Duris looked out at the purple fields of Varhes. The heathers had turned that awesome colour for the calluna flowering, and it just looked magnificent in the setting sun. 

“Scary, isn’t it?” Goli said, noticing her staring. “That wide open space, no mountains in sight, nothing above our heads, no buildings… Makes you feel incredibly small doesn’t it?”

Duris turned and looked at the red-bearded dwarf sitting next to her on the ox cart. What an idiot. Even though being so out in the open raised her adrenaline level somewhat, it was exhilarating. How could he not see the beauty in this?

“Nah”, said Duris “I like it, it makes me feel alive.”

“You’re an interesting woman, Dunna.” He said, smiling at her.

Duris was traveling under a last-minute fabricated alias, for obvious reasons. The traders she had met had been kind enough to give her a ride all the way to the city of Tellsberg. Being a young woman had its advantages: they had wanted to help her out real fucking bad, since you don’t leave a dwarf girl out in the great open by herself. They had been looking weirdly at her carrying a bow, but had behaved like polite gentlemen all the same.

The story she had sold them was that her parents had passed away and she was heading for her uncle, who lived in the dwarven artisan quarter of the (mostly) human city of Tellberg. She had chosen that city, because it was well out of the way of her own kingdom, and living between humans, the dwarves there would probably be less backward than the ones that dwelled under mountains. It was a long ride, but the men had felt obligated to escort her, since they were heading that way themselves. Duris, knowing the trade routes by heart, had expected as much before she had fabricated her story. Luckily for her, the guys didn’t have any relatives living in Tellberg themselves, otherwise it would’ve been a hell lot of awkward.

“Hey Husa,” she said, turning to the grey-haired dwarf driving the cart “Where are we staying the night?”

“Garthstein,” he answered. Duris searched her memory for a city on this route called that, she couldn’t find it. Luckily Husa explained. “It’s a small village, but they have an inn. It’s still two hours away, so we’ll be arriving after dark.”

“Nice.” Duris smiled. She was glad that they were staying at an inn. Camping with the four men was a little awkward, since their tents stank and most of them snored. Besides, she could use a good bed.

“They’ve got good ale there, home brewed.” Goli added with a twinkle in his blue eyes.

“Hell yeah!” Duris smiled back. They had been drinking together only sparsely on the road. Virgas had his own stash of strong liquor, but he wasn’t one to share willingly. She hadn’t had a drink in a while, and she could use a little buzz to distract her from the fact that she had no idea what she was going to do with her life.

Duris reached back over the cart and took up the skeleton of her contraption. She was re-building it, but it had been hard getting the proper materials on the road. The guys had been curious, but she hadn’t told them what it was going to be and, unfinished as it was, it was quite hard to make out. She was sanding down the wooden skeleton. The last one had been made of aluminium, which was better, but she couldn’t get custom smithed metal like that on the road. Besides, she wouldn’t be able to afford it if she could. She had found some good hinges though and now she was hoping the wood was strong enough to carry her.

“Dunna, what the hell are you building?”

Goli had asked before, and as the last time and the one before it Duris gave him a sly smile and teasingly said: “you’ll see…”

“Ah, don’t give me that again. I can see it’s a contraption, but I really can’t make out what it’s for. I’m dying of curiosity, please give me something… a hint perhaps?”

“It will blow your mind when it’s finished is all I’ll say.” And it would. It would blow everyone’s minds. Not even only dwarves: everyone’s. Duris was sure her invention, if it worked, would change the world. If it didn’t she would get seriously hurt, but hey, that was worth it. The danger even made her like it better.

When she finished the sanding, Duris put her contraption back in its spot next to her bow and looked around. It was dark already, but there was a light in the distance. Probably Garstghingy, or whatever it was called.

“Do you smell the ale already?” Goli nudged her, clearly excited.

Duris chuckled, this night was probably going to be fun. She liked Goli’s company. He was friendly and nice to hang out with. Always cheerful and excited about the smallest things. He’d been acting like a sort of tourguide on the journey so far: he had stories about every place they passed. He’d been travelling this route for three years and, being the novice of the group, he had tried his best to bestow his excitement about everything on her. It was nice.

Thus far the only men she had met were diplomats or royalty. The former always polite and speaking to the king rather than her, the latter had those fucking filthy ulterior motives. She had really disliked men in general, but this bunch was changing her mind about that. Not romantically, of course, but she could see herself being friends with men now. Maybe it had to do with the fact that now she wasn’t a princess, but just an ordinary girl. Maybe Rana had had male friends… Duris had never bothered to ask.

The two carts pulled up in front of a large wooden building. Zlogi jumped off the second act and ran inside. He was clearly in a hurry to get the mules stabled. The tall guy with the phenomenal brown beard was always the one taking care of the four beasts. Duris had half-a-mind thinking he loved them in a way that shouldn’t be discussed. She thought that, if that were true it would be quite disturbing, but then again, people would think that about her preference as well. The mules seemed to like him a lot though, so well… whatever.

Goli jumped off the cart and offered her a hand to help her down like a true gentleman. Still, Duris wasn’t a damsel in distress, so she didn’t take it and jumped off by herself. He smiled at her, put one hand on her shoulder and stretched the other out towards the entrance of the building. “Welcome to the Drunken Cat Inn, home of the best ale in the entire Varhes region!”

“Well then, what are we waiting for?” Duris replied, taking large strides towards the building.

The inn was bustling. There seemed to be more people in there then the entire population of the shitty little town. Most of them were human, but she spotted two other bands of dwarves hanging around. The atmosphere was cheerful, people were laughing and two guys on lutes were providing the crowd with musical entertainment. They played human songs, but they were quite entertaining nonetheless. They made Duris feel like dancing, but unfortunately the clientele of the inn were all men, and Duris had had her fill of dancing with men.

She made her way to the bar and ordered a pint of ale, Goli jumped on a stool right beside her and held up two fingers. The barman nodded and got them two pints. Goli paid and Duris looked at him uncomfortably. It was nice that she didn’t need to spend any gold. She didn’t have a lot of it, since pawning the two pairs of earrings had only gotten her so much, and besides that… she liked keeping her gold. It may be a dwarf thing…. But still, having Goli pay for her drinks again, she was wondering if she’d be indebted to him at some point.

… and there it was. Three pints later he asked her to dance.

“No.” Duris said sternly. Fuck him, she wasn’t dancing with another guy ever again.

“Ah, Dunna, please… the music is nice, I feel like dancing. Can’t you just indulge me for a bit?”

“Are you hitting on me?” she asked straight out, keeping her face serious, trying very hard to confer the message that she wasn’t implying she liked that idea.

“Well… no?” Goli was blushing now. Duris wasn’t quite sure if it was just embarrassment or that he was lying. She studied his red face a bit more. It had turned into a shade that didn’t go well with his red beard and it almost made her feel sorry.

“If you promise you’re not hitting on me I’ll dance with you, but I’ll lead.” She compromised.

“You’ll lead?” he said with genuine interest.

Duris nodded, took his hand and dragged him off the barstool. If they were going to dance, then they’d do it her way. Goli was still flustered, but followed her lead as she spun him around the dancefloor. People were looking at them, but Duris didn’t care. The music was good, and she was in charge.

“That was FUN!” Goli yelled out after they’d finished dancing. It was true, it had been. Now for another drink. The rest of the posse was sitting at a dimly lit table playing cards. Duris recognised the game as ‘gisters’. There was money involved, so this might be her chance to win some. On the other hand… she wasn’t that experienced at the game and she could lose her last coins.

The idea was thrilling, TIME TO GET LUCKY!

Luck wouldn’t budge, Duris won some hands from the dark-haired guy from the other cart whose name she kept forgetting, but Husa took it all in the end. Now she had no money. FUCK!

“Another ale princess?”

WHAT?! Who the fuck had recognised her? Duris spun around startled, hitting Goli’s head with hers in the move. Goli stumbled back clutching his chin and looking at her wide-eyed.

Duris was stunned. How long had he known? Did the others know? She looked at him in terror, while feeling the bump on the back of her head. Damn the collision had hurt.

“Sorry, sorry… I didn’t mean to startle you.” Goli stammered averting his eyes.

She had to act now. She had to do something. She needed to know who else knew.

Duris grabbed Goli’s hand and dragged him out of the inn and into the stables. It seemed like no one was there, so it was probably safe. She turned to face Goli, who looked completely flustered, but didn’t let go of her hand.

“Whoa…” he muttered, looking her in the eye, smiling slightly. “I wasn’t expecting…”

“Who else knows?!” Duris demanded.

“Wait, what?” his eyebrows raised quizzically.

“That I’m the princess!” Duris snapped angrily. Then, facing Goli’s startled expression, realised what she had just done.

“You’re a princess?” he said, letting go of Duris’ hand and backing off slightly. “Oh, wow um… I’m so sorry… I thought… I… forgive me for my impertinence your majesty!” He threw himself to the floor. It was fucking pathetic, but Duris wasn’t laughing. Maybe she should. Maybe she could fix this like her dad had tried to cover up for her kissing Ivlia.

“Ha, ha… look at you!” she chuckled. It sounded fake, but maybe he wouldn’t notice. “You fell for it. Now, that was fun. Let’s get back to where the party is at.”

Goli turned his head up and looked at her. Eyebrows raised as if trying to make sense of the situation, his curly red hair fell on his freckled face in a way that made him look like a complete mess. He didn’t get up, but his voice wasn’t pleading anymore. “So, you’re NOT a princess?”

“Ha, ha, no of course not! Are you stupid? Why would a princess be in a barn with the likes of you, ha, ha!”

Goli got up, his eyes never leaving her face, walked up to her and grabbed both of her hands. He was coming close, too close… “So, tell me Dunna, if you’re not secretly a princess, why ARE you in a barn with the likes of me?”

Oh, shit this was backfiring. Duris tried to push Goli away, but he was stronger than she was and pushed her hands behind her back, inching even closer.

“Don’t you dare.” She said, with as much venom she could muster.

“Dunna, I like you, you know I do, and dragging me here so suddenly kind of gave me the impression that well, maybe you’d feel the same. But with you acting like this, I’m not so sure. I get the feeling you’re lying to me. So, which is it Dunna: should I bow, or should I kiss you?”

Fuck. He was smarter than he looked. Well maybe she just had been very stupid. He couldn’t know she was a princess, no one could know. It was too big of a risk, so Duris did the only thing that she could in the circumstances. She closed her eyes, thought of the Valkyrie Ivlia and kissed him.

He didn’t kiss her back right away, he seemed startled. But after a second of recalibration, he released her hands, put one of his on the back of her head and returned the kiss. He wasn’t a bad kisser: his lips were soft, and his tongue wasn’t too aggressive. But his beard was touching her face, which was nauseating. It made her realise that she couldn’t just pretend to be kissing Ivlia or Rana, or any woman for that matter.

When the horrifying experience ended, he stroked her cheek lovingly as he let go of her head. It was dark in the shed, but she could see his face was completely red. He took a step back. Thank the gods. She was expecting him to make it worse, that she’d have to make up some idiotic no-sex-before-marriage-plea. But he looked content with the one kiss, albeit he was still looking at her longingly.

“Wow.” He said, completely out of breath. “I can’t believe I kissed an actual princess…. Holy shit, shouldn’t I be turning into a frog now or something?” he muttered to himself.

THE FUCK!?

“Sorry Dunna, or should I call you Duris? You’re the missing princess of Kû right? I really wasn’t going to do anything, I just wanted you to tell me the truth. But it seems you are prepared to do quite a lot to keep your secret… I seriously didn’t expect you to kiss me. Sorry I let you, it’s like a once in a lifetime opportunity you know…” Now he was crimson… “Besides, I’ve been hoping you’d one day kiss me since I first saw you.”

Duris didn’t know what to say. She had just kissed a MAN to cover up a secret that was already out. Maybe she got the brains from her dad after all…

“Don’t worry princess. I won’t tell anyone. You must have some very good reasons for running away from such a cushioned and rich life. I can’t imagine what you must have gone through that was so bad you chose to leave that behind, so I won’t add to the drama okay? I’ll keep my mouth shut and I won’t ask for anything in return. You can trust me.”

His skin faded to his natural speckled complexion and his brown eyes looked sincere. He was telling her the truth.

Wow. She wasn’t expecting that. Goli would probably be able to cash in good if he returned her home. If she’d been in his position, she’d given herself up immediately.

“Hey.” He said, taking her hand. “Let’s go back inside. Everyone’s gonna think something happened and we’ll just let them okay? That would be the safest course of action for you. This way we also have a good pretence for sneaking off if you ever feel the need to talk. I promise I’ll behave… Well, unless you want to kiss me again, that is.”

Adding the last part made him blush again.

“That won’t be the case, but thank you Goli. It means a lot.” Duris meant it. It did mean a lot, but her mind couldn’t help scolding her. I’m a fucking idiot…