Frozen Summer

Chapter 22

Finally arriving at their destination, Konnor jumped from the horse to look around. Never before had he been in such a city, he was used to living in the wild but now for the first time in a long time he would be able to sleep under a roof. Richard slightly stumbled while dismounting the horse, he really needed to rest. His injuries were not healing as fast as he hoped but he was lucky to be alive in the first place.

" Follow me boy, time for you to meet a friend of mine, grab this bag from the horse I got mine "

Konnor took the bag containing the wine and followed Richard inside, the tavern was busy, the waitresses were running everywhere and Malik was nowhere to be seen. They sat down at a table near the kitchen, Richard was looking around for a familiar face and managed to find Jess running between tables. He waved his hand at her and he understood her saying " one minute " from across the room. While waiting he started doing breathing exercise to ease his pain. His young companion was looking around in awe, this tavern may not be the most rich place on earth but to him it was already great. The place was filled with life, the scent coming from the kitchen, the improvised songs by the already tipsy customers, the sound of the boots on the ground, the laughs, all of this was new.

Finally Jess came to their table and gasped as she saw how bad Richard's state was.

" Oh by the creator ! Richard what happened to you ? "

" I had an encounter with .. a really big bug during my last job but anyway where is Malik ? "

" He ran to the general shop because we were out of wine ! He forgot to go get it because he was still drunk from our evening "

Richard raised an eyebrow.

" Our evening ? "

Realising her mistake, Jessamine started blushing. Richard laughed at her but stopped as soon as his ribs started hurting again.

" Well while you are here, bring us some water and can we have some chicken ? "

" Will do ! "

" Also Jess, take this " Richard took two bottles of wine from Ryzeon from the bag and handed them to her. " Store them in Malik's room I got two for me too, maybe he'll share it with you "

She took the bottles, walked away and smiled at Konnor, he blushed as he looked at her walk away. Richard leaned over the table and smacked the boy behind the head with his left hand.

" Ouch ! What was that for ?! "

" Don't look that much, she is taken ! Or were you too busy looking at her legs to hear what she was saying ? "

" No I was .. it's just that this place is huge and there is so much noise and things to observe. "

" Well keep your eyes away from the waitresses if you can't do it without being noticed. "

A few minutes passed and Jess came back to serve the two of them. They ate and when they were done they went upstairs. Richard opened the door and had a sigh of relief when he noticed no one had occupied his room when he was absent. He dropped his bag on the floor and layed down as slow as his injuries allowed him to. Konnor walked around the small room and noticed the absence of a second bed.

" Hummm Richard ? Where do I sleep ? "

" In this very room why ? "

" But I have no bed ! "

Richard sat down on his bed. Obviously he wanted to sleep in his own bed but it would be cruel to the young man to not grant him this one favor.

" I will sleep on the floor tonight don't worry, you can have the bed "