Lions and Lambs

Sabine

Sabine

On the night of Sabine's twelfth birthday she went to bed without dinner after screaming at her two sisters and throwing a stick at the head of the eldest. The two wretched girls had continued to call her an ugly toad even after her first warning stick which went a good two feet wide. It might not have been so mortifying if the boy she'd taken an interest in wasn't standing a few feet away, and instead of rushing to her rescue like she hoped, he laughed with the rest of the children. It was for that reason and a plethora of others that she finally decided to run away before she burned their little stone cottage down.

It was an ugly old building that she would not miss in the slightest, nor would she miss the canal winding a few feet behind her house that smelled like sewage in the summer and ash in the winter. They did not live in the worst place possible by any means- that honor went to the houses on the other side of the canal- but they were close enough for it to itch at Sabine like a thousand tiny flees. Ironically enough, those had populated her bed one summer as well.

Sabine had not decided where exactly she was going to go, but she trusted that the hard bread and cheese she stole from her step-mother's pantry would last long enough to find a permanent residence, hopefully one that resembled a large palace with shiny slivers of gold pressed into the walls. Sabine was sure that no one besides her father would miss her much, and even he would be glad to lose the extra mouth. In her mind, all the ties were cut and she had only to decide which clothes to bring. Her sack would fit at most two outfits, three counting the one she wore, so she had to decide between a brown dress and a tan pair of pants that barely fit her.

Logic finally gave way, and she reluctantly shoved the pants into her bag. Those would be lovely when she was forced to run from a dragon, probably hand in hand with the valiant soldier who had just rescued her, though he would certainly appreciate the dress. Sabine sighed and cinched her sack tight, ears pricked for the sounds of creaking footsteps. Dinner had ended hours ago, and her step-mother and father were always exhausted after their long days of sitting and whining about their new taxes. She would not be noticed until early morning.

She slipped past the two identical beds of her sisters and out the weak wooden door that was missing a lock and a large wooden panel. A fire was struggling to stay alive in their fireplace, and it cast long shadows across the floor in a way that should have implied warmth and comfort but did the exact opposite.

It was mid-summer in the city and while the days were hot and smelly, the nights came with a cool breeze and the soft sounds of canal water lapping at limestone. For the most part, Sabine and her family lived in a residential area where few people ventured out at night, so the tight streets were blessedly empty. Lanterns burned low on every corner, and a rush of exhilaration fled through Sabine as the adventure unfolded before her. Her imagination transformed the lonely streets into a dark forest with monsters creeping at every turn, protecting a treasure that would give her wealth and all the pretty dresses she could ever want.

She sucked in a deep breath of night air that smelled faintly of horse dung, and set off down the street, her leather boots soundless against the cobbled roads. She'd traveled outside of her neighborhood several times in her life, but never at night and certainly not alone. The last time her father had allowed her to tag along with him to the artisan district, she'd drawn a sloppy map of the streets so she might be able to find her way somewhere more populated. She pulled that map out now, squinting at the faint scribbles and lines all labeled in her loopy script. From what she could gather, most of the city was laid out in districts varying from Residential Squares, Artisan Districts, and the Business Quarter. The Business Quarter was conveniently located near the docks, though she was ordered never to go there.