18 Chapter 18 It Takes Time (1/2)

The shop, when they entered it, was crowded with all manner of things. Gia had to remind herself that they didn't need a lot of it, but some of the things were fascinating to look at. Mikey very quickly got lost looking through a shelf covered in small toys.

”Don't break anything, okay?” she said, moving over to look at the clothes hanging on a rack marked human.

”What can I do for ye?” asked the dwarf that popped out from a doorway in the back. ”Oh, humans.”

”We have a list of things, that we need to get for Bob, the innkeeper?” said Vonn, stepping forward with a small friendly smile.

Gia hid her astonishment at him shamelessly using Bob's name by turning to look at a shirt on the rack.

”What sort o' things?” asked the dwarf suspiciously.

”I need a backpack, some bedrolls, clothing similar to these we are wearing,” started Vonn, pulling at the front of his shirt.

”Are ye sure these are fer Bob? Seems they are for someone intendin' t' leave the city soon,” said the dwarf, eyeing him carefully.

”Well, now that you mention it, Bob is the one who sent us, and he told us you were the best dwarf to buy things from,” said Vonn, managing to look sheepish.

”I recognize those clothes ye are wearing, cause Bob had me make a second pair o' each o' them. Enough for 5 o' ye, right?”

”Yes, sir,” said Vonn, stepping back as the dwarf moved towards the rack Gia was looking through.

Pulling clothes off the rack and setting them down on the counter, the dwarf soon had five sets along with boots and cloaks for each. Then, he went over against the wall and started pulling rolled up bedrolls and handed them to Vonn, who set them on the counter with the clothes. Next, he grabbed a backpack and threw it on top.

”What else?” the dwarf asked gruffly, eyeing them.

”Do you have a tent and some rations?” asked Vonn, looking around.

The dwarf quickly added a large tent to the pile, but paused at the packages of rations.

”How many rations ye want? Each one feeds a person fer a whole day,” he said, holding up the hand-sized bundle.

”How about enough for five people for a week?” said Gia, taking one of the bundles and opening her mouth in shock at its weight. This might feed them for a couple of days!

”Alright,” he said hauling the entire basket over and counting them into the new backpack. ”What else?”

”Some waterskins,” said Vonn, counting out five and adding them to the pile, then pausing as he noticed something.

Gia moved up and looked at the display of flint and steel fire starters that had caught his eye, and noticed the sewing needles next to it.

”You can get one of those, if I can get a needle?” she said with a smile.

Nodding, he gathered them and threw on a roll of twine as well.

”Look around and make sure there isn't anything else ye want, while I add up the total on this,” said the dwarf, folding the clothes and shoving them into the two bags Gia and Vonn handed over.

”Go ahead,” he said. ”I'll help here.”

Gia looked around the store, wondering what else they could possibly take. There were some nice soup kettles, but they looked so heavy she knew it wouldn't be practical. Grabbing a whetstone for Vonn's dagger, she handed it to him and then went to see what Mikey was playing with.

He had left the toys and was over in a corner. She double checked that the small horses and goats were back on the shelves where they belonged, and went over to see what he was looking at.

”Mikey?” she asked, coming up behind him. ”What are you looking at?”

”It's a little battleaxe, sized just for me!” he exclaimed, holding up the axe for her to see. It looked exactly like the ones she had seen the dwarven guards carrying around, only smaller. She saw that it even had a sheath to attach to either his belt or to strap the weapon to his back.

”I sell a lot o' them to young dwarven lads,” the dwarf said, overhearing him.

”I told you I would get you something, but I'm not sure I can afford this,” Gia said, chewing on her lip. What would her mom think if she got him one?

”Please? I looked at all of the toys, but they're for little kids and I need to be grown up so I can help out more while we're traveling!” he exclaimed, getting a serious look on his face. ”With dad being blind and mom's legs hurting all the time, I need to be able to protect them if you and Vonn are busy or out hunting!”

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”What's this I hear?” asked the dwarf, shoving the whetstone into one of the bags. ”Ye'r dad is blind? And ye'r traveling? Where are ye going?”

”We don't really know,” said Vonn shaking his head. ”An army marched on the city where we used to live, and we were forced to come this way to escape it. It won't be safe to go back over the mountain, so we're going to have to head further east and south along the coast.”