Caught in Crystal: A Lyra Novel Read Online Free PDF Page B

steady. “Five pence the night, lady. Seven if you want an evening meal.” Then she remembered the driver. “That’s each.”
    The woman raised a perfect eyebrow. “The last three innkeepers charged nothing at all.”
    “They don’t have Prefect Islorran’s tax to pay, lady.”
    “You mistake my meaning.” The woman studied Kayl for a moment more, and slowly her lips widened into a smile. “I shall take a room. One week, at the price you named. After that, we shall see.” Without waiting for Kayl’s response, she turned and gave an order to her driver. He nodded and sprang back up to his seat; a moment later, the travel-chariot drove back the way it had come.
    The woman turned and held out a hand. Automatically, Kayl extended her own, and seven thin copper coins dropped into it, one after the other. Kayl stared at them, then slowly closed her fingers around them. “This way, lady,” she said, and went into the inn. She did not have to turn her head to see whether her unwelcome guest was following. Though she heard no sound but her own footsteps, she could feel the woman’s presence like the heat of a fire on her back.
    Inside, Kayl’s rope sandals made a hissing noise against the stone floor as she circled the hearth in the center of the room. She crossed between the tables to the foot of the stairs. As she started up, she heard the woman’s musical voice once again. “And do you wish no name to put on your board?”
    Kayl turned and met the woman’s gaze. “Whatever name you wish to give, lady,” she said with a touch of sarcasm.
    “I am Rialynn, called Corrana of the Sussewild.” A smile flickered over her face and was gone. “Corrana will do, I think, for your guest record.”
    Shaken, Kayl nodded and turned away. The woman had given her true name; Kayl had felt the pull of it, and she was certain. Corrana—or Rialynn—was a sorceress. And she had studied magic with the Silver Sisters, though she did not seem to be one of them. No other wizards placed such dangerous power in their names. But why would such a one trust a mere innkeeper? Especially if she knew that Kayl…
    “This is your room, lady,” Kayl said, deliberately flinging open the first door in an attempt to interrupt her train of thought. “You’ve paid for an evening meal; it’s served at the seventh hour, downstairs in the main room.”
    The woman called Corrana smiled and moved inside. “I will be there,” she said, and closed the door behind her.
    Kayl stood staring stupidly at the wooden planks, then turned and started down the stairs. The routine tasks of running the inn would be a comforting distraction from fruitless wondering about her enigmatic customer. She hoped.
    The door banged below. A boy’s voice, breathless with running, called, “Mother? Mother!”
    Kayl’s ears caught the undercurrent of fear being sternly suppressed by eight-year-old pride. Habit and instinct combined to set her personal worries aside at once. “I’m here, Mark,” she said, taking the last few steps two at a time. “What is it?”
    Mark stood by the outer door, holding a bronze-bladed dagger in his right hand. His thin chest heaved in panting breaths, and his blue-gray eyes darted around the serving room. Kayl’s gaze followed his, but she saw no signs of danger. Mark straightened from his fighter’s crouch when he saw Kayl, but his eyes remained wary. “Mother! You’re all right?”
    “Of course I’m all right,” Kayl said. “Why shouldn’t I be? And how many times have I told you not to come banging through the door like that? You’ll scare away what few guests we have.”
    The familiar scolding was even more reassuring than Kayl’s presence. The last traces of tension left Mark’s shoulders, and he shoved the dagger into a sheath at his belt. “I was in a hurry,” he said defensively.
    “And why was that?”
    “Tully said he saw the death-coach drive right up to the inn! I thought—” Mark stopped and eyed his