Thorne

18.Out

The sun was beginning to sink below the horizon, they had been walking the whole day.

Lilian had begrudgingly let Thorne check on her every two hours or so, though she thought it was a waste of time.

As the orange light of early evening hit there faces, Lilian saw a ploom of smoke in the distance. Her eyes widened and she turned to Thorne. "A town?" She asked.

He nodded slightly, then cocked his head to one side, "I think, if we have been walking North, we should be approaching Polein. It's just south of the river Rye."

She nodded, recognising the name. It was a well known town, closer to a city perhaps, but with the absence of a cathedral leaving it without the wealth that the church brang.

They continued up a narrow path, and sure enough, the path soon joined onto the main road leading to the town gates.

They merged with the throng of people heading that way; old women dragging carts, children running with dogs.

It felt strange, to suddenly be around so many, when she had been isolated with only Thorne for so long. It was hard for her not to jump as someone brushed past her or called out to a friend.

Thorne gripped her hand, squeezing it, as she was startled for the third time by a child running past her legs.

He smiled, amused, but he was just the same. Glancing around every second, staring down anyone who looked at them to long.

Paranoia ate at them both.

Getting closer and closer to the gate, Lilian became more nervous. What if the guards turned them away. They had no money, no belongings. They seamed like the exact type of people to steal.

Well, Lilian thought, they wouldn't steal too much. Just enough from someone who wouldn't miss it.

Reaching the gate, Thore threw an arm around her shaking shoulders. He kissed the side of her head, "Stay calm," He whispered, "we'll be fine."

They stopped infront of the guard post, he glanced up, boredom rolling off him. "Reason for visit?"

Thorne smiled at him, good naturedly.  "Just passing through, we have family beyond the town."

The guard jotted something down, then eyes Lilian. She smiled brightly, trying to mask her face into the easy-going kindness, that Thorne so easily slipped into.

"Relation to each other?"

"My wife."

Lilian tried not to show her suprise in her face. Thorne just pulled her closer. The guard eyes Lilian's bare finger. "Your rings?" His voice was sceptical.

Thorne just smiled again, putting a little bit of unneeded jollyness in his voice. "Didn't want to risk traveling with them, you never know who could be around to nick them!"

Lilian just continued to smile, her mouth aching with the strain.

The guard frowned slightly, but then sighed. "Go ahead."

They both murmured thanks, passing through the iron gates. Lilian finally let her face relax, she turned to Thorne, "your wife?" Her eyes twinkled.

He grinned, "It's less conspicuous."

She rolled her eyes, but couldn't help but smile as the tension that had been bundled up inside her dissipated. "Now what?"

"I don't know," Thorne edmitted, "find food, a place to sleep, money, new clothes. Not necessarily in that order."

Lilian nodded, "I think the logical one to get first is money."

●●●

They had been wondering around the silk market, trying to find some old codger who had to much money for his own good and, well, help him out a little.

Everyone was giving them funny looks, what with them both wearing black, ripped and dirty clothes.

"Maybe we should put clothes first on our list," Lilian murmured under her breathe, making eye contact with a lady who had just snorted in her direction. Thorne nodded, "but where from?"

Lilian shrugged, then spotted a tailors shop just along the road. "We could try there."
Thorne looked along to the shop, and let out a disbelieving laugh, "oh yeah, we'll just walk right in, they won't suspect a thing."

She gave him a light shove, "That's not what I meant, sometimes they throw botched items out the back."

They found a way around to the back of the shops, a small alleyway that sat between this row of buildings and the next.

There were no clothes, only scraps of fabric. Lilian groaned in annoyance.

And someone else groaned back.

They both stared a little way down the alley and there sitting against a wall, was a very drunk, very well dressed man. He tried to get up from his position; stumbled forward and fell on his face.

And Lilian heard the unmistakable sound of a coin pouch hitting the ground. She smirked.

Walking over she knelt by the man. Making sure he was never in a position where he could fully make out her face, she rolled him over, off his sizeable front that was covered in a fine red tunic, probably costing more that Lilian's first set of daggers.

His eyes were half closed and he seamed to be trying to speak to her, but his words were slurred.

She just made noises of agreement, nodding along with what ever he was saying. Although he was moving around alot, it was easy to remove the coin bag from his belt.

She opened it up and grinned at the gold staring back at her. Taking out a piece, she placed it in his hand. "So he can get home, if her ever wakes up." She laughed, throwing the bag to Thorne.

●●●

They were both now dressed in clean clothes. And Goddess, did it feel good. But Lilian could still feel that layer of grime all over her body; she would die for a bath.

They had found an inn and walked though the heavy wooden door. Met with the stench of alcohol, vomit and stale food, Lilian relised that they weren't in the nice part of town anymore.

Thorne walked up to the bar, they had split the coins between them so that it would be harder for someone to rob them.
They both sat on stools, and he ordered two ales. The drinks were horrid, and tasted watered down.

But neither had had anything stronger than water for at least a couple months, so both welcomed the warming sensation of the pale drink.

Thorne waved the owner over, he was a stocky man, wider than he was tall. His thinning hair was combed neatly to the side, and his long moustache was trimmed to perfection.

"Do you have any rooms?" Thorne asked.
The man looked them over, "Do you have any money?"

She placed a gold piece on the table, the man smiled, flaky lips pulling up from brown teeth. "There's one left, up at the top. Only one bed."

"That's fine," Thorne interjected, the man kept on smiling as he slipped the coin into his pocket. They were grossly over paying, but it would keep him silent if anyone came looking.

Making there way up to there room, Lilian looked around the small space.

As the man had said, it was right at the top, the ceiling was slanted. Thorne cursed as her banged his head against the roof.

She laughed at him and sat on the bed, he sat next to her and pulled her onto his lap, her legs either side if his.

He kissed her deeply, hand gripping her waist and hair, pulling her a close as he could. "We're free." He wispered, and she laughed the words like music to her ears.

He kissed her again, hand slipping under her new shirt.

"We're free."