As we came to the door of the inn, I tried to reach out, to sense what kind of place this might be. But all I got was a wash of mixed emotions coming from every which way. Shrugging, I opened the door, and we entered the establishment.

  Inside, a number of lantern lights gave off an amber glow, and a massive fireplace against one wall crackled as the flames filled the room with an ambient warmth. The smell of roasting meat and warm bread drifted through the air, and my stomach rumbled. We had been trying to conserve rations, and now I realized that all the activity and walking had made me hungrier than I ever expected to be.

  Thornhold rubbed his belly. “I could go for a plate of burgers.”

  “You’ll probably have to be content with stew,” I said as we headed over to the counter. I motioned to the innkeeper. “How much for a room for the night?”

  He glanced over our party. “A double room with six beds will cost you twenty silver. It comes with dinner. If you want a bath, I suggest you go to the sauna across the street. It will save you coin and it will save my maids some work.”

  Twenty silver for two rooms seemed more than reasonable, so I told the others, and they agreed. At our last stop, I had portioned out a small amount of money so that nobody would see just how much coin I had, or where I kept it. I placed the coins on the counter, my mouth watering at the thought of food.

  “How late is the sauna open?” I asked.

  “Till midnight, though I suggest you go before the nightfall hits. Especially since you and your friend are women. I serve dinner until closing, so if you go now you’ll have time. I’ll have the maids make up your room.”

  I didn’t want to leave our backpacks out in the open. Neither did I trust leaving them in the rooms. “Do you have a safe what we can keep our supplies?”

  The innkeeper gave me a single nod. “For five silver. Each.”

  It was worth the extra twenty-five silver to avoid getting robbed. And I had a feeling the innkeeper was honest, at least as far as this was concerned. He wouldn’t have much business if he were known to rob his patrons.

  “All right.” I produced the coins — I had taken out enough to cover other expenses — and the innkeeper led us back to a private room. It was heavily fortified, with five locks on the door. When he opened the room, a row of seven metal lockers sat there. He pointed to the biggest.

  “You can fit all of your goods in that. You might want to keep enough coin handy for the sauna and bath — the owner will charge you five silver per person. And as I said, watch yourselves. It’s not particularly safe for women, but I expect you want to have a wash-up before you go to bed.”

  I knew we were grimy from the road, but as I glanced at the others, I realized just how grimy we looked. The owner stepped outside so we could fit our gear into the locker, and I made sure to take out enough money for the sauna and for incidentals. We also made sure we had clean clothes for after our bath.

  As we padlocked the chest shut, once again I thanked my lucky stars that we were in a game that utilized certain modern conveniences. If we were truly in a medieval society, we would be shit out of luck.

  We emerged from the room and he locked it again, then led us back to the front, where he gave us our room keys and told us to hang onto them. As we headed across the street to the sauna, the noise had dissipated, and most of the vendors had gone home.

  The sauna was run by a busty woman who looked like she might be a saloon girl.

  “Are you here for a bath, or other services?” She asked.

  I realized right then that the sauna provided more activities than just a mere bath.

  “We don’t need a steam, but we do need hot baths before dinner. That’s all we’re looking for.” As I paid her the fee, she kept trying to flirt with Ray, but he just looked the other way. Disgruntled, she led us to a private room with a water-filled tub set into the floor. It made me think of a hot tub, and I wondered how it was heated. The water didn’t look exactly pristine, and I cringed to think of who might have been soaking in it before.

  “I’m not so sure about this,” I said.

  “Don’t worry,” Reggie said. He reached into his pocket and pulled out several tablets. “Remember? We have water purification tablets.”

  “Yeah, but that’s to purify the water we’re going to drink.”

  “I know, but we really do need to wash up. We can’t afford any infections or anything caused by getting too dirty, and we all have scrapes and cuts across us from various things. I say we splurge and purify this tub of water and have a long scrub.” Reggie gave us a questioning look, and — after a moment — we all agreed.

  I stripped off all my clothes, as did Brynn and Reggie. Thornhold and Ray kept watch, just in case anybody decided to try to join in. As we eased our way into the steaming water, my body let go of all its tension, and I let out a little moan as I sat down on the bench in the tub. It felt so good that I almost wanted to cry.

  “Oh my God, I can’t believe how good this feels,” I said.

  Bryn nodded, leaning back and closing her eyes. Reggie ducked under the water and began to wash his hair. We spent twenty minutes enjoying the bath and, before it could cool too much, traded out with Thornhold and Ray.

  Both scrubbed themselves spotless, and in another fifteen minutes, we were toweling off with the rough cloths the owner had provided us, and dressed in the clean clothing we had brought with us. As we headed back to the inn, my stomach rumbled again. But at least I felt halfway human and ready to eat.

  CHAPTER 48: PREPARATIONS

  Dinner was better than I thought it would be. The dining area had cleared out, with no other late-night stragglers, and the innkeeper locked the heavy double doors, barring them, before he came over to our table. A serving maid washed tables and began to scrub the floor.

  “You close up at night?” Thornhold asked him. “What about late-night travelers?”

  “Aye, young dwarf. We don’t dare stay open at night. We’re too close to the Katarakt Pass. The Yehma raiders come down during the autumn nights to raid the town. We’re safe enough behind locked doors and shuttered windows, but it’s dangerous to walk about at night.” He motioned to our bowls. The stew was incredibly good, and the bread was fresh and fluffy. “Would you care for more? And there’s pie for afters.”

  Thornhold, Ray, and Brynn asked for more stew. Reggie and I skipped seconds, choosing dessert. As the serving girl carried two full pies to our table, along with a serving spatula, the innkeeper sat down near us, on a bench, facing us with his back against the table. At first, I thought he was one of Abarria’s employees, but after examining his aura, I realized he was a Sym.

  “What’s your name, innkeeper?” I asked.

  “My name is Kyn. And you… Travelers you are, but where do you head? Winter is setting in. The mountains are dangerous.” He leaned back, resting his elbows on the table as he yawned.

  “We’re heading—” I stopped. We had no way of knowing if Zaran had passed this way, and I didn’t want to give up our names or our destination. “Into the foothills. We have family nearby. Luckily, we’ve been able to stay out of the Yehma’s snares, but it’s been a long time since we returned home. Has anything changed?” Fudging the truth was easier the longer we journeyed.

  Kyn frowned, thinking. After a moment, he said, “Much has changed in the past month. I can’t exactly put it into words, but something is different. There was a shift in the world, my daughter said. She’s a visionary and dreams of world shifts and danger coming.”

  “Oh?” Reggie asked.

  Kyn nodded. “Yes. Years ago, when she was just young, she warned me to bar the doors at night and let no one in. Not a week later, the inn that used to be down the road from us opened its doors to strangers late one night, and was overrun by Yehma raiders. They killed everyone and then burned the inn to the ground. Since then, they’ve been coming in regularly during the autumn months, pillaging the parts of town who aren’t barred against them.”

  “They don’t bother breaking in?” Ray asked.

  Kyn shook his head. “No, they know if they did that it would start a war. And we’re not suited for mountain warfare, but we could make life hell for them and starve them out. We’re their only source for food during the winter months. It’s an odd standoff. In return, our merchants have learned to recognize the mountain folk, and they raise the prices every time one enters their shop.”

  It seemed to me that was a strange way to handle the Yehma, but it wasn’t my town, and it wasn’t my fight. However, it seemed a good idea to find out just what we might be facing when we went into the mountains.

  “What can you tell us about the Yehma?” I asked.

  “If you live around here, you should know plenty about them,” Kyn said. “Want to try again?” A faint smile played around his lips, but he didn’t look wary, and he didn’t reach for a weapon.

  I groaned. “Well, I botched that,” I said. “Please don’t hold it against us. We’ve got an enemy on our tail and we’re trying to avoid drawing attention to ourselves. I know this is probably more than I can ask, but can you forget we ever stopped here? We’ll be leaving tomorrow morning.”

  I could only hope that he was an honorable man, but the truth was — money talked. And I wouldn’t blame him if he sold us out. My gut instinct said that Zaran was still behind us, which meant he would probably come through the village. Tyrnis was big enough that it was hard to miss, and even Zaran had to replenish his supplies at some point.

  Kyn studied my face for a moment. “You seem like good-hearted folk,” he said. “Which means whoever is after you is probably on the opposite end of the spectrum.”

  “You have no idea,” Thornhold said. “After we buy our supplies tomorrow, we’re headed into the mountains. We won’t be back for quite a while.”

  “Winter is coming early this year,” Kyn said. “Make certain you buy more than you expect to need. Where are you headed?”

  “We’d rather not say, if you don’t mind. I want to leave as little trace is possible and if you don’t know anything about our mission, that makes you that much safer.” I held his gaze again, hoping beyond hope that he would do the right thing.

  “All right,” he finally said. “I never saw you enter my doors. But you should rise early and leave before anyone comes down in the dining room. There is a back door you can leave through at first light. I’ll give you breakfast to take to your rooms so that you don’t have to come down to the dining hall.”

  “Thank you. You don’t know how much this means to me,” I said. “Now, will you tell us about the Yehma? What do we need to know about traveling through the mountains?”

  Kyn settled down at our table. “First thing you need to know is that the Yehma worship the ice giants. Second thing you need to know, is that there are plenty of ice giants in the mountains as well as elementals. You’ve got a long, hard trek coming up, and I pray that you don’t underestimate what lies before you.”

  I took a deep breath, trying not to flinch. It was going to be difficult enough getting through the mountains, but it sounded like the journey was far more treacherous than we had ever planned for.

  “So, ice giants and ice elementals. What else is hidden up in those snowy crags?”

  As Kyn began to speak, Reggie began to make notes of what we might need to circumnavigate the dangers.

  Kyn had loaded us up with more breakfast than we needed, so we tucked away the rest of the provisions for the journey. After the hair-raising stories he had told us, we were all a little shell-shocked. The mountains of Kartell seemed far more dangerous now than they had twenty-four hours ago.

  Taking his suggestion, we rose at first light, ate a simple breakfast before we headed out into the streets. I left an extra gold piece for him — he had said he would take care of making up our rooms so no one would suss out that we had been there — and we snuck out into the back streets, slipping away from the end as quickly as we had found it. He also paid the serving girl who had waited on us extra, to keep her mouth shut.

  Most of the vendors were still closed for the day, but a few were up early. The ones we needed were actually shops, rather than street hawkers, and they had opened at first light. We bought extra blankets, waterproof kindling shards, and food that was both densely nutritious and easy to pack away. We stopped in at a blacksmith and had our blades sharpened, and I stocked up on arrows. Reggie and Ray made sure to refill their spell components, and then we stopped at the tailor’s, where we purchased winter wear, including heavier capes and long underwear.

  By my watch, it was around eight-thirty when we finished our shopping. We made one last pass at the grocer’s to stock up even more, before we headed out the other side of town.

  As we stood there at the base of the first foothill, eyeing the frost-laden path towards the mountains, I had the sinking feeling that we weren’t ready or prepared for the journey at all. But there was nothing left to do. It was time we headed out, and all I could pray for was a spot of good luck. We set foot on the path, praying for fate to walk gently by our side.

  If you enjoyed The Glass Unicorn, you can preorder part 9. Or you can read it chapter by chapter by joining the Moon Minions tier on Yasmine’s Patreon.

  If you like her LitRPG, you might enjoy Yasmine’s urban fantasy. Shadow Stealing, book five in the Shadow Blade Series is available now. You can begin this series with Shadow Seeking.

  For all of her work, both published and upcoming releases, see the Bibliography at the end of this book, or check out her website at Galenorn.com and be sure and sign up for her newsletter to receive news about all my new releases.

  QUALITY CONTROL: This work has been professionally edited and proofread. If you encounter any typos or formatting issues ONLY, please contact us through Yasmine’s website so they may be corrected. Otherwise, know that this book is in her style and voice and editorial suggestions will not be entertained. Thank you.

  PLAYLIST

  I often write to music, and the Quest Wars Serial is no exception. Here’s the playlist I used for this book.

  Air: Napalm Love; Surfing on a Rocket

  The Alan Parsons Project: Eye in the Sky; Children of the Moon; Psychobabble; I Robot; Breakdown; One More River; Can’t Take it With You; Pyramania

  Alexandro: Milk (Bleach Version)

  Alice Cooper: Go to Hell; I’m the Coolest; Didn’t We Meet; Welcome to My Nightmare; Some Folks

  Amethystium: Shadow to Light; Autumn Interlude

  Android Lust: Here and Now

  Basil Poledouris: Column of Sadness/Wheel of Pain; Theology/Civilization; The Orgy

  Beats Antique: Egyptic; Runaway

  Bonnie Grace: Call the Herd; Tudor; Deer Hunt; My Soul Delights; Highland Hymn; The Fairy Dance

  The Bravery: Believe

  Broken Bells: The Ghost Inside

  The Buttress: Brutus (Instrumental)

  Celtic Woman: Newgrange

  The Chieftains: Dunmore Lassies (Instrumental)

  The Chorus of Life: Angel of Bells

  Corvus Corax: Ballade de Mercy

  Cream: Tales of Brave Ulysses; Strange Brew

  Damh the Bard: Obsession; The Two Magicians

  Dead Can Dance: Yulunga; Indus

  Deskant: As the Rivers Collapse; March of the Dead

  Donovan: Sunshine Superman; Season of the Witch

  Dragon Ritual Drummers: Black Queen; The Fall

  Eastern Sun: Beautiful Being

  Flight of the Hawk: Bones

  Faun: Oyneng Yar; The Market Song; Rad; Sieben

  Fluke: Absurd

  Gabrielle Roth: The Calling; Raven; Mother Night; Luna; Rest Your Tears Here; Zone Unknown;

  Godsmack: VooDoo

  The Heathen Kings: Rolling of the Stones

  Heather Alexander: March of Cambreadth; Camden Town; Black Unicorn; Black Jack’s Lady

  Hedningarna: Gorrlaus; Grodan/Widergrenen; Tullí; Ukkonen; Juopolle Joutunut; Räven

  Huldrelokkk: Trolldans

  Ian Melrose & Kerstin Blodig: Kråka

  Jethro Tull: Mountain Men; Mayhem, Maybe; Old Ghosts; Dun Ringill

  Leonard Cohen: The Future; You Want it Darker

  Low: Half Light

  Mannheim Steamroller: Walking in Straw Grass; The Second Door; The Fourth Door; The Sith Door; A Shade Tree; Lumen; Dancin’ in the Stars; Z-Row Gravity

  Marcus Bressler: Viking AT Work; Viking Raid; Viking Sword

  Max Ablitzer: Ghost Song; Windmill Song; Wind Song

  Miracle of Sound: Valhalla Calling; Ode to Fury; Superhuman; London Town

  Motherdrum: Big Stomp

  Mythos: Surrender; Icarus

  Nightwish: Slow, Love, Slow (Instrumental); Arabesque (Instrumental); Turn Loose The Mermaids (Instrumental)

  P.J. Harvey: Let England Shake; The Glorious Land; The Words that Maketh Murder; The Colour of the Earth

  Peter Gundry: The Forest Queen; King of the Woodlands; Caer—The Dream Weaver; The Elven Treasure; Lady of the Dawn

  The Pierces: Secret

  Queen: Another One Bites the Dust

  Rob Zombie: Living Dead Girl

  Ruth Barrett: Faeries Love Song

  S.J. Tucker: Hymn to Herne