The Moonlight Thief

Chapter 1

Hey guys! I tried to stay in 3rd person (someone telling what happens from a bystander's perspective), but occasionally I wouldn't be paying enough attention and would accidentally switch to first person (I, me). I believe that I fixed all those mistakes and others, but if I messed some or something just doesn't quite make sense, PLEASE tell me. I hope you enjoy this book (:

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The still and starless night is awoken, filled with distant shouting and the pounding of hurried footsteps growing nearer.

"Get back here you rotten thief--you--you dirty pest!" Spat an angry man whose leather and polished armor rubbed and crashed together to add to the growing music of the night. Sharp metallic clinking noises sang out with every step that smacked against the well traveled pathway like a travelers tambourine.

Up ahead, the guards could still see their target as they ran with their life on the line. Like a game of cat and mouse, predator and pray, it will end just the same if their quarry is caught.

If the near silent figure is ensnared, they will face an unwanted, and untimely, ending by being burned alive or hung in the old town center right outside the aged stone wall that surrounds the palace, or they will be placed in jail to die and rot away like an old fallen tree burdened by time. None of which are very pleasant fates to fall victim to, but all serve as a reminder of what would befall any who dared to even allow the whisper of a doubt against the current monarchy be known.

The shadowed and staggering figure knew they didn't want to die as their mind raced to find an escape from the looming beast. Feet raced against the earth like the thundering heart in their chest in a desperate attempt to escape the claws of the gluttonous lion. Weakened and wounded legs burned with a ferocity as if placed in hot coals with the seemingly endless running they were doing. In the closing distance, the labored figure could hear the angry shouts and sputters of the soldiers in pursuit of a life and favor of the king. The dancing meadows to either side of the road was almost gone as they approached the largely forested area that could provide refuge to all who seek it.

The soldiers had begun fretting that they would lose the thief if they reached the path hidden by night and looming trees, so the few archers in their group paused in their game of cat and mouse to draw back feathered arrows on strings of desperation. Arrows fly and soaring metal glints in the light of the curious moon before they begin to run again in an attempt to catch up with the rest of the pursuing soldiers.

Further ahead in the hushed forest, just a little ways off of the path, two fairly young companions hear a sharp cry in pain echo out, nearby birds being startled out of once quiet nests. They both look to each other, as if looking for confirmation that the other had heard it, too.

With an inquisitive look at each other, both decided with a simple nod of the head that they would tread lightly, but investigate what was transpiring nearby.

After staying to the deeper shadows near the path for a few minutes while jogging towards where the cry had been, they began to hear heavy, familiar footsteps thundering down the path and ducked into the embrace of nearby bushes as they listened to the angry yelling draw close before whispering away.

From what the two had gathered, the soldiers had been in pursuit of a young man, apparently close to their own age of 20, who had been stealing food meant for the king and had just recently stolen some possessions from a noble who had come to visit the king.

A second group of soldiers marched past them, all of whom were archers from the looks of their lighter armor and the bows in their hands. Their loud argument about whose arrow it was that hit the man they had been pursuing and where they think that he ran off to eventually faded further into the forest as well.