The giant man held Hari at arm’s length by his shoulders.

  “You’ve fought something more dangerous?” Wyatt said seriously.

  Hari shook his head. “The wording was encounter something, but we won’t talk here. Got somewhere quieter? I have some people to introduce to you.”

  Wyatt straightened up. “Right, right, of course. CORAL! Watch the bar for me, just stepping aside for a little.”

  A female voice from the distance cut through; I couldn’t see her, but the volume was something else. “No worries, boss, I got it.”

  A moment later we were following him through the inn as he cut a path through the crowd. It was hard to get a good look at the inn itself with so many people, but it had a very high roof, with the bar on one side. There were tables all packed with adventurers, and in the far corner looked like a stage, but no one was currently playing.

  Wyatt made it to the door in the back of the room by the stage, and entering after him, it opened into a wooden staircase leading to the second level.

  I expected a hallway of rooms similar to the guild in Grey Rock, or even Larry’s inn, but instead the top of the staircase opened into a large room filled with cushioned chairs all seated around a fireplace. The sound from downstairs still travelled up, but it was muffled considerably.

  “Take a seat. Come in, come in. Welcome to The Pour House. We won’t be bothered here. This floor is private for staff and myself,” Wyatt said, falling into one of the seats as it groaned under his weight.

  He peered at us all as we entered. “Jen, since when do you have a companion—is that an elemental?”

  “Crisplet is not mine; it’s the companion of our new support member. It’s just safer for me to carry the brazier around most of the time—less attention that way,” Jen said.

  Crisplet came out of the brazier with a burst of sparks before dashing into the fireplace, which burst into flames as all the old coal that was still there lit up. Immediately, warmth spread through the room.

  “Handy. New support?” Wyatt looked around at Micca, Darren, George, and myself.

  Hari was about to say something as he sat down, before Wyatt waved at him. “No, no, let me guess. It’s not the two boys there; they appear to be warriors or something, and you said support.”

  Wyatt studied Micca and me for a moment, a grin appearing on his face.

  “It’s got to be the girl. They don’t give you greenhorns anymore; it’s too dangerous; he’d be too young!” Wyatt looked to Hari, who just had a giant smirk on his face.

  “No—the boy? You got a fresh adventurer?” Wyatt looked shocked.

  Hari laughed. “That’s Trevor, or Trev, and yeah, we did. But it’s going to get even stranger, especially when his other companion shows up.”

  We all took seats around the room as Hari made introductions for everyone else.

  “You said his other companion, so the fire elemental is his, and there’s another one which is off on its own right now? So, a bird or something then?” Wyatt said, studying me closely.

  I had never seen Hari acting like this before, but he smirked again. “You’ll see soon enough. It’s hard to miss—she’ll make quite the entrance, I suspect.”

  Wyatt looked confused but didn’t push the matter. “Well, what brings you here? What’s happened?”

  Liane chuckled. “What hasn’t happened…”

  Hari got comfortable. “It’s a long tale, so before that—Trevor, this is Wyatt. He’s an old mentor and friend of mine.”

  Wyatt scoffed, “Old friend he says. I basically adopted the boy when he was kicked out of home and taught him everything he knows.”

  Hari then started a tale that began with their job in the north, escorting Troy to Boltron. He got all the way through the tale until it came to our first encounter with Lily.

  Hari paused, smiling. “And that’s where I won the bet for the first time—we encountered a continent-destroyer in the form of a Shadow Cat.”

  Wyatt waved him off. “Bah, rubbish. No Shadow Cat would be more powerful than the frost wyrm I encountered. They are city-destroyers at best. I’m still winning the bet.”

  The smile never left Hari’s face. “You know, I thought you’d say that. Hypothetically, what would be stronger—an ancient drake, the first mate of the Storm Dragon in Boltron, or your frost wyrm?”

  Wyatt considered for a moment. “Probably the drake… but where are you going with this? Did you face the drake too?”

  Hari pushed his chair back, clearing a large space on the floor. “Well, you see, there’s a funny thing about this particular cat. It killed that particular drake for a snack. Trev, do you mind? You know which one to pull out.”

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  Hari left it ambiguous, but I knew he wanted me to bring the head out, so not wanting to get in the way of this clear showboating attempt, I pulled out the head, which landed on the floor with a heavy thud and took up most of the room.

  It caused Darren and George to jump back in shock. They knew we had killed it, but I couldn’t remember if I had shown them the head yet. Whether I had or hadn’t didn’t matter—its appearance now gave them a shock.

  Wyatt’s jaw just dropped open.

  “It killed it for a snack? How do you know it was the cat and not the dragon?” Wyatt said.

  Figuring this was as good a time as any, I looked over to find the nearest shadow. Her presence had been with us all day. I knew she was there—her presence never fully left today.

  “Lily, want to come out and meet a new friend?”

  For extra incentive, I also pulled out the couple of pieces of bacon I had cooked that morning.

  As soon as the food was in my hands, the real pressure came. It was still dull to me, with no real emotion behind it, but all the noise downstairs ceased immediately, sweat appearing on Wyatt’s brow.

  “Wha—” he said as Lily appeared and cut his sentence off in its tracks.

  I was impressed that Hari managed so well under the pressure now, because he didn’t miss a beat. Lily was already inspecting the head of the drake before pushing it away as if not wanting to see it anymore.

  I stored it.

  “Wyatt, this is Lily. She’s not a companion to Trevor so much as a friend or guardian. I believe she just really enjoys his food,” Hari said.

  Wyatt still hadn’t said anything, just staring at Lily.

  There was a creak of wood as a voice trailed up the stairs. “Boss, are you okay? There’s something going on…”

  Coral’s head appeared around the corner. She was a short lady, probably up to my shoulders, of slim build, with long brown hair and really not what I was expecting with the yell I heard earlier. But her eyes widened, Lily turned her head to see the newcomer… which was apparently too much for Coral, as she collapsed to the floor.

  Wyatt shot to his feet but halted, clearly torn between getting to Coral and going past Lily.

  “It’s okay; Lily won’t do anything,” I said. “The pressure can be a lot, I’m told.”

  I saw Micca, Darren, and George all nodding with a little sweat on their brows.

  “Lily, I don’t suppose you could tone it down a little? We’re in friendly company here,” I said—but she just looked below, as if seeing through the floor.

  “Ah, I see.” I caught Milo’s eye and did my best to show something was happening downstairs, which he picked up quickly.

  Milo spoke up. “Wyatt, bring her in here—get her on a chair. We’ll look after her. Then go downstairs and settle everyone. I think they may be worried about you and Coral right now.”

  Wyatt turned to Milo, caught Lily staring straight through the floor to where the bar would be, then easily picked up Coral and placed her on the closest chair before heading downstairs without a word.

  It wasn’t until we heard the door open down there that we heard his booming voice: “Put ya bloody weapons away, we’re all fine! We’re closed for the rest of the day! If you’ve not got accommodation here tonight, I need you to leave!”

  There was seriousness in his tone, and only one voice made it back up the stairs. “What’s up there, Wyatt?”

  “None of your business—now go,” he boomed back, followed by the shuffling of chairs and boots.

  A couple of minutes later: “Right, you lot, you’ve stayed here a long time, so I’ll trust you. Keep the front door locked, no weapons, and do not under any circumstances come up those stairs.”

  I didn’t hear the response, but I heard the door close and Wyatt coming back up the stairs. He paused at the top, took a deep breath, then took his seat again.

  He forced a smile, looking at Lily. “Sorry about that. Lily, was it? Pleasure to meet you—I'm Wyatt.”

  After a look between him and the downstairs area, Lily seemed satisfied. The pressure dropped, and she vanished, appearing in front of the fireplace where she flopped down without hesitation.

  Wyatt looked to Hari. “Right… okay, let’s say I believe you now.”

  Hari laughed. “Then you’d better brace yourself, because she’s just the start.”

  Hari explained the rest of the journey as Wyatt listened with rapt attention. When he explained Sylverith, the Tempest Dragon, and how we rescued George and Darren, Wyatt’s gaze turned visibly angry.

  Then finally he explained how we had met Alira, and I could have sworn I saw Lily let out a sigh.

  I whispered, knowing she’d absolutely hear me over Hari’s explanation, “You’re still my favourite out of all of them, Lily.”

  I watched her visibly relax—she really was a proud cat.

  Wyatt finally found his voice. “Wait—so you’re going to the capital to see the King?!”

  Hari nodded.

  Wyatt shook his head. “You’ve definitely won the bet. Now… about that drake head. Don’t suppose you’re selling it? I wouldn’t need the scales or valuable parts, just the bones and teeth. I think it would look really good hanging from the roof.”

  I hadn’t considered selling the head, but Milo spoke up.

  “We’ll probably need it for the capital visit initially, but I imagine unless Lily there wants to eat it for some reason, we could sell it.”

  Lily looked over.

  “I don’t know if there’s enough meat on there to cook anything for Lily, and I’ve not really cooked organs before… I suppose I could store them for later though.”

  Wyatt nodded. “The eyes and brain of a drake are valuable alchemist ingredients, along with the tongue. Scales are useful for armour.”

  Milo coughed. “You need to understand, though, Wyatt, that particular skull could bring you trouble if the Tempest Dragon ever found out.”

  Wyatt waved him off. “That thing will never enter my bar, so no worries there.”

  Milo nodded. “Then we have cost. You’re a friend of ours, but that skull belongs to Trev and Lily.”

  I was about to say something when a look from Micca silenced me.

  Milo continued. “That said, if Trev does want to sell, I’m sure we can come to an agreement.”

  I looked to Micca—not getting the ‘stay quiet’ look anymore—so I spoke up. “I don’t mind, though I don’t know how much a skull like that sells for anyway.”

  Both Wyatt and Milo spoke at the same time—one hundred gold and two hundred gold—before breaking into laughter.

  The laughter was cut off by a feminine voice. “Wha… what is that?!”

  Coral had woken up and was staring at Lily sleeping by the fire.

  Wyatt grinned. “That’s Lily, and it’s rude to point at guests, Coral.”