The Sunday evenings were always a major blast in the local tavern. In the morning, people would fill up the churches, but in the evening, all the same people would blast into the pub, completely forgetting the sins that they were just repentant for. And that's how it always was. Get ridiculously drunk, start ranting about the politics, drink more of the devil's juice and then wait for the upcoming Sunday's prayers again. That was a circle of life for most of the society that could afford a drink there daily.
Annie could only watch them from further away and pretend to not be able to understand what kind of a mixed place her father's tavern was. Luckily, the place had quite a strict rules, forbidding any fights and prostitution - she felt safe there. And there were definitely less things to clean up after a long night.
If people wouldn't be chilling by the fireplace that offered a warm blimmer of heat, they would be dancing to some local (probably drunk) musicians, causing the bartenders some problems trying to maneuver through the moving mass without spilling the drinks. But Annie, as a bartender who would often slack off the work quietly, would prefer listening to the tales being told by that fireplace. And they were all different… well, mostly about the new taxes settled up by the government and the war situations, but now their subject seemed to be more related… to this town.
That Sunday, the melodeon music was filling up the air, accompanied by the sounds of dancers' footsteps hitting the wooden floor and drunk giggles, even from the men. The place was packed up more than it usually was, the moving silhouettes of the guests make the already fragile lights swing to the sides; it was so warm inside, despite the cold night of March. But there was still a inglenook fireplace ready in a separate room with couches and smoke from the guests. How can even the discussions happen without one ready?
"Your drinks, gentlemen." Annie served four wooden mugs full of chill beer with a formal manieres she was taught and fixed her eagle gray dress, making sure she didn't rip it on those sharp edges of the chairs and tables. As she was about to leave, one of the men grabbed her wrist and stopped her from moving.
"Where are you going, missy? Don't you want to sit on daddy's lap for a bit?" the man smirked.
"Sir, I have a man in my life. Let go." The blonde girl lied, still talking in her usual low tone. Did they forget the last time when the girl almost broke their noses for touching her bottom as she just tried to do her damn job? They probably were too drunk to remember anyways.
"Oh? I see no ring." the man looked down at her clenching fist. "Oh, no need to get angry, missy, just join us~"
Annie glared straight at his face, no doubt she was gnashing her teeth in annoyance. She sometimes hated working in the tavern. Working in a place like this was considered to be manly and meeting a woman working there had probably somehow attracted several creeps.
As the blondie was about to try to struggle out more aggressively, a busty young guy threw himself into the room, quickly giving a beamed smile. He was wearing a leather vest and a snow white shirt under it - it must've been one of the workers. Before the guests could even react, he wrapped his arm around her shoulder, moved the creep's hand away and laughed.
"Oh, Ann, there you are!" the barman kept smiling confidently, bringing his flustered short colleague close to him backwards, making her hit his chest with her back. "Need anything else, boys?"
"Ah, Reiner, just in time, haha." another man raised his glass with beer, giving a toothy smile for a barman they knew for a few years now. He seemed to be having a lack of one tooth in front. "Could you spare your little friend for us for a few minutes?"
"Sorry, lads, we need her for work."
"Oh, c'mon, just for a minute."
"If her father finds out, he won't reserve you this room for the next Sunday." he squeezed his friend's shoulder, causing her to look away, hiding the frown.
"Alright- but if you change your mind, come here anytime!" the man smirked and gulped half of his drink.
"Thanks for stepping in." Annie mumbled as they both were now standing by the wall that was separating that room and the taproom. Her body was used to this kind of night-lasting job, but her mind wasn't. All the loudness and amount of words always directing her were making her wish to just leave this messy place of the drunkards, but it was still better than just giving birth to piles of offsprings with a stranger. Gosh, she did really have a privilege as a woman to work there. And a damn privilege of having colleagues that would get her out of messed up situations.
"Anytime for ya." Reiner squeezed her shoulder before letting go and crossing his arms over his broad chest, whereas Annie fixed her chemise and looked around the busy bar. "Heard anything interesting from them, little spy?"
"Didn't have a chance yet - they went straight up for me instead of their beer." The girl muttered. Reiner laughed and tapped her back playfully, making her raise her eyes at him in confusion. What was so funny?
"I'm not even surprised, Ann, they got an eye on you since the day they started coming here. But just focus on getting their money now." Reiner stretched and cracked his knuckles, ignoring his friend's confused stare. He then stepped to the side and gave her the last look. "I'll cover your shift for ten minutes but not more. Bertholdt is still not fast enough to deal with such a number of guests."
With that, the girl was left alone. Even when she was surrounded by dozens of people, she was now alone in her mind world and no one really perceived her existence. Ten minutes… it wasn't a long time, compared to her shift, but it was enough to hear some fresh news she was kind of forbidden from (even that being considered as a masculine thing). Annie now focused her hearing senses to the room where the men were just getting her first drinks.
They started talking about their wifes.
Nine minutes.
One mentioned Annie and questioned the reason on why she is here.
Eight minutes.
A discussion about the yellowish curtains emerged.
Seven minutes.
Annie stood up straight and looked at the bar where Reiner and Bertholdt were, rushing their butts to make the orders as quickly as possible. Maybe it wasn't the day for discussions and she wanted to spend the rest of the minutes productively. But just as she was about to leave and submerge herself in a crowd, the words of the toothless man and his friend's caught her attention.
"I'm going for a smoke. Save up my drink."
"Seriously, Carl, don't go there, you know it's 11:58."
"So what?"
"You don't know about Midnattmorder?"
"Since when do you speak in Norway?" the sound of a cup hitting the table had reached Annie's ear.
"Don't ignore my words, you pig. You really don't know about Midnight killer?"
"Midnight my ass. Is it some kind of an assassin?"
"Noone really knows. But there was a very specific murders happening in Kristiansand a few months ago." The man talked in a dark tone. As it was one of the tales that already had an interesting spark in its beginning, Annie peeked at the room through the corner and focused her hearing on him as he continued. "Every night, between midnight and the first glang of the bell, one person goes missing by this time and never comes back alive." he leant towards the rest of his group as if he was telling a deep secret. "There are no clues, no tracks, no explanations - it murders youngs and olds, riches and poors. And no detectives have found anything useful."
Carl narrowed his eyes before snorting and waving his hand, his other palm being already occupied with a pipe.
"It's just a legend. If even Wald couldn't take care of this shit, then it's just a campfire tale, that's all." he got up and headed towards the exit, mumbling something under his breath.
Annie stepped back into the murky shadows to not get noticed slacking off and waited for Carl to leave. As he disappeared in a mass of guests, she leant back close to the doorway. The others seemed to stay in silence before one of them talked.
"You're not joking, right?"
"Why would I? I swear with my mother's life, Wald talked about it himself."
"Got any juicy information, little spy?" Reiner asked as he saw the girl coming back to the bar, taking the glass and starting to clean the dust away. "You still have two minutes left. Were you that bored, hm?"
"Midnattmorder. Have you heard of that before?" she ignored his statements.
Reiner's usually relaxed face with a grin decorating it now turned to a little frown, his lips setting in a grim line. He took a bottle of cognac and started pouring it into a glass for a client that just came to the counter, keeping his eyes on the dark drink like he was considering if he should say it or not.
"Yeah. I heard those murders were happening in Norway's seaports between twelve and 1 AM. It stopped but now it started happening here." the barman talked in a hoarse tone, slower than usually, trying to find the right words for his short friend. "Yesterday they found the traces of a dragged young man that hadn't returned home for a few days. Right into the sea. And the only remains they found were his floating leg and his head near the surface." he then looked up and forced a smile while delivering the glass of cognac for the customer and then taking a thaler from him in exchange. "Not like I believe in those spooky stories that much. Don't get me wrong."
"So you wouldn't mind if I decided to go out now and have a walk?" Annie put the glass down and handled it for Reiner, who just delivered her a wink and a nudge with his elbow.
"I wouldn't want you to walk alone at night in the first place. Especially Bertholdt, he would be so upset." he pointed with his head at the tall barman working near them, who just flustered and looked away, trying to hide his red face.
"Fair." She grabbed a new bottle of cognac and looked up at the doors, which just opened slowly.
The tavern was filled up in this hour and she assumed that it was just Carl coming back from his ranting and smoking session, but it definitely wasn't him. A young male had entered a building with a dark-leather cloak on, hiding most of his blond hair and having a shadow put on his face. Annie watched the newcomer and held her breath. Did his eyes just… were glowing and staring back at hers?
The woman blinked a few times, now seeing the guy with a cloak approaching the bar. He got mixed in a pile of drunkards dancing but he still seemed to be out of place. Maybe because he was the only one wearing a cloak, or because of a way he walked around, looking so dumbfounded. Even from a distance, Annie noticed how clean his face and hands were, unlike the other guests that were covered with absorbed dirt. A traveller wouldn't look like that, neither a man that would work in the fields all day. Perhaps it was a noble? But a rich man wouldn't drag himself into a sketchy place like this, unless he was looking for an assassin.
He found a free spot right in front of a bar and climbed up on a high chair, letting his long cloak swing loosely.
"One cup of ale, please." he spoke up quietly and gently put two thalers on top of the counter, while looking at the barrels placed behind the barmens.
Reiner eyed him and smirked as he took one thaler and turned around to pour some freshly made dark beer from a jug.
"Haven't seen you there before. Are you a traveller by chance?"
"..Kind of…" the cloaked male muttered and took the mug that the barman just placed on the counter. He looked somehow doubtful at it. He swirled it around, looking at the dark liquid moving in circles in the same direction. Then he chugged but, right after the first gulp, he spit the rest of the drink out on the floor. "Don't you have… anything weaker?"
While the beefy barman started guffawing and slammed the counter with his hand, the newcomer didn't flinch a single bit. He just watched the laughing man and then adjusted his attention to the female, who seemed to be pouring some kvass from the jug and offering a glass for him. She was glad she made this drink just in case these kinds of situations have occurred.
She stared at his eyes for a bit longer than someone would normally do. Did they just glow for a split second again..? Or maybe she was just getting tired after all these hours of working.
"You're in a bar, newbie. The only ones that are sober are the people doing their jobs." The girl said and put more weight on one leg, relaxing her posture.
The stranger looked back at her as she spoke, seemingly examining her lips as the words left her mouth. He gulped some kvass and once she turned silent over again, he gave the woman a soft smile.
"This drink is exactly what I needed, thank you." the guest with a cloak pushed the second thaler towards her direction and sipped more of his newly-discovered drink. Despite the fact that he could speak in German, Annie couldn't help but doubt his origins - he talked fluently, yet he paid a thaler per drink. A silver thaler per drink - he could easily get a full barrel of a fine wine, if not more. Or perhaps he was so rich that he didn't have other places to spend his money on.
"So, where are ya traveling?" Reiner cleared his throat and gave a softer smile to the cloaked male, who seemed to be very enjoying Annie's given drink. He knew he had to be kinder for those two silver coins.
"I'm going through the kingdoms and searching for a good life." the stranger replied and kept looking around as if he was searching for something.
"We can offer you a stay, if ya need. We have a free room, right Ann?"
"Thank you, but I have a job tonight." the stranger declined the offer before Annie could even inform them about a possible stay. As he put the glass down, Annie fulfilled it in a split second, her hands just moving from a reflex that developed over the years working there.
"If you change your mind, come anytime. We work until five on Sundays."
"Alright…" the stranger furrowed his brows at the last statement and chugged the drink, making a chewing sound once it was finished.
They stayed in silence, minding their own businesses. The music and laughs were submerging the tavern from the inside, completely contrasting the counter of the bar, where barmen were doing their jobs, taking the orders from sober or already intoxicated people. The cling of the coins over the wooden counter were followed by sloshing of the drinks into the mugs that were just cleaned up. Annie was just checking a small note where she kept information about the drinks they should run out by the end of the night, but she could still feel the eyes settled up on her. At first, she pretended to not care and locked her eyes on the paper, but once the feeling just got stronger and more annoying, she couldn't tell but to look up, eyes immediately meeting up with the cloaked blond. Mostly, she had a problem gape at someone's eyes for too long and she would most likely just look away but now her eyes were locked up on the other. Something was strange… really strange. These kinds of things never happened before. Hell, she wouldn't even look at her father's face for a long time.
They were both just looking at each other tight-lipped, before the guest was the one to speak up this time.
"You must be tired in a place like this."
"Excuse me?" The female barman tried to hide her confusion as surprise, that couldn't help to be caught by a sharp stranger's eyes.
"The tavern. You don't seem like you really belong here."
He watched her intensively, noticing how her ice-cold face was turning into a little scowl. The male's intent stare softened down. He moved his hood close to his face and hopped off the chair causing it to squeak.
"Keep the change, miss. I really appreciate the drink that you offered me." He beamed and turned around, finding his way towards the exit, his cloak moving smoothly, hitting the sides of the drunktards that he just passed by.
Annie watched him going to the doors and aiming for the doorknob but the doors opened and a pair of men stormed in. Oh. She recognised them from afar - they were the buddies of the group that reserved that special room with a fireplace in it. The cloaked male let them walk in first and disappeared outside as they got in. The barman rolled her eyes literally and was about to pretend to come back to work, but the panicking voice of one male caught her attention.
"Carl! H-he's dead!"