Boots In A Bag
Feet pound the ground behind Sevika as she rounds a corner, hooking her arm around the column she’s passed a million times on her way from the baths to the smithy. One more turn and she’s basically at the Queen’s Garden. She knows that if she can make it to the hedge maze, she’s free and clear. She tears down the dirt and stone path that marks the beginning of the garden perimeter cackling at the cries of indignation and angry shouts from the guards behind her.
She had waited for hours, crouched behind a bush just outside the guards bathhouse waiting for the perfect time to sneak in and stuff every single pair of boots she could find into a sack. Once she was sure it was secured to her back, she tossed every towel and piece of clothing she could wrap her arms around and shoved them into a locker at random and then proceeded to the bath pool where a dozen men were chatting and bathing. A wave of her arms and a string of curses from her mouth has the men floundering to get out of the water. This is how Sevika found herself sprinting across the grounds cackling like a fool with a line of naked castle guards chasing after her.
She turns at the end of the path, daring to peek over her shoulder at the idiots chasing after her. She had run this route every day for weeks after supper in preparation for this little heist. She smiles when she sees that she’s put a considerable amount of space between her and the angry group of men. Everything was going smoothly, and the adrenaline rush is enough of a reason to push herself further. She pumps her arms and legs, gaining speed. And then her legs are still moving but the ground is rushing up to meet her.
Sevika hears a surprised yelp and grunts as she feels a knee make purchase with her stomach in the chaos of the fall.
“Owww, FUCK.” Sevika looks up into the narrow green eyes of a girl about her age. The stranger was wearing the colors of the royal family. Red fabric rustles as the girl quickly extricates herself, rising to her feet and shaking out her clothes. The girl dressed in red pats at her hair, as if the tidy braids were likely to get mussed.
“Well you ran into me so if anyone should be complaining…”
Sevika scrambles to her feet and curses again when she sees how much closer the guards had gotten during this tumble. She doesn’t even stop to think when her hand closes around the stranger’s wrist and she tugs.
“RUN!” She drags the girl behind her until she seems to find her footing. Sevika is pleasantly surprised at her ability to keep up and drops her hold on the other girl’s wrist.
“C’mon, we can lose them in the hedge maze!” Sevika pumps her arms and pulls ahead of the red-clad girl with her, leading her down a path Sevika had memorized years ago.
“Why are we running?” the stranger calls out, not the least bit out of breath.
Sevika whirls around, stopping for a moment to listen for footsteps.
“Shhhh, you’re gonna lead them right to us!” She points to the bag she has slung over her shoulders. “Stole their shoes, you coming or not?” Sevika breaks into a brisk jog and doesn’t bother looking back to see if the other girl follows. She doesn’t really care if she comes or not.
Sevika winds through the maze deftly. This was one of her favorite places to lose a pursuit. She’d spent almost the entirety of one summer between shifts at the smithy wandering around the hedge maze. The air was more humid then but she trots along the route she’s mapped out for herself and after a minute of silence, the girl in red catches up with her and maintains pace with Sevika without issue.
“Did you say that you stole their shoes?”
“Yes, keep up genius.”
There’s a long moment of silence before the girl in red speaks again.Sevika focuses on counting out her turns in her head. One more right and then two lefts. She feels a tap on her arm, and whips her head to glare at the other girl, a silent demand to keep her hands to herself.
Sevika’s silver gaze size up the shorter girl, and found nothing but more questions in her bright green eyes. For a moment she almost feels silly for her knee jerk reactivity but then the girl goes and asks another question. Irritation spikes through her and she swallows the urge to round on the girl and shout. That would just draw attention to their location.
“How many people’s shoes have you stolen?”
“All of ‘em.” Sevika grunts out before picking up speed when she sees the girl open her mouth out of the corner of her eye. “Got a place I wanna ditch this bag.” Sevika says quietly enough that her voice won’t carry far. “Feel free to leave anytime.”
The girl in red giggles, clearly unbothered by Sevika’s dismissiveness. It’s a lovely laugh, akin to the soft twinkling of stars… and Sevika smirks. This stranger may have almost messed up Sevika’s flawless plan but at least she’s being a good sport about the whole thing.
They jog around a series of corners with Sevika calling out directions just loud enough for the other girl to hear. Green hedges shade them from the sun and Sevika can smell roses nearby but doesn't see them. This tells her that they’re still on the right track. After one particularly long stretch of the maze that had no offshoots they wound a corner and Sevika breaks into a sprint, whooping with excitement.
“We’re close now! And we definitely lost the guards a while back.” Sevika slows slightly and then reaches out and cords her fingers through the other girls’ and pulls her around one more corner and into a clearing in the maze with a gorgeous fountain that bubbles and spews water. “They’re probably stuck in the statue garden like idiots!” she slows her pace and whirls around to grin at the girl in red.
Now that they had reached Sevika’s intended destination she could actually take a moment to take stock of the girl who’s travelled all this way with her. She was shorter than Sevika and her skin is a darker brown than even her father’s sun-weathered leatherlike complexion. Her green eyes take in the fountain and the jasmine bushes that reminded Sevika of the smell of the fancy hair oil that her mother only used for scalp and hair oiling on special occasions.
Some day when mother had a day off she would drag her along to this little spot of peace in the rigidity of life at The Immortal Bastion. Life was busy, especially for smiths as talented as her parents.
“Where are we?” the girl in red asks softly?
“Uhhhh… the fountain?”
“Well yes, genius,” the girl throws the same jab back at Sevika with a roll of her green eyes. “I can see that we’re at a fountain.” She sizes Sevika up and places both hands on her hips before continuing.
“What I meant was that I’m surprised.”
“About what?”
The girl in red shrugs and gestures towards the fountain. “I’ve lived here for most of my life and I didn’t know that there even was a fountain here.” She laughs and makes her way over to the gurgling water. Sevika watches her bend to run a hand through the water and smothers a smile. She was all too happy to hear that she wouldn't have to looking for a place to be *alone* anytime soon. She needed solitude sometimes, Sevika was like her father in this aspect of her character. People were a drain.
“Don’t think very many people outside of the groundskeepers know about this place.” She shrugs, feigning nonchalance. She trots over to a strip of ground past the fountain and drops the bag to the ground with a contented sigh. A shovel sits propped against the fountain, as Sevika had arranged and she collects in before turning back to the other girl who has sat on the edge of the fountain to watch curiously. Sevika expects more questions but is instead met with a steady sort of silence that puts her at ease. So she could also be quiet, how lovely.
Setting to work with the shovel, Sevika quickly digs a hole about three feet deep. She steps up out of the hole and shoots the girl in red a smile before grabbing the bag and tipping the contents into the hole.
“I figure that if they really want their boots back they can explain what happened and ask for help from the hounds handlers.” Sevika starts scooping soil back into the hole, “they can have fun telling their superiors that a fifteen year old girl outsmarted them and led them on a wild goose chase for the boots they have to polish both sun up and sun down every day for bunk checks.”
She pats the top of the mound of dirt with the flat of the shovel and then drops the tool to the ground with a mischievous laugh.
“Man, I wish I could hear the verbal lashing they're gonna get for this.” Sevika sighs wistfully before wiping at her forehead with the hem of her shirt. The girl in red is watching Sevika with a curious expression but has watched and waited patiently as Sevika worked. Now that the immediate job was done, Sevika saunters over to where the other girl has sat and sits to admire her handiwork.
“Y’know you haven’t told me your name yet,” she says, wiping her hands off on the knees of her sturdy brown pants.
The girl in red looks over at Sevika incredulously, former curiosity melting into irritation.
“You haven’t told me your name either,” she snaps “First you run me into the ground-”
“Whoa now, you ran into me short stuff.” Sevika retorts, “I had a perfect getaway planned and then BAM-”
“BAM, you ran into me, knocked me to the ground, and then….” the girl in red gets to her feet as she speaks, “...and then whisked me away into the middle of Kindred-knows-where in this maze!”
Sevika looks up at the girl in red from her perch on the fountain’s edge and blinks in surprise. Then she bursts out laughing and it doesn’t matter that the girl has her hands on her hips and hate in her eyes. Sevika laughs until her cheeks hurt and the muscles of her stomach pinch.
“Why are you laughing?” The girl stomps over and plants herself in front of Sevika as the taller of the two girls tries and fails to catch her breath.
“Because…” Sevika wheezes “haha, shit,” she raises her arms into the air to help increase airflow to her lungs. “Gimme a sec…”
Once Sevika can breathe again she stands and meets the green gaze of the girl still glaring daggers at her. “I think we got off to a rough start.” She holds out her hand to the girl in red and gives her a small smile. “My name is Sevika. I’m sorry I knocked you over.”
The girl in red looks at Sevka’s outstretched hand, a wordless request for peace. Several seconds stretch by and Sevika starts to think the girl might as likely swing on her as shake her hand. And then, clouds clear in the girl’s green eyes and her face clears of irritation. She steps forward and clasps Sevika’s hand, shaking it firmly before releasing her grip.
“See now, Sevika. Apologizing isn’t that difficult is it?" Her tone is playful but Sevika knows a jab when she sees one.
“Yeah yeah, you got your apology didn’t you?” Sevika groans as she takes a seat on the edge of the fountain again. “What about you? Gonna tell me your name?”
“My name is Mel.”
“Mel… what, are you named after the Queen’s daughter or something?” Sevika asks, cringing internally at the thought of such a ridiculous and believable thing she could see some minor noble house doing as some sort of way of honoring the crown.
Much to Sevika’s surprise Mel laughs.
“Mmmm something like that.” she says with a mischievous smile.
“Well Mel. I certainly didn’t mean to kidnap you and you’re welcome to leave anytime you’d like,” Sevika says. She starts untying her boots when the girl in red - Mel. When Mel returns to her perch beside Sevika on the fountain she laughs again.
“What’s so funny Red?”
“Red? Sevika, we just discussed what my name is!”
“Relax Mel, it’s just a nickname.” Sevika teases, bumping shoulders with the other girl. “Just wanted to know why you’re laughing at me. I’m a genius.” having successfully freed both feet. Sevika spins on the polished surface of the fountain until she’s facing the water. She dunks both feet into the water and sighs as the cold water hits her hot skin. “This right here, this is why I do what I do.”
“You mean stealing boots from the guards?” Mel teases, returning a soft bump of her shoulder. “Surely you can put your strengths to better use than that?”
Sevika groans. “You sound like my mom.”
“Well. She must be a smart woman.”
Sevika and Mel sit and chat for a while. Sevika talks about how her family works in the forges in The Immortal Bastion and how someday she’ll save up enough to leave and become a mercenary. Mel talks about how it would make Sevika’s life easier to simply join a warband or go to training to become a soldier. Mel talks about the new resident artist at the castle and how she wants to learn everything she can from the painter. Sevika says she prefers the kind of art you can carry with you into battle. Eventually Mel takes a look at the sky and hops off of the fountain.
“I have to be getting home now.” she pauses for a moment and then continues, “I’m afraid I don’t know how to get out of the maze from where we are.” She looks at Sevika for a long moment and then tosses her boots in her direction.
“Come on, put your shoes on and guide me out of this maze. I can’t afford to be late for my afternoon studies.”
Sevika smiles as she catches her shoes and starts putting them on.
“All right, all right.” Sevika finishes lacing her shoes and jogs back over to the shovel she’d left beside the freshly dug ground and throws it like a spear up and over the hedge wall. She waits to hear the dull thud of the tool hitting grass on the other side and motions Mel to follow her.
“Come on Red. I’ll show you the way this time. But don’t go asking me to bring you here again.” She smirks and starts walking towards an opening in the maze.
“Gonna have to find your way here on your own if you’re trying to crash my super secret spot.”