Summary:

Daughter of Whitby Fief's poorest farmers, sixteen-year-old Ashlynn Roanoke has become a petty thief to keep her family from starving. Her father died before she was born, while her mother lies sick in bed all the time; her older sister sits around at their home doing nothing besides checking her complexion in their dusty old mirror. Responsibility has landed heavily on Ashlynn's shoulders, but it's not until a certain someone takes notice of her stealing acts that some of that burden lightens...

By the way, thanks to my reviewers from my Author's Note! Even though...it was an author's note. XD Thanks, Dodo.123 and THE GIRL NEST DOOR. (Did you mean next door? 'Cause I typed that first, instead of 'nest.' XD)

Note: takes place after the events of book 10

Introduction

The sun was going down gradually, resting lightly on top of the nearby hills. That meant I didn't have much time left.

My stomach growled as I passed by the small bakery, and I paused by the window for a moment, staring hungrily at the delicate pastries and loaves steaming on their racks. Oh, what I would give for a hot-out-of-the-oven loaf of bread!

Or even half of one.

Almost there, Ash, I told myself. You only need to get one more royal.

And so, I sighed and forced myself to move on, glancing at all the shops and stalls of Market Day until one in particular caught my eye.

The jeweller.

I darted into the crowd of people moving up and down the street, weaving my way through the small gaps between the different groups of people—some were teenagers like me; some were families traveling together; some were loners wandering around, also like me.

My father had died before I was even born, thanks to a bandit attack on our large, rather important fief. My mother had slowly weakened every day ever since two years ago, thanks to her numerous ailments and diseases. And my older sister?

She was the kind of person who would bury her hand into a food dish, then be too lazy to even bring her hand back to her mouth.

So I was the one who had to take care of our family.

I wasn't that bitter about it, though. I'd much rather it was me doing the work rather than my sister. Because even if she'd had the presence of mind to take some of the responsibility off my shoulders, her hands would have been too soft and pure white to do any of the work well.

You see, all she was concerned about was her complexion.

Unfortunately for me, no one in Whitby had wanted to take in a scrawny farm girl to do work for them.

That's why I became a thief.

That's why I hid in the shadows by the jeweller's stall to look for any customers I could snatch either purchases or money from.

I looked all around for them, but everyone seemed to be either disinterested in what the jeweller was selling, or disappointed that the prices were so high.

Just as I decided to walk away and try my luck at another stall—one with reasonable prices—a little girl who couldn't have been more than twelve years old walked up and pointed at an expensive-looking necklace.

Probably for her mom, I thought. Tomorrow was Mother's Day, after all.

"That'll be two royals, lassie," the jeweller said, eagerly thrusting out an eager hand to take the money.

The girl backed away a little bit—apparently I wasn't the only one who knew about the jeweller's money habits—and pulled out a purse. Sadly, she counted up her money and gave one royal and one silver piece to the jeweller.

"I'm afraid that's all I have, sir," she said.

"Oh," the jeweller said, clearly disappointed. Then he brightened again as the girl took the necklace off its stand and called over her shoulder, "I'll pay you back once I earn some more money."

The poor child didn't even have proper clothes to wear, only tattered rags, and here she was, buying a beautiful present for her mom. Did I really have the heart to steal from her?

No, I decided.

So I switched my focus to the bulging coin bag the jeweller put his just-earned money in. Even that little silver piece the girl had given to the jeweller would be enough for a tiny bit more of Mother's medicine, combined with the three royals I'd stolen earlier today.

In fact, I was sure I could take the entire bag without feeling too much guilt on my conscience. The jeweller was quite well-off—his proceeds from his stall earned him more money per fortnight than the local seamstress made in a twelvemonth. And believe me, our seamstress was one of the best. She was the reason why I was dressed better than the little girl.

But how would I explain to Mother how I had suddenly gotten so much money? I couldn't very well tell her that I'd taken the jeweller's entire money stash. She would be so ashamed of me.

Still, I told myself that she—and I—could live with me only taking a few coins.

After glancing around to make sure nobody would see me stealing, I slipped behind the jeweller's stall and waited until the jeweller's attention was distracted before grabbing a royal and two silver pieces.

Now I could buy my mother a full dose of her prescription medicine with enough money leftover for some real food.

After all, no one was currently working our lands. We'd had to get rid of our field hands to save money.

But just as I was slipping past the jeweller's stall again, a hand shot out of the darkness and fastened its iron grip around my wrist!

"Dear me, young lady," a deep voice said. "I do believe you just took several coins from our jeweller. Let's not rush off anywhere in a hurry, shall we?"

Oh God, I thought as I recognized the voice. Then, as I looked up into my captor's dark, forbidding eyes, I felt a shiver of fear run through me.

My captor was none other than Gilan, Ranger of Whitby Fief.

So...do you like? If so, review! If not, then...still review! Just don't flame. Flames are nasty, uncontrollable critiques that blaze a scene of destruction and hurt all around them.

Anyway, the following chapters will probably be longer than this...introductions are always shorter than the other chapters, after all...

And also, I know that Mother's Day was ages ago...just deal with it. XD

Now please, review! :3 *puppy eyes*