The Song of Loss

Chapter Two: City Streets City Thieves

In the forest, it was possible to hear a bird from a mile away on a clear morning. The silent rustle of trees was a soft background to the ongoing of the critters and few human inhabitants. That was the world Darcy had been born and raised in. The only people she knew were those of her people and they had long ago accepted each other's oddities.

The city of Windwich felt like a criss-cross of ropes tied around her in a suffocating hold. Everyone had somewhere to be and they were all staring. It made her skin itch.

Nothing smelled right either. A floral note would cross her nose and turn sour a second later. The smells had been a bubble around the city even before she'd officially stepped foot within its borders.

Men shouldering axes passed her on the right. They nearly knocked her into a bush with how much of the street they took up. As she'd exited the forest, Darcy had seen the rows of tree stumps left behind from their chopping. How deep into the forest would they go? The sharp gleam of the ax blades deterred her from pestering them with questions.

The string she'd been following for nearly three days now, tugged at her finger. She raised her hand to inspect the flowing purple band around her pinky finger. Anyone else would see only the gold ring resting there, maybe the tiny amethyst tucked against her ring finger. Magic wasn't exactly encouraged among the Famris but if someone was born with the talent they were expected to learn control at the very least.

That was one thing she could thank both her parents for. Darcy had not only been born with magic but had been causing mischief with it while she was still stumbling over her own feet. Her mother had handled the training and eventually she'd become competent in the basics. Normally she still needed some sort of focus to tie the spell to, like the ring.

Darcy flexed her control over the spell and watched the intangible string's glow strengthen. It wove through the crowd but went in a vaguely straight line straight to the same scruffy head she'd been hunting. No nouyip in sight this time.

He moved like a shadow, fingers dipping into pockets as he went. If his targets noticed they turned to find innocent bystanders going about their business. The crowd thinned out and he immediately spotted Darcy when he looked back. There must have been something about her face that startled him because he was in a dead sprint immediately after.

Dodging moving people was not in Darcy's normal wheelhouse. Normally all she had to contend with was trees. Stationary trees. Trees she could climb.

She made a hard right and jumped on a low table to grab for the balcony of one of the houses lining the street. The wood dug into her palms and someone shouted something rude, but she was already on the roof by the time it registered. Anyone who had a problem with it was too far away to stop her as she vaulted over rooftops. The magic was still guiding her and when it suddenly shifted to straight downwards, she paused at the edge of a roof.

He wasn't moving and he hadn't seen her yet as far as she knew. The string led to a narrow alley between the roof she was on and the next house. Bit by bit she scooted herself to the edge and glanced down. There he was leaning against one of the walls and fighting to catch his breath. Darcy gave him a moment to catch his breath and then gave up on the idea of stealth entirely. It obviously wasn't working.

She landed with a loud thump and grabbed his arm tightly before he could make a run for it. "I don't think so, little thief," Darcy snapped. Despite the furious wiggling, she managed to pull him back to her and turn him around. "You have my money and I want it back. Now."

"Get off, I don't have anything," he argued. People passed the mouth of the alley and he looked at them desperately. Not one slowed to look.

"Just give me what's mine and we'll be even. I don't want to hurt you but I need that gold," she explained calmly. In all of her struggling, the necklace she wore slipped free from under her shirt. The oblong disc carved from bone was attached to a thin gold chain. A face carved into the bone stood out against the red stained background.