Chapter 2 – Shira (Shee-rah)
It was dawn by the time this young thief made it to the distant rock formation. She jumped off the horse and led it to an area that was covered with brush and thorns. That certain area looked like it was thick enough to break a sword, but was moved aside with ease, revealing a cave-like entrance behind. The horse was led in far enough that it wouldn't be stuck with the thick thorns. The entrance was then covered back up with the foliage, as if nothing had been disturbed.
At the far end of the elongated cave, there was a halo of light, penetrating through the otherwise pitch-black darkness. The girl and the horse made their ways over to it. Letting go of the horse for a while, the girl stopped at one end of the light halo and drew her sword, thrusting it into that side. It took some effort, but the thief pried open the slab of rock, revealing it to be a stone door carved out of the cave. More light flooded in causing the thief and horse to blink and squint to get their eyes to adjust to the unfamiliar light. Once they stepped out of the cave, the girl pulled the door shut behind them, and grabbed the horse's reins again, leading it towards the stables of this hidden village.
"Hey, she's back!" shouted a little boy of about five summers.
There was a playful sparkle in the thief's eyes that proved she was smiling, though her actual smile couldn't be seen underneath her mask. Now that she was in the daylight instead of the moonlight or a tunnel, one could see her eyes clearly. They were a hazel-greenish color with a thin scar, clearly caused by a whip, over her right eye. It was stretched from above her eyebrow down to about two inches from her chin.
Suddenly, a tingling sensation crawled up her arm. Seconds later, the female was tackled by a lad around her same age.
"Ya got it? Ya got it," he said, glancing at the gauntlet before it registered in his mind that this actually was the eighth item he was looking at, "Hey, ya got it!"
The hazel-eyed girl muttered something in the dirt, then shoved the boy off her back.
"What was that?" the boy asked.
She spit some dirt out of her mouth and stood up, speaking, "I said, 'get off me you blond dolt'. You're freaking heavy!"
The boy smiled sheepishly, "I can't help it if I'm heavy! Blame my muscles. And I like being blue-eyed and blond haired. It's less odd than your hair and eye color…"
"I swear I'll pound you into the ground one of these days…" she shot back, pulling her mask back up over her nose and mouth, "Well, now that I can actually breathe, I needed to ask you something."
"And what might that be?"
"Were you out on watch duty last night, or did you skip again to party, because I was gone. Don't think I didn't find out about that last time, Raphael!"
Raphael flushed, "Well, er, y'see…"
"You ditched," she finished for him, "Alright then, once I put this horse in the stables, you're coming with me, so you can see how robbing on the city roads is done…in the midday heat, I might add."
He sighed, "But, doesn't that mess with your mind or something?"
The female turned and shot him a look, "I'll mess with your mind if you don't shut up!"
Raph panicked slightly and put his hands up in sort of a defensive position, "Fine, fine! You're the boss around here, Shira!"
Shira turned back around, and headed towards the stables with the horse, but not without replying to that, "Yeah, and don't you forget it!"