Without Words

Chapter 36

“We’re just about there, lad,” came a voice from the front of the wagon.

Tomas sat up in response, stretching. He glanced around at the landscape before turning to the front of the wagon. They were just entering a small bustling town. The buildings were lit in the bright hues of the sunset, oranges and reds coloring the town. It was a more than welcome sight; he didn’t want to spend another night in the wagon.

He had left Viola a couple of days ago, asking her to get a message to his mother. He didn’t want her worrying about him; even he hadn’t expected to be gone so long. If Dove hadn’t disappeared from under his nose, he probably would have been home by now. It had been quite the adventure for him. Unfortunately for him, he wasn’t really the adventurous type.

He had been worried about how he would get to Lucerne. He didn’t have the supplies or the money to walk there. It was far too great a distance for that. He had been fortunate to find a group of traders who were heading into a small town just across the border. The traders were friendly, and something told him Viola knew them and had set this up somehow. After he had told her his plan to go to Lucerne, she had told him she had a few errands to run. She had taken the short message Tomas had written with her, and he could only assume some other contact of hers had agreed to take it to his mother. He smiled; Viola seemed to know just about everybody.

The wagon pulled up to one of the buildings and stopped. The trader hopped out of the driver’s seat and came around to the back.

“Well, this is it.” The trader gestured to the bustling town around them. “Me and the lads need to get unloaded, so you’re welcome to head off. Do whatever you came here to do. The inn’s right there,” he pointed to the building they had pulled up alongside, “and the rent’s cheap.”

Tomas nodded and smiled. “Thank you. Really.”

“No problem,” the trader replied, and stood out of the way as Tomas hopped out of the wagon. “Good luck, boy.”

“And to you too,” he said, nodding towards the goods. The trader smiled and gave a wave as Tomas headed into the inn.

It wasn’t very crowded inside, unlike he was used to. Of course, the inns he was used to served dinner as well. It seemed the building he had entered was a straight up inn, however. He walked up to a woman at the front. She looked like the sort of person who would know about getting a room.

“Hey,” he said, his voice a bit tense. The woman turned and flashed him a smile.

“Hello, dear,” she replied. “Would you like a room?”

Letting out a small sigh of relief, he nodded. “Yes, I would. Do you have room?”

“Of course we do! Small town like this, we don’t get too many people aside from traders from across the border. Plenty of room for young lads like yourself.” The woman gave a small wink, and Tomas returned a tense smile. He suddenly felt rather uncomfortable.

The woman smirked and leaned across the wood counter. “Father, there’s a man here who’d like a room!” A few moments later, a man emerged from the back.

“Ah, yes! Hello,” the man said. “A room, then?” Tomas nodded. He felt much more comfortable with the man than his daughter. He saw the man eye her suspiciously, and he decided he wasn’t the first man she had tried to charm.

“Wonderful.” The man rummaged in a drawer for a moment. “Here you are,” he said a moment later and handed Tomas a key. “Up the stairs, take a right and it’s the first door on the left.”

Tomas smiled and gave the man a nod. “Thanks.” He headed for the stairs, trying not to look at the man’s daughter. He didn’t like her very much.