Chapter 21
“Ey! Where go!”
“Howdy to you too,” I muttered as Berkr just barged into our hut unannounced. Luckily for him I was working on one of my translations commissions and Kehl was toiling away on the most beautiful pattern on his larger loom. Rich purples and deep blues, emerald greens, ruby reds, wove a pattern like something out of a fantasy novel.
My current commission was for a worn copy of a Minotaur romance called By the Horns. I’d admit I was so intrigued by it I read the whole thing first before translating. A beastly Why Choose with hot horn heads, a portal that takes the main character to another world, with added in gods, a fun take on the Minotaur’s labyrinth, with funnies sprinkled throughout and a magical world of beast people. Count me in. In exchange for my work, I was promised whatever I wanted to be commissioned from the smithy shop. Lolly’s mates were hooked on her books but wanted to read them on their own without needing her to translate. Lolly tried to spoil them as much as they did her. It was all very sweet.
“No know knock first?” Kehl grumbled.
“Where Candy-ass?” Berkr grumbled.
“I don’t see how that’s any of your business,” I muttered as I glanced up. With the same indifference he’d been giving Dace of late, I gave a dismiss sniff and got back to it.
“Purred-roo know,” Berkr accused.
Kehl stood with a snarl of a warning.Back off, asshole.
“To be honest, I haven’t the foggiest,” I grumbled back at him.
“No lie Berkr. Purr-roo Candy-ass bestest fren. Candy-ass say so all the times,” the male bit out. Skunk butt was in a mood today.
“She said she’d be busy for a while here,” I finally admitted. Lifting my hand, I waved it at him. “Get a whiff, skunk butt. I ain’t lyin’.”
“Berkr no smell lie. No need wave hand at Berkr like that,” the incensed male grumbled.
“Go find Dades, want speak her so much,” Kehl rumbled out at him.
“Berkr would,” the male hissed, “if Berkr could find Candy-ass!”
A laugh spluttered out of me. “You mean you pissed her off so much she’s gone stealth mode on you?” I couldn’t help but laugh. It was funny and very karmic. He’s been a monumental ass to her. It was only a matter of time before she said enough was enough.
“She not hide that good Berkr not find!” Berkr shot back. And just like that, in a whirl of grr and skunk striping, he was gone.
“Freaking weirdo,” I muttered.
“Bad turd,” Kehl grumbled.
“Bad turd?” I burst out laughing, trying to puzzle that one out.
Kehl shrugged. “Hear Kirch call Rek that, they argue. Rek say Kirch butt munched. Kirch say bad turd, act ‘fended.”
“Bastard?” I guessed with a laugh.
Kehl was as lost as I was. “My Purr-roo guess better than Kehl’s.” With a sheepish look, he confided, “Sound fun say. Kehl want try it.”
“Bad turd fits him perfectly!” I harrumphed, making my mate-husband laugh.
Dismissing that whole mess, we got back to our respective projects and eventually forgot about the whole thing.
It wasn’t until a week passed, then another, without a single pop in from Dace, that I began to worry. Another week passed, no sign of her, no answer when I knocked at her door, that I began asking around. I know she told me not to but I couldn’t help it. There was nothing she could be doing that could trump my worrying for her. She’d have to forgive me on this one. I just couldn’t let it sit.
Chapter 22
“What do you mean they can’t find her?” I blurted. My eyes bugged as I stared at Celuk.
My worry turned into Kehl worrying. Berkr wasn’t wrong. Dace wasn’t ignoring him. She wasn’t even here.
“Where the hell could she have gone?” The big trip to the banished lands was quite a ways off. She wouldn’t just go out there on her own. It would be suicide and she knew it. It would also be pointless. But then it hit me. “Oh… no.”
