Continued from §.10
“Mr. Dren! I say; Mr. Dren!”
Oeric lowered the silver bracelet he was considering purchasing for Cerelia and turned from the market stall to behold a garishly dressed man of considerable girth with a spruce mustache glaring at him. Oeric at first thought the man was speaking to someone behind him and glanced swiftly over his shoulder to survey the ceaseless, tatterdemalion crowd. He returned his attentions to the fat man only to find his gaze had not wavered. Oeric furrowed his brows as the mustachioed man snarled at him.
“Thou art slippery as an eel.”
“Eel, sir?”
“Play not daft with me! Now pay me what is owed!”
The men Adair had brought with him, free-core militia-men loyal to his father, stiffened, hands moving instinctively to the grips of the weathered blades at their banded sides.
“Confusion hath made thee thy serf, sir.”
“What?”
“I’ve no idea who thou art, and suspect thou hath mistaken me for someone else,” Adair responded, removing his short-brimmed hat from his head and turning full about to face his accuser, “I tell thee sir, I am Comitem Oeric Adair.”
The corpulent interloper approached, eyes narrowing momentarily as he took in Adair’s unshaded face, then widening in shame and vexation, as he realized his error.
“Oh. Oh! Do forgive me! I err indeed! From a distance… a striking resemblance thou boreth…”
The aketouned legionaries relaxed and resumed their vigil, surveying the crowd for signs of erratic movement.
“No trouble, sir. Be not adrad, stay a moment and explain.”
The fat man sided up to the noble, lowering his voice.
“My name is Hoston Sprill. I’m a landlord, my comitem, and manage the tenements in the lower central block, not far from here. Some months ago a handsome young woman named Luned Fey approached me, inquiring about a room for two for let. I assumed she were wed. Nothing more than a young couple looking for accommodations and so I happily obliged without meeting the other prospective tenet, a young man named Drake Dren. Luned was always punctual. But this Dren. Late, late, always he is late with his payments!”
“And he bares some similarity to me?”
“Aye. Less so, now that I’ve a clear view of thee. Thou art taller and broader, milord. And thy visage is different entirely.”
Oeric stroked his chin and turned to his men and then back to the stubby landlord with a look of considerable determination.
“Mr. Hoston, I should like very much if thou would introduce me to thy tenant.”
*
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