Enigma

Prologue

She was running as fast as she could, the book she stole firmly clutched in her hand. The sound of guards running after her was thundering in her ears. She was becoming breathless and the fact that she was continuously tripping over her stupid gown certainly didn't make things easier. Running down a narrow twisted staircase she was sure that they were going to get her, she could almost feel the guards breathing down her neck. How could she have possibly thought that she would be able to outrun them? How could she have thought that she would be able to pull shit of this size alone? Stupid, stupid girl. 

She knocked down a couple of hallway candles to slow them down but it only barely helped. Using the tiny head-start she got, she pulled through and ran even faster, her vision going black from the exhaustion of escaping from a castle of this grand size. She could almost see the big door which would lead her right out into the city, right out of the reach of the guards when the most unfortunate thing happened - she tripped over her gown and fell. The book slid a couple of meters ahead on the marble floor. Fuck. Fuck! She was about to stand up when a guard struck with a sword aiming at her legs. She heard the impact and was waiting for the excruciating pain but it didn't come. I can't believe he missed, she thought. Using his clumsiness to her advantage she grabbed the skirt of her dress and pulled hard causing the bottom of her dress to tear and the guard to lose his balance, falling to the ground. 

She grabbed the book and sprinted out of the door and into the night. She kept running a couple more streets, just to be sure. Finally, when she was sure that no guards were close by she stopped in one of the dark alleys and tried to catch her breath. Weird that I shook them off so fast she thought. Looking at her pocket watch she noticed it's almost 1 in the morning. She must've been running for a good half an hour. She traced over the cover of the book with her gloved hands. I can make everything right, she thought, I can finally fix everything. And then she heard the clanging of an armor. Well, I didn't shake them off yet then. But the reality was far worse. It was not the the fancy castle guards she slowly realised as she noticed the smoke, that blue smoke materialising into a creature - a Guard of the Night and he was not alone. 

"Oh fuck." she exclaimed as she realised that her life is probably about to end.