Catch Me If You Can

Kersali was used to the cold, dark sewers. She didn’t even notice the smell anymore. Her boots splashed through the sewage as she glanced over her shoulder, a crooked grin making its way across her lips when she caught the gaze of the leader of the Asalis crew.

Dark thick brows creased over his angry eyes, his skin stretching tight over sharp cheekbones from his clenching jaw. Behind him, the Asalis crew raced through the sewage with gritted teeth and noses curled up in disgust.

Kersali’s boots skid as she turned the corner, jumping and latching her hands onto the ladder. She scrambled up to the surface and pushed the trapdoor aside, flinging it closed behind her. The Asalis crew slammed against it and she threw all her weight on top of them. She pulled off her boot and stretched her toes, curling them around the lock just out of reach and dragging it up to her waiting fingers. She fitted it around the trapdoor’s handle and clicked it shut.

Kersali brushed her hands off on her patchwork brown pants and got to her feet.

Try as hard as they might, no one was ever able to catch the Devil’s Bandit.

She shook off her boots, slid the left back on, and slipped out the door of the little shack into the crowded streets of Versoh.

Her hands slipped in and out of purses, pockets, and satchels as she scouted her next target, a reasonably profitable shop, nothing too fancy. Evading the local gangs was one thing, but if the Watchers got involved, she would have a lot more to worry about than the usual death threats.

Night settled upon the bustling city, but the streets didn’t quiet, exchanging its ignorant city folk for the dangerous evening prowlers.

Kersali entered her favorite pub, gesturing a greeting at the owner and taking her usual seat in the corner. He brought her a plate of chicken thighs and green beans, and a pint of their best, and she plucked a marigold flower out of her pocket and tossed it to him.

Kersali had just begun to dig in, coating her fingers in grease and fat, when rough, calloused hands pulled out the seat across from her. A heavy-set figure sat down and Kersali dropped the chicken thigh back onto her plate with a sigh.

“To what do I owe the pleasure?” She lifted her eyes to the familiar angled face with thick brows and cracked pursed lips.

Reydon, the leader of the Asalis crew’s dark eyes narrowed. “Stay out of my territory.” He growled.

“Sure.” Kersali piped. “As soon as you give me 15% of your profit.”

Reydon’s fingers tapped a pattern across the table, and a sly smile crept over Kersali’s lips.

“I’m not playing these games with you.” He snarled.

She tilted her head to the side tauntingly. “You’ve been playing my game for a very long time.”

He grit his teeth and his fingers stilled before starting up again. “You can’t run forever.” He warned. “We will take you down.”

He laid his palm flat on the table and Kersali rose to her feet. She leaned down, her lips just barely touching the tip of his ear.

“Catch me if you can.”

He jumped up, but she was already out the pub’s door.

She spent the next hour meandering the city, taking out a drunk or two that tried to jump her, and observing the illicit activities taking place under the Watchers’ willingly blind eyes.

She stopped on the edge of Cili South street and cast her eyes around her. Two old men sat smoking outside the pawnshop and a couple of teenagers with long dark hair lounged in the middle of the street, passing drugs and beer between them as they laughed. Kersali stepped backwards into an alleyway, disappearing from the Watchers’ prying eyes and curving her way around the back parts of the city.

He was already there when she arrived, his back to her with his hood up over his dark, messy hair. She glanced around him before creeping on silent toes towards him. She drew her blade, but just as she’d gotten close, he spun on his heels and grabbed her wrist, slamming her back into the wall behind him. She twisted his arm out from under him, dancing on her feet as she spun around him. Her elbow sunk into his stomach and the force jolted him back into the bricks. Her dagger pressed up against his neck.

“Reydon.” She hissed.

His lips curled up at the corners. “Took you long enough.”

Kersali grinned and stepped back. She spun her blade before sheathing it. Reydon dusted himself off and ran his hand through his ruffled hair, dropping his hood back to his neck.

Kersali’s grin dipped as she observed his dark, heavy eyes. “You found her?”

Reydon nodded.

Kersali let out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. “Finally.”

Reydon stepped closer and his voice lowered. “She isn’t what we thought, Kers.”

Kersali’s brows furrowed, but her eyes flit away from him at the sound of light, nimble footsteps. She turned around carefully, her fingers brushing the hilt of her blade.

Out of the darkness came a small figure, barely taller than Kersali’s waist, clothed in dark blue robes and carrying a small wooden staff. Little brown hands reached up and lowered the hood, revealing a tangled mess of thick, curly, black hair, showering down over small brown eyes and chubby cheeks and a nose bent a little too far to the left.

“What is this?” Kersali turned to face Reydon. “Is this some kind of prank? Because it’s not funny.”

He shook his head. “It’s not a prank, Kersali. This is her. This is the Bluejay.”

Kersali gaped at him. “But she’s a child!”

Reydon’s voice was quiet. “We need her help.”

Kersali hesitated. She glanced back at the little girl. “You’re the Bluejay?”

A barely noticeable nod.

“And you can help us?”

Another nod.

Kersali glanced back at Reydon.

“What do we have to lose?” He whispered.

Kersali’s stomach twisted. The Bluejay watched them quietly with stoic eyes and a blank expression. She couldn’t have been older than eight.

Kersali faced her.

“What do we have to do?”

A light upturn of the lips touched the Bluejay’s face.

“This is madness.” Kersali muttered, flicking strands of her dark brown hair out of her eyes.

Reydon crouched next to her on the rooftop, but his eyes were on the sky above them, thick with clouds and not a single star.

“We knew it would be.” Reydon replied.

Kersali shook her head. “Do you really think this is worth it?”

Reydon’s dark eyes flit to hers. “Without a doubt.”

She gazed out upon the crooked buildings spilling into the winding streets and her chest tightened. “Do you think we’ll miss it?”

“Maybe.” His voice was quiet. “But can’t you feel it? There’s a whole world out there, places we never even knew existed. We could go anywhere, be anyone. Freedom, Kers, can’t you just barely taste it? Freedom.”

“And what if they catch us?” Kersali shot back. “I don’t want to be turned into one of their tools.”

“We won’t. We have the Bluejay.” Reydon eyed the darkness where the little girl had disappeared. “She’s gotten a lot worse than us out of this prison.”

Kersali pursed her lips.

The shadows parted like curtains behind them and the Bluejay appeared, scrambling over the rooftops with ease. She passed them and gestured quickly for them to follow. Kersali and Reydon rose and crept after her into the night.

Kersali kept her eyes trained on the Bluejay. Her figure flit in and out of the shadows, disappearing down a sloped roof or behind a chimney and reappearing out the other side. Kersali watched the child slide down the slope of a roof and vanish, but when she reached the tip of the roof, the girl was gone. She wasn’t on the next roof, nor was she on the ground.

“Reydon.” Kersali hissed.

“What?” He whispered, a few feet behind her.

Kersali scanned the rooftops one more time. “She’s gone.”

Reydon reached her and grabbed her arm to steady himself.

“What do you mean?”

Kersali yanked her arm out of his grip. “The Bluejay.” She snapped. “She’s gone.”

“But—” He broke off as a beam of blinding light lit up the area all around them.

“Halt! In the name of the Great Protector King!” The coarse voices of the Watchers called out simultaneously.

Kersali cursed.

“What were you saying about the Bluejay keeping us from getting caught?” Kersali hissed.

“Not the time, Kers.” Reydon shot back.

“Lay down your weapons and put up your hands!” The Watchers called.

Reydon and Kersali shared a glance. She cocked her head and let a grin slip across her lips. She saluted him farewell and bolted. He took off in the opposite direction.

Kersali’s feet thundered over the roof tiles. She unsheathed her dagger and grabbed onto the next chimney she passed, using her momentum to spin her around and launch her at the Watchers. Her blade flashed in the moonlight and their bodies thumped to the rooftop before they’d even drawn their weapons, but more Watchers were rapidly approaching. Kersali whipped around just as an arm shot out from behind the chimney and yanked her into darkness. She gasped and two small hands pressed into her back and pushed. She stumbled through the chimney, her breath catching when the wall—or the curtain replicating the wall—gave way and sent her tumbling down. She hit the floor, rolled, and bounced to her feet.

“Seriously, Kers, you’re making me look bad.”

Kersali’s eyes snapped to the corner where she took in the stocky figure with arms crossed, leaning against a bookshelf. A second small figure dropped from the roof in a flash of royal blue and landed with a quiet thud on the carpet.

“How—?” She broke off as the Bluejay waved Reydon aside.

The Bluejay knelt on the floor and began to pull books from the lowest shelf on the bookcase. Kersali watched her pull a key from around her neck and insert it into what Kersali had thought was just a notch in the wood. The bookshelf clicked and swung open into a dark, stone corridor. The Bluejay waved them inside, but Kersali hesitated.

“This will take us to the Outworld?”

The Bluejay nodded.

Kersali glanced towards the windows of the little house as though she could see through them. Out there was her home, her life, her allies, and her enemies. Beyond the city were a million unknowns.

“Kersali, we have to go.”

Kersali turned away from the city and took Reydon’s outstretched hand. They walked into the darkness together, their hands trailing along the walls as the Bluejay sealed the bookcase shut behind them.

When they saw the first beams of moonlight, Reydon hesitated, and it was Kersali who took the lead this time. She scrambled up the incline to the surface and stepped forward, startled when her boots sank into soft dirt. She looked down, eyes wide as she watched the thick, green grass tickle the sides of her boots.

She lifted her head and her breath caught in her throat. For miles and miles there were nothing but rolling hills with a few sparsely scattered trees. On the far horizon water gleamed under the moon, and in the sky, billions of stars glittered.

Kersali had never seen so many stars.

She took another step, and another, with Reydon following close behind her.

They didn’t know where they were going. They didn’t know what they were going to do when they got there. But they could taste the freedom in the air, and it gave them a high like they’d never felt before.

The darkness milled around them, but for the first time in her life, Kersali felt like she could finally see