Page 129 of Mud

I turned around, to head back where I came from, sure that every other road was going to lead exactly where this one had—to nowhere—and when I spotted two Greenfire players coming my way, I slipped between two buildings like a coward, in an alley so dark I couldn’t see my own hand in front of my face.

Even so, I moved farther back, hoping to find a spot where I could safely close my eyes for only a moment.

A moment—that’s all I wanted. If I could just sleep for a little while, I could figure it all out—and quickly. I could figure anything out with a clear head.

So, I sat on the ground and I pressed my back against the cold wall, and I ignored the cold tears streaming down my face as memories of Taland and the vulcera and even Erfes came before me, mocked me, laughed in my ear.

Necromancy. I couldn’t fucking do necromancy, and these voices in my head were getting so, so loud that I couldn’t ignore them any longer.

You’re good for nothing; you have no magic; you climb this building to the very top right this second; you save yourself theembarrassment of being seen dying; you better not get up from this place again!

Worthless; useless; he never really loved you; nobody ever-ever-ever-ever loved y?—

A light turned on right over my head.

My eyes opened and the noise in my head came to a halt. My thoughts froze, and the pain that usually developed in my chest from all those emotions subsided for a moment.

I looked up to see where the light was coming from, to see that I was sitting against a door, not the wall. Which was funny because I had touched the concrete when I lowered to the ground, and I was a hundred percent sure that it hadn’t been a door then.

It hadn’t been a fucking door, and now it was. A brown, wooden door with a single yellow lightbulb hanging on a thick, curved wire, and a sign wasappearingon a small golden plaque to its side as I watched:

The Inn That Doesn’t Let Anyone In

I blinked my eyes a thousand times before I was able to convince myself that I was really seeing this. That this door had really simply justappearedbehind me, and that light, and that sign…

My hand rose, fisted, my knuckles slamming on the wood twice. I moved like I was in a dream. This whole thing—the thoughts in my head, the other players who’d kill me if they knew what I was, Taland and the vulcera and?—

“Read the sign!”

A thick, male voice came from the other side of the door, making my heart jump. For a moment, my tongue was tied, my thoughts tangled.

Holy shit, I found the inn the only time I wasn’t actually looking for it.

“Hi—hello!” I said, momentarily letting the excitement that came over me take control, but I gathered myself quickly. I cleared my throat and tried again, “Good evening. My name is Rora. Erfes sent me to find you.”

Silence.

I waited a heartbeat, then put my hands on the wood and leaned closer, pressed my ear against it and held my breath.

The door opened the next second, and my heart almost jumped right out of me. It opened just a slit, and all I saw was darkness and a blue eye.

A bloodshot, big, round blue eye.

The man growled like an animal. “You dare mention her name here?!”

Oh, fuck.

“She, uh…” With shaking hands, I reached for my pocket and grabbed the coins that elf had given me. “She told me to give you this for food and shelter.”

The eye moved like it wasn’t attached to a body at all—and it was freakishlybig. Once he saw the small coins on the palm of my hand, everything changed.

Locks turned and chains rattled, and before I knew it, the door swung open all the way and there waslightbehind the giant. A lot of golden light.

The man was indeed over seven feet tall, his shoulders possibly three times the size of mine—and he was smiling.

“Are you…are you Vuvu?” I said, the words dry on my tongue.

“I most certainly have been,” he said. He could be a troll though his ears were so big and so far from me that I couldn’t really tell their exact shape. “Please, come in! You look shaken and very, very dirty. I have a bath with your own name written on it—Rora,wasn’t it?” He batted his long lashes, and for a second there I could do nothing but stare. His voice was so soft, high-pitched now and cheerful. Just like Erfes, he’d changed within the second, just like that.

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