Pip giggled. “There’s enough for the five main meals of the morning.”
Five? Cali shook her head as the dwarf plucked a fragrant teacake from a bag and bit into it, sending crumbs showering down his beard. When it came to food, dwarves and halflings had quite a lot in common.
Cali left Thrain mumbling his thanks to Pip as she made her way to the rest of the group.
“Shouldn’t you be sleeping in?” she asked Lira.
Lira flapped a hand at her. “We’ve got the rest of the day to stay in bed. Right, Korl?”
His dusky green cheeks darkened, and he nodded wordlessly.
“I’ll be spending the rest of the day cleaning the tavern,” Sass said, trying to pretend like this was a chore when everyone knew she loved creating order from chaos.
Val nudged her. “With my help to move the furniture back into place.”
“Not sure what we’ll do with the arch,” Klaff said as he joined the group.
“As long as it doesn’t stay inside the tavern,” Sass said. “We can barely squeeze all our patrons in as it is.”
Although this sounded like a complaint, Cali knew that the bustling tavern Sass and Lira had restored was a point of pride for the dwarf.
“Might I suggest you move it behind the tavern?” Erindil said. “My encampment doesn’t have a formal entrance.”
Vorto shrugged one massive shoulder as he walked up. “Better than in our workshop where no one can see it.”
The elf’s encampment was already more elaborate than most homes in Wayside, due in large part to Erindil’s talent for enchantment. Cold never seemed to reach his collection of flag-festooned silk tents, nor did rain or snow. The fire in the center of the camp burned steadily without burning down to coals or needing fresh wood, and the fireflies that flitted overhead without darting away provided the perfect amount of ambient light.
Lira blinked at him. “That means you’re staying longer?”
Her uncle inclined his head toward her. “I know I said I was only staying until your wedding, my dear, but I’ve become quite fond of this little village of yours. Besides, between the hellkin crew and rumors of a goblin gang, this might be where I’m most needed.”
“Especially since we’re temporarily losing our archer,” Vaskel said, locking eyes with Cali and emphasizing the word temporarily.
Iris slid an arm around Cali’s shoulders. “She’ll be back from her pirate adventure before we know it.”
Erindil cleared his throat imperiously. “Speaking of pirates, I have something to ask Miss One-Eye.”
He glided to the front of the cart while Cali summoned a smile for her friends.
“I promise to return and to bring back lots of stories.”
Tinpin sidled up to her, tugging on the points of his houndstooth waistcoat. “If you happen to encounter some fine textiles, I wouldn’t complain if you brought some back along with those stories.”
Fenni nudged the gnome aside with a sigh and took Cali’s paws in his small, plump hands. “None of us require gifts. Just bring yourself back safely.”
“And Thrain,” Sass added, glancing at her friend who was attempting to haul himself into the back of the wagon while holding an armful of bakery bags. “He might bluster about being fierce, but he’s all mush on the inside.”
Cali caught Lira’s uncle deep in conversation with Bonnie One-Eye, and she wondered what the elf could be asking her. Erindil had said they were old friends, though, and the whispered conversation seemed to prove his point.
Then the pirate captain peered over her shoulder from the buckboard, her gaze pinning Cali with startling intensity. “Ready?”
She’d never been more ready for anything.
Eight
The mule pullingthe cart crunched along the snow-packed road, as Cali sat next to Bonnie One-Eye on the buckboard. Seraphina sat on the pirate’s other side, and Thrain sprawled out in the back. His pack was his pillow, and he’d curled his arms around the profusion of bakery bags, the sugar whitening his dark beard proof that he’d already enjoyed two of the five morning meals before falling asleep. The dwarf’s rumbling snores mingled with the rhythmic slap of hooves and the creak of the cart’s wheels.
Cali kept her eyes on the tree-shadowed road, her senses tuned to the snow-hush of the wooded area, the muffled birdsong, the dampened scent of pine beneath ice. As expected, the day was quiet, and the road was all but deserted. They’d clopped past Grayhelm Castle, the memories of her foolishness prompting a frown, and she’d been glad when the crumbling castle was behind them.
