Page 28 of Tusks, Tails & Teacakes
Lira laughed. “And I, for one, didn’t think you’d be able to rid the place of the troll smell.”
Sass shuddered. “Don’t remind me.”
“There’s still work to do to get this place back to the way it was,” Lira told her. “We only had a handful of diners tonight. The Tusk & Tail used to be packed to the rafters.”
“Aye, give it time,” Sass said, her northern accent thickening as she stifled a yawn behind her hand.
“You’ve got time?” Lira asked. “You’re not eager to go find a mercenary crew?”
Sass shifted, crossing her legs in front of her. “Getting caught by you was the best spot of luck I’ve had since I left home.”
“And you don’t miss home?” Lira pressed. “You aren’t ready to pack it in and go back?”
Sass gave a curt shake of her head. “That’s not home anymore. Not for me. I was never going to be happy mining.”
“So you truly don’t mind staying for a while and trying your hand at running a tavern? Because you don’t have to stay if you don’t want. I have no intention of telling anyone what you were really doing here.”
Sass gave Lira’s shoulder a bump. “Not even the wyvern?”
“Especially not him.” Lira bumped her back. “I know I got you into this, but I wouldn’t hold it against you if you needed to move on.”
Sass considered this for a moment. “You knowing I’d tried to rob the place was never the reason I stayed. Not really.”
“Well, I know it wasn’t the cushy accommodations.” Lira cast a glance through the open window at their small room.
Sass laughed but not as loud. “It wasn’t that, for sure. But there’s something about this place, this village. Even if I’m sleeping an arm’s length away from an elf—sorry, half-elf—this has been the best I’ve slept in ages.”
Lira knew what she meant, even if neither of them could put it into the right words.
“My mum used to say that home isn't where your axe hangs, but where your heart feels light enough to set it down."
Lira tilted her head toward the dwarf. “Your mum was a poet?”
Sass barked out a laugh that startled a pair of house sparrows into taking flight from the eaves. “More like she was particular about where she hung her axe.”
Lira smiled at this and rubbed her arms to rid them of chill. She glanced at the village through the darkness but didn’t sense anyone watching her. Then she stretched her legs, unfolding them as she stood. “I suppose I’d better get some sleep if we’re going to do this all again tomorrow.”
Sass joined her, taking a step toward the window and then dropping suddenly. Lira caught her by the arm before her leg went entirely through the rotted thatch.
“Thanks for that,” Sass said as Lira hoisted her back to standing.
Lira sighed and prodded the soft spot of the roof, feeling the sodden straw give. “I guess we added one more thing to our list of things to fix around here.”
“As long as we didn’t add ‘extract dwarf from roof’ to tomorrow’s list, I can live with it.”
As Lira followed Sass back into their room, she thought about what the dwarf had said. Could Wayside, with its crumbling tavern, make her heart feel light enough to set down all her troubles and put her past aside?
Seventeen
When Lira wokethe next morning, the bed across from hers was empty and the clothes were gone. Even the dwarf’s cloak was missing.
Her heart lurched as she bolted upright. Sass wouldn’t have snuck out in the night. Not after everything she’d said.
“Oh, hells!” Lira threw back the blanket and swung her feet to the cold planks, snatching her green day dress from where she’d draped it over the foot of the bed and dressing as quickly as she could with fumbling fingers.
She didn’t bother to shove her feet into her boots, carrying them as she hurried down the narrow stairs and burst intothe great room. The tables and chairs were neatly arranged and buffed clean, but the fire was cold, and there was no sign of Sass. She rushed to the kitchen. Nothing.
Cinders and dragon dung, where had the dwarf gone?
