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Nalia shivered in the night air as she ran, splashing through the muddy
streets of Malch. Rain poured down on her, soaking through her thin jacket. It
was dark; the rain had put out all the torches, leaving only a waning moon to
light her path. Turning back more to listen than to look, she no longer heard
the footsteps of her father chasing her. She stopped and started to sob. Her
whole life was now ruined! She had run out of her house with her father yelling
at her, not too far behind. She could still hear her mother's cries and her
father's cursing in her head. She shook her head violently, trying to get the
sounds and images out of her head. Sobbing, Nalia stumbled as she tried to find
shelter from the rain. She was only 13 and her father already wanted her to be
married off. Nalia quickly ran underneath the shelter of a tree and sat, huddled
there, wondering where to go now. A slow ploop, ploop, ploop sound woke
Nalia up. It was still dark, but at the edge of the sky, Nalia could see just a
tiny bit of glowing from the rising sun. She looked around wondering what had
woken her up. Ploop. A drop of water fell on her nose. The rain had stopped
and water, now, was dripping from the trees. As Nalia stood up, she could hear
the city waking up with her. A few roosters were crowing, shopkeepers were
opening up their shops, beggars were already claiming street corners, and
merchants with their horse-drawn carriages were searching for places to set up.
Turning quickly, to get away from the main streets, Nalia stumbled into a young
man walking by. " Oh, sorry." Nalia muttered and walked quickly away. She
sprinted off through the city gates, leaving the young man staring at where she
had stood. "Now where do I go?" Nalia sighed as she strolled across the
bridge, "Father must have his men looking for me." Stopping at the middle to
stare into the water, Nalia gazed at her reflection. "I look like a beggar!"
Nalia laughed out loud. Relaxing a little bit, she continued across the bridge.
As she walked past a tree, Nalia thought she heard footsteps behind her. She
whipped around and stood ready to sock whoever was behind her, but no one was
there. Getting a little nervous, she picked up her pace, trying to find an open
area. She still had the feeling she was being followed. Nalia finally
came upon a clearing. She walked straight through it. When she was about to
head into the trees again she swerved around quickly. There was the young man
she had bumped into earlier, just about to run into the trees. The two just
froze there as sunlight began to pour in between the treetops. Suddenly, Nalia
turned on the balls of her feet and broke into a run through the trees.
"Wait! Don't go!" The young man cried as he sprinted after her. "It looks
like you might need some help." He continued, catching her arm as he caught up.
"Well, I don't! And you best leave me alone if you know what's good for
you." She turned away and continued running to nowhere in particular.
Suddenly, she ran into someone else. "Leave me ALONE!" Nalia
yelled, not knowing who it was. Nalia just turned away and continued walking.
Then there was another person and another and another. Her father's men
surrounded her. Panicking, Nalia blindly fled right into the arms of one of the
men. "Let me go!" She yelled, kicking at her captor. The arms around her
tightened as she was dragged back toward the other men. Suddenly, the grip
around her loosened and her captor fell to the ground. In his back stood a
dagger deep into his body. Sickened by the sight, Nalia could not move. She
could hear yells in back of her, as she struggled to reach a tree nearby. She
turned around to see why the other men hadn't come after her and saw the young
man. He was fighting all of the men, and winning. |
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