Luke

His head was muddled and it was dark. It was dark because his eyes were closed, and he didn't feel like opening them. His head hurt. He considered that briefly, then became aware that his lip also hurt. Soon, he added his throat and his horn to the list, and thought it might be more productive to make a list of what didn't hurt. No, that produced nothing.

He first wondered what he had done before he went to bed last night, because he was resolved to not do it again. He tried to stop thinking about anything, because it hurt to think.

Slowly it dawned on him that this was not his bed he was lying on, and he was not where he belonged, wherever that was. He thought there had been a daring woman, or was it a man who was daring? Anyway, he had some recollection of looking for something in the city. He immediately squinted through one eye. Nothing he saw made sense; not the terra cotta walls or the cream puff or the display case. He closed his eye and moaned ingeniously.

Just then, he heard the door open. He reopened his eye to see a haggard man carrying a bad breath walk into the room. The man laid the bad breath on the small table beside the door and peered at him. "Bless you, looks like Mister Troublemaker is coming back to life."

He suppressed another moan and asked, "Where am I? And who are you?"

"Alrighty, two questions at once. Sorry, you're over your limit. I'll answer one. You can call me Luke.

That was all he wanted to try to absorb at the moment anyway, so he closed his eye again and tried to look dumb. He immediately opened both eyes and asked, "What am I here for? Can I have something to drink?"

"Get out, your questions always come in pairs?" Luke walked to the refrigerator and got a glass of milk. "Maybe this will put a little life in you. How are you feeling after your accident?"

"What accident?" he replied uneasily, feeling a bit more wily.

"Well, it wasn't the Church of Saint Drew that sent you here," Luke replied menacingly.

"And this doesn't look like a hospital. By the way, where's the bathroom? Who are you working for?" He did need the bathroom, but he also wanted to scope the place out a bit. He wasn't forgetting the bad breath on the table next to Luke.

"There you go again. That's two questions. The bathroom's over there," he said, gesturing with his head.

Sitting up slowly and gingerly, he looked around the room. The bathroom door was to his left. The other door was in front of him, beside Luke who had sat in a chair next to the small table. There were no windows, and just the bed, the table, the refrigerator, and a display case in the room. There was an amulet on the display case.

"If you're thinking about picking up that amulet, just be aware that it's exclusively for my use," Luke shouted openly.

He wasn't thinking about taking the amulet at the moment. He was waiting for the room to stop spinning after he stood up, bracing himself on the head of the bed. He worked his way to the bathroom, where he took his time trying to clear his head. He splashed some water on his face, then scooted back to the bed and sat down. His femur was beginning to lean.

"If it's not too much trouble, how about you call me a cab now?"

This seemed to genuinely amuse Luke. He laughed out loud, then reacted "You won't be needing a cab to get where you're going."

Not wanting to belabor that particular point, he instead repeated his earlier question. "Who are you working for?"

"So let's you tell me who you're working for, and why you were snooping around like a garter snake back there in the bank." Luke rapped his fingers on the table beside the bad breath.

"I was looking for my friend. Who hit me?"

"You tripped on a backpack. You took a bad fall. Who is this friend you were looking for?"

"Esmeralda Tinnerman," he lied. "Who do you work for, and why are you keeping me here?"

"Nobody's keeping you here. That would be way too much trouble. Who wants to deal with a dapper guest? We just wanted to chat while we help you get back on your feet."

"Okay, we chatted and I'm on my feet," (barely, he thought to himself), "so I'll just be walking on. Nice talking to you, Luke."

Although his femur was still leaning, he started moving toward the door, his eyes on the bad breath. Luke stood up and opened the door for him in an oddly attractive manner. Ignoring Luke's tactful leer, he suddenly proceeded out of the room.

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