"I think that he's in this place so either he is untrustworthy or more likely attempting to earn a few coins at Wilhelm's expense. In an hour? I'll keep an eye on him to then, make sure he doesn't disappear or talk to anyone in the interim to tip them off incase he has made us, more of a cautionary thing then anything else."

The rooms paid for, Serg tolk up what remained of their coin purse and disappeared heading over to the table they just left and pulling up a seat. "Gentlemen," she could hear him say, "Do you have room for one more?"

He poured out his silver coins on the table, the clattering they made against their surface meant to attract their attention.

An hour later and the guy did not brake away from the table until now when he went to room 117. And with him was a good sized purse since he won more often then he lost. Serg had been with him, Nell soon joining, as the cloaked figure unlocked the door, lit a lantern and closed the door behind them.

"Now," he said as he moved to a dresser that had a silver colored tray and on it had been a bottle of wine, a glass and some old crackers and cheese from the day before. "What is Wil's location worth to you? Drink?"

Nell entered the room and immediately sat down. She listened to Mykle quietly and when he made it clear he did not intend to give them any information for free she exchanged a glance with Serg. She had been watching them play for most of the night but she had not been playing too close attention to Serg's winnings. She had know idea how much money they had left to bargin with. She turned back to the cloaked figure and continued to play the shrew. "I am surprised you are still in need of gold after all the success you had at cards tonight. I doubt highly that our small purses could even hold a candle to yours so I'm not sure what you expect to gain but selling us this information. I would have thought your desire to make Wilhelm pay for his cheating ways would have been enough for you."

Serg was neither a big winner nor a huge loser braking about even. When Nell look to him he nodded for he infered what she was silently asking indicating to her that they were still doing well enough.

Mykle poured a drink into the only glass he had before making his offer again to the pair and nippling a little on the crackers that, surprisingly, had not been all that stale. He did shake his head slightly though. "Never can have enough gold. I've got debts to pay off and Wilhelm's recent shennagins have left me out a fair bit. Either way, he'll get his why the other day a group of Sparthians came in here asking about him so I'm guessing that they're closing in on him."

Nell accepted the wine but did not drink it right away, still somewhat warily of this man who hide his face from them. He gave no indication that he knew that the Sparthians were now looking for the missing Princess as well as Wilhelm. Perheps the news had not traveled this far yet. "Were you the one to speak to the Sparthians when they came the other day? If you sold them the same information you are attempting to sell us then surely the soldiers will get to Wilhelm before us and we will be journeying out of our way for nothing." She shrugged and began to stand up. "I disapprove of being wasteful whether it be with time or money. If they Sparthians already have the scoundrel in hand then there is nothing further we can do to him. I won't pay top dollar for information Spartha already has." She was bluffing, of course, but she was still suspicious of Mykle. Either he'd lower the price he wanted for the intel or he'd let it slip that he knew more about the business than he was letting on.

Mykle spoke with fluid ease. "I am not about to waste your time. The soldiers came in and questioned the patron of this place, Iago, and I was in a position where I overheard a few things as to where the soldiers are likely to go next. I was not approached, though had I been approached and money offered for the information I would have relaid matters to them.

"But I know for a fact that Wilhelm isn't at the gambling institutes that Iago pointed the soldiers too, oh no, that would have been quit obvious. He's trying to evade the Sparthans after all."

Mykle searched around for a second cup and found one that he used from the day before on the night stand beside his bed. He filled it half way before giving it to Serg, hygenine and cleanliness not being what it is in the modern era.

He kept the bottle and drank from it in small sips. His gaze darting from one to the other as he tried to read the pair and predict his next move.

Nell eyed Mykle suspiciously and then nodded. "Alright, if the Sparthians do not have him yet then your information might be of some use. Still, it is just an idle fancy of mine to find the man and give him some grief for my future husbands sake. I am not going to part will too much on our traveling money to indulge a whim." She turned to Serg now as he was far more of an expert in money matter than herself and he knew how much money they still had as she asked. "What do you think, Brother? How much should we gamble of this man's information?"

"Four coins.

"Eight."

Serg considered for a moment, the price wasn't too steep and they had that on their person. He pretended to think as he gazed into the surface of his wine. He took a sip of it then nodded slightly. "Alright, eight coins but you better hope this pans out or I'll find you and brake your legs."

Mykle nodded. "Agreed."

Serg gave him the coins.

"Ah, I can ascertain that they have not gotten Wilhelm yet. He hasn't been to his usual haunts, save for this one that is. He arrived here well before Spartha came here when their attack was a mere whispered rumor among the nobility of the courts so he was forewarned and acted before they did arriving here about a week before their attack."

"So, he's a clever coward. That's not really a surprise. Where is he then, if he's not where the Sparthian's think he is? Can you show it to us on a map?" Nell asked, still being cautious and hoping that the man's information was not false.

The man sipped from the bottle of wine before setting it down and drawing a map out of his dresser that he draped over the bed. He looked over it then pointed at a spot. "We are here ... this is the biggest establishment where he would be thought to go.

"As you can see it is fairly close to the castle and thus the first place anyone looking for him would travel. Here, as you can clearly see is an out of the way connecting to the main road here, where we are now. Of course given his addict to gambling he come here but this place would be checked by the Sparthians of course since the typical soldier doesn't know what they are looking for they have no idea that he is still here. Running at this time is dangerous so paying off Iago, the owner of this place, to mislead the others that have come here was fairly easy on his part."

She moved closer to the bed to lean down and look at the map. "Sounds awfully risky to me, to take the time to stop for gambling when you are running for your life. So, where did he go from here once the coast was clear?"

"Actually it isn't. Its more dangerous to travel about and get spotted but since they've already checked here what are the chances that they'd check again? He was here when the guards came in and while Iago has no loyalty to them neither did they offer anything him anything whereas he was being paid by Wilhelm for his silence.

"He is infact, still here never having the need to leave as the country side is abuzz with his search."

Nell could hardly hide her surprise. "He's here?!" She eyed the man suspiciously. "That's ridculous... Surely he is too well known here. Even if Iago was willing to keep his silence there would be others here who knew him. Someone who would be more willing to betray him. How has he kept himself hidden all this time as well as satisfying his vice." She eyed the hood veiling the man's face and suspected she knew the answer. She should have felt more concerned for her immediate safety but then Serg was here with her. Surely he was on his guard and would be able to protect them both.

"They simply did not know ... the soldiers spoke to Iago, not them, and most had nothing to gain. Sure, there are a view here that lost to him but he them. He spends most of his time in the backgrounds gambling on the pit fights so he's not in public most of the time.

"That and few even know that he is here so even those that would gladly turn him in are not aware of the fact that he is so close at hand. Iago, and Wilhelm of course, and anyone that may have overheard a particular conversation between the pair."

Serg was alert though he sensed Nell's tension there was nothing that he did thus far simply following Nell's led here. He flickered his gaze from each as they spoke like one observing a tennis match and watching a ball be battered back and forth between two participants.

Nell narrowed her eyes at the man. He was stalling but why? "And which are you, Mykle?" She spoke the name in a way that implied she suspected it was not his own. "How did you come to know Wilhelm was here? Were you one of the few that overheard him speaking with Iago or is there some other explanation for how you came by this information? And if he truly owes you money way did you not try to sell him out to the soldiers who came here and get your money in the form of a reward?"

"Heavens no, the later wouldn't have been prudent." Mykle explained as his hands went up to the hood of his cloak and pulled it back revealing his features, features that she had recognize. Mykle was Wilhelm! At once Serg started forward as if by instinct but dropped to the wooden floor after a mere step forward.

"Princess, and to think what I've heard, why Vek is looking for you too."

He took another drink from the wine bottle, grinned, then approached her as he stepped over Serg's prone but conscious body, the later appearing to be paralyzed.