[Story] The girl wore red, Ch 4

He laughed loudly. "Nowhere near the truth little girl. Aren't you a bit young to be drinking?" he shot back.

"Little girl! Too young! I'll show you who is a little girl!". Saphran jumped from her seat by the fire to stand up to the man impugning her stature - a little too quickly. Blood came rushing to her head making her feel woozy and unsteady. Collapsing back into her seat, "Maybe tomorrow when sun's out and my feet have properly defrosted, I'll ask you again how old you think I am", she retorted, her face red.

"So what is the truth, what is this grand tale you have to share with the patrons of this fine establishment? I warrant not quite as interesting as you make it sound, although if you buy the next round, I'll happily listen to your story"

Saphran listened to the man's story. Entertaining to say the least. Saphran didnt believe a word of it, but stories like this usually have some small elements of truth in them. Saphran hadn't heard of a merchant prince in Stormwind with a daughter named Francissa, but that wasn't suprising - Saphran was not exactly on the must-invite list of Stormwind High Society. Something about the gems made Saphran wonder though.

"Barkeep! Be a gentleman and fetch this man another drink!"

"Thats quite a story, Domenici. I'm sorry, but I've only arrived in Everlook last night, and have yet to fully acquaint myself with the town. Tell me, these gems. Do they have any properties other than fitting into this ogre-helm?. How do you tell if you've found the right gems?"

"Well, nothing else that I know of." the man replied to Saphran's question. "They're about the size of a chicken egg, and weigh a few ounces. They're supposed to be of an exceptionally deep color...high end stuff you see."

"Has anyone heard of other gems like this? Or of where I could find someone who does... I miss my Francissa...", the man's voice faded as he was loudly interrupted by a disagreeable looking gnome.

"I have shertain ..friendhs that mayyy know a thing or tow things, or multipliculatrial things about what you need... but I cant remember... ...without gold", the gnome drunkenly bantered.

Sounding like he was going to fall for the squat little gnomes dubious claim, the man expressed interest at the proposal. Saphran harrumphed her derision.

At was at this point that Saphran noticed a lofty Night Elf descend the stairs. It was the Night Elf who had arrived with the prisoner!

It seemed pretty obvious to Saphran that this elf was a bounty hunter and was wildly curious about what the other Night Elf had done. Why would the bounty hunter keep their prisoner locked in an inn room though? Hardly the most secure place to stow a prisoner. The bounty hunter probably had the captive gagged and bound to a chair upstairs, Saphran decided.

As the Night Elf reached the end of the stairs, Saphran may have been mistaken, but she would swear that the Night Elf's eyes widened slightly when she looked at the table Saphran was sitting at. The Night Elf sauntered across to the bar, where she began a conversation with the bar keep. For some reason, the Night Elves voice carried right across to the table Saphran was sitting at. It became obvious that the Night Elf too, was interested in gem stones.

As addled as Saphran was at this stage of the night, even she could deduce that there was a lot more to these ogre-helm gems than what Domenici had let on. The more Saphran thought about it, the more likely it was that these were agents involved in the exchange she was supposed to intercept. Saphran cursed herself for being this careless and allowing herself to get this drunk. There was nothing for it now, she'd made this bed. Now she had to lie in it. At least she had identified some key personnel, she consoled herself.

Saphran waited to see if the man had overheard the Night Elf as well, or whether he was too intent talking to the obnoxious little gnome.