Using wood they scavenged from around the room, they made a small bonfire to keep them warm whilst they ate and drank. Hilda quietly drank, before then noticing Thea was still drinking water. "Why do you drink that stuff? Don't you monks drink ale?" She asked the alakazam.
"I have my reasons." Thea replied as she drank from her water filled canteen. Her supply of water was running low, she may have no choice but to drink ale if they stay in this place longer than a day. He felt a little bad about even thinking about drinking the stuff.
"I am sure they are good ones." Hilda drank up, guzzling the ale. The alcohol didn't seem to have much of an effect on her at all, dwarves seemed to have a natural resistance to the stuff. "This stuff is weak."
Janus was standing near the barrels, trying to read the words etched into them. "Hey! We have honey mead! We should sample it to make sure it's not poisoned." He chuckled.
"Don't get too drunk, we need to stay alert." Robin replied to him as he watched Janus fill his canteen with honey mead.
Janus walked towards the others before then sitting down next to Robin. "So, thoughts on what's going on in this place? Got to be some kind of weird old magic hasn't it? That's pretty much the explanation of everything that isn't understood these days."
Robin shrugged in response. "I don't know what is going on in this place, but I heard stories. People have said they have been here before. They say that monsters live beneath this place, and I am starting to believe them. There was one person I talked to before I gathered you all. He said that he went down, deep into the earth. There was a door, and behind that door was gold. Many, many bars of gold."
Hilda had a hard time believing that. "How do you know he was telling the truth? And why didn't he take the gold for himself?" She quickly questioned the gallade.
"Well, then things started to get weird. Saying something about eye eating leeches." The gallade just left it at that, not wanting to talk about what horrid things that soldier told him.
That last part very quickly got Janus' attention. "I'm sorry, I must have misheard. I thought I heard you say eye eating leeches... Well, I am going to be covering my eyes from now on."
Robin chuckled a little. "He could have just been going mad at that point."
Hilda didn't like the sound of this at all. No one really knew if there was gold in here or not. That man he spoke of could have just been mad and dreamt it all up. Or worse, just outright lied. "If there is no gold in this place, someone's face is going to get smashed in. This entire place makes me feel like shit, I don't like it here."
"This place makes me feel dirty too." Thea told the dwarf, before then noticing the blaziken smirking. She had a feeling that he was going to say something she didn't like.
Hilda could see him opening his mouth. "Close the beak, bird boy." She scoweled, staring right at the blaziken.
"Ohh, touchy are we? Or are you just protective of your new nun girlfriend?" Janus smirked, seeing the dwarf balling up her hands into fists once again.
"Keep pushing it, and you will find my sword lodged in your feathery arse." Hilda threatened as she glared. They hadn't known each other for long, but already a rivalry had formed between her and the blaziken.
"Hah, I guess I know who wears the pants in the relationship now. Well, you do look a bit like a man anyway." The blaziken taunted her. He actually thought that she was rather pretty, but he wasn't about to compliment her. He would much rather see that look of anger spreading across her cute face.
Hilda quickly stood up, but Thea quickly spoke as she grabbed one of the dwarf's wrists. "Don't waste your anger on him, he isn't worth it." Thea tried to calm her.
"A few bruises and burns is a small price to pay to shut him the fuck up!" Hilda yelled.
Robin smirked for a moment, looking right at the blaziken. "You sure do like taunting her don't you. It's almost like you have a crush on her."
Janus simply smirked right back, already seeing what Robin was trying to do. "Not my type. What about you Robin? Don't you think she's good looking? Or do you think she's pig ugly?" He questioned him.
"Although I think she is pretty, I am already taken." Robin replied, not wanting to offend the angry dwarf.
"Good, because I don't want either of your ugly arses!" Hilda yelled, wanting to just shove her fist into Janus' mouth to shut him up.
"Ohh, hit a nerve did I?" Janus chuckled before then drinking from his canteen.
"I hope you choke on your drink." Hilda mumbled, clearly very angry. She wanted to bash his brains in. If she didn't need him, then maybe she would do just that. "Bastard." She sat back down, glaring right at the blaziken.
Thea frowned as she looked towards everyone. "We shouldn't turn against each other, especially in a place like this. If we are to face more beasts, we must stand together."
Robin knew that Thea was right. This was probably the worst place in the world to turn on each other. "You don't have to like each other, just try not to get each other killed." He said to them.
"Alright, father." Janus sarcastically replied to Robin as he rolled his eyes.
Hilda enjoyed the small meal consisting of bread, biscuits, cheese and salted meat. It tasted better than some of the things she had to eat in the past. She barely listened to the conversation Janus and Robin were having, but she did however take notice of a book that Thea had pulled out of her backpack. "What's that you're reading?" She asked.
"Oh, it's just something I found a while ago at the temple. No one came to collect it, so I started reading it." Thea happily told the dwarf.
"Is it any good?" She curiously asked the alakazam.
"It is interesting. The main character is a dwarven man. Maybe you know of someone by the name of Crewe Normanic?" Thea inquisitively asked.
Hilda shook her head before shrugging. "No. Who's he?"
"He's the author of this book." Thea informed her. "I have never heard of him either."
"Reading isn't something I think would be fun. It was annoying enough just to learn how to read." Hilda responded, remembering how hard it was to make out what meant what. She used to confuse numbers with words too.
Thea began to wonder something about this dwarf. "When did you learn to read?" She asked her.
"About a couple of years ago. One of the rich people I worked for taught me, before she got an arrow in the eye. She was nice, I liked her." Hilda replied before sighing, and staring back into the flames of the bonfire.
Thea noticed the sad tone the dwarf spoke with, it made her wonder how she got close with that rich woman she spoke of. It was also the first time she had heard the dwarf actually say that she liked someone. "Why did she teach you? I have never heard of someone with money willingly making friends with their mercenaries."
"She wasn't like normal rich bastards. She talked to me, and listened to what I said instead of just giving orders. I thought it was just a way for her to try getting something from me. I thought maybe she was going to ask me to kill a few lords and ladies, but she never did ask me to. She just wanted me to guard a few of her fancy paintings. Can you believe that? That foolish woman trusted me with her expensive valuables. I told her right then and there that she was an idiot for trusting a mercenary with her valuables." The dwarf told Thea.
"What did she say after that?" Thea asked, growing ever more interested in this dwarf's personal history.
"She said that she knew that she could trust me. She was a good judge of character, most of the time. She was a bit clueless about what life was like for the poor. Silly woman had everything handed to her on a silver spoon. She didn't look down on me, it was like she saw me as a normal person. She even gave me a place to sleep."
"What was she? A dwarf? Human?" Thea asked the red haired warrior.
"She was a lopunny, she always dressed in these really pretty, perfect dresses. She tried getting me to wear some, but I just felt ugly in them." Hilda replied, preferring to keep her body covered in armor.
Thea smiled a little, guessing there might be a soft side to this warrior. "I am sure you looked great in those dresses." She replied to her, not wanting the dwarf to feel ugly.
"Err, thanks..." The dwarf awkwardly replied, turning her gaze to the floor. A light blush spread across her cheeks.
When Thea noticed the blush, she couldn't help but wonder how close the dwarf and the lopunny really were. She didn't dig any deeper though, she didn't want her to think that she was flirting or anything like that. She just averted her eyes, looking to the flames. "The fire burns low."
Robin looked to the flames, letting out a sigh whilst standing up. "Let's move before we get a nasty surprise."
Author's note: Thank you all for reading. :) I do enjoy brightening up people's days! So Q&A!
Q: Will there be darker more dangerous beasties?
A: Oh yes, much darker! And way more deadly! Wouldn't be exciting if these four were safe all the time. :)