Echoes in Shadows

Luna had only been on the run for two weeks when her life changed forever, and it was all thanks to an accordion and a thunderstorm. If she was being honest with herself, Luna was tired of eating dumpster sweets and moldy bread crusts to survive. But she would endure it, if it meant she never had to back to where she came from.

Luna had left home in the dead of night. The old shack in Wrothage where she had grown up had never really felt like home anyway, and Sigrun certainly had never felt like her mother. At least not in the ways that counted. Sigrun may have given birth to Luna, but after her father left for the war and never returned home, Sigrun had grown bitter and spiteful, blaming Luna for all of her problems. So she ran away on the eve of her eighteenth birthday and never looked back.

Luna doubted anyone would come looking for her anyway. Sigrun had always called her a nuisance and a bitter rat that ate up all her money. Luna was sure that Sigrun was glad she left. At first, leaving home had felt like a grand adventure. Luna had never felt so free. She followed the sun, slept under the stars, and never gave Sigrun or Wrothage another thought.

A few days before our story starts, after Luna had finally made it to the cloud covered fishing village of Little Brook, someone had swiped her remaining money while she slept. So Luna was stuck. For now. She had a plan that would get her the money she needed to make it to the next town, and it involved an accordion and a thunderstorm.

On the rainy day our story starts, Luna was sitting in the relative shelter of a covered alleyway, watching dark storm clouds roll in. Some foolish bard was playing the accordion quite loudly in the town square for coin. This was exactly what Luna had been waiting for. She gnawed on a crust and watched, waiting for the right moment. Pretty soon, these rich fools would be too distracted to notice a small girl slipping through their midst and relieving them of their coin.

Lightning crashed in the distance as the accordion creaked on. Now was her chance. Luna stepped quietly out of the shadows, the hood of her cloak pulled low over her face. She counted the guards standing close by, noted which ones were paying attention.

Luna had always been good at being invisible. In the years since her father's disappearance, she had gotten very good at hiding from Sigrun. As the accordion song reached its crescendo, Luna swiped a small bag of coins from the pocket of an unsuspecting onlooker. She played the part of an interested, mildly bored citizen as she slowly weaved through the crowd, swiping coins until her pockets felt heavy enough that she was satisfied with ehr work.

But then, just as Luna was slinking back away to the safety of the dark alley once more, everything went wrong. The sky suddenly opened up and the rain came down hard and fast. The crowd began to fish through their pockets for their coins so they could pay the accordionist and leave, but to their surprise, most found their pockets empty.

Luna had been walking backwards towards the alley when something sharp caught underneath her boot. She tripped, landing face first on the sharp cobblestone with a crack that echoed the thunder above. The contents of her pockets spilled out all over the ground as the rain poured down.

Everyone in the square turned to look. Luna felt the blood drain from her face. Someone yelled thief, but Luna was already moving, abandoning the coins as thick raindrops pelted her vision. The shouts of the townspeople and the guards were coming after her. She weaved between buildings and darted through alleyways. Something dark pooled on her shirt. Blood. Her chin had split open when she fell.

Luna cursed as she tore around a corner, headed for the city gates. Her boots slipped on the slick stones and she would have taken another nasty fall had it not been for the rough hand that had caught the back of her cloak. Luna swallowed. This was it, she was caught for good this time. No more running. Worst case they would take her back to Wrothage and Sigrun.

Luna turned her head, expecting to see beady dark eyes of a Little Brook guard. Instead, looking down at her through the thick rain was a man with a kind face, one that you might find on a loving uncle or on a friend's softhearted father.

The man gripped Luna's shoulder firmly as five Little Brook guards came tearing around the corner, their clunky iron armor clanking and shaking.

"Stop! By order of the king!" One of the guards said.

The guards eyed Luna and the man standing above her.

"It's okay boys, she's with me," the man said.

The guards hesitated for a moment, rain echoing off the cobblestones and their armor. The man gave another pointed stare and the guards suddenly sheathed their weapons and turned to leave.

"How... how did you do that?" Luna asked.

The man looked around and dropped his hand from her shoulder.

"Come with me. We can't speak here." He then turned and began to walk back towards the town square. Luna hesitated. The city gates were directly behind her. She could make a run for it. But why had this mysterious stranger had just saved her? The man turned back to look at her, his brown eyes reflecting in the lightning strikes.

"C'mon kid, I don't have all day," the man said.

Luna rushed to catch up. They weaved through town until they reached a dingy little tavern called The Second Onion. A popular establishment, it was packed to the walls with patrons looking to escape the storm. Luna pulled her cloak over her head.

"No one will bother you while you're with me," the man said. And he was right, as they slid into one of the only empty booths in the tavern, no one gave Luna a second glance.

The barmaid, a frazzled, red haired woman who was spilling out the top of her dress, came over and looked the man up and down.

"The usual, then?" She asked in a lilting, foreign accent.

"Two please, Sheila," the man said.

Sheila came back quick as a flash and placed two watery looking drinks on the table. Luna took a sniff and wrinkled her nose.

"Smells like dog piss," she said.

"Might as well be," the man said, taking a large swig of the drink. "Drink some. For appearances."

Luna noted the man's clear brown eyes that were watching everything. Every patron in the tavern, every chime of the bell over the front door, and every overturned mug of dog-piss ale.

"Who are you?" Luna asked after a minute of relative silence.

The man looked down at her, as if only just now remembering that she was there.

"My name is Wulfgeat, kid. And what you did out there earlier in the square was pretty impressive."

"My name is not kid," Luna said. "It's Luna. Luna Bargestorm. And what you saw out there was nothing."

Wulfgeat chuckled and took another hearty swig. "Drink, kid. And that wasn't nothing. How long you been a theif?"

Luna blushed. "Two weeks."

Wulfgeat choked. "That's it? Kid, that was some impressive thievery. I've seen folks twice your age train for ten times as long and not nearly thieve as good as you. You've got talent, kid."

"It's not a talent," Luna said defiantly, taking a small sip of her drink. It tasted worse than it smelled. "It's survival."

Wulfgeat smiled. "Choke it down for appearances."

"So you keep saying," Luna said. "Why did you save me back there? With the guards?"

Wulfgeat set his mug down and leaned in close. "I'd like to offer you a job."

Luna furrowed her brow. "Doing what?"

"Ever hear of the thieves guild, kid?" Wulfgeat asked.

"What, like Robinhood shit?" Luna asked. "Steal from the rich and give to the poor?"

Wulfgeat chuckled. "Yeah, Robinhood shit. I'm the leader of the thieves guild, and we've been needing ourselves a new thief. You'd get your own bed, three meals a day, and a weekly stipend of five copper. All you'd have to do is go out on missions with the boys once in a while."

Luna considered. It seemed almost too good to be true. "What's the catch?" She asked.

"No catch," Wulfgeat said. "Thieves honor. Tell you what, how about I bring you down to the guild, introduce you to the boys, and we'll give you, say, a one week trial run. If you don't like it, you can go on your merry way, no questions asked." He stuck out a meaty hand. "Deal?"

Luna shook his hand. "Deal."

"Great," Wulfgeat said, downing the last dredges of his drink. "Finish that and we'll be on our way."

Luna had barely made a dent in her drink. She eyed it suspiciously.

"We don't waste at the thieves guild, kid," Wulfgeat said, dropping a couple copper coins on the table to pay for the drinks.

Luna sighed and raised the glass to her lips, chugging until the drink was gone and her stomach rolled with nausea.

"There you go, kid," Wulfgeat said, patting her roughly on the shoulder as Luna coughed. "Now let's get going."

There were so many people packed into the tavern now that there was barely room to walk as Wulfgeat and Luna reached the front door. Sheila came whizzing by, a flash of red curls and freckles. She traced a delicate finger down Wulfgeat's meaty arm.

"Come back to The Second Onion anytime, love," Sheila said with a wink.

Wulfgeat stepped by her and walked out the front door, Luna close behind him.

"Is she..." Luna started to say.

"Let's get going," Wulfgeat interrupted.

Luna kept her head down against the raging storm as she followed the large man through the grey streets of Little Brook.

The town of Little Brook had been built directly on top of a lake, Little Brook Lake. The entire town's structure rested on wooden support beams shoved deep into the lake's sandy bottom. All sorts of bridges, old and new, crisscrossed the town, connecting the homes and shops. Luna looked down as they crossed over one such connecting bridge and she could see the dark water of the lake reflected far below her.

"Keep up, kid," Wulfgeat ordered.

In her short stay in Little Brook, Luna hadn't crossed over to this side of town where they now were yet. It looked older, the homes looked more dilapidated and the planks under their feet looked rotted with age. Extra loose planks had been nailed here and there to cover the holes. Luna nearly tripped more than once.

There were no villagers out in this storm, and the deserted streets left Luna with an eerie feeling. Luna could feel the cold rain begin to chill her to her bones as it soaked through her clothes. By the time she and Wulfgeat reached the fishing docks, Luna was shivering violently. The dog-piss ale had only succeeded in making things worse as her empty stomach rolled.

Wulfgeat stopped at one of the many nondescript wood fishing shacks stationed along the docks and opened the door. Luna hurried inside, eager to get out of the rain. The large man followed close behind and closed the door behind them.

The fishing shack was bigger on the inside. It was a large wooden room with thick paneled glass windows against one wall with a perfect view of the lake. All manner of fishing equipment; nets, buckets, poles, and even a few fish bones, were scattered haphazardly all over the floor. It also reeked of dead fish.

An old man with a gristled expression rocked on a rocking chair in the corner, whittling something with a knife.

"Ho there, Klaus!" Wulfgeat said to the man. "Any messages?"

"Quiet as a mouse!" Klaus replied. "Remi's the only one been coming and going today, besides yourself. Who do you have there with you?"

"Our new thief," Wulfgeat said proudly.

"Looks more like a minnow than a thief," Klaus said. "Sure she's as good as Chino was?"

"With a bit of training, I'm sure Luna here will be just as good as Chino was," Wulfgeat said.

"Whose Chino?" Luna asked.

"All in good time," Wulfgeat replied, heading towards the back of the fishing shack where a heavy looking wood door stood. He knocked in a specific, rhythmic pattern. After a few seconds, a bald, rough looking man answered the door. He had a deep scar tracing from his right eyebrow all the way down his cheek.

"Took you long enough, Wulf," the man said. "Did you get it?"

"Yes Max, I got it. Now let us in please," Wulfgeat said.

"Whose that?" Max asked, pointing at Luna.

"Trial run. New thief. Now let us in please before she's frozen to the bone."

"A girl? Wulf, you can't be serious. This is a guild, not a beauty parlor," Max said, crossing his arms defiantly.

"She's the real deal, Max, now stand aside and I'll introduce her to you and the boys and I'll explain everything."

Max scoffed and took a step to the side. "I'm watching you, girl," he said to Luna.

Luna swallowed nervously, grateful that it had been Wulfgeat who had found her today and not him. She was then flooded with warmth as they entered into the most homey looking living room Luna had ever seen. Worn wood floors and walls surrounded the room. The walls displayed all manner of homemade artwork, awards, and even what looked like children's drawings. Three mismatched couches surrounded a roaring hearth in the center of the room. A flat blue rug sat under a hand carved wood dining table against one wall, and remnants of a meal still lay scattered across it. The whole place smelled like cinnamon. It was a far cry from the damp, cramped shack in Wrothage. Four boys, maybe a little older than Luna, talked and laughed on the couches, but stopped when Wulfgeat entered.

"Wulf?" The skinniest of the boys said, his eyes darting from the guild leader to Luna. "Is this..."

"Chino's replacement," Wulfgeat said. "Everyone gather around, I'd like to have a guild meeting, and I'll explain everything. Where's Asle?"

"In his room," The largest of the four boys said.

"Well go and get him please," Wulfgeat asked. "And Fisher, would you please get our guest a warm blanket and something to eat?"

Luna nearly collapsed with releif as one of the boys, Fisher, handed her a warm red blanket and a heaping tray of meats, cheeses, and crusty golden bread. She sank gratefully into one of the couches and began to eat, her first real meal since leaving Wrothage.

Each of the boys settled into their spots on the couch as the largest boy came back with a kid hiding behind his legs, a little boy who looked no older than eight. Luna guessed that must be Asle. Max stayed near the front door, arms crossed, looking aloof and bored. Wulfgeat took his position in front of the hearth and began to address the room, rain dripping off of him in droves.

And Luna knew in that moment, whatever happened next, this would be her home. Something in her chest, something glowing and golden, kept saying over and over again

you are home

you are home

you are home.