It's complicated, but let's just say it has something to do with Yago Elldown...
The heir to the throne is missing, and queendom is at the brink of war. The Queen assembles a team of her best and brightest to get the heir back: Tamara, the outcast w...
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Reaching into her boot, Skeena pulled out a small black collapsible crossbow and loaded a small black arrow. Next she unwound a few coils of invisible twine from around her belt and tied it securely to the end of the crossbow bolt. She raised the crossbow to her eye and aimed carefully at the steeple of the church, nearly fifty units away. She was about to fire when she heard an annoyingly nasal squeaky voice from her back pocket say, "Are you sure this is really necessary, Skeeny? You're just going to Brown Brawn's theatre."
Skeena rolled her eyes and said in a tone that conveyed utmost sincerity and weight, "It's safer this way."
With that she pulled the trigger. Her arrow flew in a clean arc and landed with satisfying silence, deep in the wood of the church steeple. In one fluid motion, Skeena leaped from the roof of the cottage, free falling for five units or so before being caught by the invisible twine around her waist. She then swung sideways around the church. As she swung, Skeena pulled a dagger out of her other boot, did a backflip, cut the invisible twine, carefully placed her crossbow in one boot and her dagger in the other, and landed silently on the street in front of the church. The people on the street didn't notice as she merged with the crowd. Skeena was very good at her job.
Making sure not to be noticed, Skeena reached into her back pocket as she walked and pulled out her tiny two-miniunit-tall Imp. Pretending to brush her hair out of her face, she discreetly placed the Imp on the back of her ear. She adjusted her cap; the Imp should be hidden now from every angle.
"Did she come this way?" Skeena whispered.
"Definitely. Only two days ago," the Imp said in its high pitched whine. "Can we go home now?"
"No," Skeena replied.
Her Imp was a nuisance, but it could be very useful. It was a cheap Imp, since she had bought it when she was just a teenager. The Imp had some defects. It was not completely obedient, and its memory was very inconsistent. It had inexplicably vast knowledge of certain people and events, while knowing nothing at all about others. Plus, it had that terribly annoying voice.
Skeena rounded the corner and glanced down the street. There it was, the hulking wooden blob of a building that was Brown Brawn's Theatre. The dirty townsfolk were flooding in the three doors of the theatre to see tonight's play: Anton and the Pig. A mediocre play, but better than the average Brown Brawn's production. But Skeena wasn't here to see Anton and the Pig. She hurried down the street.
"On your left!" squealed the Imp. Skeena turned. A scraggly-looking man was reaching into the bag of a wealthy-looking woman. Removing a coin purse, he dashed into the shadow of a nearby shop. On a normal day, Skeena would stop and apprehend the criminal, but today she had more important business. She'd send someone to arrest him tomorrow.
"Can you tell me his address?" She whispered.
"Er, forty three, on Ehnk Street," the Imp replied.
"Talk quieter, you idiotic creature," Skeena snapped. She was feeling uneasy about this.
"You're an ungrateful twit, Skeeny," the Imp said, so quietly she could hardly hear.
Ignoring it, Skeena entered the theatre. Sliding sideways through the crowd like the oil slides to the surface of your salad dressing when you tip it upside down, Skeena slipped to the front of the theatre and into the hall. She pushed briskly through a door that had "staff only" scrawled on it in fading ink.
She stalked inconspicuously through the winding passages of the theatre's backstage before stopping beside a door labeled "central office."
"Anyone inside?" she asked.
"Can't tell," said the Imp.
"You're useless," said Skeena.
She very quietly turned the doorknob and opened the door, just a crack. There were two voices talking inside. One was Brown Brawn, and the other she had never heard before. She opened the door wider and slipped inside. The unknown man was facing the other way and Brawn was so engrossed in her conversation that she didn't notice. Skeena dropped to the ground and army-crawled along the floor until she was right behind Brown Brawn. Standing up suddenly, she said "do not move. This is the A.I.S.. I have some questions for you."
In her surprise, Brawn flinched and let out a sharp shout, before calming herself and saying, "Come on, Skeena. Why do you always have to surprise me like that?"
"That's Officer Still to you."
"Right, of course," Brawn responded in a tired voice. "What do you want now, Officer Still?"
"Are you aware that a fourteen year old girl was kidnapped in your theatre two nights ago?" Skeena asked, still stern and businesslike.
"Think I heard something about it. I don't really care, that sort of thing tends to happen around here."
Skeena sighed. This wasn't just any fourteen year old girl she was looking for. This was the princess.
"I saw it," said the man, who was sitting across the desk from Brawn. "I was performing that night." The man was wearing a shiny looking gold-cloth vest and the most flagrantly tall top hat Skeena had ever seen.
"What happened?" she asked.
"Well," said the man, "I was doing the trick where I make a Star of Nom appear in my hat, when I noticed a large commotion towards the back of the theatre. There were two or three bearded warriors, wearing helmets with horns on them, holding torches."
"There were four," commented the Imp, quiet enough that only she could hear.
"They pushed through the crowd until they got to this girl," the man continued, "and they seized her by the shoulders-"
"The wrists," added the Imp,
"-and dragged her out of the theatre. I'm not sure where they went after that. I was just glad it was quiet again and I could finish summoning the Star of Nom."
"Thank you for the information," said Skeena. That was enough for tonight. She jumped onto the desk, did a front flip off of it, and dashed out of the office.
Hello readers! Thanks for checking out my story! It's finished, and I will be uploading a new chapter every Wednesday and Sunday. You don't have to worry that I'm going to abandon this halfway through.
