By Midnight Blood

Chapter One: The Beginning of Everything

Liridia
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Want a drink?" The young barkeep asked, polishing a glass half heartedly with a rag.

I nodded, my frail fingers clenching the empty glass which was drained of liquor. He slid the glass across the tabletop and it glided into my hands with a slap.

I downed the glass in one go and let the liquid slide down my throat, warming my chest but burning my mouth. The piano sung merrily into the early afternoon, the sun barely hanging over the horizon.

The most of the townspeople were in their homes, done with working for the day, but not done drinking for the night. They came gradually, the bar filling with people within hours.

Drunkards, gamblers and travelling merchants and criminals filled the bar with obnoxious noise and the smell of liquor which emanated from their breath.

A hooded figure entered the bar, broad shoulders indicating that it was a man, and the hair on my neck bristled. A two women came in behind him and stood at either side of the door. Courtesans? No, unless he liked them with breastplates and broadswords.

I hunched over my glass once again and avoided eye contact. I knew no one except Myra, who hired me to work in the bar during day hours and Nalem, who works in the bar and handed me my drink.

The cloaked figure took off his hood and sat at the other side of the bar. His searching eyes combed through the room until they landed on me, and in the edge of my vision, I could see him nod to his companions at the door.

They put their gloved hands over their swords and everything slowed. I contemplated running, but Nalem handed me another drink so I thought better of it.

I downed the glass and stood, dusting off my pants and nodding thanks to Nalem, who saluted me in farewell. The cloaked figure was not where he was sitting, and I slowly turned my head, surveying the room.

I calmly started walking towards the back door when a giant, calloused hand gripped my thin wrist and turned me around to sit back down.

"Do you wish to get out of here? I can train you so no one can control you." He uttered, his eyes not meeting mine, still searching the room.

"Mister, I don't want trouble, and you reek of it. So if you would, let go." I ordered, trying to wrench my hand free from his grip.

"The note I sent, you received it?" He asked, looking at my thin wrists and gaunt face. I was fourteen, but I wasn't sleeping or eating well and I hadn't had a bath in a week. My cheekbones stood out on my face, and my eyes were almost hollow. To be honest, I felt like shit.

"So you are the mysterious 'D'. What is your proposition?" I enquired, flattening my palm and turning it around so his wrist wrenched the other way around, freeing my hand in one swift motion. The mild surprise on his face made my eyes narrow, and he popped his wrist up and out, shoving his leg at my chair and his hand to my neck, making me stand up with his hand at my throat.

"Come with me and you won't have to work in a town like this ever again." He pitched, taking his hands off of me and onto my empty glass.

"You been watching me. Why in the hells would you want me?" I cough, covering my face with my hand and keeping an eye on him.

"Because you're everything we're looking for. Opportunities don't come here very often, and I'm giving you one right now. Unless you want to live like this every day for the rest of time, you don't want that, do you?" He asked, looking at me with a grimace and cracking his neck with a sigh.

"Course not, I'm not an idiot. I'll come along, but I have one condition. No one lays a hand on me without permission." I grunt, wringing my wrists and glancing at my dirty nails.

"Deal. Follow me." He nods, getting up from his seat and nodding at Nalem with a small smile. Nalem took off his apron, clasped a green cloak over his shoulders and took out a sword from under the bar.

"Nalem? You... with him? Unbelievable." I huffed, following D out the door. Nalem kept the rear while the two ladies stayed stony faced either side of me, glancing from side to side on the lookout for anything that threatened them.

This is ridiculous, I don't know anyone here except Nalem, and he was only a few years older than me. I'm probably going to be sold a slave or a prostitute, which was not an option I wanted to contemplate at the moment.

He led the party down the alley across the road from the closed baker's house. He always seemed to smell like bread but his children were awful. More sewer rat than human.

"I need you to put this on." He ordered, handing me a reasonably clean rag.

"Excuse me?" I asked, glancing at the rag with distaste and objection.

"Do you trust anyone in this town? Anyone you've just met?" He enquired, pointing to himself and Nalem and alley.

"To be perfectly candid, fuck no. So don't find it surprising when I object to anything and everything you say." I snorted, snatching the rag back and pulling it over my eyes, huffing and cursing as I couldn't get the knot first try. One of the women chuckled lightly and elbowed Nalem's side and he tried not to laugh as well.

Someone hoisted me up over their shoulder and prayed that they wouldn't kill me. Because anyone could, and no one can be truly trusted.

"Just don't decide to kill me when I've run my mouth dry, understand? The idea of death doesn't entice me all that much. And I can fucking walk myself." I voiced my fear, earning a chortle from one of the women, making me smirk.

"I suggest you shut your damn mouth, before I cover that too." He warned, sliding me further down his back so my head hit his hip with every stride.

"We haven't exchanged pleasantries yet, I'm Liridia in case you were wondering, which you probably weren't, but what are your names?" I enquired like a chatty seamstress, talking to no one and listening for a reply.

"Yarinda, from Vernhast. I'm the significantly better looking one out of the two women here, Oh, did I forget to mention this one's my sister, Chara. Say 'hello' Chara." One of the women joked, the other snorting in objection.

"My sister doesn't know what she speaks about. We are kohdari, imbecile. But I am the smarter child, and better than Yarinda in every way possible other than being aesthetically pleasing to the eye." She laughs, probably jabbing her sister in the ribs and glaring at her.

Kohdari, twins. Of course, they bicker like they are still young.

After suddenly getting on horses, the ride went for what felt like eons, and I kept my eyes shielded with the blindfold. The horses stopped and I was lifted to the ground, my shoddy boots hitting the mud with a splash, my shoes filling with water and making me grimace. I could hear the grinding of rock against rock, the smell of horses and the sea wafting over me in violent surges.

I've nothing left to lose. Didn't I want this? A change in scenery sounds good to me.

"Welcome to 'The Lyre'. Where people go to die." He introduced, the sound of his voice like nails on a chalkboard, sending shivers down my spine.

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Oops, did I just update again?

Seems like it, well, feel blessed with a double update for now.

Until next time... long live and prosper. *Trek fan*

K bye