The young woman ran as quickly as her short legs could carry her, weaving in and out of the people shopping in the crowded streets with relative ease. At first glance people saw a younger girl who was playing, but they weren't looking close enough. Petaekka was definately not a little girl, and the game she was playing had much higher risks than anything an eleven year old girl would play.
"She went that way!" A soldier shouted pointing in the direction she was running. His shout caught the attention of his colleagues and they split up, racing around and through the people. Their faces were red from the pursuit which had gone on for a good twenty minutes of hard running without a break. Peta wasn't much better off but there was still some energy left in her. There had to be if she wanted to get away, it was a lesson she had learned as a little girl and she wasn't about to disregard the greatest advice of her life.
With a quick turn she rolled underneath one of the stalls that lined the streets, breathing heavily but it was too noisy for her to be heard above the chatter of the people in the street.
Armored boots stopped before the stall and a quiet murmur of voices reached her ears, but the words were muffled by the wood of the table and the height difference between there positions. It wasn't as if she needed to hear the words to know what they were talking about.
Her. She had just taken the purse of some fine nobleman and had been stupid enough to be caught in the act. She couldn't afford to make stupid mistakes again! Not like this! The next time something like this happened she might find herself in jail for a lot longer than she wanted to be cooped up in one place. One smelly place that needed to be destroyed rather than maintained.
"Damn..." she muttered as the soldier walked away, breathing a sigh of relief. Maybe, just maybe, she was safe.
"Eh? Whaccho doin' down 'here?" the older gentleman running the stall asked leaning down to look at the girl who took sactuary beneath his store. Petaekka couldn't help a small smile as she recognized the friendly voice.
"Whatcha askin' me fer?" she retorted, "Yer th'one who tells me ah can come t'ya if ah ever needs somethin'."
"Yer gonna be the death o'me." he murmured standing back up to straighten his goods. "Whatchu borrow this time?" She grinned mischieviously as she patted the heavy purse tied to her belt. It had certainly been a profitable morning.
"That, mah friend, will haveta be kept secret. Wouldn't wantcha goin' round tellin' all yer old folks what ah been doin' in mah spare time. But ah ain't sayin' ya can't bribe it from me."
"Ah, begone witcha!" he cried, kicking her playfully as she rolled from her hiding place, "Ye can't steal from me, missy! Not even wit yer pretty face!"
Laughing, she moved into the crowd as she took a bite out of a nice red apple she had snitched from his baskets. It was a beautiful morning, and maybe that meant the rest of the day was going to be just as wonderful....wonderfully successful that is.
