Exton

The Unformed Plane….

Sitting in a pub called The Flatulent Dragon, nursing a mug of the pig piss they call beer, trying not to think too much, my thoughts are drawn back to Inari. I wonder how she's doing in the Human Realm, if her mission is working out successfully. The Queen told me to stay put in case Inari needed an escort back to the Unformed Plane.

I smile for the first time since I entered this dive. Inari doesn't need anything. If she accepts an escort, it's only to please the Queen. I've never met a woman better able to take care of herself, and if even half the stories are true, she might be protecting her escort instead of the other way around.

The blowsy whore at the bar leans forward, giving me a good look down her cleavage. I try not to wince, but it's a near thing. I could fit a bottle of this wretched rotgut between her tits and still have room for one of the lead-heavy blood sausages they sell here - made with way too much mystery blood, and smells like cat shit.

An ogre at a far corner table farts noisily and the candles gutter and burn blue for a minute. The whore lifts a leg onto the adjoining stool, exposing blotchy thighs. I stare into the mug before me so I don't have to look anywhere else.

I hope Inari's having a better time, wherever she is…