When the Blade Calls (Open Novella Contest)

Chapter 1:

Once upon a time, you might have seen children dance merrily with pixies, men bartering with goblins for finely made daggers and other crafts glittering with jewels, and dwarves bellowing prices as they lured potential buyers for expertly carved works of stone. At least, that was what Ariadna's father had told her. As cliche as it sounded, the races lived in harmony. As she strolled through the nearly empty market place, she couldn't help but compare the vivid scene her Father had described to the abandoned land before her eyes. There were few stands open, either selling produce or cloths. Even then the variety was dismal, and the stall owners were all noticeably human and very old. As she walked pass, a few wrinkled foreheads would raise their heads hopefully, before resuming staring blankly at the ground after it was clear Ariadna had not come to purchase anything. Ariadna felt a slight twinge of guilt. Reaching into her pocket, she could only dig out 2 silver pennies. One would be enough for a small loaf of bread.

Ariadna strode towards the stall and pressed a silver penny into the palm of the old man tending to the 5 loaves on the table. His face crinkled into a warm smile as his fingers enclosed the penny gratefully and handed her a loaf. Just as she reached out to accept the loaf, Ariadna was thrown off-balance as she felt somebody hastily push past her. She could only register a dirty hand sweep across the table to shove the remaining loaves into a sack before turning on his heels to make an escape. The old man let out a cry of surprise before gesturing violently to Ariadna, "Please! Help me get him!"

Ariadna did not have to think twice before taking off after the thief, running as fast as her legs could take her. While the marketplace was rather sparse, it spanned an incredibly large area and the few stalls that were open had been set up rather haphazardly. Stools randomly littered the ground and random pieces of unidentifiable objects were strewn across the dusty ground. As Ariadna gained on the thief, she saw him quickly glance back at the sound of her impending footsteps. Cursing, and probably knowing he would not win on speed, he had apparently taken a chance on agility. Nimbly, he leapt from a fallen stool to a stall selling rolls of dyed cloth, swiftly kicking the rolls behind him. Swirls of colour briefly filled the air as multiple rolls started to unravel.  Ariadna exhaled sharply and blindly swept away the cloths as best as she could with her hands before likewise leaping onto the stall. An extremely frustrated groan was heard from her right. As Ariadna's eyes rapidly darted to the side, she faced the glare of a middle-aged woman who clearly was not looking forward to cleaning up their mess.

"Terribly sorry," Ariadna uttered as she flashed an apologetic smile. A quick glance up told her that the thief was getting further away. Ariadna continued following the thief's path, leaping from stall to stall. The heavy crashes of her leather boots into the wooden stands rang around the marketplace.

By now, she had caused enough of a scene for all the stall holders within the vicinity to watch the drama unfold. Some of them had briefly considered lending a helping hand to the brave young lady, but settled on watching their heroine in her pursuit of the criminal. After all, this was the only entertainment they were probably going to get in days as slow as these.

Ariadna clenched her teeth, determined to follow through in this pursuit. The thief jumped down the last stall in the row. She landed seconds after, kicking up a cloud of dust. The thief disappeared behind the raised platform where bartering took place. She followed. The thief dived behind alternating pillars in the adjacent building. So did she.

Inwardly, as she chased him, she could feel her heart rate quicken even further and her breathing become a little more ragged. While Ariadna considered herself a reasonably fast runner, it occurred to her that the last time she was running this fast had been a really long time ago. In fact, when exactly was the last time she'd chased anyone like this? With a sinking feeling in her chest, Ariadna figured that she wouldn't be able to keep up with him forever. Perhaps she should have stuffed the bread into her mouth before she started running.

As the thief rounded the corner of the building, he wrapped himself at a pillar and began to climb. Ariadna groaned. She could run, she could jump, she could fight, but she absolutely could not climb. As though he had read her mind, Ariadna saw him smirk as he continued to scale the pillar. But Ariadna had too much pride to give up as easily as that. As the thief internally celebrated his perceived victory, he had unconsciously slowed down. Ariadna threw herself at the wall, and instead of climbing, she sprung up and made a grab for the cloth of his pants which were hanging down. The thief instinctively raised both his legs a little higher. He peered down at her, unmoving. Confidence radiated from his expression and he made no attempt to continue climbing higher up. Ariadna gritted her teeth. Then, out of the corner of her eye, she noticed that since he was climbing the pillar while holding the sack of bread in his right hand, staying still was causing him to slip ever so slowly down...

Standing firmly, she continued to maintain the eye contact. She started to slouch just a little so it seemed as though the same distance remained between them. Internally, she began to celebrate as he slid just a little more...then she leapt up, grabbing his right leg and firmly ripped him off the pillar. The thief's eyes widened in shock and his mouth fell agape as he helplessly fell backwards. Ariadna used her weight to drag him downwards with her, all the while gripping his leg firmly. Both of them tumbled onto the ground, limbs entangled, but Ariadna scrambled up and pinned him down just as he started to get up. "Ha!" Ariadna yelled triumphantly!