Page 28 of Shadows of Winter

He thrashed as he tried to tear it away. Strangely, he didn’t make a sound.

When he twisted partially toward Kaylina, she got a look at his black armor and a silver tree crest on the chest. Was he a ranger? Vlerion’s armor hadn’t held a tree, but it had otherwise been similar.

A gold medallion on a chain bounced as the man jerked about, trying to free himself.

His face was red. Whatever had him was cutting off his air.

Fear froze Kaylina’s feet to the floorboards. Was she supposed to help? Could she? She couldn’t target the snake without risking hitting the man.

He dropped to one knee, his face darkening from red to purple. Even though his head turned toward her, he didn’t seem to see her. He didn’t cry out for help.

Kaylina drew her knife and crept forward, afraid of him, of the snake, and also of doing nothing at all. She didn’t want to watch a man die. If he was a colleague of Vlerion’s, he might throw her back in jail for not helping.

Knife extended, she eased closer, hoping she could cut the thing away. Before she reached the man, he disappeared. Everything did, and the hall dimmed, the light disappearing.

She stared at the empty space he’d occupied. Had that been her imagination? A hallucination?

Maybe there was something in the air that caused an altered state of mind. She’d heard of fungi spores that could do that.

Not certain of anything, Kaylina peered around the jamb of the open door. Shadowy bedroom furniture loomed inside, and something pale lay on the stone floor in front of the hearth. Was that… a skeleton?

She stuck her arm inside and lifted her lantern. Yes, it was.

Whatever clothing the owner had once worn had disintegrated with time—or been eaten by rats—but a gold chain remained, the medallion dipped between two ribs.

“Another hallucination,” she tried to tell herself, but the need to know prompted her to take a couple of steps into the room.

With the toe of her boot, she nudged the foot of the skeleton. It moved. It was real.

She sprang back through the doorway, as if the skeleton might rise up and lunge at her. It didn’t. That didn’t keep her heart from pounding against her ribs.

Kaylina didn’t know what magic could have showed her how a man had died, but she had little doubt she had witnessed that, and that these were the ranger’s remains.

With no interest in exploring that room further, she shut the door. The hinges creaked, and it wouldn’t close all the way.

“We’ll rent that room for a discount,” she muttered.

A creak from the stairs made her spin, but the thud-thuds of fast footsteps promised it was her brother, not a hallucination. His eyes were round when he reached the landing and spotted her.

“Is someone after you?” She drew her sling again.

“Uh.” He glanced over his shoulder as he moved away from the stairs, putting his back to one of the walls. “Not someone, no. I… thought you might be lonely up here. That’s all.”

“Uh-huh. Did the spider bite you?”

“There was a spider?”

“In the wood box.”

“No. I heard something and thought I saw something.” He shrugged. “It was probably nothing.”

“It wasn’t a vision of somebody being killed, was it?”

“No.” Frayvar squinted at her. “Why do you ask?”

“No reason.” After glancing at the not-entirely-closed door, Kaylina continued down the hall. “But these rooms will need to be cleaned out before we rent them.”

“This whole place needs to be cleaned.”

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