Read Teleporter (a Hyllis family story #2) for Free Online Page B

group of merchants who traveled from town to town in big wheeled wagons. Out on the road, they camped, but when they were in towns they liked to stay in an inn or tavern where they could get a bath and relax. The Nortons wouldn’t have known of the odeur the Hyllises were currently held in.
    Norton himself, a big man with a jovial attitude, smiled and spread his arms wide at Daum. “I see you finally prepared yourself for our arrival!” He turned back over his shoulder to one of his fellow travelers, “Usually this place is packed and we have to wait and wait to be seated, though it’s worth it to get some of Eva Hyllis’ fine food.” Turning back to Daum, he said, “I assume we can just sit wherever we want?”
    Daum nodded while turning towards the bar, “You’d like a beer, I’m sure?”
    “Oh yes! Traveling is a hard job that parches a man.” He winked, “Especially when a man hasn’t had a sip all afternoon ‘cause he’s looking forward to one of your fine brews!” He turned to the man behind him, “This is one of our favorite stops on the road, because they have a big water heater built in above the fireplace there. They have a room with a couple of big tubs out back. There’s not many things quite so relaxing as soaking in one of those big tubs full of hot water on a cool evening.”
    Of all the travelers that came through, Norton and some of the members of his caravan were the most likely to pony up for a bath, or even just a good long soak. Tarc went in the kitchen and helped Eva poke up the fire in the stove. There passed a mad flurry of activity while he, Daussie, and Eva chopped potatoes, cabbage and apples that hadn’t been prepped since they hadn’t been expecting any customers. Daum served beer to a roomful of caravaners, assigning some of them rooms and negotiating prices for those who wanted to camp in the little courtyard.
    Norton was quite pleased to learn that virtually everyone in his caravan could stay at the Hyllis tavern. Usually the tavern was busy enough that some of the caravan had to stay somewhere else.
    Soon Daussie was taking orders and Tarc was bringing in more firewood. After a few days in the doldrums there was something reassuring about the hard work.
    When he was out in the big room, Tarc frequently found his eyes sliding to a cinnamon skinned young girl sitting at one of the tables. She looked to be a year or two older than Tarc and nearly as tall. Wearing leather and carrying a sword, she looked extremely fit and self-confident. He wondered if she could actually be working as a guard for the caravan. She was sitting at a table with strong, tough-looking men who certainly looked like guards themselves.
     
    ***
     
    When things had wound down a little, Tarc went to ask his father if he needed anything behind the bar. Norton and Daum appeared to be having a serious conversation so Tarc stood quietly waiting to be noticed, occasionally glancing at the dark-haired girl.
    Norton said, “That’s terrible! So you’re being ostracized just because these mercenaries chose your tavern as their base of operations?”
    Daum nodded bitterly, “The sons of bitches took the tavern’s wagon down to pick up bodies after they massacred some of the townsmen in the square. The people in town recognize our wagon, so they thought we were involved in that too. Hell, we were in the square along with everyone else, worrying that we were going to be killed just like they were!”
    Norton shook his head, a dismayed look on his face. “What are you going to do?”
    Daum sighed, “We don’t know. We think we’re going to have to move.” He looked up at Norton and lifted an eyebrow, “Maybe we should join a caravan?”
    Norton straightened and drew his head back, an interested look on his face. “That would be great. We’d love to have someone with Eva’s cooking skills in our caravan, to say nothing of how much we need a healer.” He frowned, “But you know, it’s a little