The Arcana

Chapter One: The Ten of Swords

With sacks slung over our each of our slight shoulders, we sprinted through the alleys and backstreets of Glimmenshire. Desperately, we flung our tiny bodies over barrels and crates, and slid under whatever we could. My bare feet ached from trampling the debris littered all around us. Fresh and bloody scrapes covered my arms and legs in a sickening pattern of splotches, and each movement made them feel even more raw. Still, we had an advantage over our pursuers. In the gloom of night, finding the way through the labyrinth of jumbled up alley ways was never a challenge for any of us. At least, not tonight.

"Al!" I shouted ahead with a voice hoarse from exhaustion. "Where are we going? This isn't the route we planned on!" I could hear the dogs behind us, slowly gaining distance over time. I'd heard horror stories of the officers letting the dogs take their sweet time mauling anyone they caught before the officers even thought to take the mauled victim to the station. I shuddered at the thought, but the adrenaline kept me running.

"I don't know! I got lost somewhere along the line!" he yelled back and threw himself over a box. Following suit, I copied his movements.

"What do you mean you got lost?!"

"I'm not as good at retracing my steps as you!"

"This is why I was supposed to be the leader!"

"Calm down you idiots!" Sophie piped up from the back. In a fit of fury-fueled speed she launched herself ahead of us and pulled us into a tiny space between buildings. Dropping the potato sack, her nimble fingers retrieved one of the stolen items. A golden trinket box no larger than her hand was haphazardly tossed to the ground. She pulled off the thin sweater that covered her shoulders and wrapped it the box in it. Then, she pushed it into my hands.

Looking me straight into the eye she ordered, "Throw it. It should get the dogs off our backs."

"What?"

"Just do it!"

I obliged, and pitched it as far as possible down the street. Sophie nodded in approval and pointed to a small trash bin. "Pull that over here."

I did as I was told. Looking to the outline of Sophie again, I opened my mouth to ask 'now what?' She clamped her hand over my shoulder and put a finger to her lips. I said nothing. The three of us only produced one sound; the smothered sound of muffled breathing. The officers and dogs drew closer, barking turned to whining and howling. One, a huge shepherd dog pressed his nose to the ground. It wandered over to our spot where we hid frozen in terror, breathing muffled by our hands. My heart pounded in my ears as the dog inspected the area, and turned back around to search where we had come from.

"Damn!" One of the police officers griped. "Another false lead!"

"They could have doubled back around Chief Inspector. Why don't we split up from here?" A woman said.

"Officer Greymont, I should say that is a splendid idea. However, I will take Officer Bowman here and go back. I think he needs some time to cool down." This garnered some grumbles from the officer. "I want you to go down the trail to the left here - we've been running for a long time, and the dogs need to be rested."

"Hm. Fine. While I don't agree with you, I must lie low to the fact you have more experience than I. I will reconvene with you at sunrise as planned, yes?"

"Correct." With that the police officers split apart. What seemed like hours passed by before any of us dared to move. I reached forward to shuffle the metal bin aside. Sophie yanked me back down the alley and whispered, "This area keeps going and hits another alley here. From there we can get back to where we're supposed to be going."