~8 Years Later~
The doors to the run down school opened up and all the small children ran outside across the field of dead grass. Their bare feet kicked up dust, adding another layer to their already grimy clothes and faces.
It was easy to spot who ran the school, even at the age of eight and nine. As soon as the kids stepped on the filthy, makeshift playground, the bullies showed no mercy when it came to stealing their piers' scraps of food and hand me down supplies.
3 young boys in particular never failed to show the rest of the students who was boss whenever necessary. The small pack's leader was called Fang, and his ever present sidekicks, Mange and Mutt, were the ones to do his dirty work. Their names were filthy insults to anyone else, but they wore the obscene nicknames with as much pride as a Lion Chief.
Fang had a scruffy mess of black hair. A white streak flashed through the front of the fluffy mop. The mix of colors showed off what would have been his high ranking in any other Wolf Tribe, had his family not been banished to the Outer Rings years ago for reasons that were never spoken of. Mange and Mutt were two twin boys. The brothers sported a matching head of strawberry blonde hair. The otherwise beautifully swirled colors revealed that their parents had been of a high ranking White Wolf and the always low ranking Red Wolf. They had no need to explain why their family had been cast out to the Outer Rings. The disgraceful clash of hair color was explanation enough.
Fang was watching Mange and Mutt knock down a young girl in a dirty dress covered in mismatched patches. She scraped her knee on the dry ground and promptly burst into tears, hoping a teacher would hear her from the school house. She had nothing they wanted. The young boys just loved picking on her for the sole purpose of watching her cry.
The boys' backs were turned to the school, so they didn't see another young girl quietly stepping out of the doorway. Unlike the other children, she kept herself as clean as she possibly could. Her light yellow dress swung around her pale legs as she quietly stepped over the rough wood of the school porch. The wind blew slightly, making the whole thing creak. One day, the school will fall over. It was already half way there. The wood had warped enough over the years of harsh rain and wind that it was leaning straight to the side. The splintered wood only showed hints of it's original red paint and white trim. But now it was splintered and dirty, matching the small clearing where it sat.
The young girl hugged her slightly worn blue book tightly to her chest as her bare feet met with the dusty ground. Here in the Outer Rings, shoes were a luxury, not a necessity. And some books were a rarity. Especially in the condition the girl had it. She had stolen it out of the den she lived in. The book was just getting good and she didn't want to put it down to go to school for the day. She had spent all lunch up in a tree, reading as quickly as she could before her teachers had called the small class back in to finish the days studies.
The girl was clever enough to know how to hang back so it was harder for her to be seen by the rest of the children. It was a tough skill to master. Her hair, unlike the other kids, was brushed neatly every day and free of the filth that seemed to be forever clinging to the children. Her skin was scrubbed spotless in the small stream outside her den and, since her fathers had had no children previous of her, they spent their money on lightly used clothes down at the grungy market whenever they could.
And it wasn't just the fact that her hair was clean either. No. It was also noticeably red. A very deep red, like blood, or a rose. It grew down to her midsection and complemented her pale complexion perfectly. Everyone knew she was going to be beautiful when she grew up. If she hadn't been a banished child of the Outer Rings, and if times were different and the color of her hair had no use of social ranking, she would have attracted the attention of Chiefs and Kings all across the Kingdom. Battles could have been fought over her hand in marriage, wars could have erupted... But this was not like some book the girl held protectively close to her. This was the Outer Rings. The Kingdom was many years dead, broken, divided, segregated and split by the impending war. This young girl was incredibly unlucky in her state of poverty. And it wasn't just because of her ranking, either. Fang, Mange, and Mutt had spotted her before she had managed to slip into the forest. Her day had just become a million times worse.
“Well look who it is,” Fang's voice said behind her. She tried to duck her head, her fiery hair creating a veil over her face, and she picked up the pace a little.
Not today. Any day but today. She prayed silently as she heard their feet coming after her. She couldn't let them find that book. She just couldn't!
“Hey, slow down a second,” Fang taunted as they caught up to her. “Hey! I'm talking to you!”
She felt his filthy hand grab her shoulder and spin her around. She had just enough time to put her hands down at her sides so her book could be hidden behind the folds of her dress. She turned her amber eyes to the three boys and tilted her chin slightly, defiantly. “Good for you, Fang. I'm not. I suggest you do the same. It's not like I'll be missing an intelligent conversation or anything.”
Fang's eyes narrowed. “You know-”
She held up her hand to stop him. “I can't today, Fang. I need to get home. Try picking on me tomorrow.” She spun on her heel, using the flow of her dress to hide her book near the front of her again.
“I want to pick on you today!” Fang argued, grabbing her and spinning her around all over again. This time, she didn't expect it and wasn't able to hide her book right away. “What's that?” Fang teased, snatching the light blue hard cover from her hands.
“Give that back!” She demanded, lunging towards the dark haired boy. Mange and Mutt both were on her before she managed to get her book from him. They held her back by her arms as Fang inspected it.
“Hmm,” Fang mused, turning the book over and over. Each corner had a worn gold plate on it. The blue cover was a little dirty and there were parts that had been snagged, revealing the solid brown underneath that gave the book it's shape. The scruffy eight year old turned the book over to the front and inspected the faded gold calligraphy scrawled across the front before barking out a laugh. “Tales of the Kingdom?” Fang laughed, giving the restrained girl a look of mixed confusion and endless taunting. “Why would you read this? It's just a bunch of fairy tales. The Kingdom. Is. Dead.” Fang's eyes slid back to the hard cover again, turning it over and over, giving it an appreciative look. “But it's in nice condition. I bet I could take this to the market today and get myself a nice meal and some good pants to wear tomorrow.”
“Why do you want it?” She asked, struggling to free herself from the twins' grasp. “It's just a bunch of fairy tales.”
Fang's glance flicked back over to her and he gave her a smug look. “Because you want it.” He said simply. “Maybe if I just ruined this in front of you, it would be better than living like any king in this book.”
“Don't!” She shouted, throwing herself against Mange and Mutt's grip, but they held her tightly. Fang grinned wickedly and her eyes grew wide as she realized what she had just done. Her reaction had only provoked his need to destroy the book right in front of her.
Fang opened the book up to the middle and gripped either half so the pages were facing her. She saw his hands tense, about ready to rip it right down the spine when she heard someone shout “Hey!” and Fang was shoved forward. He sprawled across the ground, the book flew from his hands and fell a few feet away from the group.
A little boy about their age stood right behind where Fang had been. It was nobody any of them recognized. He must have been new to the school, but people hardly noticed that anymore.
Mange and Mutt didn't care, though. They let go of their own little prisoner and slowly walked up to the little boy while Fang gingerly picked himself up off the ground. He watched as his original target scurried off to grab her book before he climbed to his feet and face his attacker.
She watched from her section of the field as the little boy stood up to the bullies. She looked down at her book and then up at the little boy. He had pushed Fang over for her... And he didn't even know who she was.
She charged up to the boys and kicked Mange in the shin. He howled with pain and fell over right away. Mutt, seeing his fallen brother, took a swing at her, but she held her book up in front of her face and his fist connected with the hard cover. Mutt made the same wounded sound as his brother before she kicked him in the knee and he fell right next to his twin.
“You need to leave now!” She told Fang. His eyes widened as he looked at his fallen friends. The dark haired boy quickly turned around and ran off to a different part of the clearing. Seeing their leader flee, the twins gathered themselves and took off after him before all three of them dove into a part of the forest and disappeared.
“That was cool!” The little boy said. She looked at him, forgetting he had been there.
“Yeah,” She said, stooping over and picking up her book which had fallen after Mutt had tried to punch her. She dusted off the cover and inspected the pages to make sure nothing had been ripped or dirtied during the little quarrel. When she saw everything looked ok, she turned on her heel and headed for the part of the forest that lead home.
“Hey!” The little boy called after her. “Wait up!”
She didn't slow her pace as she walked into the wooded area. There wasn't a path, but she knew the way back to her den. Twigs snapped and broke under the little boys panicked footfalls as he tried to hurry after her. “Hang on- Oof!” There was a sound behind her that told her he must have tripped over a rock or something. She heard him pick himself back up right away and follow her all over again. “Just slow down a minute.”
She sighed, keeping her eyes ahead of her and only slowed fractionally. The little boy finally caught up to her and she looked at him in the corner of her eye. He was smaller than her, but not by much. He had to be at least a year younger than her. He had dirty blonde hair, which didn't give away his social ranking. That happened for some. They never really knew what color they were until they were able to shift when they got older. He had eyes that were a blue-ish green-ish brown-ish color. It seemed to depend on the light and the way he looked at her. His cheeks were full and rosy and she knew that would change the longer he stayed here. Food was only a little less rare than books and, from the looks of his fairly clean skin and clothes, he had only been recently sent to the Outer Rings with his family. Soon, he would be facing just as much poverty and starvation as the rest of them.
“What's your name?” He asked her, pulling a branch to the side before it hit him in the face.
She debated on pulling his leg, telling him her name was Tala or Vixen or something, but she knew that would only raise more questions. What was she doing in the broken Kingdom? Why wasn't she helping her people? Where are the other gods?
She wasn't able to explain all that. She only knew as much of her religion as her book would tell her. Which wasn't as much as she wanted.
“Uh,” She said, pausing in the middle of the forest to look around. The boy had distracted her and now she wasn't sure where she had been going. “Scarlett.” She told him, chewing the inside of her cheek and trying to recognize the foliage.
The little boy let out a giggle. “Like a rose. Or your hair.”
Scarlett's eyes flickered down to him. “Yeah, that's funny,” She said dryly. “Did you think of that one all by yourself?”
The boy's eyebrows furrowed as he processed her tone of voice.
Scarlett spotted a tree she recognized and headed off in that direction. The boy scurried after her right away. “Hey!” He called, stumbling over the terrain again. He caught up to her in a few seconds, panting hard and raising the natural blush in his cheeks. “Don't you want to know my name?” He demanded.
“No,” Scarlett said in a flat voice, keeping her eyes forward. She couldn't let herself get lost again.
“But-” He stumbled over a tree root and struggled to keep his balance. “But I know yours,” He whined.
“Don't care,” She said in the same tone.
The boy stopped in his tracks as if he were stunned that someone would hold that much interest in him. “Well fine!” He said as she trekked on. “You're just a big meany!”
“Wow!” She said, turning to look at him as she walked backwards through the forest. “Now you're catching on!” Scarlett smirked as he pouted before she turned around again and let the trees swallow her from his view.
~Hey guys! Thank you so much for reading this! It's a little weird at first, as I've mentioned before, but I really do think you're going to like it as it goes on.
So this chapter is kind of supposed to capture Scarlett as extremely different from the rest of the kids in the Outer Rings. She's a little lonely, but pushes away anyone who tries to get close to her. She's clean and neat but she knows how to get down and dirty too when needed.
Let me know what you think so far in the comments :D~