Trek For Survival 18 Chapter 18 It Takes Time

"Don't break anything, okay?" she said, moving over to look at the clothes hanging on a rack marked human.

"What can I do for ye?" asked the dwarf that popped out from a doorway in the back. "Oh, humans."

"We have a list of things, that we need to get for Bob, the innkeeper?" said Vonn, stepping forward with a small friendly smile.

Gia hid her astonishment at him shamelessly using Bob's name by turning to look at a shirt on the rack.

"What sort o' things?" asked the dwarf suspiciously.

"I need a backpack, some bedrolls, clothing similar to these we are wearing," started Vonn, pulling at the front of his shirt.

"Are ye sure these are fer Bob? Seems they are for someone intendin' t' leave the city soon," said the dwarf, eyeing him carefully.

"Well, now that you mention it, Bob is the one who sent us, and he told us you were the best dwarf to buy things from," said Vonn, managing to look sheepish.

"I recognize those clothes ye are wearing, cause Bob had me make a second pair o' each o' them. Enough for 5 o' ye, right?"

"Yes, sir," said Vonn, stepping back as the dwarf moved towards the rack Gia was looking through.

Pulling clothes off the rack and setting them down on the counter, the dwarf soon had five sets along with boots and cloaks for each. Then, he went over against the wall and started pulling rolled up bedrolls and handed them to Vonn, who set them on the counter with the clothes. Next, he grabbed a backpack and threw it on top.

"What else?" the dwarf asked gruffly, eyeing them.

"Do you have a tent and some rations?" asked Vonn, looking around.

The dwarf quickly added a large tent to the pile, but paused at the packages of rations.

"How many rations ye want? Each one feeds a person fer a whole day," he said, holding up the hand-sized bundle.

"How about enough for five people for a week?" said Gia, taking one of the bundles and opening her mouth in shock at its weight. This might feed them for a couple of days!

"Alright," he said hauling the entire basket over and counting them into the new backpack. "What else?"

"Some waterskins," said Vonn, counting out five and adding them to the pile, then pausing as he noticed something.

Gia moved up and looked at the display of flint and steel fire starters that had caught his eye, and noticed the sewing needles next to it.

"You can get one of those, if I can get a needle?" she said with a smile.

Nodding, he gathered them and threw on a roll of twine as well.

"Look around and make sure there isn't anything else ye want, while I add up the total on this," said the dwarf, folding the clothes and shoving them into the two bags Gia and Vonn handed over.

"Go ahead," he said. "I'll help here."

Gia looked around the store, wondering what else they could possibly take. There were some nice soup kettles, but they looked so heavy she knew it wouldn't be practical. Grabbing a whetstone for Vonn's dagger, she handed it to him and then went to see what Mikey was playing with.

He had left the toys and was over in a corner. She double checked that the small horses and goats were back on the shelves where they belonged, and went over to see what he was looking at.

"Mikey?" she asked, coming up behind him. "What are you looking at?"

"It's a little battleaxe, sized just for me!" he exclaimed, holding up the axe for her to see. It looked exactly like the ones she had seen the dwarven guards carrying around, only smaller. She saw that it even had a sheath to attach to either his belt or to strap the weapon to his back.

"I sell a lot o' them to young dwarven lads," the dwarf said, overhearing him.

"I told you I would get you something, but I'm not sure I can afford this," Gia said, chewing on her lip. What would her mom think if she got him one?

"Please? I looked at all of the toys, but they're for little kids and I need to be grown up so I can help out more while we're traveling!" he exclaimed, getting a serious look on his face. "With dad being blind and mom's legs hurting all the time, I need to be able to protect them if you and Vonn are busy or out hunting!"
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"What's this I hear?" asked the dwarf, shoving the whetstone into one of the bags. "Ye'r dad is blind? And ye'r traveling? Where are ye going?"

"We don't really know," said Vonn shaking his head. "An army marched on the city where we used to live, and we were forced to come this way to escape it. It won't be safe to go back over the mountain, so we're going to have to head further east and south along the coast."

"It's mighty dangerous that way. Ye have the magical forest yet to get through, and then tricky elves. Beyond that there's lizardmen and orcs. Ye best let the lad get the axe if ye can afford it. He's right in thinking he's going to have to grow up right fast."

"How much do we have already?" asked Gia looking at the stuffed bags.

"Just over 48 gold," said the dwarf. "That axe is only 10 gold."

"Do you have any longbows?" asked Vonn, looking around.

"I have a crossbow, and a composite longbow. The crossbow is 35 gold and the composite longbow is 100 gold. I'll throw in 10 bolts or arrows if ye buy one."

"I could use a new axe myself, and the crossbow will be easy enough for even your mother to use," said Vonn, looking down at Gia.

"So, two axes and a crossbow will be 55 gold, making our total be 103 gold?" she asked, looking over at the dwarf.

"I'll make it an even hundred, just because I like to make it easier on young lads getting their first weapon," he said, nodding and smiling at Mikey.

"Alright," she said, stepping forward and pulling out the pouch from inside her shirt.

Counting out the ten platinum coins, she felt a pang of pain as each one clinked onto the counter. This was more money than she had ever had in her entire life, and now she was having to part with it.

"This looks like the king's money!" whistled the dwarf, picking up one of the platinum coins and studying it. "How did you come across some of these coins?"

"I stopped a thief from escaping from the guards after she had stolen two small casks of mead," said Gia, panic fluttering in her belly.

"Ah, that sounds about right. The Khag clan has been stealing all o' the mead in the whole city. They're determined t' make their point, even if it brings the whole family down," he grumbled, shaking his head.

Thanking him, they gathered up their bags stuffed full of things, and with Mikey proudly strapping on his new weapon, he led the way back to the inn. Dwarves watching him go, could tell he had just gotten the axe and chuckled as they watched him pa.s.s. Gia was surprised by how many of them looked at him approvingly. She could only imagine the fuss her mom would make when she found out.

Bob was too busy, as they entered the inn, to notice them, so they went ahead and went up the stairs to show her parents what they had gotten. Her mother noticed the battleaxe the moment they entered the door, but Mikey jumped forward before she could say anything.

"Mom! Look what I got! It's a real battleaxe! The dwarf shop owner let me have it for 7 gold instead of 10 gold because it was my very first weapon! Now I can help protect you if Vonn is gone hunting or getting wood!"

"I got one too, Carla," said Vonn, setting down his bag on the nearest bed and showing her the small axe. "As well as a crossbow. It will be easier to use than a longbow."

"You could even use it, if you needed to!" piped in Mikey, still excited that he could be considered old enough to have his very own weapon.

"Well," Carla managed to get out, before Tom spoke up.

"Let me see your new weapon, Mikey," Tom said setting his knife down next to the wood that was starting to take on the shape of a pony.

Mikey carefully handed him the axe, making sure the sharp blade wasn't going to cut his father. Tom ran his fingers along the entire weapon, checking the sharp blade and the strength of the handle before motioning for Mikey to come closer.

"Look here, on the underside of the blade, near the handle. Do you see that little mark?"

"The one that looks kind of like a hammer?" asked Mikey squinting at the mark his dad had found.

"That's called a maker's mark. The dwarf who made this axe left the mark of a hammer on the blade, to show that he was the one who made it," explained Tom patiently.

"But why would he do that?" asked Mikey.

"So that if it ever breaks, someone knows who to blame?" guessed Carla.

"No, so that if someone sees how good it works, they know who to buy from again," laughed Tom.

"Do you leave maker's marks on your wood carvings?" asked Mikey.

"I do, see here?" Tom said, holding up the pony.

"That's the letter T!" Mikey said. "Because your name starts with a T!"

"Well, it does, yes. The main reason I use the letter T, is because it reminds me to take my time."

"Take your time?" asked Mikey, confused.

"Someday you'll understand," Tom laughed.

"I think you just made that up," grumbled Mikey.