Page 66 of A Tale of Mirth & Magic

This could go terribly. Again. But like Telen said: if there was any chance, I had to try.

And if we were completely wrong, and El just wanted nothing more to do with me, I swore to myself that I would let her go. Even if it ripped my heart apart irrevocably.

After a near sleepless night, I finally gave up just before dawn. Dressing and gathering my belongings in the feeble candlelight, a memory of Elikki’s rapid, silent packing last night flashed across my mind. The pained look on her beautiful face.

I kept moving. No matter what happened today, I wouldn’t be returning to this room. I’d either be with El on the road to some unknown destination or shuffling home with Telen.

Downstairs, no one was awake yet. I made my way out to the stables. Pebble was a welcome sight, and I took my time feeding, watering, and brushing her as the sun slowly rose. She didn’t really need it—the inn’s stablehand had taken excellent care of her—but it was a relaxing ritual that calmed my frantic pulse.

When everything was done, and Pebble was saddled and loaded up with my bags, I headed back inside. Only my good manners, long ago engrained in me by Ma Wren, kept me from knocking on every room at the inn until I found Telen. If she slept in late, I wasn’t going to wait for her. I could not risk missing El at the market. Although a grain of common sense in my mind tried to remind me that market setup wouldn’t happen until nine o’clock, at the earliest. Everyone liked to sleep in on a Resting Day.

A kitchen lad poked his head out into the room. Spotting me at a table by the door, arms crossed together, he crept out and warily asked if I wanted any breakfast. I tried to wipe the scowl off my face and fixed my posture to look more approachable. Less intimidating.

Then I stopped. I was in a foul mood. If El were here, she’d tell me I didn’t have to pretend to be happy and harmless for a timid human. Don’t be an asshole, I could almost hear her lilting voice say. But you can feel your feelings, Barra.

I straightened a bit and looked the lad in the eyes. He winced slightly but didn’t scamper away. In my normal gruff morning voice, I said, “I’m having a rough time of it this morning, kid. Could you get me a large pot of the strongest black tea you have? And two full fry-ups, if you can. Extra portions on one of them, for me.”

He softened a little and nodded with a nervous smile. “Aye. Went a bit too hard last night, did you, sir? We’ve all been there.”

“Something like that,” I said.

“Well, I’ll get those started for you, sir.” He disappeared back into the kitchen and returned a few minutes later with a steaming pot of tea just as Telen stumbled down the stairs. She dumped her bag on the ground and half fell into the seat next to me with a groan. The server fetched an extra cup.

“Remind me again why we have to be up at the ass crack of dawn when everyone sensible is still in bed?” She dribbled cream into her tea and slurped it down, eyes half-closed in sleep.

“For love,” I said, patting her back while I drained my own cup. Telen murmured something that sounded like “stupid love is stupidy stupid” and rested her head on the table.

Luckily, she perked up when our food came out ten minutes later. We tucked in, inhaling the greasy eggs, beans, thick bacon, mushrooms, and tomatoes in record time. I munched on a triangle of toast, dipping the charred bits into my tea, while she downed another cup.

Once she looked a bit more alive, I clapped my hands together and stood, pulling her up with me. Dropping our payment on the table, I called our thanks to the serving lad and strode outside. Telen grumbled but followed me.

She’d stored her own bag in the stables with her horse, and we set off in the direction of the main square where the market was held. It was just a short walk downhill and into the center of town. I rehearsed again what I was going to say to Elikki. And then one more time for good measure. Then, to distract myself and calm down, I did my breathing exercises, counting in and out while I tried to focus on my solid steps over the worn cobblestone and the grumpy chatter of my sister.

When we reached the large square, I paused and did a slow scan around. It was still fairly empty, only a few vendors setting up their wares on the side of the street that would get the best shade once the sun fully rose.

Elikki hadn’t arrived yet. I let out a heavy breath.

Telen and I sat on the wide edge of the central water foundation to wait. I tried to refocus on what she was saying, asking questions and making noises at the appropriate times, but it was difficult to think about anything other than El.

My sister recounted her journey here, which was relatively quiet, except for a run-in with a remarkably loud singing troupe that begged her to let them perform one song… which turned into six. She told me about her stop at Legus and Saho’s inn, and the strange new pair of bickering employees they’d hired. I smiled to myself at that. It was good to hear Ronald and Stan had made it there and were trying to give up their untalented attempts at a life of crime. Though from what Telen said, they may not make it as a couple—Saho and Legus had to keep them working in separate parts of the inn every day so their squabbling didn’t annoy the guests.

She also mentioned a surly but hot dwarven woman named Maerryl was working the bar. Telen had tried unsuccessfully to pick her up, and she’d disappeared later that night. According to a peeved Saho, she’d left them in the lurch without any explanation—seemed to have hit the road again, though surprisingly only swiped a loaf of bread and some apples on her way out. That caught my ear, and I filled Telen in on the details of our encounter with Maerryl in the forest on our travels. The memory of her scowling face, the thinly veiled sense of desperation about her, tugged in my mind again like a hangnail on knit gloves. I wondered, not for the first time since we encountered her, what it must take for someone like that to become a bounty hunter. Stan and Ronald had turned to the work because of money problems—maybe she had too?

It was solitary, dangerous work—a strange calling for dwarven folk. And Maerryl wasn’t anything like the usual type, those hulking and muscled brutes I’d occasionally seen hauling someone into a constable station. Armed to the teeth and cold in the eyes. For all that she had her own sharp toothiness, the woman hadn’t seemed to remotely enjoy hurting Elikki or revel in their fight.

An odd person indeed. Over and over, the image of her vexed face, pinched and cursing over one shoulder as Elikki’s charmed bands tugged her down the road, replayed in my thoughts. Somehow, I didn’t think we’d seen the last of Maerryl the half-dwarf.

The sun rose higher and higher. More vendors settled into booths for the day’s work, and townspeople began to trickle through the square to get their shopping done before the crowds. And yet, no sign of Elikki.

The nervous, shaky feeling that had sat in my stomach since last night was rapidly turning into a heavy, worried queasiness. Telen could see I was starting to spiral a bit.

“I bet she just slept in. Maybe she’s hungover from last night,” my sister said.

I didn’t respond. Spotting Elikki’s two friends from the tavern last night at a row of Artisans Guild booths, I went over to ask if they’d seen her.

They hadn’t. Not last night after the tavern, not at the guildhall, not this morning. My stomach dropped further as I thanked them and walked back to Telen. The clock tower rang out ten clangs.

Ten o’clock, and Elikki was missing.