Page 30 of Shadows of Winter

It opened, and a narrow windowless hallway led toward the tower, but the shadows were too deep for them to see to the end. Lantern aloft, Kaylina led the way. Even though she wasn’t broad of shoulder, the tightness made her brush against an empty wall sconce. Soot remained on the stones above it, but she doubted a torch had burned there for a long time.

At the end, the hallway opened into a circular room. The tower.

Expecting stairs, Kaylina looked around, but there weren’t any, save for a few iron brackets on the wall that might once have supported them. Overhead, clumsily nailed boards covered what may have been open air at one time. Or a partial platform that archers would have stood on to fire out the window. Either way, there was no way up there now.

“Guess the owners of the castle want to keep people out of the towers,” Frayvar said.

“Do they want to keep people out? Or something else in?”

Another eerie moan swept through the castle.

“That inn Lord Vlerion mentioned sounded kind of nice,” Frayvar offered.

Kaylina scowled at him. “We’re not leaving with our tails between our legs like cowards.”

“What if we strode out with our chins held high? Like heroes?”

“We’ll start a fire and sleep in the kitchen. There’s some furniture left around. We can drag it in front of the doors so nothing can get in and bother us.”

Frayvar bit his lip. “I’m not an expert on curses, but I kind of doubt a chair propped under a doorknob is going to keep us safe.”

“Do you have a better idea?”

He opened his mouth.

“Not the inn,” she said before he could speak.

He hesitated. “Then, no.”

“It’ll be all right. In the morning, we’ll see if we can find a ladder to take these boards down.”

“That might not be a good idea.”

“Weren’t you the one who thought we should figure out the red light?”

“I’ve changed my mind.”

“It’ll be fine, Fray.” Kaylina led him back toward the main hallway. “We’re not rangers, and we’re not allies of rangers. Whatever happened here in the past, the castle shouldn’t have anything against us.”

“Aren’t we technically working for them?”

“No.” She raised her voice, as if the castle was intelligent and might be listening. “They’re manipulating us and keeping us from going home.”

As they passed the window, Frayvar looked grimly at the dead body on the forest floor.

Kaylina walked with determination toward the stairs while hoping her stubbornness wouldn’t get them killed.

9

In the north, spring slowly unfurls its buds, more wary of frost than floods.

~ “A River Melts in Time” by the bard Velvenor

Kaylina found a broom and some rags and spent the morning cleaning while Frayvar bought a newspaper and read up on current events in Port Jirador. He’d tried to go to the city library to get information on the castle, but it hadn’t been open yet. Kaylina didn’t know if she wanted more details on its past or not.

They’d survived the night huddled in a corner of the kitchen with the heavy frying pan and her sling and knife close at hand in case they were attacked. The enemies that had assailed them, however, hadn’t been tangible. Every time they’d dozed off, and sometimes even when they hadn’t, dreams—or maybe visions—had swept into their minds.

Kaylina had seen more deaths—more murders. Each time, they’d been committed by what should have been an inanimate object with no sign of a person controlling it in view. Twice more, she’d seen men die to the cobra-like vines. Once, a ceiling beam had fallen and crushed a woman. Another time, a branch had broken through a window and impaled someone in workman’s clothes carrying two tankards down a hall.

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