Chapter 274 - 272: Alcohol And Pie.

Chapter 274: Chapter 272: Alcohol And Pie.

​"How was I supposed to know that??" Khobi hisses back, and hurriedly shaking his shirt and then throwing whatever comes out at Loac as payback. A whole lot of it lands in his hair.

​" It’s common sense !"

​To Khobi’s enormous relief, the grate Loac had indicated leads not to a sewer, but to an old drain.

It takes some manoeuvring, but the grate comes loose without having to damage it, and when they slink down inside and close it up behind them like they’d never been there, the space they enter is cramped, and a little damp underfoot from the recent rain but otherwise not too offensive.

​What it is though, is fucking pitch black .

Khobi can’t see a damn thing, and as the dim moonlight of the entryway --if it can even be called as much --fades behind them, he has to blindly reach out into the darkness to feel his way.

It’s not his favourite, to say the least, and he recoils as his hands brush over the cold stone and catch first on something gross and sticky and distinctly webby , and then on something firm, and warm.

Loac makes a surprised noise, and Khobi immediately jerks his hand away as he realises just what (who) he’s touched.

​"...You good?" comes the voice from a pace ahead. In the darkness, it feels both far away and terrifyingly close.

​" I can’t see shit ."

​Loac chuckles at that, and then a moment later Khobi feels something reach for him in the dark as fingers curl around his wrist.

​It’s oddly grounding.

​And then wordlessly, he’s being yanked forward, and they’re on their way.

​It’s as cold down here as it is on the surface, but Khobi suddenly feels unusually warm in his own skin.

​Eventually though, darkness gives way to moonlight once more, and when they spill out through another rusty grill, he realises with a rush that as promised, Loac’s led him out beyond the castle walls.

It’s the same air out here, but it somehow just feels different, and Khobi breathes it in with relish.

And then, exhaling, he spares a glance back and up towards the stone walls, thick and imposing; towering up impossibly towards the sky.

​He’s glad to be on this side of them.

​High above, the clouds shift and a ray of moonlight filters through, and as he peers out to the cobblestone streets and the dancing lights beyond, he finds Loac waiting for him at a crossroads, looking back.

​Khobi can’t help but grin, and while it’s difficult to tell what with the way the shadows fall, he thinks Loac might just be grinning back.

​They’re in the city, and the night is theirs.

...

He hears the tavern long before he sees it, and the moment Khobi pushes open the door he’s met with a chorus of cheers.

​Gods, the noise .

​"Hey, hey, look who finally showed up!" it’s impossible that Gandy’s already drunk because the sun hasn’t really been all that long set, but he sure sounds it.

Although that’s just kind of how it is with taverns; you shout or you don’t get heard at all, especially with three goddamned bards in residence vying for their audience’s attention. " Thought you might’ve changed your mind! "

​"Not a chance," Khobi hollers back with a grin, and lets Gandy spirits him off towards the bar with an arm around his shoulder to introduce him to the pies that have so earned this particular tavern its reputation.

It takes some maneuvering; they’re two big guys and while the room is by no means packed fit to bursting there are very few tables with empty seats.

Even the barmaids have to duck and weave around the bawdy groups gathered in between, although they do it with considerably more grace.

​It’s exactly the sort of madness Montrel was hoping Khobi’s first tavern experience would be, and he can’t help but grin as he watches him easily slot right in between Gandy and Rogard up at the bar; just another fool looking to get plastered with his friends on a cold winter’s night.

He’s not sure why the idiot isn’t wearing furs in this sort of weather, but it’s fine with the hearths burning and so many bodies to heat the space.

Not to mention the alcohol. And the pies .

​(Khobi seems to be having some difficulty trying to decide which one he wants to try, and by the look of things Gandy and Rogard are in disagreement over which he should pick.)

With a snort, Montrel tosses back his head and finishes his drink.

And it’s only when he’s rising out of his seat to go and order another one --and maybe influence Khobi on which pie he should order --that he even notices Loac.

​It’s a rare day when Loac Trent is an afterthought.

Just the nature of his stature, his status, and his reputation means that his very presence is normally enough to swallow up an entire room, so for Montrel to hardly even register that he’d followed Khobi inside is...unusual, to say the least.

In fact, even now, he’s just sort of hovering an awkward three feet from the door, neither quite staying nor quite going.

It’s honestly about the smallest his enormous frame has looked in years.

​It suddenly occurs to Montrel that technically , they never actually invited him.

​(He suddenly feels a little bad for the guy.

​It’s a weird feeling.)

​He was intending to go up to the bar, but something compels him in the opposite direction.

​"...Uh, hey," he greets, somewhat lamely.

Loac snaps out of his thoughts at the sound of his voice, and when he realises just who it is that’s approached him, he does a quick glance around to confirm that he’s definitely the one being spoken to.

"I just, uh...Thanks." Loac gives him a strange look; somewhere between suspicious and mildly constipated.

He gets that. It feels very weird thanking Loac for anything –it must feel even weirder hearing it. "For getting Khobi here," he elaborates, belatedly.

​"Sure," Loac says flatly, "...Wasn’t hard."