36 Kidnapped! (1/2)
A large city filled was filled with life starting early in the morning. It was not a super powerful city, however, it was filled with merchants and businessmen in their busy market. From far away a person could hear the shouts of bargaining and advertising. A quiet, unassuming carriage rolled up to the gates of the city near midday. Once it reached the gate, the guards had the people inside get out for security purposes. The door of the carriage slowly opened to reveal a dainty foot stepping out. Following the foot, a beautiful girl appeared. She wore a simple light purple dress, but the common clothes could not hide her eye-catching features. Gleaming platinum silver hair flowed down while the front hair was pulled back in a simple braid to reveal her cute face. Her purple eyes were like gems that glowed with intelligence. Behind her, an average middle-aged man that could not be picked out from a crowd walked out of the carriage. The stark contrast in looks was odd in the eyes of onlookers and made the duo even more memorable.
The girl's looks were one thing, but her expression was anything but inviting. Many were tempted to pinch her rosy cheeks, however, the girl's neutral icy expression pushed them away. The way she carried herself made it seem like she was some important noble's daughter, so they decided it was best not to offend her.
”Hey, Grey, would it kill you to lighten up? You're scaring away everyone. There is no way we're going to get any information from the people at this rate.” The middle aged man whispered down.
Yes, these two were Greyson and Lyle! The little girl was Greyson in disguise and the middle-aged man was Lyle. Lyle had bought a Disguise pill from the Academy before leaving in order to avoid standing out. He had assumed that two kids wondering around would look peculiar, but if he was an adult then no one would notice anything out of place.
”Hmph, why don't you dress like a girl and act all bubbly and cute then?” Greyson ignored his words and continued with his grumpy expression. Contrary to the unwillingness in his voice, though, his face lightened up into a normal smile that looked much more welcoming. The two soon made their way to a tavern hoping to hear some gossip from the locals. Once they swung open the door, all the eyes followed Greyson in astonishment before finally turning away and going back to their conversations. Ignoring the stares, Greyson and Lyle sat down at one of the tables before an older woman came over to ask for their order.
”Well, I'll be, you're a looker now aren't ya?” She whistled looking over at Greyson. Although he was feeling annoyed by her supposed compliment, he still politely smiled and thanked her.
”You two father and daughter? Whereabouts you from?” Her cheery personality soon came out as she continued talking with them. It seems they were not wrong to think that the tavern would be the gossip mill in the city.
”Yes. We are from Cromer Village and are just traveling performers.” This time Lyle answered.
”Cromer, huh. Well now, so you don't live too far out do ya. We get a lot of villagers around here. But, sir, all do respect, ye might wanna just pack up and leave before its too late. This city ain't no good right now for girls looking like your daughter.”
Pretending to be surprised and not understand, Lyle furrowed his brow while asking, ”what do you mean by that? Has there been some issue lately?”
”Ya don't know? Well I guess you haven't been listening to the stories running around lately. There's some sorta crazy running around and snatching pretty young girls and killing 'em. He breaks all their bones and cuts them up before leaving a trail of their organs so someone can find them 2 days later in the morning. I shudder just thinking bout it. I saw the trail myself for the second girl.”
Greyson pretended to be wide-eyed with fear, ”h-h-how many girls has he killed?”
”Four! An' that's why you and your father should run away before night hits. You look just like his type.” The woman looked at the young girl with pity showing in her eyes, as if Greyson had already been targeted.
”I appreciate your concern, but my daughter has an important performance tomorrow, so we'll be staying until the day after tomorrow.” Lyle responded firmly.
”Hmm, well, if ya insist. I can at least give ya a place to stay. This tavern of mine has some rooms and the top floor, did ya want to stay in one of them?” Lyle nodded and handed the money for the food and room to the woman. After she had left, he turned to Greyson.
”Well, look at you. You got the terrified little girl act down really well.” He said smirking. Greyson refused to answer and just rolled his eyes.
”Listening to the woman speak, though, reminds me of home. Everyone in Academy City speaks properly, so it's been awhile since I've heard someone with a more local way of speaking. Brings me back to the times I went to the market in Willow Town.” Greyson started reminiscing.
”Yeah, you're right. I used to talk like that to, but my mom would yell at me to correct me so that I wouldn't be looked down on at school. Ironic as it was because she would lecture me while speaking that same way.” Lyle smiled thinking back to those moments. Suddenly the atmosphere at the table was sullen as they both felt homesick. Young as they were, it was impossible not to miss home after two years.
The food came back out while Lyle and Greyson stretched their ears out to listen to any gossip about the murders. However, no good clues came about as no one knew anything about the man's potential identity. They were just repeating the same facts everyone knew and telling each other to watch their daughters closely. After their meal, they decided to just rest for the day and hopefully the mini concert that Greyson would put on would attract enough attention for him to become a target.
”Hm?” Just as he was walking up the stairs to the room, he felt a burning gaze closing in on him. A chill ran down his neck as he turned back. He saw a rather plain looking young woman with a long scar down her left cheek. However, the girl had a warm smile on her face as she curtsied in greeting. She looked like a worker and rather similar to the tavern woman so he assumed she must be the other woman's daughter. Feeling like he must have been too sensitive due to the stories today, he just nodded and smiled back before turning away.
Sleep did not come as quickly as Greyson was on high alert at all moments in case he was attacked tonight, but it was a quiet and peaceful night with nothing out of the ordinary. He suddenly felt an irrational disappointment wave through him. Was he not attractive enough? Realizing the weird direction of his thoughts, he shook his head and finally fell asleep.