Chapter 1: A Runaway Thief

If there’s one thing that Alana had learned from her eighteen years of living on the earth, it was that there were no redos. If something didn’t go as planned, most would agree that the best thing to do would be to shut your mouth and suffer through the consequences. Alana, however, typically chose a different approach to handling problematic situations. That was to make them worse.

For four years, Alana had been on her own. She both loved and loathed her predicament. She loved the freedom to do whatever she wanted whenever she wanted. She loved the independence. During this time, women in the country of Avonia didn’t have that privilege. They often had to depend on their husbands for provisions and safety. If Alana was a normal woman with a normal life, she likely would’ve been married by now and living under the oppression of a man. Lucky for her, Alana wasn’t a normal woman, and she’d given up the hope of a normal life long ago.

Another aspect of her situation that Alana quite enjoyed was being alone. She never much liked people. She supposed that their existence in the world was necessary (even good at times), but she mostly considered them to be a hapless inconvenience.

She loathed her predicament partly because she held full responsibility in regards to keeping herself alive, but mostly because of the constant vigilance it entailed to do so. Unfortunately for her, she had a terrible tendency of letting her mind wander for many hours at a time, after which she’d realize that she completely forgot to pay attention.

Actually, it was quite a miracle that she was still alive. Although, that might have had something to do with her beauty. She had dark auburn hair that she kept in a braid over her shoulder. Loose strands of her naturally curly hair framed her face. Her most attractive feature, however, was her eyes. They were of an emerald hue and carried a tremendous amount of intensity in them. Unfortunately, she found people to be drawn to her eyes, seeing them as rather inviting. They were completely oblivious to the irony of this considering Alana herself was less than so. She thought that she might’ve made a good spy because people would regularly divulge everything about themselves to her. Seeing as she had no use for this information, she didn’t bother to listen. Sometimes she would simply turn around and walk away without saying a word, leaving the person utterly confused. Other times she would mind her manners and merely contemplate ways that she might quietly put an end to the person at hand.

Alana didn’t intentionally use her beauty to keep herself alive, but, on multiple occasions, it had played a rather helpful role in doing so, though she would emphatically disagree with this observation.

Before you jump to any conclusions, it is important to note that Alana was intelligent … in her own way. For example, she used a knife and bow to defend herself, and she was impeccably skilled with both of them. Robinhood himself would have struggled to beat her in an archery competition. The problem was that she would regularly put her weapons down somewhere only to forget where she put them.

On this particular day, she had stolen a loaf of bread from a bakery. She put her knife (which probably should’ve been cozy in its sheath) down while she made her decision of what kind of bread she was in the mood to steal. It took her far too long to make decisions of this variety considering she was starving. She picked up a loaf and attempted to inconspicuously slip it up her sleeve. At that moment, the baker caught her, and she proceeded to depart the bakery, leaving her knife behind.  

“Lowly, good-for-nothing criminal! Get back here!” The baker yelled at Alana as he chased her through the streets. He was unphased by her beauty. A thief was a thief in his book, and he did not allow for thievery of any kind. He took immense pride in being a baker, and he intended to do his job well. Every crumb, no matter how small, had to be accounted for.

Alana, on the other hand, wasn’t sure what the problem was. It was only a meager loaf of bread. She’d expected someone who specialized in baking sweets to be a little more understanding. Unfortunately, she was wrong. In her opinion, this man had chosen the wrong career for himself. She thought that military commander or assassin might have better suited his personality.

He was a large, bald-headed man with equal amounts of fat and muscle. Alana knew that she was no match for his strength, but she was faster. He’d die of a heart attack before catching her.

“Yeah, keep running!” She yelled back at the baker. “You could use the exercise!” When Alana looked back, she caught a glimpse of something shiny in his hand. It was a knife. It was her knife. That fat b*****d stole my knife, she thought. Then, she looked at the stolen bread in her hands and figured that they were even now. Except that she had a loaf of bread and he had a knife. At least she’d die on a full stomach.

The streets were crowded with people. Alana looked back and could no longer see the baker. She hoped that was the case for him as well. She ducked into a narrow alleyway and quietly snuck her way to the back of the buildings. The foul smells of rotten food and human waste stung her nostrils, but at least it was quiet and she was alone … for now. She slumped against one of the buildings and tucked into her loaf of bread. It would fill her belly, but that was all it would fill.

Alana regularly wondered what it would’ve been like to have a normal life. She’d accepted her life for what it was. What she couldn’t accept, or perhaps didn’t want to accept, was what it had turned her into. A beggar. A thief.  If only that was all. Alana was not a good person, and she had the hand of the king on her tale to prove it. Roland. A name she took every opportunity to curse, under her breath and above it. For the past three years, the two of them had been on a cat and mouse chase of sorts. It’s not difficult to guess which one Alana was.

The mouse. She was the mouse.

Roland must have been in his early twenties, though he acted much older. He had short brown hair and a relatively attractive face. In an odd way, Alana considered him to be her friend. She didn’t really know what having one of those was like, but she figured that they must try to kill you every now and then.

What she struggled to understand was why he wanted her so much. She certainly wasn’t the only dangerous criminal in all of Avonia. Then again, maybe he knew her better than she thought. Maybe he knew what she’d done, everything she’d done. The thought of that twisted her stomach into a knot.

“Hey, are you gonna eat that?” Alana leapt to her feet and instinctively reached for her knife before remembering that the baker had it. Then, she reached for her bow, but realized that she left it in the forest. She opted for balling her hands into fists and holding them in front of her, thinking that there might be the slightest chance that she looked intimidating. She didn’t. She looked like a fool.

Standing in front of her was a young man around her age, maybe a couple years older, with wavy, dark brown hair  He was leaning against the building, eyes wide and eyebrows raised. This wasn’t because he was intimidated, but because he was amused.

She thought she recognized him. Then, she was sure that she recognized him. But, from where? She studied him and thought about this for a while.

“Hey, miss, I asked you a question,” the boy said.

“Huh?”

“Are you gonna eat that?”

“No, I’m just gonna stand here and hold it,” she said sarcastically.

He snorted. “It was just a question. You stopped eating, so I figured you were finished.”

“Well, I wasn’t.”

“Alright. Then go ahead,” he said. “Eat it.”

“I will when I’m ready.” Alana was more than ready. Now, she was just being stubborn.

Alana turned to peer through the alleyway at the street on the other side, still bustling with activity, but no sign of the baker. She hoped he came to his senses and gave up.

~

The boy’s name was Nic, and, being twenty-two years old, he wasn’t so much a boy as a young man.

He watched Alana as she looked into the alleyway. Her hands fidgeted nervously. It was obvious to him that this girl was hiding from someone, probably the guy who she’d stolen that bread from. The bread that she selfishly kept for herself. Nic was growing impatient. He didn’t like being ignored.

 

“Hiding from someone?” He decided to ask. Alana turned to look at him. He found himself drawn to her eyes, not because they were strange or beautiful (although they were very much so), but because he recognized them. He’d seen those eyes before. He tilted his head and said, “You look familiar. Have we met?”

“Probably not,” Alana said.

“No, I’m sure of it. We’ve definitely met before.”

“I don’t think … “

“Alana,” Nic remembered. “From the orphanage.”

Alana had been thrown into the orphanage when she was twelve years old. They managed to keep her there for two years before she ran away. Nic was social and well-liked by mostly everyone there. Alana, conversely, mainly kept to herself and read. She was made fun of for not being like everyone else, though it bothered Nic more than it did her. She didn’t seem to care. Nic found this quality rather admirable. In fact, he found her incredibly intriguing and tried to talk to her on multiple occasions, much to Alana’s dismay. She would open up some, but much of her still remained a mystery to him. Still, he’d always felt as though there was a quiet understanding between them. She was an outcast, and, though it didn’t appear that way, so was he.

“Nic,” Alana said, finally remembering who he was. Nic didn’t respond. He seemed to have gone into a trance. “Nic,” she said again.

Nic didn’t realize that he was staring at Alana or that his mouth was open. If it weren’t for her eyes, he wouldn’t have recognized her at all. She looked so … different. He used to call her ‘kiddo’ when they were at the orphanage, a nickname that she absolutely hated. He supposed he’d have to find another nickname that she absolutely hated because she certainly wasn’t a kid anymore. She was woman.

“Nic,” Alana said, loud enough to get his attention.

“You remember my name?” Nic said, the corners of his mouth tugging upward.

“You remembered mine.”

“Yes,” Nic said, a grin crossing his face. “But I never forget a name … Kiddo.” Alana glared at him, which only caused his grin to widen. Perhaps he would keep that nickname after all.

Suddenly, Alana heard a voice that sounded close by. “She went that way. I’m sure of it.” She recognized that voice. It was the baker’s. She turned to look around the corner, and, to Alana’s horror, a familiar face was walking down the alleyway straight towards her. Once he saw her, a mischievous grin crossed his face, and he stopped walking.

“Well, look what the cat dragged in,” Alana said.

“You might not want to bait me, sweetheart. It won’t do you any favors.” Roland replied.

“Probably not,” she said, picking up a small rock. “But it’s fun.” Alana chucked the rock at Roland, hitting him in the chest. He glared at her. Now, he was angry. She swallowed hard.

Roland started walking toward her and said, “You’re dead, Alana. This ends today.”

Not if she could help it. Without hesitation, Alana turned and started running. She heard Roland’s footsteps behind her, but didn’t look back. Nic ran beside her, though she wasn’t sure why. He wasn’t on Roland’s hit list. At least she didn’t think he was.

“Follow me,” Nic said. Alana looked at him and narrowed her eyes. She didn’t know if she could trust him, but the nearing sounds of Roland’s footsteps convinced her to take the risk.

“Come on, Kiddo. I’m not gonna hurt you”, he said as he grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her through an alleyway leading to the main street. They weaved their way through the crowd. Alana looked back, but didn’t see Roland anywhere. Somehow, that made her even more nervous.

Nic and Alana ran until they were outside of the town’s borders and continued running until they made it to the forest. Nic didn’t need to lead her there. It is where Alana would have chosen to hide on her own. Few dared to venture into this forest because of its dark past. Too many people had passed through its borders only to never return. Its negative reputation spurred Alana on to learn the forest well and make it her home. She wouldn’t get lost. She was sure of that.

Also, now that she was in the forest, she would be able to retrieve the bow that she’d left there.

~

“Don’t let her get away again like you have for the past three years.”

“Don’t worry, Father,” Roland said. “There’s no way she can escape this time. I have a plan.”

“Well, if it’s anything like your last twenty, the girl’s as good as gone,” his father replied.

“No, Father. I can assure you that this one will not fail.”

“You say that every time.”

Roland huffed. He wouldn’t let his father get to him this time. He had a job to do, but, once it was done, he would leave this life behind and start a new one. Maybe move to one of the Northern countries, raise something (pigs, perhaps), and find a nice lady to have his children with. Yes, Roland quite liked this idea.

“Focus, you idiot!” The voice caused Roland to jump. “Keep running at a snail’s pace, and she is sure to get away … again.”

“Yes, Father,” Roland said, picking up his pace. He didn’t plan on spending the rest of his life running after Alana. He had pigs and children to raise.

Roland thought his father was irrational when it came to Alana. He didn’t know what this ludicrous obsession stemmed from. Roland did know what she’d done, but, if it were up to him, he would’ve given up on her long ago.

If he were being honest with himself, he was impressed by Alana’s determination and intelligence. This is something that his father would never understand. He refused to believe that the reason they had not yet caught Alana resulted from anything other than his son’s utter stupidity. To be fair, Alana didn’t seem like much. She certainly didn’t appear to be supremely intelligent. She was a genius without even trying to be, and that made her all the more dangerous.

Roland was running through the forest when something caught under his feet and caused him to fall forward. He turned to look at what it was.

“Seriously, son. You can’t even run without … “

“Shhh. Wait a second,” Roland said. “What is that?” He pointed to a white object on the ground, half buried in leaves. He crawled toward it and picked it up. It was a bow. He’d known Alana long enough to recognize that it was hers and that it would be like her to carelessly leave it lying around somewhere. He put the bow back down and brushed leaves over it to make it look undisturbed. She’d come looking for this. He was certain of that.

“Well, Father,” Roland said, a grin crossing his face. “It looks as though you’ll finally get your girl.”

Reviews

[smilemore]

Thank you for sharing this, I enjoyed reading it very much. The main characters name is almost my name just a little different spelling! I like the word choices you used to get across her story and how her beauty and intelligence helped her get through her difficult life. Thank you for this read!

[Caroline]

Thank you for your feedback. I'm glad you enjoyed it!

[Kent Rawski]

I liked this read well written captured my imagination and interest quick moving with twists and turns but which nicely help the story to unfold the character flaws and development of her character draw a person in even without seeing her eyes the inner dialogue perhaps its me felt at times like I wasn't sure who it was coming from but it was wonderfully driven im not a writer or a critiquer but I am critical I like this and more please

[Diabolicalbeard]

Thanks for sharing youre content.my mind is focus what is written