BY the time Poppy and I had reached the guarded doors to my accommodations. Two ladies had already surrounded the guards. Their dressed lifted past their mid thighs, their hands coated in mendecium, and their eyes gestured for us to hurry.
Poppy swiped the ring of keys, one lady had skillfully unhooked from the guard's belt. As she quickly unlatched the door I could hear pacing footsteps, from inside.
"Oh!" Rene cried as pulled open the door
Marius stopped in his mid pace, his eyes brightened and a soft smile curled around his lips.
"We should go." I whispered.
~*~
The journey towards the outside world felt longer than I had imagined. The halls of Odin's house seemed more narrow than usual. The eerie silence of the occupied guests and intoxicated guards consumed the air.
Marius grasped my hand in his. His fingers intertwining with mine. I glanced up at him as we crept past closed rooms. He gently smiled down at me and gave my hand a reassuring squeeze.
This was it. This was the final hurdle.
"The rest of the ladies are going to leave periodically through the night." Poppy mentioned as we approached the exit.
"Where are we going?" Manuel asked.
"There's a small abandoned space between the border of this community," Poppy explained. "Or at least that's what we've been hearing most nights. Some of us think it would be a clever rendezvous spot should something -well something like this happen."
The lot of us glanced at the large room between us and the door towards the outside. The soft moonlight seeped in through the windows of the house, casting a path of shadows before us. A final road down towards a taste of a life I had never thought would exist for me.
A few guests seemed greatly occupied by the mendecium and their drink. Luckily, the room's lamps had been dimmed, and there was nothing left to do but quietly make our way out.
As soon as the cool air kissed my face, I finally released a breath I didn't realize I had been holding. Rene looped her arm around my waist and buried her face into my neck. A soft sigh of relief escaped her between the muffled laughs. I hugged my friend back.
"We need to keep moving." Manuel gestured towards the darkness.
So we did.
I glanced at the shrinking house behind us. The lights of the occupied rooms began to slowly disappear behind the shadows.
We took refuge behind a few square feet of foliage. Crouching to rest, and wait.
The air was silent.
The night was ours.
We were done.
"Poppy..." I whispered. "Where's the space you were speaking of?"
I soft sigh escaped her. "I'm not sure. This was as far as I ever day dreamed of going... I imagined someone else would be with me. Someone who would know where to hide."
Through the darkness I could see her face fall. "You did good. We wouldn't have been able to do anything like this without you. We just, now - we just have to wait."
~*~
Marius offered to keep watched while the rest of us rested. Poppy and Rene were able to find comfortable positions beside each other, and before long they had dosed off. Manuel sat close by as he drifted in and out of sleep.
For a few moments I watched Marius in the starlight. His eyes fixated towards the horizon keeping a close eye on what would approach. Eventually, I sat beside him and nestled in close.
"How are you doing?" I whispered.
His eyes widened for a few moments, before chuckling softly. The corners of his eyes wrinkled with fatigue from behind the soft bruises. "Only someone like you would be concerned over others first."
I shrugged.
He gently lifted my chin. His eyes met mine just before he gingerly placed a kiss to my forehead. "I'm fine. You're safe. So I am doing just fine."
"What was it like before Odin?" I asked.
He sighed. "It was difficult. A lot of us have it rough out here. The world has become an unforgiving place. When I was young, I scavenged a lot. Always kept moving. Never really stayed anywhere long enough to call it home."
I squeezed his hand.
"He's a terrible man, but he gave a lot of us something to do. He helped us survive."
"What was it like?"
"Most days were very predictable. Sleep, eat, do your job and repeat. Some days different people change the night's events. Sometimes for the better, most times for the worst. Deals and bargains would be exchanged...Odin always got more than what he agreed to receive. No one says anything about it. Most nights, it appeared that living under a horrid man's roof was easier than living out there hungry and cold."
My body stiffened at the fact that I knew how it felt. "There's a lot of good people in that house, isn't there?"
Marius nodded. "More than I can count."
"Did you have someone? Before Odin? In the house?"
"In a way...There was this woman, fragile and young. Odin adored her. He liked to keep her in the room during the parties he'd hold for his travelling friends. She became this sort of decoration for the men and women. Called her Gem and made her sit on the laps of his friends. A preview of the what they can receive, but she was an item not for sale. It caused a lot of tense lust. Drove the guests wild. Eventually, Odin kept her all to himself."
"Did you know her from before Odin?"
Marius shook his head. "No, I - I don't think I even know her real name."
"What happened?"
"Over time, I began to find myself sneaking extra rations to her room. I'd find forgotten pieces of broken jewelry from the guests, and slip them to her. Often during Odin's events, I would stand closer to her. Distract the guests away from her. I thought I was helping...I wanted to help. I realized that maybe, I had become consumed by the idea that I would save her. That I would overthrow Odin. That she would fall in love with me, we'd run off and never be touched by anything dark." Marius shook his head before continuing. "One day I found her beaten and dead. Assumingly from an angered customer. I mourned. A handful of us did. Yet, thinking of it now, I find that I might have just loved the idea of what she could have been for me. A way to restore my self worth, a way to prove that I didn't need people like Odin....a way out. And it was wrong. I was no better than all the other men."
"You're not a bad man, Marius. Living through the things we have to live through and changing for the better? That's what makes us different."
"Nalani," Marius whispered. "It's a shame the world began to die before we began to live. You're something of a wonder..."
"I like to think that I'm close to believing that myself." I smiled.
A soft chuckle escaped him.
My eyes scanned his profile. His jawline: sharp and slightly scuffed from hardship. His lips: soft yet the corners lined with stubble and fine lines from frowns. His eyes: hidden behind tired bags and fogged with dark pasts. "I don't think I would be sitting here now, if it weren't for a rugged man and an abandoned house."
Marius' face fell ever so slightly, his eyes deepened as he gazed at me and traced my lips with his finger. "Don't do that. Don't minimize yourself."
I stared up at him.
"You are worth more than what I have done for you - more than what anyone has done."
My face turned towards the distance. The women left behind with Odin, the shame filled trailers, and the burnt ash of the tent top. "I am not," I clasped his hands between mine. "I am not who I am now, if it weren't for Rene, Manuel, Mirna...or for Artin and Invidia.
"I've spent most of my life selfishly wishing for something better than what I had been given. Some days I spent my waking moments, selfishly wishing for death. But, I've realized that maybe fighting back is a more grand and selfless gesture."
Marius caught my gaze. "A world like this seems like it does not tend well to selfless people."
"Perhaps...The world was a far more simple place when all I tended to was the needs of men. Yet, I think I'm worth more than being a song bird. I'd like to think at the very least I would be useful in helping others. If I don't, I'm afraid I'll turn empty...or grow to be selfish like every other dark person here."
"You could never."
"Unfortunately, I'm almost there... you've given me something that I'd selfishly fight for."
Marius sighed, sudden heartbreak seemed to coat his gaze. "I'm afraid that I love you..."