I finish my song and look up. The common room of the inn is empty.
It isn't that there aren't any customers--there isn't anything, or anyone.
The customers are gone, the bar is gone, all the tables and benches, gone.
In fact, the only thing left the same since I started playing this evening
is that my bedroll is still sitting beside the fire, and I'm still on this
barding stool. I de-tune my harp, and put her away, tucked neatly out of
harm's way in the protective case. I call out and am answered by deadened
echoes of my own voice. I search the entire building, upstairs and down.
There is nothing, not even the smallest mote of dust or an insignificant
mouse hair. I walk outside, and see the stables. I walk to them, hoping
to take comfort in the presence of the horses, but not only are there no
horses in the stable, there is no trace that this stable had ever been
used. I sigh softly to myself and go back into the common room of the inn.
I roll out my bedroll and bid farewell to my harp, because I don't know
if I will awaken.
--The Wandering Bard--