Enter the Frey

Chapter 10

The smell of cooking meats and spices filled Adam’s nose as the wooden doors opened inwards. Women with arms of plates and jugs circled the room, clearing tables for groups who talked, laughed, and ate. They looked up when the group entered the busy scene, eyes lingering on Adam as they led him toward a free table in the back.

“I’ll just clear it for you, love,” the woman said, nipping off to fetch a cleaning bucket and cloth. She smiled up at Adam as she cleaned over the tabletop, purposely giving him an eyeful of her ample chest.

Adam offered her an awkward smile in return, unsure what to do in these situations. He’d never been attractive to women before. Or anyone else, for that matter.

The people at the next table were talking about the challenge in loud, confidence filled voices. Ziel caught Adam’s eyes and made a face—a face that said those guys didn’t stand a chance at surviving the ordeals ahead.

‘I bet they think the same about us,’ Adam thought.

A woman, one of the workers from behind the bar, also overheard their conversation. She approached the group, asking if they would take her across the river.

“Get outta here,” the leader of the group told her as he lifted his mug of ale to take a sip. “And fill this us.”

He practically threw the wooden cup at the girl, but she wasn’t deterred, still asking if they would please consider taking her.

“I’ll take you,” one of his teammates exclaimed, making an over the top gesture to simulate s*x. The others laughed.

“Don’t even think about it,” Ziel muttered under his breath while giving Adam a sly, sideways glance.

Adam sighed and looked down. As he stared at the table a woman placed a bowl of stew in front of him. The smell was so divine he didn’t stop to ask where the meat had come from, chewing it up with enthusiasm that was shared by the group.

“This is so good,” Aim declared, dipping a rustic looking piece of bread into her broth. As Adam looked around the table, he noticed that only Selena had taken any sort of interest in the plight of the woman. It was a shame she wasn’t allowed to intervene in other people’s problems, giving all her attention to Ziel alone.

It was a comforting thought that at least one of his companions in this world had some sort of compassion for others. It didn’t seem to be a trend among the people here.

“Been for a swim, have we?” the tavern owner asked, looking at the pools of water on her floor in disapproval. “I’ve run you a hot bath. Last door up the top of the stairs and on your left.”

The bath was the size of a hot tub and clearly intended for multiple people at a time, yet, it wasn’t a social situation Adam was accustomed to.

“What’s your problem?” Ziel frowned as he stripped his clothes and dropped them onto the floor.

“Erm… we are all going to… get in together?” Adam asked.

“Of course,” Ziel said. “What else are we going to do?”

“I don’t feel comfortable with this,” Adam muttered, holding his robe tightly to his body.

“It’s normal here,” Aim said. She dropped her dress, giving Adam his first view of full-frontal nudity. He immediately covered his eyes and turned away, attempting to preserve her dignity. This made her giggle.

“Don’t you want to get clean?” Selena asked. She also slipped out of her clothes, but turned away slightly, not giving him as much of a drastically shocking eyeful.

As jack and Darian followed suit, Adam began to feel silly about his body insecurity. It wasn’t even his body, for heaven’s sake! Yet he still felt like a skinny teenager, forced to undress for P.E. in front of the boys who made fun of him.

Once they were all in and submerged by bubbles Adam felt more at ease. He removed his robe and hopped in, happy for the chance to finally feel clean and warm.

The others washed themselves and were out quickly, drying themselves and retiring to the bedroom. Adam’s plan was to wait until they all left to get out, but Selena lingered.

“Can I wash your hair?” she asked.

Adam frowned at the odd request.

“Do you want to?” he asked her.

She nodded and looked down sadly. “I don’t have any of my own now.”

Adam gave a small shrug, indicating she could go ahead if she really wanted to. As she positioned herself behind him the feeling of her thighs wrapping around his back made him hard. It was going to be awkward if it didn’t go down before it was time to vacate.

‘Think unsexy thoughts,’ Adam chanted in his head, but the feeling of her fingers in his scalp wasn’t helping matters.

“We should get dried before Ziel storms in with that angry frown of his,” Selena said. She did an impression of Ziel that was so accurate it almost had him in stiches.

She stepped out of the bath before him, giving him a view of her behind. He tried to sneak out without her seeing how he excited he was, and almost slipped and fell face first onto the floor. Selena passed him a towel, smiling shyly as she stole a fleeting glance at his n***d form.

“The others are asleep,” Selena announced. She crept into the room and checked Ziel before returning to Adam in the doorway. “I’m not tired.”

“Me either,” Adam said. “Shall we go and get a drink from downstairs?”

“Like a date?” Selena asked, and turned to smile at him to show she was only kidding. He wouldn’t mind dating her. Of all the people he’d met in this world, he would have to place her at the top of the datability pile.

To Adam’s annoyance, he found the other team of adventurers were still teasing the young serving girl. The one Adam assumed to be the leader was telling the girl to bend over and pulling up her skirt. She didn’t seem too comfortable with the situation.

“I’ll help you for free,” Adam shouted over. As the started men turned to face him the girl squeezed from his large hands and shuffled over to towards Adam.

“Thank you,” she said. “Thank you so much.”

She did a weird bowing thing, taking a knee by his feet. Though it wasn’t necessary, Adam wasn’t sure of the proper way to react. He looked to Selena to help, since she knew his body swapping secret.

Selena pulled the girl into one of the seats.

“I hate to have to say it, but our leader hasn’t agreed to help you, and Adam might have jumped in a little prematurely,” Selena explained.

“You aren’t the leader of your group?” the girl frowned. “Of course. You are too nice. I could tell the moment you lot arrived.”

“Maybe if we ask nicely, Ziel will agree to take her?” Adam suggested.

“We are probably best off trying to hide her and smuggle her in the luggage,” Selena sighed. “I’m not sure if you have noticed but random acts of kindness are exactly Ziel’s number one priority.”

“I kinda did notice that, yeah,” Adam admitted. “I think I may have made a mistake in trusting him with my life… my soul.”

“So-oul?” Selena frowned.

“Never mind,” Adam shook his head. These people had no understanding of science and medicine, but he thought they would have a word for or concept of the soul. Was the fabric of this world woven from nothing but magic and tradition?

“You aren’t how I imagined a royal elf,” the girl offered. “You talk… like us.”

“I’ve been travelling with these guys for so long, I guess it rubbed off on me,” Adam lied. He had no idea how a royal elf should behave or speak. His only experience of royalty was the queen’s speech on Christmas day—not exactly inspiring stuff.

“I think Jack might notice, though?” Adam said. “I don’t think he would tell after you saved him from the Loch Ness Monster.”

“The what?” Selena laughed. “The sea dragon, you mean?”

Adam couldn’t help but laugh at her confusion and the thought of trying to explain Nessie to her. It was so utterly ridiculous, it made him realise just how stupid the so-called ‘real world’ could be.

“Okay, so…” Selena sighed heavily. “I’m not sure we can actually help you. But that monster of a guy wasn’t going to help you either. I can promise you that much.”

“I know,” the girl said and hung her head.

“What’s your name?” Adam asked.

“It’s Ayla,” she said. “I need to get across that river. Someone over the other side needs my help.”

“Who is it?” Adam asked.

“I—I… well I don’t know exactly,” Ayla stuttered. “I just have this feeling I need to get there to help someone… special.”

“Oh,” Selena said. Adam could see the confusion in her eyes.

“I know, I know,” Ayla said. “It sounds silly, I’m sure. But I’ve had these feelings my whole life. They are usually right.”

“We will do our best to help you” Adam promised before Ayla returned to her work, clearing scraps from tables and the floor.

‘These customers really are lazy pigs,’ Adam thought, taking special care to leave his table in a decent state for her. He received a funny look from Selena as he stacked the plates up in the same way he would after dining out back home.

When they finally went to bed there was only one space left. Ziel was starfished over two spaces and neither Selena nor Adam dared move him for fear of waking him and suffering his wrath. It was better to let him rest—hopefully, he would wake in a good enough mood to agree to help Ayla.

“You take it,” Adam said to Selena, trying to be the gentleman.

“No, no, no,” Selena shook her head. “You take it, my prince.”

Adam almost laughed at her calling him a prince, until he looked at her and saw no hint of sarcasm in her expression.

“Let’s just share it,” Adam shrugged. “I don’t mind if you don’t?”

The pair slipped into the single bed and wiggled to get comfortable. He ended up spooning her much smaller form, and after trying his left arm in various uncomfortable positions, draped it over her waist.

Adam didn’t think he would be able to sleep so close to Selena, but soon gave in to the allure of comfort and warmth.