Page 29 of Sorcery, Swords & Scones
Vaskel’s crimson brow bunched, but he rocked back on the heels of his boots. “It isn’t unusual for groups to camp nearby.”
“No, it’s not,” Cali said as she entered the tavern. "I was just coming to tell you all that I can hear sounds from outside the village. Not only is someone camping in the forest, I’m positive it’s several someones.”
Val leaned forward. “What kind of sounds? Does it sound like a hunting party? Even if the man from the village wasn’t a dwarf, he could have been an envoy for them.”
Sass scrunched her nose at this. A dwarf hunting party would never have an envoy who wasn’t a dwarf. That went double for Florin, who believed that dwarves were innately superior to all other species.
Cali's ears flicked as she considered the question. "That's the strange part. I would swear I'm hearing lute music."
"Not singing?" Sass asked, the tightness in her stomach loosening. Dwarves might belt out a traditional mining chant or drinking song, but lute music was decidedly not part of their repertoire.
"Definitely instrumental.”
Korl was already rising to his feet, forcing Lira to scrambleoff his lap with an undignified squeak. "We need to check this out. I don’t like the idea of strangers living in the woods, even if they enjoy the lute.”
"I want to come with you," Sass said.
Before Korl could voice what was clearly going to be a protest, Val spoke up. "We should let her come. Nothing cures fear better than seeing the proof for yourself.”
A throaty growl from the back of the tavern made them all turn. “Then I'm coming too."
Thrain descended the stairs with the slightly rumpled appearance of someone who had finally awakened from a deep sleep. His dark hair was sticking up at odd angles, and even his beard looked rumpled.
"It's about time you woke up," Sass said as she assessed her friend. "I was beginning to think you planned to sleep until next week."
"Dwarf tales and good ale make for a powerful combination.” Thrain stroked a hand down his scraggly beard. “But I'm awake now, and if there's trouble brewing, you'll want a dwarf who knows how to handle it."
Lira pointed a stern finger at Vaskel. "You have to stay here with me. I can’t manage the kitchen and the bar, and I need to prepare for the dinner service."
Vaskel met Korl's eyes across the room, and some silent communication passed between them. "I'll keep things safe here at the tavern while you all go investigate, but be careful out there."
Cali's whiskers twitched as she patted the quiver slung across her back. "I have my bow and arrows, just in case this turns out to be more than a peaceful camping party.”
As the group prepared for their expedition into the woods, Val turned to Sass with a carefully neutral expression. “What are the chances we’re about to meet your fiancée?”
Sass's gut clenched at the thought, a cold knot of dread settling just below her ribs. The possibility had been lurking at the back ofher mind all day, but reason won out. “I can’t imagine Florin allowing lute music.”
But even as she spoke the words, she couldn't shake the feeling that something was off. The timing was too coincidental. What were the odds that Thrain would arrive to warn her about Florin’s search party closing in and then a stranger—one who was hiding in the woods with a group—would appear in the village?
Sass untied her apron and handed it to Lira. "I'll be back soon.”
Lira accepted the apron with a weak smile. "You'd better be. The tavern couldn't run without you."
The words cheered Sass's heart despite her jangling nerves. She looked around the great room one more time. The Tusk & Tail represented everything she'd hoped to find when she fled the Ice Lands—independence, friendship, purpose, and a place where she could be simply Sass rather than Princess Sarsaparilla Thornshield.
Whatever they found in the forest, she was determined to fight for all of it.
Twenty
Sass’s feetcrunched on the carpet of leaves as they wound through towering oaks whose high branches filtered the fading sunlight into dappled patterns on the forest floor.
Korl and Val took point with their swords sheathed, but their heads swiveling as they scanned for signs of danger. Cali flanked them to one side, walking backward with an arrow already notched in her bow, and Thrain tromped beside Sass, his battle axe gripped tightly in his calloused hands. Part of Sass wished she’d brought a weapon. For a dwarf, there was something reassuring about having iron in hand when facing the unknown.
Sass could almost hear her mum’s voice reminding her about being prepared. “A dwarf with a sharp axe finds a door where others only encounter walls.”
Her mum’s words had been why she’d left the Ice Lands with several daggers and the amulet, and now they rang in her ears. As they traipsed farther into the woods, Sass’s mind drifted to the last time she’d walked through the forest.
Even though it had been many months ago, she remembered that night with startling clarity. The weariness from her journeyhad been bone-deep, making every step an effort, and gnawing hunger had become her constant companion.
