Sera ushered the girls up the stairs to the second floor balcony and to room eight. The door was dark from years of smoke from the long fire pit below in the great hall of the inn. Sera produced a key from her sleeve and unlocked the door.
"Let's go inside ladies and get ready to wind down for the evening, shall we?" Sera smiled comfortingly at the girls as the door swung open to reveal a large room with two large beds. The beds were secured to the floor with black iron brackets and the one window in the room was so hazy from not being cleaned, Kailynn couldn't tell what time it was by the light outside.
"Ma'am Sera," Annie piped up. "We don't have our sleepin' clothes."
"It's just Sera, Annie. You can sleep in your undergarments. We will visit a dress shop in the morning to get you some new clothes."
"Um, ma'am Sera, I'm not havin' any money. How am I goin' to be gettin' a new dress?"
"I'm going to buy it Annie."
"I'll pay you back."
"No need Annie."
Annie looked mortified, "I'm not able to be takin' handouts ma'am Sera!"
Sera sighed heavily, "Annie dear, lets call it your new uniform then, yes?"
Annie brightened, "Yes ma'am Sera!"
Sera turned to Kailynn who was already undressing. She hurriedly draped her dress over the foot of the bed and crawled in gratefully. Kailynn yawned so big she thought her head might explode, then as her head hit the pillow, she could feel Annie crawling into bed next to her. Sleepiness buttoned her eyes closed and she was asleep before Sera could put out the light.
❧
Kailynn woke up to pitch black. The room was as still as a tomb. Every tired nerve in her body screamed at her to go back to sleep. Something was wrong though. Kailynn sat up in bed and looked around in the darkness. Her hands met the mattress and she touched something warm and sticky. Kailynn slid out of bed and padded over to the lantern. Her feet were slick too. Her underwear stuck to her in a slime feeling sort of way. Kailynn found the matches and nearly dropped the box as her hands were slick and wet. She struck a match and reached for the glass lantern chimney. In the light from the match, she saw her hand leave a deep red smudge on the glass. She turned her palm back to face her and stood there confused. Her hand was covered in blood. Actually so was her arm and based on what she could feel, her entire backside was too.
The match flamed out. Kailynn's hands shook terribly as she tried to slide another match from the box. As she rubbed the matchhead along the striker side of the box, the box slipped from her hands and clattered to the ground. Sera sat straight up in bed.
"Who's there?"
"Sera?" Kailynn's voice shook. "I'm bleeding."
Sera swung her legs out of her bed and swiftly came over to the table. "Where are the matches?"
"I dropped them. Here is one." Kailynn pressed the match into Sera's waiting hand.
A scratch and a flare and Sera lifted the lantern chimney and lit the wick. Turning the wick up Sera looked at Kailynn and gasped. "Kailynn! Are you hurt??" Sera set down the lantern and began searching Kailynn's body for wounds.
"I-I-I woke up like this."
Sera's head slowly turned to where Kailynn and Annie's bed was in the darkness. "Stay here Kailynn. Shut your eyes."
Kailynn squeezed her eyes shut as Sera picked up the lantern and walked toward the bed. Kailynn peeked her eyes open, then opened them wide in horror. Annie's sightless eyes stared from her bloodless white face at the ceiling. A horrific red cut was across her throat and Kailynn could see the hilt of a dagger sticking out of her friends chest. Kailynn turned and vomited on the floor then sank to her knees while continuing to heave. Sera was instantly there lifting her and rushing her out the door.
"I told you to shut your eyes Kailynn." Sera's voice was smooth and comforting as she half pushed, half pulled Kailynn down the hallway to room number twelve. Stopping in front of the heavy oak door, Sera held Kailynn up with both hands, keeping her standing and kicked on the door.
"Bard! Alac!" Sera hissed at the door as she kicked it again. "Open up!"
The door creaked open and a very cranky, half-dressed Alac opened the door. He glanced at the two women at the door and in one smooth motion swept them into the room while he plunged down the hall toward their room.
The Bard shot to his feet as soon as he saw Alac leave the room. Kailynn stared at him. She was in shock. She had to be. Otherwise, she was looking at her first naked man. Well muscled arms hung from his broad shoulders. Tousled brown hair curled slightly around his face. His chest and abs looked like they were chiseled by a sculptor who was looking to copy the gods of old. And speaking of the gods of old, he was clearly blessed by them as Kailynn's eyes followed his hips south.
Sera whipped Kailynn around to face the wall, "By the Line, Bard put some pants on!"
"Off then on." He quipped while reaching for his pants on a hook by his bed. "You can be hard to please, you know that?"
"Not NOW," Sera sputtered out. "In fact, never again if you don't hurry!"
"I'm hurrying. Did she see?" The Bard jerked his chin at Kailynn's back.
"I would assume so! It was just out in the open!"
"Not that! Whatever or wherever all that blood came from."
Kailynn dry heaved again thinking about her friend's empty staring eyes.
"I'll take that as a yes." The Bard ran his hands through his hair. "I'll be right back." And he vanished down the hallway headed toward their room.
Sera tilted Kailynn's face to look at hers. "I'm so sorry Kailynn. We will find out who did this, okay?"
Kailynn turned and retched uncontrollably into the room's chamber pot. In between spells of heaving, she sobbed for her only friend and the horror she must have experienced in her last few seconds, as she had laid there right next to her.
Downstairs, the main door to the inn banged open as the town guardsmen streamed into the great hall below them. "Find them!"
Sera grabbed Kailynn and ran to the window in the room. Throwing it open she spied a hay pile. Turning to Kailynn, "We are going to have to jump and land in that pile of hay. Go! Jump Kailynn!"
Numbly Kailynn nodded. She climbed out onto the ledge of the window, and leapt into the darkness of the night.