Dusk had already cast its dark veil over the world, as Melena made her way through the market’s lower steets. Most of the honest shops had already closed for the day, while the bars and taverns were still buzzing with the customers the end of a workday used to bring. Singing, laughing, and every now and then, a proud belch, followed by the cheers of a drunken crowd, seeped through the wooden doors and rang into the streets. Candlelight painted dancing shadows on the glintstone walls, most of them holding a big jug in their hand or a curvacious female shade in their arms. No sane parent would allow their child to walk through this powder keg of drunks and loiterers, but fortunately her family wasn’t around anymore to stop Melena from what she was doing, so she made her way through this cesspool of human indulgence.
The girl was wrapped in a long black hood, which made it easy to confuse her with a small adult. Three silver and seventeen copper coins jingled in her pockets, the remains of the money Egall had given her. The rest she had to spend in order to learn of the existence and location of her target. Finding someone who was willing to trade two silvers for twenty coppers had been harder than getting someone to tell her the information she was looking for, but for her particular trick, more coins were better, so she had spent the last half an hour asking for people to change her money, even accepting a 3 copper loss in order to get it.
Finally, she came to a halt in front of a particularly run down bar. Its walls were smeared with obscenities, not least of which were the many proclamations one should do something with the mayor’s ‘centuries old rack’. Melena drew a nervous breath that tasted like medicine mixed with wood and pushed the door open. A little bell over her head announced her to the people inside, who couldn’t care less. Inside, the smell of spices and mead assaulted her nose, provoking a hungry growl from her middle. Now being reminded that her stomach didn’t appreciate being empty for this long, she entered the establishment that barely deserved being called such a nice sounding word. In her attempt to join the Inaugural Hunt and all the running around and bribing, she had totally forgotten to eat something. No matter. She was always at her best when she was hungry, or rather, all of her best heists had been performed while she was hungry. If she became a hunter, it would all be worth it, but in order to do that, she needed a recommendation.
Melena let her eyes wander over the crowd of people inside. They were spread into small groups that gathered around the dozen round tables littered all over the bar. Some of them were playing chess or competing in a match of arm wrestling, others just leaned back and complained about all the shit they had to put up with in their daily lives. The mondanity of it all brought a smile to her face. Some may scoff at the people gathered here, but she knew she was one of them. They were nothing but hard working people who were dealt a shitty hand, may it be doing backbreaking work from dawn till dusk or the premature death of their parents, yet they lived their lives as best they could in hope of building a better future for them and their loved ones. Just like she was doing now.
As she finally found who she was looking for, she walked over to him with quick steps, making sure to ‘accidentally’ bump into a few people and apologize with a slurry voice. There was one thing all drunk people seemed to hate, and that was those who weren't. Plus, no one would expect a small, tipsy person to pull the stunt she was about to. Her target was a pubescent boy who was wrapped in the hunter's gear, like he had already earned it. His short, cropped hair looked more like red paint had spilled over an orange bowl than the mane Melena herself had. No doubt, a bright but bald future awaited this fine fellow. His gloved fingers were wrapped around a drink that he might’ve already had enough of, judging from the blush on his cheeks. His eyes, despite being tipsy, still had the same vigilance sleeping inside them that Melena knew from Egall. The seasoned hunter had once joked that, thanks to their training, you could cut out a hunter's heart and their eyes would still look for a weakness to sink their weapon into.
The boy sat alone, seemingly more keen on observing and laughing about others than with them, so Melena chose the direct approach. She ran into his table and pretended to fall over for a second, just to lean on the surprisingly polished wood like she needed it to prevent her from collapsing. During this whole charade, she made sure to keep her head lowered, like she had to puke any second, to ensure that her face remained hidden beneath her hood. Her demeanor drew a giggle from the trainee-hunter followed by a mocking question.
“You alright, brother? Visited a few too many taverns tonight, eh?”
“Just a little weak in my knees,” Melena answered, trying her best to make her voice deeper by pressing her chin against her neck. It sounded fake, even to her eyes, so all she earned was a giggle from the boy.
“Girl, you can stop trying. I know why you are here.” He whispered the second sentence and leaned forward, like he wanted to share a secret with her. For just a moment, the panic of being busted grasped her heart, but before she could turn to run, the trainee-hunter’s next words calmed her down again. “You are here to party, eh? Don’t worry. I ain’t ratting out a fellow hunter to be, and the bartender likes money too much to care about.” With his words, the boy blew his warm breath into her face, which brought the smell of drunken alcohol and meat. It was hard not to shudder. The boy didn’t seem to notice her reaction. Still smiling, he leaned back again and snapped his fingers. “Hey, Pax. Another please.”
Melena frowned. That was attention she didn’t need. “That’s not…,” she started, but the ginger just raised his hand and shot her a smile with three teeth missing. “My treat," he proclaimed, like he had just saved her life. Melena didn’t know what to do. She wasn’t used to aiming for a specific target. Her main routine was picking up the purses from strangers passing by and vanishing in the crowd, not approaching the owner of a specific item. Unsure what to do, she sucked on her lower lip until the bartender, an intimidatingly big guy with an impressive black beard that looked like it was attempting to swallow his face, placed a wooden mug in front of her face. The boy snipped him a coin in the same way Egall had done her, making it obvious he was used to having money. People who weren’t wouldn’t dare treat it like this. Staring down at the sizzling foam in front of her, Melena had an idea. She sat down on a stool, opposed to the trainee-hunter and grabbed her drink. There was a pretty famous con among thieves, and considering the boy’s behaviour this far, he might just fall for it. She only needed to catch him off guard, if that was possible with a hunter.
“How did you know I was a hunter?” Melena asked with honest interest.
“The way you walk,” the ginger said, pointing at her. “Despite stumbling through the bar, your stance was always secure, like your body itself was averse to consining itself to gravity. Only someone who learned the fundamentals of ‘Hunter’s Step’ moves like this.” He raised his mug. “So then, Weidmannsheil.”
Realizing there was no good excuse to leave him hanging, Melena mirrored him. “Weidmannsdank,” she replied, like she had heard Egall do it every time he received the hunter’s greeting. Both of them raised the drink to their lips, but while the boy drew heavy heaps, the girl made sure not a drop of the liquid entered her mouth. She couldn’t afford to get drunk. The boy set down his mug, wiped foam off his lips, and shot her a lopsided smile.
“So…ähm… ready for tomorrow?” Intending to give her time to answer, he raised his mug again and stared into it, giving Melena the opportunity she was looking for. She let the sizzling fluid fill her mouth and cheeks. Surprised by the bitter taste of the drink, her mouth revolted, causing her to cough. She set the mug down, suppressed the reflex to shove her hand over her lips and unleashed a mist of beer towards the trainee-hunter. Despite having his eyes closed and his senses dulled by overindulging in alcohol all day, the boy still managed to twist his body out of the way, almost managing to dodge all of the girl’s wet assault.
“Ew,” the ginger said as he rubbed his now moist shoulder. Melena drew an exaggerated gasp.
“By Katheeln, I am so sorry.” She circled the table while acting like she was searching for a handkerchief that wasn’t there. After brushing the purse in her pockets for the second time, she pulled her right sleeve over her arm and rubbed against the boy's shoulder. With her other hand, she frisked the rest of his upper body, acting like she was searching for more wet spots.
“I’m fine,” the boy assured her. In spite of his alcohol induced blush, his eyes were still sharp and fixed on her. “It’s in my back pocket, by the way.”
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Melena’s hands froze. Her heart was hammering in her chest, but she forced herself to keep her calm demeanor. She looked up into his eyes. “What is?” The boy gave her a smug smile, pushed her back lightly, then reached for his pocket and drew out a blue envelope.
“The recommendation you are trying to steal from me.” Her eyes widened. She was caught, or more likely, had been caught, the moment she entered the tavern. Maybe even earlier. She opened her mouth to ask, but the boy was too giddy to let her speak before he explained.
“Come one. You are what? Two years younger than me. There is no way that your mentor already recommended you for the hunt. So the only way for you to attend was getting one of these…,” He waved the blue piece of paper in front of her nose to emphasize what he was talking about. “meaning you have to steal it from someone who earned it already, like me.” He leaned forward, a proud smile still on his face. “So go on. Steal it.”
Melena’s eyes narrowed, but she made sure not to look at the blue paper in front of her face. The boy was too confident for her taste, like he was toying with a child that he knew couldn’t beat him. Thinking about it itched Melena the wrong way. Should she retreat? Her mind was racing again. The strong urge to flee was rising inside her, but the thought of the consequences kept it in check. If she ran now, this boy might go around and tell anyone that a 13 year old girl had tried to steal his invitation. Considering how close Egall kept his ear to the street, there was no doubt he might hear of this at some point. Would he stop training her after that? She chewed at her lower lip again. If she became a hunter, she would be part of the guild. She would have people around her who had to take care of her. As it stood now, Egall had no obligation to even train her like he did up to this point. The old man was kind, but what if he heard that she had tried to go behind his back and…
The ginger boy snapped his fingers in front of her eyes, tearing her panicking mind out of its downward spiral. “Hey, girl you still there?”
“Why do you want me to steal it?”
“Because a little friendly competition is fun. Isn’t that what being a hunter is all about? Having fun?”
Clearly, this boy had no idea what he was talking about. Competition meant someone had to lose and live with the consequences, but Melena kept her thoughts to herself. After all, why correct him when his unworldlyness was working in her favor?
“Yeah.” She said, forcing a thin-lipped smile on her face. “Who doesn't love some competition?” Upon hearing her answer, the boy’s face lit up even further, the traces of drunkenness in his face vanishing slowly.
“Glad you agree. I'm Mark, by the way.”
“Spring, nice to meet you.” Melena answered, unwilling to disclose her real name to someone she intended to swipe from. After all my recommendation was stolen by spring had a nice ring to it. Upon hearing her 'name',’ Mark nodded and placed the recommendation letter on the table near them.
“How about that? If you manage to get out of here with the recommendation, I’ll let you keep it.”
“Really?” Asked, not because she was truly interested in the rules. She cared little for this competition, all she wanted was the letter.
“Promised. But no weapons, no attacks below the waistline, no… nice try” While he spoke, Melena’s fist shot towards his face, but he intercepted it by grabbing her wrist. He opened his mouth to mock her, but out came only a pained shout as her knee found its target between his legs. The hand that was holding her opened and shot downward to protect the boy’s weak point from another attack, while his whole body clenched. Egall’s words rang in her ear. ‘If you are fighting a man, especially someone taller than you, aim between the legs.’ It was quite convenient that men of all races had decided to grow an organ whose only use was to inflict pain upon the rest of the body. Not stopping to shoot him a victorious smile, despite desperately wanting to, Melena grabbed the blue piece of paper and doged his grab with a quick step backward.
“NO,” Bellowed it beside them. The burly bartender walked at them with surprisingly quick steps. “No fighting!”
Melena took a step to the side, avoiding another of the boy's attempts to grab her, while stuffing the recommendation in her coat, right near her purse of coins. As well as this was going, she doubted she would need them and who the hell wasted money. Her foot slammed against the back of his hand, and both of them spun to compensate for the momentum they had given each other. “You cheated!” The boy shouted while she leaped over his attempt to sweep her legs. His voice was filled with joy, without any accusation inside it. Again and again, his hands and legs shot towards her, but Melena avoided every attempt to throw her off balance. He was almost as fast as Egall, but right now, she was faster.
“I SAID STOP YOU BRATS!” Two thick hands lunged at them, only reaching the spot where they had been standing decades after the two had already danced out of the way. By now, the crowd around them had realised what was happening and began cheering, their tipsy eyes too slow to keep up with the two of them shooting from one corner of the bar to the next.
Despite being the slower of the two, Mark always managed to catch up and jump in front of her when she was getting close to the bar’s door. The boy’s efficiency in handling his own body was borderline uncanny. Melena outsped him by far, but every single motion of his body served multiple purposes. While the girl simply ran forward, he combined his steps with grabs, sweeps, or faints that she constantly had to avoice, slowing her down in turn. Every move he made seamlessly transitioned into another, making it look like he was following a memorised dance routine. If she doged one of his grabs, the hand that had missed would grab onto a table instead to support his weight for a double-feeted-sweep.
Completely absorbed in her attempts to avoid his attacks, she stumbled over the leg one of the customers had placed in her path. The crowd erupted in cheers as she rolled over her shoulder to cushion her fall, and Marks managed to get a hold of her leg.
“He got her.”
“That was me if I was younger.”
“Someone wanna bet? 8 coppers on the boy.”
Pressing her palms against the cold ground, Melena shifted the weight of her body and kicked her other foot at the boy’s head, but he grabbed it as well with his other hand. The smug smile on his face was spreading, nurturing the urge to punch him inside the girl, so she took one arm off the ground and did. Having both his hands occupied and nothing else to intercept her punch with, Mark simply swung her like a double handed weapon before throwing her at the approaching bartender.
As the bodies of the tall man and the girl clashed, her back slamming into his belly, the impact pushed the air out of his lunges.
“NOW I REALLY … iieehhhrgg”
Before the hunk of a man had time to contemplate what had happened and wrap his arms around her, Melena ducked under them, her hand inside her coat. Guess she really needed those. Good thing she was prepared. Mark stood in front of her, with the exit door two meters behind his back, the smug grin still sticking to his face.
With a swift motion, Melena yanked the purse out of her chest pocket, tore the strap open, and threw the coins into the air. The copper coins shone in the candlelight like gold coins, making it easy to confuse the two at first glance.
“Money?”
“Money…”
“Money!”
The drunken crowd shoulted over each other, and chaos ensued as everyone leaned forward in an attempt to pick one of the golden looking coins off the ground. Only the bartender was to busy trying to get a hold of the girl that had just slammed into him to care about the coins falling on the ground.
Melena used the commotion to duck under the table and sprint towards the exit. While she had to squeeze between the legs of people and tables, the urge to draw her Kadaut surfaced inside her, but Egall had taught her better than that. One should only draw a weapon if one intended to use it after all. After a second, she resurfaced from the pool of people and furniture, wrapping her hand around the door handle. Turning around, she saw Mark dancing around the bartender, his eyes darting everywhere, trying to find her. He had really lost track of her inside the moving crowd. Pride swelled inside her. She opened the door and set one food outside before shouting.
“Hey Mark.“
The boy's head shot around. His smile was still there, but it had lost all his smugness. Genuine joy laid in his expression now, like he was playing his favorite game. Feeling cocky, Melena stuck out her tongue. “I may have cheated, but you lost.”
With an unnatural spin, Mark slid over a customer's back and shot towards her, but the girl simply slipped out of the door and slammed it shut. Without taking even the time to breathe, she shot down the street, running with everything she had.