The Mermaid

[Deleted]

A handsome old Pentoshi inn that has stood on the bayside, overlooking the narrow sea, since Pentos was a colony of Valyria.

[Deleted]

Ser Alliser and Ser Mimseval rode into the inn's courtyard and gave their cow and horse to a rather bemused looking stableboy.

[Horas]

Ser Mimseval sits down at a table in the common room and orders a beer ("of a noble vintage, fair barmaid!") then looks over at Ser Alliser.

"So we know there are more than one of these infernal beasts. And we know this girl left... by land, to the Dothraki sea, mayhaps?"

[Deleted]

Other guests at the inn were looking at the two eccentric knights curiously.

"I'll have one too, fair damsel!" Ser Alliser called. The barmaid looked as bemused as the stableboy, but had the sense not to say anything.

"Yes," he agreed to Ser Mimseval, as they were served their beers. "There seem to be three of these monsters, brought to life by vile witch's tricks. I also think the girl went east. If she had come west, why, we would have seen!"

He drank deeply. "Ah, good. Beer soothes me. I mislike the idea of the Dothraki - dangerous sons of the demons. But it is likely. Pentos is on the border of the Dothraki sea, is it not?"

Ser Alliser stood up and spoke loudly to the room. "My good people! We are knights on a quest for dragons! Tell me, have any been seen? Have there been an inexplicable fires?" Then Alliser remembered his visions from the Seven. "Have any puppies been burned?"

[Horas]

A man in a dark corner of the room rises. He does not walk over to the two knights so much as glide. The man is attired in a red robe and a smooth, featureless red mask that covers his whole face. The expressionless visage is vaguely unsettling.

"Who seeks dragons?" The masked man asks in a strange, whispery voice.

[Deleted]

Ser Alliser blanched a little, but straightened himself proudly. "I am Ser Alliser Redfort, the Knight of the Cow, and this is Ser Mimseval, the Knight of the Golden Lobster. We are sons of the Seven, knights of King Rickon's court."

[Horas]

"Men from the Sunset Lands," the masked man says. His Westerosi is excellent, though a trace of some foreign accent clings to the edge of his tongue. "You will find no dragons alone."

There is a silence, for it appeared as if the man would continue, but he does not. Mim coughs uncomfortably. "...Thank you, Ser?" He says eventually.

[Deleted]

Alliser looked at him curiously. "Well...er, ser....you look like you are from the east! And the east is what we seek! Well, we think. Do you know arcane lore and mystical things? Can you help us on our way?"

[Horas]

"I see two corpses sitting before me. Your cause is doomed," the masked man says without emotion.

[Deleted]

"Certainly not!" Ser Alliser said. "The Warrior protects us from above. We will slay these creatures. Do you question my honor, ser?" Alliser was going red.

[Horas]

The masked man may be angry, frightened, or utterly nonchalant. The featureless mask makes it impossible to tell.

"The dragon has three heads, and I see only two men before me."

[Deleted]

Alliser eyed him carefully. "Well. We could use a third, if the third could be a guide."

[Horas]

"Then you had best find one," the masked man replies.

[Deleted]

"Would you come with us?" Ser Alliser asked.

[Erik]

Erik enters with Dacey on his arm, and they find a quiet table. He order beer and whatever happens to be cooking at the moment.