Margret's Weald // The Haven's Gateway

11

The thief ran down the street, pushing over smaller monsters and sliding under the big lizard guy.

A half dozen guards pursued him, yelling and violently pushing over anything and anyone who got in the way. "CAPTO EAM! CAPTO EAM!"

He barged between me and the she-wolf, knocking me to the ground. I fell on my back with a thud, watching the thief run away.

He hesitated for a second and looked back at me, panting. "Follow me!" He yelled in English, his voice disoriented under the wooden fox mask.

I got up quickly, unsure why I was following a thief with a sharp knife and stolen goods, but I was willing to follow anyone who could tell me what was going on.

I ran after him, trying to keep up. He dove between two shops under a low-hanging patio then jumped through the window of the building, snapping the bamboo blinds into wooden shards.

I scrambled after him awkwardly, getting my feet stuck in a fishing net filled with barnacles. They sucked on my legs and the merchant yelled at me angrily. The stout armadillo-like woman beat me with some kind of fan, yelling at me to go away.

"I'm sorry I'm sorry!" I squealed, tearing the net off my legs and fumbling through the window. My horns got stuck in the blinds, making them tear off the wall when I tumbled through.

A short woman holding a steaming bowl-plate screamed, then promptly fainted. The bowl-plate rolled to the ground and a volley of scorpion-like beetle creatures crawled out, hissing and flexing their sharp pincers.

"AHH!" I screamed, scrambling out off the blinds. The masked thief had already jumped through a hole in the ceiling.

I tried to jump up after him, but the ceiling was too high up. I frantically looked around for a ladder or something, but I could only find a barrel in the corner. I rolled it under the hole in the ceiling, crunching the scorpion-beetles.

"Sorry about your dinner!" I called out as I vaulted myself up, the guards smashing through the wall as I pulled my legs through.

One of them roared, trying to grab my tail, but I was just out of reach and he could only grab a few dark blue hairs.

The thief was waiting for me by the window, beckoning frantically with his knife. "HURRY UP!"

I stood up, hitting my head on the low ceiling. The attic floor was covered in bamboo mats and bedding. A few little children who'd been sleeping on them began to stir.

I swallowed, trying to slow my breathing so I wouldn't wake them up. I carefully stepped over them, crouching down, my shoulders scraping the ceiling.

"Would you just come on? We don't have time for this!"

"They are sleeping! Do you know how long it takes to get a cranky kid to—" I accidentally stepped on a little kitten's tail, and she immediately wailed pitifully.

The rest of the children woke up and started screaming.

"My lanta," the thief said, grabbing my wrist and pulling me out the window. For a split second, I noticed a little gold bracelet with a green heart pendant on his wrist.

We jumped out the window and landed on a wooden walk way, about fifteen feet above the market. It creaked uncomfortably under my heavy feet, and I was afraid it would break if we ran on it. I noticed the toppled over canoe and the large trailer I'd hitched a ride on down in the road.

There was a huge crack! behind us and I looked back. The soldiers had cut through the wooden wall with broad swords, ignoring the screaming children.