The Crimson Bow: And the Eagle Insignia

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

" ... Let your sword do the talking ..."

" Light "

Year 700. April 6th. Evening [18:25]

Areanra. Aelyz Forest Commons.

So says the Timekeeper

*

Thieves must learn to blend in with the shadows. To become one with the unseen until the moment they strike. A young girl hidden in the shadows of an alleyway repeats these things over and over in her head, while her odd-eyes never waver from where they stare: a vegetable merchant, completely unware that someone is watching him. The young girl's jet black hair blends in well with the shadows, save for the few white streaks, and she narrows her duel-colored eyes, one blue and the other a pale yellow, unnaturally so. She is dressed in light-weight brown grabs, including a tunic, long-sleeved shirt, long britches, and a duel-sided blue down drape attached at her waist, and hardly an inch of her fair skin is showing, aside from her face and hands, so she can hide better in the darkness.

Other people walk through the street without a care, jingling their giagim around in their pouches as they stare at the merchant stands, knowing that they are perfectly capable of purchasing any of it. But the hidden girl shakes her head, she refuses to give in to envy, so she just has to accept her situation, the situation that's lowered her to a petty thief about to risk her neck for a potato. She clenches her fists and buries her chin in the top of her tunic, staring directly at the merchant running the vegetable stand as she waits for her chance to swoop in. Ignore everyone else, Guinevere, just keep your eyes on the food, you've got this. She edges closer and braces her legs, ready to charge at the count of three. One... Her hand grazes the handle of her sword, a rapier, attached to her waste, ready to use it if she needs to. Two... She raises her hand in preparation and takes a deep breathe. Three! Quick as a bolt, she rushes forward, pushing and swerving her way through the passing people before she dashes past the stand, grabbing a potato as she runs. She leaps over a box or two sitting in her way and gains speed. She isn't safe until she's sure nobody is chasing her.

"Stop, THEIF," Guinevere can hear the merchant shout behind her, and she smirks, puh, as if I'd stop just because you told me to, old man. She glances over her shoulder for just a moment, though that is more than enough time to see that she is being pursued by not only the merchant, but one or two bystanders.

She clicks her tongue, "Damn do-gooders, why do I have to have so many louts on my tail?" Guinevere clutches the potato and cradles it against her chest with both hands, if they want it back they'll have to pry it from her cold, dead fingers. She has no trouble shoving people aside if they are in her way, man, woman, child, it doesn't matter to her. And she also tries to knock into any carts along the way, spilling out its contents behind her for the purpose of slowing down her pursuers. But it seems that no matter what she does, the merchant just won't give up and manages to recruit even more bystanders to his determined chase. "All this for a potato, just give it up you persistent hog," she grimaces and mutters under her breath, "Well too bad for you, I'm not giving this up." She jumps over a stack of apples, ducks below a raised board being carried by two men, and even slides in and out of alleyways to try and loose them, but nothing seems to work, they just keep on running after her, one of them is even brandishing a butcher knife.

From her left, a new set of furious footsteps approaches at a swift pace. From the corner of her eye, she can make out the cursed symbol of a peacemaker on his tabard, and a shiver travels down Guinevere's spine. "ALL THIS FOR A POTATO?" she screams her frustration, hot-headedly attracting even more unwanted attention, and in her distraction, she makes a great error. Turning down a street with a dead-end, blocked on three sides by homes, and gaining quickly behind her are the merchant, a peacekeeper, and three civilians. She slows once she realizes she'd cornered, and backs up, eyeing her pursuers viciously. They start to close in, spreading out evenly so that there's no opening for escape, on the ground at least. Hah, fools, I'm no ordinary thief. But first... I need to slow them down. This should do. She pulls her right hand away from the potato and flings her wrist as if she's tossing a firecracker at the ground. "Light generation!" she yells as a blinding light emits from the ground in front of her, and just as she was hoping for, the men chasing her recoil at the light, giving her a chance. Wings, white with gray tips, reveal themselves on her back, and she only spends a moment stretching them before kicking off the ground and taking to the sky. She lingers in the air just so she can see the looks on their face when they see their potato thief flying away, and she cackles to herself while she flaps then glides away, riding in the currents of wind in the direction of her destination. 'Home', if it can even be called that. Poor saps, I bet they didn't expect me to fly off, I bet they're shitting their pants right now! She clutches the potato close to her heart as she laughs, another great getaway for the feared vegetable thief!