Silver Winds

Chapter 1

"Passion trumps everything." - Dave Tate

Astra crept along the cobbled street, pulling her cloak further around her. The night gave her shelter, kept her from being seen. When she passed streetlights she slowed and crept low to the ground to avoid any attention from any of the townspeople. As she passed by windows, she was a mere whisper or shadow, something that no one noticed.

The girl was small in stature, but she looked far from delicate. Muscles rippled with every movement, and even through the thick fabric of her shirt one could see the sinewy chords of her back. A small scar stretched over a portion of her left shoulder, a memento from a night she did not care to remember. A long braid of platinum blonde hair hung past her waist, a lifetime's worth of growing. Her face held hard lines, high cheekbones, and wide eyes that managed to look cruel despite their size.

Those eyes were scanning along the road as she traveled, looking for something she needed. It was incredibly important that she retrieved the item before her brother found her or it.

Astra's soft leather boots made no sound against the bumpy road, her trailing fingers making the slightest of sounds against the stone walls as she lugged her training equipment with her. A weak recurve bow, ten hide-tipped arrows, two small, thin sticks shaped as throwing knives, and a long, flat blade that was only there in case Astra ran into real trouble.

As she rounded a corner, a slight scraping sound filtered into her ears. She froze for a split second, then flattened herself against the wall she had just been on. Her eyes bounced around as she pulled an arrow from the quiver. Then the creak signaled a door opening. A lantern's light shone from around the corner, and Astra began to creep backwards. She hid behind a barrel placed outside a shop as footsteps rounded the corner. He was a large person, based on his gait. It wasn't Volos, however, to her delight. Finally, the sleepy footsteps went back to where they came from, and Astra removed herself from her crouching position, not bothering to dust herself off as she stood. Then her fingers wrapped around a stone that was protruding from the wall. She had gained an idea worth trying while waiting for the townsperson to go back to their safe, warm bed.

She hauled one foot onto the barrel, then pulled herself up. She was delighted to find herself nearly to the roof. She reached higher, where there was another protruding stone. She planted her foot onto the one she had used previously, then stood again. She swung her leg and bounced a few times before jumping up onto the tiled roof. Her fingers snagged the ridge just by the very ends, and Astra's whole body clenched for almost a whole minute while she struggled to get the leverage to keep herself on the roof. Illiquan roofs were known to be steep, and Astra was experiencing that now.

After what seemed like an eternity to her, she tightened her grip and pulled her feet under her. She tiptoed over to the chimney, and stood on top of it, though she knew it was risky. Volos would almost certainly see her, but if she could find that little blue piece of cloth, it would be worth it.

No, she thought. What would be worth it would be Volos' face when she won.

She scanned over the streets with haste, her heart sinking with every second she didn't see it. It just didn't want to be found, she thought, amongst all the clutter on the ground. At least things weren't blowing around, as it was a windless night.

Giving up, she cursed under her breath as she began to get down, but then she stopped. A small swish of light blue doubled and tripled within her vision. She had found it.

Her moment of ecstatic joy was ruined by a small curse coming from the opposite direction of the cloth. Her heart slipped into her throat as she saw who was coming down the street.

His build was extraordinary. A head and a half taller than Astra's father, and two heads taller than Astra herself, he was thick and muscled all the way up to his head. Her father often said that there was too much muscle outside the skull for there to be much on the inside. His wavy dark hair stopped at his shoulders, and Astra had heard the townspeople speaking before of a monster that lived in the woods, as large as a bear with the eyes that spoke of many delivered deaths. They weren't speaking of any bear though, nor of the mountain cats that lived near Mistport, the capital city of Illiqua. They were talking about Volos, Astra's elder brother by three years.

As he walked swiftly down the street, Astra slid down the tiling and lowered herself from the roof. She checked around the corner to check how far away he was, and cursed Izthar, the Illiquan god of stupidity. He wasn't far now. Astra had to do something to keep him occupied. As an idea struck her, she pulled out an arrow and nocked it on her bowstring. She pulled it back, took a few steps backward, and shot over the roof.

She slung the bow over her shoulder and waited for some noise. As soon as a large clatter sounded, Astra peeked around the corner, and smiled. Volos was running toward the noise, down a different street. Astra's feet picked up speed as well, only she was running toward the fabric.

As she ran next to the crate it was half under, she slowed only for a moment. She ripped the soft cloth out from under the wood, then continued to run. Retrieving the cloth did not only consist of finding it. Astra also had to make it back to the house for her to win.

Astra's feet hit the stone hard, but still made little sound. She dodged the streetlights now, or ran through them completely blind. She wanted to win more than she'd ever wanted anything. Just as the thought occurred to her, she heard a sound that made her stomach drop.

Volos was near, behind her. She did not look back, only ran harder as Volos came closer. When he was a few meters from her, she began to panic. She didn't want to be taken out. She was almost out of town. She was halfway home. She didn't want to lose to him when she finally had her first chance to win.

Her brain struggled to produce a decent plan in its frenzied state. Astra felt as though her brain would explode, like it was foaming from too much heat. Then the obvious answer came to her.

Don't get caught.

If she didn't let him catch her, then he couldn't make her lose.

Now that it was a decision she could make, whether she allowed him to catch her or not, the rest of the answers slid into her conscious thought smoothly. Astra pulled a practice throwing knife from its holder and turned as she passed into the treeline. She threw with an ease that came from several years of training, then continued into the forest. She dodged trees, trees that held years of memories. Trees that she had grown up around. Trees that she knew better than anyone else, even her brother.

She dodged left and right around the thick trunks, on a crooked path that didn't lead directly to the house but would be faster. Also, Volos had never been on the path she was taking. He spent more time near the house and less time in the woods. Astra did the opposite, though she was the female.

"Don't you ever get tired?" Volos raged, his voice further away than Astra remembered. She smiled, pleased with her detour. She saw the familiar small patch of briars that covered the path for just a short time, and her smile grew.

"Not while you're chasing me," Astra retorted, jumping up to grab the tree branch that she always used to get across the briars. When her feet landed on the other side, she continued her run.

Next was the creek. There was no way of getting over that smoothly and easily, but the briars had caused a temporary halt to Volos' progress, so she had time to cross with consideration to her equipment. She pulled everything up to her ribcage as she stepped into the cold water. Astra gasped. It was colder than it should have been in summer, but she had to move through it anyway. If she wanted to win, and she did.

The water came up to her navel as she came to the middle of the stream.

"Halfway there," she whispered, stepping a little faster for the second portion. Volos had gotten past the briars and would be there at any moment. She pulled herself onto the overhang just as Volos splashed into the water.

That was when cold fear jolted Astra's system. Her heart pumped harder than it had before as she sprinted the rest of the hundred meters to the house. As she touched the doorframe, she slumped onto the door and let her weight make it fall open.

"Welcome back, Vo-" her father, an elderly man with poor vision, began to say, but stopped when he recognized the small frame collapsing onto the wooden floor. "Astra. What a surprise."

Astra's body trembled and shook as she crawled over to her father, Ole. She felt like she was about to wretch, but made sure she held it in as she handed the cloth to her father. A weak smile crossed her features as she heard Volos come up behind her.

"I won, Father," she said. "I finally beat him."

It was her first victory she had ever claimed over her older brother.