by Rachel Gay
Erin protested but when the mercenary showed no sign of leaving she gave up and started walking. They didn't say much, and the walk seemed to take forever in the quiet despite their swift pace.
The Last Inn came into view just as they heard a shout. Kota came running up through the now fiercely falling rain and stopped in front of them, out of breath and red in the face.
“Miles said you went... You were out, and with the rain and everything else,” Kota said, stumbling over his words as he looked from Erin to the mercenary. “I, uh, just wanted to make sure you got back okay.”
“Wow, you're soaked! Did you run out to the farm looking for me?” Erin smiled as if joking, but she caught the way the mercenary took in the mud coating his shoes and the leaves sticking out of his wet hair that, plastered down from the rain, barely covered the mark on his face. “Well, thank you for walking me this far, but I can go back with Kota from here.”
“What? Oh, right.” The mercenary smiled at Erin and gave her the same bow as the first day he arrived at the inn. “I look forward to returning here soon. Please send word to the capital if that wolf continues to trouble you. Forgive me for saying it, but I doubt your town knows how to deal with such things.”
“Uh, sure, thank you,” Erin said while Kota rolled his eyes. “We look forward to having you again.”
She and Kota did not wait around to see the mercenary off. They ran back to the Last Inn, their arms over their heads to shield themselves from the torrent while they urged each other on. Behind them, the mercenary remained for a second longer, watching Kota's muddy footsteps fill with rainwater.
“Yes, I doubt 'he' will do anything else today too,” he murmured to himself. He turned away and jogged back in the direction of the caravan, sure that he would hear more than enough about his absence to last all the way back to the capital.
Miles stood waiting at the entrance to the inn, holding the door open as they ran in, laughing and leaving a trail of rain and mud in their wake.
“Have fun, did you?” he asked as he shut the door on the raging storm.
“Well, I didn't get shot, so I'd consider this a good day,” Kota replied. “And the cannishift has been taken care of, in case you were wondering.”
Miles patted Kota's head and said, “Good dog. Now don't go shaking yourself inside, you hear?”
Kota pushed him away and Erin said, “So...You already knew about Kota?”
“We discussed it,” Miles said while Kota sat down in a chair and fought to pull his boots off. “You two really should talk more. And dry off.”
Erin pulled off her own shoes and noticed the line of mud and water on the floor. She groaned and said, “Great, as if we already didn't have enough to do.”
“I'll—” Kota broke off for a large yawn and continued, “take care of it, after I change.”
Erin tore the mop from his hands and asked, “When was the last time you slept?”
“I...Uh...”
“Uh huh. Go ahead and get some sleep, I can take care of this.” Erin prodded him with the handle of the mop until he went up the stairs and then turned around to stare at the mess and sigh. When she returned in some dry clothes, Miles looked up from his seat and smiled.
“Long day?”
“Tell me about it.” Erin set down the bucket of mop water and started cleaning. “Kota has no idea how close he came to getting caught, and now it won't be long before the whole town's looking for him.”
“What?”
Erin explained about the tracks and what the mercenary had said while she mopped and the smile on Miles's face became replaced by a more thoughtful expression.
“News does travel fast around here, doesn't it? Maybe if he left town for a little while...”
“He can't leave! If I don't have a partner, Dad and Geld won't let me run the inn!”
Miles and Erin looked at each other until Erin had the decency to blush and add, “And he said he’s looking for something around here, right? Something that will break the curse?”
Miles snorted and watched Erin take the mop and bucket back into the kitchen. “As if it were that easy.”
“What?” Erin said as she came back in.
“Would you like me to watch the inn tonight so you can get some sleep?” Miles asked, his smile returning. “I’m going to be up writing my report anyways, and I doubt there will be anymore guests coming in tonight.”
Erin listened to the storm, which was almost drowned out by the creaking and groaning of the inn under the rain and wind, and had to admit that Miles had a point, not that she felt like arguing. Sleep sounded great right about now.
Miles Report
[The following report has been recovered from File Codename: Northern Sun]
Talia,
Thank you again for sending me to this little hick town. Did I really mess up that badly? No, don't answer that. It's been more interesting than I expected, so you are forgiven.
I got here, what, last night? That doesn’t sound right, but then again time seems to crawl on its knees around here. The Last Inn is worse than you expected, even if it does look like the new owner is trying to make repairs. Still, there was a leak in my room, and I don't like the smell of lemons. She also has failed to take advantage of the opportunity to change the name, but I haven’t given up on making some subtle hints. The innkeeper this Mayor Geld has dug up, some girl called Erin Smith, was clearly a last ditch effort on his part. Her “partner” is little more than a bellboy/janitor who seems to have no spine to speak of. I’ve met braver yowlings, and they run at the sound of a door opening.
As for Smith, she has no experience or any qualifications that I can see, except for an astonishing amount of anger and the willingness to put it to good use. If a guest ever attempts to take advantage of this inn's hospitality, I hope I'm there to watch. That said, the girl has no attachment to the inn and could walk away at any moment if a better opportunity showed itself. She does know how to get the most out of it though, which reminds me: you owe me for this little trip, and my fee [...]
[Portion of the report regarding pay has been misplaced]
[...] [T]ell the weather mage he knows his stuff. Everything came right on cue, although I could have used some more warning about the sunlight. That was not a five minute headstart, whatever he says. Despite that I was able to find what I was looking for, and if you come through on that research I will be grateful enough to keep quiet about that little "incident." You know the one. Just keep it off the record for now, until I’m sure. There’s no reason for word to get out if either of us is wrong, right?
The capital may receive word of a monster or creature in the area soon, which you can disregard. One of the local farms had some problems with a cannishift, but that won’t be a problem anymore. I don't know what brought it this far south, and considering the level of ignorance this place does its best to hold on to I doubt any of the townspeople can give an answer. It could have been hiding out here for months before it found the chance to settle in on the farm, and the way these people were going about it the cannishift would have taken out all of the livestock before they thought to check out the last animal standing.
As for reports of a strange wolf, I have looked into it and believe it to be nothing to worry about for now. Even if it does become a problem, he's nothing that I can't handle. Since the capital intends to maintain tabs on this place anyways, I will graciously volunteer to keep an eye on both issues in between taking care of the bounties. It should be more interesting than doing anymore of that paperwork. Seriously, how do you stay sane working in that place? That much boredom and stress cannot be healthy.
You can tell the powers that be that after consideration, I have found the Last Inn to be in capable hands, although follow up shall be necessary to ensure repairs, quality of service, self-financing, and so on. Fluff that up into something nice for me and turn it in to the chief, will you? I’m not sending anymore direct reports to him if he keeps insisting on ridiculous f
ormalities.
I have received your message and will begin the journey to Circa tomorrow night. You're welcome.
Miles
Entry 24: New Signs
When Erin walked into the main room of the inn the next morning, yawning and rubbing her eyes, she thought she had woken up far earlier than she meant to. With all of the windows and shutters closed, the overhead lights could only make a dent in the gloom that pervaded the room. She stumbled over a chair and made for one of the windows.
“Please don’t.”
Erin jumped and whirled around. Following the sound of his voice, she finally spotted Miles sitting with his feet propped up on the reception desk.
“Or at least let me get a head start,” he added. “This time of the morning, the sun shines right in this room. Must be nice for the early birds.”
“Right now you’re our only guest,” Erin said. She paced around the room to hide her unease at not noticing the vampire until then and stopped to fiddle with one of the metal brackets over the fireplace where something must have hung once. After a moment or two she gave in and mentioned the thing that had kept her from falling asleep at once last night. “When you said you had to write a report...”
“Oh, more like a letter,” Miles said. He smiled, his white teeth gleaming in the dim light. “Ah, don’t look so worried. I’m not about to close this place, not yet. In fact, I’ll be coming back after my next little job to look in on you.”
“So we passed the inspection?”
A beaming smile lit up Erin’s own face when Miles nodded, and didn’t even go out when he added, “For now. I’ve made a list of renovations and repairs that should be made, goals to be met. No point in keeping this place open if no one wants to stay here.”
Erin nodded, hardly listening. She couldn’t wait to tell her dad and Mayor Geld, and rub it in their faces.
“You and Kota will be busy, if you want to make a start before the fall rush starts.”
“Fall rush?” Erin asked, snapping out of her reverie a little.
“Yeah, you should know. Traders and merchants traveling and selling stuff to make it through the winter, along with travelers trying to get to the capital or wherever they’re headed before the snow and ice lock them down.” Miles sat up in his seat and put down a sheet of paper he’d been reading. “You’ll want to stock up and save money and supplies to make it through the winter yourselves.”
Erin bit her lip. They had been getting by so far on a day to day basis, living off what the latest guest had paid for room and board. Even with all of the money from the merchants, it would be tough to stretch it out for longer than a few weeks, and that was without guessing at how much all of these repairs would cost. She remembered that Miles had paid for a week and said, “You sound like you’re planning on leaving soon.”
“Tonight,” he said. “Can’t really travel by day unless the weather and land cooperates, you know. Consider the rest of my payment as a down payment for my room when I return.”
“You’re coming back?” Kota asked, aghast, from the top of the stairs. He came down in his bare feet, his brown hair a mess and his mark showing. “I thought this inspection was a one-time thing.”
Miles sprang up and threw an arm around Kota’s shoulders even though the young man flinched away. “Afraid not. You know how they are, can’t find a decent field agent so they’re making me pull double duty. In between my usual headhunting, I’ll be staying around here.”
Kota frowned and Erin briefly wondered who Miles was leaving to go after next. It was bad enough to have a bounty hunter after you, but for it to be a vampire too? She’d rather turn herself in.
“Any plans for today?” she asked. “Oh, but you’d probably want to sleep since you’ve been up all night—Oh.”
Miles shrugged and Kota used that as an opportunity to escape and stand on the far side of the room. “Haven’t had to sleep much, but thanks for asking. I don’t know about you two, but I’m starving. No, no, it was a joke!”
He laughed when both hurriedly stepped back and Erin and Kota both tried to smile in return without quite managing it. Erin had to admit to herself, later that night, that it was a relief to see the vampire go. Not that she would say anything like it to Kota, who seemed to breathe easier once he saw Miles walk out the door and take the road outside the inn that led into the deep woods. He even waved back at the retreating figure before shutting the door and sliding the bolt home.
“What?” he said when Erin looked at him. “If anyone comes, they can knock.”
Not that anyone came, that night or the next. A few more days passed without incident, except for Erin and Kota arguing about how to paint the inn when Kota could hardly go outside and paint with his paws, or the long nights that Kota spent on the roof, hammering on new tiles and saying strange swear words that Erin had never heard before when he hit his thumb in the dark despite the light that Erin had out for them.
One thing of note did happen, in between the haphazard repairs and frequent, if rarely ever that serious, arguing. At some point, whether at night or during the day neither of them could be sure, the old, broken sign above the front door disappeared, along with the rusted old chains holding it up. In its place someone had put up a new sign on gleaming hooks, and in bright paint were the clear words: The Last Inn.
Erin and Kota barely had time to theorize on this discovery before the next guests arrived, and then they barely had time for anything at all.
Entry 25: Madam Elzwig
One baking hot morning late in the summer, every door and window on the ground floor of the Last Inn stood open in an attempt to tempt in a nonexistent passing breeze. Kota, in the form of a wolf, lay sprawled out on the floor of the common room. Erin looked over when he snored and went back to going through the little notebook she had started to use to keep track of the inn’s records.
Not that there was much to keep track of. Since Miles left, not a single guest had come by, and the roads to and from town were disturbingly empty. The side of the page that noted their expenses was getting longer by the day, with the cost of food and repairs. They barely had enough to get the two of them through the end of the week, even with Kota’s small appetite. The only reason they had that much was because Erin had been buying discount, the bread from the bakery that had started to harden and other food that was on its way out. It was a good thing Kota knew how to work with less than stellar materials.
Erin bit her lip and tapped her pen on the page. It wouldn’t be long before the mayor started talking about paying rent, too.
Lost in these unwelcome thoughts, she missed the sound of horses clopping their way down the road over wheels rattling, or the snorts as they were reined in outside of the inn. Kota’s ears twitched at the sound of boots hitting the ground, and when the steps leading to the front door creaked he went from asleep to darting into the kitchen in the space of a second.
Erin looked at the kitchen door as it swung shut and then back at the front door when a man knocked on the door frame and poked his head inside. He was tall, so that his head almost touched the top of the frame, but Erin could still see an imperious coach drawn by two tall horses waiting outside. One glance at the coat of arms, a shield with an eye in the middle of interlocking vines, told her that they must have come straight from the capital.
“Yes, sir?” she said, trying to ignore the pattering of claws on the kitchen floor as Kota paced around, no doubt wishing that he had gone up the stairs and wondering if he should go out the back door. “Er, welcome to the Last Inn, is there...there any way I can assist you?”
She did wish that Kota would knock it off already.
“Yes,” the man said, looking down at her. “Madam Elzwig wishes to know if this place serves drinks, and food. If so, we wish to procure some for an early lunch before we continue on.”
“Oh, yes, of course,” Erin said quickly. Drinks were not a problem, as Kota had discovered a well-stocked wine cellar while cleaning in the storage r
oom off the kitchen and they would probably go for that, or water. Food, on the other hand... She heard the distinct sound of the kitchen window closing as well as the door, followed by cupboard doors opening and closing. “Please tell Madam Elzwig that we’d be delighted to serve her. I’ll just go and...have a talk with the cook.”
The tall servant stepped forward and lowered his voice, as if afraid that the coach would overhear. “She prefers a wide spread, if you understand me. Red wine, preferably from the year of the Dancer, and no onions. The coachman and I will just have water. And she does not like to wait.”
“O-okay,” Erin said but the servant was already walking back to the coach with long, loping strides. She hurried back to the kitchen to find Kota back in his regular shape and what little food they had gathered on the island in the middle of the room. “I guess you heard.”
“I think I can pull something together,” Kota remarked as he turned over a packet of bacon and sniffed something in a jar. He shuddered and tossed that into the trash. “But we may be going without.”
“If she pays half as well as that coach suggests, we can buy some more,” Erin said, but her nerves were jangling. She had seen that coat of arms before, but no matter how hard she tried she just could not remember where. “Do we have any of that wine?”
Kota shrugged and she went down into the cellar herself and returned a few minutes later with a dust-covered bottle she found in the corner to sizzling skillets and a flurry of activity. She stared at this until Kota gave her a sign to put the bottle down on the counter and attend to the guests.
She arrived back into the common room in time to see the servant opening the door to the coach and hold out his hand to assist Madam Elzwig down. She was almost as tall as him, and so large that she was nearly round. Expensive clothes did their best to hide it, but the coach noticeably rose a few inches when she stepped off the ground.
“So it is still open,” she said. Her round face tilted up toward the sign, and Erin felt a flood of relief that they had spent all that time cleaning and repairing until she added, “Just as shabby as ever, I see.”