Page 116 of Wingless Crow: Part 1

The innkeeper curved his thin lips, faking being completely uninterested about acquiring the bangle.

“I’ll give you three coins for it.”

“Gold coins?” I asked to a few snickers from his wife.

“Sure.”

The bangle was made of gold. So even without the precious stones that decorated it, it should at least be worth its weight in gold. And I doubted three coins, even if those were very large ones, contained as much gold as the bangle.

“I’ll take fifteen,” I counter offered.

The innkeeper’s wife stopped snickering, and her husband grunted, rolling his shoulders back.

“Ten is as high as I can go. It’ll get you a horse if you need another one. Or will feed you for a month. I’ll also throw in a free stay at the inn for the night. You can sleep in the stables with your horse, if you wish.”

Judging by how quickly he’d more than tripled his first offer, I was clearly being screwed. But it was getting busy in here. People cast me curious glances. My skin crawled under their attention, urging me to get out of here, and the sooner the better.

“Fine. I’ll take ten. Only because I’m in a hurry,” I conceded. “And keep your accommodation offer. I’m not staying. But I do want my horse fed and watered, please.”

The wife straightened her back behind the counter. “The night is coming, lad. It’s not safe to travel in the darkness.”

I’d already made it through a night in the woods on my own before Voron had found me. I’d been on foot and with no money, then. Now, I had a horse, some of Voron’s leftover pumpernickel rolls, and ten gold coins.

“I’ll be fine,” I assured her.

Her husband produced a small trunk from behind the counter and counted ten shiny coins into my hand.

He paused, then suddenly shoved my sleeve up, exposing my forearm. Clutching the coins in my fist, I jerked my arm away from him.

A shadow momentarily blocked the dying daylight in the window.

Was it a bird? A crow? The omen of my doom?

I had to go. I couldn’t stop running.

“Thanks. I’ll be on my way,” I mumbled, hurrying to the exit.

* * *

Things didn’t look too bad. I’d survived one night in the woods on my own and was optimistic about spending another night under the thick cover of the trees. I had food. I’d stocked up on water in the village I’d just passed.

As the night fell, and the lights of the village disappeared behind the trees, darkness thickened around me. It was broken only by silent swarms of flying, glowing insects. They hovered around tree trunks and over the shrubs underneath, but their soft light illuminated the surrounding area enough for me to find the way without risking breaking the horse’s ankles.

The eerie blueish glow of the insects made the forest look sinister, with grotesque shadows stretching between the trees. The branches appeared alive, as if reaching from the darkness to drag me off the saddle and into the shadowy canopy.

Fear trembled like a sickening haze around me, but I did my best not to let it in.

“We’re doing great, buddy,” I said to the horse. “You tell me when you get tired or hungry again. Okay?”

The horse didn’t reply, of course, but the sound of my own voice made me feel braver.

Every noise sounded bigger in the darkness. I wasn’t sure whether the rustling of the leaves up in the trees was caused by a breeze, some birds, or by something larger, sneaking out for night hunting.

I’d been warned about wild predators in the woods but hadn’t met any yet. The possibility of running into them was probably higher here, away from the large glowing city of Elaros. To fight them off if needed, I kept the golden knife I’d stolen from King Tiane’s creepy playroom under my cloak.

Rustling came from directly behind me. I jerked, turning to look back. Sadly, my skills on horseback were lacking, and I nearly fell out of the saddle.

“Shit,” I cursed and gripped the horn of the saddle, regaining my balance.

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