Free Wielder's Awakening by T.B. Christensen Page B

immediately.  Around the pheasant there were potatoes and other vegetables that he devoured first.  After taking a long drink from his mug, he swiftly made the pheasant disappear.  Soon all that was left on his plate were bones and a little juice from the tender pheasant.  With the weight of the food in his stomach and the warm cider in his belly, his eyelids began to droop.  He shook his head.  He could not fall asleep yet.  He had just barely gotten to the city.  Yet, despite all of his determination to stay awake, he slowly began to fade away.
    “Looks like I’m not the only tired one,” John said with a yawn.  “Come on Traven.  Let’s go find us some rooms.”
    Traven slowly got to his feet and followed Hank and John over to the innkeeper.  He was a very skinny man with only a little grey hair left on his head, but he had on a polite smile as they approached him.  Hank told the innkeeper that they needed two rooms, and they were soon following him up the stairs and down a hall brightly lit by oil lamps along the walls.  The innkeeper stopped at the end of the hall.  He opened the last two doors and turned to them.
    “I’m sorry that these aren’t the best rooms in my inn, but they should be comfortable enough.  All of the inns in the city are unusually full for this time of the year.  There have been a lot of people coming into the city from the countryside because of the bandits, and many of the merchants are content to just stay here until the trouble has all been cleared up.  Anyway, I hope that you fellows have a comfortable night’s sleep.”
    With that, the innkeeper turned and walked back down the hall.  Hank and John wished Traven pleasant dreams.  They also told him goodbye and that it was nice getting to know him.  They would be leaving early in the morning.
    “I hope you make it to Calyn safely.  Don’t leave the city by yourself or you’re almost sure to be attacked by these bandits.  You should be able to find a merchant caravan that will be leaving soon for Calyn.  It would be best to travel with one of them for protection.”  After a few more suggestions, Hank and John disappeared into the room on the left with a final goodbye for Traven and a wish that his journey went well.
    Traven turned to the door on the right and went in.  It was too dark to really make out much of the room, but he did not bother to light any of the candles in the room as he shut the door behind him.  He slipped his belongings onto the floor in the back corner of the room and almost didn’t even take the time to slip out of his traveling clothes before dropping onto the luxuriously soft bed.  It was bigger than the one he was used to sleeping on at home, and he stretched out contentedly on it.  After a few seconds he slipped under the covers, and before he could even plan all of the wonderful things he was going to do in the morning, he was fast asleep.

 
     
    6
     
     
    Traven’s eyes shot open.  Someone else was in his room.  He stayed completely still and listened.  To the right of his bed he could hear quiet breaths of air.  Just in time he saw a flash of metal bearing down on him.  He rolled over with lightning speed as the blade embedded itself in his pillow sending feathers flying into the air.  Traven shot out of his bed and ran out the door.  He continued as fast as he could down the hall, stairs, and out of the silent inn.  Behind him he could hear the footfalls of his pursuer getting closer.  He had to run faster!
    He turned down a street and then down another, pumping his legs as fast as he could.  Glancing back, he saw the thin tower rising in the distance.  It rose out of the billowing fog, standing majestically as a black void in the night sky.  Traven turned away from the dark tower and continued on.  Buildings stood silently on both sides of the avenue until they were stopped abruptly by a grand plaza.  He turned down a side street between two large buildings