The town square was lively tonight. Each passing day, every week would eventually meet its end and bring about the joyous fruit of one's labor. Whether it be plowing the fields in the blistering sun, kneading dough next to a hot oven, serving the war effort at the forge, or working to keep the peace a night like this. Every week, you could reap the rewards of your productive input.
The people, dwarves, elves, tieflings, and humans alike were raising glasses to each other, dancing and singing, not a care in the world. This was the life and the life that many in a place like Lupell worked for. A life where the harvest had yielded a surplus, a life worth celebrating!
"Back up, citizen!" a burly knight shouts amidst the crowd.
The joyful crowd, too focused on the occasion, makes little effort to move about for the knights that shuffled their way through the crowd. They would continue to shout and carry out advanced searching tactics to cover as much ground as possible whilst keeping it short. They scurried around, weaving around the citizens like ants navigating the tunnels of a formicary.
On nights like these, the knights would often get a chance to demonstrate their might against no-do-gooders and thieves alike, people who under the shroud of the crowd would take advantage of the situation. People like me.
"Continue up towards the gate and we'll head to the trading district! Capture that scoundrel any chance you get!"
The guards started to resemble water inside said anthill as they shot out from the crowd and flowed out through the tight corridors and alleys between the lantern-lit stone houses. Watching them from up here perfectly cemented the image.
Laying on my stomach in the straw roofing of a lupellian middle-class home looking down at the fuss, I snickered at the display.
I sat up into a kneeling position. "Suppose it's time to deliver this to someone who really needs it, huh?"
Unlike the guards, restricted by the paths slithering between the homes below, I disappear into the night, obscured by chimneys, rooftops, and smoke.
I look back at the crowd as I leave the proximity and feel the warmth of the occasion pressing down on my heart. With my ragged cloak fluttering in the air behind me and my boots bouncing me away, I smile at the commotion.
YOU ARE READING
Inanimate Love
Short StoryAfter evading the riled-up guardsmen of the nearest town, Ari Se'curieu winds up in the wild forests of Lupell, a land covered almost completely in a forest most recognize as cursed. Housing beasts, vampires, and various other dangers, she knows she...
