Rue reeled backwards with a sharp yelp. The figure she had run into likewise lost balance, and careened at the ground. When they hit it, there was a loud but short lived shattering of glass and scrambling as they shoved to their feet.
“No, no! Fuck!” A feminine voice came from the person. Their face was covered, as was their entire body, in a dark-grey cloth outfit that did well to keep them hidden in soft and deep shadows. An accusing glare met Rue, matching her height. It looked as if she were going to say something, perhaps even strike out, but the lights of the window the figure had apparently been slipping out of suddenly lit.
“What’s happening?” A gruff male voice inside.
Rue and the other looked up in unison, at the same time the man inside poked his head out of the window. His features were as gruff as his voice, beady eyes peeking out from spectacles, which went wide at what they saw.
“THIEVES!” The man bellowed. It broke the spell of the two standing there.
The figure bolted. Rue had no plans to stay behind. She launched into movement, following the thief on her heels, who darted between a row of townhome and apartment buildings. Most in this area were anywhere from two to four stories tall, dense residential living spaces that were clean and decorated and bright enough to still give off an air of higher wealth. They dashed into another row, and now the thief seemed to realize that Rue was keeping right up with her.
“Leave me alone!” The thief called over her shoulder, promptly twisting to dart down another alley. It almost threw Rue, but she pivoted hard and followed, no more than a few paces behind.
“I ain’t getting in trouble for your crime!” Rue gasped the words. Her lungs burned from the first escape she had made from Thaddeus’ home, followed immediately by this pursuit. She pushed down the bubbling anxiety in her throat from the fact that Thaddeus had seen her.
“You don’t have to follow me! Go a different way!” She called back. Both of their legs pumped over the sidewalk, and as they rounded another corner, they nearly bowled into a group of people standing around the blind corner. They cried out as the two dove through them, and by the time they spun around to get a look at the two, they were already gone.
“I don’t know where I am!” Rue huffed.
The thief threw another look back at Rue, which she imagined was exasperated, though her features were completely hidden. Rue met her gaze in challenge, and it broke shortly after. The thief grabbed onto a laundry rack just enough to send it sprawling down, and Rue yelped as it caught a leg. She tumbled and rolled, feeling skin scrape against cobblestone.
The thief kept running and Rue scrambled back to her feet, now a considerable distance. The thief pivoted and disappeared down an alley.
Rue made it there a few seconds after, and once making it down the length of buildings, realized the quality of the city was going down. She’s going to Snake’s Way, Rue realized. Snake’s Way, the neglected quarter of poverty within Whesirki, and an unsurprising place for a brazen thief to go. Rue’s head swiveled, just in time to catch a flash move around a corner. She pursued, pushing herself to make up for distance.
It took another few streets, the conditions of road and building around them plunging them into the dilapidated quarter truly, before Rue lost sight of the thief. She cursed, spinning around to look at the different directions. She had wanted to get away from the scene of the crime, which was successful, but part of her still wanted to pursue this thief. It was frustrating that she had disappeared so easily.
Moving in a faster walk, uncertain, she passed an alley and looked down it, then to the other side at another. The snow was trampled everywhere, and lack of new snow meant no new tracks. Her head turned again, and caught upon the sight of a crow, perched directly atop a dimmed orange street light crudely hanging from a building.
They stared at each other, and Rue felt her breath caught in her lungs. The bird incited a fear in her gut, a primal reaction as if she should run the other way, but couldn’t. An icy shiver sparked down the back of her neck to the base of her spine. Then, as if it were never there, the feeling passed and she could breathe again.
CAW.
The bird twisted and looked to the left. It looked back at Rue, and though it didn’t caw again, she felt as if it were saying, there, over there. It fluttered its wings and launched from the pole, sailing up and to the right, through the alleyway. Rue followed, instead of running, unsure why she was humoring it apart from it feeling right.
Thaddeus’ contemplations came to mind. Was there something more to the birds? There had to be more to it, but Rue drew up with no explanation.
She ran through the alley and saw the crow circle, then take another path. It cried out into the night air. It was quiet here, and Rue was used to there being more people out and about in Snake’s Way, even in cold evenings. Some of the buildings looked abandoned and in disrepair, and as she continued to follow the crow, the lamps were sparse, broken, or had gone dim. The crow flew just slow enough for her to follow at a jog. It hung in the air gliding long enough for her to stare at the crows underbelly, before it tilted at a sideways angle and flew around the corner of the street.
“Where are you going?!” Rue yelled at it, followed by a lower and sour, “I’m going crazy!” as she bounded around the corner. With her gaze upwards, struggling to see the dark bird through the poorly lit street, she collided with the thief once more. The thief was prepared this time, having heard Rue shout, and Rue met a shove of her hands that sent her sprawling onto the street with a yelp.
“How’d you even catch up?” The thief snarled. Her boot landed on Rue’s chest, and none too gently. Rue attempted to twist away, but the weight upon her was stronger than she expected.
“Get off me!” Rue’s fist flew at the leg, landing several hits. The weight relieved for just a precious moment, then came down in an actual kick that pulled a yelp from Rue.
“Viru, were you followed?” Another voice, female, the owner of which appeared right beside the thief. Her face was uncovered, the dim lighting still making it difficult to see in much detail, but her features carried worry.
“Get back,” the thief, Viru, snapped as she threw an arm back at her companion to ward her off. It worked somewhat, the woman shrinking away but not far. “This lady ruined everything. I was out of the house, and she knocked the jar outta my hands!” The foot drew back, and now aimed at Rue’s gut, landing a hard kick. Rue cried out and curled onto her side in instinct, arms pulling in just in time for another kick to strike out.
“Viru!” The woman protested again, grabbing the thief by her arm to try to tug her back. “She doesn’t look like she could harm a fly, stop it!”
“I’ll do more than harm a fly,” Rue snarled from the ground. She risked a peek up, half expecting a foot to fly for her face, but Viru had stepped back. Her friend clutched at Viru’s arms, practically hugging her, staring down at the woman upon the ground. Rue took the chance to start climbing to her feet, pulling back to make some more distance between them. “You came outta nowhere, I didn’t see you!”
“Bullshit! I was outta there, almost all the way gone, and you just happened to bump into me?”
“Why the fuck does it even matter? You had some, what, cheap vase or something? Who breaks into a house for a fucking vase?” Rue was bristling, her shoulders going back in an attempt to make herself look bigger. Viru didn’t appear the least bit intimidated, glaring from her face wrap, and looking all the part of someone who belonged in a desolate alleyway so late. A crow cawed from not far away.
“A fucking vase?” Viru scoffed. “Didn’t you see what came out of the vase when you broke it?” She started to step forward again, and her friend tensed upon her hold, which worked for now. Rue hesitated at the question, and so the thief answered without waiting for her to fumble around for an answer she clearly didn’t have. “There was jewelry in there! Damn it all.” Her features were obscured by the wrap still, but Rue could feel the snarl in her voice.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“Viru,” the other woman said, her voice falling soft, as gentle as a spring breeze. Rue was surprised that it commanded Viru’s attention so effectively, her head snapping to look at her companion.
“Madelon,” Viru answered back in a stressed emphasis.
“It’s going to be okay.” Madelon smiled. There was just enough light that Rue saw the shift of her features, as if the moon had lent a ray just for her. Viru seemed captured, and nodded finally, a small shift of her head as she caved in, answering the placating mood. She brought her gloved hands to the wrap and pulled it free, shaking her head. Rue thought it was a failure of clear vision, but no - she saw just enough to be certain.
Long ears framed Viru’s face, tapering above the top of her head. Rue found herself stepping forward, straining to see. Details were fuzzy, but…So was Viru. Her face was not human, but a feline-humanoid resemblance, covered in fur. Her nose tapered forward, jaw offset in a way that her short snout evident. She was a sarka, not a human at all.
“Of course a cat is a thief,” Rue blurted with a short laugh.
“Excuse me?” Viru spun back towards Rue, snapping so easily from Madelon’s grip that she had probably never been restrained by it fully in the first place. “You’ve got an opinion about something?” Madelon threw both of her hands out, right against her body, tossing Rue something of an apologetic look for not being able to intervene here.
“No, I didn’t mean anything weird! Just, like, aren’t you able to like, uh…” Rue winced under Viru’s withering gaze, one that told her to speak carefully. “...Jump better? Like a cat?”
The sarka held her glare, then the tension dissolved as she leaned back, rolling her eyes. “Watch what you say,” she grumbled. “What do you want from me, anyway? You chased me all the way here. It’s two against one, if you try to do something. No one’ll come running even if you yelled for help.”
“Viru,” Madelon said in attempt to admonish her, but Viru waved a hand, uncaring if her manners were lacking.
“I’m not gonna try anything!” Rue insisted. “Look, I am sorry. But what if I could help? I ain’t no cat, but I’m fast.” Rue hadn’t had a plan when she pursued the woman here, certainly not even along these lines. She was an opportunist though, and this was certainly one here. Someone who clearly knew their way around less than legal things, as well as a way to safely sell items that might be difficult to sell. If stealing was a more viable means of survival than working, it was a path she’d take. Even going back to the library seemed less than ideal. What would Thaddeus say? The thought roiled her stomach.
Viru looked entirely unimpressed, but the way that she looked Rue up and down brought an ill feeling. She saw herself again. Dirty, distrustful, trash. Even the apology that had rolled from her tongue was a lie, and she was certain that the sarka had heard it for what it was. Madelon did not. Just as it seemed Viru was finished making her judgement, her friend leaned in and murmured. It was loud enough for Rue to make out.
“We should as Nassen, shouldn’t we?”
“Who’s Nassen?” Rue asked, wanting to get more in edgewise, before Viru could decide to cast her off.
“Our boss,” Madelon answered at the same time Viru said, “no one.”
The two exchanged a quick look, before Viru snorted. “Why do you think he’ll care about this trash? He’ll just be as pissed as I am.”
“He can decide what to do,” Madelon insisted. “She said she’s willing to help.”
“I am!” Rue insisted. “I can steal shit. How do you think I’ve been surviving? Come on. I got a job, but it ain’t working out. If you let me–”
“Shut it,” Viru snapped. “You can explain whatever you want to Nassen. Don’t expect him to be as nice as I have.”
“You’ve been a cunt,” Rue muttered back.
“And he’ll be a bigger one,” Viru retorted, her tolerance thin as it had begun. “Come on. Keep quiet, you’ve already caused enough scenes tonight.”
Rue snorted at the comment, and as tempted as she was to argue, she held it back. Viru seemed likely to be able to fight for the last word as much as Rue could, and while it’d serve an entertaining purpose on most days, this was not one of them. She wanted them to be cooperative and as trustful as one could get in short time.
The three began to move through the quiet streets. Rue looked, and did not see any sign of the crow that had led her to the duo. It still unsettled her, and she had a feeling that if she allowed herself to dwell on it, it would only become even more unsettling. She pushed it down. In the passing streetlights and spots of better allowance of bright moonlight, Rue could see each of them better. Viru, the feline-species sarka, looked silver-grey in the glow of night. Her ears were long and disappeared underneath her facewrap again at some point. She moved swiftly. Rue didn’t see her tail, which would have been an obvious giveaway, and assumed it was tucked away. Perhaps she was just trying to pass as a human, in the case of getting interrupted in her nighttime thieving…Which is exactly what happened, and Rue had, indeed, assumed her human. Her frame was lithe enough to pass as it, and she was tall, though just as much as Rue was.
Madelon had dirty-blonde hair braided back in two parts, crowning her head, and meeting in the back. Her skin gave a lovely glow under the moonlight that Rue couldn’t help but notice, gaze lingering upon her in those moments. She had a dreamy look about her, relaxed despite the tension of her friend. When they passed beneath light fixtures, she had more distinguished darker features that reminded her of the peeled bark upon a red cedar tree. She was shorter than her and Viru, and wore several layers of winter clothing, the outermost dark-grey to blend with the evening. Each time she spoke to Viru from there, she leaned in and whispered to her, and Rue found herself straining to listen to the words. Her tone was always tranquil.
They went quickly and with familiarity through Snake’s Way. It was another ten minutes of trudging through the streets. Viru glanced back at Rue every now and then, and she could imagine the frown that was probably hidden behind the wrap. Rue never said anything to the looks, only just met her stare, refusing to flinch from it. Eventually, they came upon a small building that looked in disrepair and otherwise abandoned, if not for smoke curling from a pipe on the roof. Many buildings did around here, even if they looked as if they shouldn’t house anyone.
Viru produced a key and unlocked the door. Rue noted the windows were all boarded, tightly enough that none of the light within spilled out. They stepped inside, and the surprising pleasant scent of firewood burning hit her nostrils, immediately reminding her of home. It smelled much better than the barrels of burning debris at some of the spots she had found to sleep at. The building actually retained some warmth, enough to make it pleasant compared to the outside. There was no furniture on the lower level, only piles of trash and random blankets strewn on the ground, dusty and covered.
It was lit by a single lantern, which Viru walked up to, while pointing to a stairway. “Up,” she ordered, before clicking the lantern off. The room cast in full darkness.
“What the fuck?” Rue questioned, arms going out as she blindly started in the stairway's direction. The darkness came with a loud hum, pulsing. Rue realized it was in her head, the space suddenly feeling much smaller.
“Up,” Viru repeated.
“The lantern was just for us coming in,” Madolen murmured. “We don’t want to waste the charge. Sorry it’s so dark.”
“Don’t apologize to her,” Viru answered. She was suddenly right behind Rue, and Rue felt her hands grab her shoulders, shoving her. “Go on, the stairs are right there.”
“Don’t touch me!” Rue snapped, surging forward from a mixture of the shove and her own will, heart leaping. “I’m going, you don’t have to fucking grab me!”
“I didn’t grab you, I pushed you,” Viru answered back with a hot rise in her own tone at the shift of hostility in Rue’s.
“Don’t touch me again,” Rue asserted back, bristling. She shrugged her shoulders, trying to shake away the sensation of the touch, which felt like a phantom zap. It was brief enough that Rue knew it didn’t actually hurt like touching often did, but everything with Thaddeus was still so fresh that the idea of enduring that again seemed awful. When Thaddeus had touched her, it felt as though every nerve in her body had been alight with searing pain, a torture tenfold of anything she had felt before.
Madelon led up the stairs and Rue followed behind, feeling the walls. Viru kept right behind her, her steps silent, but her presence made the hair on Rue’s neck stand.
Madelon opened a door at the top of the steps. Orange light bled through, and so did warmth. They all filed up into a room that was decorated with a couch, cushioned chairs, blankets, and a table that sat low on the ground. A small metal furnace sat in the middle of the room, firewood burning behind a latched shut door, feeding a now potent warmth in. Rue was surprised to see it on the top floor but it seemed to work well. Sleeping bags littered the ground, only a handful. Everything had a worn and tired look, and the windows up here were boarded as well. Rue wondered if it was to make up for broken windows, or if it was a measure of privacy instead.
Sitting upon the couch, laid upon it actually, was a man who had a book open, propped on his chest. He had rich dark skin, narrow brown eyes, and black hair cut close to his scalp. He was quite relaxed, even as his gaze curiously landed upon Rue, the sight of which didn’t prompt him to even want to twitch from the couch.
“Who’s this?” He asked, voice baritone and near as tranquil as Madelon’s was.
“The bitch that ruined my job,” Viru spat out.
“Nassen, this is Rue,” Madelon offered more helpfully. “Rue, this is our boss, Nassen.”
