Gem Thief.

Raisel woke up early the next morning and grabbed her sword. It was the first her father made for her, they had used it for practice with him countless times. She grabbed some necessary supplies into a sling bag. She tied her ebony black hair into a ponytail. She put on a flannel top and leather pants and tucked her sword into its sheath on her waist.

She made a quick stop at her mother’s room, she was sound asleep. She stared at her, pain overwhelmed her. She wanted to call out to her and run to her and snuggle her. She couldn’t bear the thought of her mother in any kind of pain or distress. More than anything she couldn’t bear the thought that she was the cause of the pain.

However something else called out to her, a stronger purpose, it was very potent. It clawed at her insides. It wanted to be found. It was like a beacon of light, that she needed to get to so bad and fast.

There was more to her life than attending to the royal family’s needs or enduring the excesses of the overbearing prince Allerick, staying in the dimly lit shop polishing weapons or like her mother had suggested countless times, being married off to someone else, who wouldn't care much for her. With a much stronger purpose, she held on to the gem on her neck and twirled it around her fingers. She wiped the tears from her eyes and left her house. The place she had called home for twenty-one years.

She took her Stallion, Fury. Her parents got him for her when he was only a pony, she had nurtured him into the big black horse that he was now. He was not a feminine horse. Her parents had made a fuss about her getting a mare since she was a woman but she had thrown a tantrum and they had finally given in to her. She smiled at the memory, they were amazed at how she had handled him.

“Hey buddy”, she called out to him, “We are about to go on a long ass ride. An adventure of some sort, very important, however”

He neighed and brought his muzzle to her face.

“Oh no Fury!, You have to stay quiet”, she caressed him, “Or we will get caught”, she grabbed his saddle and strapped it on him and carefully led him out.

She stayed in the shadows avoiding the guards situated at strategic places in the kingdom. She left the gates and soon she was at the outskirts of Avalon. She gave it one last long look and then straddled her horse and turned her back to Avalon. It was only temporary, however. She was doing this for Avalon, for her people. She rode off into the enveloping darkness of the woods.

***

Raisel rode slowly through a lonely pathway. The night was eerily chilly and quiet. Fury began to make restless noises. She became alert and before she could speed off, some men appeared from out of the bush and beset her.

“Oh she is a lady…”, he had a menacing look on his face.

“What’s a lady doing riding that mighty beast?”, another asked baffled, "At wee hours..."

“Does it even matter?”, another asked, “Can we just get it over and done with?

Raisel studied their features, they were tardy and in grubby clothing, they were likely men who spent all their time in taverns on beer and women.

“What does a woman like you have to give?”, the first man asked lewdly.

“We are going to find out”, another man replied.

Raisel stared at the men intently, one of the men lunged at her and roughly pulled her down from the horse, he took her unawares, she was sitting on her butt before she knew it. She had never been in a real fight with people who wanted to harm her so she was quite slow.

He tried to get at her, but she got up abruptly and kicked him in the groin with her foot.

He bawled out in pain and clutched his lower abdomen, “Okay…this one is a tough one. Beat her mercilessly”, he bellowed.

She graciously unsheathed her sword swiftly just like her father had taught her all those years. She brandished it in front of her.

“Can you use that girl?”, one of the men teased flashing his soiled crooked teeth.

“You’ll wonder at the things I can use”, she retorted, “Try me…”

She paused for a moment and in no more than a second, the fight began, the men were merciless and too skilful to be inebriated. However, she was as good as they came so she matched up to them. Her flips and dodges were effortless and swift.

They beset her, one of the men from behind subtly attempted to strike her, but she bent down and with a swift move of her legs, she kicked him off the ground. She snatched his sword and in a clean move she trapped him by his shirt to the ground underneath him. She focused on the two men before her, they hit swords. She deflected a lot of their strikes, it was hard to keep up with her.

“What the hell!?”, one of the men asked in wonder.

She was very swift, not giving any of the men time to make a hit. Then in an unprecedented move, she had lost concentration and the man she had trapped to the ground had set himself free and made a clean slash at the rope holding the gem on her neck. One quickly grabbed it and dangled it a few yards away from her, “This would be worth a lot of money, won’t it love?”

“No!, Give it back”, she yelled.

“No!”, they ran off into the woods, she ran after them but they were faster.

She ran back to get Fury and rode after them but they had disappeared into the woods and she had lost their trails.

She sighed in frustration, tears welled up in her eyes. She had lost something more valuable to her in a bid to look for another. And as she stood there without the gem around her neck, she realized how stupid it was to go in search of the Heart of Magic on her own.

Suddenly she couldn’t figure out why she had gone in search of it and whether it was important even.

***

She had been walking on foot for two nights, it was a lonely road until she suddenly got to a house that was lit, when she approached it she realized it was a tavern. She needed the rest and she knew Fury would too. She tied him to a tree outside and walked in. As soon as she did, the place quieted down.

The occupants were not used to receiving female visitors especially not one with a sword by her side. She strode in ignoring the glares she was getting, she needed something to drink. Soon they all got back to what they were doing.

She got to the bartender and sat on one of the high stools.

“What do you want?”, he asked in a croaked voice.

He was a large man, he looked to be in his fifties, and he had a white shag of hair and a beards.

“What do you recommend?”, she asked.

“I don’t...know”, he hesitated a little bit, “You’re a lady, we have a lot of strong…”

“Just get me a glass of milk”, she said, “No make that two, one for me and one for Fury'

“What?”

“Oh Fury is with me…”, she stared into his bewildered eyes, “Oh no!. Of course you don’t think I have imaginary friends, nobody does that anymore...”, she smiled sheepishly, “Maybe I used to as a child but no not anymore”, she smiled again.

A man in a cloak a few stools from her chuckled.

Raisel turned to look at him only noticing his presence, “Something funny mister?”

She turned to the bartender, “I’m sorry for all of that. Fury is my horse and he is outside tied to a tree, he will take a glass of milk too, the only thing is I think it will be much better if it’s brought to him in a bowl…you know what I mean right?”

The bartender stared at her, not saying anything.

Raisel stared at him wondering why he wasn’t replying, “She reached into her leather pouch, “Of course, I have money to pay”

She reached inside and brought out a silver coin, “How much do they even cost?”

“We don’t sell milk here miss. This is a tavern, not a daycare”, the bartender replied.

Raisel’s eyes widened, “oh!...I get”, she blushed in embarrassment, “But why not though?”

“Miss I can’t answer that”

“That's surprising and highly discriminatory. Everyone’s choices should be accommodated…”

“Yea whatever”, the bartender tossed the towel in his hand and walked away.

The man beside her broke into a laugh. It was a beautiful sound, almost too…

“Okay Mister the joke is over”, she said, she was cranky. She had lost her gem and had no idea why she left Avalon and she couldn’t go back out of shame. She would never hear the end of it from her mother.

She watched him as he reached for his glass in front of him, he wore a large black cloak that covered his head and prevented her from seeing his face as he leaned closer, Raisel saw a red-coloured stone, shaped like a heart. Just like hers, exactly like the one her father had given her. She gasped.

“Miss are you alright?”, the bartender asked.

“Yes…yes…of course I am”, she smoothed her hair, “I’m just perfect”.

The bartender studied her, “You look perfect to me”, and then he walked off.

Raisel was bubbling with excitement, she had found her gem. Fate was in her favour after all, what were the chances that she would sit beside the thief who had taken her gem? She wanted to reach for him immediately and beat him to a pulp, but she didn’t want to gather unnecessary attention. She didn’t know what to expect from the crowd. She decided to wait it out until he left and then corner him and give him a well-deserved beating.

He drank the last bit from his glass and signalled the bartender, “Here”, he dropped some coins and from the wide grin on the bartender's face, Raisel could deduce he had left a large tip. Showoff, she snorted.

She got up before he did and quickly untied Fury and waited in the still darkness.

The man in the cloak was walking towards her direction, then she pulled out the sword and pointed at his heart.

In the darkness, she could make out only the outlines of his face.

“I thought you were just crazy, now we have to add a thief to the list. Those are terrible attributes for a lady”, he said in a deep masculine voice, none like Raisel had heard before. It was surreal, almost heavenly…

“Wait what!, Thief? How dare…”, in her confused state he unsheathed his sword and pointed it at her too, “I think it’s going to be a fair fight now…”

Raisel raised her hand in surrender, “Okay…easy there. There’s no need for a fight or any blood spilling…”

He chuckled at that.

“I just need to take my gem. The one you stole from me!”

“Okay what gem are you talking about?”, he questioned, genuinely confused.

“You don’t have to act all so oblivious. The heart-shaped one you are currently wearing on your neck!”, She replied.

He stared at her for a while, “You are serious?”

“Well…I don’t know…YES!!”, she shouted the last bit.

“Oh okay. Take it easy”, he said in a calming tone of voice, “I didn’t take this from you”

“Yes exactly, you didn’t take it from me”, she poked him in the chest with her index finger continuously, “You stole it from me, you are the real thief here!”

“Okay aww!”, he grabbed her hand to stop her fingers from poking him, “You don’t have delicate lady fingers and that hurt”.

They stayed in that position for a while before she pulled her hand from his grasp, “Okay I might be slowly losing my mind but I can’t believe I’m negotiating with a thief…”

“Don’t use that word with me”, he stated with a note of finality.

“But it was okay when you used it with me…”

He shrugged nonchalantly.

“Mister I have a very long journey ahead of me and this gem means a whole lot to me. My father gave it to me and I can’t afford to lose it. Would you please give it back without…”

“I didn’t take it from you and it also means so much to me…”, he paused, “…after I got it yesterday”

“On my way to this town, some good-for-nothing scallywags cornered me and attacked me and made away with it”, she explained, “They were shabby, utterly disgusting, smelly and…”

He cleared his throat, “Do I in any way fit into that description?”, he asked, his tone showing he was hurt.

“Ye…”, she looked him over. She took a few steps towards him and studied his facial features. She placed her nose at the crook of his neck and inhaled…

“Okay this is incredibly uncomfortable”, he muttered under his breath.

“No”, she said in a small voice, “Not exactly, no…”

“Okay”, he bypassed her and began to move towards the woods.

She ran after him, “Okay but I can swear it’s mine.”

“I got it from some fin…okay not exactly fine gentlemen. They were indeed good for nothing scallywags, obnoxious ones at that…”

“You get my point now don’t you?”

“I’m sorry love I can’t give it back to you. I got it for a lot of money…”

“I could give you the money back”, she reached inside her pouch and brought out a couple of silvers.

“I got it for more…for a bag of gold”

“No!”

“Yes! They are worth that much, now if you'll let me, I must be on my way”

She pulled out her sword and placed it on his shoulder, “I’ll fight you for it”

“I do not fight women”, he answered.

“I’m not just any woman”, she replied sternly.

“That was pretty obvious from the start"

“Damn you!”, she swung her sword at him.

However he didn’t try to attack her, he only deflected her strikes, “I would advise that you stop”

“I would advise that you give me my gem!”

The fight lasted for only a few minutes, and then he pulled his large cloak and covered her face with it. He pushed her away slightly and when she finally uncovered her face, he was gone.

“What the hell?”