The cold
winter wind blew through the White Mountain peeks. The small town of Wolfpeek
was miles from any other town or settlement. Anyone who traveled through the
mountain pass would stop at Wolfpeek to rest before continuing on their
journey. The town population was very small, only a handful of determined
people lived there all year round. They were the ones who maintained the
general store, the Inn and the stables that the visitors relied on. The town
population was low but visitors were so frequent that the town never felt
empty.
Jillian
Cole was a woman with medium length black hair, pale skin like the snow and
reddish brown eyes. She was not a towering figure or even an extremely muscular
one, yet she still managed to be an intimidating figure. Jillian walked into
the horse head Inn, he black metal armor clanked and rustled with each step.
Her whole body was armored but it wasn’t the bulky suit of armor knights had,
this was designed for mobility. The joints and under the arms had thick black
leather instead of metal plate to improve on speed and flexibility. The only
color she had on her armor besides black was the red scarf that was wrapped
around her neck and hung down to her midsection.
The horse
head Inn was a large, dimly lit room full of tables and chairs. There was a bar
and in the back was a set of stairs that led to a second floor. The second
floor was more of a large loft with a row of beds. Night had passed over the
land and the Inn was full of travelers drinking and laughing. Even the most
seasoned traveler could find an interesting story or bit of new information in
the Horse head Inn due to the number of people that passed through on a regular
basis.
Jill walked
toward a chair in the far corner of the room, she undid her weapon strap and
removed a large battle-axe from a holder on her back. She set the axe against
the wall and sat down with a heavy clunk. Just as she sat down a barmaid walked
up to Jill and with a bright smile asked “What can I get for you today, Sir?”
Jill brushed her hair out of her face and stared on the bar maiden. The Barmaid
was pretty enough, with blue eyes and strawberry blonde hair.
“Don’t see many women in armor? In such a well traveled
place like this, I thought you would have seen it all” Replied Jill, she smiled
in her best attempt to be friendly. The Barmaid looked surprised “Oh I am sorry
Madam. I-its dark and your hair was in your face and I thought, well don’t mind
me now. What can I be getting’ for ya?” She said nervously. Jill tried to smile
again but had reached her limit. “Just an ale, thanks” She said. The Barmaid
nodded, gave a nervous smile and ran off.
Jill
wondered why she was trying to be nice. She wasn’t one for small talk and
rarely let things slide. The barmaid reminded Jill of someone she used to know.
The barmaid returned and set the beer down on the table and gave a smile and
Jill smiled back. Jill figured she must either be exhausted or had spent too
long on the road alone because she was never this friendly.
Jill tried to focus on the journey ahead, she pulled maps, papers and letters from her bag. She had letters from all kinds of people, Lords and kings to farmers and sailors, every letter asking for her help with a battle, fight, war or just asking to scare off some local gang. The maps were covered ink, little notes about places she had been and drawings of landmarks.
The night
continued on and Jill mostly kept to herself, drinking her ale and thinking
about her journey. But as she made plans for her trip ahead her mind kept
bringing her back, back to a simpler time. A time when Jillian didn’t always
wear armor and she still had people she considered friends. The peaceful days
when she had a hometown and made plans to settle down.
“Excuse me
Madam, will ya be needing anything else?” Asked the Barmaid. Jill looked up
from her drink and her pile of papers. She had maps, letters and scraps of
paper spread out on the table in front of her. Most of the night she was
studying the map but the last half hour she was just staring at it as her mind
drifted into memories.
When Jill
looked up she saw the Barmaid’s expression had softened. She no longer looked
afraid of Jill and her smile was warmer than ever. Jill was pulled so suddenly
from her memories she had to assume her own expression must have been pitiful
enough to make a once timid Barmaid now feel sorry for her. “What is your
name?” Jill asked. “Andrian” Replied Andrian the barmaid. Jill smiled. This
time it was a smaller yet more genuine smile.
”Andrian would you like to have a drink with me? Its been ages since I have had someone to talk to that wasn’t a brutish man” Jill asked. Andrian giggled “Yes we do get a lot of those” She replied. Then she smiled and hesitated before speaking again. “I think my shift is almost over, most people be needin’ sleep more than they need beer right now anyway” Andrian replied.
”Andrian would you like to have a drink with me? Its been ages since I have had someone to talk to that wasn’t a brutish man” Jill asked. Andrian giggled “Yes we do get a lot of those” She replied. Then she smiled and hesitated before speaking again. “I think my shift is almost over, most people be needin’ sleep more than they need beer right now anyway” Andrian replied.
Jill stayed
at the table and put away her maps as Andrian talked to the Innkeeper. Andrian
came back to the table with two fresh beers. Jill found it surprisingly easy to
talk with Andrian, Jill didn’t have to intimidate anyone or keep up her guard.
The barmaid was a genuinely nice person, a little simple maybe, but nice. Plus
if Andrian did try something, Jill was pretty sure she could win in a fight.
Cheerful, little strawberry blonde trying to fight a heavily armored traveler
with a battle-axe. The thought of Andrian trying to pick a fight with anyone
made Jill laugh.
The sun was
starting to come up and the two women were still at the table talking and
having a great time. Jill was drunk and tired but kept drinking and didn’t want
to sleep. Andrian reminded her of someone and the thought of this mystery
person kept weaving in and out of her head. Andrian was in the middle of a
funny story when she noticed Jill lean forward like she was going to fall over.
Before Andrian could react Jill kissed her on the lips. Andrian’s eyes went
wide and she froze. Jill pulled back and drunkenly began to apologies. “Sorry,
I had a nice time but I think I should go to bed. I didn’t mean to…uh, Sorry
again. I should go to sleep” Jill said sounding flustered. She tried to stand
up and as she did she almost fell right over. Her armor clanked and rustled as
she slowly got to her feet. “I am just gonna…” Jill said to Andrian as Jill
motioned to the upstairs. Again mentioning she needed sleep.
Jill began
to stumble off, embarrassed and angry. Embarrassed that she kissed a person she
just met and angry that she let her guard down. Getting this drunk and
exhausted was dangerous when you traveled alone. Andrian caught up with Jill
and smiled. “here let me help” She said to Jill. Jill nodded and smiled again.
Andrian waved to the barkeep as she led Jill away from the main room, through a
door and into a small room with a bed. “I don’t want you getting robbed or
something in your weakened state…so you can stay here in my bed. I live here at
the Inn so...” Andrian said nervously. Jillian leaned in and kissed Andrian
again. This time Andrian wasn’t shocked and Jill didn’t pull away.
Morning
came too soon as the light of day shined through the shutters of the small
bedroom. Jill woke up to find she was naked in bed with Andrian the barmaid.
“Shit shit shit” Jill muttered. She was relieved to see that her armor and all
of her possessions were not stolen or lost while Jill was in her drunken state.
In fact all of Jill’s things were neatly piled in the corner of the room. While
most would consider it a victory to end up in a pretty girls bed after a night
of drinking, Jill didn’t. She had to be careful, so many things could have gone
wrong and she couldn’t afford to let her guard down.
Andrian
rolled over and put her arms around Jill. Jill blushed as she began to remember
the things they did together. Drunk Jill was as fearless and bold in bed as she
was in battle. Sober Jill could handle the carnage of battle but having a naked
woman next to her made her embarrassed and nervous. “Maybe I have been alone
for too long if this is how I am acting” Jill told herself.
“I had a
great night” Andrian said with a giggle. Jill blushed again and then turned to
Andrian. “S-so did I” Jill replied. Jill realized who Andrian reminded her of.
To her surprise Jill realized that Andrian reminded her of Delana, Jill’s
previous girlfriend. Delana had red hair, not strawberry blond, her eyes were
different and in many ways looked nothing like this Barmaid. But there was
something about Andrian that made Jill think about Delana. “Maybe I am going
crazy and every girl is starting to look like her” Jill thought. Andrian had
similar mannerisms and her behavior was close to Delana, but Jill didn’t make
the connection right away because they two didn’t actually look alike. It also
explained why Jill let her guard down so quickly to a stranger.
“I am still
on a journey. I don’t think I can stick around. I am sorry if that upsets you”
Jill said rigidly. She felt guilt from letting her guard down and now risked
hurting someone who reminded her of Delana. Andrian stretched and got out of
bed. “What? No, don’t worry about it. I know better than to expect a traveler
to stick around. Besides I am looking for a husband, not a wife. I got to keep
my body pure so I can’t have sex before I am married. So this helped keep my
urges at bay until I find the right man” Andrian said.
Jill’s eyes
went wide, she didn’t know if she was more hurt, surprised or relieved. “Well
g-good. Because I can’t stay so that makes things easier. But, uh, we did have
sex, so you can’t call yourself a virgin who is waiting till marriage” Jill
said, trying to speak carefully so as to not show emotion. “heheh, you’re so
silly. No I mean real sex. Like with a man. you’re a girl, we can’t make babies
or nothing so you don’t count” Andrian said as she got dressed. “I-I don’t
count?” Jill stammered feeling hurt. “No, its just like girls helping each
other out…” Andrian said then paused. “We are all just looking for a husband right?
I mean you are a soldier so you must do stuff like this all the time just to
get by. You can’t end up with a girl, how would you have babies?” Asked
Andrian.
Jill stared
with unblinking eyes. “I guess you can’t have babies. But no I am not looking
for a husband, I want a wife and to settle down. This isn’t a game. I don’t
just sleep with strangers while I wait for prince charming to show up and put
babies in me! And yes that did count! You aren’t a virgin you are a whore” Jill
said. He anger grew as she spoke and couldn’t hold it in at the end. Jill put
on her clothes grabbed her gear and stormed out.