Rune Stealer

Captured

"Hey you," a man bellowed at me from down the dark, damp alleyway. I groaned inwardly; I really didn't want to be disturbed right now. "Hey you, what are you doing here?" I ignored him and took a bite out of the cooked rabbit leg that I stole from a rather plump family's dinner table.

"Hey! You're not s'pose to be 'ere." This man was starting to get annoying. I finished my piece of rabbit and stood up making sure my cloak hood hid my face.

"Listen," I began as the man opened his mouth to resume yelling at me, "I've been up and around all day doing what I do. Killed some people, stole some runes. I am tired and I just want to sit and eat. Now why don't you just run off and leave me to it." But as I expected, the man didn't move.

"Stole s'm runes?" The man repeated. "Are ya-" The man's hand went to his neck trying to cover his rune.

"That's me!" I chimed and the man froze. I could feel his fear rising and I grinned cruelly. "Now get before I change my mind about not killing you. Although, your charisma rune is awful strong. Someone would pay a significant amount for that." The man's fear escalated and I laughed as he ran back down the alleyway.

I turned and walked the other way. The man will most likely tell some kingdom soldiers.

***

Laughing insanely, I ran through the forest as the sun began to wake from its slumber. Adrenaline pumped through my veins and my cloak flapped behind me wildly. I could hear the pounding of horse hooves on my tail.

"Don't lose her," the captain called to his men. It made me laugh that they actually thought they could actually catch me. When I looked up ahead, I saw a clearing and I headed for it.

Once I reached it, I ran straight for the center and stood still. The horses surrounded me and I grabbed two daggers, one for each hand. Then the horses stopped. The colors of the kingdom, green and silver, surrounded me. Finally, a challenging fight; I've been in need of one of these. "Men ready your weapons," ordered the captain. "Do not underestimate the girl."

"Yes that would be terribly unfortunate." The soldiers all flinched when I spoke as if I could kill them with my words. I lifted my hood; revealing my face and many soldiers backed away, fear emanating off of them. Flashing them a devilish smile I called out to them. "Now can we get on with this, I need to get back in shape." Without giving them time to answer, I flung my dagger and it plunged itself into the captains forehead causing him to fall off his horse. Then, chaos exploded.

I bounced on the balls of my feet as I counted. 23 men to 1. Too easy. I waited till they closed in more, then I attacked. Dancing around them, I dodged swords and arrows, killing the owners without using my last dagger. Soon all the soldiers were dead. Once I pulled my hood back on to cover my face, I grabbed my other dagger from the captain's forehead and cleaned it off. Then I felt the energy around me for strong runes. One soldier had a strong horseback-riding rune. I knelt besides him, pulling his green collar away from his neck .The runes soul pulsed with power and skill. When I reached in my bag for a vial I felt a pang in my neck. My hand went to my neck and pulled back a powerful sleeping dart.

I panicked as my vision began to get fuzzy and I got up and ran. I had to get into the forest to hide. But then, my foot got snagged on something and I fell into blackness.

***

I was woken up by voices. Two men arguing. "Do you know who she is?" One man argued.

"Yes I do," another man said. This man was older than the other, his voice scratchy with age. "And that is why we can use her." The men continued to argue and I began to analyze the situation I was in.