~The inn was brightly lit, bright enough that Srethgar did not miss it in the dark fog. The carriage jolted to a stop and the young vampire climbed out. The slow sun lazily crawled forth, tinting the fog with a rosy pink. The driver unloaded the carriage of its boxed cargo. The vehicle groaned in inanimate appreciation. "Take the maid back with you, I have someone waiting for me." she ordered. Sreth grabbed the small chest packed with her small memories of home and walked quietly towards the inn. A few drunkards stumbled out, cursing as they tumbled into mud. She ignored their calls and passed though the oak doors, hiding from the sun.
Noise was an aspect of any inn or tavern but the small amount of people in this place was startling. She wondered why so few people were there. The small girl earned a bundle of curious glances as she walked towards the tavern owner. " A room. I'll be gone by tomorrow night, Sir." she explained. The man looked at her and then the couple of gold coins she offered up. "What is a young lass like you doin' so far north? All on her own too." he asked. Srethgar glared at the man and addressed him no longer as an elder, but as an equal. "I'm heading North to live with my father's clan, I've got someone meeting me here."
Sreth took each of the creaking steps with caution. The room being rented out to her was part of the attic where little light ever reached. She didn't sleep though, not even the dreamlike trance she usually went into when she hadn't eaten. Each noise from the main room two flights of stairs below eased through the squeaking floor boards. She removed a book on the history of the north from her chest and read the first quarter by the time a tavern wench came up to call her to middens. She had dully refused, saying she wasn't hungry. A half hour after that she entertained herself by watching dust particles float though the only light in the room, sunlight filtering though a small hole. Then the rats scurrying across the floor boards and under her cot. 'It's not an inn without rats or fleas...' she thought. This place seemed to have both. The light from earlier started to fade, leaving the room pale and dim. Moonlight glimmered in the room now, spreading two feet in any direction.
The girl walked sullenly down the stairs, carrying her belongings. The maid from earlier in the day bumped into her, probably bringing her a message. "There's a man downstairs asking for you." she said. Srethgar hurried her steps and stopped with a jolt on the bottom of the stairwell. The man the wench spoke of sat by the door, dressed in hides and a thick cloak with the hood up. He stood and, considering her currently small stature, she felt so very small. He had to be at least seven feet tall, weighing about 3 stone. She herself was only 4'3", weighing 73 pounds. "Small girl, are you the Vizwell child?" he asked. "Yes, sir, are we leaving?" he only nodded.
The wagon was being pulled by an ox with a set of horns that could probably cleave her in two. The man dropped her box into the back of the wagon and then lifted her in after it. He climbed into the driver's seat and set the ox in motion with a crack of his whip. The road was much in need of repair now, the trenched mess that it was. She huddled under her furs and watched the trees pass again. Suddenly, one by one the trees faded away to show a flat area that held not tree not rock, covered in long tundra grasses. The fog slipped away too, showing a breath taking view of the icy mountains ahead...~
}} 1 stone = 100 lbs.{{
