I awoke the next morning her singing that song once again, her voice beautifully melodic as usual, while packing up the tent and snuffing the fire. I sat up and took a swig of water, running hands through my matted hair. "Morning" she said with a smile, handing me my knife. "Sorry. I got a little bored and did some whittling." "Where's your knife?" I asked. She smirked and shook her head. "In the bag you insisted on using as a pillow. Yours happened to be conveniently in the open so I took it. Hope you don't mind, darling" I shook my head. "As long as you don't lose it like you seem to do with all of yours" I laugh. She smacked me on the shoulder and pulled me by my outstretched hand onto my feet. She pulled a bit too hard and I lurched forwards after I stood upright and bumped into her pushing her back. Before she fell a grabbed her and pulled her back. We stood like this for a few seconds, inches apart, before I nervously coughed and backed away. "Ready to get going?" I asked. She simply nodded and grabbed her bag and the waterskin. As I grabbed the tent and slung it across my shoulder I felt warmth wash over my face. And this time, I don't think it had anything to do with my marks. The trip to Anchoraad only took us about half the day so we arrived at the town gate early that afternoon. As we passed through a few guards stopped us. "Halt. You two. Come here" he barked pointing at us. We walked over to him. "What's your business here? You don't exactly look like traders." He was right. Both of us were covered in dirt and mud. Half our gear sported a heap of pine needles and pitch stains. "We're here to see Sir Hadar. I'm sure you know who that is" said Aloura in an exasperated tone. "We've traveled through the wilderness with no guide of any sort, left to fend for ourselves after being separated from our caravan. Damn brigands and bandit on the roads. And I am not to be lectured by a town guard after all we went through." I had to stifle a laugh. She'd been known to stretch the truth from time to time but this was ridiculous. "Now then, we have important information for Sir Hadar that we were supposed to deliver yesterday. So would you kindly tell us where we might find him?" The guards, as well as myself, stood dumbfounded before one piped up. "My apologies miss..." he trailed the last word, raising his voices pitch in question. "Valla" she said. Why did she say my mothers name? I thought. "Well miss Valla, we sincerely apologise for your trip going awry, you might find him at his office on the north side of town near the theatre, or at the Thalia near the docks. It's a tavern he frequents." "Thank you sir. Good day" she said before turning and walking away. I nodded to the guards and followed suit. "What was all that?" I asked. "Just a little fun. Plus we shouldn't give them our real names just in case." A light chuckle escaped me as I said "Well at least we're in the city now. Hmm.." I looked around. "Lots of ground to cover, we could split up to check both places but it would be far too easy to get separated. We need to stick together." She nodded in agreement, "So what's first? Docks or theatre?" I sniffed the air. "The smell of the saltwater isn't very strong here so I'd say we're a ways away from the docks. And when we were heading down from the mountains there seemed to be a lot more of the town to the south. Let's check his office first." We started off through town, weaving around people on the busy streets. I had never seen so many gathered in one place before. A single street here could've filled our village. Truly an astonishing sight. After asking around a bit and getting lost more than once, we finally made our way to his office. It was a small building made from stained oak wood. It's sloping black roof formed an A frame above the front door, which was a dark wooden artwork carved with many pictures. It's brass handle curved outward, reflecting the sunlight. There were a few panes of opaque glass near the top of the door. I knocked. No answer. Again. Still nothing. Finally a banged on the door until it was sure to be heard anywhere in the building and most of the surrounding area. After that turned out to be futile I began to peer through the glass. It's design made it practically impossible to see anything inside. Shrugging my shoulders I descended the steps and said "Alright. I suppose we check the tavern now." The guard said it was by the docks. Hmmmm. "Lets just go to the water. We can follow the shoreline and see where the docks are from there." Upon reaching the coast we realized the guard could have been much more specific to where the tavern was. As far as we could see were rows upon rows of wooden decks and large boats with massive sails. Their masts standing high like an old pine, sails waving around in the wind. The number of ships could have supplied a large navy. We decided to ask around again so we walked down to the docks. The waves sloshing around beneath the boards, the fresh smell of the salt in the air, seagulls chirping through the sky. All of it was new to me. I couldn't help but smile. Eventually we found this older man sitting on a barrel, his skin tan and worn from years on the sea. Wrinkles heavily covered his face, especially around his eyes. His king white hair flowed down past his shoulders, some of it tied together into knot at the back on top. His beard was the same color, full and thick, peppered with stray black hairs. "Excuse me sir, could you point us to the Thalia please?" Aloura asked. The man pointed south while taking a swig from a dark brown bottle. "Keep walking down that way. You'll see a big building with an anchor sign next to the water. Thalia should be on the other side of the road. Red roof" He drew out the vowels in his words, punctuating hard on some consonants while completely skipping over others. Except for his r's. He rolled his tongue on every R, accentuating the word. After walking down for about ten more minutes we saw the anchor sign next to the docks. Looking to our right we saw a small dark colored building with a crimson roof. A sign marked "Thalia" in beautiful flowing calligraphy hung outside, just above the door. The door itself was plain. Almost black wood with a twisted wrought iron handle on the left side. The frame around the door was more interesting though. Where most had simple trim around the edges, this frame seemed to be made from twisted roots. As if they had grown up from the ground and encircled the door. I grabbed the handle and pulled the heavy door, creaking as it swung open. Inside was dimly lit. There were few darkly stained glass windows placed around, one or two on each wall. Most of the lighting came primarily from candles littered around on the tables or the fireplace on the right side of the room. The smell of hickory smoke filled my nose, filling me with a cozy feeling, like our house after a big hunt. Some of the figures in the room turned to look at us, only lingering for a second or two before turning back to their drinks. We sauntered up to the bar and took our seats on the cushioned stools. "What'll it be lad?" the bartender asked, with the same accent as the man on the docks. He was a stout man, short and stocky. Thick arms bulged the sleeves of his shirt, his stomach doing the same around his midsection. His face was round and flushed as if he were blushing, a large mustache sitting atop his lip. He was bald on top, his scalp reflecting the candle light. "Nothing for me thanks" I said quickly, glancing around to try and find Mr Hadar. "And the lass?" He said. "No thank you I'm alright" she replied. "Hhmp." The bartender grunted. "Well if you're not here for drinks why bother. Order something or make room for actual customers." "Fine. Mead if you have it" I said, reminiscing about the sweet honey wine I had shared with my father a few times. He always told me it was our secret, and that mother couldn't know. His father had done the same for him when he was a child, and he passed the tradition onto me. A cold wave fell over me, painfully almost. I could feel goosebumps form along my arms, as if all the heat had been sucked from the room. Gods I hoped I could share another one with him someday soon. "Meads gonna run ya two silver pieces." The bartender said, hand out, palm facing upwards. I glanced over to Aloura, who began searching through her bag for nonexistent coin. I could sense the bartender's impatience until a hand slapped two silver coins on the bar to my right. The hand was clad in black leather, slender fingers raking across the metal surface. Looking back further the persons entire outfit was some shade of black or grey, adorned with metal furnishings here or there. Leather straps stitched across the figures chest. I looked up to find a face, only to see a void in its place. A hood drawn over the figures head and a mask pulled up the the nose concealed the identity I sought. "That'll be on my tab Ewan." Said a high pitched voice. A girl? I thought. It wasn't typical for women in my village or any that passed through to be in such attire. The outfit also hid distinctive features. I was surprised to say the least. Not near as much as Aloura though, who yelped and went to hug the newcomer. The dark clad woman rocked back on her heels, arms wide in shock. Aloura threw her arms around her, squeezing tight enough to entice a gasp. After a few awkward seconds, the woman returned the hug to Aloura, before breaking away to hold each other at arms length. "Not here. Follow me" she whispered. Then nodded to the bartender who slid a key to her from across the bar. I reached out and held Aloura by the shoulder, "What are you doing? Who the hell is that?" I asked. "Trust me. Just grab your drink and come on." I grabbed my mug of mead from the counter, far different from the horns I was accustomed to drinking from, and followed Aloura. The woman brought us to a door around the corner to the right of the bar. She brought the key ring to the handle and inserted it, metal ringing as it scraped against each other. The door opened to reveal a dark lit room, a small fireplace sending dancing shadows across the walls. The red wallpaper was dotted with floral designs and was rung by intricate weaving borders along the edges of the wall. A red velvet couch sat caddy cornered to the fire, with a matching armchair next to it. Near the back of the room a dark wooden desk stood, another armchair behind it. The floors were scratched near it's feet. The desk must have been moved recently then. The woman shut the door behind us and locked the deadbolt, gesturing for us to sit on the couch. Aloura sat down happily, I followed carefully, hand resting on my blades hilt. The woman sat across from us in the armchair, her hood casting a dark shadow over her face, contrasting the rest of her body which was bathed in golden orange light. She drew back her hood, releasing a cascade of obsidian black hair, her pale white skin glowing in the firelight. Her eyes, icy blue, contrasted heavily with the black marks around her eyes, looking to be war paint of some kind. She then pulled down her cloth mask, revealing the rest of her face, still pale white except for her lips, which matched the marks around her eyes. "Good to see you two again" Nyx. Of course it was her. She looked exactly the same as she did when she had visited our village, the same splotches of black painting her eyes and lips. Still wearing the same makeup? I thought. That is until the black around her lips moved, curving up her cheeks in a grin as her real mouth widened into a smile itself. "I'm glad you two are here, I need your help. My father's been arrested. Yesterday when I came back to town, I saw him being led out in cuffs towards the stockyard." Her head dipped down, eyes staring at the floor, words becoming softer and more worried as each one escaped. "Gods, Nyx that's awful." Aloura said and then pursed her lips. "We know exactly how you feel. Our parents were arrested by our town guards. That's actually why we're here, we heard they were coming through this area. And I knew that if anyone had an idea of where they'd be, it would be you or your father." "Wait... Yours too?" Nyx said, quickly glancing back and forth between us. We nodded. Her eyes started darting around slightly, as if analysing a puzzle of sorts. I could almost hear the gears turning in her head. After a few seconds she broke from the trance. "Well I've been out of town for a few months, jobs for father and all, but I haven't heard of any prisoner transfers coming through here recently." Immediately I felt my spirits drop. Had we really hit a dead end on our search so soon? I looked over and Aloura was wearing the same hopeless expression. "But..." Nyx said. "My father had beckoned me back home because of some emergency. The letter he sent with one of our ravens was almost illegible. Like some madman had scratched and scribbled on the parchment. He spoke of how he feared he would be taken away soon, and if he was, to take the chest in his cellar and leave the city. To forget him. But that's not happening. He's all I have left now." A single tear, black as night, streamed down her face from her left eye. "I'm going tonight to break him out. I've already done a bit of reconnaissance on the area." "We're coming with you" I said. She looked up, wide eyed. "No no no" she stammered. "I could never ask either of you to do that. This mission is my burden to bear." Aloura sighed, "Nyx, darling, don't be ridiculous. Your father is the best chance we have of finding our parents. Of course we're not letting you do this alone." Nyx smiled slightly. "Well I guess I could use the help." She pulled a map out of her cloak and laid it out in front of us. The parchment was covered in drawing of what I assumed were buildings surrounding the stocks. Some of the squares were marked with x's. I pointed to one and asked "What's this? Why is it marked?" "Guards. They're stationed on top of the buildings at the marks. They have view of the whole area. We'd either have to stay out of their sight lines or take them out of the equation entirely." Her face again twisted into that form it took when she was thinking. "I don't know what your capabilities are, Kaine, but Aloura you should stay out of the area or keep hidden. I know close combat isn't your forte." She glanced over at me, "What about you? Can you handle yourself" "I think I'll be alright" I said. "The problem will be getting up there without being seen. Do you have a plan for that?" She began to say something, but pulled back. "For me yes. For you I'm not sure. It will be black as pitch so that will play in our favour. If you can climb I'd suggest not using the ladders and find a way up from the alley here" she said pointing. "Then take this one on this roof here" she slid her finger across the map from one building with an x, over an unmarked one, to an x on the next one. "Those three are fairly close together so you shouldn't have too much trouble getting across. I'll take these two across the courtyard." Aloura piped up, "What about the ones on the ground? It looks far too open to sneak around." Nyx cracked a sly smile. "I think I may have a solution for that. She pulled out a peculiar object. Cylindrical and made of brass. The two caps on the ends were larger than the shaft. On one end there was some kind of contraption made of multiple gears with a pin and ring sticking out of the end. She handed the thing to Aloura then circled a spot on the map near the other side of the street across from the courtyard. "What is this?" Aloura asked. "A distraction. Place it here" she pointed to the circle, "then go to a side street at least a hundred yards away." "Wait a second, what is this thing going to do? We're not about to hurt innocent people" I said. "Oh calm down. After about twenty seconds it will release a gas that smells awful but won't hurt anyone. After that it will detonate and make a loud bang. It's not meant to kill or cause damage. It's merely a distraction." I leaned back into the couch. That explanation settled my mind a bit. "Then after that goes off and the guards rush out, we'll swoop in, take care of whoever's left, then break him out." She said it with so much confidence, I couldn't help but believe the plan would work.
