Garrett Ironwood's Arc

Chapter 2 of 2

The gold coin still sat on Garrett's shelf a week later. He had won a promise, not a name. But a promise meant nothing if the man kept leaving before dawn. Garrett had watched him go every full moon. The noble drank, talked in careful pieces, then slipped out into the dark before the sky turned gray. Garrett knew why now. Something hunted the man. And a tavern that closed at last call gave him no reason to linger. So Garrett looked at his own building with fresh eyes. The Velvet Lantern glowed warm at night, every lamp trimmed, the bar polished till it shone. Travelers loved it. But it had no beds. No private room where a hunted man could rest behind a locked door. Garrett owned the finest tavern on the road and could not offer the one thing that would keep his guest past dawn. He decided to build it. Above the taproom sat a dusty storeroom he used for empty barrels. Garrett hauled them out himself, sweat soaking his shirt. He swept the floor and dragged up a bed frame from the cellar. He fit an oak bar across the door, thick enough to stop any shoulder. He hung a heavy shutter on the single window. By the fourth day the room was small, clean, and safe. The full moon came early that month, the way the noble said he would. He arrived at moonrise in his green coat and took the back table. Garrett poured the dark ale and carried it over, but he did not sit. "I've something to show you," Garrett said. "Before you drink." The noble's pale eyes narrowed. He glanced at the door, then followed Garrett up the narrow stairs. Garrett opened the storeroom. Lamplight fell on the made bed, the barred door, the shuttered window. "A room," Garrett said. "Locks from the inside. No one comes through that door but you. Stay the night. Stay till the sun's high, if you want." The man stood very still. His gloved hand touched the oak bar. For a long moment he said nothing. Then his shoulders eased, the way they had the first night Garrett stopped pushing. "You built this," the noble said. "For me." "For you." The man drew a slow breath. "Then I'll stay till dawn. But you must promise me one thing." His voice dropped. "When the moon is full and the door is barred, you do not open it. No matter what you hear." Garrett's chest went tight. He heard the warning under the words. Something would happen behind that door, and the man was afraid of it himself. "I promise," Garrett said. That night the noble climbed the stairs and stayed. The bar dropped into place with a heavy thud. Garrett stood in the dark hall and listened to the silence, wondering what he had just agreed to guard.