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it...” A frown briefly creased his broad brow. “...although I don’t recall seeing him in here when I was playing.”
    Ned shook his head as his long chin jutted. “That’s ‘cos he wasn’t, but you believe what you want.” He turned to his lingering customers. “Now drink up gentlemen. Some of us have work to do and beds to go to.”
    Carefully wrapping his gift in the large soft blue cloth, Corlin bade Ned goodnight, and with the gimalin under his arm, limped upstairs to his little room. It had been a busy and eventful day, but he knew as he eased off his boots, that sleep would be a long time coming.
     

7 - Leaving Friends
    Ned gave Molly a nudge, and they lay very still, listening to Corlin’s uneven footsteps feeling their way downstairs in the dark. The latch of the door into the bar clicked quietly, followed by the soft squeak of the kitchen door as it was opened and closed again. Ned’s mind conjured a picture of Corlin stepping carefully across to the door which opened onto the yard and the stables.
    The innkeeper murmured as he patted Molly’s shoulder. “You stay there for a bit longer. I’ll go down and see if he needs anything.”
    Knowing that the minstrel had things to do before he could be away, Ned took the time to get fully dressed. He then pulled on a warm woollen jacket and made his way quickly and quietly downstairs. He found Corlin in the stable, a lantern hung on a beam and his head pushed hard against Megan’s side as he tightened the girth. The gimalin, wrapped in its blue cloth, was secured behind the saddle’s cantle.
    Corlin looked up and gave a little grimace. “Sorry Ned. I tried not to disturb you.”
    The innkeeper flipped a dismissive hand. “Don’t bother your head. I’m glad I was able to see you before you left.” He unhooked the lantern from the beam as Corlin began to lead Megan out of her stall. “So, are you travelling alone? We got interrupted last night.”
    Corlin eased the mare to a stop and looked across at the innkeeper, his face a mask of dark shadowed planes in the lantern’s steady light. “It would seem I have little choice. No-one was willing to ride with me when I started out, so alone it is.”
    Ned stood the lantern on the flat top of a buttress and slid back bolts. His voice was sombre, his manner uneasy as he pushed back one half of the wide double doors. “Then you be careful, even though the road to Tregwald is an easy one, and I’ve ‘eard say that the Duke Ergwyn is an affable sort of fellow. As for his gimalin, well, I ain’t ever ‘eard of anyone who’s made the attempt, if it exists in the first place.”
    He moved closer to Corlin and lowered his voice almost to a whisper. “But if you finds yourself needing to travel further to the north, then you’d best be on your guard. You’ll come to the City of Tregwald easy enough, but beyond that I’ve ‘eard there’s a forest, miles wide, that lies across the way. They call it ‘The Whispering Forest’ and I’ve ‘eard that those who ventured in never came out again. Travellers nowadays go round it, even though it adds over fifty miles to the journey.” He retrieved the lantern and held it high. “You just remember what I’ve said, young feller.”
    A flicker of apprehension crossed Corlin’s face. He held out his hand and Ned shook it. “Thanks for that, Ned. In fact, thanks for everything.”
    He stepped round to Megan’s right side, led her out into the street and clambered into the saddle. Gathering up the reins he looked down at the innkeeper. “I wonder whether you’d do me one more favour.”
    Ned frowned and rubbed his chin. “Depends what it is.”
    The minstrel grinned. “Would you take care of Hobb for me? It’s too cold for him to be travelling far. I’ve left a silver on the bar so you can buy a cage for him.”
    Ned’s face was all angles in the combined light of the lantern and the first grey light of a late winter dawn. “I suppose so. Where is