Chapter 1- Escapee

An introduction to one of the main characters, a scoundrel by the name of Ahlecks Kriff, a thief and smart-mouthed son of a b***h, with not a touch of honor to his name.

 

            He struggled madly against the guards, pushing and pulling in their hands, and caused them all to hit the wall roughly. They still had their steel-like grip on him though. Damn it, that shoulda done it! He tried again, and one of the guards tripped him, sending him cascading onto his knees, smacking them sharply against the stone and wrenching his arms in their sockets. His yelp made the captain laugh. He dimly heard a half-assed reprimand through the blood pounding in his head. He kept trying to fight them off, but the hallway was too narrow for much maneuvering. So he tried to wear them out by struggling.

            All it ended him up with was more bruises and two smarting knees. “Curse you for sons of dogs, bloody b******s!” he yelled as they slammed him into the only open cell of the three in their pitiful excuse for a prison. “Poorer excuses for imperial guardsmen there never were, pathetic…” His head jerked back as the captain’s fist slammed into his nose, and he fell back away from he bars, the fight completely gone from him. He lay panting on the ground, not bothering to wipe away the blood he felt moistening his upper lip.

            “Let that show a stupid thief like you what happens when you try to evade escape, filthy sewer rat!” The captain stood there glaring at him, letting a small smirk emerge on his pig-like features. “You have a week at the most to live, make the best of it. I can sentence you to serve your time at any time, so make peace with your gods!” He laughed and snorted like he had made the empire’s funniest joke. He stumped away laughing, his mail clinking faintly as he made his way up the steps to the guardhouse, probably off to drink some more of the cheap wine that Ahlecks had smelled on his breath.

            A soft thud sounded on the bars across from him, and he slowly got up to his knees before the bars and glowered at the dwarf in the opposite cell as he started to talk. “Filthy humans, don’t know how to do anything right. Obviously you ain’t as good a thief as the legendary Barloff the Squat. You make me sick you do, with all your talk o’ bein’ superior to us an’ all. Stupid, pathetic tallies.” He swung a big bottle of ale out from his shirt and took a long drink of it, and leaned against the bars. He burped, and then continued what he apparently thought to be a well-thought-out monologue. “A waste of energy the lot of you, a waste of life. All exceptin’ the womenfolk of course, now THEY are fun to ride like a horse!” He chuckled softly and stared at Ahlecks with his alcohol-hazy eyes. After a moment he stopped. “What, you a mute or somethin? Speak up tallie!”

            Ahlecks shook his head in disgust at the pitiful thing before him. “Let me guess, you are the supposedly prestigious Barloff?” He smiled wanly as the dwarf swayed then nodded his head. “Figures. Trying to build up your name like you are really something. Didn’t you notice, you filthy dwarf, that you were in here before I was? Who do you suppose is the better thief?” He used the bars to pull himself to his feet as the dwarf sputtered in fury, too drunk to try to say a decent comeback. “I notice you brought a drink with you. Did you also bring a way out?” Barloff shook his head, looking at Ahlecks like he was stupid. “They probably too all your picks and crud didn’t they.” He shrugged, and tried his best to not smile. There was a reason he was considered one of the top in his field of thievery in the empire of Gladwyn. He was fast, usually unnoticeable, and also, “See these bracelets my height-challenged friend?” he was famous among thieves for developing his own lock picks. He twisted one of the flimsy-looking wire bracelets off, and kneeled before the bars, reaching around to find the keyhole.

            Barloff stared and laughed, lost his grip on the bars and fell back, smacking his head against his cot, and still got up laughing. “That is far too thin to work, foolish human. It’s too flimsy!” He continued to laugh even as Ahlecks took a hook off of his necklace, and fastened it onto the end of the steel wire. He twisted off another of the wires and wound it around the one he already had out, then slipped it gingerly into the lock. A few twists later, the cell door slid away from him, opening wide to allow him freedom. “What the hell, by Methusalo the Damned!” Barloff pressed against the bars of his cell, staring in drunken disbelief.

            “Alecks Kriff, master thief and lock pick genius, not at anyone’s service but my own.” He bowed low mockingly, and tossed the makeshift pick to the fellow thief. “Not that it’ll do you any good, you probably have no idea how to work the damn thing. You look more like you’d try to open a locked chest with a beastly war hammer.” His smile faded nearly instantly as he realized that he had no idea what to do next. Damn my f*****g showmanship!

            His eyes darted around, from the door to the guardroom to the other cell with the sleeping elderly man. Without thinking he ran to the guardroom door, and pressed himself against the wall as it opened and the drunken captain stumbled through the threshold. He watched in horror, pressing himself to the wall. He heard the man curse when he saw the open cell, and the cursing made his body jumpstart into action. He threw himself around the door, and half crouched, half ran into the guardroom. He found a shadow cast by a group of barrels, and he cast himself into that hiding spot just before the captain came running into the room. “We have an escapee! The thief is gone!” He grabbed his club and went back down to the cells as the other guards got up from their drinks and food. He pressed against the wall, trying to formulate some kind of plan, but unable to do so. Ahlecks cursed under his breath. I have robbed from lords and ladies and pulled all kind of highwayman stunts, but this is INSANE!! What the hell was I thinking? He peeked over the top of the barrels and ducked down quickly again. It was only a matter of time until they found him, he had to move. This is suicidal, that’s what this is. No wonder they call Crazy Joe crazy!! How can the damned man do this for fun?! He peeked around the barrel one more time, and seeing nobody looking his way, he leaped over them stealthily and made a mad dash for the door to the city. He pushed the door open and stumbled into the daylight of the streets of Darind, his current kingdom of pockets and houses to loot and ladies to womanize. Behind him, he heard a guard shout and distinctly heard the unmistakable sound of iron sliding out of a leather sheath.

Reviews

[SamBug]

This is amazing!!!! And you said it was nothing special. What ever! lol. :) Good job

[Fallen_Angel]

that was beautiful
I loved everything about it
I will keep reading till the end!!!!!!!

You have some talent and way to keep us hanging. But you have to right idea, We will keep comming back for more.

AMAZING!

[*~Imperfectly Me~*]

Ooooo....... I like it.... great first chapter.... hooked me from the beginning! the imagery was fantabulous... (I know not a word but it is in my world) I loved it... it was really fun to read! Great job!

[.]

WoW! Really nicely done tale u have here. I can really tell that this is gonna be a great story! The imagery and dialog were awesome. It kept moving great. Just may need some fixing on grammar, spelling, and punctuation, but twas a really fun read!

Mikey

[Ice Queen of the Vampir..]

Hey, this is a great first chapter. Very interesting and now I'm curious to see what happens next. Nice work!!!

Heather