Zombie stew

Esmiralda and her companions, the Optimist Monk Broo Fang Tane and Seymuhr Skullsquasher were enjoying a brief respite outside the walls of Veral Ski, the largest city in the land of Korrin. Soon, they must visit with the queen and tell her of the demise of their colleague.

Later, much later, I staggered up the stairs to the room that awaited me. Broo Fang Tane had already retired for the evening, but Seymuhr was still down in the main room, alternately singing in his hoarse voice and belching bubbles of ale. I paused, leaning against the doorway, for a moment tried to determine which was which--and which elicited more cheers from the sparse crowd. Soon, he would start in with his battle poems and that, more than my own exhaustion, drove me up the stairs to seek solace.

The room was small, but tidy. There was a solid-looking bed on the far wall and a chair at its foot. A small alcove held a large caldron of water over some dim coals. There was a tub beside it resting evenly on water-marked boards. I lit the lantern that hung on a hook by the door. Then I collapsed in the chair, my head spinning from the ale, and looked at the bed and then the tub, and then back again. I was woefully tired, but didn't think I'd be able to rest with my own stench in my nostrils. The tub it was, then.

The coals were dying, but the water was still lukewarm--warm enough to feel like a soft, heated blanket as I slipped my body into it. I laid back and let the water soak into and lift the grime from the forest and the road and the fight with the Hunen and the undead horde from my skin, then set about scrubbing my hide and hair. The water was gray and scummy by the time I had finished, a sort of stew made of grime and dead flesh, but still I dipped my clothes into it to rinse them as much as I could. They still smelled like a grave-filled swamp, but I felt a little cleaner and I no longer disgusted myself.

"A proper bath can change your outlook on the world," I muttered, although there was no one else to hear.

I laid down naked on the bed. Tomorrow there would be plenty to do, decisions to make and problems to solve. I could scarcely think of the first before sleep claimed me.