Chapter 99: Inn

FieryKathy

We walk into the main hall of the building. The floor and walls are richly decorated with gold and other decorations. In front of us is a desk with a Dwarger woman sitting behind it. She has glasses and is looking down at the moment. The room is flanked by two Dwarger guards that each guard a door.

“Can I help you with something?” The lady looks up at us and pushes her glasses further up her nose. 

“Yes, we have this letter from Captain Mountainforge.” Hilda walks over to the desk and hands it over. 

The Dwarger lady swiftly opens the envelope with a knife and starts reading it. “I see.” 

“I suppose we will have to wait ‘till tomorrow?” Élise asks. 

“You suppose correctly. The universities have already closed for the day, it’d be best to come here tomorrow. I’ll have someone waiting here to guide you.” 

“Thank you very much.” Hilda takes the letter back from the lady and puts it safely away. 

“Is there something else you’d like to know?” 

“Not exactly.” Hilda says as she prepares to walk back through the door.  

My sister raises her finger. “I have one.”

“Go ahead.” 

“Do you know the best lodging in town? Money doesn’t really matter.” 

“Hmm.” The Dwarger lady looks sternly at my sister before she grabs something from below her desk. She puts a map of the city on the counter. “You are now here.” She points with a pencil at the square on the map. “If you go over here you’ll find ‘the Hilltop Inn’. It’s the one we send the foreign diplomats to mostly.” 

“Thank you very much.” Lise bows slightly and walks away. The rest of the group does the same. 

“That lady was pretty nice, wasn’t she?” Sam says as we walk back to our vehicle. Swinging her arm over my shoulder while she does so.

“She was.” I nod. 

“I don’t know.” Nikki shivers. “She reminds me of a very strict teacher I had back in high school.” 

“I think that’s just because of the glasses.” Lise helps Nikki on the back of the walker. 

“Maybe, but still…. brrrrr.” 

“Hehe.” Lise chuckles. “Hilda, did you get the address?” 

“Yeah, Hilltop Inn it is.” She turns the contact and the machine roars back to life.

It doesn’t take that long at all before we reach the Inn the Dwarger lady pointed us too. Outside was an Ulusu man standing, smoking a pipe. “Ah, visitors to my Inn?” 

“Yeah, is there a place we can park this thing?” Hilda smiles at him. 

“Yes, there’s a gate around the corner, I’ll open it up for you.” 

“Thanks.”

The man walks ahead of us as we slowly follow him along. He opens a steel gate so we can drive into the Inn’s courtyard, closing it again once we are inside. 

We all get off as the man walks up to us. “That’s a military walker is it not?” 

“It is.” Hilda says. “They loaned it to us for our travels.” 

“Oh, then you must definitely have done something to prove yourself. The Dwarger aren’t quick to trust others, especially not people like themselves.” 

“We saved one of their squads from some zealots.” 

“Ah, war heroes. That’s good for business.” He laughs. 

“I wouldn’t go as far as saying that.” 

“Tell you what. If you tell me some stories, the food and lodging is for free.”

“Hmm. Hilda, maybe we should take him up on that offer.” My sister whispers into Hilda’s ear. 

“Wasn’t it you who said that money didn’t matter?”

“I did but discounts are never bad, right.” 

“Ugh.” Hilda sighs. “You got yourself a deal.” Hilda reaches out her hand to the innkeeper. 

“Name’s Harold. And glad to hear. Please come in.” He shakes Hilda’s hand and then opens the back door for us. 

“Could you not tell him much about me?” I ask my sister while the others go in already. 

“I wasn’t planning too.” She pats me on the head. “We have plenty of stories from before you joined our party so that should keep him happy. Maybe you’ll even start thinking I’m a bigger heroine than I already am.” 

“Is that even possible?” 

“Awh. Cutie.” She gives me a big hug and then escorts me inside. 

The inside of the inn looks very much like your standard inn back on the other continent with a couple of small differences. Mainly being that there are both big and small tables to accommodate the smaller size of the Dwarger people. Although most of the clientele is still non-Dwarger. A middle-aged woman is standing behind the bar who I presume is Harold’s wife.

“Do you want to have dinner first or do you want to see your rooms?” Harold waits in front of the bar. 

“Hmm, I could honestly go for some food first.” Lise rubs her armoured belly.

“Me too.” Nikki agrees. 

“Is that good for you and Sam, Ami?” Hilda asks. 

We both nod. 

“Okay, then we will get the food first.” 

“Alright.” Harold rubs his hands. “Why don’t you sit down at the round table in the corner and I’ll bring you a menu.” 

“Don’t you want to hear our stories first, Harold?” Lise asks as we all sit down. 

“You can tell me after you’ve seen your rooms. You look like trustworthy people to me so I doubt you’ll swindle me. And I have your car locked behind my gate so it’s not like you can run.” 

“That’s true.” My sister laughs. 

A little while later Harold returns with the menu cards which are surprisingly legible. 

“If you want the freshest ingredients it’s probably best to stay away from the fish.” Harold admits as he waits next to us for our order. “It’s not that they are bad, but they do arrive here on ice so it still tastes a bit less fresh.” 

“To be expected, the capital is quite a bit inland…” Hilda reads her menu. “What would you recommend?”

“We have very good steak from one of the nearby farmers. We serve that with potatoes cut in some sort of small wedges, fried. Together with a sauce my wife invented. It’s base is pepper.” 

“Isn’t that just steak with fries and pepper sauce?” I whisper in my girlfriend’s ear.

“Sounds like it.” 

“I’ll take that.” Lise and Nikki say in chorus. 

“For me as well.” Hilda nods. 

“I think we will both take that too.” Sam looks at me to confirm, once I nod she nods towards Harold. 

“Good, that’s pretty easy to remember.” Harold smiles and walks back behind the counter.

After our order it doesn’t take very long to get our food which immediately piqued my interest once it left the kitchen. The amazing aroma of the food was just too great. It was obvious from the twinkle in Sam’s eyes that she’s also looking forward to getting started on the food. 

Once the plates are placed in front of us, me and Sam don’t waste any time and start eating immediately. 

“Looks like we were not the only ones who were a bit hungry, Nikki.” My sister laughs. 

“If I weren’t hungry I’d get hungry by the sight of this plate of food alone.” 

“Thank you for the compliment. I’ll definitely forward it to my wife.” Harold laughs. “Please enjoy your food.” 

“Thank you very much.” Hilda says as she starts eating too. 

In no time whatsoever the food on our plates had disappeared into our bellies. 

“That was so good.” Sam slides back on her seat. “I would eat another plate if I could.” 

“Mhmm.” I let myself slide backwards as well and leaned on her shoulder. 

“It was a great meal.” Hilda agrees. 

“Would you like to see your rooms now?” Harold’s wife walks over to our table. “My husband will clear off the table while you are gone.” 

“That’d be very nice, yes.” Lise happily nods. 

“Good, please follow me. My name is Amanda by the way.” 

“Nice meeting you, Amanda.” I say as me and Sam just have a little bit of an issue getting up. “And thank you for the food, it was really nice.” 

“Best steak I’ve eaten in a while.” Sam nods. 

“Awh, that’s very sweet.” Amanda smiles and waves away our compliment with a little blush. 

We then follow her through one of the doors and up the stairs.

“I hope you don’t mind but we only had two free rooms.” 

“Two is plenty.” Hilda reassures her.

“Hilda can sleep in our room again.” I say after which Sam gives me an affirmative nod. 

“Okay, then this room’s yours.” Amanda opens the door on the right. It reveals a fairly big, luxurious room which even has its own desk area. In the room there’s one big double bed set against one of the windows and a single bed on the opposite wall. “Is this up to your standards?” 

“Of course, of course.” Hilda walks over to the one-person bed and and pushes the mattress. “It’s maybe a bit too luxurious for my standards.” 

“Thank you.” Amanda bows slightly. “The next room is on the floor above, if you want to follow me.” She motions to Nikki and my sister.

The three of us stay behind in our room and put down our bags. 

“I think I’m going to sleep well today.” I say with a big yawn. 

“You can stay behind and rest a bit if you want to while we go and tell some stories to Harold.” Hilda puts her bag behind the bed and most of her weapons too. Although she does hide a couple of daggers in her jacket, just to be prepared.

“I think we will.” Sam pulls me on top of her lap as she sits on our bed, embracing me around my waist. “I’m feeling a bit tired too.” 

“Too low on cuddle energy?” Hilda laughs. 

“Something like that.”

“Alright. Don’t stay up for me, I’ll try to be very silent when I come back in.” 

“Good night, Hilda.” I say from within my girlfriend’s embrace.” 

“Good night kittens.” She smiles and walks out of the door, closing it behind her. 

Sam then pulls me back so we both end up with our backs on the mattress. “Kiss and cuddle time?”

I smile and give her a quick kiss on her lips. “Of course.”  

FieryKathy