Hidden Before Their Eyes

Chapter 1: The Apple of My Eye

The open market on a warm sunny day is always bustling and lively as it is today. Today, in particular, it is buzzing with activity. I have been here for a few weeks now waiting for the upcoming event. It may only be Sunday but by Friday no inns in the entire town will have any free rooms anymore. The market will be near sold out and anticipation will be hanging over the entire city. To be prepared, I stocked up a week ago. My voracious appetite could eat a man whole and still want dessert.

Watching out the tiny window I see old faces I have not seen is a very long time and nearly laugh. The man, or more of the boy, of my past, is here. Not that there is any bad blood on my side but for him, our parting was likely humiliating and thus he has been looking for me ever since. He also happens to be my betrothed. I watch him as he passes and almost laugh. His face has been covered by a cloth that can only be seen through one way. Which can only mean him and his family are keeping secret that he is going to be entering the Academy this year.

The Academy. The reason that everyone is here. Whether you are applying or are here to watch, if you are able to be here, you are here. The mob is moving towards that direction too. Anyone whose someone will be staying in the Academy's lodgings, while everyone else will be paying out coin for a roof over their heads for the week.

When I first got here the innkeep had been frustrated as hell with me. I refused to pay a higher price to continue staying here while the place became infested will all types. So I had gotten the attic room and been happy as hell about it. At the time I had had a remnant of my magic left so he at least wasn't able to say no to me, and that was all I needed. I came with just barely enough money to be able to sustain myself and pay the entrance fee. A ridiculous price tag of twenty gold. No commoners we're getting in without a sponsor. To put it into perspective, a year's work is worth five gold, and that was barely enough to feed your family.

When I first ran away all I had on me was twenty-two gold. Since I planned from the start to apply to the Academy that meant that if I was going to be staying in inns, I had to pick up some odd jobs. Plus with the appetite I have from not feeding as one of my kind normally does I was almost late to having enough money to pay for staying in this town for as long as I have.

"Carino, ya a job request," Madh, the innkeeper whose a Brownie, calls up at me.

Madh is unique for his kind. He left his household and decided to become an innkeeper, making him into one greedy little Brownie. We had a rough start at first, with my stubbornness regarding room payment, but as we began to interact more we started to get along quite famously. Now, whenever he has a job request he thinks I will like she sends it my way before posting it on the job board.

I get up and stretch out my sore limbs. The closest thing to a bed up here is a pile of rugs and blankets that I threw together the night I arrived. May not be fit for a king but it works for me, so I am content. I pull up the hatch door and push down the folding ladder. I go down a few rungs and then drop the rest of the way down. I push the ladder up and the hatch door clatters closed with a loud band.

I have a slight skip in my step as I head down the stairs. That is until I am taken aback when I see an absolute hoard of people sitting around the tavern of the inn. I shiver slightly, not exactly liking crowds due to my past, but soldier through and head over to Madh. I sit on a stool at the bar and ask, "Madh, what was the job offering?"

"Some noble wants a protector as they do some business tonight. They're offering a pretty penny in return," Madh says, as he pours ale into a wooden mug for a customer.

"He wants a human protector?" I ask, suspicious. As far as everyone here knows I am a human, and as humans are the weakest race, due to a complete lack of magic ability, they are often looked down upon. They have a few strong suits, however, such as passing by without notice, a trait I cannot deny my appreciation for.