Shaking his head, James says, “Dave, you are my best friend. We’ve been through a lot together but I can’t tell you. I can’t tell anyone.”
Indicating the others, he asks, “Do they know?”
Shaking his head, James says, “No, they don’t. No one does but me and it’s going to stay that way.”
Somewhat mollified at knowing he isn’t the only one who doesn’t know, he calms down.
James hated to lie to his friend, but he’s too vulnerable. This latest escapade shows him that not only himself, but those around him are likely to be sought. And how did they know he was here. Something’s afoot and he needs to figure out what.
He gets to his feet, tired and exhausted. Looking at everyone in the room he says, “As much as we all need to rest, we better get out of here. If there are agents from the Empire here, there’s no telling what they may be planning next.”
“I agree,” Illan says. To Fifer and Qyrll he says, “Go down to the stables and get the horses ready for travel.” As they move to leave the room, he adds, “Be alert.”
“Count on it,” Fifer says. Then he and Qyrll pass into the hallway and move to the stairs.
Turning back to James, he says, “Now that they’ve tipped their hand, we’ll be on guard.”
“That’s something at least,” James replies. Getting up from the chair, he says to Miko, “Go down to the kitchen and fill several packs with food.”
Miko looks at him askance as he says, “Isn’t that stealing?”
“Stealing from whom?” Jiron asks. “The innkeeper and son are dead and we haven’t seen anyone else around the whole time we’ve been here. Likely as not, if we leave the food it’ll just spoil.”
“Right, I hadn’t thought of that.” Miko grabs his bag and heads down to the kitchen.
James glances to Jiron and says, “I hope there’re no tarts down there or that’s all he’ll get.”
Breaking out into a grin, he says, “I better go help him.” Taking his pack, Jiron leaves the room and follows Miko down to the kitchen.
James, Illan and Dave make their way down to the stables where they find all but two of the horses already saddled. Fifer and Qyrll are getting the saddles ready for the remaining two.
Taking the reins of his horse, he leads him out into the inn’s courtyard as does Dave and Illan. They wait there a moment before Miko and Jiron exit the back door of the inn, each with two bulging sacks of food for their journey back. One small pouch hangs around Miko’s neck and Jiron nods toward it and mouths, ‘Tarts’.
James gives him a grin and by the time they have the food secured to the horses, Fifer and Qyrll come out with the others. Once mounted, they follow the north road through town.
Several townsfolk watch them as they ride by. Whether or not they realize they were the ones who took care of Serenna or not, they make no move toward them nor do they offer a greeting. It’s going to take some time before this town is back the way it was before all the unpleasantness.
They finally reach the outskirts and break into a fast trot as they leave Willimet behind.
Chapter Seventeen
While he rides through the night, his mind continues going over the events during the battle with Serenna and her followers, mainly, the shadows which came from the globe. They were identical in look and feel as the ones he encountered that time Igor came to save his butt. He’s still not sure where he was. Whether it was another plane of existence, another world or maybe just a terrifying dream, he’s not sure. But after seeing the shadows appear from the globe, he’s convinced it wasn’t just a dream.
Since coming to this world, he’s encountered several forces, malignant in nature. By far the worst experience was the one on that other world. From the various books he’s read back home, he has a couple theories as to why these things may be happening, none of which will be pleasant if they’re true.
Two hours from Willimet, they come across another of the areas catering to travelers. This one has but an inn and one other building behind it which looks to be the innkeeper’s home. Both buildings are dark.
Illan brings them to a halt before coming very close. He sits there for a moment.
“What’s wrong?” James asks him.
“Doesn’t feel right,” he says. “There’s usually always a light of some kind at an inn.” To Jiron he says, “Go check it out.”
“Right,” he replies and then dismounts from his horse. While the others wait there in the road, he makes his way toward the inn.
The front door is ajar. Removing a knife from his belt, he steps toward the door. Pausing a few feet from the door, he looks inside but all he can see are shadows cast by the faint light of the moon shining in through the windows. Placing his hand against the door, he slowly pushes it open. The hinges of the door squeal slightly, giving an eerie feel to the place.
When the door is open far enough to allow him to enter, he releases the door and steps through. The stench from within hits him like a wall, death has been here. Moving inside, he tries to breathe through his mouth to minimize his reaction to the odor. On a nearby table he sees a candle silhouetted by the moonlight coming in through a window. Making his way over to it, he sets his knife on the table and removes his flint from his pouch. After two tries he manages to get the candle lit.
The candle’s light reveals a macabre scene. Several people lie dead on the floor, another is slumped across a table. A quick survey shows none of the people are still alive. “Hello?” he hollers. “Is anyone here?” Listening for a moment, he fails to hear anything and then makes his way back to the door.
Sticking his head out, he hollers to the others, “I think everyone here is dead!”
The others come to the inn where they dismount and secure their horses to the front hitching post. “James,” Jiron says from the front door, “you better come in here.”
Coming to the door with the others following, James sees the ghastly scene in the common room. “Looks like the work of Serenna’s followers,” he says. When the smell hits him, he takes out a cloth and puts it over his nose.
Suddenly from upstairs, they hear a floor board creak as if someone is walking around. Without hesitation, Jiron moves to the stairs and cautiously ascends to the second floor with Fifer and Qyrll right behind.
“Be careful,” offers James.
Jiron ignores him and continues up. At the top of the stairs is a hallway running the length of the second floor with doors lining both sides. The noise had to of come from either the first or second room on the left. The first door is open, the second one is closed.
Motioning for Fifer and Qyrll to follow, he edges toward the first door and glances through the doorway into the room. Standing in the middle of the room is a person, silhouetted by the light coming in through the window. The smell of death is in this room as well.
“Are you okay?” Jiron asks the person in the room.
Other than shifting its feet, the person makes no reply.
“Are you hurt?” When no reply is forthcoming, he hollers to those downstairs, “Bring up the candle, we need some light.”
Jiron stands there in the doorway and keeps an eye on the individual in the room as James brings the candle up from below. The others follow as well. When the light at last illuminates the room, they see the person is another of Serenna’s followers. The man looks emaciated and has the same lost, dazed look the others had when her hold over them was broken.
Illan comes behind James and when he sees the man, turns to the others and says, “Search all the rooms, there may be more.”
One by one they search the rooms and find five others in the same state as the first man. “What should we do with them?” Fifer asks.
They look to James who shrugs, “I don’t know what we can do. They may snap out of it, or they may not.”
“Are we just going to leave them here?” Jiron asks.
Nodding, James says, “I think that would be the prudent thing to do. At the next town up the road we’ll tell someone who can come back and take care of them.”