The Devils Rose

Prologue

"Get back here you filthy street rat!" a chubby man wearing a brown stained shirt yelled as a small figure escaped down the crowded streets satchel in hand filled to the brim with various types of bread, some spilling out as she ran.

"Someone call the guards!!" another onlooker yelled looking down the street.

The streets were packed in Port Blackwell. It was one of the major port towns located on the east side of Arlember.

Merchants and travelers would come from all over to sell their goods, or get safe travel across the Red Sea.

The Red Sea got its name from all the fighting that happened there. Almost all of the oceanic battles in history took place in the Red Sea, not to mention it was infested with pirates.

Pirates were ruthless villains that ruled the sea, they attacked people for no reason and killed you if there was nothing to offer them. They were almost worse than the Government, who ruled the land.

The Government were just a bunch of oldies who didn't care about anyone but themselves, how full their purses were and how they looked in the public eye.

The street rat should know, she used to be stuck in the middle of all this, until she ran away that is. The street rat had no name. Her parents, well, they weren't really parents, just two people that raised her, never used her name. They would call her a variety of different names such as wretch, or monster. She learnt that one even meant female dog.

She loved dogs.

She used to have a large fluffy dog when she was very little. But that was before her gran died.

She zigzagged through the tight alleyways and back streets of Port Blackwell, clutching her satchel as she came to a stop behind an old abandoned building.

It used to be a factory but closed down before she was born.

It was an old two story building but was quite unstable with its age, so she only stayed near the entrance, never inside.

Taking a seat down against one of the standing cracked walls, she pulled out a piece of bread she had taken from the rotund man previously, it had just been on the windowsill.

She'd taken enough to last her the rest of the week, maybe even more if she ate it sparingly, though she would have to be careful not to let it spoil.

As the sun started to go away, the street rat pulled her dark green hooded cloak over her hair, hiding the short, messy brown mop of hair on her head and snuggled up in her cloak for warmth in the cold of night.

She had been on the streets for about 5 summers.

She ran away when she was very little. She'd had enough of her parents abuse and the pain they caused her. One night she had just packed up her belongings, mostly just her dark green cloak Gran had made her and as much money as she could find and left.

As she travelled she reached Blackwell but didn't have enough coin to leave. After a lot of practice and a whole lot of pain, she got used to scavenging for food and finding safe places to sleep.

She'd had run ins with the guards here and there, but because she was so small, they'd always been easily evaded.

This routine was what she lived by.

When she ran out of food, she would steal, then lie low until she needed more.

Bigger people would often come up and demand the street rat give them the food and the coins she had, and once again, after a lot of practice and even more pain, she learnt how to hold her own against those certain people.

She also learnt that she couldn't take on everyone, so sometimes, well, most times, it was better to run and stay alive than die trying to fight someone a lot bigger than her.

It might not have been the best life but it was full of adventures and heaps of fun.