Yates squinted at the writing scrawled on the map he had laid out on the table. He leaned over it, half out of the chair, with his gloved hands pressed to the sides trying to keep the edges from curling over and snapping close. Who in the world drew this? The borders of Serendipity's provinces were smudged, he couldn't even begin to determine where Featherfall ended and Whitesands began, it seemed to pool over into what should have been Northwatch and Moonspear. It was all one large blob of landmass. Might as well be Connlaoth.
Argh, shit!
The map rolled like a lizard licking back its tongue. Yates' hand was resting on the back of his neck, his fingers arched to scratch at the loose hairs. Earlier, he had taken his sword, pulled his hair back, and cut it. Near about loped off one of his ears, too. While the quaint cheap inn he was staying at for the past couple of days had a bed, hot water was another thing. There wasn't any way he was going to de-tangle the mess his long hair had become. Vanity be damned, it was impractical when one went trampling through what could only be called as misery.
He let the other side of the map roll up. Yates could feel a pounding starting at the base of his temples, and he choked on the smoke lolling through the musky air of the inn's bar. Other patrons sucked back on their long cigars, the scarred and grizzled faces didn't move and Yates was not about to draw attention to himself. Though, he was sore from hoping that maybe one of those people who could break him in two would be kind enough to show him on his map how to get from Moonspear to La'marri. The heart of gold had yet to make its appearance.
Yates headed for the door outside, his map tucked into his belt, and breathed in the cool morning air as he shut the door behind him. He patted at his side, feeling the weight of the gold coin stored inside the satchel slung on his shoulder. It was one of his better steals, he had to admit.
All was quiet in the small hamlet, except for the increasing amount of distressed baying from the horses on the other side of the inn.
