The two brass doors of the Winking Lizard tavern were thrown open in the wind, causing the weathered eyes of the lizard mural t0 appear black and closed. The barmaid ran to the door and slammed it shut as passerby's glared at the disproportionately large lizard eyes that faced Broad Street.
Inside the dark tavern were no more that twenty chairs and five tables, which appeared to be arranged in no particular order. The bar floor was sloped significantly towards the entrance. The tavern was empty except for the pale-skinned red-headed barmaid, two men talking casually at the bar and one man who sat quietly in the back corner reading.
"If I had a stack of gold for every time I heard that someone saw Tomaas, that greedy old bastard, leave Soupat ... I would steal a Company ship, fill it with naive fools like you and sink it to the bottom of the sea." said the one man. "That man is going to die counting coin in the Stockade."
"HA! If you had that much gold YOU would be drunk for a good month and be the one at the bottom of the sea!" laughed the other.
"Can I gets you boys another?" the slender barmaid asked. Her voice was strong and firm, which seemed oddly overbearing for her small figure.
"Ah, we best head out. Another time love." one of the men replied as he picked up his brown bag and walked towards the door.
"Agreed," the other man said, as the lizards eyes closed again letting the afternoon sunlight into the bar. "Good'day to ya."
The two men left the bar, closing the brass doors behind them.
"What abouts yourself?" the barmaid asked the man in the corner, who seemed to be covered in soot of some kind.
If he heard her, he didn't react.
"Woulds yas like another?" she continued. "I mights need to put in a fresh keg, so this will be the last ones before the drinks get foamy."
He continued reading, not lifting his head to acknowledge the girl.
He was dressed in a tattered black coat, with a green tunic underneath. The barmaid walked closer to the man, until he noticed she was standing directly above him.
"Oh, is thats a map of the mine tunnels?" she asked. "Where dids you manage to find one of those?"
This time he looked up at her. Calmly stood. And stuck his hand out to give the barmaid his glass.
As she reached for it, he struck on the face with it and she doubled back in pain. He kicked the table aside and lunged at the barmaid. He grabbed her by the arm and raised his fist above his head.
"Where is Sih!" He shouted. "You said he would be here an hour ago! I nearly died getting this map! Where is your owner!"
The barmaid giggled as he squeezed her arm harder.
"Where is he!"
She smiled at the man. He looked as if he had sat in mud carts for over a week. The bagges under his eyes sagged nearly to his nose.
"SHE has been waiting a lot longer than an hour for you, silly." She laughed aloud.
The man was confused. However, his confusion didn't last long.
As he loosened his grip the barmaid's arm, she pulled a shard of glass from behind her back and slit his throat.
The man fell to his knees as the slope of the floor drained the blood towards the door.
