ETON

Chapter 2.

My clothes, hanging motionlessly overhead, on top of the highest branch visible to me.

It was almost instant, the arrow, my arrow, racing past my head at some absurd speed, now I know why the birds dread it. The arrow hit the tree beside me and with enough force to stick. I quickly grab my dad's shorts and put them on, it's much easier to fight with shorts and a bandage.

"Well look what I found, a girl living in the woods, are you lost little girl, do you want to play a game?" I clenched my teeth at the opponent's words as they echoed through my head. I reached out towards my arrow, but was stopped dead as the voice moved behind me.

"Don't be so foolish little girl, you're in my territory." His breath tickled my neck, making my blood boil.

"You're the foolish one," I hissed back at him, I pulled my arrow out of the tree and swung it around in my hand, the arrow shifting to now be the length of a staff, if staffs had tips that looked like battle axes. Turning on the spot I quickly jabbed forward, but all I could see was a tornado of leaves hurling themselves around.

"You're fast, but not fast enough." I smirked at the thought of selling his body on the black market, he is very foolish indeed, he may have escaped my attack but his heart is still pounding. I threw my staff in his direction, the wind taking to my advantage. I watched as a bird fell to the ground, its movements coming to an abrupt halt. What!?

"Such a pity that I couldn't stay and play for longer your highness but I have things to do and people to see, do you mind if I take this?, thanks." My eye twitched at him and his cocky words as he glided down from the tree and started to walk off with my weapon in his hand. Because of the tree's leaves It was too dark to see what he looked like, instead I followed his movements, his footsteps, his breathing.

"You can't trick me again, I won't allow it!" I shouted at the back of his head, his chuckling irritated me, but then it clicked... He has my weapon. I started sprinting after him, but he still kept at the same distance, no more, no less. Is he taunting me?

I took to the vines, I knew this forest like the back of my hand, if this man thought he could just prance in and mess with me he had another thing coming. His movements were swift, it was clear to me that he had training, no person would be able to match my speed without knowing what they're doing.

We were nearing the town, the outline of the bell tower giving away the towns position, it was only five minutes walking distance to the left, but at the speed he was going we were going to be early.

Quickly I charged, doing so in a different time to how I was earlier, caught off guard I had pinned him to the ground, but he wasn't going down without a fight and he easily pushed me off to the side.

We had reached the town. My face fell completely as I had lost him in the crowd of people who were all rushing to get home before the sky grew dark, supposedly the town was cursed and every night Beowolves would roam looking for a snack, seeing as the town has a rather large population of overweight people, it makes it an easy target.

I stopped rushing and stood still, 'Where would I go if I had a item of value'. The answer was all too clear, the black market. 'Luckily' it was located in the basement of Blue Moon tavern which was on the direct other side of town.

Heading out onto one of the four main streets, shrieks and cries crept out of the upper-class women as they gazed upon me with shock and horror.

"Where are your manners?!"

"People these days,"

"Surely someone should've beat some sense into you!" A rather large woman snorted, before she inhaled an equally large portion of air. Her clothes were those of the normal design, a fancy hairstyle and a corset, which the following rule applied to; the less you can breathe the fancier you are.

I just glared back at her, causing her to walk away nervously. The cobblestone paths curved in all directions and if it weren't for my common knowledge and the easily readable signs indicating the correct direction I would have never made it.

There it was, right in front of me. The blue circle that was painted on a hanging sign was just the same as last time, even the wooden walls still had a moldy green tinge. I shoved the door open and started to walk in, the sound attracted a few drunken looks and a curious bartender. I nodded to the man behind the counter who was wearily watching me and cleaning a mug at the same time, but he understood and hinted to a door beside the counter.

The door lead down a few set of stairs before it hit the cold stone basement, entering yet another door sounds roared to life, the cackle of old hags, the rough voices of brave adventurers and the familiar tone of a foolish man.

"I'll sell you this hairpin for ten!"

"Ten! Are you insane? What's so special about it?!"

"It shape-shifts." he cooed proudly. I grabbed his arm from behind careful not to let him escape again.

"It's not for sale." I added, my voice harsh.

"Listen kid, this is mine now so let the grown men do their job."

"You? Grown? How old are you, eighteen? And by the way I didn't chase you all this way to watch you sell it, I'm here to get it back!"

"The only way I'd ever give this back to you is if you manage to retrieve the dragons heart."

"Done." I said without thinking. He laughed hysterically at my response, but then noticed that I wasn't joking.

"You don't know how powerful the dragon is do you?"

"Congratulations on figuring that out, but I'm just trying to make a deal. You see back in the forest I managed to retrieve something from you, now you're going to lead me to the dragon and help me get the heart in order for the real trade and in return I'll give it back to you." I watched amused as he patted his pockets and took note of what the missing item was.

"Fine, but I'm warning you now it's a long journey there, you'll need all the sleep you can get." I followed him out the door and back upstairs, then back out onto one of the main streets.

The inn he was leading me to was just a few streets away and didn't take long on foot. 'Jaspers Inn' was carved into the side of the building. We headed in and checked out two rooms -I disapproved of us sharing a room- and we settled in for the night.

The night was filled with creaks and scratches from a tree outside and the building itself, but the rest remained quiet.