Caeron

It gets icky for a few lines near the end. Hid that part behind a spoiler.

Today started as usual. I sneaked a peek of the outside once in a while. The Claws were towering in front of us. Later we were following a cleft. The road had many deep potholes and we were going slow. Weren't mountain passed supposed to be frequently used and maintained?

Eventually the carriage stopped. I heard someone walking slowly away from us on loose rocks. I gave Miss Tessa an questioning look.

``We're on schedule. Don't worry.'' she smiled. We heard some people speaking in a distance, but is was too far away to understand anything. After a while there was a low rumbling and a few moments later the carriage slowly moved on.

A few seconds later it became dark. Miss Tessa switched on the light. ``You may open the curtains now.'' she announced.
Quickly I pulled the curtain aside to look out the window. Milly and Tilly came to the window as well. All I could see was smooth rock face, illuminated by our lantern. While the carriage was slowly moving on, there was that deep rumble behind us.

A minute later there was another low rumble. First I could see light from ahead. Then we entered a large square hall which was illuminated by several magical lanterns. Short stout men with long beards in heavy plate armor carrying a mix of different weapons were spread through the hall. I saw axes, hammers, swords, maces, picks and some more. Most of them carried steel shields as well. They looked alert and quickly surrounded our carriage in a loose formation.

``Keep calm!'' Miss Tessa ordered. ``They are Dwarves. They might be intimidating, but they are allies. Don't get on their bad sides. Some of them probably have a hundred or two years of combat experience. They are not many, but they're tough.'' Miss Tessa lectured. ``Ah I get it!'' I exclaimed. ``Don't piss on Dwarves!'' I added with wry smile. Miss Tessa shot me a stern look. ``They strike at eye level!'' I concluded. Miss Tessa caught me by my ear and pulled me in. ``We will have a talk this later, Lilly!'' she proclaimed letting go of my ear again. Milly and Tilly rolled their eyes.

One of the Dwarves opened the door to have a brief look at the interior of the carriage. We left the hall though another portal.A few minutes later we were following a dark underground road again. The carriage stopped briefly and a few lamps were lighted and attached outside. It was very boring to watch out the window. I got myself a brief spanking for my pun.

We stopped at one of the occasionally appearing small halls for lunch. ``You may leave the carriage, but don't stray!'' she announced before she left the carriage. I decided to follow her out to look at the carriage from the outside. The other occasions I could have done it I were too busy or was too dark. After nearly two weeks traveling in it, I was simply curious.

Miss Tessa was busy starting up a fireplace at the wall. The back and the top of the carriage was covered in all kind of baggage and there was a large barrel next to the ground. Milly followed me out eventually. There was a small ladder in the center of the rear of the carriage, leading to the roof. James was busy feeding the horses. Eventually he came to the back of the carriage. He fetched four buckets from a flap and started to fill them with water from the barrel. He went back to the horses with two of them. I looked at Milly nodding to the buckets. ``Shall we try one?'' I asked. She nodded and tried to lift a bucket. It was heavy but after we exchanged a look we carried it all the way to the horses. ``Thank you, girls!'' James smiled taking over the bucket with ease. ``We'll fetch the last one, too'' Milly offered. He nodded and turned to look over the horses. We ran back fetching the last bucket.

Tilly was carrying stuff from the carriage to the fireplace, helping Miss Tessa.

James was a tall man, my head was just over his hips. He wore a long, dark braided beard reaching down to his breast. Despite being tall he looked massive. He wore a sturdy leather hat with a wide rim and a heavy looking cloak which probably would protect him from the elements.

Erlaucht was standing a few meters to the side observing.

After lunch we continued our journey under the mountain. Later we arrived in front of a tall gate. We waited for at least ten minutes, before we were allowed to continue. We passed many more Dwarves. After we left the gate behind they were less armored, but all carried a weapon of some sort. I saw some female Dwarves, too. There were windows and doors in the walls. A bit later we passed a small square. There was a fountain in the center of the square. Most of the Dwarves noticed us passing, but most of the time they shot only brief glances. Finally we stopped in front of a wide doorway.

Miss Tessa left and entered a nearby door. A short time later she returned and briefly talked with the men in the carriage box. After that she opened the door. ``Come out!'' she ordered. ``Yes. Miss Tessa!'' we piped while getting up. Then we climbed out of the carriage. She shut the door and the carriage slowly drove through the doorway.

``We're sleeping in this inn tonight. While I make the deal with the innkeeper, stay close and don't cause a mess. She glared at me. ``Yes. Miss Tessa!'' we answered while I blushed. Then she entered the door again motioning us to follow her.

We heard noise of many people talking as we approached the door. As we entered, the room went silent. All heads turned in our direction for a second. We all blushed from the sudden attention, causing a few jeers we didn't understand, causing us to blush even more. Then most of the Dwarves went back to their business. I noticed only a few looks in our direction.

Miss Tessa continued her way between the tables unfazed, without looking back. We looked at each other alarmed and hurried to close up again. Tilly was in front, as a dwarven waitress appeared from between two tables. She was carrying a tray with filled tankards over her head. Miss Tessa was already speaking with the landlord. Tilly, closely followed by Milly and I squarely bumped into the waitress. Taken by surprise she lost balance, the tablet tilting our way showering us in beer all over. Milly slipped on the now wet stone slaps dragging us down with her as she tried to regain her balance. We came down in a large puddle of beer.

Suddenly everything went silent again. The waitress looked down at us in disbelief. Then a roaring laughter filled the inn. We blushed furiously, laying in a puddle of beer. Miss Tessa hat turned around glaring. She slightly blushed while the room was laughing. We shared despairing looks. After a few more slips, even soaking in more beer, we finally scrambled to our feet, drenched. The waitress had pushed her hands on her hips while exchanging jibes with the Dwarves at tables around. Finally she shooed us away in Miss Tessa's direction, turning around to vanish between the tables.

Looking crestfallen we approached Miss Tessa. We were reeking of beer, and left beery footsteps all the way up to Miss Tessa I noticed. She would not be amused, an the chance she hadn't noticed it already was virtually non-existent.

Miss Tessa was still discussing with the innkeeper in the dwarven language, as far as I could tell. She sounded similar to them. In the meanwhile a puddle of beer formed around us.

After a few minutes the waitress joined the discussion. A few seconds later Miss Tessa turned to us. ``Follow this woman and do what she wants! She offered to take care of this mess!'' she said gesturing at our reeking dresses. ``She will take you to your room thereafter. We'll have an appointment when I come back!'' she continued. The look she gave us promised nothing good. ``She'll lock the door of your room then to avoid further ... complications. I'll be back in an hour or two.'' she declared. She gave the waitress a bag she pulled out of her apron and left the inn.

The waitress nudged us to a door out of the taproom. After passing two doors in the corridor, she maneuvered us through the third door. It was a room with a tiled floor. Half a dozen tubs were lined up to the back wall. The waitress pointed at us and made a motion of pulling something over her head. We started to disrobe. In the meantime the waitress filled one of the tubs with buckets, which she partially got from a cauldron hanging of a glowing ember. Motioning us to come closer she suddenly had a tub with in her hand and splashed us with cold water. Surprised we all squeaked from the sudden assault of cold water. I frowned, which caused her to laugh.

She looked at us with a smug smile. Then she nudged us into the tub. The water was nice and warm fortunately. She handed out soap and fetched some towels. After we were finished washing, she shooed us out of the water. She handed us our nightgowns after we were dried up. She didn't go through the taproom to my relief. She showed us our room upstairs then and locked the door behind us.

There was a bed for two persons in the center of the left wall. At the right wall was a small table with two chairs. One of these magic lamps illuminated the room. As the stone floor was a bit cold we settled on the bed. We exchanged dejected looks.

``She said: Don't make a mess!'' Milly said. ``This was awkward!'' Tilly added blushing. ``And we'll certainly get an earful from Miss Tessa about this. Maybe more a handful.'' I added. We all blushed.

Time moved very slowly while we waited for the inevitable. After a while I felt something strange down below. A bit like having to go to the toilet. A short while thereafter I noticed Milly looking around searching something. Tilly was pressing her legs together, looking tensed. The urge down below intensified more and more as time went by.

``Does someone know where, the toilet is?'' Milly finally broke the awkward silence. ``Probably on the corridor.'' Tilly proposed.'' Milly started to crawl from the bed. Tilly followed her cautiously. In an awkward stance the shambled to the door.
I decided to tag along while they're pummeling at the door, shouting. Nobody seemed to hear us. After crossing the room I had to focus on holding back, pressing together my knees as well.

``Lilly! Do something!'' Milly shouted at me. ``What should I do?'' I asked in panic. ``T-T-This has to do with us not being in the hiding spot. You remember?'' Tilly piped up. ``Normally we have no problems over the day!'' I retorted with a tense voice. We looked at each other in despair. We tried to knock at the door once in a while, but to no avail.

After that she sat down on the bed. After giving us all a solid spanking, she tucked us in. She left the room without a word, locking the door behind her.

After a while Milly cautiously pulled me on my side. Her face was right in front of me. She pulled me in a hug. A few moment later I felt Tilly snuggling me up from behind. We laid there for a while comforting each other.

Eventually we fell asleep.