A Dishonorable Knight(116)

"I believe the third inn up here has the cleanest rooms. They are also rarely full, if I remember correctly."

"Then let us proceed there immediately. I am glad for your sake if they have clean accommodations, but do you recall if they had good food as well?"

Elena laughed. "Yes, I believe it was most satisfactory." With a devilish grin she added, "I believe their best offering is fish." She was rewarded with a look of horror on Gareth's face.

They walked up the tidy street and paused at a hanging wooden sign that declared it to be the Inn of the Lion's Heart. Gareth peered in the open door. "Shall we?"

Elena hesitated. The last time she had entered this inn, she had been dressed in a gown of blue silk, a necklace of gold inset with sapphires about her neck, her hair intricately braided and wound about her head. As she glanced down at the wrinkled and travel-stained tunic she had thought so practical just a week ago, she knew she could not enter that inn, regardless of whether or not the innkeepers recognized her.

"Let us go to another inn."

"What? Why? This seems like a perfectly acceptable place to stay."

"No, I don't think so. Why don't we go to one of the inns near a pub. That way you can get a real meal."

"I don't understand why we can't stay here and still go eat at one of the pubs." Gareth studied her distraught face. "Elena, what's wrong? Tell me truthfully, now."

Elena paused. How could she possibly make Gareth understand that a lady had her pride? She looked into Gareth's eyes and reminded herself that he had been remarkably tolerant these past weeks. Deciding to put her faith in him she said, "Suppose they recognize me?"

"Recognize you? What do you mean? Why should they recognize you?"

"Because I have been here several times before."

"Good! Perhaps we will get better service." Gareth moved to enter the inn.

"No!" Elena said, grabbing his tunic and pulling him back.

"Elena," he said, exasperation evident in his voice. "What is it? Why should it matter if they recognize you or not?"

"Because," she hissed, "if they recognize me, they will no doubt notice what I am wearing and that I am traveling alone in the company of a man who is obviously not my father! Should word get back to court of such behavior, I would be ruined."

"Oh," Gareth said, comprehension dawning on his face. "Then where should we go?"

Elena gestured down the street. "I never attended either of the two inns down the street."

"Then in one of those inns shall we lodge."

They trudged down the street in the lengthening shadows of the summer sunset until they came to the first of the two inns.

"Will this do?" Gareth asked Elena.

She studied the small inn. The sign hanging over the door declaring it to be The Lamb' Quarters was not painted as brightly or adeptly as the previous inn's, but the inside appeared to be just as neat, and Elena was certain she had never stepped foot in it before.

"This is fine," she said with a nod.

"Let's go, then." Gareth started forward but again Elena stopped him. "Wait!"

"What is it now?"

"I can't go in there looking like this!"

"What do you mean? I thought you said you've never been in here before? Why will they care if you aren't dressed for high court?"

Elena stomped her foot. "It's not that I'm not in a court dress. It's that I'm not in any dress. No respectable lady goes around in men's hose and rough tunics!"

Gareth dropped his head back and stared at the darkening sky. When he rolled it forward again, he asked, "What would you have me do, then, Elena? In order for you to change, we need a room. In order to get a room, we have to go inside and pay for one. Since you can't get to the room without going inside the inn, I fear we are at an impasse."

Elena gave her coldest glare. Gareth sighed wearily. "Very well. I will go in and obtain a room. You wait out here with the horses. Try not to be noticed. We wouldn't want anyone from court hearing that you had sunk so low as to wear a practical riding outfit. After I obtain the room, we will go around back and stable the horses. You can then sneak up the back stairs if they have back stairs. Will that suit you?" She nodded meekly. "Good!" was Gareth's response.

He returned in a few minutes and led the horses down a narrow alley to the small stable behind the inn. Fortunately there was a rickety back staircase and by the time they had attended the horses and made it upstairs, there was a small wooden tub of hot water awaiting them in the room. Elena quickly stripped and stepped into the shallow tub, glad for the tingling of the hot water on her feet and calves. Why was it, she wondered, that bathing in hot water had become the exception the past two months? So absorbed was she in her bath that she did not notice Gareth who, after depositing their scant luggage, sat on the edge of the bed, his right elbow on his knee, his chin cupped in that hand. It was only when she stood, her hair dripping, her body cooling from the hot water that she realized that Gareth was studying her intently.