"How much farther do we have to go? It's starting to rain!" the man who got bitten earlier whined as the night became dark.

The other man shrugged. "The boss said we have to go somewhere with no criminals."

"No, he said 'bustling' with criminals!" the man retorted. "We can drop her off here, can't we? Place doesn't seem that bad."

"We should make sure," the other man insisted.

"C'mon, man! The boss will never know! She'll probably just die on her own regardless." He looked down at his wounded wrist. "It'll serve her right, anyway."

The other man looked around. The area they had reached had better built houses and huts than the areas they had passed earlier. The street was cleaner, and he did not spot any random drunkards lurking around. He rubbed his chin and then yanked on the reins of his horse. The two horses slowed to a halt. "I guess this place is alright," the man observed.

"Good," the impatient man sighed. "Now let's drop her off and get back home."

"Hmm," the other man hummed as he rubbed his chin. He pointed at a somewhat large building down the street to his left. "There, that looks like an inn. We'll drop her off there."

The wounded man got out of the wagon and walked over to the back of the wagon. He picked the girl up as she tossed around in her sleep lightly. "Stupid girl," he grumbled, carrying her up to the other man.

"Don't forget to leave her with the money," the other man reminded.

"The money? Why don't we just take it for ourselves?"

The other man narrowed his eyes. "Because that wasn't the boss's orders."

The man groaned as the two of them approached the door of the inn. "You're so uptight."

"You mean 'loyal.'"

"Whatever. Guess it's just chump change anyway."

The man placed Mallory against the door, right next to a puddle that had begun to form from the rain. He dropped the pouch of tokens next to her, and the two men rode off back where they came from.

***

It was not until sunrise when Mallory finally came to consciousness. Her eyes fluttered open. She looked down to her right to see the bag of money from her father. She grabbed it and looked inside. There were only about forty tokens, as much as her father said there were yesterday. She closed it and sighed. A tear slipped past her cheek as she sniffled. She felt rather cold, and that was when she noticed that her dress had gotten wet. She figured that it must have rained overnight. She looked down at the puddle next to her and saw her reflection. Her caramel skin was smudged with dirt, with clear streaks that came from all her tears. Her mint green eyes were still misty, her short, black hair damp from either the rain or from sweating. The ends of her hair stuck to the sides of her head. She pushed them away and stood up. She looked down at her now tattered, tan dress. It was dirty with faded, grey smudges. She rubbed her arms and turned around to notice the door she had been laying against. The building reminded her of one of the inns her and her father used to stay at from time to time. Daddy said something about staying at inns and making sure they're cheap. I hope this one's cheap.Hoping this building was an inn like she thought it was, she knocked on the door. There was no answer for a while, so she knocked again.

Before she knocked for a third time, an older man came to the door, rubbing his eyes and yawning. "Welcome to Barry's Inn, I'm Barry." He stopped rubbing his eyes and continued, "How may I help—" He looked down and his eyes widened when he realized that his guest was a lone little girl.

Mallory kept her gaze on the ground, thinking to herself.

The man looked around her, completely bewildered. "Uh, where are your parents, dear?"

Mallory could not answer his question. She just looked up at him and held up a few tokens. She tried to remember what her father would always say when ordering a room for him and her, then, she figured out what she could say. "A room for one, please..."

The man raised an eyebrow and looked at her offering. "Uh, alright, four tokens will be enough for the day, dear."

"Thank you," she responded softly, as the man guided her into the building and took four tokens out of her hand. As he guided her into her room, she thought to herself, I promise I'll stay alive, Daddy. I'll live for you!