Chapter 7
Seven
Cali hitched her knapsack higher onto her shoulder as she stepped gingerly onto the ice-slick road that ran in front of the Wayside Inn.
The village slumbered under a blanket of snow, but the rising sun had already begun making puddles of the hoofprints and turning the wagon wheel ruts into meandering rivulets.
Frigid droplets freed themselves from the shiny icicles that clung to the thatched roofs, and the nearby stream churned with snowmelt.
She took in the market stalls that remained shuttered and quiet near the town square.
No one would travel in from nearby farms to sell their wares today.
There would be no beekeeper with golden jars of honey or farmer with baskets of brown eggs.
Winter was never as busy in the market, but the morning after a blizzard meant slumbering stalls and slumbering villagers.
Whatever hope Cali might have had that the hush of the village meant she would have a quiet departure was shattered when Thrain stepped out behind her and stretched his arms overhead. “Tis a good day for a journey.”
Cali slid her gaze to him, wondering if there was still time to convince him she would be fine on her own. “You don’t have to—“
He held up a calloused palm. “I won’t hear another word about it, Cal. You and I have some fences to mend, and this is the perfect time to do it.”
“I told you I don’t hold any grudges because of what happened with Marina. We were both taken in by her.”
He grunted, his cheeks reddening under his whiskers. “But you didn’t want to fight a duel with a friend over her.”
Cali patted his back, which was laden with a leather pack and an axe. “You wouldn’t have gone through with it because I would have refused to fight you.”
She didn’t say that she wouldn’t have dueled him because she would have won—easily. Dwarf bravado and axe-swinging were no match for the pantheri’s reflexes and skill with a bow.
Thrain shuffled his boots in the snow. “We’ll have plenty of time to discuss it on the ship.”
Cali sighed and started walking, her warm breath creating a visible trail in the frigid air. “I thought dwarves weren’t made for water.”
He snorted a laugh. “Heard that from Sass, did you? She’s never taken to the sea, but that’s because thinks she’ll drown.”
“And you don’t?”
He jogged to catch up with her longer stride. “I don’t plan to go in the water to find out.”
Well, that was positive thinking, although she had a similar strategy, so it was impossible to argue over it. “Does Bonnie One-Eye know you’re coming?”
“Aye.” His boot splashed in a puddle. “She said she’d make an exception to the females-only rule since I was so determined to serve as your bodyguard.”
Cali stopped so quickly that he almost walked into her. “My bodyguard?”
“Had to give her a reason to let me come, didn’t I?”
Cali swallowed a groan and continued trudging forward. Great. Now the fearsome pirate captain thought she needed a personal bodyguard.
“You know I can take care of myself, right?” She tried to keep the heat out of her voice but failed. “I worked as a mercenary even before I joined my first crew.”
“Course I know you don’t need a bodyguard, but I couldn’t exactly tell a lady pirate I needed to make amends for being a hells-cursed fool, now could I? I couldn’t tell her I needed to get away for a bit to clear my head and find a reason to roll out of bed in the mornings.”
Or afternoons, she thought, remembering the dwarf’s tendency to sleep in after long nights sharing pints and stories. She flicked her gaze to him as they walked side by side past the village shops, with Thrain taking two steps for each of her one. “I thought you were happy here in Wayside.”
He didn’t look up and meet her eyes. “I thought you were, too.”
Cali had been so caught up in her own embarrassment over Marina that she hadn’t considered how Marina’s treachery—and throwing over Thrain for her—had affected the dwarf.
Maybe they both had some things to sort out.
Who was she to say that he didn’t need to run off on a pirate adventure just as desperately as she did?
She glanced at the black-and-white awning that shaded the apothecary shop.
Despite her distaste for long goodbyes, guilt stabbed at her that she was leaving without saying a proper farewell to Iris.
Aside from her former crew, Iris was the one person in Wayside who’d taken her under her wing.
Without the apothecary’s ample library and fondness for discussing all the books Cali borrowed, she would have felt even more untethered in her new home.
Thrain jerked his head toward Korl’s tinker shop and the flat above it where Lira and the orc lived. “Guess they’re having a lie-in.”
Cali’s whiskers twitched. “I think if it’s the day after your wedding, it’s called a honeymoon.”
Thrain chuckled, the sound shaking his belly. “Maybe they should be the ones going on a trip.”
Now Cali laughed. “Not sure if chasing down Marina on a pirate ship would be Lira’s idea of a romantic vacation. Or Korl’s.”
“Fair enough,” Thrain said.
When they walked past Pip’s bakery, Cali was surprised that the lights weren’t on.
She couldn’t remember a morning when the halfling baker hadn’t been up before sunrise baking his loaves of bread and sweet rolls.
Yesterday had been a lot of work for him, though, so maybe he was finally getting some well-deserved rest.
The soles of their boots crunched over the snow, but their footprints weren’t the only ones leading to the Tusk & Tail.
Cali suspected the trail had been made by both Vaskel’s and Thrain’s boots when they’d tracked her to the inn.
When they rounded the bend and the tavern came into view, she realized that she’d under-counted the foot traffic—by a lot.
Vaskel and Iris stood holding hands outside the inn with Lira and Korl bundled up next to them.
Pip, Fenni, and Tinpin were talking to Sass and Val while Klaff and Vorto were helping Bonnie One-Eye onto the buckboard of their cart where Seraphina already sat, her hood covering her head.
Rosie and Rog were heaving jugs of apple brandy into the back of the cart, and even Erindil had joined the group, clad in a white fur cloak with a stand-up collar that looked much like a ruff.
“What in the axe-blazing hells is this?” Thrain said under his breath.
“There you are!” Pip bustled up to Cali, holding an armful of paper bags. “Lira and I have been up most of the night working on portable pastries.”
Cali blinked at him and then glanced at Lira, who was leaning against Korl. Now that she looked closer, it was clear she was leaning on him from exhaustion more than newlywed affection, although she knew there was plenty of that too.
When she returned her focus to the halfling, she noticed that he still wore his dressy outfit from the wedding, but now his hair contained an even more liberal dusting of flour, and he smelled distinctly of sugar.
“You really shouldn’t have, Pip,” Cali said while Thrain’s dark eyes glittered with curiosity. “But I’m grateful you did.”
The dwarf reached for a bag. “Pastries, did you say?”
Pip bobbed his head, and traces of flour sifted from his hair to his shoulders. “Hand pies with brambleberry filling and lemon blueberry teacakes.”
“Perfect timing.” Thrain poked his nose into the bag and breathed in. “I haven’t had my first breakfast.”
Pip giggled. “There’s enough for the five main meals of the morning.”
Five? Cali shook her head as the dwarf plucked a fragrant teacake from a bag and bit into it, sending crumbs showering down his beard. When it came to food, dwarves and halflings had quite a lot in common.
Cali left Thrain mumbling his thanks to Pip as she made her way to the rest of the group.
“Shouldn’t you be sleeping in?” she asked Lira.
Lira flapped a hand at her. “We’ve got the rest of the day to stay in bed. Right, Korl?”
His dusky green cheeks darkened, and he nodded wordlessly.
“I’ll be spending the rest of the day cleaning the tavern,” Sass said, trying to pretend like this was a chore when everyone knew she loved creating order from chaos.
Val nudged her. “With my help to move the furniture back into place.”
“Not sure what we’ll do with the arch,” Klaff said as he joined the group.
“As long as it doesn’t stay inside the tavern,” Sass said. “We can barely squeeze all our patrons in as it is.”
Although this sounded like a complaint, Cali knew that the bustling tavern Sass and Lira had restored was a point of pride for the dwarf.
“Might I suggest you move it behind the tavern?” Erindil said. “My encampment doesn’t have a formal entrance.”
Vorto shrugged one massive shoulder as he walked up. “Better than in our workshop where no one can see it.”
The elf’s encampment was already more elaborate than most homes in Wayside, due in large part to Erindil’s talent for enchantment.
Cold never seemed to reach his collection of flag-festooned silk tents, nor did rain or snow.
The fire in the center of the camp burned steadily without burning down to coals or needing fresh wood, and the fireflies that flitted overhead without darting away provided the perfect amount of ambient light.
Lira blinked at him. “That means you’re staying longer?”
Her uncle inclined his head toward her. “I know I said I was only staying until your wedding, my dear, but I’ve become quite fond of this little village of yours. Besides, between the hellkin crew and rumors of a goblin gang, this might be where I’m most needed.”
“Especially since we’re temporarily losing our archer,” Vaskel said, locking eyes with Cali and emphasizing the word temporarily.
Iris slid an arm around Cali’s shoulders. “She’ll be back from her pirate adventure before we know it.”
Erindil cleared his throat imperiously. “Speaking of pirates, I have something to ask Miss One-Eye.”
He glided to the front of the cart while Cali summoned a smile for her friends.
“I promise to return and to bring back lots of stories.”
Tinpin sidled up to her, tugging on the points of his houndstooth waistcoat. “If you happen to encounter some fine textiles, I wouldn’t complain if you brought some back along with those stories.”
Fenni nudged the gnome aside with a sigh and took Cali’s paws in his small, plump hands. “None of us require gifts. Just bring yourself back safely.”
“And Thrain,” Sass added, glancing at her friend who was attempting to haul himself into the back of the wagon while holding an armful of bakery bags. “He might bluster about being fierce, but he’s all mush on the inside.”
Cali caught Lira’s uncle deep in conversation with Bonnie One-Eye, and she wondered what the elf could be asking her. Erindil had said they were old friends, though, and the whispered conversation seemed to prove his point.
Then the pirate captain peered over her shoulder from the buckboard, her gaze pinning Cali with startling intensity. “Ready?”
She’d never been more ready for anything.