Thieves of the Rising Moon

Chapter 1: Marie

Run before they notice you're gone, was what Marie's older sister Jeanette told her before she decided to jump out of her tiny room's window with only a bag of jewelry in her hand, a roll of money she started saving when she turned seventeen and wearing an old cape that she once borrowed from her oldest sister Margaret.  Her past self would've never imagined that one day, she would be the one running away from arranged marriage instead of those handsome, youthful male protagonists of the books she used to read with Jeanette. But right now, on her eighteenth birthday, she was a runaway. Having nowhere to go.

It was inane of her, trying to get lost in the city she had been living in for the past six years. No matter how much she tried to take the wrong road, she knew she would end up in the city center. Khiburgh was a larger city, compared to Adril Esta's capital, Arctin; where she used to live before her parents had the decision to move to Mobreique. But there was an unwritten code among the folk which was that "You shall not stray in the East Khiburgh." It was the one road that didn't lead to the city center. The one path that no merchant, including her father, would prefer to take unless it's a must for the business: outlaw zone.

Marie never thought her feet would willingly take her to the outlaw zone, better known as East Khiburgh, with no hesitation. Rather, until today. She held on to the hood of the cape, hoping that her sister's stagy sense of fashion doesn't make her look like a member of aristocracy walking in East Khiburgh, which would clearly get her in trouble.

The smell of saltwater mixed with smoke grazing her nose soon left its place to a filthier, gloomy one. The streets she walked in narrowed with each turn she took and now, rather than well-cared wooden houses and meticulously dressed up folk, there were outlaws. There was the smell of flyblown cigarettes and bedraggled streets after the rain. She kept her head high, aware that anyone around had the facility to carry a weapon. To kill her. All she had was a chef knife she grabbed from the kitchen without permission a few months ago, after she almost got attacked by a vagabond when she was out at the Khiburgh Harbor, helping her father with stocktaking. She kept it under her pillow ever since that. Thankfully, nobody was paying attention to her in the dusky streets today.

"Have you heard the news?" Marie heard a black woman talk to a brunette man on the roadside, both smoking outside the guild. "Silverthorn is wanted by the council."

"That guy has his cell ready in Graveworth." the brunette man answered with his rough jagged voice. "Keep your mouth shut before he slits your throat open."

Marie fastened her steps as both outlaws laughed at the sickening joke. A criminal who had his own cell in The Graveworth Penitentiary sounded like a nightmare. Imagining all the things that could happen if she were to meet a criminal in flesh sent shivers down her spine. Had she made a mistake by thinking she could pull off the terror of the eastern territory? Would it be better if she went back?

She immediately erased the doubtful thoughts conquering her mind and turned right at the end of the street. She had no time for overthinking. They will be searching for me tomorrow, she reminded herself. I can't turn back.

The shadowy streets were making her more uncomfortable than ever as she forced herself to observe the shady shops she walked past to see if she can use any of them for her benefit. This is how the business worked in Mobreique. Take advantage of it or die without it. No chance stops by your door twice, nor can you get rid of it once you've taken it.

She knew the shore was close by as the familiar smell of salt air reached her. With no hesitation, she decided to go where the road would take her. She had never been to the East Coast before. Her father always told her that it was dangerous beyond the South Cape. Beyond the territory the Trade Council owns. As a thirteen-year-old, she thought there was nothing she wouldn't be able to tide over, though her pretentious claims lost their place in her mind as she grew up. The only thing she wouldn't be able to deny was the fact that she wanted to visit East Khiburgh. Not as a runaway dreaded for her safety, but rather as a wealthy merchant that no outlaw would dare to mess with.