"Kren": Part Six (Enter the Stranger)

 

At the brisk squeal of the hinges several of the married patrons turned their heads like guilty things. But there in the doorway stood only an unfamiliar young man, weather-beaten with travel but smiling, his plain brown clothes draped in a dark blue cloak that spread wide as he opened the door.

“Hello, friends,” he said evenly, gaze traveling slowly over the astonished drinkers faces, giving them a chance to take him in. His smile broadened in the silence. “Well, this looks like the place for a merry evening. I hope I can join you folks.”

 He let the door shut behind him and advanced firmly but cautiously to the bar, as if he were walking through a grazing herd that might panic and scatter at any moment. Booted feet were scuffed out of the way as he approached Pappy, who stood blinking but frozen in the act of wiping a glass. Kren sat motionless and staring squint-eyed from the shadows, as astonished as anyone else. Strangers were few and far between here in the southlands, and their appearance seldom boded well.

The young man – almost a boy, still – stopped a discreet distance from the bar and brushed a sweaty curl of dark hair from his face.

“Greetings. My name is Koppa,“ he announced, loud enough for all to hear. “And I’ve come all the way from Morg City on my journeys. Might I get something to drink, good sir? The road is dusty and long.”

“Well, a’course there, young feller.” Pappy shook himself awake. It might be strange circumstances, but business was business. He reached down and reflexively picked up a mug, but stopped short of pouring it. The old man coughed.

“Um. Could I first see your penny, sir. Sorry you know, but policy …”

“Oh. Of course. Now let me see …” The young man pulled open the leather pouch at his side and began rummaging through it. “A penny, a penny …” he murmured. He looked up at Pappy. “A copper penny?”

“Aye, sir. We’d prefer it.”

“Well, I don’t have anything so small on me.” He pulled out a  new coin that gleamed dully in the bar lamp. “Would you take a bronze krett? That’s going for about twenty pennies back on the City exchange right now.”

Pappy’s eyes went round.

“Oh, yes, sir, Mister … Koppa, was it? But I’m afeared I can’t properly change it into outside money for ye.”

“Quite all right,” Koppa smiled. “Why don’t you just use the rest for a round all around, as they say? And maybe a plate of something for the hungry wanderer, eh?”

“Oh, yes sir, coming right up, sir.” Pappy poured the ale with a trembling hand; seldom had he had such a good night before. He handed the foaming mug to the stranger, who thanked him, took a deep draught, sighed happily, then turned to the company to find himself a seat.