A Kingdom of Tales

Chapter 1

The Gods seem to be particularly cruel today. Not only did I wake to a bird defecating on my face, but there also seems to be a mob of bounty hunters on my tail. I risk a look over my shoulder, only to see them closer than they were before. Great. This is exactly what I needed. Not. I send a silent prayer to Odar. Gods know I need all the luck I can get.

Normally, it isn't this hard to get rid of the goddamn bounty hunters, but the bounty on my head got larger this morning, so now they're more persistent. I turn the corner onto Harbor Street, hoping the crowdedness will help me get away.

"Excuse me! Coming through!" I yell. No one hears me, though, which means I'm going to have to push through the crowd. I send another quick prayer to Odar before I'm forcefully thrust into the center of the busiest street in all of Telmor.

***

Trying to get through is harder than I expected. Everyone has somewhere to be and isn't willing to let me through. When I realized how stupid it was to try to push, though, I dropped to my knees and started to crawl my way between people's legs.

"Ouch!" I cry out as someone steps on my hands. It is to be expected, though, so I take it and continue.

After making my way to an alley at the end of the street, I let out a sigh of relief at having lost the bounty hunters. I slide down the wall and take a moment to assess my next move, clutching my necklace tightly. Obviously, going back to that inn isn't a good idea now that they know who I am. I'll have to throw away my fake papers too. The innkeeper has probably alerted the city guards to my fake name.

The best course of action right now is probably to go see my forger to get a new set of papers. I pull my bag off my back and rummage through it, pulling out my wallet. I'd started running low on funds a few days ago. The meager amount of cash in my hands reminds me of the day everything went to hell.

***

It was a seemingly normal day. Alanna had woken me up gently, as usual. She'd brushed out my hair and made me breakfast. It was a beautiful day outside, so she decided that taking my etiquette lesson in the garden would be nice. I agreed frantically, as it'd been a while since the weather was good enough to take a lesson outside.

Later, after I'd had my lunch, Onyx took me fishing. He'd been adamant about me learning some practical skills in case I'd ever need them. I whined all the way to the pond. Fishing was my least favorite thing to do. It required patience, something I severely lacked.

Then, when Melody had finally come to save me from Onyx's torture, she gave me my final science class. I loved Melody. She was definitely my favorite "godparent," as I loved to call them. From a very young age, they'd explained to me that I was not in fact a child of theirs, though I was convinced Melody was my mother, considering we both had the same shade of blonde hair and green eyes.

Afterwards, Cerise asked me which hobby I wanted to work on. It was the first time she'd done that. She was the bossiest of them all. Maybe a part of her knew it would be our last day together. I asked her if I could paint, and she said yes. I drew a landscape painting of the garden in our backyard. All the lilies and jasmines were beautiful that time of year.

When I started feeling tired, Bastian appeared. He had a strange ability to appear when I was exhausted. He always stressed the importance of being able to fight on the verge of passing out. I'd whined and whined all day, not having any energy to workout, but in the end, I did train. I suppose I'll always be grateful for his lessons the most; they're the only reason I'm alive today, after all.

On our run, we encountered bounty hunters. Until that day, I hadn't known that I had a bounty on my head. We all lived in a small cottage in the middle of a forest, and that was that. I hadn't thought about questioning it.

As soon as the men came into our view, Bastian told me to run back to the cottage to warn everyone. "Tell Melody I love her." He'd whispered in my ear before pushing me away.

He was unarmed against three men. I don't know how they knew where we were. We were as secluded as we could get. We grew our own produce and hunted our own meat, never leaving the cottage for more than a few minutes at a time to get water from a nearby well.

I ran as fast as my legs could take me. I was already fully grown at 16 with long enough legs that Cerise, the shortest of us, always teased me about, so it didn't take me long to reach the cottage.

When I reached the cottage, Melody, who was reading a book as she did every night to prepare for the next day's lesson, looked at me with alarm. I'd returned without Bastian. That was enough to scare her. I didn't even have to explain what had happened.

She took my face in her hands and hugged me tightly. Then she pulled me towards her bedroom and told me to wait for her.

I heard her calling for everyone else and telling them that it was time. Had they been preparing for this? Tears that had started falling were starting to dry up. I had to be strong. This is what Bastian had trained me for. How could I have left him like that? Part of me knew that it was irrational to think we could've taken these men, big as they were. But I was beyond rationality at this point, and the thought of Bastian dying made my eyes swell with more tears.

Melody returned a moment later with Cerise, who had a duffel bag with her. They started stuffing the bag with what looked like money, clothes, and some essentials. I managed to put the painting I drew earlier in the bag.

I couldn't possibly understand what they were doing. Bastian needed our help. I voiced my concerns out loud, and all I got was a look from Cerise that told me all I needed to know. We weren't going to help Bastian. 

We were going to run away.