Sir Morrok led them to a large building with three stories. There were two guards outside, in full armor and looking bored.
"This is where the bounty hunters sleep, eat and prepare to go into the environs and beyond to find the prince." Sir Morrok said.
"Beddings and food is welcome, we need to rest from all the action we went through in our journey here." Jay spoke up.
As they entered, Grey noticed the heat and noise. There was a large room and many of the hunters were there, smoking, drinking and chatting loudly. The difference between these ones and Grey's order was as plain as day. All they did was find lost items, rescue kidnapped people and kill runaway criminals. He wondered what they were doing here when they heard it was a criminal case. It had almost been a year since the Smoke Tower fell and all dimensions must have been getting used to the reality that the heroes in gray coats no longer jumped out at any juncture to save them.
"Come, let me give you your lodgings up there. There's food and drink, and you can strike up talk with these men. Most of them are rough fellows but I wager they would behave here." He said.
Grey nodded and followed the man up the wooden stairs, they went up another stairs and yet another before Sir Morrok stopped at a locked door and tugged on it. One old man rushed to open it for them. Grey stepped in first, senses all tuned to the highest. He could sense no demonic presence around. They made him wonder, if demons had carried off the prince, there had to be remnant of their energy, something Grey could track to them. Everywhere was full of human scents and life.
"This will do, Sir Morrok. Thank you." He said.
Jay collapsed on the bed.
"I'm going straight to sleep." He said.
Grey looked at him.
"No food?" He asked. The boy shook his head.
He dropped his bundle and rubbed his eyes. He really hadn't slept for two weeks now. His eyes were closed but his mind and senses were open and he scouted his surroundings always for danger. Hunters needed sleep at least once in ten days. Their body, no matter how enhanced was still a human shell.
He went down, to get some food and listen in. The bartender, a young woman was scared by the amount of men she was serving to. As Grey watched, a man leered at her and she almost fell, fearfully.
The men at the table guffawed.
As she reached his table, he smiled at her. Her face lit up and she asked him, nicely.
"What would like to eat, sir?"
"Anything you have, just hot and plenty." He said.
A gruff voice spoke to him from behind.
"You look like a girl."
He turned to see the person. It was a man in a bowler hat, with a kerchief around his neck and ranger clothes.
"You think so, well don't judge people by their appearance." He replied.
The man scoffed.
"Well, what are you doing here? Most of these men have been bounty hunters for a long time. You look like my lastborn son." The man said.
Grey thumbed his finger at the man behind.
"Most of these men don't know jack shit about fighting." He said.
The man chuckled and guzzled down some beer.
"Rumors have it that it's an orc party who took the prince. Have you seen an orc, boy?" He asked.
Grey smoldered in anger.
"The name's Van Aholt. No, I've not seen an orc. Maybe, I'll meet one before the week ends." He said.
The man laughed again.
"Elves, dwarves, goblins, gnomes, and all those fancy species, even trolls are nicer things. Orcs are demon beasts, with the strength of ten men and the deviousness of a snake to go with it." He said.
"I believe I know that." He said.
The man refilled his mug with a jug of ale. The bartender brought him a tray of good smelling food, beaming at him.
He smiled back and took a glass of water. The man scoffed at the girl.
"Nice girl, eh. You plan to lay this one?" He asked.
Grey shook his head.
"It would be better if you did. The way I'm seeing, it'll take an army of bounty hunters to take down the amount of orcs they said are around." The man said.
"How many?" Grey asked, eating slowly.
The man drank for some moments, mug to lips.
"Fifty or so, they say." He replied finally.
In Grey's mind, he was crafting a strategy.
He looked up at the man.
"Well, old man. All's the same." He said.
When Grey went back to his room, he thought hard about what the bounty hunter has said about orcs. They weren't any special creatures but they were incredibly strong and intelligent too. There would bw no problems taking on them but first he had to find them and since they knew an entire kingdom was looking for them, that might be a problem.
Jay was lying sprawled on the bed, tiredly. The boy would be of use in this occasion, he could get into places Grey couldn't and change into smaller things to spy on people.
Sleep first. He said, and lay on the side. When the sun rose, so did Jay. Grey had managed to get an hour or so of sleep and his mind was sharper than ever.
"Good morning, Mister Grey." He said.
"Good morning, Jay." He replied.
Jay yawned and stretched then shrugged into his shirt.
"They have a bathhouse, right?" He asked.
Grey shrugged.
"They have to, I mean it's an inn in the royal part of town." He speculated.
Jay nodded thoughtfully.
"I need a soak and then a bit of food." He said.
Grey thought that would be nice and so he tagged along when Jay went down to talk to the inn manager.
Their bathhouse was steaming and more private than the one they'd used in the village outside Uopia.
"Your part of the mission starts now." Grey told Jay as they sat down to a meal of fresh corn bread and a thick, viscuous stew of fish and vegetables.
"Ok." Jay replied, in between mouthfuls of bread and stew.
"I need to snoop about and find whatever piece of rumor people are saying, truth or not. Find it and tell me. Especially anything about orcs." He said.
"What's about orcs?" Jay asked, pausing from stuffing his mouth.
"Someone said that a company of orcs kidnapped the prince and his retainers." He replied.
Jay nodded like a sage.