Love's Destruction

It was a cloudless night, perfect for a game of chase.

Angry male voices called out. The neighs of horses and the barking of dogs overtook the cries of nature within the woods tucked away behind the king's castle.

The guardsmen had spotted a small cloaked thief trying to steal the prince's stallion. No doubt that the sack that the boy was holding was also full of stolen goods.

The boy was simply luring his own demise trying to escape with a sack full of goods. It was a wonder the dogs hadn't bitten the poor lad.

Puffs of air were expelled in great amounts as Lina sought to catch her breath. She had covered quite a distance considering the transportation the guardsmen were using. Though, it was apparent that the supposed "curse" that came with the forest was hindering the men's efforts to further.

Nevertheless, she was still in danger; she had committed the greatest crime. She had stolen from the king, condemning herself not only in the eyes of his royal highness but also to Him.

Clutching the ache caused by running too long and hard, Lina willed herself to cover more distance. With one had clutching her side and the other trying to keep her threadbare potato sack from dragging on the floor, Lina prayed that the herbs she had stolen and the jewels she had snatched would be enough to cure her poisoned mother.

Not too long after the pain in her side kicked in, Lina heard a bark not too far behind. Realization dawned on her that she wasn't going to make it back to her mother. Freezing in midstride, she clutched the sack until her knuckles turned white. With luck, it would only be the creature in which the bark had come from that was behind her.

Luck seemed to be with her as she turned to come face-to-face with a medium sized beast. It cautiously circled her growling every now and then when Lina tried to fake run as means of outsmarting the dog.

It seemed to have her pretty much trapped until the voices of men and the barking of other beasts drew near. Lina silently cursed.

Dashing in the opposite direction of the oncoming men and dogs, she was faced with the dilemma of taking the dog out of her path, but in her attempt to dash away, the beast was already lunging itself to bring the prey down. Its jaw came down upon meaty flesh, sinking itself deep.

Tears instantly flowed as Lina clamped her teeth onto her lips to muffle her cries of pain. With the tears of pain came the tears of sadness, she was already delayed enough to be unable to reach her mother in time; the creature had caught her thigh.

Dropping her sack, Lina's hand flew to the white hairs on the head of the beast in the initial reaction to pull it off of her. The seconds after the pain settled, Lina placed her other hand on its head, murmured a prayer of hope, and snapped the beast's neck.

With no time for picking up what she had dropped, Lina readjusted her hood and dashed as best as she could into the inner darkness of the woods. A nasty trail of blood followed her stiff movement.

She was familiar with these woods. Friends with a pickpocket, he had showed her the things he stole from within the castle.

Henry, the pickpocket, was a thin, wiry boy with a foolish crush on her. His mother worked alongside Lina's mother in the fields behind Lord Baybrooks's manor. At an early age, he had been sent off to find a job along the docks of Waiters Port, luckily the only job worthwhile there was pickpocketing.

He had unfortunately pickpocketed the prince's distant cousin, who went by the name Drew, and was sent to service at the castle since then.

With his help, Lina was able to meet up with the apothecary's wife in hopes of finding an antidote for curing her mother. She had left the evening her mother had shown minor signs of poisoning. It took two days and two nights of introducing her to her foreign surroundings as she headed towards the castle, yet Lina could only hope that her mother would fare well until she came back.

Over the horizon, day was making its way known. It was fortunate that Lina had escaped but it was only infuriating to find herself lost. She had somehow wound herself along the trees and was currently at a clearing with a pond obviously meant for swimming. Only, she never made it farther than the rocks outside the clearing of the forest before the loss of blood from her system took its toll on her.

Her only hope before she lost consciousness was that she'd meet up with her mother.