The Fires of Esus - Ranger's Apprentice

Chapter 1: The First Fire

The smell of smoke awakened him.

Not the bed bugs, or the scratchy sheets. Not the cold draft coming in under the door, or the ruckus of the drunk men in the tavern several floors below his room.

Will peeled one eye open and sniffed the air. The smell was getting stronger.

He was alone in the room, one he had reserved for the night at the local inn at Stamford Fief, one of the most southern in Araluen. It was on the western edge of the Solitary Plains, but the townsfolk liked to pretend the plains didn't exist. Too many stories about spirits roaming there, along with memories of Wargals and the Kalkara. The inn was just far enough away that the only way you knew you were close was the occasional eerie whistle of the wind, or the thinning of the forest around the edges of the fief.

The night had been cool and dark when he arrived at the inn a few hours earlier, and he had enjoyed a mediocre meal in the tavern and then collapsed into the bed in his room, exhausted from his day's ride. He had been out to visit the Ranger at Stamford, on Gilan's orders: an easy mission, but with a long travel time. He'd already been gone for a week, and he was anxious to get home. The moon was big and full, and the wind blew heavily through the hallways and into the cracks in the walls, over and under Will's bed. But now it was not just the wind blowing in.

Both eyes were open now. The smoke was thickening, almost visible in a cloud hovering just below the ceiling. Will sat up, slipping off the side of the bed and into his boots.

Where is all this smoke coming from? He grabbed his belt, weapons, cloak, and saddlebags while searching the room. It wasn't coming from the door or the hallway. It just rose out of nothing and gathered on the ceiling in a darkening cloud. It smelled pleasant, like a nice cedarwood fire Will would start in the forest to have a nice cup of coffee on a cold morning. Pleasant, but in a sickening way.

There was no sound, no sign of anyone else in the building below him. No shouting, no laughing, nothing. At a popular tavern like this, silence was hard to come by. The men having a raucous drinking game a few hours earlier were now deathly silent. They must have seen the fire starting and left. Abandoning all the sleeping guests to burn alive in their rooms? How hospitable of them.

The smoke gathering had now blackened, and the room was noticeably warmer. Will pulled at his collar as sweat dripped down the back of his neck. It had only been a few seconds, but the smoke was moving fast.

No time for lollygagging. Someone's either set a massive cooking fire in the kitchen, or this inn is burning down. He swung his cloak on, adjusted his quiver, and bent down to tie his boots. It was then that he noticed where the smoke was coming from.

It crept up through the floorboards, slithering along the wood panels under his feet. Dark black fingers of smoke, long and fluid, reaching through the cracks, wrapping around him, filling the room until no air remained.

Will had never seen smoke like this before.

He didn't have time to consider this fact for very long though. The room was covered by a thick cloud, and he ducked underneath it to keep from coughing. He pulled the collar of his shirt up over his nose and mouth and he bolted for the door, breaking it down with his shoulder and stumbling into the hall, all thoughts of stealth and grace forgotten. It was getting harder to breathe, even through his shirt, and his eyes were starting to burn and run with tears. His vision blurred and his head felt slow. Must be all the smoke I'm inhaling, he thought numbly.

He banged on the door across from his room, listening for anyone still inside. No answer. He squeezed his eyes shut and staggered down the hall and down the stairs, coughing violently, his hand thrust out in front of him to brace himself if he fell. As he went, he checked the other rooms. Nobody answered. He made it down one staircase, and then another. The smoke only thickened as he went down, and the air was unbearably hot now.