Death Angel

Chapter Two - The Little Bandit

Maritae Kai crouched behind a wooden barrel and peeked through a hole that went straight through to the other side. Just in her line of vision was her target: a shopping cart that sold something that was much rarer nowadays. Food. Maritae’s stomach growled and her mouth began to water at the very thought of bread and cheese, no matter how stale and hard. In the spirit world of Unoando, it was rare for souls to ever feel hunger. Food was only sold because some souls ate as an activity, not to sustain themselves.

Maritae was one of the very few who needed to nourish and hydrate herself daily. It was very inconvenient, especially in the District. Many of the shopping carts that wheeled up and down the streets of Divum City – or any City for that matter – seldom sold food. When they did, most of the time, the food was old, came in small quantities or, when she was extremely unlucky, both.

Today, however, seemed to be her lucky day. Not only was the quantity of the food large enough to keep her going till tomorrow night, it also seemed to be selling fresh, warm meat. Maritae’s stomach grumbled again and she grimaced. At this very rate, she’d fail to get any. It was getting close to the end of the day and meat was usually thrown to the rabid dogs that dwelled in the underground alleyways after closing hours. It seemed ridiculous that animal souls needed food more than human souls.

Maritae stood up slowly, pulling her hood of her cloak over her head, and then walked casually towards the cart. The cart-keeper ignored her and turned to another customer that had obviously walked up after her. She shrugged and peered down at other goods next to the food that the cart was selling, crossing her hands behind her to resist the temptation. She kept her eyes pinned on the delicate goods, making sure her eyes didn’t stray towards the food. Slowly and carefully, she pulled out a leather bag from under her cloak and glanced quickly at the cart-keeper who was still busy talking to the other customer. She turned back to her blind examination.

She half-closed her eyes and using her mind’s eye, she pinpointed the food and then pushed at them with her mind. Slowly, the food dropped into her bag. The bag quickly filled and she pulled out another bag and began loading it with food as well. Rarely did she ever need more than one bag, but today, the food seemed to be able to fill at least three of her bags. Chang-Hau had named her his ‘Little Bandit’ because of her scavenging through the streets of Unoando’s cities.

“HEY!”

A shout jerked her from her concentration and her eyes flew open. The cart-keeper ran from behind his cart, pushing his customer in progress, and waved his paper fan madly above his head. Maritae bit her lip to stop herself from screaming in frustration and tucked the bags of food under her arm. She spun on her heels and ran, grabbing as many of the leftover food as she could before stuffing them into her third bag. She slung the bags over her shoulder and pumped her legs harder. The shouts and screams of passing pedestrians whistled past her ears and she pushed them aside, baring her teeth with contempt and menace. As she got further into the crowd, the yells of the cart-keeper faded and she whirled around a corner into an empty alley.

Maritae slowed and pressed her hand against the grimy wall to catch her breath. Her breath came out in harsh, raspy puffs, but before she even allowed herself to return to a normal rhythm, she started walking in the direction of her home. It would take at least fifteen minutes to get out of the city and another hour to get home. The sun was setting and already, the howls of rabid and felines echoed.

Maritae quickened her pace. She knew Chang-Hau hated it when she returned home after dark, but today, it couldn’t be helped.

As Maritae started to near the edge of the city, the wall that loomed tall enough to cast a shadow on all of Divum City neared. The wall was known as the Dividium Wall and was what separated the two sections of Unoando, the world of souls. The section that she currently occupied was known as the District. The District had a total of sixteen major cities – Divum being one – and other smaller towns dotted across the continent.