Chapter 41
Forty-One
The thatched roofs came into view first, then the stone bridge arching over the stream, and then the familiar crosshatch pattern of The Tusk and Tail.
Smoke rose from the tavern’s chimney in a meandering gray ribbon, and even from this distance, Cali heard the muffled sounds of the village’s mid-day bustle.
“Home,” Thrain said from the back of the cart, his voice husky.
Someone must have spotted the wagon on its approach, because by the time Klaff drew the cart to a stop in front of the tavern, a small crowd had already spilled from the door. Sass was first, her dark braid swinging as she barreled toward them with her apron strings trailing.
“You’re alive!” she shouted, as if there had been serious doubt, and threw her arms around Cali’s middle before the pantheri had fully climbed down from the buckboard.
Vaskel was right behind her, his crimson hands gripping Cali’s shoulders the moment Sass released her. “Cal.”
“Bramble!” Sass’s gaze snapped past Cali to the wagon bed, where the raccoon had poked his striped head from beneath Thrain’s pack. “There you are, you wee menace.”
“Bonnie sent word from Eldu that he was with you,” Lira said, hurrying up with Korl close behind, two steaming mugs gripped in her hands. “But Crumpet’s been in a state ever since. Pacing the counter and chattering furiously.”
Bramble’s small shoulders dropped, and he tucked his chin.
“Don’t go fussing at the little fella,” Thrain said, lumbering from the back of the cart with a grunt. “He earned his keep twice over in the ship’s galley. Marvella didn’t want to part with him by the end.”
Sass marched over and scooped the raccoon off the wagon bed, holding him up to eye level and shaking one finger at him.
“Running off without so much as a word. Do you have any idea how worried we all were?” Bramble chattered something in response, opening and closing his tiny hands, and Sass’s stern expression cracked.
“It’s not me you need to make amends with, little bandit.
Come on, then.” She tucked him under her arm and turned for the tavern door, still scolding him good-naturedly.
Thrain watched her go and shook his head. “Never thought I’d see the day Sass would miss a creature.”
Lira pressed a mug into Cali’s paws before she’d even managed a proper greeting. “This will warm you up after your journey.”
“And this will fill your belly.” Pip Brambleheart pushed through the group from the direction of his bakery with a paper bag in tow. “I don’t suppose you’ve had much to eat on the road.”
“We haven’t,” Cali admitted. The scones Thrain had brought barely counted since they’d devoured them hours ago.
She took the bag and opened it, breathing in the heady aroma of lemon sweet rolls.
Marvella might have come close to Lira’s scone recipe, but her rolls weren’t in the same league as Pip’s heavenly pastries.
She’d barely closed her paw around one of the sticky rolls when Thrain tugged the bag from her grip.
“Don’t be stingy, Cal.”
Cali shook her head as Thrain wasted no time stuffing a sweet roll in his mouth, moaning with pleasure and mumbling his praise. “’Ells ‘n ‘inders, I’ve missed these.”
Fenni and Tinpin bustled up together, with the gnome straightening the points of his houndstooth waistcoat and the halfling trailing the pungent scent of cheese.
“Any luck finding silks?” Tinpin asked. “Any luck?”
Cali gave him an apologetic smile. “We found mermaids and sirens, but silks weren’t for sale on the outlaw island.”
The little cheesemonger’s eyes widened. “Outlaw island?”
“Bless the stars,” muttered Pip, pressing a hand to his flour-encrusted apron.
Thrain didn’t wait to cross the tavern’s threshold before launching into a tale about their adventure as he headed inside with the bakery bag in hand. “The mermaids were nothing compared to the sirens, I’ll tell you that much…”
“And you wanted to jump in with them,” Cali called out, but he was too far gone in his own story to hear her.
Vaskel caught her elbow before she could follow the others inside, drawing her a step away. “What happened with Marina?”
Cali had almost forgotten the purpose of their journey in all the welcoming greetings. “We found her and her crew. Well, the one who wasn’t dragged to the bottom of the sea by the sirens.”
Vaskel’s jaw dropped, but he didn’t interrupt.
“We saved Bonnie’s jolly boat, turned Marina’s remaining lackey over to another pirate, and dropped Marina off on a remote island run by yodeling nuns. She won’t be leaving there anytime soon.”
She patted his arm and headed inside the tavern. A moment later, he hurried behind her, his dark slash of brows pressed together. “Did you say yodeling nuns?”
Cali grinned as she imagined Marina surrounded by the penitent yodelers. “That’s right. It was Bonnie’s idea. Fitting punishment, don’t you think?”
“Both cruel and unusual,” the hellkin said, a smile twitching the corners of his mouth, “so I think it’s very fitting.”
The tavern door banged open before they could say more, and Iris swept in, her patchwork skirt swishing and a stoppered bottle of pale green elixir still clutched in one hand, as if she hadn’t even bothered to drop whatever she’d been mixing the moment she’d heard the news.
A few silvered curls dangled in her face, and her half-moon glasses clung valiantly to the end of her nose.
She crossed the room in several quick strides and pulled Cali into a hug that smelled of herbs and bergamot.
“Well?” she asked, pulling back just far enough to study Cali’s face. “Was it a success?”
“It was an adventure,” Cali said. “More of one than any of my previous quests.”
Cali caught the flicker of worry in the apothecary’s expression and shook her head before Iris could ask. “It didn’t tempt me to become a pirate. If anything, it helped me realize I’ve been chasing the wrong thing. My next chapter in life has nothing to do with a new crew or a new quest.”
Iris tilted her head, and her glasses almost slid off her nose. “And what is your next chapter?”
“Thrain gave me the idea, but don’t you dare tell him. It’ll only go to his head.” Cali swung her knapsack onto the nearest table, reached into her knapsack, and drew out her journal. “I’ve been recording my adventures since the beginning. It’s about time I wrote my stories into a book.”
Iris sucked in a quick breath. “Cali, that’s wonderful. You’re such an avid reader that you’ll make a splendid writer.” She pulled the pantheri into another hug. “Of course, I expect a signed copy for my shelves.”
“You’ll get the first one,” Cali promised as Iris released her.
Rog appeared at her elbow as Iris headed for the bar and the hellkin behind it. He held out a jug of brandy. “Drink?”
Cali waved him off. “No spirits for me for a while. I’ve had enough rum and brandy to pickle my insides.”
Rog chuckled and ran a hand down his short blue beard. “If I’m not pickled yet, you’re far from it.” Then his expression turned contemplative. “I’ve been having a think about your lost friend. I think we could start looking—”
“Rog.” Cali touched his arm, stopping him gently. “I’m touched that you’ve been thinking about this, but I found her.”
The jug of apple brandy nearly slipped from his grip. “You found her? On the pirate ship?”
Cali thought of the shimmering black tail disappearing beneath the water, and she found that the memory came without the pang she’d carried for so long. “Not on the pirate ship, but because of it.”
Rog’s face pinched in obvious confusion.
She put a paw on his shoulder and glanced at the bustling tavern—the crackling fire, the villagers gathered around Thrain at a long table as he regaled them with stories, the trays of warm scones being passed around by Sass. “How about I grab an ale, and I’ll tell you all about it?”
It was good to be home again.