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Rhythmic footfalls broke the otherwise quiet night. A few times, Nora looked over her shoulder, but, much to her relief, no one seemed to be following her.
With the servants’ quarters far behind her and the reassurance that no one was actively trying to catch up, Nora no longer sprinted but relaxed into a steady and less exhausting jog. It was a much-needed break for her lungs while she traveled.
She was returning to the city of Mirnis, the region’s most prominent foothold of the Wraiths, though the general public didn’t know that for sure. There were many rumors, and Nora knew all too well that rumors didn’t start without cause. Most held some semblance of truth.
Even so, nothing was done about the Wraiths. If the guild had been ousted from the city, then Mirnis probably wouldn’t have developed into the thriving hub of trade and tourism it did. It certainly wouldn’t be able to keep hold of such an accomplishment.
The Wraiths were involved in nearly every industry, and there were rumors that even the city’s leaders had ties to the thieves guild.
‘I wish I was back in the guild already. I could’ve been if that Taegun man was sleeping like he was meant to be, but he caused so much trouble for me instead! All the leaping and running– Ugh, and it’s not over.’
The muscles in Nora’s legs screamed as she steadily followed the muddy road back to the city. There was no cover. It was dangerous, but there was no other choice unless she wanted to walk through fields where crops weren’t tall enough yet to provide cover.
In any case, there would soon be a few scattered trees, then a forest. That forest would provide Nora with precisely the cover she needed to make it back to Mirnis without guards from the estate finding her. The road’s dirt was also preferable to walking in the dark through the fields where snakes, rocks, or sticks might be under her bare feet.
Once she reached her stash of gear, Nora pulled on some boots, tugged her backpack on, and kept walking down the road.
As she walked, the rain slowed until it was nothing more than a gentle trickle. ‘Finally! I thought I’d be pelted with rain the whole way home. It was becoming unbearably cold.’ Even her bones felt chilled from the wind whipping her drenched body.
The spring nights in Orym were feezing, a remnant of their harsh winters, and Nora wished it was summer already to feel the warm air blanket her and the sun’s kiss on her skin. Goosebumps on her arms and shivers racing down her torso reminded her that wishes were useless.
If they weren’t, her night would have gone much smoother, and she certainly wouldn’t have ended up on the roof. As exhausted as she was, Nora wanted nothing more than to plop down under any of the many trees and sleep, but she couldn’t.
She’d just stolen what might be the Taeguns’ biggest secret. If it had been a simple ring, maybe the nobles would’ve let her go, but a ring as powerful and politically dirty as the one nestled in her pocket was worth hunting her to the ends of the world for.
The Tageuns would have difficulty finding her if chasing her was what they meant to do. They’d never seen her face well enough to have it slapped on a wanted poster, so Nora took solace in her safety and continued her trek without worry.
Down the road, when the trees became thick enough to hide her, Nora veered off the path and began moving swiftly through the forest.
As she hastily navigated through the underbrush, the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end. Nora spun around. She pierced the thick woods behind her with her eyes, and worry returned.
‘Why does it seem like someone’s watching me?’ No one was there, but she recognized the burdensome feeling of being spied on.
The fingers of her left hand clutched a strap on her leather bag for comfort, and, for a few minutes, she scanned the forest in all directions. Still, there was no hint that anything was amiss except her own perception of the situation.
‘Could I be wrong?’ she asked herself. ‘I’m not often mistaken about being watched.’
Call it a thief’s intuition, but she began to believe she underestimated the lead she had on the guard who’d chased her to the servants’ quarters.
Uneasily, Nora picked up her pace while staying fully alert and finally made it to a creek that wound toward Mirnis. The icy waters would serve her well, so a break was needed, as was a dry set of clothes.
Before changing as planned, she took a risk and studied the surrounding woods again. Like before, she saw nothing, not even an animal.
‘It’s odd there hasn’t been any other creature. I should have seen something by now –a deer, a rabbit, an owl, even a stray dog — anything,’ Nora thought, and her anxiety grew.
‘Something is strange. I really don’t like this.’ Her breathing quickened, and she placed her hand over her restless heart.
‘If only things had gone to plan. That Lady was sleeping, and Lord Taegun should have been slumbering on his plush mattress. Why did everything turn out like this?’ she wondered as frustrated tears pooled in her eyes.
As quick as they came, Nora blinked the tears away, then tossed her bag over the creek.
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‘What’s this?’ Kalin asked himself and cocked an eyebrow at the sight before him. The woman he’d followed all the way from the Taegun’s estate was wiping tears from her eyes.
‘How’d such a weak-hearted girl end up a thief?’ he mused, but the cold amusement thawed into understanding. If he placed himself in the thief’s shoes, he’d also be upset with how that burglary went. Of course, he would never be in her shoes.
The thief’s immorality damaged the sympathy he momentarily felt for her. ‘It’s by her own doing she’s miserable enough to cry alone in the woods.’
Adding to her upset, she seemed very aware of his presence, but all her efforts to locate him were in vain. That wasn’t surprising. He was cloaking himself with magic. Unless she could dispel it, which he doubted since she hadn’t even attempted to do so, she wouldn’t be able to see him.
Standing only around 15 feet from her, he watched as she submerged herself in the creek’s frigid water, probably trying to wash away a scent trail.
With that being the case, he knew she suspected he was not human, but a scent was not something he could follow. It was something other beings could do, but not him.
‘Too bad for her, that effort’s a waste. It would be too late, even if I was a shifter or a vampire. I’d never lost her,‘ Kalin sneered and moved closer. She was now on the other side of the creek with chattering teeth and shivers shaking her arms while she dug through the bag she’d picked up back on the road.
Although Kalin wasn’t a gentleman, he also wasn’t lacking morals, so when he realized she was about to change, he turned his back. He would find her again, even if she managed to escape his sight.
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Nora inwardly sighed as she felt the intensity of being eyeballed fade away. Immediately, her body felt lighter. ‘Maybe it was just my imagination. That, or the stress of that escape, finally left me.’ No longer feeling like she had someone tailing her, she calmed.
But though she felt mentally better, she was going numb from submerging in the creek. The wintry, wet clothing had to come off.
Nora ripped off her soaked cloak and peeled off her damp blouse and drenched trousers. She tossed them away from her. With all the water they had soaked up from the rain and creek, they were too heavy for her to have any desire to carry them back.
Truthfully, the clothes she wore during the job weren’t hers. She’d lifted them from one of the other thieves’ guild members who constantly quarreled with her. If she used her own clothes during a Wraiths job, it would be one more way for others to recognize her in the city.
‘Incriminating other criminals by using their clothes is nothing to feel guilty for. Most of them are much worse than I am, and I’d never do something like this to someone I care about, so what does it matter?’
Once Nora realized she was trying to justify her own actions to herself, proving she did feel at least a little guilty, she pulled herself from her thoughts and focused on the task at hand.
Finishing what she started, Nora buttoned her pants, smoothed her blouse, and then settled the leather bag onto her back and buttoned her dry cloak over it. Lastly, she pulled on thick socks and dark leather boots.
As she stood up straight again, she stomped her boots on the ground to get them on the rest of the way and then resumed walking. The bag was much lighter now, and her pace was more leisurely.
A soft tune hummed from her lips — a lullaby her mother used to sing, but she became silent once that suffocating feeling of being watched returned.
In an instant, Nora yanked her cloak’s black hood over her braided auburn hair. ‘Well, that proves it. I’m definitely being followed. This can’t get any worse, or I guess it could. He could’ve stared while I was undressed.’ The weight of the eyes had only left while she changed, and she hadn’t gotten far before she could feel them again.
‘So, it has to be that guard. No one else could’ve kept up, and now he’s using whatever abilities he has to hide from me. Still, even if he’s a leech, he’s not as corrupt as some of the men in the Wraiths. They would’ve attempted to do much more than stare while I changed.’
While she tried to comfort herself into believing that the monster that chased her wasn’t all bad, the sight of the guard’s haughty smirk and outstretched hand flashed into her mind, and she frowned deeply.
‘How is he hiding from me? It must be magic, I suppose,’ She reasoned but had many more questions. ‘Why is he doing nothing but following and watching? Something must be stopping him, but it makes no sense. Shouldn’t he be capturing me? This all feels worse than just being arrested. At least there wouldn’t be uncertainty, then.’
Question after question began to eat away at her.
At that point, she knew she couldn’t head straight back to the guild, even if that caused the wrath of Vicla and Lannos, respectively, the left and right hands of the guild’s boss in Mirnis. They would be much angrier if she led a tail to the guild.
Losing her pursuer was not an option. It was a need, and she would do anything to satisfy it.
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