A rotten plank-the inn's sign-hung on the wall, creaking as it swung back and forth in the wind.
Not only was the lettering crooked, but years of wind and rain had long since made it illegible.
Of course, hardly anyone cared what the inn was called.
The innkeeper had been waiting at the entrance for some time. When he saw the caravan approach, he immediately greeted them with a beaming smile.
He also called a few people out of the inn to help tend to the horses.
The inn was short-staffed.
Lynn and the others waited quite a while in the ground-floor hall before food was finally served.
To be fair, the cook's skills really were nothing special. At best, the food could be considered cooked; flavor was too much to ask.
But no one was particularly fussy when they could get hot food in such a remote wilderness.
For a while, there was not even the sound of conversation in the ground-floor hall, only the sounds of people digging into their meals.
Though the cook's skills were nothing special, the innkeeper was fairly attentive.
While everyone was still eating, he hurried off to heat water for baths.
Even so, with so many people in the caravan, they could only take turns bathing.
Naturally, Istredd, the patron footing the bill, was the first to enjoy this treatment.
Lynn and Geralt came next.
Their performance throughout the journey had long since earned everyone else's admiration, so the others were all willing to wait a little longer.
While Lynn and Geralt went to take hot baths, Istredd, who had already finished washing, began assigning tasks to his men.
He left three men to stand guard in the stable, watching the horses and the goods on the wagons.
He did not think the innkeeper or his staff would be stupid enough to steal their guests' luggage.
But there was always the chance that something might go wrong.
After a comfortable hot bath, Lynn, who had disembarked from the ship and then traveled for another whole day, was feeling sleepy.
So, after he and Geralt wished each other good night, he entered his room, lay down on the bed, and fell asleep.
There was no telling how long he had slept.
When Lynn realized he was awake, he thought he would see sunlight streaming into the room through the window.
But the reality was quite the opposite. All he saw was darkness so deep he could not see his own hand.
After confirming that he was not dreaming, Lynn climbed out of bed.
He walked to the window and looked outside.
Beyond the window, everything was deathly silent.
It was as though this little inn was all that remained of the entire world.
Then Lynn lowered his gaze, shifting it from the distance to the area close to the inn.
When he entered the inn, he had made a point of noting the stable's location.
The stable was also where the caravan's wagons were parked.
Strangely, though, Lynn could not see anything.
All he could see was pitch-black darkness.
Something was wrong!
Why hadn't the three men Istredd left to guard the wagons lit any torches?
No one wanted to lurk in the darkness.
Torches could not only drive away wild beasts and provide warmth, but more importantly, they gave people a sense of security.
Yet now, all the torches in the stable had gone out.
That meant something bad might be happening.
Almost at the very moment that warning arose, he heard an unusual, peculiar noise.
The sound was extremely faint and came from directly above Lynn's head.
It sounded like the wood in the roof beams creaking from years of decay.
But Lynn lunged to the bedside, grabbed the Gwyhyr he had obtained in Mahakam, and hurled it, scabbard and all, toward the strange sound overhead.
"Aah!"
A scream rang out.
A dark figure dropped from the rafters and slammed onto the room's floor.
What was more, he landed badly, and his right leg snapped, twisting into a horribly unnatural position.
The sight alone was enough to make anyone draw a sharp breath.
The man screamed in pain as well.
Lynn could never bear to hear other people scream.
So he slit the man's throat with the Gwyhyr.
He watched him choke to death on the blood pouring from his own throat.
Just then, the sounds of fighting and shouting came from outside as well.
At the same time, a towering knight over two meters tall, clad in a full suit of heavy armor, stood in Istredd's room, dragging a greatsword.
The person on the bed had pulled the covers over his head, hiding his appearance.
But from the outline bulging beneath the covers, it was clear that someone was indeed lying there.
From beneath his enclosed helmet, the towering knight sneered contemptuously. "Only children like hiding under the covers."
Then he raised his sword and brought it down without mercy.
The greatsword split both the covers and the bedboards beneath them in two.
But there was no scream, nor any blood.
The strike had not felt right, either.
Puzzled, the towering knight stepped forward and yanked the covers aside.
Only then did he discover that what lay beneath them was not a person, but pillows arranged into the shape of one.
At that moment, the cupboard in the room suddenly opened, and Istredd charged out with a dagger in his hand.
But the towering knight reacted even faster.
With a vicious sweep of his hand, his gauntlet knocked the dagger from Istredd's grip.
Then he seized Istredd by the throat and lifted him like a chick.
He opened his mouth in a grin, his voice muffled.
"King Lettenhove asked me to give you a message, Istredd. When you see that old bastard Baldwin, he wants you to say hello for him."
Watching Istredd struggle desperately but fruitlessly upon hearing the names of King Lettenhove and Baldwin, the towering knight felt utterly elated.
King Lettenhove, whom the towering knight served, was the mastermind behind the "Poviss secession," and afterward had seized power in the newly separated Kingdom of Poviss.
As for Baldwin, he was Istredd's father, Baldwin Thyssen.
When Baldwin was still king of Kovir, not only had he failed to prevent Poviss from seceding, but a rebellion had also broken out within Kovir itself.
So much so that the Thyssen family had been forced to flee Kovir.
Incidentally, King Idi, who later replaced Baldwin as Kovir's ruler, had once nearly had Geralt beheaded.
All because Geralt had killed an amphisbaena that was harassing the populace, only to be slandered as a "charlatan, mindless killer, and scavenger" by Kovir's court advisers, the sorcerers Stregobor and Zavist, when he went to collect his reward.
More unfortunately still, King Idi had believed their slander. Not only had he refused to pay Geralt a single coin, but he had also ordered him to leave Kovir within twelve hours.
Anyone of normal intelligence knew that, small as the territories of the Northern Kingdoms were, they were not so small that one could reach the border from the royal capital within twelve hours.
In the end, it was only because King Idi's hourglass broke that Geralt barely managed to leave alive.
Returning to the matter at hand, after being driven out of Kovir, Baldwin never had another chance to make a comeback.
Because he had suddenly died while fleeing.
After the Thyssen family fled in disgrace to the Principality of Talgar, King Lettenhove did not let his guard down.
He knew perfectly well that, since he could overthrow the Thyssen family, the Thyssen family could one day overthrow his rule as well.
So King Lettenhove had kept informants stationed in the Principality of Talgar all along.
That was precisely how he had been able to learn so accurately when Istredd would return to Talgar and lay an ambush in advance at this country inn.