Free Winterfinding by Daniel Casey

Jej began to speak to her, the woman behind the
bar had been eying Jena. Now her eyes followed Jena as she moved
across the room. The look on the barkeep’s face was grim, nearly
sour. As Jej turned a corner leading the way up some stairs, Jena
paused and looked right at the barkeep. The woman didn’t turn away
or break her stare; she pursed her lips and nodded for Jena to
follow Jej.
    “ We’re in the midst of a
rush now, but iffa want something I canna bring id up.” Jej said
good-natured.
    “ Just some bread, cheese,
and…what do you have to drink here? Raki?” Jena asked and Jej
nodded. “That then. And I don’t want to be pestered.”
    Jej opened a thick door to a modest room.
Jena nodded satisfied dropping her rucksack and beginning to
unfasten her pack. She turned to Jej who was standing in the
doorway, “Go on then, before your mistress takes it out of your
hide.”
    Jej seemed to snap out of some trance,
“Right, yeah,” she smiled stepping back and turning around a couple
of times not knowing which way she was going to go, “sorry, right.
Sorry.” She finally left back down the stairs.
    Jena kicked the door closed and tossed her
pack on the squat bed. She arched her back and stretched side to
side making her way to the thin window. Peering through the thick,
wavy glass of the latticed window, she saw the alley below littered
with trash and crossed from above with linen lines.
    She turned the latch and opened the window.
There was a bout a twenty-foot drop to the alley below. Leaning
back in, Jena looked at the modest hearth and the basket of wood
next to it. A fire and a bed tonight would be a pleasant sleep, she
thought. If so, it’d be the first in a long time.
    She knelt beside the firewood and searched
through its contents until she found what she wanted. Crossing back
to the door, she dropped its latch and locked it. Then, bending
down, she placed the small piece of wood she had taken in the seam
of the jab. She kicked it several times to lodge it tight.
Unlatching the door, she pulled and when it wouldn’t give, she was
satisfied. Jena re-locked the door, walked over to the bed and
plopped herself down. It wasn’t the softest, but it beat any cold
ground or tree hammock.
    Suddenly, a wave of fatigue came over her.
With her feet propped up on her pack, she let her eyes close and
tugged at the blanket to cover her a bit. She was falling asleep.
This wasn’t the time for it but she could tell her body was
fighting her mind. Like it always does eventually, the body won and
Jena drifted off into oblivion.
    It was as if no time had passed. Jena had
closed her eyes to the soft light of midday and now opened them to
a tawny dusk. Everything felt still, she sat up and began to
register the sounds of the street outside. She was cold. Standing
closed the window and lit the oil lamp near the hearth. As she bent
down to start, a fire there was a sheepish knock at the door.
    “ Come.” Jena
called.
    “ I canna, miss.” Jej said
flatly. Jena scowled then realized she had latched and stopped the
door. She opened it for Jej, who stood there with a tray of
food.
    “ It’s been a few hours. Ya
never answered when I knocked so I lef’ the tray. It was still
‘ere, I took the liberty of taking it down to the kitchen an’
adding supper.” Jej held out the tray which now had not just what
Jena had asked for before but what looked like a shepherd’s pie and
a tankard.
    “ Ale?” Jena took the
tray.
    “ Proper cider, Madame
Moria’s own.” Jej smiled with pride.
    “ Sorry for the bother.
Thank you.” Jena gave the girl a weak smile.
    “ No worries. Noon crowd
has gone so iffaya wanna come down, der’s room aplenty.” Jej
smiled. The girl’s face was nearly all cheeks, rose red like
apples, and her large eyes made her look remarkably innocent. She
was cute, Jena thought looking her over.
    “ We’ll see.” Jena nodded
as she began to close the door, “When does the bar close
up?”
    “