by Allan Joyal
Jennifer looked abashed as she skidded to a halt. She reversed the spear so that she had the butt pointing forward and started walking at a much more sedate pace. Loufus relaxed again.
"What are those two carrying?" the man next to me asked.
"One of our group was attacked earlier today. We didn't recognize the creature that attacked her. It only got in one slash, but it ripped up her leg. I was hoping your village might have an inn where we could rest for the night and treat her. What we did in the wilderness saved her life, but we want to make sure she recovers," I replied.
"You can see the inn. It's more of a pub, but Galmin does have two rooms to let. It will be crowded if you all want to sleep there," the man said.
"Can we take her directly there and use the common area of the inn to coordinate everything? We are strangers here. I think we will all be safer if there is only one place we interact with the village. There will be less chance of misunderstandings."
The man nodded. "Yes, that would be best. Come, I'll introduce you to Galmin." He started to walk back to the building he had emerged from. I turned back to find Jennifer standing next to me, holding out the spear.
"This is yours," she said. "I'll let the others know we are heading to the inn."
Loufus next to me gasped. "Girl, your legs are completely uncovered. What kind of slut are you?"
Jennifer frowned. "Huh?"
"Proper women don't even show their ankles to a man other than their husbands. You are showing everything," Loufus growled.
Jennifer reached up towards the sport coat. I grabbed her hands. "No! Jennifer, we are the visitors here. Let's go along with the local custom. That's why I said that we wanted a village woman of good repute to help with clothing. Besides, it was rather cold last night, and what you have isn't going to protect you in cold weather."
Jennifer scowled, but lowered her hands. With a curse, she turned and stomped towards the inn. I trotted to catch up with her. The other man had continued walking during the conversation and was some distance ahead. I had just reached Jennifer when he reached the inn and turned to face us.
Much like Loufus had when he got a close look at Jennifer, the man frowned as he scanned her garments and bare legs. "What land did you come from?" he muttered. "Are your women as free with their touches as they are with their looks?"
Jennifer laughed darkly. "Not hardly! In our lands, dressing like this is only used to get a man's attention. We expect him to prove to us that he is the right man before we would allow him entry to paradise."
The man looked surprised. "Nice response. Where did you come up with it?" I asked.
"French class in high school," Jennifer replied. "My teacher loved to brag about how the language was perfect for seduction and made us read a lot of flowery prose. I just remembered a line about how the place between a woman's legs was the gateway to paradise."
We had entered the inn and took a moment to look around. The room we were in appeared to fill the visible exterior on the ground floor. It was one chamber standing about forty feet on each side. Directly across from the entrance, there was a doorway. Behind the doorway, there were shouts and the bashing of metal on metal. From the wisps of smoke and the smells, I guessed that the kitchen lay behind the open door. The only other exit was a battered staircase on the far wall. It led to a wooden balcony that was connected to two doors on the far side of the room. The man noticed my gaze.
"Yes, those are the two sleeping rooms," he commented. "They are built into the hillside behind the inn. You'll be safe there tonight."
"But will we be able to leave in the morning?" Jennifer asked me in a whisper.
We looked around and could see several long tables strewn about the room. One was in the corner just across from the stairs and I pointed to it. "Let's take that one. We can view all the doors from there but it's still in a corner."
I walked over to the table and took a seat. I chose the bench that was away from the wall and carefully leaned my spear on the table as I turned back to the door. Jennifer claimed the other side as the others began to straggle into the room. I was going to speak when a man emerged from the kitchen area.
From the way the man was fiddling with his hands, I assumed this was the innkeeper. He was dressed in brown clothes that, from across the room, appeared to be coated in food and grease stains. He watched the rest of the group enter and then walked over to whisper something to the other man. I could not tell what was said, but the man pointed to me and the innkeeper oozed his way over to me.
"You must be Ron," he said with almost poisonous charm when he arrived. "I, as you might surmise, am Galmin, innkeeper and owner of this establishment. I'll have you know that wizards and kings have stayed in my rooms and never complained about the accommodations. Now Versil tells me you need both rooms for the night."
"If the price is right," I agreed. "Food and drink needs to be included. And I hope you don't mind if we use this table to talk to a few people. We are a bit lost and need information about the lands before we decide our next move."
Galmin's eyes lit up. "So you might stay for more than one night?"
"Perhaps, but for now we are hoping one night will allow us to get our bearings. How much will you charge for both rooms and what about food and drink?"
The man paused. "Well, right now the kitchen is still cooking everything for the evening meal since the men are out in the fields or up at the mine. If you are hungry now, I can have the serving girl bring out bread and stew. For drinks, we can bring out pitchers of watered wine or beer."
"Pitchers? What do we use to drink it?" Lydia asked as she sat down next to Jennifer. Behind Galmin, I could see Steve and Albert enter carrying the litter with Natalie. I looked over at the next table and the bench there.
"Eddie! Get your useless bulk over here and shift that bench a bit closer so the others can set Natalie down," I barked.
Eddie staggered past me. His actions were accompanied with a lot of cursing and moaning, but he had the bench set up only three feet away from me when Steve and Albert finally arrived. They walked down the aisle between the two benches and then carefully set Natalie down. Esme immediately dashed over to check on our wounded companion.
Galmin was staring at her. "What happened to her?"
"While we were traveling to this town, she was attacked. We don't even know what the creature was. It ambushed us by rushing at us from across a stream. One swipe of its claws cut Natalie's leg," I replied.
Galmin looked at me. "A creature with heavy shoulders and five claws that travels on four legs?" My reply was to nod and his eyes widened. "They never stop attacking once they go after someone. How did she survive?"
"It only got the one swipe in," I said. "I charged it with the spear and wounded it. My attack got its attention, but I was able to fend it off until Lydia killed it."
Galmin looked over at Lydia, who was sitting next to Jennifer. He noticed the once again unstrung crossbow resting against the wall. His eyes widened and he reached out a hand. "May I look at it?"
Lydia smiled and reached behind her to pick up the bow. She held the stock in both hands so Galmin could see it from the side. He did not touch it, but scanned it carefully. At one point he signaled with his right hand for Lydia to stretch her arms so he could look more closely at the trigger. Finally he waved his arms and leaned back. "Dwarven made. That I'm sure of. Looks to be one of their siege crossbows."
"Siege crossbows?" Lydia asked.
Galmin looked smug. "Sure. Look, the dwarves have huge underground cities. In those, using a long bow is difficult. An archer doesn't always have the space to aim the bow freely. Dwarves also can't really pull a long bow back far enough to generate much power. So naturally the dwarves use crossbows. But not all crossbows are made the same. That model has the draw assist from the chains. Dwarves are usually quite strong, so they only use that in their most powerful bows. They use them when fighting against heavily armored targets. That usually means they are fighti
ng in a siege."
Lydia had a blank look on her face and sank back in the bench. She turned to rest the bow against the wall as I looked over at the man near the door. "Versil! Can you come here for a moment?"
The man came over. He had a smile on his face. "Yes? You need something?"
I shook my head at the comment. "I just realized that we need to get some items. I don't know if you have a shop in this town, but is there a way to purchase some cups and utensils?"
"Cups? Utensils?" the man asked stumbling over the words. I realized that the two words had come out in English.
Heather, who was sitting next to me cursed. "Damn, words that don't translate come out in English. How do we ask for what we need?"
I held out my hand again. "Sorry, I guess I used terms from our land. Cups would be containers so each of us can take a drink. Galmin says he'll bring out pitchers of wine or beer, but we don't have something to drink from. Utensils would be items that we'd use to move food from the table to our mouths, unless everyone used their fingers."
Versil looked confused. "You have no knives? No tankards?"
"Our journey here was unplanned and started abruptly. We suddenly found ourselves far from our homes, with many things left behind," I said smoothly. "But I hope we can purchase new items here."
Versil nodded and then turned to Galmin. "Send Kariy to Converd's shop. Have her bring over enough for this group."
Galmin looked incensed. "But!" he started to protest.
I opened the pouch to look inside. Avarice lit up the eyes of both of the villagers as I carefully shook the coins about. Finally a small silvery one was sitting on top. I pulled it out and held it up to Galmin. "Would this be an adequate tip to hire this Kariy for the evening to run such errands?"
Galmin snatched the coin from my hands. Beside him, Versil cursed. The innkeeper made the coin disappear into the waistband of his pants and then turned back to the kitchen. "Kariy! Get out here!" he cried.
A young, painfully thin woman stumbled through the doorway to the kitchen. She scrambled over and knelt on the ground at Galmin's feet. I heard some hisses behind me from the coeds, but Albert and Steve immediately moved to quiet any protest.
Galmin was rattling off some instructions to the girl as I took a closer look. Long black hair fell down her back. With her face and head down, several locks had drifted forward to hide her face from view, but parted enough to reveal a leather collar around her neck.
The girl's outfit belied the men's comments about women's garments. Her top appeared to be a strip of leather that was about four inches wide. It ran in a flat band across her back and under both arms, and then curved upwards over each breast while crossing just under her neck. It appeared to be tied behind her back under the hair. The skirt was of a coarse cloth and did not touch the floor as she knelt just behind Galmin.
The instructions seemed to go on forever as Galmin spoke for several minutes. Finally he turned to me. "Kariy will run and get tankards and knives from Converd. How shall she pay him?"
I looked over at Versil and held up the red coin. "Let Converd come back with her and we can discuss the price. I have reason to believe that this coin would purchase far more than a few tankards."
The momentary flash of anger in Versil's eyes confirmed my surmise. He glanced at the pouch sitting on the table. As he did, his tongue poked out between his lips, slowly moistening them. Then the man realized I was watching him and he turned away.
Kariy had dashed off. Galmin however stood quietly until I looked away from Versil. "I can start preparation of food. Mengia in the kitchen is an excellent baker and it would be no trouble to produce several bread bowls and fill them with stew for you and your friends."
I nodded. "That would be nice."
Galmin spun and headed back to the kitchen. Versil was walking back to the door. The motion was stiff and measured. He left by the front door without looking back, leaving us in the corner of the inn, alone.
"What a wonderful place you've found!" William moaned. "Do you think they'll have hot and cold running sewage in the rooms? Perhaps we'll have a little fire pit we can light up and all die of carbon monoxide poisoning. That's if they don't decide to jump us during the night."
I looked over at Steve, pretending to ignore William's outburst. "Steve, last night we had sentries. I'm guessing you set that up. We'll need to do that again tonight. Plan on having two people awake at all hours. If we can, we should have them at the top of the stairs. Between the spear and the crossbow, we should be able to hold the stairs against any casual thief. And if someone does charge, we have the axe as a backup."
Steve smiled. "Can do. Vicki and I will work out a roster later."
"That poor girl," Heather whispered. "They got on our case about our outfits, but said nothing about her being dressed that."
"I saw a collar around her neck. She might not be free to choose. I think we should watch tonight and find out," Albert suggested.
"Can we free her?" Jennifer asked.
I held up my hand. "Let's go slow. I'd love to free her, but first we need to know more. Let's watch and listen. We know very little at the moment."
The others sighed, but no one argued. We sat in the quiet inn. No one seemed to be interested in conversation. The only sounds were coming from the still unseen kitchen and an occasional soft moan from Natalie.
Elizabeth looked over at Natalie. "Is she getting worse?" she asked with concern.
Esme giggled. "No. She's just in pain and not totally awake. I've been making sure she has plenty of fluid. I'm just a bit worried about her leg."
"What's wrong?" I asked.
Esme sighed. "I've been looking at the slashes. Something in the medical kit helped her heal quickly, but it was only the same level of healing she'd get with a few months of bed rest. The skin and blood vessels are healed, but there is a bit of twisting under the skin. I think a couple of muscles and ligaments near her knee were damaged by the attack. She's probably going to have a limp once she's walking again."
"A limp we can work with. She owes you her life," I said firmly.
Esme nodded. "I still failed her. A life with a limp can sometimes be only half a life. I won't let that happen to her. Until she is fully recovered, I'll be her buddy and make sure she can keep up with us, wherever we journey."
Eddie perked up at that. He had been sitting at the far end of the bench from me with his head on the table. "That's a good point. Where are we journeying to? Why don't we just stop in this village? Are you going to make us walk around the world? What are you trying to lead us to?"
I shrugged. "I can't answer some of those questions. It's hard to know where you're going when you don't know where you are. It's impossible to say where you will stop if you are lost. I can say that I'm going to look for a place where we can be free. If this village is the place, we can stop here. And anyone who wants to stay behind if we journey on may do so. I will never force someone to continue with us if they have had enough."
Eddie just put his head back on the table. The others had thoughtful looks on their faces. Several glanced at others in the group, questions in their eyes. No one spoke. The tension was rather thick when a voice called out from the front door of the inn.
"My! I couldn't credit the tales and yet it looks like they were true. What a motley bunch you are. The cloaks are respectable, but the outfits I can see... garish. I'm not sure I can help you anyways. I don't clothe tarts."
I turned to see a woman standing just inside the door. She appeared to be about medium height and a little on the plump side. The light from the doorway made it difficult to see more due to the shadows it cast, but she picked up the floor-length skirts of her outfit and stepped forward.
As she did, the first thing I noticed was that the woman was definitely not fat. She appeared to be middle-aged, and what I first took as plumpness was simply a muscular body covered in heavy skirts and a bodice. Her hair was wound up under some net made of yarn. She was a pictur
e of health. Unfortunately, her frown deepened as she approached the table.
"Madam Wessera? Can I ask you to talk to us for a short time before you condemn the ladies for their outfits? They are respectable women of good breeding, only very unusual circumstances led us to arrive in your village so inadequately dressed," I said.
The woman turned to glare at me. "I am not accustomed to taking the word of pimps and bandits," she growled.
Heather leaned forward obviously prepared to defend me, but I held my right arm out. She subsided into a sulk. I looked this battleaxe of a woman directly in the eye. "Madam, I am no pimp. Nor have I ever had to resort to banditry to survive. Please give me a few minutes of honest attention. Right now I want your help to garb the ladies with me as the ladies of quality they truly are."
"Humpf," the woman snorted. She moved over slightly and sat at the end of the bench Natalie was lying on. Once there, she looked down at the brunette woman. Esme had just lifted her head and was trying to rouse Natalie enough to take a sip of water from one of the plastic bottles.
"What is that?" Madam Wessera snapped.
"Perhaps that is a piece of proof that we are not the trash you first took us for. From where we come from that is a bottle used to hold water or other drinks," I replied.
"So you have a magic bottle. That proves nothing."
"To us it isn't really magic. The crafters where we come from are highly skilled and long ago learned ways to make many items you don't have here. They also learned to build devices to make the crafting easier. We come from a land with few farmers. Women no longer have to get married young and have children early to help supply workers for the fields. Where we come from, many women will work and earn their own dowry before getting married," I said.
Lydia giggled. "Ron, that is stretching things a bit."
I glared at my friend. "We don't really have time to explain the industrial revolution, two world wars, and the civil rights movement. I need to convince her that the outfits you and the others are wearing are not the outfits of prostitutes."
