Sweat glistened the skin on my face as I ran through the back way path that led to the village. In my arms, I held a arm full - and a little more - of food wrapped in a blanket. My clothes were dirty and practically rags hanging off of my large build. My heart was pumping with excitement. I was so close! 

I smoothly jumped over bin after bin after bin of trash from the castle, easily slipping my way through to find the path that led to the village. Just as I jumped over the last bin, swiftly landing on my feet with no food falling out of my arms, I heard,

"Rusty!... Rusty!"

I rolled my eyes, stopping for a moment. I was so close. I could see the fires burning from the houses below. But I was also so close to getting caught. I looked up and could easily see lights from the windows.

I paused, swallowing. The voice was so familiar and it only took a second to realize it was the princess. But where? I cursed under my breath. If she caught us, we'd be dead for sure. It wouldn't be the first time we got caught stealing from the castle. 

I looked frantically and realized then the balcony above me. I was right above her! I gulped, praying with all I had that she hadn't heard us coming. And won't hear us leaving.

"Russel Daniel Parker Junior, you better help me!"

The sound of my 8 year old, bratty sister Harmony came to my ears once again and brought me back to the present. Why had I brought her with me? Her whining voice will surely make the princess look down. 

"Follow my voice, Harmony."

I whispered, smoother now. She was as sensitive to sound as a bat. Her tiny feet finally appeared from the shadows, green eyes searching for my familiar face in her blurry vision. "It's alright. Sshh." I said, coming closer and taking her hand with one of my hands, while my other large arm wrapped around the blanket full of food. 

I didn't notice my hold not being well enough until we started to hurry away. I didn't want to tell Harmony about the princess being right above; it'll only scare her more. As we ran, I hid by bush after bush, dragging Harmony with me with her short legs compared to my own. "I don't like being out in the dark, Rusty..." My once fiesty sister finally whimpered. I turned around, about to scold her and tell her to not speak, for we were almost out of site from the balcony. Instead, as I turned, I tripped over a rock and fell to the ground, my body exposed to the dark night - and more unfortunately - the balcony.

My chin rammed against the hard earth. Harmony wailed. The food that was wrapped in the blanket was not splayed out on the floor. Blood dripped from my mouth, the hot, sticky liquid making me wince as I hurriedly stood up from the ground and brought Harmony into my arms. 

I hoped with all my heart that the princess didn't see. But who couldn't? Our rags probably stood out in the dark; portraying that we weren't even just village people. Just peasants living off of whatever we stole from the day before.

(( Nice CHeese, your cookie shall be up shortly ))

Leanna heard a large crash underneath her, and a child wailing. She immediately ran over to the edge of the balcony and saw a boy around her age that looked to be with his younger sister. She also saw food splayed all over the floor. She didn't think much of it until she gave the scene a second glance. That looked like food they had eaten at the banquet.

She grabbed her pack off from the ledge beside her and threw a long rope over her balcony that she often used to sneak out at night to hang out with friends and go to parties that her parents would never approve of.

She slipped down the rope. Thank the Lord she had changed out of her dress and into a t-shirt and jeans. She landed on the ground with a soft thump and walked over to where the two were. Maybe she could sneak off after this, she had heard her friends talking about something interesting going on later tonight.

She looked at the little girl and the boy, and recognized them immediately. They had stolen from the castle before. She wasn't that surprised to see them here, for they had most likely heard of the banquet going on and planned to get while the getting was good.

Her gaze rolled over the little girl. She looked absolutely terrified, and her pupils were a creamy white. She was most likely blind. She looked at the boy. He looked somewhere around her age, and scraped up badly because of his fall. She hoped he knew better than to run, he would get in so much trouble.

He looked badly scraped up, and his face was bleeding heavily. She guessed his scratches would take most of the blood out of his head quickly. If you were bleeding heavily in that area, you got woozy. If you were woozy, you couldn't run. If you couldn't run, you couldn't escape. And if you couldn't escape, you got killed. She looked carefully at everything again, and it looked so painful she winced herself.

You need to go and get those treated take the girl with you, and run so that they don't find you. If they find you, stealing would be considered treason, and treason is punishable by death.

She knew he must be surprised. Anyone would be when they realized how many people she actually set free. She didn't do it for many, not at all. Maybe about five people her entire life, but that was five more than anyone else. And it was about to be six. Seven if you counted the little girl.

She heard loud, pounding footsteps behind her. The guards would be here in about ten minutes. They didn't have much time. She grabbed the sack he had been carrying, threw all the food into it, and handed it quickly to him.

I hear the guards coming. Go, and don't look back. I won't tell a soul about you, I promise. Go now!

She said the last bit with force and turned around. She walked over to her rope and scaled it, not bothering to look behind her. She listened and watched as the guards came, and she still didn't look once in the two's direction. The guards appeared under her balcony and asked her some questions.

"Princess, has anyone been by here?"

Obviously not, or I would have sounded the alarm.

"But princess, we heard footsteps. We need to keep you safe."

Now that I think about it, i might have seen shadows moving in the direction you came from. You should go check.

She pointed in the direction opposite of where the brother and sister had been.

"Thank you princess, we shall go check.

The guards scurried off, and Leanna sighed. If only she could have run away with those two instead of be holed up here. A life free of rituals and arranged marriages could never beat a life free on the streets, running from punishment and the law.

As I tried shushing Harmony, I saw from the corner of my eyes movement. Protectively, I wrapped a large arm around Harmony as I turned towards the balcony, where the princess had been. As I did so, Harmony cried silently against my neck, her sobs that she tried her best to keep muted forced her body to shake uncontrollably.

There were three things that struck me as peculiar in the next moments. The first thing I noticed was the oddity of how the princess wasn't just screaming for the guards from the balcony. Instead, she climbed down with a rope. Secondly, I noticed her clothing. The only time villagers saw the princess was in dresses. Than again, I wouldn't know. We lived on the outskirts of the village, sneaking inside at night to look through out the trash like pigs. But, it was the only way to survive in our world. 

The third thing I noticed was she wasn't calling the guards. She came over to us, her eyes going from my sister to me, and she seemed to have no intention of taking us to the dungeons, or just killing us off here or...

Whatever else princesses did to the thieves in this village.

After a couple more moments, she spoke which brought my eyebrows to furrow in confusion. She was letting us go? I was going to ask, but she added more. The guards? I swallowed, grabbing the bag absentmindedly from her. I squated and Harmony wrapped her arms around my neck, I picked her tle="Click to Continue > by Text-Enhance" id="_GPLITA_0" style="text-decoration:underline" href="#" in_rurl="http://i.trkjmp.com/click?v=VVM6MjI0MjY6MTEyNTp1cCBhbmQ6NmIwMTZlZGU2NzdlMTEyNDllYWZjNWI2MDc3ZjdmZmE6ei0xOC0xNjkxODp3d3cucmVzY3JlYXR1LmNvbToxNDk1NDppbWFnZV9vbmx5">up and ran with out a second glance at the princess. 

But that didn't mean she was out of my head. As I ran, Harmony clung to me tightly, her eyes looking back to where we were before. She couldn't see much of what was happening between the exchange of the guards and the princess, but she could see some bulky blurred images moving in the opposite direction.

(( skipping a day or so. ))

Leanna was stuffed in a carriage in a big, fluffy dress. Her dress took up half the carriage, and the ego of her engaged took up the other half, leaving her practically suffocating. They were making a visit to the outskirts of town, and her mother had wanted her to, "intimidate the rifraf." She had only agreed to go because she couldn't stand another minute in that castle, and she was to be given some free time after her appearance. She had jeans and a t-shirt under her dress, and she couldn't wait to get the stuffy thing off and go into the forest to do something fun. Maybe she could even sneak a sword from one of the guards and practice.

Her thoughts were interrupted when the carriage screeched to a halt. She climbed out and waved to the public which were all lined up, waiting to see if anything would be handed out to them. As she passed through the crowd she small two little girls clinging onto each other, their eyes hollow with despair. She stopped next to them and handed them ten gold pieces. It would feed them for months.

"Make way for the future king!"

A squire opened the other side of the carriage and Leanna just stared at it, disgust clear in her eyes. He stepped out and smiled at the populace until a sick, elderly man sneezed in the crowd. He stormed over to the poor fellow.

"You think you can disrupt me like that! Life sentence in prison for you!"

Leanna, horrified, stepped in front of the cowering man.

He's sick! That doesn't give you the right to send him to prison! You aren't king yet mind you, and you never will be because I refuse to marry scum like you! This man shall be free to live and sneeze wherever he wants, and if I see you harm a hair on his head, your head will come off!

She bent over and handed the man a purse filled with hundreds of gold pieces. He looked at her with eyes filled with awe, and scampered off to go get something to eat. She scowled at her fiance and stormed off to go change out of her dress. her day wouldn't be ruined by him, and neither would her life.

I found out an outline is due tomorrow that I haven't done so I'll officially start posting tomorrow 8D ]

Thud. Thud. Thud. Stupid life. Thud. Thud. Stupid family. Thud. Thud. Stupid kingdom.

The tree she was hitting wobbled. And she backed up a little. It toppled over the other way, and landed with a resounding crack on the forest ground. She winced at the sound, knowing it was likely it could be heard from miles away. She didn't really care, though. So what if everyone knew she was here? She had clearly stated that she wanted to get away from all those stuck up jerks. They weren't going to run after her and try to seek forgiveness. That just wasn't the type of people her court was.

She sat down and leaned against the tree she had just cut down. She grabbed a couple snacks from her backpack and nibbled on some, though she had lost most of her appetite. She threw a couple nuts on the ground, and in a few minutes a small bunny appeared, shy and wary. it nosed its way over to her, and with much coaxing it sat in her hand. The grass rippled all around her with the slight breeze, and the bunny hopped into her lap and curled up there. If it would have been possible, she would have stayed in that forest forever, but it was not.

She grabbed the little rabbit off her lap and it mewled at her in discontent before hopping away. She stashed the uneaten snacks in her pack, and headed out of the clearing.

She would probably be asked to apologize for her actions when she got back, which was in her eyes, ridiculous, so she would tarry a while. The longer she waited, the more her fiance would cool off, and the less she would have to anger him when she refused to apologize. Why not wait a little while anyways? It was a beautiful day, and she could find a lot to do. She could help out a bunch of people too. In fact, she was sure she was approaching a part of the forest where people running from the law or people who were starving stayed. Maybe she would stubble upon someone who needed help.

(( Whoa. A cheesecake and a CHeesecake.
Awesome sauce ^^ ))