Chapter 1
(P.O.V. Willie)Willie ran as hard as his long legs let him, ducking and weaving through alleys and backstreets. A few shouts came from behind him, and he risked a glance to see the two soldiers pursuing him getting closer. Despite all the twists and turns he could put on them, he couldn’t shake them.
Another boy who had been standing on the side of the road suddenly walked in front of the two soldiers and all three crashed together into a giant heap. The boy innocently apologized and moved on, but not before giving an imperceptible nod towards Willie. Willie nodded back, and continued to run through the streets, putting as much distance between the fallen soldiers.
He raced across a square, and then petered to a slow walk. If you ran, you looked guilty. Casually, he sauntered over to a park bench and sat down, as if enjoying the early autumn breeze. When no one was looking, he opened his satchel and gazed at his stolen prize. It was a full pie, baked to perfection and still hot from the oven. He had staked out the baker’s shop for hours until the right moment. Willie could live off of this stuff for days. Maybe even give it to the other boys if he was feeling generous. Elation rose up inside him, and he had to work hard to suppress his grin.
He got up and continued walking to his destination. Street after street passed, with vendors hawking their goods, and though some were extremely tempting, none were the spot Willie need to go.
After crossing a bridge that took him out of the main part of the city, he approached an old barn. It was run down, with paint peeling off the side. Any outsider would have thought that it was abandoned and that no one could possibly live here. There were no more animals housed here, but many street boys had made this place home. Including Willie.
Willie walked inside the barn doors and gave a wide grin. Kids sat on the floor, playing games or discussing strategies to steal big prizes. Inside the barn wasn’t much better than the outside. Dirt and grime covered the floor, and a few rats scurried away from me. But hammocks hung from the roofs, and there was a running tap with fresh water. It was the best Willie could get.
One kid named Stan walked up to Willie and inquired, “What’s with the grin? Was your run really that successful?”
That’s what all the kids called their stealing missions. Runs. In case if they’re ever being spied on, they have an almost secret language of codes.
Willie slid the pie out of the satchel, then covered Stan’s mouth as he was about to let a whoop of excitement. “Don’t need to tell the whole world about it. I’ll share it with you, but not anyone else.”
“We could feast off of this stuff for days!” Stan tried whisper and failed. Thankfully no one was paying them any attention.
“We can eat it in the night later,” Willie murmured. “I’m going to go on another run to see what else I can scrounge. Let’s hope my luck holds.”
Willie exited the barn as quietly as he came, and soon he was back in the city. Even from all the walking, he hadn’t even started panting. The way to survive on the streets was to build endurance, and running long distances was included. He visited the marketplace, known for its highly expensive items and rich tourists.
A woman’s purse caught his eye, and he assessed the situation. The bag seemed to hold tons of money, and the woman seemed to be a tourist.
Willie inconspicuously glanced at the large, fat purse without drawing any attention. The purse mirrored it’s owners features, overweight and taking up two chairs at the shop she was currently at. She was obviously someone of importance, but Willie assumed it was her first time at the marketplace. Any decent pickpocket would know a gold mine when they saw it.
Willie crossed the busy street, filled with horse driven carts and weary travelers. A few beggars lined the streets, but everyone ignored them. They were so commonplace in this kingdom that they had almost become part of the background. He passed stalls laden with jewelry and bracelets, though everyone knew they were fake. A few more contained woolen clothes and blankets for the upcoming winter, though they were much too overpriced.
Willie slowed walked behind the large woman just as she made a move to leave. She crashed into him, and Willie quickly slipped off the purse.
“Watch where you’re going you ignorant street rat!” the woman replied with a shrill voice. “Do you know who I am?”
He made a few apologies and quickly strode away, but inside he was beaming as he deftly hid the purse inside his coat. A king’s ransom worth of money! This could help me get some scraps without having to constantly steal. That last part made Willie the most pleased. Though stealing was almost a daily part of his life, Willie still had a conscious.
He walked purposefully down the street. With this score, he might even be able to stay warm this winter. Plus the pie, Willie figured his next few days were going to be heaven.
Of course, that was assuming the Elites would let him have his fun. Elites were normal people with extraordinary powers. No one knows how the first Elite came to be, just that they were powerful. Some could control the wind, while others could read minds. All the Elites were given seats of power in the kingdom. The rest of the people were left to fend for themselves.
And one of the worst parts were, it was extremely difficult to kill an Elite. Not that Willie wished to murder anyone, but there had been many attempted revolutions on nobles and Elites all over the kingdom. But each one of them had ended with failure when pitted up against the Elite’s powers.
Willie didn’t mind that though. Living on the streets by himself had a certain calming quality. You never knew what the next day would bring, and the only person he had to rely on was himself.
On one of the nearby posts, one of the King’s propaganda posters hung. It talked about how King Renford would protect our kingdom no matter what. The house of Renford were fire Elites, able to control flames to their will. Many people of the King’s court were similar, Elites with strong powers.
Ever since the break-in at the King’s castle last year, the King had been a much stricter ruler. Law-breakers were taken into custody every day, though that wasn’t exactly good for Willie. Nothing of importance was stolen from the castle during the break-in, but regardless, it made the kingdom tighten with security. But such things didn’t overly concern Willie. His town was a relatively small one, and the capital was so far away from there.
He passed a large statue depicting the first Elite, Bain, battling the Cursed Dragon. According to the stories, the Cursed Dragon was poisoning the minds of men and causing destruction. Bain confronted it, and after a long hard worn battle, they killed each other. It wasn’t real, just a story to teach kids morals and scare them to listen, but Willie liked to think of Bain as his role model. If a hard decision came up, he would think what would Bain do?
He bought some coats for some of the other street boys from the stall across from the statue. The chill of autumn had already started to blow through the small town. Willie wrapped one of the coats around himself and started to walk towards the abandoned barn where he and the other boys slept, but stopped as he neared a loud commotion.
A large crowd gathered nearby, and Willie pushed his way through the crowd. Maybe it was a free gold giveaway! He knew it was probably just the usual farmers arguing over whose land was whose, but it was better to hope. Once he squirmed to the forefront of the crowd, he saw what was really going on.
Two men were fighting, both with multiple stab wounds and blood streaming down their bodies. Both were extremely fit and wore the uniforms of soldiers. But normal soldiers didn’t fight each other. This was unprecedented. As he was watching, one soldier rushed at the other. The other ducked and cut a deep slash across his back. The injured one gave a roar of anger and parried another strike. Then he rolled out of the way and threw his sword. It impaled the other man’s leg, and he went down with a yell. Blood was littering the ground, and Willie realized these guys weren’t messing around. They were fighting to the death.
Willie had enough. He thought What would Bain do? He already knew the right answer. He glanced at those around him in the crowd, but instead of seeing horror, people were laughing at the falling men and even throwing food at them.
Willie took a step forward out of the crowd. “Stop!” he yelled, and both men stopped and turned their heads towards him. The crowd also quieted down and stared at him. Well, he was interrupting their fun. “What are you doing?” Willie asked. “You are soldiers of the King! You shouldn’t be fighting each other.”
The men grinned at each other, throwing Willie off guard. Then one of them gave a chuckle. Suddenly, they began to glow, and their flesh began to knit themselves back together. The blood flow stemmed, and after a moment, both men were restored to pristine conditions.. The long slash that would have been a killing blow on one of the men was gone in an instant, as if it had never existed.
Willie finally got the memo. Elites, he thought. Healers, by the looks of them. But why were they fighting? He gave them a quizzical look, then suddenly backed away as both men advanced upon him. The soldier on the left cracked his knuckles, then leered at Willie. The one on the right hefted his sword, a menacing look on his face. Both of them seemed to have stopped fighting each other and had joined forces. “Hey, kid. We want to talk to you.”
Oh, no, Willie thought. He knew it was bad news when an Elite wanted to talk to you. Only sorrow and servitude came when normal people encountered Elites. He slowly started to back away, preparing to run. The crowd parted away behind him, leaving him no way to escape into it. Willie turned around and sprinted away, and after a moment of surprise, he heard the shouts and pounding feet of the men pursuing him from behind.
He knew he would be able to get away from both men easily. They were muscular and heavy, and Willie knew the town better than both of them combined. His main worry was why. Didn’t he try to save them from killing each other? He had done the right thing. So why were they after him?
He ran near the Cursed Dragon statue, then suddenly swerved behind it. Footsteps raced past the statue and the two soldiers stopped in confusion.
“Where did he go?” one of them demanded. Willie closed his eyes behind the statue, trying to quiet his breathing.
“You take left, I’ll go right,” the other one said. Their footsteps slowly faded into silence until Willie could only hear the distant hawking of street merchants. Willie risked a glance around the statue, and when he saw no one, he gave a shuddering sigh and slid to the ground. What was going on? As he was thinking, a peddler came up to him and offered him some water for a few coins. Willie declined, but when the peddler wasn’t looking, he swiped some anyway.
Maybe it was all his stealing. He knew it would catch up to him one day, just not so fast. All his worries weighed him down, but he knew that he had to keep moving to stay out of the men’s way. Willie decided that going to the abandoned barn was probably the safest option.
He walked quickly, but looked bored to deter any suspicion from those he past. He had learned that if you looked like you belonged, people will assume that you do belong.
At a certain point, he took a sudden detour into the alleys. Both those men could have been hiding among the street, tailing him without him knowing. He also scanned the rooftops. Occasionally, the boys would climb on the roofs and jump from from rooftop to rooftop when trying to escape from someone. Both men could use the same tactic against him. Willie took a back entrance to the park.
He started to walk across the park, and then the bridge. In the distance, he saw the farm house. It was a safe haven, and Willie felt a wave of relief as he neared it.
Willie walked inside and tried to pretend like nothing was wrong. Though they lived together, the other boys could be ruthless. Any tiny nugget of information would be used to their advantage.
Most of the other boys were still out trying to get some loot, but one was reading on a hammock.
“Hey, Randy. Did you get anything good today?” Willie asked the boy, hoping to spark a conversation. Anything to keep my mind off what happened today.
Randy glanced up, then looked anywhere but him.
Willie squinted at him. “What’s wrong?”
Randy reluctantly glanced at me and said, “I’m sorry Willie. They offered me too much money. I couldn’t say no.”
Willie’s eyes widened, but before he could do much, something hit the back of his head and everything went black.
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