When am I?

Chapter 4~ New Friend or Foe?

The sound of the wind screaming in my ear was all that I could hear, I couldn't scream in return to it.

This was it, this is my end.

I squeeze my eyes shut, waiting for impact. I expect it to be quick, but I still tense.

I was welcomed by a big whump, I landed in something soft and scratchy. I open my eyes and see yellow strands of hay in my face. A commotion was going on around me, murmurs and loud squeals of fright. I was breathing heavily, trying to catch my breath from not just the fall but also what I have just been through already.

I hear the yells of what I can guess is more guards, I pop my head up and notice that the hood of my coat had fallen onto my head to cover my face in the shadows of its beak. Instinctively I place my hand on my head to hold the hood in place as I jump out of the cart of hay that was under the tower. I glance around and see guards coming from the left and I hear them start to come from the doors behind me, I had nowhere else to go but to run to the right and fear for my life.

-=Time Skip=-

Everywhere I go, if a guard saw me, they chased me. I lost most of them in the many allies of Italy. After what seems like hours of running, I lost the last one by going up a ladder in an ally to the roof. Once I reached the top, I landed on my back gasping for breath. My throat felt like sandpaper and my mouth felt like I had swallowed sawdust.

I hold my breath for only moment when I hear the last guard that was once chasing me run by the ladder. The sun was setting on the young city and the roads began to dwindle in the number of citizens walking about. After I had closed my eyes for a moment to sit up, I look up to see the countless stars above me, shining down without a care.

Once I regain my breath I start to cry silently, gripping the edge of my hood and pulling it down further on my face, bringing my knees close to my chest I was confused, angry, sad, tired, hungry and thirsty all at once.

I don't know how long I sit there, minutes or hours, I lost track of time. Eventually, I finish weeping and I just sit in silence, staring out into the city, rerunning what just happened over and over in my head, and envying the carelessness of the stars that loomed above me.

I didn't hear the footsteps of someone running from roof to roof until they land on the one I was on. With almost an inaudible thump I instinctively spin as I stand up into a self-defense stance, arms protecting my face and my stomach, my fists clenched in anger. I was sick and tired of all this-- no more running, no more hiding, no more fear.

The darkness of a new moon kept me from seeing the visitors face from under his dark colored cloak. He instantly raises his hands up and takes a step backward, away from me.

Hoping that he would understand me I ask him with no emotion in my voice hopefully,

'What do you want?'

Before he could answer, we hear the sound of metal hitting the stone walls of the building, we both look over the edge next to us to see that archers have launched arrows but had missed and many swordsmen had started to surround the building. I curse under my breath and hear the cloaked figure say something in his native language to what I can only assume to be a curse of his own as well.

He runs at me and catches me off guard. Before I can react, he snatches my hand and runs to the edge of the rooftop and jumps. I jump as well, no clue as to why I was following this man nor where all this newfound agility and energy came from. As we jumped, he releases my hand and continues to run as we landed on the building next to the one we were once on before. He looks behind himself to see if I was still following, and I was.