Trek For Survival 12 Chapter 12 Bob's Bar

"Welcome t' me inn. Guests of the king, are ye? No pro'lems! Me rooms will fit ye just fine!"

Mikey giggled hearing the dwarven words coming out of a human, and it seemed to calm everyone down after the long trek through the city. Gia was looking forward to a nice bed and some much-needed rest. She was sure she had blisters on her blisters.

"Will they be needing baths, too?" the barkeeper asked their dwarven escort.

"If'n ye want t' charge 'em fer it, then go 'head. I'm not sure how much the king will be willin' t' pay fer, though."

"A'right," he said, nodding and setting down the mug he was wiping clean. "How 'bout a tall one, b'fore ye head back? Fer com'n all this way, an all?"

The dwarf nodded enthusiastically, as he jumped onto the stool and took a large gulp of the ale the man pushed to him.

"I'll show ye the way t' ye's room," he said, wiping his hands and setting down the towel.

They followed him up a wide set of stairs and turned right at the top, heading down a long hall. There were doors on both sides, but he ignored them, going to the end of the hall, where there was a door in front, and the hall turned right again. Opening the door with a key, he turned and handed the key to Vonn.

"Here you go," he said with a soft smile, dropping the dwarven accent as they stepped inside.
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"Why don't you sound like a dwarf anymore?" asked Mikey.

"It makes the dwarves more comfortable around me, if I sound like them," he said, hunching down to talk to Mikey at his level. "There's no dwarves around, so I don't have to sound like one. But don't tell them, or I might get in trouble!"

Gia couldn't help but smile at this kind man's words. Looking around, she saw smiles on everyone else's faces, too.

"What's your name, innkeeper?" asked Vonn, holding the key to their room tightly.

"My name's Bob. It's pretty simple to remember."

"That's the same name as the bartender back home, that I used to work for!" exclaimed Carla, looking at him harder.

He laughed. "I have a brother with the same name. We decided to go by the same name, because it was easy to remember, and the chances of meeting the same people in such different places was pretty low."

"That makes so much sense!" she said, worry fading from her face. "He gave me a tea to drink that was supposed to help with swelling in my legs."

"Did it?" he asked, interest in his eyes.

"It sure did! I would never have made it all this way, if it weren't for him. If you ever get a chance to talk to him, would you tell your brother?"

"Of course! I'm sure he will be overjoyed to hear the tea worked."

"I hope he made it out of the city," said Vonn, looking around at the room.

"Was it bad when you left?" asked Bob with a frown of concern.

"There was an army marching on it. We almost got caught by some soldiers!" exclaimed Mikey. "This giant tree woke up and gave us these amulets, and then these little mushroom men showed us how to get into the mushroom forest! We saw a mushroom so big, the hairs on his back were the size of trees! Only they were mushrooms instead of trees!"

His eyes were wide and he was waving his arms around in excitement as he told Bob about their journey.

"Oh my! Was that the Mushroom King? I've heard he is huge!"

"Yep! And Truffle, his son, brought us through the whole mushroom forest, to here," ended Mikey.

"It sounds like you've had quite an adventure! This room should be plenty big enough for all of you. It's one of my biggest rooms. I'll have some of the workers bring up a tub for baths. Would you like a nice hot stew? Maybe some tea? I would offer you ale, but there's a bit of a fee with it, and the king here is kind of stingy when it comes to that."

"That sounds wonderful," said Tom, finding his way to one of the many beds, and sitting down.

"Do you know how long it will be, before we're summoned before the king?" asked Gia softly. She was trying to figure out if there would be time for her to clean all of their clothes before then.

"I can see about some new clothes for all of you, before the king summons you tomorrow. Your current clothes are a little ragged, and some of you seem to be missing pieces," he said, winking at Mikey.

"It's been a long trip," sighed Carla. "I wonder how much longer we have to go. That dwarf said we wouldn't be allowed to stay in the city here, and honestly, I don't think I would feel comfortable being surrounded by dwarves all the time. They're a bit intimidating. I don't know how you can do it."

Bob laughed again, and shrugged. "I've seen a lot of different and strange things in my day. It doesn't really bother me much at all. I'll have that food and drink brought up with the tub, and your clothes should be here later tonight."

He left them as they started taking off their backpacks and boots. Gia made sure to check everyone's feet for blisters. She didn't want anyone to have issues with their feet since they had such an important meeting the next day, and then they would be back on the road again…

"Vonn, how are you doing?" she asked as he claimed a bed in the corner.

"Giavanna, we have a long way still to go. I don't think we will be able to just go back over the mountain to the city. We're going to have to finish traveling through the magical forest and past where the elves are. I think there's an ocean beyond that. Eventually we should be able to get back to the human lands, but it's going to be a long trip!"

"It's okay, Vonn. As long as we're together, we'll figure it out."

"I want to marry you, and start a family, but we can't do that while we're traveling."

"What's this I hear?" asked Carla, coming up to them. "You want to marry?"

Gia sighed. "Yes, mom. He asked me to marry him, and I said yes, but…"

Carla interrupted her with a cheer and grabbed her into a happy hug. "We're going to have to figure out a dress, and find a cleric to marry you! I don't imagine they have those here…"

"Carla, dear. They probably don't intend to marry here in the dwarven lands. They probably want to do it when we get back to the human lands. You don't want our poor Gia traveling while she's pregnant, do you?" asked Tom from across the room.

"Oh! I hadn't thought of that. No, I suppose that's true. I guess that just gives us time to plan the wedding out!"

Gia sighed as her mother happily moved over to the bed Tom was sitting on, almost dancing. Vonn chuckled and Gia couldn't help but smile as she turned back to him. A knock on the door interrupted her, before she could say the next thing. Mikey rushed over and opened it before anyone could move. A young dwarven woman, with a very short beard, was standing there with a tray full of bowls of stew. Gia would never had thought she was a girl, if it wasn't for the gown she wore.

"A bit o' stew for ye," she said, pleasantly, setting the tray down on the table in the middle of the room. "I'll be bringing ye'r drinks next!"

"Thank you!" said Gia heading for the table.

Once everyone was sitting at the table, Carla turned to Vonn, "I love how everyone fits around this table! Do you think you could make one like it for our new house, where ever it ends up being?"

He glanced over at Gia, who blushed, and said, "Of course I could! This doesn't look like very difficult workmanship. Though, I think a bit longer would be better."

Carla looked confused until she noticed the deep blush on Gia's face and Tom started laughing.

"Good! You're looking out for your future already! As it should be!" he laughed, until Gia shoved his bowl in front of him.

"Dad! Please! Eat your stew before it gets cold."

"What's so funny?" asked Mikey, taking a bite of his stew. "Hey! What kind of meat is this? It doesn't taste like rat!"

"That's because I believe it is mutton," said Vonn. "Judging from the hint of wild flavor, probably a wild mountain sheep."

"I like it! We should have this again," he said taking another bite.