Chapter Text
Cadence tossed and turned in her bed, eyelids troubled and hair disheveled. She’d been trying to sleep for hours, but it just would not happen. Tired of futilely closing her eyes, she sat up on her bed, rubbing her eyes. Sleep had been hard to come by in the past few months… she was always tired, but never quite relaxed enough to get the rest. She opened her bedroom window, and though it was small, it let the light pour in to illuminate her room. She felt a light breeze brush her cheeks, but the night felt warm.
She looked longing at the moon. How long had Dad been gone? She wasn’t entirely sure. Three months? Three-and-a-half? ...four? Eli had told her to stop keeping track, that it didn’t matter. He was coming back soon enough, and counting did no good, it just distracted her.
She wasn’t sure if she believed him, or even if he believed it himself. She told herself the same thing, too… but the sun kept rising and falling, and dad never came through the front door. Just Eli, tired and alone like always, whom she had to help around the house every day.
“Work is good. Keeps you busy, focused on what’s important. If you go foolish around too much, you lose track of things…” Eli had told her a few times since Dorian left. “...or people, even…” he added under his breath, perhaps hoping she didn’t hear it.
“Where did you go, dad…?” Cadence asked the moon, staring at the thousands of stars in defeat. She sighed as she lets her arms hang out of her window. The entire village seemed to be frozen in time, dark as the forest, and so silent. Time kept passing, and yet nothing happened.
Cadence was about to attempt lying in bed again, when she noticed, far in the distance, something moving through the village. She squinted her eyes, leaning over the windowsill, trying to make out what it was. With tired eyes, she could identify… a caravan? A cart? Two, three people? What were they doing here? Cadence followed it with her eyes, seeing it rest nearby the village inn, before the door was opened, a small outpour of yellowish light, before vanishing into darkness again.
Well, that was odd. People almost never moved about at this time of night. The only people who would were…
Cadence remained idle on the spot for several minutes, as an idea formed inside her head. She couldn’t do this. She shouldn’t do this. She wouldn’t do this… right?
She tapped the windowsill, looking back and forth between the village and her small closet. She bit her lips and tapped her foot. This was a terrible idea. This was a bad idea. This was a misguided idea… but…
“Well, I’m not going to sleep anytime soon…” She admitted, and after thinking it over one last time, she opened her closet, taking out some of her least-used clothes, and promptly changing herself. She softly opened her door, opposite the room Eli was sleeping in. With the lightest footsteps she could manage, she peeked through Eli’s door.
He was sleeping in mom and dad’s old bedroom. Even if he was a big guy, the bed looked too big for just one person. Dad had protested to no end when they were forced to sell Eli’s bed and he had to sleep on Melody’s side.
“She was my sister, Dorian. I miss her, too, but we have to do this.”
“You’re my brother-in-law, Eli, and my family, but I cannot allow this. This is Melody’s place, this is where she belongs, this-”
“This was Melody’s place. But she’s gone now, Dorian. You gotta accept that. And I need a place to sleep, and money’s real tight these days. There’s no choice.”
“But you don’t understand. Melody, she… she can still… Eli, I can bring back-”
“That’s enough! I’m sleeping here and you better get used to it. And if you really want this bed to only have one guy in it, you’re welcome to try sleeping on the chair.”
Even now, Eli still slept on his side of the bed, not trespassing on the side Dorian had taken for almost two decades. Still, the image still struck her as quite tragic.
She was shaken out of her musings by Eli’s loud snoring. Ah, yes, good, he was still fast asleep. She could continue. With cat-like treading, she approached the front door, and took the large cloak that laid near it. She took a minute to carefully drape it over herself, and folding it so it covered her completely, and most important, cast a shadow over her face.
She wouldn’t want Eli hearing about this.
“Sorry, Uncle Eli… but I want answers.”
She cautiously opened the front door, left the house, and closed it behind yes, and under the safety of the cloak, walked away from home.
~~~
Two men were inside an inn, talking to the barkeep, inquiring about the price for a few nights’ stay. They were travelling adventurers, only passing by for a few days, before embarking upon a quest, not too far from here. The barkeep was looking rather tired after a hard day’s work; people loved to soothe the cold days with some ale to warm the belly. Nonetheless, they secured the stay, paid him, and asked if he wouldn’t mind taking some things from their caravan and then leaving it elsewhere where it wouldn’t disturb anyone in the morning.
The two men left the inn’s warm light, into the chilly moonlight, as they retrieved some of their belonging from this cart.
“Lucky for us there’s this place, huh?”
“Lucky? You’re a fool. Nothing about this place is lucky.”
“Whaddaya mean? This looks like a lovely place.”
“You idiot. It’s cursed, just like the graveyard.”
“I mean, yeah, who builds a town so close to such a foul place?”
“I hear there used to be some crazy necromancer here that terrorised the village.”
“That’s just silly. You know necromancy is impossible.”
“Yeah? What about all those stories we heard coming this way? All the explorers and adventurers that get lost, the strange sounds at night near the graveyard, skeletons moving and walking?”
“It’s almost as if you didn’t want to go looking for it.”
“I do. But I’m just saying, be careful. The last poor sod who looked for it vanished three months ago and hasn’t been seen since. Some deluded man seeking for a way to retrieve some long-lost lover. Couldn’t be talked out of it. Left his daughter and home one day just like that.”
“I’m sure they’re just meant to scare us.”
“Yeah, well, these are the kinds of characters we’re going to be compared against if we don’t come back. That’s why we brought the guns. That’ll give us an edge none of the others had.”
Just as they had finished taking everything they wanted, tying and untying all the bags, and sorting everything, a figure suddenly emerged from the shadows just behind them. Feeling on edge, one of the two pulled out a dagger and took a defensive stance, blade ready, whilst the other started rummaging from the caravan, looking for a weapon.
The figure raised its hands slowly, indicating no weapon, and stood still, to indicate no harm. “Please, stay calm. I’m here just to ask some questions. I want nothing else from you.” The figure said, in a slightly strange pitch, that felt almost a bit forced. The man with the dagger lowered his arm but kept a grip on it, whilst the other was looking between the two, trying to read the situation. “What do you want?” The first man asked, his other reaching for one of his pockets, just in case he’d need an edge over this figure.
The figure, which had its face shrouded in the shadow of the hood, only the mouth and nose poking into the moonlight, carefully took one step closer. “You mentioned a man. Left three months ago, abandoning home and family.” There was a brief pause, as their lips seemed to hesitate over the words. They cleared their throat and continued. “What else do you know about him? Where have you heard this?”
“What’s it to you?” The man spat back, the weariness from the travel and the worries of his quest ahead wearing his patience thin, and his temper up. His partner was still unsure of what to do, now looking around, seeing if anyone else was around, perhaps fearing an impending ambush cleverly set up. They didn’t hear much of criminals around these parts, but conflict was not unheard of here.
The figure hesitated for a second, the cloak flapping quietly in the breeze, face still hidden in the darkness. “I’m looking for him. I’ve… travelled far for him. He holds some important answers that I seek.” It said, not-too-subtle indicating that there was obviously way more to it than that. Sensing the tension, the figure continued. “Please, don’t worry, there’s no other motive for this. I just want a truth he’s hidden from me.”
The man carefully examined the figure up and down, eyeing them meticulously. “You’re family of his, aren’t you?” The figure said nothing but the lips and cheeks tightened, and their nostrils flared slightly. The man gave out a smirk. “There we go. Figures it’d be something like that. Only someone with personal reasons would snoop in like this.”
The man loosed his posture and lowered the dagger still in his hand. “Sorry, but there’s not much else I can tell ya. This story, I don’t know where it comes from. It just spread around to nearby towns. Rumors and such. They said the man was convinced he’d found some magical treasure. Didn’t say much else than that.”
The figure remained silent and quiet, seemingly thinking over his answer. “And where could I find more information?”
The man turned back to his partner and gestured him to relax, and continue as they would have. “Can’t give you much of a good answer, ‘cept inns, taverns, and dark places where tongues are loose. Don’t expect a lot of help, there’s not much around. People get lost often these days, sometimes not a trace is left.” He finishes the preparations for his caravan that had been interrupted.
“Hope you find what you’re looking for.” The man added, staring at the figure, who remained still, not saying anything, head slightly bowed, probably in thought. Without another word, the two men kept going their way, slowly vanishing in the darkness, as the figure turned around and kept walking in the opposite direction. When the inn was securely out of view, the hood was pulled back, as dark golden locks spilled out from underneath the cloak.
Cadence sighed as she leaned against one of the alleyway walls. She sighed in defeat as she looked up to the night sky, feeling just as lost and clueless as the day dad left. Cadence had been eavesdropping on the inn even before this, trying to piece together any information she could, but there was never anything concrete, anything specific. Often, it was contradictory, and just flat out lies. Her father would never do some of the things they spoke of.
Never. Ever. Not a doubt. No chance he’d do that. For any reason.
Cadence slowly dragged herself against the wall until she was sitting on the cold cobblestone ground, the cloak shielding her from the growing wind that was howling through the streets at whatever ghastly hour it was now. As she pulled the cloak tighter around herself, she took a moment to examine the cloak. It was just a plain woolen cloak, but it had interesting abstracts patterns on it. Cadence had no idea if they meant anything… but she did know that it was Dorian’s cloak. From his old adventuring days, sometimes he’d be in cold weather, high places, or just fierce nights, this was his old cloak. Trusty, cozy, protecting, comforting.
Her home was a lonely place these days. Eli was absent most of the time, having to work at the mines, and earn enough to keep them afloat… Cadence missed her dad, and a lot. She just wanted him to be back. He was supposed to be back already, he had told her as much, and back with treasure and joy and hope. But yet… the days went by, and not a word of news. Nothing. Just… waiting. And waiting. And waiting.
Trying to hold back the water rising up to her eyes, she looked up to the moon one last time, hoping the bright light would give her hope.
“...where are you, dad?”