Shadow. Secrets of graum

∆~Midnight°bell°tolls~∆

I sat on top of the roof, using my new dagger to carve crude drawings on it.

I had waited here for almost half the day, awaiting Tanya's return.

It was almost midnight, my heart started beating faster, eager to see tanya again, was it because of infatuation or simply my need for human contact I didn't know.

"Ting" "ting" "ting".

The midnight bell rang, my body, that had almost been ready to fall asleep snapped to attention.

I eagerly observed my surrounding, searching for any sounds of movement.

Five minutes passed, nothing, I kept looking. Ten minutes passed, nothing, my heart grew cold, had tanya lied, but what reason would she have to lie. Twenty minutes passed, my eyes swelled with water, drops of it escaping and streaming down my face.

"Are you crying, " tanya said beside me, worry etched on her face.

I literally jumped onto her and hugged her, she didn't mind this and instead tussled my hair, "you're all right now", she said in a gentle voice.

"Is this him? " a deep voice asked from the shadows.

I spun around, grabbing the knife from the roof and turned to face the direction of the voice.

"Stop! shadow, he's a friend", tanya said in a rush.

A deep laugh echoed around the rooftops, it was both kind and strong, "I am a friend, shadow, is it? ” he asked, his words loaded with humor.

I reluctantly lowered my weapon," at least show yourself, " I asked, still suspicious.

The deep laugh rang out again, " I am right in front of you",  and sure enough,  he was suddenly in front of me.

I gasped, "wha-, how? " my eyebrows rose in shock.

He merely smiled at tanya, " it always gets them the first time, come with me shadow, tanya lets go".

Tanya swiftly followed behind him as he turned to leave, "arent you coming? " she laughed.

I stood there, still awe struck, these guys were awesome, I quickly ran up to catch up with them.

We continued hopping over building after building, a few hours seemed to pass, the quiet surroundings unsettling me.

"Ummm, whe--, "

"Shhh! " tanya admonished me, "we are near one of the guard stations, keep your voice down, " she whispered.

I sighed inwardly and continued behind them.

After what seemed like hours, the city wall came into view, it was a massive structure, nearly ten meters wide and fifteen meters tall, "woah! " I exclaimed.

Tanya turned to admonish me again, but seeing the look of amazement on my face she smiled, "never seen it before? " she asked.

"Not this close up, " I whispered back.

Out of nowhere the boy in front suddenly stopped, I would have barreled straight into him if not for tanya grabbing my hand at the last second.

"We're here, " he said.

We were practically one building away from the wall now, my stomach churned from the nervous energy building up in me, " are we leaving the city? " I asked a little apprehensively.

He simply ignored me, instead grabbing a pebble from the rooftop, he scanned the small walkway between the wall and out current perch, no doubt searching for patrolling guards.

Deciding that there were none, he pulled back his arm in a swing and threw the pebble straight at the wall, the pebble bounced off the wall with a dull thud.

I looked at tanya and him as if they were crazy, when suddenly the wall started moving.

It was just a small piece, enough to fit an adult male, a hole in the wall appeared as some unseen person revealed the false wall.

It was a little over two meters up, I looked at tanya excitedly, this was my kind of home.

Tanya ran first, jumping of the roof she ran straight for the wall, jumping straight toward it, she kicked off it at the last second and grabbed the ledge.

I was impressed, I had never done something like this before and I wondered if my body could do it.

The boy ran next, he jumped off the roof, with less grace than tanya but managed to stick the landing.

With his height he didn't even have to kick off the wall, crouching down and compressing his thigh muscles he bounded up in a massive jump, grabbed onto the ledge and climbed up.

Both Tanya and he were waiting in the other side, my new home, my blood started buzzing with excitement.

I leaped off the rooftop, landing on all fours like a cat and ran to the wall, I jumped as I neared the wall, running up it almost vertically before kicking off it, and grabbed the ledge.

The boy smiled at me, " you've passed the test. "