The Kingdom Thief

Chapter 1

"No! Peter!" I hear the shriek of Melody call out from the other side of the rode. I could hear the carriage pull to an abrupt stop but I didn't dare stick my head out from my hiding spot.

"Wh-What happened?" I could hear the driver of the carriage ask an worry. I could picture the wrinkles covering his face. For some reason, the carriage drivers were always old.

"My brother! You hit my brother!" Melody cried in a tone of fake distress. No one would be able to tell it was fake though. Melody was quite a good actress.

"What is going on? Why have we stopped" I could hear a man probably in his late 20's ask from out the window of the carriage.

"It seems that we have hit a boy" the carriage driver explains as Melody is now collapsed on 11 year old Peter's chest. "Don't just stand there, help me!" Melody wails. That is my cue.

I peek my head out from behind the dumpster I am hiding behind in an alley merely 30 feet from the carriage. I hear the man sigh and climb out of his carriage. When no one else comes out for a couple seconds I take that as my cue to start.

I quietly slip out of the alley and step onto the sidewalk on the side where the carriage door the man just got out of is, it's window is still open.

"Sometimes they just make it too easy" I mutter to myself as I slyly walk closer to the carriage, trying not to grab attention from any of the tons of the people around me. We were in the heart of the kingdom where most of the middle class lived. Once in a while though, you could see a carriage drive by, the sign of the king's favorites.

I make it over to the back of the carriage and pull out a rag from the pocket of my stain covered apron and start wiping the carriage to make it look like I was supposed to be there. Nobody around me found it weird so I took the chance and peeked over the side of the carriage.

The man was trying to pry Melody off Peter but she wouldn't budge. The old carriage driver was inspecting Peter's face. While they are distracted, I take the chance and turn towards the side of the carriage.

With the gracefulness of a ballerina I quickly put a foot on the foot stair and hoist myself through the window soundlessly in 3 seconds flat.

I wait a second to see if I hear any alarmed voices but the man and driver don't seem to have noticed someone had just sneaked into their carriage.

I get to work and take in my surroundings. Everything is draped in satin. The cushions, the curtains, even the carpet. I suddenly catch the glimpse of a crack in the mahogany under the cushioned seats.

"Bingo" I whisper to myself and crawl over to it and take out a butter knife from yet another pocket of my apron. I slide it through the crack and bend it down. Almost immediately the drawer pops open and I find myself looking at a golden box.

I take it out of the opening and open it up. It is filled with money, jewelry, a watch and a folded peice of paper. I take the paper out and put it in my apron pocket and then wrap the box with the dirty cloth as I hear a voice outside the carriage.

"I really don't see anything we can do at this point so madam if you don't mind, can you please get off of the road" I hear the man say and listen as the rocks crunching under his feet get louder.

"Damn" I curse, realizing I'll have to find another way out of the carriage than the window. My hands scramble at the floor, desperate for the usual trap door they place in carriages in case of an attack.

I finally find the cut in the carpet and sigh in relief. Quickly, I pull it up to find a wooden square door with a small knob for a handle. I reach down and pull it up as I hear Melody's urgent protests getting louder, trying desperately to buy me more time.