The Runaway Queen

Chapter 9

"Who are you. And why where you asking about the priest?" A guy paces in front of the chair where I sit.

"My names Lynx-I'm a pretty well known thief in Faiyria. And the priest took in one of my buddy's a while back and I've never heard from her since. I wanted to ask the priest where my friend has gone." I lie smoothly. The guy looks at me suspiciously.

"Your a thief? Why should I believe you?" He snarls. This is the golden opportunity I've been waiting for. I hold up a dented pocket watch I had snatched off of him earlier.

"Looking for this?" I tease.

His eyes widen as he snatches back the watch.

"You little-" He starts, but a girl stalks into the tent.

"I'll take it from here Oric." She says. Then the girl looks at me.

I gasp. Its Malikah.

Malikah was the servant in charge of me at Asenhouse. She looked after my clothing and my hygiene. I liked her. But now she looks different. Her black hair is cut short and is tied up in a bandanna. A fierce scowl mars her beautiful features.

"Malikah?" I ask softly, so the nobody but her can hear me.

"Quiet scumbag. It's Mali-got it?" She yells at me. Then she lowers her voice.

"Lynx what are you doing here? I thought Gai was going to take you to Delllea?" She hisses. I look at her in confusion. Doesn't she know? Then I realize-she doesn't know that I'm the Queen. What I tell her now could be the difference between life or death. If I tell her the truth she could tell the thieves. They would probable hand me over to the Amazon's. But I don't want to lie to Malikah. At one point in time, she was one of the few people I trusted. What choice do I have?

"Gai was a liar. But you already knew that." I scoff. Technically I'm not lying. Gai is a liar.

Malikah looks at me suspiciously. She looks like she's had a tough couple months. She is much skinnier then I remember, and the long black hair I always loved is cut unevenly at her jaw. I don't want my friend to suffer like this. My heart goes out to her.

"Malikah..." I whisper. I reach my out my hand, but the moment our skin touches, she pulls back violently.

"Its Mali now. I'm not the same girl you knew Lynx. Not anymore. From now on you answer to me got it?" She spits angrily at me. Then she stalks out of the tent.

I'm woken hours later by Branwen.

"What'd you do to Mali? She was really mad when she came outta the tent." Branwen talks fast. Now that I see her up close, she looks about 9. She has mousy brown hair and of course, those grey eyes. She's so small that a gust of wind could blow her away. She infuriates me.

"Why would I tell you after you got me here?" I ask sadistically. Branwen looks at me.

"I gotta do what I gotta do to survive. You know that." She responds. I do know that. I understand how hard it is for a girl to survive on the streets.

I sigh.

"We've run into each other before and I guess she wasn't to happy about seeing me again." I mutter. Branwen nods and hands me a plate with a hard burnt bun and a bowl of watery soup on it. I usually would turn my nose up at it, but right now I'm so hungry I'd eat anything.

"Thanks." I say grudgingly. She puts the plate on my lap.

"I can't eat with my hands tied." I tell her honestly. Branwen looks suspiciously at me.

"How do I know that you won't run off?" She asks. I grin.

"I'm in a camp full of people that hate me. I wouldn't get far." I tell her. Branwen stares at me for a while longer before sighing loudly.

"Fine!" She mutters before walking behind me. I smile mischievously when I know she's not looking.

Her mistake.

After Bran leaves, I slurp down the soup and stuff the hard black bread in my baggy shirt for later. Then I get to work at the knots on my feet. I'm so preoccupied that I don't notice the footsteps outside the tent until they're upon me. Too late to rewrap my hands. So when Mali stalks in, I just sit there presumedly with a guilty expression on my face. She doesn't react. Mali just roughly yanks me out of my chair and throws me towards the door.

"Your coming with us."