The Wandering Inn Novels & Stories

Children played in the streets, their laughter bright and carefree. We found an inn, a cozy building with ivy growing up its walls. The innkeeper, a plump woman with kind eyes, showed us to rooms upstairs. "You'll be comfortable here," she said, handing us the keys. "Woodpine Glen is a peaceful place. Good for healing tired souls." That evening, we ate a hearty meal of roasted chicken and fresh vegetables in the inn's common room. The other guests were quiet, friendly people who nodded politely but did not pry into our business.

What did he pay you? His hand stopped. "I don't—" "To keep me under while they cut out my pup's marrow. To end my bloodline." I turned my head. He stepped back. "What was the weight of the gold?" His shoulders sagged. He thrust release papers at me. I marked them with unsteady fingers. "Stay through the waning moon," he murmured. "Your spirit is barely anchored." "I'd rather walk into blizzard than breathe here another hour." I gathered my blood-stained clothes and walked out. My legs shook, but rage kept me upright.

We left the cabin behind, the keys left in the mailbox for whoever found the place next, and drove his old pickup truck forty miles south to the edge of the neutral territory. We checked into a small, unnamed brick inn that catered to wolves who had chosen to walk away from the pack hierarchies. There were no titles here, no Alphas, and no declarations of war. The lobby smelled like old woodsmoke and wet wool, and the old innkeeper didn't even ask for our last names when Rohan handed over a couple of crumpled bills for a room on the second floor. The room was small, with a sagging mattress and a single window overlooking the dark, mist-shrouded valley below.

I only had a year to find my answers, no distractions was a good way to start. "Venus, honey, are you ready?" My mom called me from the kitchen, as I opened my bedroom door. "Yes, mom be right there." I called back. Walking towards the kitchen, I was singing Famous Last Words out loud. "I am not afraid to keep on living, I am not afraid to walk this world alone, honey if you stay I'll be forgiven, Nothing you can say can stop me going home. Can you see my eyes are shining bright? Cause I'm out here on the other side of a jet black hotel mirror and I'm so weak..."

I hoped the locals were the type to mind their own business. We found the inn easily, a small wooden sign with the word "Inn" painted in faded black hanging over the door. Cassius held it open, and a small bell chimed. "After you," he murmured. I stepped inside, the comforting scent of a hearth fire, beeswax, and old wood washing over me. From a worn armchair near the crackling fireplace, an elderly woman rose slowly, her back hunched with age, her walk hampered by a slight limp.

The couple wandered the streets of Philadelphia, migrating towards a touristy strip of the downtown area. Jade thought her guide seemed to be oddly familiar with the inner-city as they moved about. He'd instantly pointed his toes in the direction they needed to travel, knowing every-which-way to turn. Just when she couldn't imagine having to take another aching step, they reached the warm foyer of a Holiday Inn. Her teeth relentlessly chattered as she greeted the receptionist and paid for a room for the night.

was a far cry from the grand establishments the young master was likely accustomed to. The rundown building, its weathered exterior barely holding together, seemed to defy the laws of physics. One could almost imagine it collapsing in on itself at the slightest provocation. The walls and corners were adorned with intricate tapestries of cobwebs, woven by industrious spiders over the course of countless seasons. The tables, worn smooth by the passage of time, bore the scars of neglect, their surfaces untouched by the warmth of a guest's touch for what felt like an eternity. At the counter, the innkeeper, lost in the throes of slumber, embodied the very essence of the village's isolation. With

He had a sixth sense that pushed him onward toward the trio, their bond drew him in. The trio walked into the inn, the bottom floor was like most inns in Elail, there was a bar, barrels and kegs behind the bar and tables set up throughout the open room. Stairs led up to the higher floors where presumably they would find rooms for the night. Rikkard walked up to the bar and sat on a chair, waiting for the barmaid to come take his order.