Ever After

Chapter Five

(1 Year Later)

I hear the guards shouting for me to stop. As if. I run with my bag full of the treasures I stole. Or more of "retrieved". My hood is still over my head and my cloak flies as I run as fast as my legs can carry me.

The guards run in a tight pack through the halls, but I'm still far ahead of them. I reach the end of the corridor and find a door. Rushing through it, I slam the door behind me and look for something to lock the door with from the outside. There was no key, and I didn't have time to pick it. I grabbed a near by candle holder and placed it between the handles of the two doors, locking the guards on the other side. I would have reveled in the accomplishment but I had to get out of there as soon as possible. Who knows who could appear to try and take me down.

Soon I'm out of the inside of the castle, and in the courtyard. The guards behind me will never catch up to me, I'm way to fast for them. I am about to open the gates when I hear a voice shout behind me.

"Stop where you are!" I put my hands up still holding the bag of loot, and turn around with a wicked grin on my face.

"Ok, Ok you caught me." I sighed. The person who told me to stop was holding a cross bow with an arrow notched in it aimed at me. I was a little shocked to him still holding it up, but I guess that being the most wanted criminal in most kingdoms leaves you with a reputation.

"Now," He started. I could tell he was trying to seem confident, but the tremble in his voice said otherwise. He must be a new recruit. "drop the bag and come with me."

"I'd rather not really." I said

"Drop the bag and come towards me or I will be forced to shoot!"

"Go ahead, everyone wants me dead anyway. Then you can go ahead and get your little prize money."

"I will shoot!"

"I'm counting on it." I smirk mischievously. The man shot in a matter of seconds and I leaned to the side dodging the arrow, it hit the rope that held the wheel of the gate from moving. I grabbed onto it right before the arrow hit the rope and was lifted into the air as the rope was pulled up on a reaction. I held onto it with one hand, the other still holding my prize and pretend saluted him with my two fingers to my head, and I jumped to the ledge of the outer wall of the castle that surrounded it. When I reached the top I let go of the rope. The rope flicked into the air and fell back down, I looked behind me and saw the man still standing there as backup came to support him. But they were already to late, I swung down off the ledge to the other side of the wall with the rope line I used to get inside the wall.

I placed my feet firmly on the ground and pulled the arrow and rope out of the wall, running into the forest in front of the castle. I ran to my makeshift shelter I set up in the forest the night before my heist. It was a small cave hidden by a row of vines that covered the entrance, making it look invisible. I pushed the vines away and went into my hideout. The fire had already gone out, no surprise, and all my stuff was still there. My sword was leaning against the wall of the cave, where I left it. At least I knew that no one found my hideout.

I took my bow and quiver off my back and put in next to my sword. Next I removed my daggers from my side notches. Besides the one I hid in the side of my boot. I kept my hood and cloak on, mainly because it kept me warm, even tough it was spring time. I never liked to take it off, it served as protection from the outside world, and as a way for me to keep my identity a secret.

Today is the one year anniversary of me running away from my Step-Family. It has been one year since I became truly free, one year since I left my old life behind, and became Ashes. I didn't start calling myself that, but once I completed my first heist, word spread about me. Some villagers and officials evidently decided to give me a criminal name, since no one knew who I was. They called me Ashes because I always kept ashes spread across my eyes playing as a mask. Or maybe I was, as some villagers I heard call, "like ashes, very hard to catch."

Either way, it kept people from knowing who I really was. I've been living on the run on my own for the last year, stealing from those people with bountiful treasures and riches. Then giving them back to the people who need it more. I'm sort of like Robin Hood, in the stories my mother used to read to me. But a little less noble, I take a small percentage for myself. They always insist on giving me some anyway, so I take very little of my earnings.

I couldn't stay here though. After I stole from those rich people, they always send soldiers to catch me. Although I've never been caught. I've been moving from kingdom to kingdom, village to village, always on the same path. I gathered my things and headed out the cave towards the village that was nearby. But then I heard the clomping of horses.

I couldn't outrun horses, but if they didn't find me then I would be in the clear. I didn't run back to the cave, if I hid there and they found me I would be cornered. But if I got high enough in a tree, they wouldn't be able to see me, and I would be to high for them to track me.

The grassy ground was good cover for my footprints, and I stepped lightly as I ran. The sound of horses got closer and there was no time for me to climb a tree. I ran but my pace started to slow down, I stopped for a second. And felt the wind of an arrow just narrowly miss my head.

"Over there!" A man shouted. The noise came to my direction, and I saw around fifteen men on brown chargers. The arrow hooked itself into a tree next to me and I pulled it out, putting it in my quiver.

I ran across the terrain, as the men got closer. I started to panic. I couldn't fight off that many men on horses. Running across the forest, a small cave came into view. It was too small for a horse to fit through, and not seeing any other option, I ducked into the small cave. I rolled and crawled backwards from the entrance.I saw the shadows of the horses feet in the front of the cave.

"Where did she go?" One soldier yelled.

"She's got to be here somewhere. Check the north side, we'll go west. She can't have gone far." Another ordered. The constant clomping of horses went to a minimum and soon they were gone. I sighed in relief and was going to relax against the back wall of the cave, but I fell onto the ground on my back. I tried getting up, but my head bumped the ceiling when I was about to align my back straight.

There was no end that I could feel. How long did this cave go for? Seemed more like a tunnel to me. I crouched down and tried to keep my balance while bending forward. It was barley big enough for a person my height to stand in, I had to crouch just so I could move.

I decided to follow the cave until the end. Maybe there was another way out besides the way the guards were searching, or maybe there was something hidden at the end.

I was crawling for a while, and I saw a light near the end of the tunnel. I tried going faster, eager to get out of the tunnel. I grabbed onto the rock wall when I got outside and stood up. And in front of me, stood an enormous tower that seemed to be over seventy feet tall.