She drank some ale and then nibbled some of the pickled mushrooms that were on the table for breakfast. Her friends had joined her, though they were still waiting for Thokri. She popped the rest of the mushroom in her mouth and chewed.
“I can’t believe you’re eating those for breakfast,” Lyreen said with a disgusted look on her face.
“They’re really good. You should try them,” Anna replied. Lyreen scrunched up her nose.
“No thank you!” she replied quickly. Anna shrugged and picked up another mushroom.
She heard someone shuffling and looked over to see Thokri finally awake. She waved him over and gestured at his things which she’d kept in her room that night figuring that he wouldn’t be in any shape to drag them around first thing in the morning. He just shuffled over, and he downed the two potions she placed in front of him without questions. One was for the hangover, and the other was for headaches in general figuring that just the hangover cure might not be enough. He passed her the empty bottles back, and she stuffed them in one of her many belt pouches.
“I can’t believe I let that fucker get to me like that,” Thokri said.
“We all lose are tempers from time to time,” Barika said.
“Aye,” he replied. Then he sighed.
“I really have been away for too long,” he said.
“I thought fifty years wasn’t that long for a dwarf?” Voekeer asked.
“Neither did I, lad,” Thokri replied.
He reached out, took one of the mushrooms, and popped it in his mouth. After chewing and swallowing it, he nodded.
“Not bad,” he said.
“I know, right,” Anna replied.
“So how far is it to your home?” Elaine asked.
“Take about two more days,” Thokri replied, stuffing another mushroom into his mouth.
The rude dwarf walked out of the back. Thokri stared in shock at the now bald clean-shaven dwarf.
“The fuck happened to him?” Thokri asked.
The others started to laugh. The rude dwarf dropped his key off and hurried out of the inn.
“He learned a valuable lesson last night,” Barika said.
“What’s that, lass?” Thokri asked.
“Don’t tell Anna you want to see her try and do a thing if you don’t want it done,” Barika replied. Thokri’s eyes went wide.
“Oh, lass that’s just wrong,” he said. She shrugged.
“I warned him,” Anna replied. Thokri just shook his head and then laughed.
“Wish I could have seen the look on his face when ya got a hold of him,” he said. The others broke into laughter again.
“He started screaming like a little girl!” Elaine said.
Once Thokri shook off the rest of his hangover, they took their things and left.
Their cart was just where they had left it, so they packed it back up, and Voekeer took a turn pulling it.
The inside of the mountain was identical. The only thing to look at as they walked were the murals painted on the walls of the buildings or the dwarves themselves, and even they got boring after a few hours.
“Let’s get some food,” Lyreen said, holding her stomach.
“Yeah, and no pickled mushrooms,” Elaine added.
“I don’t see why you all don’t like them,” Anna said.
“Child, there are just some things a person shouldn’t eat in the morning, and that’s one of them,” Barika replied.
“Bah!” Anna said, causing her friends to laugh.
“We can stop up there,” Thokri said, pointing at a building.
Anna looked over, and there was a sign that read “Meals to Go”. Voekeer pulled the cart next to the door and set it down.
“I’ll watch it. Just get me something good,” she said before her friends could take their things.
“Thanks, lass,” Thokri said.
Her friends went into the food shop. She leaned against the cart and watched the people as they walked by. She really wasn’t all that hungry after stuffing herself full of so many mushrooms that morning. The dwarves were all dressed the same, and they wore their hair the same, and well, the only thing different about them was whether or not they were a man or woman.
Stolen novel; please report.
Dwarves are kind of boring in their home mountain. I mean, they seemed like so much fun when I met them in the human lands, and now, it’s just all the sameness. Oh, I know, all the fun ones must leave the mountain or something. I mean, that would explain it! It’s so boring here that any kind of different and fun just floats away like a cloud. I like clouds. They are so fluffy and fun, and they look like things sometimes. Well, not really, at least not to me. I have to imagine things they could be. Except for that time I saw boobs. They were really big and even had hard nipples. I wonder if it was Barika’s goddess waving them around? I do that sometimes, just make them jiggle. It’s fun to watch. That was probably what it was. Actually, it probably wasn’t. Barika said the goddess doesn’t really live in the sky. That’s just the easiest way to describe the celestial realm. I wonder if I could get there. Barika said that she’s going to go there when she dies, but I can’t die, and even if I could, I don’t worship the goddess, so I wouldn’t go there.
Elaine snapped her fingers in front of Anna’s face. Anna looked over at her.
“Lost you there for a minute, didn’t we?” Elaine asked.
“No, I was right here the whole time,” Anna replied.
Elaine smiled at her and handed her a bread roll. She took the roll and bit into it.
“It’s filled with sweet cream!” she mumbled her mouth full.
“Chew and swallow first, child,” Barika laughed. Anna swallowed her mouthful and grinned at her friends.
“Thought you’d like that,” Elaine said.
“I do!” Anna replied, hugging her creepy friend.
Elaine patted her back with one arm. She held meat and cheese wrapped in flatbread in the other. Anna let her go so she could eat.
They munched their food and chatted until they finished. Thokri wiped his hands off on his shirt before picking the cart up, obviously feeling better.
They reached a series of ramps later that day. She marveled at the way the dwarves had carved the stone to create a huge spiraling pathway that led both up and down into the mountains stone.
When they got onto the ramp, Voekeer grabbed hold of the back of the cart so that if Thokri happened to slip, he wouldn’t get run over by the thing, and down they went.
They stayed to the right-hand side. The left seemed to be reserved for people travelling upwards. They exited the ramp a few floors down and started their walk to Thokri’s home. This level was indistinguishable from the ground level. The only way she could tell they were somewhere different was the street signs.
They walked for the rest of the day, at least she thought it was the rest of the day. There really wasn’t a way to tell underground like this.
The inn they stopped at for the night looked exactly like the one they had stayed in the night before, save for the murals, which were of different legends. The other difference is that a young dwarf woman seemed to be running the place. They tossed coins in a jar she had setting next to the door and joined the other guests at a table.
“What brings you folks down here?” one of the dwarves asked.
“We had a good run with the last few contracts we took, so I figured I’d come home and drop off my share with my wives,” Thokri replied.
The dwarves seemed to like this answer, and they all nodded and stroked their beards.
A dwarf girl that looked like she’d be a teenager if she was human carried their drinks out and placed them on the table in front of the party.
“We have black stew if you want it,” she said.
“What’s black stew?” Lyreen asked. The girl looked at the elf mage as if she was stupid for a moment.
“It’s like a seafood stew up on the surface. We keep huge pools under the mountain that we harvest for food,” Thokri said. He gave the girl a look. “Lass, how in the name of the stone one would a young elf from the surface know what black stew is?” Thokri asked.
“Everyone knows what black stew is!” the girl replied.
“I’ve never heard of it before today, child,” Barika said. The girl looked at the priestess, the shock apparent on her face.
“Neither have I,” Elaine added.
“I’ve had plenty of fish stew. I’m from a fishing village near the great inland sea. The sailors used to bring sea fish back. Sometimes they were so colorful, some of them were even brighter than my hair!” Anna said holding up a few of her fluffy curls for the girl to see.
“What? Why would fish be colorful?!” the girl said. Anna just shrugged.
“I don’t know,” she replied.
“She’s telling the truth, lass. I saw some fish like that on a trade run once,” a dwarf added.
“Aye, there’s all kinds of strange things out there, lass,” another said.
“Now, child, why don’t you go and get all of us some of that stew,” Barika said, smiling at the girl.
She nodded and scurried off. Barika sighed.
“Shame we stop knowing everything when we get older,” she said.
“Ain’t that the truth, lass!” a dwarf said.
Other dwarves agreed. It seemed as if somethings were the same no matter what race you were. They chatted and joked with the dwarves while waiting for the food. The girl brought it out a few minutes later and placed a steaming bowl in front of each of them.
Well, it’s black, and it smells like fish and seaweed.
Anna took a spoonful, and there were little chunks of flaky white meat along with strips of black plant that reminded her of seaweed. She took a bite and smiled. It reminded her of Fishport.
Well, the fish tastes like normal river fish, but the seaweed is different. It’s tougher and isn’t salty at all. I wonder what they season it with because normally this kind of stew would be bland. It’s not really stew either, though. Too thin. I’d call it soup if I made it.
The dwarf girl sat down at the table and looked at her with big eyes. Anna looked back for a moment, unsure of what to do.
“Can you tell me about the sea?” the girl asked, her voice getting higher with excitement.
“I never saw it, but the river that Fishport is on is so big, ships from the sea sail in and get supplies,” Anna said.
“A ship is a big boat, right?” the girl asked.
“Kind of. I mean, they do both float on the water, but a ship is huge! I saw one that was almost two hundred feet long!” Anna replied. The girl’s eyes got big.
“Why was it that big?” she asked.
“It was full of spices from the islands,” Anna replied. The girl leaned forward.
“Tell me more about the big ship!” she said.
Anna started to describe the spice ship to the dwarven girl. She noticed that the other dwarves at the table were listening in as well.
Once she finished telling the girl about the ship, she started to talk about the sailors and the things they told her when she worked as a barmaid. By this point, she’d caught the attention of everyone in the room, her friends included.
When she ran out of stories about Fishport and the sailors, she told them about the strange things she’d seen while on her adventures so far. A few times, the dwarves scoffed, but when she showed them the monster teeth and the strange medallion, they got quiet. Her friends joined in, adding their own versions, at least the version they had come up with as a cover for what had really happened.
They told stories late into the night, drinking and laughing along with the dwarves.
Now, these are how dwarves are supposed to be. I wonder why the dwarves last night were such jerks?