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  Nik

  The shout from the alley caught me by surprise.

  I was out for a walk, not unusual for me, at the request of my partner in the inn business, Tinai. She was frustrated with me - again - for one or another of the business decisions I had made. It was evening, the city not yet blanketed in the complete darkness of night, but late enough for the shadows to be stretching across the dirt roads. The smell of the sea was heavy in the air, as it usually was. Shelton was, after all, a port town.

  The streets were far from deserted, which was why the shout truly surprised me. Had it been later at night, or had the streets been empty, it would have at least been - well, not expected, but perhaps more logical.

  Normally I would have just kept on walking while someone else investigated the disturbance. I'm not one for playing the hero. But as I glanced at the others, nobody else seemed to want to intervene either. None of them even so much as acknowledged the shout.

  Maybe it was one of my rash decisions, but before I knew where my feet were carrying me, I had dashed down the alley. Another shout of "Help!" spurred me on. The voice was female, and from the terror in it, I expected to find an alley full of thugs. So it came as quite a shock to find nothing in at the end of the alley but a dog digging in the garbage.

  I looked around in confusion. Had I taken a wrong turn? Was I missing a side alley somewhere? I glanced around, but nothing but wooden walls surrounded me. There were windows, but they were higher than anyone could possibly jump. I turned a full circle, shrugged, and turned back towards the mouth of the alley. Maybe I was hallucinating?

  The voice spun me around again as it called out. "Hey, come on, don't just leave me here," it said. I could've sworn it came from the garbage pile the dog was digging at, but there wasn't enough there to hide someone. Still, the voice sounded desperate enough that I had to try something.

  "Hey," I said to the dog. "Hey!" I whistled and it turned its head toward me. You may have realized by this point that this was another of my foolish decisions. The dog growled, but I held my ground. I had nothing to fight with, and I was now pretty confident that there was nobody hiding in the trash. I should have turned and run.

  But when have I ever done the logical thing?

  The dog approached slowly, apparently wary despite the fact that it weighed nearly as much as I did. So, I did the only thing I could do. I started talking.

  "Hey," I said. "So, I get that you were looking for something over there, and I know I probably interrupted you, and the rat -" I swear I heard an offended grunt from the garbage pile "- or whatever you were chasing is probably gone now, but I really don't think that attacking me is a good idea."

  "Why not?"the dog said in a gruff voice.

  "What?" I said intelligently.

  "Why not... good idea."

  "Um." At this point I was sure one of two things was happening. Either someone was screwing with me, or I was hallucinating. The dog growled again, and I jumped. "Okay, well," I said. I figured I might as well play along. "The main reason is that I'm not going to fight fair. If you lunge at me, I'm going to protect my throat, at which point the best you're going to get is an arm or leg. And the bug problem with that is it leaves your eyes exposed. Is the meat you'll get off of me worth the effort, or is it a better idea to go after something easier?"

  The dog actually looked like it was pondering the question. Then, without another word, it trotted out the mouth of the alley. I let out a breath of relief.

  "Dogs never were the brightest animals," the female voice returned. "All that breeding and domestication must have done something to their minds. I mean, you'd think that living around people, they'd pick up on a few things. Like bluffing." I still couldn't see where the voice was coming from, but by this point I had resigned to the fact that I was hallucinating. For all I knew, the garbage was going to get up and give me a hug for saving its life.

  A flicker of emerald green caught my eye, and I watched as a small lizard crawled out from amongst the trash. The creatures weren't entirely unusual this far south, but this one seemed different. For one, the scales covering it had an almost metallic sheen, even in the quickly fading light. For two, it seemed slightly larger than the others I had seen.

  "Well," the lizard said in its feminine voice. "Didn't think I was going to make it out of that one. Thanks, Druid. I should be going now." It skittered past me and toward the mouth of the alley.

  "Druid?" I chuckled. "I'm no Druid. My name's Nik. I'm an innkeeper."

  The creature paused. "Well then, thank you... Nik."

  "You're very welcome." I smiled. After a pause, I asked "Would you like to come back to my inn and rest for a bit?" Hallucinations were kind of fun, I had realized. Might as well make the most of it.

  A long moment passed while the lizard considered the offer. "Very well, Nik, I will take you at your word. Is it far?"

  "No, not too far. About twenty minutes to walk there."

  "I realize it might sound odd, but would you mind carrying me? If I walk, it'll take five times that long."

  "No problem," I said with a smile. The lizard crawled up my leg and perched on my shoulder. This close, I could examine it more fully. It was about eight inches long, with a tail that made up about a third of that length. It was bright green, as I had noticed before, but it seemed to have a strange hump that started at the shoulders and spread down it's back. It had four legs tipped with claws that demonstrated their sharpness on my shoulder. It's mouth was about the width of my finger, and drawn into a permanent smile, while two green eyes poked out above it. I didn't know much about animals, but I could tell this one was made for hunting.

  "What should I call you?" I asked, half to myself.

  "My name," the lizard said, sounding offended, "is Keela."

  "Keela," I repeated. "All right. And, not to sound offensive, but you are a female?"

  Hesitation. "For now, let us say that I am," she said. "The truth is too involved to be discussed in a dark alley. Shall we go?"

  We said nothing on the way back to my inn. Me, because I was half afraid of looking like a crazy person talking to an animal - and that was if she actually existed in the first place. As for Keela, well, I'm sure she had her reasons for silence.

  Tinai greeted me just inside the entrance. I was glad to see that she had lost her expression that said "you're an idiot" and replaced it with the one that said "you're an idiot, but I cleaned it up for you". I grinned at her. She didn't look impressed.

  "Well, Nik," she said, "you're lucky I'm around, or you would have had half your inn torn down by now to make room for the new fireplace you ordered."

  "It seemed like a good idea at the time," I said. I was somewhat unnerved by the fact that she hadn't yet commented on the green thing perched on my shoulder.

  "A new fireplace would have been a good idea. Putting it in the common room would have been a good idea. Tearing out an entire wall and replacing it with a monstrosity that extended halfway across the dining room? Not a good idea, Nik."

  "Noted."

  She sighed. "I talked him down to a small little fireplace to replace the one we have in the common room. It'll be overly ornate, but at least it'll fit in the space we have without making our customers sleep on the street."

  "You see, Tinai, this is why I love you," I said with a grin.

  "Save it for someone who falls for it. And you're welcome. On another note, what's that thing on your shoulder?"

  I let out a sigh of relief and beamed at Tinai. "Oh good, you can see her," I said.

  "Of course I can. Why, is it a chameleon or something? It better not make a mess." She stretched out a finger to touch Keela, but quickly jerked it back as sharp teeth clashed together where the finger had been.

  "I think she took offense to that," I sai
d helpfully.

  Tinai's glare alternated between Keela and me. "Whatever," she said. "I'm going to bed. Just make sure you keep it locked up, okay? Last thing we need is some customer complaining about being attacked in the night by the innkeeper's pet."

  At the last word, I felt Keela stiffen. Before she could do anything foolish, I turned toward the common room, blocking any path between the two females. I heard Tinai mutter something as she went up the stairs, but I ignored it and inspected the common room. No damage had been done yet, but I could see where the wall had been marked around the old fireplace and hearth. We might lose a few customers during the construction, but a new fireplace would bring even more in. I hoped.

  I nodded to the two muscular men who stood guard, alert for any trouble that tended to brew when alcohol and pretty women mixed with travelers and merchants. A few of the aforementioned pretty women wandered among the tables, serving drinks and food. They flashed smiles my way. For once, I ignored them. Seeing that everything was running smoothly, I turned back to the stairs and ascended to my quarters.

  "Pet?" Keela said after I closed the door. Disdain dripped from her voice. "I am nobody's pet." She crawled down my arm to the table, leaving a trail of red beads from her claws. If we were going to continue this relationship, I was going to need to invest in a leather jacket.

  "Then what are you?" I asked gently.

  She glared for a moment before