by Rachel Gay
“Ugh. I guess you’re hungry or thirsty or something.” Erin wondered if Miles remembered animals needed to eat more than he did. Probably not. She dragged the pig’s cage into the kitchen and found a bucket to fill with water.
The only problem was that the pig barely had any room for itself in the cage, much less for the bucket. Groaning, Erin dragged the cage again, this time through the back door and across the yard toward the stable. She had to stop a few times to catch her breath, as the pig was no lightweight.
During one of these pauses, the pig grunted and started slamming against the door of the cage.
“Stop it!” Erin yelled, but the pig took no notice of her. The cage rocked and nearly tipped over, and Erin grabbed the other end of the cage and pulled it into the stable and over to one of the stalls.
She slammed the stall door harder than she meant to and came back a minute later with the bucket of water and some scraps of food. Placing those in the stall, she unlocked the cage door and quickly stepped back through the stall door.
The pig immediately crashed out of the cage and tackled the stall door, and Erin had to lean and put all of her weight on it to get the latch to shut.
“Stupid pig,” she muttered and crouched down with her back to the stall door. Sighing she stared at the patch of sunlight on the floor while the pig hit the door a few more times before turning on the food and water.
Sunlight? It took a moment for what she was seeing to sink in, and then Erin’s expression turned to one of horror.
Had the sun been out before? Erin tried to remember, but fighting with that pig meant she didn’t have time to think about that kind of thing. Even now she couldn’t think straight as she ran out of the stable and to the inn, then back out the front door when a quick search proved that Kota and Miles were still out.
She was halfway to the forest before reason caught up with her, causing her to slow down until she stopped a fair distance away from the first trees. The path led on, but she doubted Kota would have bothered to stick to it.
Erin scanned the line of trees and bushes, but even if she could tell which way they went it would not have made going in any easier. Every snap of a twig, every trill of birdsong, even the wind rustling the branches of the trees made her take a step back whenever she tried to get closer.
She tried to remind herself about what Kota said, that the forest wasn’t like what everyone said, but she couldn’t help thinking that he did not have the same ideas about what was dangerous. The guy had a habit of turning into a wolf, after all.
The clouds gathering overhead did not register to Erin as she took a deep breath and followed the path into the forest. Her chest and shoulders were tight with tension, her steps little more than shuffling, but slowly she made her way along the path, eyes straining to see as far as possible in the dimming light.
A bird shrieked overhead and a squirrel chattered so close that Erin’s nerve nearly broke.
She bit her lip. Stupid, she thought, and took a deep breath. Steeling herself, she broke into a run, deeper into the woods. The only thing keeping her terror down was the constant thought that the sooner she found the others, the sooner she could get out of this place.
So determined was she, Erin missed the sound of footsteps in the distance. She did not even see Miles and Kota up ahead until she rounded the curve in the path and almost ran into both of them.
“Erin” Kota lost his grip on Miles when Erin threw her arms around him.
“Oh, thank God you’re okay!”
“Yes, let’s worry about the guy who could have died later,” Miles said from the ground.
Erin quickly let go of Kota and stumbled out an excuse while he helped the vampire back up onto his feet.
“I’m starting to think you like running into me,” Miles muttered. Now that Erin looked, she could see that the vampire was pale and feverish, not to mention trembling more than Kota in town.
“We need to get him back to the inn,” Kota said. “Do you mind helping?”
Erin took Miles’s other arm and between them they managed to haul the vampire all the way to the inn, with him muttering most of the way. One particularly bad moment came when they cleared the last of the trees and Miles turned his head to look at Erin and say, “I thought I told you to stay at the inn.”
“You might have said something like that,” Erin admitted.
“I also might have said something about a certain pig,” Miles said. He sniffed and Erin wished she could move farther away. “What did you do?”
“Just moved it to the stables,” Erin said, leaning as far away from him as possible while still supporting his weight. “I put her in one of the stalls with some food and water.”
Miles groaned. “You mean the stalls with the incredibly easy to open latches?”
“Er...” Erin could not answer before the vampire suddenly surged forward, dragging the other two along for support.
He struggled with the door until Erin opened it for him, and all three stared at the sight of the pig, or at least the half of her they could see stuck in the small gap between the bottom of the stall door and the floor.
Miles took one look at the scene and laughed. “Really, Melanie? You thought you could get through there?”
The pig huffed and looked as embarrassed as a pig could manage. It took Kota a while to get her unstuck, and then even longer to get her back into the cage.
“Looks like I’m not the only one who doesn’t want to go to the city,” Kota remarked.
Miles felt Erin tense up next to him and he had to steady himself. Speaking around the hand he put to his mouth, he said, “Kota. Inn. Now.”
Entry 45: The Journal
Kota took one look at Miles and jumped up, taking the trembling vampire’s other arm. “Please excuse us for a moment, Erin.”
Erin stared as they went back to the inn as fast as Miles’s legs would allow. Behind her the pig made a squealing snort and she said, “Oh, shut up.”
Kota managed to get Miles as far as the common room before he had to drop him in a chair. “Blood, right?” he asked.
Miles nodded. “You know where it is.”
The young man ran upstairs and returned less than a minute later with the case Miles had shown him the first night he stayed at the inn. He slowed at the table and set it down carefully before opening it.
“Oh,” Kota said, looking at the three vials inside. Two of them were empty, and the third had less than half of its original contents left.
“It’s enough,” Miles said, grabbing the vial. He wrenched the top off and gripped the table, forcing himself to drink the rest slowly instead of gulping it all down. It did not last nearly long enough, but Miles finished it with a satisfied sigh. Catching sight of Kota’s face, he said, “Don’t give me that look. Better this than—”
He broke off when they heard the kitchen door open and put the last vial back in the case, shutting it before Erin entered the room.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
“Yes,” Kota said, at the same time Miles answered, “Better.”
They glanced at each other uneasily and Kota said, “I take it you’re still planning on going to the capital?”
“If I can,” Miles said. He leaned back in his chair and rubbed his face, which did have a healthier tone to it now. “Bad enough that I have to get that pig in, now I have Elzwig waiting for me too.”
Kota nodded and started to walk toward the door but he was stopped in his tracks when both Erin and Miles called out, the vampire half-rising out of his chair.
“What?” he said. “I’m just going to see if anyone around here has a horse you can borrow. You can’t walk there with the pig, not if you want to make it before daylight tomorrow.”
“Oh,” Miles said, sinking back into the chair.
“Maybe I should—” Erin started, but Kota just gave a her a half-hearted smile and walked out.
“Sorry about that,” Miles said when the door shut behind him.
“Sorry about what?” Erin asked. She glanced at the fireplace and saw that the fire had died out. “I’m going to get some more wood. It’s supposed to get cold tonight.”
She went through the kitchen to get to the back door and Miles shook his head. He looked at the combox on his wrist and for the first time read the urgent message that had arrived while he had been chasing after Kota.
Erin came back with an armful of wood in time to see the vampire rip the strap off his wrist and toss the small box across the table.
“Figures!” he snarled. “‘Oh, by the way, the sun’s coming out. Hope you’re not outside.’”
Erin wondered who he was trying to mimic with that smarmy tone, but said, “Thank you, for bringing Kota back.”
“More like he brought me back.” Miles scratched at the table with one of his nails and then rubbed at the spot. “Who knew he had it in him?”
“What did you think he would do, leave you in the sun to die?” Erin asked. She set the wood down next to the fireplace in time to turn around and see the expression on his face. “You did, didn’t you!”
“He’s not fond of vampires, and I haven’t exactly given him much reason to love me.” Miles shrugged and added, “To be honest, it probably would have saved him a lot of trouble in the long run if he just left me there.”
Erin shook her head. “He’s not like that.”
“And how would you know?” Miles made a “tsk” sound out of the side of his mouth and wished he had saved more of that ration. Between dealing with Elzwig and the sun, he needed a drink. “Who knows what he was like before he came here?”
Erin shifted uneasily and quickly thought of an excuse to leave the room again. Fortunately, one presented itself quickly and she said, “I’ll be...I just need to run back to the stables, I left something there.”
“Don’t let the pig out!” Miles yelled after her.
Erin took her time walking over to the stables and found the red journal lying on the group under a heap of hay. She flipped through it as she walked back across the yard with the thought of hanging out in the kitchen until Kota returned.
To her dismay, Miles had moved into there and was digging through the fridge. He opened a packet and sniffed the meat inside before Erin turned away and sat down at the table with her back to him.
She opened the journal to a random page and tried to read while ignoring the sounds behind her.
Martin, second night. Need to warn him about the cards.
Cyra sang, had to wear earplugs.
More refugees from Heron.
Saw Erin at the river again.
Erin stared at the page, at her name. She started to blink rapidly and had to put the book facedown on the table and breathe.
“You shouldn’t do that, it’s bad for the spine,” Miles said behind her. He reached out for the book and she snatched it up and flipped to another of the unstuck section so he could not see what she was looking at.
“And it’s bad to read over someone’s shoulder,” she snapped. She started to turn the page, but Miles shot out a hand and stopped her.
“Wait, what is that?” he asked. He looked down and saw Erin sitting frozen, glaring at his hand, and released her. “Yeah, yeah, sorry. Look, right there, he’s drawn something.”
Erin looked at the drawing and shrugged. “That? It’s some kind of town emblem, I think. There’s one on the clock tower, and on the bridge in town. The old inn sign had one too, but it was so faded you couldn’t see it unless you knew to look for it.”
Miles frowned at the emblem, which showed a sun and moon crossed with each other. He scanned the rest of the page and said, “Then why did he write, ‘He’s getting depressed again. Where is it? Searched forest, Walkers would not help. Even the little ones refuse to get involved now. Mer checked river, no luck.’”
He skimmed down the page, but it was clear that Sollis had been writing out his thoughts with no thought to reading them, as the rest was nearly incomprehensible.
“Town, wastes, burrows of the plains...” Miles murmured. “What was he searching for that he would go to Walkers and the fair folk for help? And a mer, they don’t do anything for humans since the Wichel fiasco.”
“The what?” Erin shifted in her seat to get a little more space between her and Miles and said, “No, look, this can’t be right. Mr. Sollis never did anything like this, he barely left the inn. Why would he be trying to get all of these...all of these people to try and find something?”
She could see Miles thinking, possibly in loops, and suspected that the smile that spread across his face was not entirely about what he said next.
“I’m not sure, but it might be worth you and Kota looking into.”
Entry 46: Dashed Hopes
Kota looked up anxiously at the gray sky overhead as he walked down the road, wondering if the sun would show its face again today. He turned at the sound of footsteps and a look of dismay crossed his face before he could stop it when he saw Erin’s father coming his way. Even worse, Eli seemed to be smiling.
The blacksmith caught sight of him around the same time, and it worried Kota more than a little that his smile did not diminish. If anything, it grew a little wider as Eli said, “Well, well, didn’t expect to run into you. Where are you headed?”
“Er, back to the inn,” Kota said, unsure of how to deal with this friendly version of Eli. “I told Miles–”
“That would be the vampire, right?” Eli interrupted. “Yeah, he came by my forge earlier today.”
“Oh,” Kota said, and then, “Oh.”
He knew now why Eli looked so happy. Miles had told him that Kota was leaving today.
“I was heading that way myself,” the blacksmith said, and Kota nodded. That sounded like his luck.
They started to walk toward the inn as an awkward silence grew between them, until Kota realized that here was the perfect opportunity to ask the blacksmith a few questions. He doubted he would ever see the man in a better mood.
“Are you going to see Erin?” he asked. He thought it would be best to start with an easy question, but as soon as the words left his mouth he regretted them.
“Yes.” Eli’s smile faded and he seemed more like his flint self. “If you’re leaving, then there’s no excuse for keeping up this charade any longer.”
“She could always find someone else to help her with the inn,” Kota offered, but the blacksmith snorted.
“Like anyone with any sense would deal with that place.”
Kota coughed and Eli quickly amended himself. “That is, anyone who knew better... No, it’s just... Not the place for her, you see?”
Kota stared, fascinated. Eli had more in common with Erin than he thought. He took a chance and said, “Is it because she wants to go to the city?”
“No, no,” Eli said quickly. “Her mother did the same thing when she was younger. I just think there are better places where she could earn the money. The bakery’s always looking for workers, and Lord knows Geld could use some help in the office.”
“So why not the inn?”
Eli’s smile was completely gone now, and a scowl started to take its place. “That place is almost as bad as the forest now. I don’t know how Daniel could stand it, knowing what he did.”
“What happened there?” Kota asked, knowing the blacksmith’s answer before he even said it.
“You wouldn’t understand, boy.”
And like that, Eli was completely closed off again, as unapproachable as ever before with his face set into that frown that came so naturally and his eyes brooding as he watched the inn come into sight. Kota looked at the inn and tried one last ditch effort.
“If you’re so against the inn, then why did you make us the new sign?”
Eli looked at him and Kota’s steps took a slight curve that moved him a little farther away. “You noticed that, did you?”
“Well, considering the old one was about to fall off–”
“I lost a bet, that’s al
l,” Eli said, interrupting him. “Although now it looks like I was right. What time are you and the vampire leaving?”
Kota coughed and muttered something before opening the door to the inn and calling, “Erin, your father’s here.”
He darted inside past the astonished girl, who watched him run over to where Miles sat in the corner nursing what was left of the deer meat and begin berating the vampire in a low voice that neither of the Smiths could hear.
Erin looked back at her dad and asked, “What are you doing here?”
“I came to help you pack,” he said, with even less tact than usual.
“Pack?” It did not take even half a second for Erin to connect the dots. “You think I’m coming home? Look, Dad, if it’s about that wolf again–”
“No, it’s about him,” he said, nodding toward Kota. “He leaves, you have no partner, and that was part of our deal. No partner, no inn.”
“He...” Erin hesitated, realizing that Kota had never actually said he would be staying. “Even if Kota left, I could always find someone else in town.”
“Funny thing. That vampire over there asked around, and it seems no one’s interested.” Eli looked over Erin’s head at Miles and said, “Isn’t that right?”
“Well, yes,” Miles admitted. He even tried to bribe a few, but he wasn’t about to say that out loud. “But, sir–”
He was interrupted by the sound of a cart pulling up in front of the inn, most it loaded down with crates of fruits and vegetables, although someone had left a space at the very back. One of the men sitting up front waved and called, “Ready to go? We can’t wait all day!”
“Farmer said he had a delivery going to the capital,” Kota explained. “So I asked him if they would be willing to take a couple of passengers along, and he agreed.”
“Well, it looks like you’re already packed,” Eli said, eyeing the bag on Kota’s back.
“Oh,” Kota said, just now remembering it. He had taken a detour back into the forest to retrieve it, having dropped it in his hurry to get to Miles. “Actually–”
“Could you give us a second, sir?” This time it was Miles’s turn to interrupt, and Eli stared as Erin and Miles pulled Kota into the kitchen and shut the door behind them.