Obsidian Bone

3. Thief

I smiled as I ran into my fathers arms before he had even stepped through the door.

He caught me, despite the surprise of my loving attack, and laughed as he swung me around.

"How was your trip?" I asked as he carried me towards his study, nodding at Josephine with a smile. She always looked after me.

"Well..."

He launched into a tale of fairy's and princesses, dragons and knights, magic and myth.

We ate dinner in his study as he showed me things he'd brought back from his adventure, placing a completely black shell against my ear and telling me that it was used to take the sea with you no matter where you went.

I wanted us to stay there forever, we would talk about all his adventures and we would be... happy.

But fates never really interested in happiness... has it?

I stumbled back, slamming into a wooden drawer and I heard the sound of a vase shattering in my ears as I cradled my head, the world a complete blur before me.

"Arabelle!" The rushing sound of footsteps came closer and I tried to stand on unbalanced feet. "What happened to-"

I heard the clash of metal and I ran a hand through my hair, letting out a sob. I was rocking on my feet.

"Stop. Please stop." Images flashed through my mind, embedding themselves in my memory. "Stop!"

My vision began to clear and a hiccup escaped through my lips, my cheeks were stained with tears.

I stared at Kiera as she held her own against the thief, but she just didn't have enough training. I quickly tightened my grip around my khopesh, surprised I was still holding it, and slammed the hilt into the back of the thief's head.

His body crumpled to the floor and I kicked him once for good measure, making sure he was unconscious.

I felt a pair of hands grab hold of me and I looked at Kiera's dark skinned hands a she held me up.

My hands felt numb as I reached for a pocket on my belt, pulling free a small black capsule that had been ringed once with green.

I carefully began to stagger out of the house, with Kiera's help, and crushed the capsule in my hand. I didn't react to the green smoke that came from it and instead chose to stare at the forgotten garden out the front of the house.

This wasn't how it was supposed to be.

I glanced away and saw four Defenders making their way towards us, cutting through the smoke.

"We saw the smoke!" Kiera's older brother, Jayden, sighed in relief when he saw Kiera was fine, like, bleeding a bit... still. "What happened?"

I wiped the back of my hand across my mouth, trying to get rid of the taste of bile. "A thief, he was stealthy about it, too, but had enough sword skill. Commander should've tightened defences knowing that the only people out their are greedy little wolves."

He nodded, looping his arm through Kiera's. "You don't mind if I take her, do you?"

I shook my head. "Just make sure she's healthy enough to come on a supply run tomorrow."

She groaned. "I can't, don't get me wrong, I would love to, but I'm just so damn ill."

I rolled my eyes. "Come on, Kiera, it's good training for when you'll have to do it."