Chapter 48 Preparations
Dinner was better than I thought it would be. The dining area had cleared out, with no other late-night stragglers, and the innkeeper locked the heavy double doors, barring them, before he came over to our table. A serving maid washed tables and began to scrub the floor.
“You close up at night?” Thornhold asked him. “What about late-night travelers?”
“Aye, young dwarf. We don’t dare stay open at night.
We’re too close to the Katarakt Pass. The Yehma raiders come down during the autumn nights to raid the town.
We’re safe enough behind locked doors and shuttered windows, but it’s dangerous to walk about at night.
” He motioned to our bowls. The stew was incredibly good, and the bread was fresh and fluffy.
“Would you care for more? And there’s pie for afters. ”
Thornhold, Ray, and Brynn asked for more stew.
Reggie and I skipped seconds, choosing dessert.
As the serving girl carried two full pies to our table, along with a serving spatula, the innkeeper sat down near us, on a bench, facing us with his back against the table.
At first, I thought he was one of Abarria’s employees, but after examining his aura, I realized he was a Sym.
“What’s your name, innkeeper?” I asked.
“My name is Kyn. And you… Travelers you are, but where do you head? Winter is setting in. The mountains are dangerous.” He leaned back, resting his elbows on the table as he yawned.
“We’re heading—” I stopped. We had no way of knowing if Zaran had passed this way, and I didn’t want to give up our names or our destination.
“Into the foothills. We have family nearby. Luckily, we’ve been able to stay out of the Yehma’s snares, but it’s been a long time since we returned home.
Has anything changed?” Fudging the truth was easier the longer we journeyed.
Kyn frowned, thinking. After a moment, he said, “Much has changed in the past month. I can’t exactly put it into words, but something is different. There was a shift in the world, my daughter said. She’s a visionary and dreams of world shifts and danger coming.”
“Oh?” Reggie asked.
Kyn nodded. “Yes. Years ago, when she was just young, she warned me to bar the doors at night and let no one in. Not a week later, the inn that used to be down the road from us opened its doors to strangers late one night, and was overrun by Yehma raiders. They killed everyone and then burned the inn to the ground. Since then, they’ve been coming in regularly during the autumn months, pillaging the parts of town who aren’t barred against them. ”
“They don’t bother breaking in?” Ray asked.
Kyn shook his head. “No, they know if they did that it would start a war. And we’re not suited for mountain warfare, but we could make life hell for them and starve them out.
We’re their only source for food during the winter months.
It’s an odd standoff. In return, our merchants have learned to recognize the mountain folk, and they raise the prices every time one enters their shop. ”
It seemed to me that was a strange way to handle the Yehma, but it wasn’t my town, and it wasn’t my fight. However, it seemed a good idea to find out just what we might be facing when we went into the mountains.
“What can you tell us about the Yehma?” I asked.
“If you live around here, you should know plenty about them,” Kyn said. “Want to try again?” A faint smile played around his lips, but he didn’t look wary, and he didn’t reach for a weapon.
I groaned. “Well, I botched that,” I said. “Please don’t hold it against us. We’ve got an enemy on our tail and we’re trying to avoid drawing attention to ourselves. I know this is probably more than I can ask, but can you forget we ever stopped here? We’ll be leaving tomorrow morning.”
I could only hope that he was an honorable man, but the truth was — money talked.
And I wouldn’t blame him if he sold us out.
My gut instinct said that Zaran was still behind us, which meant he would probably come through the village.
Tyrnis was big enough that it was hard to miss, and even Zaran had to replenish his supplies at some point.
Kyn studied my face for a moment. “You seem like good-hearted folk,” he said. “Which means whoever is after you is probably on the opposite end of the spectrum.”
“You have no idea,” Thornhold said. “After we buy our supplies tomorrow, we’re headed into the mountains. We won’t be back for quite a while.”
“Winter is coming early this year,” Kyn said. “Make certain you buy more than you expect to need. Where are you headed?”
“We’d rather not say, if you don’t mind. I want to leave as little trace is possible and if you don’t know anything about our mission, that makes you that much safer.” I held his gaze again, hoping beyond hope that he would do the right thing.
“All right,” he finally said. “I never saw you enter my doors. But you should rise early and leave before anyone comes down in the dining room. There is a back door you can leave through at first light. I’ll give you breakfast to take to your rooms so that you don’t have to come down to the dining hall. ”
“Thank you. You don’t know how much this means to me,” I said. “Now, will you tell us about the Yehma? What do we need to know about traveling through the mountains?”
Kyn settled down at our table. “First thing you need to know is that the Yehma worship the ice giants. Second thing you need to know, is that there are plenty of ice giants in the mountains as well as elementals. You’ve got a long, hard trek coming up, and I pray that you don’t underestimate what lies before you. ”
I took a deep breath, trying not to flinch. It was going to be difficult enough getting through the mountains, but it sounded like the journey was far more treacherous than we had ever planned for.
“So, ice giants and ice elementals. What else is hidden up in those snowy crags?”
As Kyn began to speak, Reggie began to make notes of what we might need to circumnavigate the dangers.
Kyn had loaded us up with more breakfast than we needed, so we tucked away the rest of the provisions for the journey. After the hair-raising stories he had told us, we were all a little shell-shocked. The mountains of Kartell seemed far more dangerous now than they had twenty-four hours ago.
Taking his suggestion, we rose at first light, ate a simple breakfast before we headed out into the streets.
I left an extra gold piece for him — he had said he would take care of making up our rooms so no one would suss out that we had been there — and we snuck out into the back streets, slipping away from the end as quickly as we had found it.
He also paid the serving girl who had waited on us extra, to keep her mouth shut.
Most of the vendors were still closed for the day, but a few were up early.
The ones we needed were actually shops, rather than street hawkers, and they had opened at first light.
We bought extra blankets, waterproof kindling shards, and food that was both densely nutritious and easy to pack away.
We stopped in at a blacksmith and had our blades sharpened, and I stocked up on arrows.
Reggie and Ray made sure to refill their spell components, and then we stopped at the tailor’s, where we purchased winter wear, including heavier capes and long underwear.
By my watch, it was around eight-thirty when we finished our shopping. We made one last pass at the grocer’s to stock up even more, before we headed out the other side of town.
As we stood there at the base of the first foothill, eyeing the frost-laden path towards the mountains, I had the sinking feeling that we weren’t ready or prepared for the journey at all.
But there was nothing left to do. It was time we headed out, and all I could pray for was a spot of good luck.
We set foot on the path, praying for fate to walk gently by our side.
If you enjoyed The Glass Unicorn, you can preorder part 9.