It was a lonely hour, the inn quiet and still, bound up in that heavy silence which only comes when a single soul sits wakefully among many others. A fog crept against the window, obscuring the storm outside. The light of a nearby candle flickered in some unseen breeze, almost extinguished, then steadied.

That candle is too cheap for a room this expensive, he thought with annoyance, wishing he had a knife to trim a bit of wax from the top to better expose the wick.

Barely morning, and alre...