The stars shone above Ishtar as her feet, bare as usual, padded softly across the grass. The bare memorial glowed in front of her, heavy letters etched across it.
"Nilgun Raad, beloved daughter and friend. Born noble, and died for her country as such."
Ishtar reminded herself that Nilgun was one of many who had died since the Nobles had revolted against the (now-deceased) Emperor. However, it didn't ease the discomfort in Ishtar's heart one bit. She regretted the last night that she had seen Nilgun, the night when her immaturity took over. The spiteful way she had chopped off Nilgun's long pink hair, the satisfaction that had taken over Ishtar---all of it burned now. Ishtar realized that her only connection to her past was gone. The last person who remembered Ishtar's days of begging and thievery was dead. Ishtar should have felt a sense of relief, but she didn't. A cold hollowness expanded within her, and she hated herself for it. How many disguises had she gone through in the years? How many false performances? There was once a part of her who admired herself for acting so well, but that part had slowly died off as fear overtook her, year after year. Ishtar was scared, scared that one of the identities she had shed so long ago had been her true one. She was scared that somebody would remember one of her old facades, but now that Nil Raad was dead, that seemed unlikely. It was possible for her to start a new life, but it wasn't possible for her to forget the past. Ishtar had always prided herself on her ability to adapt, but in the end it grew quite tiresome.
Loud, heavy footsteps sounded behind her. Freezing up, Ishtar's level of fear increased. She had always hated being alone. And yet...
I am not the hunted. I am a predator. Numair. I am a panther. Do not be afraid, she told herself.
I can handle anything in the night. I am a huntress, I am a Numair."Mirit Numair?" The voice, dark and trembling, hit her like a ton of bricks.
No. It couldn't be. She was a predator. She would feel no fear.
But what if the one hunting her was a panther as well?Turning around slowly, Ishtar grasped her sash. She could use it as a noose, if necessary. She could strangle the man standing before her, if necessary.
He stood there slowly, burgundy eyes matching hers. Raising a slender hand, he brushed back sparse cobalt locks. Tall, lanky, and dressed in elaborate clothes, there was a distinct similarity between Ishtar and her father. His cold burgundy eyes met hers, but not before she saw a glint of steel in his other hand.
"Aliyy." The name left her lips softly.
"Please, call me father." He smiled, and for a second Ishtar saw a fraction of the beauty that was once on his face, the beauty that had captivated her mother so much. The beauty that had long hid a dark, cruel personality. Her father's looks were the exact opposite of his nature. There was nothing pretty about the way he held the knife in his hands, for instance. The symbols representing the family name, Numair, were etched on the handle.
A knife...? It took Ishtar a few moments to realize that the knife was probably for her. Much like Ishtar, Aliyy, her father, was prone to disguises and shedding false personalities. There had been many stories he had concocted about himself. Now, he was here to clean up a mistake of his past. Her. His mistake. The result of a drunken night with a slave entertainer. Ishtar was nothing compared to Aliyy's other daughters, the ones born of Noble connections. Ishtar was a street rat, and had been ignored by her father for years. Or so she thought.
Lashing out with her sash, she caught the knife in her father's hand and flipped it to the ground with a single motion. It lay there, gleaming in the moonlight, with the symbols facing her.
"What an unexpected surprise, Aliyy," She had stopped calling him father years ago.
"In the middle of the night, in a graveyard...""A Noble graveyard, my daughter. A place where you should not be."
"Mother's grave is in the other section of the city, Aliyy." Well, she couldn't help it. Ishtar had always found her ferocity useful in times like these, in the dark of the night and surrounded by fear. It was a stupid mistake, though, to bring up her dead mother's name.
Aliyy's hand lashed out unexpectedly, striking her in the face. Ishtar winced. She had forgotten how powerful her father was.
"Do not talk to me about her." His voice was ragged with some type of emotion. Hate? Anger?
Ishtar smiled coldly, and began to saunter away. A bruise was slowly forming on her face, but that was the only injury. The faster she could get away from her father, the better. She was unprepared for a circumstance like this, and knowing Aliyy, it could very well turn deadly.
She had not seen him in the Imperial City for years, not since he had appeared at one of her performances. Even then, he did not seem to recognize his daughter underneath all the makeup and snapping sashes, the bells and the silks. Aliyy was always off traveling, escaping, and making money. He had grown a substantial empire trading wines, but Ishtar had never attempted to use her connections. The farther away she was away from Aliyy, the better. Her Noble father was the same as any aristocrat. Hungry, cruel, and completely used to considering other Lunarians as items, not as people.
His hand grabbed Ishtar's shoulder, forcing her to turn around.
"Come with me. I do not need my beggar daughter to wander the streets at night." Ishtar's eyes narrowed. She was an Academy student now, wasn't she? She a place to study in the day, and a small room to dance in at night. She was safer than she had ever been.
"No. Let go of me." You've never called me your daughter before, she silently added. Instantly, she twisted around and used her sash to wrap around Aliyy's hands tightly. Ishtar reveled the look of surprise on Aliyy's face.
"I could break your wrists. I could break them right now." Ishtar hissed.
Her father smirked.
"But you won't." Instantly, figures appeared from the shadows. Hired soldiers, as well as some Noble soldiers in her father's private guard, surrounded them. Clad in silent black silks, they seemed to simply melt out of the darkness.
What the hell? He goes around guarded in a graveyard? Ishtar thought.
"
You see, my beggar daughter, I have need of you. A...supplier...of mine recently brought up one of your performances at Hwahana a few months ago. He desperately wants you to perform privately for him, and offered up a place for one of your sisters to become his wife, as well as a merchant alliance with me."Of course. Ishtar had met those types before. Rich Noblemen with eyes only for her dances, but hearts that lay with money. Obviously, one of her Noble-blooded sisters would become the rich man's wife, while Ishtar would merely be a prisoner in a well-decorated house. She was not ready to become caged just yet.
"I refuse."
"You have no choice." Aliyy's eyes, the exact same color as hers, looked coolly at her. Ishtar returned the glare. The two panthers stood there unmoving. It was becoming quite a battle of wills.
"I could break your wrists, here and now, and you could not ever count money nor lift up a flask of wine ever again." Ishtar murmured dangerously, her hands still grasping the silken sash wrapped tightly around her father's hands.
"That is not a choice."It was true. As soon as Aliyy said those words, Ishtar felt the Noble mercenaries closing in. One held a steel dagger, another a cloth gag.
Kicking out, Ishtar yanked her sash, hard. Two satisfying cracks sounded the air, and her father howled. Ishtar smiled coldly, and then screeched herself when she felt something sharp go into her side. Then, after a few more flashes of steel, she was on the ground. It hurt to breathe, but she managed to gasp out a few words.
"I wish you the best of luck in weighing money now, father." A few broken bones in her father's wrists were not worth being imprisoned in the Numair house forever, but Ishtar was determined to show her father just how ferocious she could be. She tried to stand up, but the pain in her side made it impossible to even move. It was getting too painful to stay conscious now. Ishtar felt a piece of cloth being suppressed around her mouth, as well as somebody tying her ankles together. With a final breath, Ishtar reminded herself that she was not going to be caged.
Then, the world went dark.
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