“Go left,” Raj called.
I glanced back at him. “Are you sure this place is safe?”
“Yes. Mostly sure.”
Mostly, huh?
As we turned down the lane, I spotted the gables of a whitewashed building peeking from the trees. Hazy pools of light shone from the windows, glowing over the skeletal tree branches that surrounded the structure.
“There,” Raj called. “That’s the inn.”
When we drew closer, I wasn’t impressed with the paint peeling from the shingles, the broken windows, or the fragments of glass from smashed wine bottles lying near the hitching posts. But it was away from the other inns, and I was in desperate need of sleep, so I wouldn’t argue, even if it was only mostly safe.
We dismounted our horses and hitched them to the posts. Without speaking, we approached the inn. I had to admit I felt a little guilty for being rude to Raj. In truth, he didn’t deserve my outburst, but had he seriously not realized I was a witch when he asked me to journey with him? Was he really so thoughtless? Honestly.
Our booted feet echoed over wooden planks as we ascended the stairs leading to the porch. When we reached the doors, Raj opened them for me and stood aside to let me pass through. A gentleman, huh?
Even if he was a gentleman, he was still an imbecile, and I was seriously contemplating why I was making this journey with him. Someone so naïve would easily get us killed.
Inside the inn, overheated air radiated from the enormous hearth at the back of the room. Flames cast a flickering light over the roughly-hewn tables and chairs crowding the floor. The room was empty, and the only sound came from the crackling fire.
As we stood inside the inn, sweat beaded my skin, and I had the urge to remove my cloak, but resisted. My blue hair made me easily identifiable, so I chose to keep it covered. Sometimes I hated my hair. I’d used every spell imaginable to try to change it, but nothing had ever worked.
An overweight man wearing a dressing robe and slippers entered from a door at the back. He eyed us suspiciously as he walked toward us. His slick, bald head reflected the firelight.
“It’s nigh three in the morning. What on earth are you doing here at this hour?”
“We seek shelter,” Raj said.
“Aye, I supposed that. Very well. I’ve got a room available upstairs, but you’ll need to tread quietly. I’ve got paying patrons who don’t want to be disturbed.”
“I understand,” Raj said. “We’ll need two rooms, if you’ve got them.”
“Two? Why? Are you quarrelling with your lover here?” He eyed me. “Seems a perfectly fine girl to me.”
“We are not lovers,” I snapped. “And we would prefer two rooms, if you please.”
“Yes, yes, as you wish, but it will cost you more. Three-hundred shekels.”
“Three hundred?” I asked, aghast. “Maybe if the beds are made of gold.”
“Three hundred is fine,” Raj said, pulling out his coin purse and counting out thirty coins. He hesitated before handing them to the innkeeper. “I’ll pay an extra ten to buy your silence.”
He frowned. “I’m not in the habit of housing criminals.”
“We’re not criminals, but we’d like to stay invisible, if you understand my meaning.”
“Very well,” the man sighed. “But it’ll cost you twenty more.”
I bit my tongue to keep from protesting as Raj counted out the money. At this rate, we’d be penniless in a week. Then again, Raj hadn’t told me how much money he was carrying. How many shekels were in his coin purse? Maybe it was best if I didn’t know.
“We’ll also need our horses stabled,” Raj said. “And something to eat in the morning.”
The innkeeper grunted, but didn’t argue as he took Raj’s coins, then led us to the stairs. The steps, made of split-planked logs, squeaked as we treaded to the second floor. Antlers and animal skins decorated the walls, and a musty smell wafted from the dust-covered pieces. We reached a door at the end of a hallway. The innkeeper pulled a key from his pocket and unlocked it with a click.
We walked inside, and the innkeeper lit a lantern on a table beside a bed with a straw mattress. The room was smaller than I expected, and the only furniture was a small writing desk, a lavatory with a jug for water, and a large bucket for bathing.
“There’s fresh water in the bucket. Should ye be needing anything else, it’ll have to wait till morning.” He turned to Raj. “You, follow me.”
I watched as the two men left the room, shutting the door behind them, and leaving me in silence. An uneasy feeling settled over me. I wasn’t accustomed to sleeping in strange places. I’d slept nowhere but inside the tower for the past five years, and being here now, facing the prospects of sleeping on a bed of straw, far from Rapunzel, unnerved me.
I pulled my knapsack off my shoulder and placed it on the ground, then sat on the straw mattress and began unlacing my boots. After pulling them off, I set them aside. I removed my cloak next, and though I sat alone in the room, I still felt as if someone were watching as I removed the cowl.
My mop of turquoise, windblown hair was beginning to come free of the bun, so I removed the hair pins and let it fall to my waist. Self-consciously, I removed my clothes and dressed in my nightgown, all the while thinking someone must’ve been watching me. Why else would I feel so vulnerable?
I crawled under the bed covers, blew out the candle, and closed my eyes tight, trying to ignore the straw poking into my back, and the sour smells of dried urine and sweat coming from the coarse blankets. Outside my window, tree limbs scratched the glass. Their
