" Muriel said. "Other than her initial surprise she's adapted well and treats all of differing races with kindness and respect."

"She does have a sensible head on her shoulders" Sharmon agreed.

"I guess but I don't want her to be afraid of me." Vanessa said.

"I don't think she'd be scared of you Vanessa. You're her friend."

"I know but I don't want to take that risk. If she does turn out to be afraid of me that'll just make our travels more difficult."

They all sighed.

"What if we asked Cinnamon to wait outside?" Vanessa asked.

Sharmon shook her head. "Not with that Stewards Guard here."

"And I'm sure she'd think we were keeping something from her." Muriel added.

They sighed again.

Finally Muriel said, "I don't see where we have much choice. We'll just have to be quiet and pray she doesn't wake up."

"So we'll try it for midnight or first bell then?" Sharmon asked.

"Yes I think that would be best. How about you Vanessa?" Muriel replied.

"Yes that should work."