Flawed and Tainted

CHAPTER 1. Arrival

Violet

It was nearly dawn when I perceived the lights of a village from afar, in between the midst of the deep forest. My body was exhausted after all the walking. The little amount of rest I had gotten in the past few days wasn't contributing either.

I made my way through the trees towards the main path, which led to the village. I stood still, unsure if I should move forward or keep looking for another town to stay in. I examined my surroundings while the first rays of daylight shimmered through the moving leaves of the trees. The village was bounded by impenetrable city walls. Its gates were enormous, guarded by a pair of soldiers and accessed by merchants every few minutes. I could hear great noise and chatter.

My plan was to stay in a village for a few months before reconsidering my choices and deciding where to go next, basically repeating the process I had been following for the past 4 years.

I made up my mind and followed the path in direction to the front gates. It was no big deal, I could always make my way somewhere else. Walking ahead of the carriages that were waiting to be granted access into the town's market, I approached the guards. These were quite distracted examining the goods that where to be sold to the locals shortly after. For this reason, no one noticed me. A hooded girl, nearly reaching 18 of age, with just a leather bag on her shoulder. I was able to cross the gates undetected.

Once in, the noise and chatter intensified. All around me were picturesque houses and workshops, most of them with their walls colored in light tones of yellow, red, cian, green, violet... Vegetation was abundant. Beautiful flowered bindweeds climbed all over the walls and porchs. There were people everywhere. Children playing around while adults were too busy minding their business. I continued walking upwards following what I guessed would lead me to the main square. I got there in less than a minute. It was filled with all kinds of market stands: herbs, cloths, jewelry, foods, farm animals, and so on. So many people in one same place overwhelmed me, so I did my best to sneak through them, making my way to the opposite side of the square. Although the sun had just begun rising, I knew better than to wait for the day to get dark to start looking for a place to stay. I had some money, though it would only last me a couple weeks at most. If I were to stay at any of the inns, I would need to look for some kind of temporary job. I would worry about that later. Right now, finding a place to stay was my priority.

I lifted my gaze in search of any hanging sign that would indicate the presence of an inn. After a minute I gave up and decided to ask.

"Excuse me ma'am, do you know where the nearest inn is?"

"Just across that road." The woman answered, pointing towards my next destination.

Finding it wasn't that hard at all after the locals' indications. The place didn't give me the best feeling, but I was too exhausted to mind that. I went in. The main hall pertained to a pub. The nauseous smell of alcohol and smoke flooded the place, suffocating me.

I adjusted my hood a bit to hide my face as much as possible and walked towards the counter, with the goal of talking to who I presumed was the owner of the place. When I was about 5 feet apart, he gave me a quick glance and scoffed:

"Go home, little girl. This is no place for you"

It took quite a lot of patience to avoid lashing out at him. I ignored his commentary and reached closer to him so he could hear me, despite all the screaming and clattering.

"I'm looking for a room. Any free?"

He stared at me for a few seconds before shaking his head.

"Got no free rooms here, little girl." he remarked, followed by the stupid nickname he had labeled on me.