by Rachel Gay
The Last Inn
Rachel Gay
Copyright 2014
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The Last Inn originally ran as a web serial from June 2013 to July of 2014. The complete serial is presented here in this single ebook to allow for offline reading in multiple formats and the original run will continue to be available online for free.
Entry 1: New Owner
“The place has seen better years, I suppose,” Mayor Geld said as he fumbled with a large ring of keys that jangled in his shaking hands.
Erin did not reply. She just looked over the rather short mayor's head at what supposedly passed for a building while her heart sank. It had been a while since she came out this way, the inn being so close to the forest and all, but she hadn't expected this.
Dark windows looked down on them from the upper story while shutters coated in peeling green paint covered the ground floor windows. That is, those shutters that had not fallen off and now lay among the patches of weeds and tall grass around the building. Her eyes caught the pieces of rotting wood here and there that would have to be replaced, as well as the shingles on the roof that threatened to fall with the slightest breeze.
The mayor finally found the correct key and inserted it into the rusted lock where, after a few grunts and ramming the door with his shoulder, the door gave way. They coughed and waved away the dust that swirled around their feet as they entered the spacious front end of the inn. Shadows scattered around the room hinted at tables and chairs as well as a front desk.
“There's a kitchen in the back as well as a room I believe Mr. Sollis stayed in,” Geld said. He pulled out a handkerchief and covered the lower half of his face with it to ward away the smell and to cover his own coughing. “Upstairs there's the rooms, of course, and an attic used for storage, I believe. Shall I show you around?”
Erin nodded, as she couldn't see how this could get any worse. Of course, that was before they encountered the kitchen, and whatever was growing in the corner cabinet. Geld hurriedly shut the door on the disturbing sight and led out the back door.
“There are some stables over there, no horses of course,” Geld said once he recovered his breath.
“I hope not!” Erin gestured at the dilapidated building, which looked no better from this side either. At least the stable seemed to be in better condition, as in it did not look likely to fall over if anyone looked at it wrong. “Hasn't anyone been in that place since...”
“I suppose not,” Geld said. “In retrospect, I suppose we should have sent someone to clean out the perishables, but Mr. Sollis's passing took us all by surprise.”
Erin found herself nodding. The man must have been ancient, he built the inn himself they said, but he never acted like it. He would have been considered scandalous in town for all the strange people his inn brought into town and the rumors that went around every now and then if not for the fact that he'd been there so long that he seemed as much a fixture of the town as the inn itself. Now he was gone, and all that was left of the town's inn was a dirty wreck of a building.
“Well, let's take a look at those rooms at least,” Geld said and put on his bravest face before covering it once again with his handkerchief. Erin thought the prim little man looked like a man preparing to go into a combat zone the way he charged into through the back door and the kitchen and up the stairs into a dimly lit hallway that split at the top of the stairs and went back the other way with a parallel set of doors on either side. Geld marched up to the nearest door and opened it onto a dark room.
He reached out for a light switch out of habit and his questing hand found one. The single light in the room flickered once or twice and then lit up the narrow room with a brightness that surprised Erin and received a grunt of approval from the mayor.
“This place has power?” she asked. Most of the town just installed electricity a couple of years ago after a big push from the capital of the empire. Most people around here did not take well to change. Then she saw the state of the room and said, “Oh!”
Gleaming floorboards greeted them under an old but beautiful rug. The single bed looked freshly made, and no speck of dust lay on the nightstand or dresser, although the downstairs area probably had enough dust for three abandoned buildings.
Geld retreated from the room and checked the rooms to the right and to the left.
“At least this part is up to shape, eh?” he said somewhat weakly after finding the other guest rooms in the same condition.
There didn't seem to be anything else to say about it, so Erin just nodded and followed the mayor down the stairs to the main room.
“Are you sure about this?” Geld asked, not for the first time.
Erin looked around at the cobwebs coating the walls and the strata of dust, the floorboards coming up and the flakes of ceiling coming down, and thought of all the work it would take to get this place running again. Then she considered the alternative.
“I'm sure,” she said with a conviction that surprised the mayor.
He passed her the ring of keys and said, “As I said earlier, I can let you have it for three months rent-free, to get things going. We'll have to discuss it again then, but...”
He hesitated and said, “You do know that this is far too much for one person, don't you? You can't run this place by yourself, even if it was in any condition!”
“Mr. Sollis did,” Erin said.
“Yes, but that was him.”
“I'll...” Erin hesitated and settled on, “I'm sure I can find a partner.”
The mayor hid his doubt fairly well as Erin saw him out of the inn. As he walked away she heard a creak and a snap and looked up to see the sign above the door dangling by one end. Through the layer of dirt and grime one could just barely make out the words: The Last Inn.
Entry 2: Unexpected Guest
In the gray light before dawn, a dark figure raced out from the forest and across the field to the building that stood apart from the rest of the small town, only pausing at the top of the steps to hammer on the front door.
After a brief pause, the person knocked again just before a thump and a muffled swear came from within and the door jerked open.
“What?”
The young man on the front porch stepped back at the appearance of a disheveled Erin, who rubbed her stubbed toe. Her dark hair fell in a tangled mat around her face, and she had clearly slept in her clothes from yesterday, but it was the scowl on her face that caused the young man to realize he might have made a mistake.
“Sorry,” he said, “I didn't mean to wake you....This is the Last Inn, isn't it?”
“That's what the sign says, right?” Erin snapped and pointed up.
The young man glanced up at the faded sign that dangled from one corner thanks to a broken chain over his head and noticed the pink streaks in the sky signaling dawn.
“Can I help you?” Erin said, and he turned away from the troubling sight.
“I was hoping to speak to the owner, Master Sollis,” he said and with another glance at the sky. “It's urgent.”
“Oh,” Erin said and her expression changed. “Mr. Sollis passed away, months ago.”
“I see.” The young man said, unable to find any other words.
“Did you know him?” Erin asked.
“No, I never met the man,” he answered and his gaze fell. To his surprise, the ground had not dropped out from beneath his f
eet, even if it felt like it.
“Oh,” she said again, and the young man missed the brief look of relief that crossed her face before he looked up again. He did catch her stare that took in his threadbare clothes and the slim bag over his shoulder. His long, uncut brown hair covered the left side of his face, but that portion of it she could see received the most attention, and he self-consciously patted down his hair to make sure it still covered his left eye.
“Are you the new owner of this inn?” he asked.
“Well, yes,” she said and bit her lip as if the thought bothered her.
The young man rubbed his red-rimmed eye and looked at the horizon again. It would be daylight soon, and now that he thought about it he could not remember the last time he had slept, much less with a roof over his head. Reaching a decision, he said, “Could I rent a room for the night? Or the day at least?”
“What?” Erin said.
“Well, this is an inn,” he said, pointing up at the sign. “Inns take in guests, right?”
“The thing is, I just got here yesterday, and there's still a lot of cleaning and renovations that need to be done before we're ready to take in guests,” Erin said, a little too quickly.
He stared at her for a little longer than she seemed comfortable with and then pulled some money out of his pocket.
“I'm sure that I've seen worse. Would this cover it?”
Erin glanced at the money being thrust into her hand and visibly swallowed. He wondered if it was too much, but in his experience people rarely complained if that was the case. After an inner struggle she nodded.
“Yeah, I think that will be enough,” she said, her voice breaking slightly as she took the money. “Come on in, and just remember that I warned you.”
The young man followed her inside the dark common room, which looked little better when she found the light switch. The hours Erin had spent in haphazard attempts at cleaning resulted in a few bare patches of floor with broad swathes of dust and cobwebs standing in small piles here and there around the tables, which still bore signs of wipe marks and soap residue. A strong aroma of disinfectant and lemon managed to nearly drown out the musty smell that permeated the inn.
To his credit, the young man barely reacted, except to say, “Believe it or not, I really have seen worse. So far.”
“The rooms are much better,” Erin said quickly and led him up the creaking stairs, after pulling a random guest key from one of the line hanging behind the front desk.
Opening the door to room 1D she asked, “Is this all right?”
The young man stepped inside and looked around at the narrow bed and the door that led to a personal bath. He nodded and waited until Erin gave him the key and left before dropping his bag on the floor and striding over to the window. He looked out at the rising sun and swiftly shut the thick curtains, blocking out all of the light.
Entry 3: Rumors and Doubts
Erin pulled her yellow metal monster of a bike out of the weeds beside the stable and wheeled it to the road, cursing the inn's first guest every step of the way. She couldn't even remember the last time she had to get up this early, but going back to sleep had proven impossible.
The young man's money felt heavy in her pocket as she rode into the town proper, and she did feel a pang of guilt for the way she'd spoken to him this morning. He'd given her enough money to rent three rooms for a week at Sollis's old rate, even though he looked like a beggar.
The streets were nearly empty at this early hour, and she fought back a yawn as she rode over the bridge and into the center of town, where the road encircled the clock tower.
She pulled to a screeching halt outside of the grocer's shop just as two women passed by, and Erin's head whipped around when she heard one woman mutter something and the other whisper in reply. They caught her stare and hurried away, but not before she heard the muffled laughter. She had no idea what they could be laughing about, and when her stomach growled she could care less.
Inside the grocer's, she passed a somewhat long list to the clerk behind the counter and impatiently waited while he gathered everything together. The young man's money would help the inn provide board for the first couple of guests, at least. That is, if any other guests would be willing to stay in a place like that.
Erin's shoulders slumped and she took her time putting the groceries in the basket of her bike, dreading going back and seeing the place again in the light of day. What was she doing?
Just as she started to get on the bike, the smell of baking bread found her and pulled her down the street to the bakery. She took a deep breath and knew that she would have to go in now when her mouth started to water.
Only one other customer stood at the counter, but there were a few people seated at one of the small square tables, and every one of them looked at Erin as she walked in just as the conversation died and then started back with a few halting, uncertain words.
Erin hesitated and then walked to the counter, her back straight and her gaze not straying to look at the others. It did not take a genius to figure out they had been talking about her, and her mind worked furiously, scattering memories left and right in search of some reason why.
The boy behind the counter gave her a flash of a smile before passing the old woman in front of her a bundle that smelled of fresh bread and cinnamon.
“Here you go, Mrs. Grimsby.”
Erin fought back a sigh. Of course it would be old Mrs. Grimsby. The woman knew everyone in town, or at least everyone's business. People said that sometimes she knew every detail of a scandal before the people involved even knew there was one, and could spread the news just as fast.
“Thank you,” Mrs. Grimsby said, but her eyes were on Erin. “I didn't expect to see you here, dear. How are you doing today?”
“Um, good,” Erin said and in reply to the boy's questioning look she pointed at the glass and said, “One of those, please.”
“Good, good,” Grimsby said, nodding her head as a sly smile crept over his face. “And how's the inn?”
Erin froze. She could practically hear the other customers' ears straining to hear.
“Oh, you know,” she said, trying to keep her face blank. “It won't be long before the inn's as busy as it used to be.”
One of the seated listeners snorted into his coffee at that.
Grimsby's nose wrinkled and she said, “I don't know about that, dear. You may not remember, but the inn used to attract...Well, not our sort of people at all.”
“If you could even call them people,” the not so quiet listener said, exchanging smirks with the others.
“Not unless the capital is defining the word,” Grimsby said and there were murmurs around the room. The empire was growing every week it seemed, and strange people often passed through on their way to the capital. Some of them were not, strictly speaking, human, but the emperor had a lenient view toward that sort of thing. She clucked her tongue and said to Erin, “Dear girl, what did you do to get saddled with that horrible place?”
Her face flooded red and Erin stuttered a reply before fleeing the bakery with as much dignity as she could muster, which failed when she heard the laughter. It rang in her ears all the way back to the Last Inn, where she managed to slam the front door open, an impressive feat when both of her arms were full with groceries. At the foot of the stairs the young man jumped, startled at the noise and even more so by her expression.
She bit her lip. Oh right, this guy.
“Do you need some help?” he asked.
“Does it look like it?” she said and stormed toward the kitchen.
He met her halfway across the common room and without a word took the bags from her and went back into the kitchen. Flustered, Erin looked around and noticed that shutters still covered every window in the common room. The dark air sweltered in the summer heat, and she almost gagged on the smell.
With a series of bangs, Erin went around and threw open every shutter and window in the hope of enticing a passing breeze.
The kitchen door opened again just as she finished with the last window. Erin turned around to find the room completely changed with the introduction of sunlight. For one thing, it now had a wolf in it.
Entry 4: The Wolf in the Room
It was the biggest wolf Erin had ever seen, not that she had seen many, and to her terrified eyes it filled the room, or at least the way to the nearest exit. The breath caught in her throat and she grabbed the nearest object – a broom – and swung it as hard as she could, fearing that those massive jaws would come snapping at her at any moment.
The broom caught the wolf several times around the snout and shoulders, driving the beast back into the kitchen from whence it came. Erin thought she heard a whimper, but that might have come from her. She hardly knew what she was doing; no thought seemed to be getting through the sheer terror and desire to get the animal as far away from her as possible while keeping all of her limbs intact.
The wolf retreated, back into the dim kitchen and Erin watched in horror as the creature turned back into the young man the moment he stepped out of the direct sunlight.
“Please, calm down,” he said, just before Erin whacked him with the broom again. “Will you stop that, already?”
“What are you, some kind of demon?” Erin yelled the words, and her voice betrayed her near hysteria. “Get away from me!”
The young man stopped trying to make some kind of calming gesture and settled for grabbing the broom handle just before she could hit him again.
“It's just a curse,” he said. “That's all.”
“That's all? That's all?” Erin's shoulders started to tremble and she tried to pull the broom out of the young man's grip. “How is that ever 'just all'? You turned into a wolf!”
He released the broom so quickly that Erin almost fell backward and raised his hands in surrender.
“Just watch,” he said and slowly stepped around Erin and back into the sunlight streaming in through one of the windows. Almost immediately he turned back into a wolf, and Erin felt her stomach lurch at the swift but disturbing sight. Her fists clenched around the broom again and the wolf stepped back and laid down, so that he looked up at her with the same brown eyes of the young man.
