Ossendar: Book Two of the Resoration Series by Christopher Williams Page B

the girl was nowhere to be found. But then again, Telur was an enormous city and it would take three men longer than a week to thoroughly search all the taverns and inns, and that was assuming that the girl stayed in one place. For all they knew, she could be moving around and she might be hitting places they had already visited.
    Throughout the whole ordeal Aaron was embarrassed and guilty. His whole squad had helped him buy the girl's freedom, and now he had lost her. This reason above all others was what prevented him from allowing Atock to bring in other members of the guardians to help search. So far, Atock and Enton had honored his wishes.
    For their parts, Atock and Enton had continued to search diligently, but the enthusiasm had disappeared quickly when the enormity of the task had settled on them. They spent each evening sticking their heads into the taverns and inns, and asking after the girl. When what they really wanted to do, was to stay at one of those taverns and drink some ale, toss dice, and maybe throw some darts.
    Atock had stopped at a tavern in the western part of the city, near the city gate. The tavern was called the Headman's Noose, and it was a small tavern, but it was in a good spot and saw a lot of traffic from the merchants and their guards. He stood in the doorway and observed the raucous crowd. It was still early evening, but the seats were all taken and most of the standing room as well. The serving girls were hard pressed to keep all the men's drinks filled, but they gave it a good go. Two musicians played on a small stage that was along the opposite wall. One was playing the flute, while the other picked at a stringed instrument that he didn't recognize. A bar ran along the wall to his left, and it too was crowded as men stood waiting to get their drinks.
    Sighing, Atock stepped inside. He knew better than to ask the men if they had seen Elona. They were too busy drinking and they could probably have her sitting on their laps and not recognize her from his description. The serving girls were another matter altogether. They were sober, and would remember a young girl who was playing the men. The trouble seemed to be in catching one of the serving girls long enough to talk to her.
    He made several unsuccessful attempts to get the serving girls in conversation, and not only did that fail, but he was starting to get nasty looks from some of the patrons. The last thing that he wanted was to get in a bar fight with this lot. They probably all knew each other and worked for the same person.
    A large man with a nose that had been broken more than once walked up beside Atock. “Something you want?”
    The man had the unmistakable appearance of a guard; rough and more than capable of taking care of himself. Hope sprang up in Atock at the sight of the man. A guard might be even better than one of the serving girls. He would remember the girl just like they would, but more importantly, his whole job was to stand there and watch the crowd. “Uh, maybe. I'm looking for a girl.”
    The man snickered, “Aren't we all, but the girls here are only paid to serve drinks and nothing else.”
    “No, no. You misunderstand me.” Atock said quickly, “I'm trying to find a particular girl. She's seventeen with brown hair to her waist and brown eyes. She answered to the name of Elona.”
    The guard looked him up and down, “What's it to you? She stole something from you?”
    “No,” Atock said, shaking his head, “I'm trying to help a friend who needs to find her.”
    The man paused considering, “I know the girl. She was in here several nights back, almost started a brawl, playing the men against each other like she did. I threw her and several of the men out into the streets.” He smiled, “She wasn't too happy with me after that, either. That one has a mouth on her.”
    “Any idea where she went,” he asked quickly. He wanted to find the girl and be done with this searching.
    The guard nodded, “Yeah.