The Purple Thief (eBook)

LeQuita C. Harrison (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2025 | 1. Auflage
328 Seiten
Royal Writes Publishing (Verlag)
979-8-3178-1574-5 (ISBN)

Infos

In the Kingdom of Ardania, Mageia Unknown is marked as a Strange due to her majestic purple eyes and being a well-known thief. But they would soon discover she is the Fairest of them all and the last remaining hope for the Realm of Valeera.

LeQuita C. Harrison is a fiction author from Baltimore, MD. She graduated from the University of Baltimore with a BA in English and an MFA in Creative Writing & Publishing Arts. She published a collection of psychological fiction short stories titled, Stuck, in May 2022 and has been published in multiple anthologies. When she is not writing, she is spending time with her family, growing her freelance graphic design services, or singing her heart out at church. Visit her website: www.LeQuitaCHarrison.com Social media: Instagram, Facebook, TikTok @lchwriter

Textauszug

Chapter 1
The Purple Thief

 

~*~*~

 

MAGEIA UNKNOWN

 

 

 

YEAR 1018 - SINCE CREATION

KINGDOM OF ARDANIA

RIMLY TEMPLE

 

Those standing on the Rimly Dais were the next to die. Stripped of their clothing and humanity, the four men and women were condemned for their defects. Seen or unseen, Mageia couldn't tell from where she stood, but their whimpering sent sharp pains through her heart.

The announcer unrolled his parchment. "Hail Fairs of Ardania! Today we shall please the Diviine Six, who spoke so many years ago to cure our hearts and land of the defected and the weak using sacrifice."

Mageia Unknown clenched the hilt of her sword as the crowd cheered, hungry for the sight of blood. Her purple eyes glared from her cloak’s hood, scolding the Ferry Priest in his black robe with green stitches of boats, reciting a prayer for the souls. The families of the lost wept as they moved closer to the dais, shouting their goodbyes and pleas for mercy, which fell on deaf ears.

“These people are guilty of blasphemy and associating with the dangerous rebels, the Blesseds,” the announcer continued. “They are enemies to our sacred kingdom and have been chosen by our anointed Priesthood and the Diviine Six to be sacrificed for the beginning of our holy ceremony. May the gods accept their sacrifice and bless the Kingdom of Ardania.”

“Holy Hamino have mercy,” Mageia muttered, hoping the ancient god whom the Blesseds worshiped was alive and angry at the evil unfolding today.

The guards on the emerald-green platform forced the first man to the beam and strapped him down so he couldn’t move. The executioner stepped forward, prepared his sword, and with one swift motion, severed the man’s head from his body. Blood squirted everywhere. Its metallic odor clung to the spring breeze whipping across the cobblestone courtyard of the Rimly Temple.

Mageia’s stomach curdled. She hated working during executions, but it was the best time to collect from the pockets of those who found these proceedings pleasing and holy.

“Blessed be!” some shouted, eyes flickering to the sky, lips moving in silent prayers.

A hand tugged her sleeve. She caught eyes with Gavin, a teen member of her family who had a noticeable defect of dry bumpy patches from his neck down to his chest causing his brown skin to appear purplish. The burn in the 16-year-old’s eyes reminded her of what they came to the Rimly Dais to do. When she nodded, he slipped away into the crowd.

Swift and with years of great skill, Mageia pick-pocketed coins, purses, timepieces, fancy pipes, and anything her sticky fingers touched. Within her cloak, the sack attached to her waist grew heavy but not heavy enough to weigh down her silent feet. She was of a woman’s average, law-enforced height, about five feet by six inches, no reason to make her stand out. Many, like her, wore cloaks or robes with their hoods flopped onto their heads to block the spring’s angry sun.

So, she weaved through the rowdy crowd undetected. Midlaan soldiers and guards in their greens and black were unaware of the many thieving fingers doing what they knew best right under their noses.

The temple guards grabbed the second Strange, who gave a heart-wrenching scream as they forced her into place. The Ferry Priest muttered his prayers over the whimpering woman. The crowd’s ruckus heightened in anticipation. Mageia averted her eyes as the sword came down. A memory of standing on the dais of the Diviine Temple made her chest tighten.

I need to get out of here, she scoffed, wishing she could run on the platform and cease this evil.

She decided to finish up early and eased through her section, head low and hands prying and taking. Then someone bumped into her from behind the same time her hand dug into her next victim’s vest for a timepiece hanging from a silver chain.

"Hey, watch it, lady," the man snorted, only for his eyes to widen, feeling her hand in a place it shouldn't be. Their eyes met, and fear crawled onto his face as he screamed. "Purple Thief!"

With no hesitation she sprinted through the crowd, pushing people out of the way.

“Stop her!” She heard the man shout.

Not today, she thought as she broke free and headed eastward through the Rimly Marketplace. People squealed and jumped out of the way in fright of her Strange eyes. The guards and soldiers nearby snapped into pursuit. She remembered the many escape routes that could lose her pursuers and their heavy armor. She scanned the Mideri Wall trailing behind the stalls on her right. With calm assurance and much practice, Mageia repositioned her bag of stolen valuables and climbed onto a man’s smelly onion stall.

“Oh gods, get off!” he screamed.

Ignoring him, she climbed the stall’s wooden poles onto the roof, the only sturdy roof she had taken notice of weeks ago. With careful footing, she tiptoed to the other side, jumped, latched onto the wall’s protruding stones, and began climbing with reptilian speed. Her pursuers grew frantic. They rerouted, running towards the stairs of a wall post. The two lone guards inside the post scurried onto their feet and began running towards her.

Unfortunately for them, she was too far away. She climbed over to the other side of the wall into the neighboring city of Strana, descended into the thick vines of overgrown trees, and disappeared into the woods. Laughing to her core, she ran through the woods and entered an alley leading to Hamala Marketplace. Barely out of breath, she glanced up at the wall where the guards scanned anxiously below and chuckled. She had outwitted them again.

She strolled eastward towards the hills and plains of the Hillside, passing through many neighborhoods of Strana. To rest her feet, she stole a ride on the back of a horse-drawn wagon hauling hay and pulled her hood very low over her eyes. Just because the slaves working the fields were Strange like her didn’t mean they all could be trusted. If she were ever caught for her sticky fingers, this could be her life, condemned to a life of servitude until exonerated by a master, the Crown, or death. But the risk was important to feed her growing family.

An hour later, she comfortably walked through the Dauntless Mountains to the secret cave entrance of her home. Checking for followers or stragglers, she entered the curtain of yellow-flowered vines and let her feet guide her through the familiar dark pathway until she spotted light ahead. Mageia gave a short whistle sequence and waited. An owl’s hoot responded from beyond the cave, granting her access, and welcoming her home.

“Hala, Dean,” she called out, sensing her best friend was nearby.

Indeed, the 18-year-old gave a low chuckle from his perch on a boulder. He flapped his auburn hair out of his green eyes, exposing a pink birthmark trailing the right side of his face like a permanent blush. He lowered his spear, and the three Elders did the same.

“Lady Mageia, fine day?”

“It was indeed a fine day,” she said, throwing him the silver timepiece she stole from the man she spooked. He caught it and grinned at its elaborate designs.

She heard him scramble off the boulder and fall on her trail.

“Yer back early,” he said in the foreign accent she’d grown accustomed to.

Uh oh, she thought, a knot forming in her throat.

“Yeah, I know.”

“Geia … Did’ju get spotted?” he asked with a hard strain in his voice.

"Uh …" she said, feeling her friend's face twist hard.

“Wait.” He stepped in front of her with a hand raised. “Yuh got spotted, didn’t yuh?”

She shrugged and slipped around him. “Uh … Yeah.” She bit hard into her bottom lip, knowing exactly where this conversation was heading.

Dean Unknown gawked, unable to get a single word out. He followed her under the drape of colorful vines into the heart of the encampment. A place she has called home for nine years. Huts made of nature's debris covered with stolen or handmade blankets sat scattered about. Clothing hung along vines, ropes, and tree branches, drying under the noonday sun. Handmade decorations and artwork from the children dangled in the breeze across the pathway and anywhere needing the color of life.

The smell of venison and vegetables lingered in the air, making her stomach grumble. She unlatched her cloak and exited the pathway into a circular clearing. A large firepit sat at the center with a lit flame within. Strange children ran around playing tag, and when they saw her, they cheered, ran to her, and clung to her waist.

“Hala, young ones,” she chuckled.

“Hala! What did you bring us this time?” a boy asked, peering up at her with crooked eyes.

“Hopefully, enough valuables to bring in more delicious sweets,” she said, scuffing his hair.

They cheered joyously and ran off, careless of their deformities and illnesses.

“This is yer first spotting in what? Five months?” Dean picked up the troublesome topic, and Mageia gave an irritable sigh. “What happened?”

“I’ll give my report during the meeting,” she said.

She continued across the Pit into a smaller trail leading to more huts. The biggest one sat towards the end, almost shaped like a cottage, with a window and a door made of wood planks. This one belonged to...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 29.8.2025
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Fantasy / Science Fiction ► Fantasy
• ISBN-13: 979-8-3178-1574-5 / 9798317815745