Bard: Chapter 16

The baths were loud and boisterous, the voices of a dozen guards and sell-swords echoing off the tiled walls. The air was thick with steam and relief. It was nice to hear people sounding jovial again after the moans a cries of the last few days. There hadn’t been much joy in Everly either after the cold had set in. It took having liveliness back to realize it had been missing.

Liam scrubbed quickly and settled into a corner of the hot spring, resting his head against the edge and closing his eyes. He listened to the others, happy and relaxed. They teased each other and checked each other and splashed water around the room good-naturedly. It was nice to feel safe closing his eyes.

Someone dropped in next to him and the water sloshed up near his chin.

“You alright?” Travis asked.

“Mmm,” Liam murmured, opening one eye just long enough to make eye contact. “You?”

“Sure am now,” he said, sighing contentedly as he leaned back against the edge of the tub. “Everything alright with Laura and Trista?”

“Trista wasn’t sure about the baths,” Liam explained. “Laura stayed back with her.”

“Ah.” Travis sounded disappointed and Liam opened an eye again, fixing it on Travis. The big man caught his gaze and looked away, rubbing his head. “I don’t ogle people in the baths,” he said.

“I didn’t say you did.”

“She’s a tough lady, your sister,” Travis added, a little warily. Liam closed his eyes again.

“She is,” he agreed.

“Does she, uh…” Travis cleared his throat. “Does she got anyone?”

Liam opened his eyes and sat up, giving him a wry smile.

“Are you asking after my sister?” he asked. Travis seemed to consider the question before answering.

“Would that be alright?”

“It’s not up to me,” Liam said with a shrug. He leaned back against the edge of the tub and closed his eyes again. “She hasn’t got anyone that I know of.”

“Ah.” He could hear the smile in Travis’ voice. Liam chuckled quietly. He couldn’t tell if Laura was looking for that sort of thing, but Travis was a decent sort, if she was interested.

After they’d soaked they were given rooms in the inn, simple but comfortable, and called to the common room for dinner. They were served roast, fresh from the spit, with baked potatoes, cheese, and pickles. It was hot, and juicy, and Liam stuffed himself right along with everyone else.

The evening stretched, and more people returned from the baths, squeezing in at the table to fill up on hot food. Even some of the injured appeared, arms or feet wrapped in bandages. Liam heard someone mention picking up food for the more severely wounded who couldn’t get to the common room. There was no sign of Laura or Trista.

It worried him, especially with the state Trista had been in after the clearing. He kept an eye out for a bit longer, and when they didn’t appear, he went looking.

There wasn’t any organization to how people had ended up in rooms around the inn. The innkeeper had basically opened up the place to them, and people had taken space wherever they could find it, so no one could tell him where anyone was. He checked the baths again, but there were only a few lingerers, and they weren’t among them.

He found the medic in a larger room off the common room. The fire was lit by the room was kept dim. Liam could make out the shapes of sleeping people on cots around the space, and the room carried the faint stench of blood.

“You hurt?” the medic asked.

“No, I’m looking for my sister, and the bard,” Liam explained. The medic shook his head.

“Don’t know about the sister, but I haven’t seen the bard,” he said. “You tell her to come by if she needs anything. She didn’t look too good.”

“I will,” Liam said, and left him to his work.

He started knocking on doors. Most of the rooms were empty, with the majority of the party either in the common room or with the medic. When a door finally opened, he felt a surge of relief, quickly dashed when it wasn’t Trista or Laura.

“Yes?” the woman at the door asked. He recognized her as one of the frozen scouts, the one he’d been with when they had begun to melt. Her left hand was wrapped in bandages, and it looked like she had lost some fingers there, but she was otherwise whole. Her damp hair was twisted into a messy braid over her shoulder. “It’s you,” she said, smiling softly.

“Sorry,” he said quickly taking a step back from the door. “I was looking for someone. Sorry to bother you.”

“Hold on.” She reached out and took him gently by the arm, holding his eyes. “It was you before, at the clearing.”

“Yes,” Liam said. He took another step back and she moved with him.

“Thanks for that,” she said, her smile growing.

“It’s nothing,” Liam replied. “We came to help.”

“Oh it’s definitely not nothing,” she chuckled, moving just a little closer. He could feel her breath, and her fingers made a gentle caress on his arm, making him shiver. “You were very brave out there. We all tried to run when that thing showed up.”

“I had some pretty good backup,” he said. He moved to step back again but found himself up against the opposite wall.

“You brought a mage,” she said. “Wish we’d had one of those.”

“Hmm.” Liam nodded. She was making all the moves for something he didn’t want a part of, but he couldn’t get away without pushing past her.

“I was thinking that I might…express my gratitude, for the rescue,” she went on, trailing her fingers up to the crook of his arm, confirming his fears. She took another step closer, moving into him and raising her head to whisper in his ear. He could smell the metallic tang of the hot spring on her, “If you’d like.”

“You’re lovely,” he said, putting his hands on her shoulders and turning them so he had an exit, “and I appreciate the offer, but I’m not interested.”

“You already got a girl?” she asked coyly.

“No,” he replied, wishing the first statement had been enough.

“A boy, then?”

“No.”

“If it helps,” she said, putting her own hands on his shoulders and giving him a squeeze. “This doesn’t have to be anything…long term. It can just be a pleasant way to warm up.”

“All the same,” Liam said, gently removing her hands and taking a step back. “Goodnight.”

He turned on his heel and walked away from her, skipping three doors he would have preferred to knock on, but he needed out of the hallway. As soon as he turned a corner he paused, took a breath, and rubbed at his arm where she’d touched him. He shook it off and began knocking again.

A few doors down, he finally found them. Laura answered the door, stepping mostly into the hallway and pulling the door nearly shut behind her.

“You look all freshened up,” she observed.

“You too.”

“We got a private bath,” Laura said smugly.

“How’s she doing?”

“Out cold,” Laura told him. “She fell asleep in the hot spring, I nearly had to carry her back.”

“There’s food if you want it,” Liam said, gesturing back towards the common room. “It’s hot.”

“I don’t want to leave her,” Laura said, shrugging against the door frame. “Just in case.”

“I’ll bring you some.”

“Thanks.” She furrowed her brow at him. “You alright?”

“Yeah,” he replied. “Why?”

“Your shoulders are up.”

He realized they were, and rolled his head, relaxing his shoulders and shaking them out. Laura raised an eyebrow and he shook his head.

“I’m fine.”

“You got a room, or do you want to bunk with us?” Laura asked.

“I’m in with Travis.”

“Alright.” She pursed her lips and Liam made a conscious effort to keep his shoulders down.

“I’ll be back with food,” he said.

“Thank you.”