Castin Runes Part 2

“Catch the thief!”

Jordis’ head flung to her left and she saw a little boy dash away from a booth that had different kinds of fruit and vegetables on display; one of the shiny, red apples now in the boy’s hand.

He was quick and managed to evade the grip of a total of three men standing nearby, but finally the burly weapon smith grabbed him by his small shoulders and snarled: “Stay put, bugger.”

The salesman who the boy had stolen from came up to him and threateningly said: “This will cost you your dirty, thievish little hand.”

The boy’s eyes widened in shock, for both he and Jordis knew that this was true; caught thieves lost their hands.

“Let him go!”, she demanded and everyone looked at her, “He just took an apple, by the runes. He will not be hungry this evening and you only one apple short. You will live, both.”

The salesman looked at Jordis in shock, but she only returned his look with her cold, light blue eyes and silently demanded a reaction. They all hesitated, but in the end a woman exclaimed: “He’s just a boy, Gerron, let him go.”

A short glance told Jordis that the woman was a mother, as her four children, all younger than the thief, clung to her skirt.

“You get away, this time.”, the weapon smith snarled and let go of the boy, who immediately ran away, faster, than Jordis could look.

Impressed she turned to the booth again where she had looked for new ingredients, but the look the salesman gave her told her that she had crossed a line. And so what? She knew that markets hated thieves, but she meant what she had said, he was just a boy and an apple really not worth his hand.

Without a word she purchased clumps of silver and gold, as well as gems turned to leave the market.

With a deep sigh she shook her head; in the monastery, where she had been trained, life had been rough, but hunger had never been a problem. Still, many of the other apprentices had not been good or strong enough and dropped out of the apprenticeship after a few years. In the end, of the fifteen girls and boys that had come to the monastery at the age of seven, there had been only three apprentices left. And Jordis was to first to finish her clasp.

So now, until she found her family, she was alone. At least, this was a reason to go to the castle as soon as she could manage, because then she would be fully accredited and could help her parents.

So she left the market and easily found her way through the streets, she still knew them after all those years, almost her entire life. And the summer was again as hot as she remembered, so her long, black hear stuck to her forehead and she was relieved she had braided the long waves, to keep them out of her face.

She approached the Inner Wall, the thick and strong wall of glossy, white marble that separated the outer, rather poor parts of Caellowell from the inner, rich and fancy parts, where also the castle was located. If the conventions had not changed, Jordis would have to pay another toll, one even higher this time.

But she did not have the time to get hold of her purse. As she passed an old shop that she could remember having been a sartor, but that now seemed to be long forgotten, somebody suddenly grabbed her around her waist and forcefully dragged her into the darkness of the abandoned shop.