Rags and Riches

Ch. 2: RUN. OH MY GOD, RUN. - Shayne

Stupid stupid stupid!

My feet slapped the rocky road of this godforsaken Kingdom as I tried to keep my breathing steady.

That was so stupid!

All I could hear was the sound of my heart beating wildly in my ears, as the hat that Keith wouldn't shut up about the other day softly bounced against my thigh in a bag.

Quickly turning a corner, daring a glance back at my pursuers, I accidentally knocked over a woman who was just leaving the market with her groceries. I hastily apologized before continuing to run for my life, only to hear a string of insults behind me.

Today was not one of my good days. Normally, I wouldn't have any damn guards chasing after me, and even if I did they wouldn't be this hot on my tail. Horses! Why did the guards have to have horses!?

If I had just simply looked where I was going, if I hadn't taken so long searching for my key, I could've easily walked out of that market scot-free. But nope, here I am on the run, and still with no key. Nice going, Shayne.

Colourful curses and swears continued racing through my mind.

When I first realized my key was gone, it was yesterday in the evening. I was down at the bar with Keith and Noah when Noah pointed it out to me. I freaked out. Badly. Ever since that day, I've been ever so slightly off my game.

...okay, really off my game. And here I am: being chased my goddamn guards because of my goddamn key. A grimace spread onto my face as I accidentally hit a protruding booth.

I've got to keep running. Don't look back, just keep running. After all, if the impending hooves of the horses did anything, it just motivated me to push myself harder.

I was panicking. If I had my key, I would be more confident, but now nothing seemed to go right. Luckily, my feet still seemed to fly from underneath me, despite my body begging me to stop to take a breather. But, this is life or death. I don't have exactly have the time or comfort for a break.

Before I knew it, my legs eventually led me to the town of Hsoms, where life was cleaner and busier. What sucks though is that it was more high class as well, not really opening their arms to anyone that looks like a nobody peasant, or at least like me. There are people as far as the eye can see just milling about their day as if nothing was wrong.

I was a little hesitant running into the crowd. No doubt they'll cause a ruckus with me in the midst of their town, but before I could continue to debate the sounds of hoofbeats began to rumble behind me. With that, I ran straight into the crowd, bumping into almost every person possible.

"Sorry!" "Pardon me." "Excuse me." "Nice hair, dude." Behind me were a sea of grumbling people. No one likes the poor amongst them.

Sparing a glance back at the guards, I almost laughed out loud seeing how difficult the guards were finding it to get across this crowd. Then, unexpectedly, a few guards dashed out of view. Oh god, they were going to try and get in front of me. I didn't even think of that! So stupid! In my panic, I took a random turn, crashed into a few more people, before ultimately diving down into an alleyway. I cursed myself when I realized that I had just landed myself in front of a dead end.

Faced with a seemingly hopeless brick wall, I almost lost it. First toe stubbing, then my key disappearing to who knows where, and now this! I desperately groped the walls for bricks I could use to climb to my escape. An authoritative voice made me freeze - "Topp." - and my ears perked. The voice was familiar. Very familiar.