All That I'm Living For

Prologue.

Then the letters stopped.

A whole month passed, then two. With a blink of an eye two years had passed with no word from my betrothed, and I began to worry. My mind would concoct horrible possibilities and I inevitably found myself depressed and tense.

Lost in thought, I hadn't noticed that night had already fallen. "First, I suppose I need to find a place to stay." If I was honest with myself, I hadn't the first idea how long it might take to find Cadell.

I'd taken some money with me, but it wasn't much. Enough to last a month, I hoped, if I used it wisely. If I could find Cadell in that time, so much better.

If not, hopefully by that time I could find a job, I was certain I could, I had assisted my father with his patients in more than one occasion and was confident in my knowledge in medicine. Should I be able to find either of them, then it seemed I would be forced to return home.

"Well, at any rate I should try and be as frugal as possible." And so I lengthened my stride and set off down the street. Fortunately for me, men's clothing was much more conductive to such a pace than my usual dress would have been.

I'd decided early on that Summeria was far too dangerous for a girl from the country to explore alone, and that it would be wise for me to dress like a man-or at least a boy.

My disguise, such as it was, had proven successful, and I'd made it all the way to Summeria unmolested.

Perhaps that success had gone to my head, and let me think a girl dressed as a boy could explore Summeria as she pleased.

But Summeria is not a safe place. I should have remembered that. Instead, I had somehow convinced myself that whatever dangers the city hid didn't apply to me.

"Hey, kid."

I was about to discover otherwise.

I spun around. In the street in front of me were three men. Mercenaries. "Can I help you?" I did my best to keep my voice calm as I reached in what I felt was a nonchalant way for my sword.

My father had made me take lessons in self-defense. I'd kept with them, and actually done rather well. My skill was enough to defend against most attacks.

Then again... Perhaps it was my confidence in my skill that had put me in this situation in the first place. I'd messed up and let my guard down. My fault. There was a chance I could take them on and win, but... There were three of them, and one of me.

"Pretty nice blade you got there, kid"

Only then I realized they were far more interested in my sword that they were in me.

"Looks like a bit much for a pup like this one, am I right?" said one of the men. "Give it here, okay? We'll use it to defend our country."

"But...this is..." The sword wasn't just some blade I'd picked up: It had been passed down through my family for generations. There was no way I could give it to the mercenaries.

Unfortunately, I had a bad feeling they wouldn't understand. In such a situation, the best decision was undoubtedly...to retreat!

And so I turned and ran as fast as my legs would carry me.

"Hey! Get back here, you little bastard!"

___

"Gosh, they sure don't give up easily, do they!" I felt like I'd been running for quite a while, but I could still hear the mercenaries behind me, cursing loudly. I ducked into an alley and flattened myself against a wall.

After deciding they weren't too close, I crept farther into the alley. Someone had left a couple sheets of wood leaning against one of the houses. It was a perfect spot to hide. With luck, I thought as I knelt down to shuffle under them, this will get me out of this mess.