Throne Out 2

Sidetracked: Central Kingdom

Ian ran down the palace’s steps and hugged Zineth tightly, taking all of the hits that was being inflicted on him from Zineth’s annoyance. “Ah, it hasn’t even been a day, and I’ve already missed you!”

            Zineth narrowed her eyes to him. “Let go of me, Ian. I definitely don’t want a hug from you or anyone… other than Layla.”

            Layla stuck her tongue out at Ian and hung close to Zineth, burying her face in Zineth’s back.

            Zineth smiled softly. “I’m putting her to bed in my room. Let’s have everyone eat at my house this time. We’ll think of our strategy then.” She walked up the stairs and into the main building. She turned to her right towards the door and walked across the building to the next building. She walked past the garden and to the front of her house. She rang the door and smiled. “Hi mom, dad. I’m home.”

            Layla shrank, looking at Zineth’s parents in fear. She felt chills go up her spine, her eyes wide. “Their aura,” she thought, her heart racing when she didn’t want to finish her thought.

            Dani, Zineth’s father, smiled at Layla. “We’re scary, right? Once everyone’s here, we’ll start explaining some things we’ve kept hidden. I’m sorry, Zineth. We didn’t trust you, so we had to hide some things.”

            Zineth shrugged. “I don’t really care. I survived without much clue on life. But I still want to hear it.” She smiled, walking inside. She walked into the living room and sat down, sighing in relief. “If only I could rest like this once in a while.”

            Ian dragged Anix inside of the house, sitting across Zineth. “The emperor wanted to pass a message to your parents: Please make your decision soon.”

            Zineth nodded. “They probably already knew since they tried to secretly leave before you guys got here.”

            Anix leaned back in the couch, sighing. “Do you know what they’re talking about?”

            Zineth shrugged. “Personally, I could care less. I’m keeping things from them, so they can keep things from me. We may be family, but we recently got along. But if it has anything to do with stopping Haina, I’ll beg for the information.”

            Anix raised an eyebrow and looked at her for a moment. He smirked. “Yeah right. You can’t possibly be that loyal to a twin to whom you never spoke for years. Stop lying to yourself.”

            Zineth glared at him. “You wouldn’t understand.”

            Anix raised an eyebrow. “And do you think that you actually understand it yourself? Give me three good reasons.”

            Zineth opened her mouth to speak but choked on the bread that Ian suddenly shoved into her mouth. “What’s the big idea,” she tried to ask but turned out into muffled sounds. She chewed the bread silently and sighed.

            Yori smiled. “So, Zineth, when did you run away from home?”

            Dreamer sighed. “She didn’t run away from home, idiot. I would think that you would know this.” He snapped, a cup of tea and plate of sandwiches appearing his hand hands. “I, also, want to hear of how you became a thief.”

            Zineth nodded, swallowing her food. “Well, it’s nothing  that would make anyone happy except my teammates. I’ll tell you anyway. Haina and I were playing in the garden. We weren’t supposed to be out there, but Haina loved the flowers and everything there. I wanted to see her smile. You know, even though we’re identical twins, she’s always been better than I was, but I was happy since she was the only person there for me. My parents suddenly called for us and expected us to be ready to meet the emperor for the first time. I was covered in mud, but Haina’s hands were covered in mud as well. Either way, we ran into the palace. Haina ran into a vase in the hallway. It was a loud crash noise. I pushed her out of the way to keep her away from the broken pieces and tried to stop her from crying. My parents and the emperor ran to see what happened. When they saw me trying to keep Haina quiet with the vase pieces closer to me than to her, they thought I was the one who broke the vase. So, without being able to get anything of mine, I was forced away from home. My training as a thief is was much more harsh.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~FLASHBACK~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

            Zineth dragged herself through the crowded streets at night. The winter winds blew past her, sending goosebumps and chills throughout her body. She found her tears already dried. She shivered, looking around for a warm place to sit.

            The people walking the other direction, pushed her around until she fell down into an alley.

            Zineth shook her head, forcing herself to sit up. "I won't die this way... Sis', it's so cold... I'm so glad you don't have to go through this," she murmured, leaning against the wooden building. She clasped her hands together, praying for her sister's safety. She closed her eyes, curling up into a ball to warm her body more. She coughed, her lungs feeling like icy needles pinning through them with every breath. She dug her nails into her palms. "I'll keep going." She forced herself to get up, stumbling to every door, begging to a place to stay for the night.

            Zineth slept in the living room of an inn, crying herself to sleep. She cleaned the entire inn, gaining a few pieces of coins to buy food. She left the inn and wondered around the streets, finding more ways to gain money. She watched the street performers and contacted the performers. She said to the leader of the group, "I can do anything and learn anything if you accept me, please."

            On the first day of Zineth's performance, she danced as taught. She danced with grace and perfection that she hid to give her sister the spotlight. She helped the group earn twice as much money than before. She spent half her money on the kids in streets, spent a quarter on food, and saved the rest of the money.

            On the second and third day, she was taught and played flute to play in the background and solos. She disbanded with the group on the day of their leaving. She took the money and sent it to her family, leaving a note with her name to let Haina know that she was okay. A snow storm came by that very night with no one accepting her for the night. On the verge of death, a man took her in.

            Zineth found herself getting lower in society. She was being trained by a man to become a thief. She took in all the blame when she spent half of the stolen money on the homeless kids. She got free lessons at school because of her talents. By day, she studied and stole money, but by night, she trained her body to become stronger and faster than regular people.

            Soon, more people began joining under her master. She trained with them and began to travel through kingdoms to experience different and harsh conditions. She grew farther away from her family, gaining friends in the making. While she was in a different kingdom, her master became gravely ill. She returned right when he was on his death bed. She made a promise with him: Keep holding onto life no matter what happens.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Zineth~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

            Zineth raised an eyebrow, staring back at Yori and Ian. “What? Was there something wrong?”

            Yori shook his head, snapping back into reality. “No… Not at all… It’s just that I never knew a woman could actually survive such a low life. Even I couldn’t think of living like that. Are you sure that you’re a girl?”

            Zineth raised an eyebrow and held up her fist to him. “Are you trying to get me angry? Even if I am a girl, I can take you down easily.”

            Ian grinned. “How about we find out if you’re really a girl?”

            Zineth picked up one of Dreamer’s cake and threw it at Ian’s face. “Get to bed. We’re departing in the morning. Sleep in the spoiled prince’s palace.” She got up and walked out of the room and up the stairs to sleep in her room. She slammed the door close and locked it.

            “I’m up already! Just wait,” she groaned and opened her door. “Hm… Dreamer? What’s wrong? Why did you wake me up so early, stupid magic man?”

            Dreamer shook his head. “I’ll explain later, but Zineth,” he took hold of her shoulders. “Your parents disappeared.”