Game of the Night

Chapter 1: Thievery

     Octavia rode a brown horse through the forest, two men riding behind her and quickly catching up. She looked over her shoulder with pink eyes. She growled in frustration and kicked her horse on both sides and clicked her tongue. The horse ran faster and a log came up ahead. She leaned down on her horse as it jumped over the log. It landed on all four hooves with a thump and continued running.

     She looked down to her belt to see her long barrel pistol hidden within her cloak along with two swords she kept on either side of her. She pulled it out and aimed towards one of the men on horseback behind her. She fired and got him in the head. She quickly turned back around and steered her horse through the thick underbrush of the horse. Soon they came to a clearing and she jumped off her horse and tumbled a little then got up. The second man behind her and came into view. He slowed his horse to a stop and looked at the hooded girl in front of him. Octavia looked up at the man and drew one of her swords and got into a fighting stance. The man approached her and drew his sword. A glare came to Octavia's face and the man swung at her. Octavia swiftly went to the side and thrusts her sword at the man. He turned and blocked the hit then swung again. Octavia ducked from the swing then swept his feet from under him and the man fell to the ground. Octavia put a foot on the chest of the man and hit his sword out of his hand. he looked at her in fear. Octavia rose her sword then swung it down, hitting him in the neck. A crow cawed from a nearby tree and Octavia looked toward it. She whistled and her horse came to her sighed and whinnied. She put her sword in its sheath then climbed onto her horse and rode off out of the forest at a canter. 

     Octavia reached a town by the name off Thame. People walked around the streets of the market village. She looked around and her horse had a slow walk. Once she got to a thicker road and was around horse-drawn carriages. She was close to her home and she excited to sit at her table and eat a homecooked meal. She came to a small house with a stable to the side of it. She smiled at the house and dismounted her horse and pulled it into the stable. A sweet scent came from the house and she smiled bigger and took the gear off of her horse and put it in the tiny tack room. She brushed off her horse and fed and watered him then went to the front door and walked in. "Mother! I am home!" Called out Octavia through the house. She had a thick Scottish accent with a hint of British. A woman in an emerald ragged dress came out from a hallway and smiled at the cloaked girl. She immediately hugged her daughter. "Ah, it is so good to have you home. I reckon your trip was fine?" Asked her mother. she had a british accent but Octavia got the scottish from her father. her heart fell when she thought of her father but she was distracted from the thought in her head by her mother taking off Octavia's cloak from her shoulders. Octavia sighed and let her mother take her cloak out to the wash bin to be cleaned from the blood that was obtained. 

     Octavia went to the small house's kitchen and sat at the dining table. She laid her head back and sighed in relief, happy to be home. She had been gone two... no three weeks. She looked around the kitchen to find it pristine and clean. Her mother had washed it for her return. she got up and went to the counter and examined the dusted wood. Her mother walked back in and smiled "Oh my darling I'm glad you are safe from harm." She said and hugged Octavia. Octavia hugged her mother back with a smile on her face. her mother lets go and went to the oven they had and used a hand towel to pull out a pie. Her mother set it on the counter and Octavia went over and sniffed it. Apple. her favorite. She smiled and went to taste test it but her mother smacked her on the back of the head with a towel. Octavia grumbled and there was a knock on the door. Octavia grabbed her pistol and her mother hid behind a wall. Octavia cautiously opened the door only to be greeted by a bear hug. At that moment she realized it was her uncle Augustine and his wife Amill. Her uncle was a blacksmith while his wife was a seamstress. When Octavia wasn't out on her trips and missions she worked for her uncle in the shop. 

     Octavia gasped for air and tapped her uncle's arm and he immediately let go. "It is so good to have you back!" He said and grabbed her arms with firm hands and examined his albino niece. "Beautiful as always." Commented Amill with a smile. Octavia smiled and nodded. "Thank you Aunt Amill. Please come in. Mother just baked a pie and it is cooling now." Said Octavia and stepped out of the way so her family could walk in. Her mother came out from behind the wall and smiled at the two newcomers. "Augustine, Amil, welcome." She greeted and hugged them. The three adults went to the kitchen and sat at the table while Octavia handled their coats. Her uncle was a middle-class man and her aunt was the best seamstress in town. Each summer they take a trip to London and bring Octavia and her mother. "So miss Ms. Rosa," Said Augustine with a smile "are you and Octavia wanting to join us in our trip to London this year?" He added on and looked between the two women. Rosa smiled and nodded. "Of course. Octavia plans on staying the next two weeks." Her mother said and Octavia got some plates from the cupboard. "I'm going to try. But I can't resist a good paying deal." Said Octavia and she started cutting up the pie. She let her family talk as she served the pie. She leaned on a wall and listened to her family talk as they all ate their pie. Amill looked to Octavia and smiled. "How was your trip?" She asked and octavia looked at her. "It was... Nice." She said remembering the incident in the forest. "I'm going to go look around town. I missed it." She said and walked out of the house.   

Octavia wandered the town. People in market stands yelling out prices and holding up items, woman gossiping and men getting drunk in  pubs. Yup, she was home. She was happy where she was and wouldn't trade it for anything in her life. She thought about the trip she just came back from. Really it wasn't a trip. She was an assassin. Not a well-known assassin. she became one to avenge her father. He was killed at the hands of the king because he was accused of thievery and assassination. Although she knew it wasn't true. She wanted to kill the king and avenge her father but only in time. she thought of many ways of killing the king but none ever stuck in her head. All except two. poisoning the king and killing him the same way he did to her father. Her hand clenched in a fist thinking of her father's death. The thought was cleared from her head when she heard a man yelling from a market. "Help! Thief!" Octavia looked up to see a man in rags running from a stand. Her eyes turned to slits and she broke into a run after him. She slipped through the crowd easily after him, who wasn't that good at maneuvering. 

     They reached the town square by the church and Octavia easily caught up with him and tackled him to the ground. They wrestled for a few moments until she was able to pin him to the stone ground. A crowd had gathered around the two and she watched the thief with a burning glare. "What did you steal?" She said to him and he only smirked and didn't respond. Octavia then punched him. "What did you steal?" that time she yelled at him. She heard something roll beside them and looked to her side that he had stolen a few apples and a loaf of bread. She growled and turned back to the thief only to see he had a knife in hand. He swiped it at Octavia and got her on the cheek under her eye. Her hand flew to her cheek and rested over the cut. The thief easily escaped and a man came up behind Octavia and helped her up "Here let me see your cheek." He said in a deep voice. She looked to the man and he had a kind smile on his face. "Do not worry my father is a doctor." He said and sighed. "You will need to get it cleaned and bandaged." He said and Octavia pulled away from him. "I can do it at home." She said and started walking away. She was never really helped and when she was it was from her mother.

     The man watched octavia leave in a hurry. She gingerly touched her cheek and blood got on her finger. She sighed and reached her home and walked in. Her mother, uncle, and aunt all looked at her and her mother gasped and ran up to her. Amil got a wet rag and ointment and started treating the cut. "What happened?" Rosa frantically asked her albino daughter. Octavia pulled away from her mother and aunt. "I'm fine. Just a thief in the market." Octavia muttered. Her mind drew to the doctor's son who helped her. Only one doctor resided in Thame and her mind clicked. She talked to the town pretty boy, Evan. She huffed and went to her room. She wanted to some rest since she going to start working in the blacksmith the next day with her uncle. She changed out of her corset and leather pants and boots and put on a nightgown and laid down in her bed. She started falling asleep and soon was in dreamland.