“Thanks, Giledt, the food sounds amazing!” Yohsuke smiled at the bartender and sat down. “What’s on the menu, man?”
“We’re having mutton glazed with a rare fruit that a gentleman brought us from the southern portion of the continent. It is very sweet but has a bit of heat to it.” Giledt rolled his eyes as if in the throws of pleasure. “We pair that with a rice, steamed vegetables, and a warm bread with butter. I hear good things.”
“Shit, I hear good things.” I smiled. “I’ll take some of that. Zhavron, you wanna eat with us, bud?”
“I think I will.” The old Orc smiled at us. “The idea of fine alcohol is attractive too! Giledt, my friend. I’ve missed your mugs.”
“They missed you too, Zhavron.” Giledt poured the Orc three mugs of alcohol, one a pale brown, one medium and another heavy and frothy. “The usual for a brave man.”
“Bless you.” Zhavron looked at us. “Let me drink these before we eat.” He then all but bounced back to the table we had first found him at and sat down to his drinks.
Alright, you weird ass.
“And Zeke, I could send for Vrawn if you like?” Giledt leaned over to try and say it quietly, but almost every one of my friends had sensitive hearing.
So of course, catcalls and cheering erupted, forcing me to shake my head to be understood.
“We aren’t staying long, Giledt, thanks.” I blushed and tried to wave his attention away.
“Nonsense!” Giledt laughed. “Even if it’s only for a night, she would love to spend some time with you.” He looked at me closely and winked before whispering, “She wouldn’t even charge you, if you catch my drift.”
I blushed even more and let my head fall a bit. My friends clapped each other on the back and watched as I suffered a little more.
“It’s not that I don’t want to see her or say hi, but we are leaving as soon as we finish our business.” He looked confused. “Today. We have something we need to do, and it could be very dangerous. The last time we saw each other was… nice. I don’t want to ruin that, you know?”
Giledt’s lips pursed in thought, then his left hand snaked out and grasped my face, pulling me closer. “You’re trying to spare my friend or yourself?”
His intense, glaring eyes burned into mine. Without blinking, I answered honestly, “Both of us.”
“You aren’t embarrassed of her? By her?” he pressed. I heard chairs scrape and my friends gathered behind me. More chairs scrapped the ground and mercenaries stood in my peripheral vision.
“Why would I be?” I asked softly. “She’s beautiful in her own way, and she seems to like me. I don’t want to upset her or lead her on.”
Giledt held my face away at arm’s distance and waved the people behind him off. He let me go, then the smile returned to his face.
“I’m glad to know that you have her best interests at heart rather than some foolish pride or other such ignorance.” He poured me a glass of the medium alcohol. “On the house. Forgive me, but I get a little protective of my friends, and Vrawn has been a very good friend to me indeed. If you would like, I can pass her your regards?”
“I would like that. Just let her know that I appreciate her forwardness and that I hope she is well. If she ever needs aid, she can send word to Sunrise Village.” Giledt looked confused again. “It’s a small village south of the Lightning Mountains. It’s where my friends and I are from.”
“I see, thank you. I will let her know.” Giledt picked up a mug to begin cleaning. “Do you know if they have need of mercenaries there?”
The question caught me off guard. Did they? They had the bears, but were they enough if the Children of Brindolla came back en masse?
“They might have need of some for a village guard, if you had some people—good people—who might want to settle down and take up root. The folk there are good people, and I don’t want to send anyone there who would try and take advantage. The smith is a personal friend of mine. And there’s a Paladin there that I also call friend. Know what? Everyone there is a good friend. We would be very upset to know they had been taken advantage of.”
“I’ll pick a few of the mercenaries I know who are looking to get out of the life and head that way then,” Zhavron spoke from next to me. I hadn’t seen him walk over because I’d been too preoccupied by Giledt. “I know a few of them would even be happy to help train the locals to pick up blade and bow if needed.”
“You giving up on being a merc?” Bokaj asked.
“After traveling with all of you, I needed a stiff drink, and now my old bones need to rest.” The Orc smiled at us and patted me on the shoulder. “If you’d like to discuss payment, we can take a last meal together and do so.”
I nodded, and all of us went to sit with Zhavron at his table. Muu made the motion with his hand, pointing two fingers at his eyes, then back at the other man, meaning that he was watching Giledt, who simply smiled. Likely after our little misunderstanding.
After we were seated, Zhavron began speaking, “I wanted to let you all know that I appreciated your company. In all my years as a mercenary, I’ve not traveled with a funnier, more protective bunch. Thank you for having me.”
We thumped the table and made our own affection for him known.
“Even if the lot of you were impetuous, slightly entitled, and complacent, self-absorbed and stubborn.”
“Sure, just toss that shit out there, old man.”
“About payment,” he began. “My typical fee for hire as a retainer is twenty-five gold a week. We were gone just about one. Then for things such as training, fighting, council and guard duty—one hundred. Deductions for my spirited and apt student, as well as the discomfort I caused you all—that leaves us at one hundred gold pieces.” With a grin that showed his tusks, he added, “And a pint!”
I smiled at the others and sent a telepathic message, You guys want to sweeten the deal for him?
How so? James asked.
Listening, Yohsuke responded.
The others just glanced my way. There are six of us, including Muu. How about we all pitch in fifty? That’ll be three hundred.
I heard a low whistle, and Bokaj looked at me. That’s a lot of scratch to give a guy.
Zhavron leaned toward Muu. “They do this a lot.”
“You have no idea,” he responded knowingly.
A lot or not, he treated us as best he could and dealt with our shit. Not to mention, he did knock Zeke’s zombie ass out so he couldn’t do more damage, James retorted.
I nodded and caught Muu looking our way, curiously.
I’m in, Jaken said finally.
“Muu, give him fifty gold,” I ordered, “and nothing more. We will cover the rest.”
Muu looked like he was about to question my judgment, but I gave him a placating glance. He shrugged and reached into his inventory obediently and pulled out the necessary amount to pass to Zhavron.
I reached into my own inventory, and the others mirrored my movements almost eerily, then deposited fifty gold on to the table. The others placed their money next to my pile and Muu’s.
“That’s too much,” Zhavron growled at us. “The allotted price is what I earned, by my word.”
“And we thought your time was worth more,” Yohsuke shot back. “Fucker.”
“If you want to earn it, pick fifteen of the people you had in mind and leave town as quick as you can,” Jaken said. “Go directly to Sunrise and tell them that we sent you to begin guarding the village. Here,” he pulled out what looked like a handkerchief and rubbed his head and pits with it, “show this to the bears guarding the area, and they should grant you passage.”
“Bears?” Zhavron snorted. “I’d sooner show them a sword, not some stinking rag. And what the Hells will that do other than get me eaten?”
“You touch any of those bears, and you’ll pay,” I warned. “Those are the Bear Queen’s personal guards for her allies and our friends.”
“You’d better explain the state of things
there if you want me to take over.” Zhavron clapped his hands and ordered another drink as the server sat our food down. It smelled delicious.
We explained as much as we could without giving our original mission away. We could let Willem decide if these guys could be trusted enough to know about that. Zhavron listened closely, the alcohol having little to no effect on him yet.
“So, bears, a Dwarven smith, a Paladin, and Children of Brindolla?” He chuckled. “Sounds like a good time to me. I’ll do my rounds and leave in a couple days. Gives me long enough to collect the right people and get things squared away on my end.” He lifted his new mug in a toast. “Be safe out there, boys.”
A chorus of, “You too,” rang out around the table.
We finished our food and waved goodbye to Zhavron, and as we were leaving, an idea struck me. I walked over to the bar and got Giledt’s attention.
“Yes, Zeke?” His eyebrows raised a bit.
“I was wondering if you had heard any rumors about any of your mercenaries meeting Dragons?” I asked in a low tone. “Specifically green or black.”
He frowned, then began to think. He called over the other bartenders and barmaids and began asking them each if they had heard anything.
He turned back to me with a frown and a shake of his head. “Closest thing anyone has heard in a while is about some dungeon down south in the jungles near Mizmaori having some kind of giant snake the locals worship as a god.”
“Any kind of myths?” It was a stretch, but the things I had thought mythic before were literally in me at that moment. So, there was that.
“I haven’t paid attention to fairy tales since I was a kid.” He frowned. “Sorry.”
“Hey, don’t worry about it.” I shook his hand. “Don’t forget to give my regards to Vrawn. Let her know I hope she’s okay?”
“Oh, I’ll let her know.” He grinned. “Don’t you worry.”
I smiled back and shook my head. I walked outside to the others and joined them in the alleyway. “Djurn Forge?”
The others nodded, but as I was about to use the spell, Yohsuke stopped me, “Hey, you gonna be okay going underground like that?”
“I mean, the spell doesn’t have any restrictions other than places I’ve been within the certain amount of miles,” I shrugged, “and the number of passengers. Other than that, it should theoretically work.”
“Oh shit!” Jaken put his hand out at me. “Remember the huge doors to get into the city? With all the runes? I think someone said something about that preventing people from teleporting directly in.”
“Oooooh,” I whispered. “Okay, so we adjust trajectory to the gate to the city. No big deal.”
We joined hands again, and I focused on the location I wanted to go. It was well within range of the spell to take us. I triggered the spell, the necessary mana drained from my reserves, and it felt like we were being sucked through a straw for a moment before we landed where we wanted to be.
We stood in front of a fifteen-foot tall door of silvery-blue metal with large runes carved into it. I had no idea what they did, but I was inclined to believe Jaken.
Jaken bellowed, “Hail, clan Ironnose, may your mothers never claim you, and your beer be stronger than your noodle arms!”
The small door on the right side of the large ones flew open and three Dwarves with red beards and hair barreled out.
“Who said that about me arm?!” the one in the lead roared. He looked around and saw Jaken smiling. “You!”
“ME!” Jaken smiled back. “You aren’t any better looking than last time, Ironnose.”
“Aye, and ye never were,” the Dwarf spat but smiled. “Back to visit yer kin?”
“Here to visit kin and forge,” Jaken spoke for us. He pointed to Muu. “We need to get this one up to snuff and armed for some dealings with Dragons. Y’all know any?”
The three Dwarves burst into laughter. Finally, the leader spoke up, “Aye, do nae let them know ye plan ta fight. Or see yer fancy items. They like to take things.”
“Don’t worry guys,” I said with a friendly smile. “We’ll be careful.”
“Come on in then, lads.” They ushered us forward and closed the door behind us. “Ye remember where yer compound is?”
“We can manage,” I informed them.
We stepped off to the side of the entry where I cast Mental Message to Brawnwynn that we were in the city.
“Yer here?!” he responded excitedly in my head. “I’ll be right there to the gate. Same one ye used last time we came here?”
I sent an affirmative, then a message to Granda, “Hey, Granda. It’s Zeke—You wanna come to the Mugfist compound in the morning? We have a few orders for weapons and armor from you. Custom things, I think.”
“I’d be more’n happy to come and accept an order from ye and yer friends, Zekiel,” the elder Dwarf responded happily. “Me son and I shall come on the morrow after the morning meal.”
I looked to my friends. “Granda will be there in the morning.”
They smiled, and Muu looked confused. So Jaken leaned over to explain things to him. While he did that, the others kept an eye out for Brawnwynn.
I sent one last Mental Message. This one was to the old crone.
“Hey!” I shouted loudly in the message. “Shitty bat. We’re in the city to get more stuff done. You want to train? Maybe enchant some more of our gear?”
Her cackle rang through my head in a chilling way, my fur stood on end, and she finally said, “Tomorrow.”
“It’s settled,” I told the others. “Shellica will also take any orders we have as well. So if anything you think would be useful, make a list to give her.”
After another ten minutes of waiting, Brawnwynn separated himself from the crowd of people in the walkway and walked forward with arms wide open.
“Lads!” Brawnwynn shouted. His tan skin, ruddy cheeks were stretched in a smile partially hidden by his long, black beard. His black hair was up in a top knot with his customary double-headed battle axe strapped to his back. His black eyes sparkled with mirth as he approached us.
He swept Jaken up in a massive bear hug and then moved over to me.
“Gihgurg,” I grunted as the air was crushed from my lungs. “Hi-guh-Brawny.”
“Ho there, lad.” He looked to the others. “Welcome back! Oh? Who is this with ye?”
“This is Muu,” James introduced him. “He joined our party a little while ago, and we figured we would come back and get him properly equipped.”
“Welcome then, Muu.” Brawnwynn stepped forward and shook his hand. “Ye lads always did keep strange comp’ny. Seems a strong one. And yer armor looks fine there, lookin’ to upgrade to better materials?”
“I sure am!” Muu grinned.
“Well, ye came to the right place for it.” Brawnwynn slapped his shoulder. “Come! The clan is lookin’ forward to seein’ ye again.”
Brawnwynn led us through the crowds and haggling customers. People stared at the motley crew that we were, but that was to be expected in a Dwarven settlement.
We arrived at the Mugfist compound with squat buildings made of stone and Dwarves outside training in the grounds.
“Look, a gaggle of shite has come crawlin’ back to the clan!” One of the Dwarves in the yard greeted us. Several others chuckled as we entered the gates.
“Oh? Look at that wee axe in yer hands,” I shouted back, mimicking his accent. “Bet yer wife has a bigger one, eh?”
Brawnwynn howled in delight, “He got ye good, Sethral!”
The other Dwarves laughed and the one who had spoken first, Sethral, smiled at the joke.
“I don’t have a clue what the fuck is going on,” Muu whispered to me.
“It’s a common Dwarven custom to insult people, especially family or clan members, when you see them,” I explained in a low voice. “It’s a sign of affection and regard. I’m not sure if there’s a custom for nobles though.”
We hadn’t made it far when Farnik, Braw
nwynn’s father burst out of the center building of the compound.
“Who said that shite had come crawlin’ back to the clan?!” Sethral raised his hand. “Ye should know that at least shite has a use, lad!”
The whole yard, Jaken, me, and the others burst with laughter.
“Welcome back, lads and new friend,” Farnik greeted us.
Farnik looked very much like his son, a little broader in the chest and shoulder, sure. His beard was plaited and had metal beads keeping it orderly over his mithral plate mail. His stern gaze almost distracted from the milky left eye bisected by a scar running down the center of his brow and cheek.
He shook hands with all of us until he stood in front of Muu.
“I am Farnik, current leader of Clan Mugfist, and I extend our hospitality to ye as a friend of the clan.” The older Dwarf offered his hand to Muu in friendship.
Before Muu moved, I cleared my throat and asked for a moment with him. We stepped back as the leader dropped his arm and nodded.
“Before you clasp his forearm, you need to be sure you meet his gaze. And don’t insult him right away.” Muu nodded at me and returned his attention to Farnik.
Farnik offered his hand again, and Muu clasped his forearm with a clap of metal on metal.
“I appreciate your hospitality and hope that I can bring you honor as your guest.” Muu bowed a bit at his waist. He fixed his gaze on Farnik’s left eye and said seriously, “That’s quite an intense scar—you must have really pissed the missus off.”
I gasped, Yohsuke spat some water out of his mouth, and Brawnwynn stilled. Not one eye in the grounds strayed from the two figures.
“Baha—bwahahaha!” Farnik doubled over, his good eye streaming tears. After his laughing fit subsided, he looked Muu in the face and wiped a hand across his cheek. “Oh, lad. Would that me wife were here ta hear that one. Would’ve made her smile an’ feed ye like her own, it would’ve.”
He looked at the rest of the Dwarves in the area, still silent and watching. “What’re the lot of ye gawkin’ at? How could he have know’d?”
I hadn’t even known, but I figured she must have been busy when we first came to Djurn Forge. It was going to come up now, though.
Into the Dragon's Den (Axe Druid Book 2) Page 26