Before the King Part IV: Catch Me If You Can
Akka's heart thudded heavily in her chest as she sprinted through the streets of Gamora. The undesirable night life surged around her, threatening to cut off her escape from the guards who pursued the young woman. She had spent a brief moment of hiding with Mathayus and his travelling companions, but she knew she could not be such a burden upon them. Had they been from her tribe, however, it would have been different. Men from her tribe understood that men were inferior to women and that the Goddesses had made it so; other tribes seemed to forget the pain women could endure and their gift of life giving.
Akka shot through the streets, ducking beneath canvas canopies and through vendor's carts and shops, moving with all the speed and agility which came from more than a decade of intense training in the lush forests to the North. She panted with exertions, and her heart pounded in her chest under the leather tunic which clung closely to her well formed chest. Droplets of sweat formed on her brow and she brushed them aside with the back of her right hand, needing her vision to be as good as possible in the dimly lit, night-time streets of Gamora.
Akka ducked into a building, unknowing that it was a brothel. The young and sexually innocent Akkadian girl balked as she saw the bawdy acts that were going on inside the building but the guards who were close on her heels caused her to forget the women and venture further into the sex house.
Women gave this warrior girl a strange look, raising their eyebrows as she ran through their midst. Some laughed, others shrieked, but none offered to help the poor girl. Akka ducked into an empty room that was secured for more private and well paying customers. Akka gritted her teeth and slipped out of her pants, finding a costume laying on the floor. She had no choice, she would have to fool the guards. It was show off her body, act like one of the whores or lose her head. She picked the first option.
The guards burst into the brothel and stopped short.
"How will we find the Akkadian woman amid all these whores?" one of the guards asked their captain.
"Search the whole place. She'll be the only one who will be clothed..." he barked at the men and they scattered, eyeing some of the girls who giggled in an impish and playful manner. They wouldn't flirt with the guards to help this unknown woman, but they would flirt with them to make another sale, which would unknown to them
One guard bounded up the stairs, busting through the beaded curtain which had offered minimal security and privacy. The man found a girl, dressed in dark red feathers and silver chains, lounging on the bed.
Her lithe body was pale, the red feathers covering just enough of her body to make him want them to go away. A veil covered the lower half of her face, an opaque mask of feather and chain. She beckoned to him with one finger and crawled over the lush and luxurious looking bedding.
"Perhaps..." he started, starring at the young woman. Her eyes were deep enough to fall into, beautiful and clear. He could see that she was pouting just as the shape of her beautiful eyes changed. "In a minute. There is a fugitive on the lose..." The man could already feel the bulge growing in his pants, and quickly made his escape.
Under her veil, Akka smirked as she slipped off the bed, pulling her pants up over the decorative panties. She ripped the feathers off them and slipped her tight fitting tunic back on, leaving the cuffs and chains she had affixed to her arm. She kinda liked them.
The young woman jumped through the wicker window and panted as she hit the street, in a flat out run. She dashed between animals and finally came to a stop in a small stall where a few smelly beasts and a camel were tied up. The guard seemed to still be searching the brothel, if not, they had given up on finding her tonight and would place an incredibly high bounty on her head. She had now killed two palace guards.
Oh damn, she thought to herself as she rested amid the straw. At day break she would have to find a new hiding spot and lay low there for a while and make her escape the next night. She groaned and rolled onto her side, closing her eyes against the fatigue that was creeping in on her. She couldn't give into it, sleep would bring her down. Akka drew her knees up to her chest and laid on her side for a moment. She thought she could just close her eyes. Just rest for a minute.
The world seemed to fade from around her. The stall went away, as did the animals and the bustling people around her. Akka fell asleep, despite her training not to do so. She couldn't help it. She had been awake for almost three days in total, with little food and even less chance to rest.
Her rest was slightly fitful, she tossed amid the back of the stall, curled into a corner. Dreamy images floated through her mind, foggy and only half there. Mathayus was there, but his companions were not. There were flames everywhere, their heat licked at anything that was flammable and caused the air to shimmer.
A scream flooded her mind and Akka shook awake, sitting up bolt strait amid the straw and animals. Her heart pounded as she regained her breath. The stench of the animals which inhabited the stable assaulted her nostrils and senses, but she pushed those away.
The slender woman ran a hand through her hair, closing her eyes and shaking her head trying to get the image of Mathayus and Memnon's sorcerer out of her head. Of course, Mathayus hadn't given her any sort of trinket, or even a word, of bond, but still, Akka had fallen for the large man, some how.
Drawing her knees up, Akka rest her arms on them and looked out though a hole in the stall's roof, gazing at the small patch of starry sky which twinkled down on her. The woman smiled, slightly. How beautiful those stars were. How simple their life was. They were to shine down, giving light in the dark and beauty to the dark and dangerous night. To be a star would be a grand fate. Too bad no one could become a star...
