Northern Flower

Chapter 7

      I woke from a dreamless slumber in the dead of night. Though I had no explanation, I knew something was not as it should be. I head the song of the unicorn again, yet this time it was a song of suspense, of fear, and of warning. It was so faint I didn't know how it could have ever woke me. I pulled out my necklace. The three strands shone brightly, a light in the dark room. The song seemed to come from them. And evil foreboding hung over me and I could only believe that I was being warned of some imminent danger.

I lay still and listened. The old inn creaked and groaned it's complaints to the night wind. Through the thick walls I could hear the gentle mumble of a sleep talker in the next room. Far off I heard a dog's bark and the hoot of an owl. All normal sounds. Yet something was wrong. My subconscious could pick it up, but I couldn't grasp it. I knew there was a sound I was hearing that wasn't right. Or maybe it was a sound that I should be hearing that wasn't there.

I listened again, finding a source for each sound, identifying each noise that reached my ears. Everything was normal. I then ignored the noises of the night and tried to envision what a tavern should sound like at nighttime. Everything matched up. I wondered what could be wrong, and considered perhaps that I was imagining things. But the song continued.

The sleepers mumble rose in volume, then subsided again. I heard the small scratching of a mouse in the wall. Then it clicked. The room next to mine was a store room that led into the kitchen. There was no sleeper. I pressed my ear tot eh wall and could make out a smattering of conversation.

"The old man is three doors down," said a voice. It sounded like the man I had laid out earlier that evening. "You take him. I have the girl."

"No." replied another. I had expected it to be "corkscrew," but it was completely different all together. This voice was chillingly cold. He had a heavy accent I couldn't recognize. Every syllable was laden with malice.

"What do you mean, 'no'?" said the first one.

"I consider it part of my payment to have the young woman myself."

"Not a chance!" protested the first man, his voice rising in volume.

I heard the sound of scuffling and then the mysterious man's hissing voice again,

"Either I get the beautiful woman, or I slit your throat. I always get what I want."

"All right, all right, she's yours."

Judging from the wheezing, frantic reply, I guessed that the second man had the first one by the throat.

"So be it."

I heard the creak of the hinges. I moved to my door and stood poised, listening to the click of his shoes on the hall floor. As he went to pass my door, I slammed it open as hard as I could, catching the man full in the face. He staggered back, and I could tell by his eyes that I had given him a major concussion- the second of the night. But I was done fooling with this lustful vengeful man. I drove after him as he staggered back, landing blows to his face and body. I cracked his ribs, kneed him in the gut, and pitched him into the wall. He would be immobile for weeks, and I was confident he would never be completely well.

I turned to see the other man watching me. He was very small, his head reaching only to my shoulder. Dressed in tight fitting leather, he wore a devilish smile, his eyes crafty pinpoints of black in his face. In his hand, he held a wicked curved blade.

"Very efficient, Maiden Warrior," he said. "You are good. Very good. But none is better than I."

If I hadn't been watching for it, I'd have died the next instant. Even as it was, I barely had time to move out of the way as his wrist flicked and his weapon came hurtling towards me. The knife sailed down the hallway and I heard a soft thud as the blade sunk into the far wall. My eyes never left eh small man in front of me. He stood with the balance and poise of a snake. Everything about him- from his attentive stance to the way his eyes watched me- portrayed that this man was highly trained. I feared he might be better than I was. He was older, and if age was any judge, had more experience. Far more.