Fizzlebottom hadn’t led them astray. They had made good time and started to see signs of civilization before dusk. They passed an area where the trees had been cut down. It looked like they had then ben dragged down to the river. Kamilis wanted to look around and try to figure out what had happened, but Kamilis and Xecran said, in no uncertain terms, that if he didn’t stop looking around, they would leave him where he was and make sure his dinner, if he even got any, would be cold.

  Shortly after the clear cutting they found a well-used trail that mostly followed the river. The path eventually diverted to the left while the river went straight, they decided to take the path as the alternative looked like they’d have to climb over boulders and rocks.

  After a while they were concerned that the trail might have led them astray but as they crested a rise, they could see that the trail curved back around to meet up with the river. They also noticed, in the distance, several columns of smoke. They were coming from the buildings of a town that they could just make off in the distance. The view also answered Kamilis’ questions about the trees. The river spilled into a larger body of water and on the water were hundreds of logs. It seemed whoever had cut down the trees had used the river to move them.

  Kamilis nodded. “That’s a pretty ingenious way to move logs. A lot easier than horses and carts.” He pointed beyond the town, where the logs where. “And I think that’s a lake.”

  Klavis grinned. “Well, we can stand here looking from a far or we can hurry up and take a closer look.”

  With that they quickly moved down the path.

  As they got closer to the town the it turned into a proper dirt road. The sun was setting as they followed the road into town. It was outlined with lit streetlamps. There were very few people in the road but all of them turned to stare at the three elves walking into town.

  Kamilis went up to one of the streetlamps. He reached out and felt around the glass and looked back at Klavis and Xecran who were standing there curiously looking around at the town. “Hey, guys, these lamps aren’t just light, it’s actually fire!”

  They moved over and all three of them were standing around the lamp, examining it.

  “Looks like an oil lamp.” Xecran shrugged “Not very safe but maybe they don’t have any glow ore to make a proper lamp.” Then he ran his finger along the glass panels and frowned. He then lightly tapped on the glass. “This glass is flawed, it has impurities. I can’t believe anyone would let glass like that leave their shop.”

  Klavis wasn’t nearly as interested in the lamp as the other two and he was looking around. The longer they stood there the more people were in the street looking at them. He turned back and said softly “I think we should go fine an inn.”

  The other two glanced around and nodded, silently agreeing. They continued walking along, looking for signs of an inn or tavern. While walking Xecran quietly asked “What is inhabiting this town. They don’t look like gnomes.”

  Kamilis glanced around. “Hmm…well there are a few who kind of look like gnomes, but they don’t have a beard. I think they might be children considering they are holding hands with taller people. Maybe dwarves?”

  Klavis frowned “Possibly but I think they look more like humans? They are about three hands shorter than us and have a thicker build.”

  Kamilis nodded “That could be. From what I read humans and dwarves look close enough to each other that it can be hard to tell. I think dwarves are a bit shorter than humans and much stockier”

  Xecran looked at the two “Does it matter?”

  Kamilis responded “No, I guess not, but it would be nice to know. Either way I know I’m going to have a lot to write about tonight.

  They passed a dozen or so buildings, few of them had lights on. There were several that looked like shops that were closed but had living quarters on the second floor. They had walked through most of the town and were starting to think that they might have to camp once again until Klavis pointed to one of the buildings ahead of them. “That one, I’m sure that’s a tavern.”

  Kamilis looked where he was pointing and then looked back to Klavis. “Are you sure?”

  Klavis grinned. “Yes, I’m sure. If it’s one thing I know it’s taverns.”

  Kamilis nodded “Very true.”

  And so, they made their way to the tavern.

  As they approached it became obvious to the others that it was indeed a tavern. The light from the windows flooded out into the street and they could hear hearty amounts of laughter drifting out from the entrance.

  They opened the door and stepped in. Klavis stood in front with a smile on his lips and his hands on his hips while Kamilis and Xecran stood behind him.

  The room slowly went silent. The first person to look over and see them had stopped talking and nudged the person next to them who, in turn, did the same thing. This continued till everyone in the room was looking at them. The silence was deafening but Klavis didn’t let the smile slip from his face.

  Everyone silently turned their head to follow them as they walked to the bar. The man standing behind the counter was a bit plump, with dark brown hair and was starting to go bald on top. He wore a well-worn, but clean, apron and was absently drying a glass with a small towel.

  Klavis continued to smile as he put his hands down and leaned forward looking down at the tavern keep. “Hello my good man. We’d like three of your finest ales, and three dinners to boot.”

  Behind him Klavis could hear the creaking of chairs and a few coughs. The tavern keep stopped drying the glass and looked at Klavis with a look of confusion and then asked Klavis a question in a language he couldn’t understand.

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  Klavis stopped leaning on the counter and turned to Kamilis and spoke to him quietly. “What the hell did he say?”

  Kamilis shook his head. “I don’t know. I read that some civilizations had different languages although I had my doubts. Especially after our visit with Fizzlebottom.”

  Kamilis heard the bartender, who was hidden behind Klavis, ask a question but the only word he heard that he knew was “Fizzlebottom”. Kamilis hadn’t realized he was speaking loud enough to be heard.

  Xecran had been keeping an eye on the tavern crowd. Several more people had entered, and everyone was starting to whisper between each other while glancing at the newcomers. Some of them were obviously armed. He looked back to his cousins. “Well, whatever you want to do, do it fast. They are getting restless and I’m getting an uneasy feeling.”

  At that all three of them glanced around. Kamilis then reached into his bag and pulled out a vial and handed it to Klavis. “Here, drink this.”

  Klavis looked at his brother skeptically but took the vial and drank it without question.

  Kamilis nodded towards the man behind the bar. “Try talking to him again.”

  Klavis turned back around, putting on his friendliest smile. “Hello, my friend, my friends and I were looking for some cool ale and warm food.”

  The man looked at one of the serving women and nodded. She went to the kitchen while the bartender turned his attention back to Klavis. “Coming up.”

  Still smiling, Klavis said “Excellent.”

  The barkeep started filling three mugs with what looked like ale.

  Klavis continued talking. “We were also hoping we could find some lodging for the night. We spent the last night in the forest and would enjoy having a nice warm bed for the night.”

  The barkeep placed the mugs in front of Klavis, frowning, but saying nothing. After a few moments he spoke in short gruff sentences. “There’s a merchant train takin’ up most the rooms. We got one. You could share it.”

  Klavis nodded “That would be perfect. We don’t mind sharing a room.” Klavis casually leaned in and spoke to the barkeep like he was a trusted confidant. “Between you and me, why is everyone so silent? I was looking forward to the laughter that I heard spilling into the street. Do you not get many travelers?”

  The balding man glanced out into the room and his uncertainty was plane on his face. “It’s not that, we get few enough people, true but, we’ve never seen ones like you three.”

  Klavis continued to speak as to a confidant. “Oh, I see, I see, you just don’t get elves out to these parts. I understand.”

  The barkeep looked confused and Klavis could see a little fear in his eyes, but the barkeep’s body didn’t betray his true feelings. Klavis was impressed. “Sir, elves are rare true, but what’s that gota do with you?”

  It was Klavis’ turn to be confused. “What do you mean?” He gestured to himself and his traveling companions. “We are elves.

  “If you say so sir, but you don’t look like any elves I’ve seen.”

  “Really now? What are elves supposed to look like?”

  “Well, your faces do look similar, I’ll give you that, even if they are a bit elongated. Like you they have pointed ears, but they are not as large as yours. They are also much shorter, no one’s heard of an elf more than five foot or so.”

  Klavis straighten up and turned back to the others who were eagerly waiting to know what they were talking about. “Well, apparently we aren’t elves. They’ve never seen anything like us.”

  Kamilis frowned “Ask him what elves are supposed to look like.”

  Klavis waved away the question. “I already did. It seems that we share the facial features of the elves he knows but we are taller.

  Kamilis seemed confused. “Tall? How short are these elves supposed to be.”

  Klavis put a hand at the middle of his chest. “About this short, and that’s the tallest he’s ever heard of.”

  Xecran looked at him aghast. “That’s not possible, that’s shorter then these dwarves.”

  Kamilis looked at Xecran “So you think these are dwarves, not humans?”

  Before Xecran could answer Klavis said, “Hold on, let me ask.” Klavis turned back to the barkeep. “I apologize for the silliness of this question, but my friends and I are having a discussion, and we need some help.”

  The barkeep shrugged. “I’ll do my best.”

  Klavis nodded “We were wondering, are the people here humans or dwarves?

  The question caught the barkeep by surprise. “We are mostly human here, no dwarves.”

  Klavis turned back around. “He said they are mostly human, but no dwarves.”

  Kamilis shook his head. “Well at least that answers that but something is wrong. I’ll have to take some time to reread some books. I’ve never heard of any elven family that were that short. Something is not right.

  The barkeep cleared his throat and Klavis turned back around. The serving girl had brought three plates of food. “That’ll be nine copper and that’s including the room for a night.”

  Klavis furled his eyebrows “Coppers?

  The barkeep nodded, eyeing Klavis. “Aye, nine coppers, it’s a fair price.”

  Once again Klavis turned back, confused. “He’s asking for copper.”

  Xecran asked “Copper?”

  Klavis nodded “that’s the same thing I asked. You work in the forge; do you have copper with you?

  Xecran shook his head. “No, why would I? It’s not like I was going to go camping and do some forging on the side.”

  Klavis shrugged “I was just asking, you never know. I mean Kamilis brings books.”

  Xecran raised his hand and was about to rebuttal when Kamilis interrupted, “Focus. I think I know what he’s asking for. I believe it’s called money.”

  Klavis and Xecran stared blankly at Kamilis.

  He sighed. “You guys should have studied. Money is an old form of bartering. They put an arbitrary number that they associate with a precious metal and use that to gauge what their services are worth.”

  Xecran slightly cocked his head to the side. “What an odd system.”

  Kamilis nodded. “Indeed, it often led people to dedicate their lives to accumulating large amounts of these metals rather than using their lives to better society and themselves.”

  Klavis looked impatient. “Enough with the history lesson. He wants money, we don’t have any. What are we going to do?”

  Kamilis shrugged. “I’m not sure.”

  Klavis just shook his head “Bah, you’re no help” and then he turned back to the barkeep.

  Any awe or confusion the barkeep showed earlier was gone. His arms were folded, and he was glaring at Klavis “No money, no food, we don’t stand for those that don’t pay their way.”

  Klavis did his best to try and sooth the situation. “I’m sorry, but we don’t have any money…”

  The barkeep looked like he was about to start saying something very stern, but Klavis continued, and the barkeep kept whatever he wanted to say to himself. “But, maybe we can trade,” Klavis pulled out his dagger and the bartender jumped back, and he could hear the sound of several chairs being hastily pushed back as people jumped to their feet.

  Xecran leaned over and said softly to Klavis behind his head. “Hurry up before there is a fight.”

  Klavis ignored Xecran and continued on his way. He flipped the dagger so he was holding the blade and the handle was extended to the barkeep. “I apologize; I was just going to offer this as a trade.”

  The man let out a sigh of relief and moved back to the bar and took the dagger. “Aye, but that’s worth more than a few copper”

  Klavis shrugged “Thats fine. You can keep the rest.

  The man shook his head “No sir, I won’t want people thinkin’ I’m a swindler. I’ll hold on to this till the morrow. Then we’ll see about getting it sold, and I’ll take your tab out of that and you will get your change.”

  Klavis extended his hand, and they shook. “You are a right good man sir.” And the bartender finally cracked a smile however small.

  As they shook hands the growing tension in the room was suddenly gone. People started to talk and laugh. They took their food to an unused table off to the side. They ate in relative silence. Xecran and Kamilis could hear all the people talking but couldn’t understand a word, but Klavis could. They were the talk of the town. Klavis smirked as he sat there thinking “.”