Hard Core Chapter One

Anoir discovers the last magic wielder alive.

Anoir kicked the pebble down the street. It rebounded off a particularly uneven cobble and skittered back to her feet. She glared at it. Cocking her foot she gave it a particularly vicious kick and sent it flying. It pinged off a nearby wall and ricocheted down the connecting alley. She chased it, pleased by her prowess when backed by anger. 

She slowed to a halt when she realized the alley was not empty. Three men were hassling a scared-looking boy, their backs to her. The boy caught her eye and his face broke into a smile of relief. One of the men punched him in the gut for it. The boy crumpled. 

Anoir felt the anger, a mere trickle before, burst forth in a flood of indignation. 

'Hey!' she yelled. The cry echoed off the walls and rang in her ears. 

The men turned. They were scarred and filthy, with those humourless smiles that were meant to disarm a young girl like herself. She knew them too well to fall for that again. 

She fingered the blade under her shirt. She was taking no chances. 

'An alley isn't the place for a young lady.' the nearest sneered. 'Run along princess.' 

She pointed at the prone boy. 'Not without him.' 

'Aw, you don't want him. Girl like you could get yourself a prince.' said a man with more scar than face. The men snickered. 

Anoir gritted her teeth. They were all the same. Sexist pigs with more mouth than brain. 

'Leave him alone and we can all walk away.' she stated quietly. 

'Oh ho! We got a warrior princess on our hands!' declared a man with black teeth. 

The nearest man grabbed her shirt and yanked her towards him. His breath stank of cheap tobacco. 

'We gave you a chance kid. Now it looks like you're gunna learn the hard w-' Tobacco-breath hunched over suddenly and let out a little squeak. 

Anoir dropped her leg and shoved him into his scarred friend. The third man launched himself at her, grabbing a handful of hair. She yelled and kicked wildly, connecting with bone. The grip on her hair loosened and she backed into Scar-Face. She fell into him, knocking them both to the ground and driving an elbow into something soft and squishy. 

Black-Teeth charged at her a second time, arms outstretched. She flicked a foot up and connected with the man’s chin. He toppled over backwards, unconscious. 

Scarface shoved her off his breathless body and tried to kick but she fell back again, smacking the back of her head into his face. She felt the nose crunch a split second before Tobacco-Breath grabbed her shirt and yanked her to her feet to plant a fist in her face. Her right ankle gave way and she swung to the side, missing the fist by a hairsbreadth. She dropped to her knee for a second before standing back up, driving a fist under his ribs. The man collapsed. 

Anoir stumbled away from the men towards the boy who was blinking slowly in disbelief. She grabbed his wrist and pulled. 

"Let's go." she said breathlessly. Anoir ran from the alley, boy in tow, and didn't stop until they were safely lost in a marketplace crowd. 

They stopped to catch their breath and Anoir surreptitiously wiped away tears of terror. No matter how many times she fought she couldn't stop the tears. It was infuriating. She let her dark hair fall over her face to hide the tear-tracks. 

Still not feeling safe, she dragged the panting boy into a small cafe and sat at the back. Now she could afford to relax. There was plenty of cover, lots of people, and she could get a hot drink to calm her down.  

She ordered two coffees and took the time to examine the boy she had rescued. There was some dirt on his red cheeks and his blue shirt but otherwise he looked unharmed. He watched her with big blue eyes and ran a hand through his fluffy blonde hair. 

He looked too clean for a street kid. Especially one that deep down an alley. 

"Are you a superhero?" the boy asked abruptly.

She gave him a long hard stare. "No." 

"Oh." he looked crestfallen. "But you saved me!"

"Momentary lapse in judgment." she said coolly. "The more important question is: what were you doing there in the first place?" 

"There was a kitty."

"...and?" 

"It was cute." 

"So you decided to follow it down some godsforsaken deathtrap where there just happened to be three annoyed bandits." 

"She was limping." 

"Even better. So they beat the snot out of you for being a good Samaritan."

The boy was playing with a spoon nervously. "They didn't beat me. You saved me."

"And I already regret it. What kind of moron goes down a dark alley on bandit turf?"

"I didn't know."

"How could you not know there were bandits?" 

He chewed the spoon. 'Today’s my first day out."

"Out of where? The nuthouse?"

"St Francis' Asylum for the Abandoned." 

She cocked her head. "An orphanage?"

He nodded and flipped the spoon. "I'm of age. Today I seek my fortune."

"What age?" 

"Fourteen." 

She stared at him. There was no way this baby-cheeked kid was fourteen. Hell, she was only sixteen and she was at least a head taller than him. 

"I've never been outside St Francis until today. The world is really big, huh?"

"Where exactly is this place?"

"Um, about..." he looked at the roof as he thought before pointing past her, "...twenty houses that way."

"Oh yeah, you're a worldly traveller all right. Twenty whole houses. You'll reach the end of the world soon if you're not careful."

"Really?"

"Wha- No! Gods, you'll be lucky if you make it out of this cafe in one piece. Don’t you know anything?"

"I know magic."

Anoir bit back her next nasty remark. He couldn't be. She looked at the sincere round face. Could there really be one here in this bustling town? 

"Prove it."

"Um..." he twirled the spoon around. "I'm not very good. I mean, no one ever taught me."

No surprise there. As far as the world at large was concerned, magic no longer existed. The kid was probably just trying to save face. 

"Just try." she coaxed, employing the voice she used for littlies. 

The boy screwed up his face, turning pink with the effort of concentrating. 

Nothing happened. 

Anoir exhaled, unaware that she'd been holding her breath. It had been worth a shot. 

The waitress arrived with their coffee. The boy looked it despondently.  

"Never mind kid." Anoir muttered and sipped the bitter brew. The boy followed suit. 

"Bleh! What is that? It's horrid!"

"It's coffee. Keeps you alert. Add some sugar if you don't like it." She slid the sugar pot towards him. 

He spooned an obscene amount of sugar into his drink and stirred. When he pulled the spoon back out half was missing. 

Anoir took it from him. The spoon was soft in her grasp. She sniffed it and licked the missing edge.  

"It's made of sugar." she realized. 

The boy beamed. "Told you I could do magic."

He took back the spoon and sucked on it happily while his coffee grew cold. 

Anoir sipped hers slowly, considering her situation. She had in her presence one of the last remaining Magin, and he had nearly killed himself on his first day out in the world. She had a rare opportunity here. If she could keep him safe she would have the upper hand on any bandit in the country, maybe even the world. She couldn't let this boy go. 

She finished her coffee and rose. "Well, I gotta get going. People to fight, adventures to find, lands to explore. You know how it is."

The boy nodded then shook his head. 

"I'll let you get on with your sightseeing. Don't go chasing any more cats. See ya." 

She strode out into the busy street. Ten steps later she heard the cry. 

"Hey, wait up!"

She slowed so he could catch up, never looking back. 

"Can I come with? I could be your sidekick!"

"I don't need a sidekick."

"Aw c’mon, please?"

She sped up so he had to run to follow. 

"At least tell me your name!"

"Darkness." she called back sarcastically. 

"That is so cool! Hey maybe I could have a codename too, like, like Moonlight!"

She stopped dead. "Moonlight. Are you kidding me?"

He looked sheepish. "You already took the cool one."

She looked him up and down. "What’s your real name?"

 

"Timothy."

"Your orphanage likes weird names, doesn't it? It'll hafta do."

"Oh. So does this mean-"

"Just shut up and follow me."

"Okay!"

A new union formed, the pair headed for the town borders. 

Reviews

[the crying cup]

great chapter you've got here!

[M Garcia]

There is nothing really wrong with this. Maybe some descriptions of how the girl looks? I say keep going and I'm going to read the second chapter. Thank you so much for entering my contest and I hope you enter again!