Dame de la Lune

~Chapter 3~

        With the tavern in sight, my traveling partner lets out a sigh of relief. He's been clutching his side for the entire way, limping as well. Everytime I try to help him, or ask him if we should stop now, he shoves me off and informs me of his well-being. He's a stubborn man, but I would appreciate it if my partner didnt die before the journey began.
        Walking closer to the tavern, he opens the door and lets it close behind him before I get a chance to walk through. Ignore his attitude I open the door to be met with a pungent smell of bear and sweat, and see the tavern crowded with many men and very few women. All of which have their bows or swords displayed on the table. I scan the room to find my partner, only to have lost him. As I continue my search for him, I neglect the path in front of me, bumping into a man to my right.
    "Oh, please forgive me. I was not paying attention to where I was-" I'm interrupted by the screeching noise of the man's chair pushing out behind him. He stands up right, consuming me in his shadow as my eyes lay on the man before me. He looked down at me, grimacing. "Sorry," I continued, "it was my mistake." He doesn't respond, he lets his gaze fall to my dress, which is now torn from the trees.
    "Now why is your dress ruined? Such a pretty girl like you shouldn't be running around looking like this." He informs me.
I look at him, confused by his statement.
    "Well I found myself in an unsettling situation. It wasn't by choice to ruin my clothing, and I don't need to hear comments about my appearance."
He laughs as I speak.
    "My, my, you sure have a mouth," he says, attempting to grab at my jaw but i move away as he continues to laugh rather obnoxiously.
I turn my head in hopes of finding a familiar pair of eyes, yet, I am left disappointed.  Suddenly a hand grabs my chin, and my head is tugged back to meet this man's gaze.
    "It's rather rude not to look at someone as they speak, woman." He says sternly.
I try to get out of his hold, but his grip tightens with each attempt. Looking down at his hand i notice some bruising on his knuckles, the smell of blood now fills my nostrils. I claw at the man's hand, going for the already bruised skin in hopes of causing more damage. I only manage to scratch the surface level before the man grabs my throat and picks me up, not cutting off my air supply but enough for me to be compliant and still.
        "What might you be doing in this side of town, all alone for that matter?" He says with a grin, leaning in glide his nose along my neck.
I cringe at the notion
    "Let her go Grum," I hear from behind me. Finally.
The man, now revealed to be named Grum, turns his gaze behind me to where the man in black stood, and he smiles.    
   "Well, look who's finally home, " Grum says, never letting his smile leave his face. "I was beginning to think you'd never find your way back, Laurevés."
Laurevés?
With the mobility i have left, I manage to turn my head to the man in black only for his eyes to already be on me. Returning his gaze to Grum, he lets out a short laugh.
    "Yah well," he shrugs, "figured I'd stop by for a nice chat, relit that spark between us, you know?" he says, smiling back. Grum clenches his jaw in response, and tightens his grip around my throat. I let out a grunt, starting to feel panicked at the further restricting position.
    "Put her down," he says, "I won't say it again."
He can't honestly think that will work.
Grum bites the inside of his cheek and soon enough I'm pushed to the ground, being released from his torturous grasp. Before I could properly soother the ache in my throat, the man in black reaches for me, and pulls me up from my arm, and tugs me behind his frame. I clutch at his back as he shields me from Grum who now towers over us. I feel one of his hands curve around my waist, further pressing my front against his back.
    "Careful." Grum says, "your name will only get you so far."
The man in blacks' gaze falls down to Grums knuckles. I feel him snicker at the sight of my marks.
    "Mon nom n'est pas ce que tu devrais craindre," he says, tilting his chin upward to make up for his lack of height
My name is not what you should fear.
    "Surveillez votre dos. C'est la dernière fois que je t'écoute," Grum finishes as he pushes past us and out of the tavern.
Watch your back. This is the last time I listen to you.
The man in black turns doesn't say anything more, but instead pulls my arm in the direction of a table. I reach to grab my throat to help soothe the bruising.
    "Who was that?" I ask, my voice sounding more hoarse that i thought it would
    "Nobody, just another happy reminder why we have to leave this place."
My stomach grumbles.
    "You need to eat." He says, guiding me to sit down.
    "You need to rest," I replied back.
He rolls his eyes.
    "We'll rest after we eat. We need to be out of this town not long after sunrise."
Soon after we finished eating, he found us a place to rest for the night right above the tavern after supper. The room was fairly adequate, having everything we would need for the night except for a place for both of us to rest. One bed sat in the middle of the room, staring at both of us. 
Brilliant.
He's the first to walk into the room, setting his stuff down on the ground by the table.
    "You take the bed. I'll take a rest on the floor." He says.
    "I'm not the one who's hurt, you need proper rest, I can ta-"
    "Just take the damn bed." He snapped.
His gaze softened when he noticed how I flinched to his sudden response. He mumbled something inaudible before gathering some pillows to make a bed on the floor.
      Soon enough night had completely ascended, allowing a sense of incongruity to creep into me. I tried to shake the feeling off, but the more I tried, the more the feeling kept burning its way into my mind. I turned my head to the window in hopes of seeing the moon, to find some solace. I turn my head to face the window only to be met with a less comforting image; a woman. The same woman as before now staring at me with her head tilted. I didn't dare to move, I felt stuck even. Slowly, she moved her head so she was straight and started to walk to the door, and before I knew it, she was inside.
God's teeth. Did he not lock the door?
      The more I tried to move, the more pain I felt. I didn't understand what was keeping me so still, and so quiet when I should be screaming for help. As the woman got closer, her face remained hidden. I look down to my right seeing my partner fast asleep. I kept trying to move, to do anything, but it felt like I was burning the more I tried to move, the more I tried to talk, as if it was her way of telling me to stop fighting. So I did. When I stopped, she continued to move closer to me until she was at the foot of my bed. I steadied my breath to not appear frightened.
     "My lune," she said.
There it was again, that name.
   I wanted to speak, I wanted to ask her who she was. But that burning sensation returned as I tried to use my voice, so I stopped again. She came around the bed, standing next to me now. She started to rise and rotate to align herself with my body. Her hair was on both sides of my head and was right above me. I still couldn't see her face, but her locket was dangling right in front of me. But before I could properly analyze it, she raised her hand and brought it to my forearm. I turned my head downward to watch her hand as it started to press deeply into my right arm. She dragged her hand slowly down my arm in a tortuous manner. I couldn't scream to warn the man right beneath me, I couldn't move to avoid the woman from doing more damage to my arm.         I couldn't do anything. So I just laid there, with tears silently streaming down my face.
         I closed my eyes and I wished for the sun to dawn to help me, to get rid of this woman who harms me in the night. Soon enough, I felt the burning sensation leave my body, and I opened my eyes to be met with nothing. I looked down to my arm to see the crimson liquid flowing in a stream down my arm, tainting my sheets. She slashed my arm, a gaping cut remained on my upper left forearm. I felt my bones aching from the burns, I felt my eyes start to close, and I didnt want to fight anymore, so I let the tiredness take me away.