Garin receives a visitor.

The road was a dangerous place for a heavy sleeper and Garin had spent many years traveling with naught but his own company. So when the door to the barn creaked open during the middle of the night, he was awake and alert in an instance.

His hearing straining for the slightest sound, he heard somebody enter the barn, closing the door behind them. Not knowing who they might be Garin mentally prepared himself for the **** that could possibly lay ahead.

The noises continued.

Light footsteps crossing the barn's floor.

His horse moving within its stall below as the intruder drew nearer.

Garin soundlessly eased the dagger from its sheath on his belt as he heard someone set foot upon the ladder leading to his bunk in the loft.

Garin tensed, ready to strike the moment the unknown prowler was within his range. Instead, a tentative voice called out into the darkness as it reached the last rung of the ladder. “Excuse me? Sir Knight?”

Relief washed through Garin upon hearing the serving girl Ilana’s voice and the tension of situation evaporated. “Girl! What are you doing here in the middle of the night? Don’t you know better than to go sneaking up on a knight while he’s sleeping?” Garin replied a little too gruffly.

“I just wanted to apologize for what I said to you earlier in the inn. About sleeping with your horse,” Ilana said meekly.

Garin chuckled softly and reached out from under the blanket he'd been sleeping in and took hold of Ilana’s slight wrist. “Surely that’s not the only reason you came out here in the middle of the night?”