Daughters of Moonlight

Chapter 13

AN/ this chapter is pretty short so I apologize, don't worry though the story is about to pick up in the next one. we've got some big plans.

           The familiar sounds of the city greeted my ears. I had gotten used to the oppressive quiet during our journey. The sky had felt massive and the moon and stars had seemed to shine even brighter than before. Now, even as night fell the stars and moon were hardly visible. More shocking than the sights or the great contrast in sound was the smell. Spending a week on the open trail had been enough for me to forget the smell of cities. The smell of thousands of people packed so tightly together was enough to make even Tyre look a bit green. We walked through the crowded streets until we finally reached where we would be staying.

It wasn't much different from the tavern back at home, except there were only rooms to sleep in and no place to eat or have a drink. The rooms were colder than the outside air and just as dark as the rooms back home. The absence of the familiar dampness that seemed to follow every room in our tavern felt oddly cold. The water had felt like a hug and I had grown used to it and now being in the same familiar rooms but without that familiar clinging water felt empty and seemed even darker than they had.

I had barely enough time to take in the place we would be staying before Tyre walked into the room "Tobias, Nai, you guys are getting our supplies, don't fuck it up. This is the biggest pay out of our lives and if one of you screws up our chances at it you'll be facing more than missing pay" he said it flippantly but the venom beneath his voice was still evident.

Back in the streets the oppressive heat of human bodies seemed to block out any fresh air the city could've afforded. One fortunate side of being packed together so tightly was that everyone was always pushing against everyone, they hardly noticed a missing wallet or felt the hand slipping in and out of their pocket. Before we had even reached a viable place to find the necessary rope and blades I had already collected a fair amount of coins, surreptitiously discarding the wallets as I had continued walking. Judging by the glare that Tobias was giving me, he hadn't had the same idea.

The shop had a rendition of a coin dipped in blood in it-the representation of prosperity. The blood was no doubt that of a Syren and the thought of stealing from such a store brought unparalleled joy. The heist was relatively easy, not even worth calling a heist in the first place. The only person in the entire shop was the tired owner and he stayed behind the counter the entire time not bothering to get closer to the two of us. It was simple, really, find the right supply, pocket it without anyone noticing, our bags were large enough to more than compensate for the amount of items we were stealing. Within five minutes Tobias and I had found everything we were looking for. In order to not arouse suspicion I bought a rope with my newly acquired wealth. The shopkeeper didn't even seem to notice that we were there until we had approached the counter.

As we stepped back into the crowded streets and began to make our way back to the hostel. The crowds had begun to drop back a bit as the sun had fully set and night had fallen. The Moon was barely visible in the sky and the pinpoints of light that were the stars were far dimmer than they had been on the plain. The city, now visible without the crowds of people, was composed of oranges and yellows occasionally punctuated with green. On almost every street corner the same poster greeted me. "Naiya, nymph murderer wanted for the murder of Princess Damara and Kris, her chamber maid" a poor rendition of my face stared back at me, with the hair from my wigs framing it. I scoffed at the idea of Kris being mine or Damara's chamber maid but any acknowledgement of the sign would be my own demise.

"I think I'm in love with her," Tobias' words jolted me out of my thoughts.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"Mel, I'm in love with her, I really am," his voice was so full of conviction one could almost believe him.

I almost laughed but stopped myself, "That's impossible, you've known her for like two weeks. That's called lust, just go to a brothel, you won't be in love with her after that I promise."

"This is love. There's just something about her. Her hair and her face and her body. She's just so beautiful and I love her; I know I do. But you need to leave her alone Nai, she'll never love me back if you're always right there with her. You're too handsome and besides, I never thought that you liked girls like that, it had never seemed that why back home I mean I saw the way you looked at the bartenders in the tavern. I just really think that she'll eventually love me back if you just give her space and maybe she can see me. I mean I'm a really nice guy and I think I should tell her that, no one ever likes nice guys though," he stopped himself noticing the incredulous look on my face.

"Look man, I'm telling you right now it's not like that there's nothing between Mel and me, there never was and also everything you just described that's lust. Literally go to a brothel you won't be in love with her after, I promise. She's beautiful, yes but that's not all there is to love" I shook my head as we entered the hostel again. I knew that regardless of what I said he would continue to think himself in love with her and he would act on that supposed love.