The Runners

Chapter 1

The morning light trickled from the cracks in the window shutters to the dark room painting the murky green walls with its golden streaks. In the center of the room, Gail tried to use the worn covers to block out the sunlight while he could still enjoy the peace of his dreams before he had to get up. He spent the next several minutes curled up like a ball under a blanket that was far to small for his tall stature on the bed that was, for the most part, a pile of hay stuffed into a rough sack. He finally through off the blanket. and sat up on his bed if that is what it could be called. He took a quick glance around his room. There was a large truck of the little clothes he had and a small desk in the corner of the room that was over loaded with various books. The bed itself was took up half the small room.

He got up from his bed and moved to the door as quickly and quietly as humanly possible. He pressed his palm right on the area next to the door nob to silence the sound of the door opening. The last thing Gail wanted was to wake up his siblings. As much as he loved the little snots, he did not think that he could deal with them first thing in the morning. Once he was in the hallway, he walked as lightly as he could, so he would not make the wooden floorboards creak under his weight. He made his way to the washroom. He relaxed once he had made it inside.

The washroom was not much bigger than his room. On the wall, there were a few cabinets for towels and rags for washing off and a wall mirror that had many cracks all over it from years of Gail's siblings horse playing in here. All the crack the mirror caused the mirror to reflect multiple images of Gail from different many angles when he stood in front of it. In the far corner of the room, there was a faucet and bucket for drawing water to in order to take a bath and small drainage grate on the floor for the water. Some of the richer families had an actual bathtub, but sadly Gail and his family were not that fortunate. He tugged off his clothes and grabbed a rag from one of the cabinets and filled the bucket with some water.

When he finished washing, he grabbed a towel and dried himself off. He paused for a moment to look at the twenty versions of Gail in the cracked mirror. At seventeen years old, Gail was a little six feet tall. His black unruly hair reached down to his shoulders. It made him look a lot older that he was. Between his slim figure, olive skin, and emerald eyes, he did not look half bad. It was unfortunate that most of his time was spent trying to support his family. Otherwise he might already have been married by now. There were several scars across his body. To Gail, they were symbol of how far he was willing to go for his family. The largest one stretched from his right shoulder to his belly button. He traced it with his thumb. He can still feel the burning pain coursing through his body and the warmth of fresh blood pooling out of body.

He snapped himself out of his daydream. He quickly made his way out of the washroom and to his room at the end of the hallway. He discarded his towel and opened the chest which held his cloths. He tugged on some black pants and a dark green tunic. He grabbed his leather belt and slide it around his waist and slide on some black leather gloves. Lastly, he slid on his boots and made his way to the front door. No one else was up yet, and that was the way he liked it that way he did not have to worry about anyone worrying about if about him, and he could avoid the fuss that would be accompanied with the thousand question that he would have received if anyone else had been awake. He grabbed his black jacket from the racket next to the door and continued outside. He did not even know if he would ever come back to this.

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Gail walked through an empty plaza. The chilly air nibbled at his cheeks as he moved quietly through the quiet plaza. The only sound was the clicking of his shoes on the wooden platform. He loved the morning silence it was easy to think, and he didn't exactly like large crowds. This was his home: Viera. The entire city was suspended over hundred feet in the air. The giant oak wood trees were over several centuries old. They supported the entire city with little effort. The main reason that the entire city was built so high was because the floor of the forest was roamed by all kind of dangerous creatures that would love nothing more than to make someone an easy snack.