Balance and Wind

Chapter 1

Jysmn was aware she was being followed the moment she stepped onto the wooden jetty. The sun now clear and burning down at late morning above her as she set off the boat. Tugging the orange scarf tighter around her head, Jysmn made an effort to not let her noticeable chocolate hair escape her disguise. No one in the city of Balance had such dark hair… Except for a certain kind of person.

Her shoes scuffed against the old cobblestone, as she veered to the left. Her light brown eyes captured the two Palace guards tailing her. They had no doubt been waiting in the market for her ship to dock since the early morning.

Jysmn had slipped off it faster than any of the fish they had caught and had to throw back. She was surprised she hadn’t been sunk in the two years she spent on it. Many ships had been sent to snatch her from her epic escape and bring her back to this very place.

And now she was here, but not because she had a metaphorical knife at her throat.

“You, stop right there,” the snapping voice of one of the guards called. Jysmn’s head betrayed her, as her gaze snapped to the deep green of their uniforms. Flashing them a grin, she bolted.

Even if she hadn’t been back in two years, the streets had stayed the same. From what little memories she could scrounge up, Jysmn ran. People leapt out her way as her feet slapped against the hard ground beneath her. Some even shouted curses at her, or flashed her their middle fingers. Their mouths snapped shut as soon as they saw the two guards chasing her.

The flash of familiar deep green sprung up ahead of her. Contrasting to the dreary fish market.

“Give them hell, Jysmn,” a man called from the boat behind them.

Jysmn didn’t fight the horrified grin she plastered on her face. Now the guards knew they had the right girl. Their stares and steps turned determined as they charged at her.

But Jysmn remembered this part of the fish market. Her low born friend her would escape guards throughout their preteen to late teens. Until Jysmn fled on that fishing boat when she was twenty.

Darting to her right, the ocean dipping to her left, Jysmn hurled herself up onto the barrel or grain. Despite the protest of the seller, she pulled herself up the side of the wooden building. Her footing didn’t so much as slipped as she heaved herself over the edge of the wood. Her foot sunk into the materials that lead across the roof. Balancing herself on a beam, Jysmn ran.

“I said stop,” the same guard from before wailed, trying to attempt the climb after her. Her legs flew under her, stretching like they hadn’t in such a long time. There was nowhere to sprint while on a ship. Jysmn’s stamina wasn’t centered around running. Her broad shoulders were meant for hurtling nets of fish back onto boats, and using a rusty sword to fend feral men off.

Slamming into someone’s chimney, Jysmn caught herself on the edge of the conjoined homes. Heaving a breath, she took a few stumbling steps back away from the edge. Huffing at the bottom of the houses, were two of the guards, doubled over with their hands on their knees. Trying to shout at her through their half gasps of breath.

Where was the third?

Jysmn whirled around in time to see the third guard jumping from beam to beam with hulking grace.

Taking a long breath through her nose, Jysmn took a few more steps towards him. Her heart beat thundered like lightening in her chest.

“Stop right there, before I am forced to take extreme measures,” the guard on the roof snapped. His light hair, a shared between brown and blond, almost blinded her in the sun.

This time, the grin on Jysmn’s face wasn’t forced. Whirling around, she sprinted off the roof. As she caught into the air, she felt her legs swing wildly in the air for a moment.

Before her body went cold. A gust of wind wrapping around her legs, and pushing her up and up. Until she cleared the building. Her landing wasn’t overly graceful, as she slammed against the beams and wood. The gust of wind she had managed to whirl around her body gone, even leaving her body for a moment. Gasping for breath, her eyes popping wide open, as she laid still for a moment.

Magic was not a fun thing.

Pulling herself into a sitting up position, she smirked at the guard, who had stopped himself at the buildings edge. The stare he gave her was anything but friendly. Through gritted teeth, she stumbled to her feet. In return, she offered her pursuer a middle finger.

He was not impressed. But to her surprise, his large hands lifted towards her. And her ears popped. Her mind felt like a hand had wrapped around it, threatening to squeeze her brain like sludge.

Jysmn eyes rolled into the back of her head, and then she fell into darkness. All she knew, as she undoubtedly passed out, was that she had fallen from the roof.