4Author's Note: This is an old story of mine. I decided to post it up to have a story to my name while I work on my current one! Please criticize my old writing
A girl, clad in leather boots, pants, and a cotton shirt, held her sword with strength and skill. She was the most feared warrior in the kingdom.
No, warrior was too honest a word for her. She was a thief; deadly, cunning, and stunningly comely. Nobody could match her. Nobody could even try. She was known as the Scorpion. She had no fears.
Until now.
Footsteps, not trying to be concealed, thundered towards her. Her eyes flashed in pain. Not physical pain, but pain at the thought that the people after her were trying to kill her. She twirled the sword in her hand and crouched, like a cat ready to pounce on it's prey. This position would give her a chance to move freely and more quickly.
They burst through the clearing like a wild pack of dogs. At the head of the group was a handsome man, dressed like her. She felt a lump in her throat as she fought back tears. She looked into the man's eyes, hoping to find the love and laughter that used to always be in them when he looked at her. It was gone, replaced by repugnance and smug contempt.
She frowned.
She blinked furiously, and in those blinks, she replaced her love with hate. That hate fueled her need to live. She backed onto the bridge. Underneath was a lazy stream with long stretches of rock. She could kill them all, easily. But…
She wouldn't.
She took another step back, a step that would but her in the middle of the bridge. A rope met her feet and she lost her balance. Her feet slipped off the bridge as if ice covered it. She dropped her sword instantly and in plopped into the river, splashing water up. It was still visible, though, because the water was crystal clear. Catching hold of the bridge with her hands, she glanced down at the stream. It was shallow, rocky, and a long ways down. The fall would probably kill her. She gulped inwardly, scared for the first time in her life.
The man walked onto the bridge, a cruel smile on his face.
"How can you do this?" she asked him. She didn't sound desperate. As always, she sounded in command and dangerous. But she also sounded completely amazed. In a bad way.
"You should know. Aren't you the one who kills to steal, and steals to kill?" he answered.
"Guards, men, sometimes women."
"Heh"
"My band-" she was cut off
"It's my band of robbers now"
"My band" she continued as if he had never interrupted her. "is like a family to me. And I would never, could never, kill family!"
"Even if you were faced with death?"
"If I would kill family when I was faced with death" she growled "than every single one of you would be dead"
"But we aren't. You. Are." He muttered proudly. Then, without warning, he pushed her fingers from the bridge and she went flailing down below. She fell on a flat, smooth stone that was partially under the clear stream. Her head cracked open upon contact and began bleeding immediately.
She clung to consciousness barely as the handsome man made his way carefully down to the stream. He smiled, it was a smile that didn't reach his eyes. He plucked her sword from the gentle water, wiping the water off on his pants.
"So Scorpion. Looks like your stinger is mine now" The girl was to weak to respond. Instead she glared daggers at him.
"Well." he continued and leaned down to her "I guess this is goodbye, love." he planted a gentle kiss on her forehead before laughing and leaving the girl to die in a pool of her own blood.