I've always wondered what it'd be like to be born to a wealthy family.
I'd surrounded by bright colors, shining pockets of gold, and thousands of meals served at a snap. I'd be pampered and coddled by a kind and beautiful mother. My father, an elite, would take his time protecting our family and home. My elder sister would dress me in outfits worth far beyond a commoner's life worth, and I'd raise my younger brother, teaching him to steal the honey cakes the chef had made just before.
I'd watch from the hills as the poppies grew, dancing around my family's mansion like the little girls and boys in town below. I would daintily play with the daughters of my father's friends, being home-schooled by the maid chosen by my educated mother.
Any wish I'd want would be granted. It would be a life free from debt, the perfect life away from the constant tremor and tension between all of the kings and queens and leaders and rulers that donned the land.
Most of all, I'd watch in silence as my perfect life burnt to a crisp, watching from the back road leading to my father's fief, as the life I cherished just that morning was decimated.
I wonder how that would feel.
I can't say I'd know, as at the moment I was being chased by a group of knights from Catania, the capital city of Heldom, the human-ruled kingdom.
"Elizabeth! As leader of The Knights of Catania, I order you to stop!"
I didn't stop. I'm such a little rebel, aren't I?
"ELIZABETH! ENOUGH!"
Without missing a beat, I looked over my shoulder and stuck my tongue at the knights.
"Damn you! ELIZABETH!"
The Knights, a merry band of high ranking soldier stationed in Catania. It was very rare to see them outside the capital city, and the few times they left were to chase after me. Besides the king, their next best employer were the debt collectors in Catania.
Standing straight in first place with their devilish grins were the debt collectors: my worst enemy.
Personally, it would be quite entertaining to see those bastards chasing me rather than the military trained dogs following my tail like I was a bone.
But that wasn't the case, and I made the turn around the corner just in time, sliding under an incoming carriage. My sword chaffed my back and tore against a rock in the ground.
"Catch that girl! Your lives depend on it!"
The knights were getting closer, but it seemed my sword was surrendering.
In a split second decision, I unwrapped the scabbard strapped along my torso and threw it to the ground. The knights were almost ten yards away from me. I ran forward, slipping my abandoned sword beneath my feet and to the bumbling men on my tail.
I jumped up and climbed a series of clotheslines to reach the roofs of the village of Yuvri. Behind me I could hear the yelps of a couple knights tripping over my sword.
I'll never forget your noble sacrifice, my trusty blade.
My life might have only been worth the two silver coins I used to buy you, but it was for a worthy cause.
I risked a chance to look behind me. I didn't see any knights, but I wasn't going to risk it. They might have been noble goodie boys but a few were not afraid to go wall climbing to please their king. Or debt collectors, in my case.
Soon enough the row of buildings ended, and I leapt down from the wooden sliding.
I looked around, searching for any sign of the knights. I failed to see a single piece of blinding, shining piece of armor.
I breathed a sigh of relief. "Finally, I lost them."
"THERE SHE IS! ARREST HER!"
"Oh for — really?!"
I took off again, regretting the moment I let myself think I was safe. I could already feel the fatigue on me taking its toll.
The knights were relentless. They followed me wherever I went, from every town to every road to every forest. One would have thought their families would have chewed them out for being away from Catania for such an abnormally long time.
Just as I was thinking of taking the sewers, I spied a young man guarding a larger building. He stood impeccably still, but he also looked rather lifeless too. Either way, I had just found myself a way out.
"Hey! Yuvri soldier boy! I need your help!"
The boy quickly jerked to my direction, his eyes blinking rapidly like he'd been caught off guard.
Wait, was he sleeping?
"Argh, forget it. Hey!" I was getting closer to the soldier as I kept running. "Help me get this guys off my tail!"
The boy quirked an eyebrow and cocked his head.
"Look! Those guys! The knights!"
The boy furrowed his brow. "You're being chased by knights?"
"Yes!" I grabbed the soldier boy by his wrist and pulled him along as I suddenly decided to change my direction.
"HEY! SOLDIER! CATCH THAT GIRL!"
The boy looked over his shoulder at the knights. He looked mighty confused, and I couldn't blame him. This whole situation was getting annoying.
The only thing keeping me going was the adrenaline pumping through my veins. My legs felt like wet noodles and it felt like a thawed out ice cube was stabbing my chest.
"Soldier boy! Tell me, what's the best way to escape Yuvri unnoticed?"
Unlike Catania, Yuvri was a village near the border. It had no walls, but the number of buildings inside its lines built up a maze of roads and alleys. Even without the need to guard a wall, Yuvri was a border town, and there were several hidden pathways the town's soldiers knew. This was common for border towns in Heldom.
The boy finally seemed to grow into the moment, and he took the lead in our chase.
"This way!"
He pulled his wrist away, and his gloved hands took mine as he led me away from the soldiers' barracks. The road became grainier as the concentration of buildings grew slimmer.
"Over there! There's a cherry tree near the edges of the town."
He suddenly pulled me to his chest as he ducked behind in an alley. His back hit the wall with a silent thud as we watched the knights run by.
"Where did they go?!"
"I saw them go this way!"
We held our breath. When the knights finally disappeared, the boy let out a breath.
"Two yards southeast of the tree," he whispered, "there's an underground tunnel that heads west to Kitsun. If you want to get out of the country, I'd suggest heading there."
I smiled and gave him a small kiss on the cheek. I patted his chest as I turned to leave. "Thanks a bunch, soldier boy."
He seemed stunned for a moment, but I dared not to stare any longer, and I started to make my escape. I failed to hear the clanking of iron and steel grow louder behind me.
"THERE SHE IS! GET HER!"
My feet planted themselves to the ground. I looked behind me to find the group of persistent knights closing off the entrance to the ally. Their faces were just as devilish as the money-grubbing debt collectors, and I never felt so defenseless without a weapon.
I was a rabbit thrown to the wolves. I was unlucky enough to be the one poor soul to be chosen as food for the pack of devilish humans.
"Elizabeth!" The head knight stepped closer, his hand on his sword. "By order of the Catanian knights, you are under arrest!"
My breath hitched, and I thought I was going to choke.
The knight unsheathed his sword, swung it back, and a loud thud resonated through the dead alley.
I blinked.
"What the..." The head knight turned around, his eyes widening at the sight of the soldier boy slumped on the ground.
An unsettling amount of blood was staining the ground. Around the head of the soldier was a gash, covered by the frays of his blood-stained hair.
"Oh god no... He's... He's..."
"He's DEAD!"
"Men! Run for it! It can't be known we've killed a border town's soldier!"
"Forget the girl! Save your skins!"
I watched the folly of knights scramble out of the alley.
I looked down at the motionless soldier boy. I felt my stomach churn at the helpless sight.
Before the knight had raised his sword, out of the corner of my eye I'd seen the boy inch forward. He was trying to save me. Instead, he was hit with the knight's blade and suffered for it.
He tried to save me, and in the end, I was the one who killed him. I was the reason he died. A simple, in-debt freelance adventurer was now even more indebted to this now dead man.
"I killed him," I whispered, dropping to my knees.
He looked so serene laying there. He wasn't smiling, but he held a proud air, like he'd just accomplished the greatest feat in his lifetime. He'd probably sigh a sigh just like that if he were still alive.
Wait, did he just breath?
I scooted closer to the boy and laid my ear against his chest.
No... no... nothing...
I sat back up and rested my fingers against his neck.
One, no pulse... two, no pulse... three...
He was still alive.
The soldier boy hadn't died!
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