Page 25 of Tusks, Tails & Teacakes
She backed through the swinging doors and almost bobbled the plates. Before when she’d seen Sass’s progress, it had been daylight. Now, a fire roared in the hearth and the chandeliers flickered with fresh tapers overhead, giving the great room a warm glow. Even the simple curtains Sass had fashioned from the new fabric lent the room a fresh look. And how had she managed to make a pair of matching cushions that were now nestled in the overstuffed chairs by the hearth?
The Tusk & Tail, with its polished tables and newly scrubbed floors looked more and more familiar. She breathed in the scent of burning peat and the steam curling up from her own meat pies and fought off a wave of nostalgia. It hadn’t been so long since she’d been sitting at these very tables eating hearty tavern food with her newly formed adventuring party. And now she was back.
Even though there weren’t crowds of patrons yet—only one colorfully dressed gnome at a table and a couple of farmers at the bar—it wasn’t hard to spot an orc towering over the other patrons at a table. Then she saw that the other guard with him wasn’t an orc, or even a man, but a human female with blonde hair piled on top of her head. The same impressively tall woman with broad shoulders she’d seen in the village.
Then the orc’s dark eyes landed on her and a jolt of recognition stopped her breath.
Fifteen
As Lira stood holdingthe tray, remembering how she knew the orc, a gruff voice snatched her attention.
“I know what you’re doing.”
Lira snapped her head to the graying, bleary-eyed man at the end of the bar, the one she remembered Durn talking to the night she’d arrived. Thick as thieves, they’d been.
She didn’t like his tone or the way he looked her up and down with his thin lips curled into a sneer. “What am I doing?”
“Fixing this place up from the goodness of your heart?” He scowl seemed to tug his entire face down, accentuatingthe uneven patches of unshaved whiskers. “I don’t know your game, but you’ve got one. You and that dwarf.”
Anger sizzled through Lira at the dismissive glance the man tossed Sass’s way. “There’s no game, but if you don’t like what we’re doing, I take it you won’t be eating?”
She didn’t allow him to do much but grumble before turning her back on him, but her heart was pounding, and she reminded herself that he was rambling. He didn’t have a clue why she was really at The Tusk & Tail. No one did.
Sass hurried to Lira, wiping her hands on an apron she must have found behind the bar. “Those look good. I’ll take them over.” Then she eyed Lira. “You okay?”
Lira jerked her head toward the drunk at the bar. “He’s a charmer.”
Sass snorted a laugh. “Silas? Durn seems to tolerate him. If you ask me, he’s not worth the worry.”
Lira nodded, impressed that Sass already knew names of the guests. Then she remembered that she knew one too. “I know that guy.”
“Who? Silas?”
“No.” Lira inclined her head toward the orc. “Him.”
Sass swung her head in an arc to take in the great room. “Him who?”
Lira huffed an exasperated breath. There weren’t that many customers in the tavern. “The orc.”
“You do?” Sass slid her gaze from Lira to the two guards in their distinctive uniforms with quilted leather breastplates and metal-studded straps crisscrossing their chests. “Did you two ever work in the same crew?”
Lira shook her head, her cheeks warming despite the fact that she’d looked away from the orc who had not yet looked away from her. “I bumped into him the other day when we went into town.”
One side of Sass’s mouth curled up. “Looks like he made an impression on you.”
Lira ignored the warmth of her cheeks. “I didn’t remember at the time, but I know him. He’s from here. Remember the orcs I told youabout who run the blacksmith and wheelwright? He’s their son. He’s younger than me by two or three years, I think. He wasn’t so grown up when I left, which is why I didn’t recognize him right away.”
That made the dwarf’s brows lift. “He’s all grown up now, that’s for sure.” Then she elbowed Lira, but the nudge landed closer to her hip than her ribs. “What do you know about his friend?”
“Not much, but she looks familiar too.”
“Is she a girlfriend?”
“No idea.”
“Hmm.” Sass snatched one of the pewter plates from her. “Well, we’d better take them their food before it gets stone cold.”
Lira had no choice but to follow behind Sass as she wove her way through the tables to the one nearest the fire. The closer she got, the surer she was of who she was serving.
