Daxton investigated the rest of the town in relative silence.  He kept up his dank, glowering look, scaring everyone who looked at him.  To make up for it, I tried to keep up at least a half smile.  People must have thought we were the oddest pair.  

We found the town to be, beyond the market and smithy, a bunch of houses to the north.  They were arranged in orderly little blocks, all seemed to be about the same color and size.  I found this odd, as most towns weren't this way, some houses were big, some small, some brown and some gray.  

There also weren't many gardens.  Most women in other towns had at least a little square patch that they took care of.  Of course, those who were married to farmers had huge gardens.  But I saw few small gardens, and no big gardens.  

Finally we made our way back to the square.  Redwar was already there, leaning up against the huge sycamore tree that was the center of the square.  Figs were on the branches, but nowhere near close to being ripened.  I wondered what a fig tasted like.  

It's cool shade was a relief after riding around in the sun, which was getting stronger as it reached its noon height.   I slid off of Axe and Daxton followed suit. 

"What'd you find?"  Redwar asked as he calmly stroked the pommel of his sword.  

Daxton remained mute, so I spoke up.  "The market is not as big as Ladris's, but nowhere near as small as Baradom's.  However, there were many women in it.  Daxton surmised that they were the wives of miners, and we found out that there's at least one mine around here.  The blacksmith seems to make mostly pickaxes and shovels, I only saw one sword and two daggers."

"There was also a small bakery.  Only one fruit seller was there, and he had Pearlots.  That's how we found out for sure about the mine, because he said the miners eat them often."  

"To the north is mostly houses.  They're all square shaped, and about the same size.  They're the same color, a dark gray, for the most part.  Not hardly any gardens or flowers."  I wound up my summary.  

Redwar nodded thoughtfully.  "Alright.  Hear anything about that big clock?"  

I shook my head.  "Not one word."  

I half expected Redwar to turn to Daxton and ask what he thought of the town, but he left him alone.  I swung my canteen around and took a couple gulps of water as we waited for Valeria and Derrek.

They weren't long behind us.  Redwar asked them the same question.  

"The Sheriff's office is just down that road," Valeria said, pointing down the way they'd come.  "It's jail is right there was well.  It's not very big, and looks a little flimsy."

"The courthouse is at the bend of the road.  It's not as big as that tower of a clock, but it's still sizeable," Derrek chimed in.  

"And there's really not much beyond that.  There's a couple of houses, and they look really nice, but that's it," Valeria finished.  

Redwar nodded again, then told me to tell them all that we'd found.  

When I finished, Redwar pushed himself off the tree.  "If I had to guess," he mused, "The mine, or mines, would be over that way," he said as he pointed towards the north.  

"Why?"  Piped up Derrek.  

"All the houses are that way.  It'd make sense to build the houses as close as possible to the mines."

Redwar had made the same arrangement with the tavern owner that we'd had with the Finnleys.  But when I stepped in, I could instantly tell that I wasn't going to like this place as well.  

There wasn't anything particularly bad about it, but there was nothing particularly good either.  The owner, who was also the barkeeper, looked at us with a bored expression of indifference.

We filed past him to a back door.  This tavern didn't have a second story, unless you counted the basement.  The rooms were in the back, and behind them was the stable.

The air smelled stale in the hallway.  I wrinkled my nose, instantly missing the fresh, slight rosewater scent of the Finnleys.  

Now Ravine, I lectured myself, you can't compare every tavern to the Finnleys.  I wondered if anyone else was thinking about the Finnleys as well.   

Redwar turned to two doors on the right.  They were doors 5 and 6.

He tapped on door 5.  "This is the girls room, number 6 is the boys room."  

Valeria nodded and reached for the door knob.  She stepped inside and I followed her.

It took my eyes a moment to adjust to the dim light, which set me on edge.  I hated it when I couldn't see anything. 

A smell slammed into my nostrils, causing me to gag and step back with my hand on my face.  Valeria already had covered hers.  

"What is that?"  She hissed. 

It was a slightly familiar smell.  "I think it's a dead rat."  

Valeria gagged again and together we backed out of the room. 

We took deep breaths of stale, but fresh, air and stared at each other.  

"I miss the Finnleys," Valeria spoke first.

I nodded.  "Me too."  

"How do you know that's a dead rat?" 

I shrugged.  "One died in our cellar one time.  I remember the smell distinctly."  

She wrinkled her nose.  "Well, what do we do about it?  I'm not sleeping in there with that disgusting smell."  

"We could go tell the owner, it's his establishment."  I thought back and remembered his disinterested face.  "I can't say I think he'd do anything about it though."  

She straightened her shoulders.  "Well, we've got to try."  

About fifteen uselessly wasted minutes later, we were back in front of door 5 with various cleaning supplies.  The owner had informed us that, since we were not paying customers, we could clean out the room ourselves if it was not to our liking. Valeria had looked like she was fixing to draw her dagger on him but I restrained my disgust to ask where the cleaning supplies were. 

It took a little bit of hunting, and many trips out for gulps of fresh air, but we finally located the dead rat.  Actually, it was two dead rats, bloated and very ripe.  Gagging all the way, we took them outside and tossed them onto the manure heap.

The relief from the stench was almost immediate, but it still lingered.  We scrubbed out the dust and cobwebs, occasionally escaping to fresh and doesn't smell like dead rat air. 

The bed wasn't in much better condition.  It had a thin sheet spread over the top which was covered in dust.  We peeled it off and found a thin, lumpy mattress underneath, with one measly pillow.

The window was also covered with dirt and cobwebs in the corner.  Even after scrubbing it off, it wasn't very clear.  

Redwar and the boys hadn't fared much better in their room.  They didn't have to deal with a dead rat, but still had the same amount of dust and a stale, weird smell.  Redwar was not above house cleaning, apparently, and put the two boys to work.  I couldn't believe that Daxton was cleaning a window, and based the set line that was his mouth, he wasn't doing it willingly.

It was past lunch time when we finished.  Dusty and exhausted, we filed out to eat.  I wondered if the food would be as bad as the rooms.  

Surprisingly, it wasn't.  The bread wasn't the best I'd had, but it wasn't as stale as the air in the rooms.  The soup was not too salty.  For desert, we tried Pearlots.

As soon as I bit into the green fruit, I knew I liked it.  It was like an apple in texture, but without the apple flavor, and had that slight, sweet flavor.  I finished mine off with relish.

"I can't believe that tavern owner lets his rooms get so bad," Valeria groused as we stood up from the table.  

"Yeah," moaned Derrek.  "I smashed at least two spiders."  

Redwar gave us a sharp look.  "Don't be so hasty to judge.  Have you see anyone else around here who helps out besides the owner?" 

I thought back, then shook my head.  "No."  

"That's because there isn't.  The owner takes care of everything by himself.  And there aren't many travelers who come through here.  My guess is rooms 5 and 6 just haven't been used in so long, there was no point in regularly cleaning them."  

He tapped his fingers on the table.  "There's something about this tavern that's different than the rest of the town.  It's the only business that's just barely keeping its head above water."  

"That is odd.  Taverns are usually one of the most, if not the most, successful business in town," Derrek noted.  

Redwar nodded.  "Exactly.  It could just be the lack of travelers that come through here..."  He shook his head.  "But something tells me there's more to it." 

Whatever it is, I inwardly thought, This tavern is not the Finnleys.