The Paragon

Chapter One

I peered over the edge of the building and took in the sight on the street below. The contingent of Imperial soldiers stretched on for two or three blocks, and they were moving with surprising speed for a march. Their gold armor glinted in the bright sun, and I squinted as I watched them.  I already had a headache today, so the bright light bouncing directly into my eyes was anything but pleasant.

"Even the most common soldiers, and the empire still outfits them like pretty peacocks," I muttered irritably. "Got to look our best as we steal your people and rule your cities." I drew away from the edge, breathing deeply to keep my rage at the sight of them in check. I pulled my scarf back up to cover my mouth, feeling comfort in my anonymity.

Going down to street level wasn't a good option. Even if these troops were just passing through, they wouldn't be as easy to avoid as the normal monitors, should they decide to start inspecting people. If I wasn't carrying precious cargo, I might have risked it, but now wasn't the time to walk right into a pack of Imperials. I'd have to take the long way.

Not that I didn't prefer this way. It was like Eli always said when we were growing up. "Immy, you always choose the hardest way possible to do things, and somehow you make it seem like it's easy."

"Because it is," I'd insist stubbornly. I made sure that my satchel was still securely buckled to my belt, and then took off running across the rooftops.

It made me feel free, running like this. There was no one up here to block my way, and there was a path around every obstacle. I was always thinking ahead by three steps, even though by the time I made a decision about whether to jump or slide, I usually had already done it and was on to the next thing. Everything happened so quickly.

My favorite part was always the first big jump. That first moment airborne and you felt like you were flying; like you'll really just take off into the sky and never come back down. I relished in that feeling as I leapt the distance between this rooftop and the next, feeling a surge of exhilaration as my feet safely touched down, and kept running still. If I gained enough speed, eventually it would feel like I was flying even as my feet were on the ground.

I'd run this path so many times, I probably could do it with my eyes closed. I vaulted over safety fences, slide underneath sections of ventilation, and launched myself from roof to roof. When I knew I'd gone several blocks, I leapt one last gap, shoulder rolling out on the concrete and landing safely on one knee, stopping for a minute to get my bearings. That's when I heard the voice shouting. "Thief!" came the cries from below. "Thief!"

The main market was right below me; I hopped onto the roof's edge to see where the yells were coming from. It was crowded down there at this time of day, but I saw the figure pushing their way through the crowd, running as fast as possible away from the screaming shopkeeper, as well as the monitors who were rushing to the scene.

Normally, I wouldn't have been bothered—a petty thief in the market? Old news—but something caught my eye as I watched the thief running off.  There was a flash of a bright red scarf from underneath the thief's black coat, and the glint of a familiar silver pin on his sleeve. I felt my eyes widen as the recognition set in. "Oh, damn it," I said to myself, immediately taking off the opposite way I had intended, following the running thief.

He'd forced his way through the market crowd easily enough, and was tearing down a side alley. Obviously, he thought he'd be in the clear soon enough, but I could see further—he was running directly towards the path of the Imperial soldiers I'd observed before. And if I could predict the path he was planning to take, he was going to run directly into them.

I leapt across to the building on the alley's side, riskily running directly on the roof's edge before dropping down, trusting I was in the right position to land on a balcony. My calculations were just right, and I wasted no time in leaping over the metal fence and grabbing a pipe along the side of the building, sliding down and flipping off of it to land relatively neatly, directly in the thief's path.