The Dragons of Bone and Dust (Tales from the New Earth Book 7) (24 page)

They made their way into the city,
passing scores of armed guards going about their business. Ragar was
saluted politely by many of the warriors, and Simon received some
curious looks.

He watched carefully but saw no
hostile reactions to his presence. It's true that many of the dwarves
appeared cool to seeing a human in their midst dressed in robes, but
he saw no anger or irritation.

Maybe they're just polite, he
thought. Or maybe they simply don't care one way or the other. That's
probably closer to the truth.

Once they had passed through the
troops guarding the perimeter of the city, Ragar guided Simon along
several wide avenues and down a narrow side street to what appeared
to be an inn of some sort.

The heavy iron sign hanging over the
entrance was inlaid with glowing dwarven symbols but the wizard
couldn't read them and simply followed the seneschal into the
building.

Inside, the building was richly
decorated in bright colors. Blue seemed to be the predominant hue;
dark blue on the walls and ceiling.

Many heavy pieces of furniture were
visible from the entrance and gave the inn a homey, welcoming
appearance. Some sort of incense was burning and it reminded Simon of
the smell of sandalwood. It was very soothing.

A dwarven matron greeted them
politely. She was wearing a long blue dress and her gray hair hung
down her back in a long braid. She bowed to Ragar and smiled at
Simon.

“
Sir wizard,
this is Orrina. Her inn is one of the city's best and her services
are highly regarded by the king.”

“
And,”
the woman spoke up boldly, “I speak your language quite well,
also thanks to Shandon. Not many of our people do.”

She stared at Ragar in amusement.

“
Must you
always be so stuffy? Shandon is the king, yes, but he is also a
plain-spoken person. He doesn't give himself airs. Plus he's a friend
to many, including the three of us here. So ease up a bit and don't
let your position go to your head, seneschal,” she added with a
shake of her finger.

Ragar looked uncomfortable and gave
Simon a quick glance.

“
Orrina,
while I am on duty, I must maintain the proper formality, as you well
know. Now, sir wizard, the king invites you to remain here, to rest
and regain your strength. He will send for you when he can. Is there
anything else I can do for you?”

Simon shook his head and thanked the
dwarf profusely for his time.

“
Not at all,
not at all,” Ragar replied a bit pompously. “All in a
day's work. I am sure that we will meet again soon.”

He took his leave and hurried out the
door, appearing to be in a rush. Once the door had closed behind him,
Orrina laughed gently.

“
I remember
him as a child, always so ambitious, wanting to do his father proud,”
she told Simon. “Well, he'd reached the heights now. Let us see
how long he survives in that rarefied air.”

She led Simon through the entrance
way into the main room and sat him down on an enormous leather couch.

“
Now rest
there for a bit and I'll get you something,” she told him “You
look about done in. Won't be but a moment.”

And she zipped out of sight before
Simon could even thank her.

He leaned his staff against the side
of the couch and took a moment to slip off his boots. He didn't know
if it was proper etiquette but his feet were throbbing and very sore.

It was such a relief to get his boots
off that he let out a long breath and just slumped back into the
couch, closing his eyes.

Well, I've made it this far in one
piece, he thought as he let his mind drift. I hope Kronk and Aeris
are all right. It's a relief to know that the dwarves took care of
that undead army, so that's one less threat. For now.

“
Here we
are,” Orrina said as she re-entered the room

Simon opened his eyes and sat up
blearily. He must have dozed off for a second.

The matron had just brought in a
silver tray loaded down with plates and put it down on a small but
heavy-looking table. She then lifted both table and tray and easily
brought them across the room and put them down in front of the couch,
reminding Simon that even dwarven females were incredibly strong.

“
Oh, thanks
so much,” the wizard said. “Sorry, I may have drifted off
there.”

“
I'm not
surprised, young man. You're as pale as cheese. Here now, get
something into you. There's cold water to start; you must be thirsty.
And fruit juice after that. You've been with us before, I know, so
you won't be surprised that we grow our own fruits and vegetables.”

Simon smiled at her.

“
I'm not. I
was at the time though. And that you raised animals down here for
meat and cheese as well. Somehow such a thing had never occurred to
me.”

He poured a glass of water from a
tall beaker and drank it down. The relief on his parched mouth and
tongue was amazing. He poured a second glass and sipped on it.

“
What, did
you think we dwarves only ate rock and stone?” Orrina asked
with a laugh.

She pulled over a chair and sat down
across the table from Simon, watching him almost fondly.

The wizard smiled, a little
embarrassed.

“
No, not
really. But until I met Shandon, I had believed that dwarves were
just a mythical race. Like elves or goblins. It was quite a shock to
learn that you are all real.”

Orrina frowned slightly.

“
You might
not want to mention either elves or goblins to others here. They are
not the most popular of races. Elves, of course, are not evil, but we
are not fond of them. And as for goblins...”

She growled low in her throat and
Simon stared at her in surprise. She didn't sound very matronly when
she did that.

The dwarf caught his look and cleared
her throat.

“
Sorry. We
dislike the elves but words cannot express my people's hatred of
goblins. They are creatures created by the lords of Chaos, our
ancient enemies and as such are an abomination to the dwarves.”

“
They are
horrible,” Simon agreed. “In my brief dealings with them,
I found no redeeming features in them whatsoever.”

“
Oh, that's
right; you met them in battle once, didn't you?”

“
Not
exactly, no. But we did have a run in and I became convinced that the
world would be a better, cleaner place without them.”

“
Aye, on
that we can agree. Now, try some food. You need feeding up, sir
wizard.”

She lifted the covers off of several
plates. There were heaps of sliced meats, cheeses and freshly cut
bread and Simon's mouth began to water.

“
Thanks so
much. It all looks delicious. But please, call me Simon. That 'sir
wizard' business always makes me uncomfortable.”

“
Well then,
let no one say that guests at Orrina's Diamond Inn were in any way
made uncomfortable,” the matron replied with a grin. “Simon
it is. And call me Orrina in return. I believe that we will get along
famously.”

Simon began to serve himself.

“
I think so
too,” he said as he started to eat. “Oh my God, this is
so good.”

Orrina beamed at him.

When Simon had finished his meal, the
innkeeper led him to his room on the second floor. Inside was a large
bed with a thick mattress covered by a bright quilt. It looked very
inviting. A plain but beautifully carved dresser and cabinet
completed the room and off to the side was the washroom.

“
We have hot
water at all times,” Orrina said proudly as she showed him the
bathtub. “All of your toiletries are in the cupboard there
along with fresh towels. Oh and I'll have a clean robe and
undergarments for you within the hour. I put in the order when I
heard you were coming to stay.”

Simon thanked her yet again for her
hospitality but she just waved him off.

“
Pssh, it is
my pleasure. Truth be told, I haven't had much business lately. With
the city on a war footing now, we get few travelers from the other
dwarven towns. I do get the occasional visitor or host a special
event, but it is rare these days. I sometimes wonder why I even need
to keep my cook on staff, but she's a dear old thing and has been
with me for years, so what can you do?”

Orrina told him to get some sleep in
a motherly way and left him alone.

Simon watched the door close and then
smiled to himself as he looked around. The room was decorated with a
lovely tan wallpaper patterned with muted stripes. The thick brown
rug was warm and soft on his feet and that sandalwood smell was still
in the air, easing his nerves.

There was a window looking out over
the street below and he pushed back the curtains curiously to take a
look around.

The roadway wasn't very wide, but a
steady stream of people were coming and going as he watched. Most of
them wore the simple tunics of the working class, with some wearing a
leather apron over them, marking them as tradespeople.

There were a smattering of armored
figures among the pedestrians and Simon noticed that they were given
plenty of room to pass by the other dwarves. He hadn't noticed that
deference the last time he had stayed in Kingstone and wasn't quite
sure he liked it.

It looked more like fear than respect
from where he stood.

Across the street was an office of
some sort, with a granite facing and several ornate columns out
front. A dwarf in nondescript clothing was leaning against one of
these columns, his face in shadow. It was hard to tell, but he seemed
to be staring up at the inn and Simon pulled back from the window so
that the watcher wouldn't see him.

Was the mysterious figure keeping an
eye on him? Or was he just overtired and imagining things?

The wizard peaked out through the
curtains again and blinked in surprise. The watcher was gone.

Just some random stranger, he told
himself. Stop being so jumpy.

He walked into the washroom and ran a
bath. He was filthy and one look in the mirror made him blush in
embarrassment.

His face was streaked with dirt, his
hair was matted and clumped and his mismatched eyes were red with
exhaustion and lack of sleep. Hardly a great wizard ,was his wry
thought. Now he was surprised that Orrina had even let him sit on her
sofa, because his robe was filthy as well.

The tub filled up quickly and he
gingerly slipped into the steaming hot water and leaned back with an
extended sigh of relief. Never had a bath felt so good.

The bar of soap that the inn supplied
smelled of jasmine and lathered up beautifully. Simon made sure to
wash his hair twice, pulling through the knots and cursing under his
breath as he did so.

After he got out again and dried off,
he rinsed out the tub thoroughly. There was no way that he was going
to leave it dirty; that would be poor repayment for Orrina's
hospitality.

There was a package in the hallway
outside of his room and, when Simon opened it, he found the promised
clothing.

Something else to thank the innkeeper
for, he thought as he closed and locked the door. He hung the dark
blue robe in the cabinet and slipped into bed.

The sheets were crisp and smooth and
he was asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow, content for the
first time in days.

Simon woke up many hours later, with
no idea of the time. Like all dwarven cities, Kingstone had a day and
night cycle but there was little to differentiate the two except for
less traffic on the streets.

The wizard got up slowly; he was so
stiff that he moved like an old man.

The old man that I actually am, he
thought ruefully.

After he'd washed up a bit and
dragged a comb through his tangled mane of hair, Simon got dressed
and took a moment to peek out through the curtains.

Was there a quick movement in the
shadows across the street? He squinted, looking for some sign of a
watcher, but there was nothing.

It's just your imagination, he told
himself without much conviction. Who would want to spy on you?
Especially here?

Downstairs, Orrina had heard him
moving around and had breakfast waiting for him in the dining room.

“
Come in and
set yourself down, my friend,” she said warmly as he reached
the bottom of the stairs.

Simon followed her into a large room
with a half-dozen round tables scattered about. All of them were set
with white linen tablecloths and place settings but only one was set
for dining.

Orrina pulled out a chair for him and
Simon sat down gratefully.