Godless

Chapter 1

I met the man who broke my mother's most carefully weaved spell outside a circus tent. Inside a huge cage had been set up, shadowed by the striped walls of the tent, and framed by wooden depictions of smiling moons and suns.

Initially, we went because the guy who ran the place was brother to my one friend, Chenise, and crush to my other friend, Donna. I didn't blame Donna, really. The guy had a very nice face, a white, toothy smile, and tend to wore outfits that showed off his perfect abs. He intimidated me though. Most cute guys did. Especially the ones who knew they were cute, as Chenise's brother did. Just because I was intimidated didn't mean I was shy, by all means. I joked and laughed with the rest while Donna blushed and tried her best at flirting, which Chenise's brother accepted eagerly, though sincerely I didn't know.

He asked us to wait outside and draw in customers, but what we really ended up doing was crowding to the side of the door to tease Donna about Chenise's brother.

"Why do you always call him 'Chenise's brother?' His name is Purlo."

"Because I keep forgetting." I said, shrugging as though to say, 'don't blame me,' though I really had no excuse.

And the look on Donna's lightly freckled face told me she knew it. "I don't believe you."

"I don't believe you either." said Chenise. "I mean, did you get a look at those abs?"

I made a face at her. "Eww, he's your brother!"

"Doesn't mean I can't see." she said. "I mean, what a face."

"And have you seen him when he's in the cage? Oh wow."

"Yeah, he's pretty great." I did my best to sound sincere, though in all reality, I'd rather be somewhere else, like back home, doing chores and hanging up laundry near the courtyard where the musicians practiced. Oh yeah.

Then I saw him. He was dressed in green with a funny, long green hat. The most beautiful sword was sheathed over his shoulder, or at least, the purple hilt was, as I couldn't see the rest. I thought him short for a guy, though he could be a little taller than me, and he had a nice face.

Though it had been the look on his face that had distracted me. It looked strained, and something wild burned in his eye, like a beast.

But, for some reason, I wasn't scared. Instead, I felt worried. What had happened to him to give him such a ferocious look.

"Hey! You in the green!"

He paused instantly, as though he was frequently called out like that. It only took him a second to find me through the crowd. I waved at him, gesturing him over. He hesitated, then made his way over to me.

Chenise and Donna had noticed by now.

"Hanna, what are you doing?"

I didn't answer, because I really didn't have one. But then they spotted the guy.

"Oh my..." whispered Chenise.

He kept his distance, though stood close enough to have a relatively normal conversation.

"Yeah?" he said.

"You should try out this game my friend's brother's set up," I pointed to the tent. "You look like you've been under a lot of stress lately, and some fun will help clear your mind. It shouldn't take too much time, and it's only ten rupees."