Chapter 6: Justice

A Proper Young Thief

M.K.Barry

Chapter 6: Justice

There was a change of clothes in the sack that Marc had given to Lissa. There was no money, and more importantly, no food. At first, this didn't seem like a problem to Lissa. As a young child, she often spent many days in the edge of the woods, picking and eating what seemed then like an huge quantity of berries, and as far as she knew, rabbits were easy enough to catch. As far as Lissa was concerned, a person could live and thrive in the woods. Hadn't she heard stories about wild men in the woods? If they could survive, so could she.

One miserable day or hard work later, and Lissa came away with a small handful of shrivelled berries. She had seen no rabbits, and realized that even if she had seen one, and managed to catch one, how could she have cooked it? She also realized that late fall wasn't a time of plenty in the forest.

Sure there were ways to thrive. The trick was to know those ways. Unfortunately for Lissa, her knowledge was limited to cleaning and sewing, and the household skills that she had managed to make a type of living out of.

When she finally slept, she found a little rut to crawl into, made a little next out of her old clothes, covered herself with her cloak, and tried to sleep. Despite her efforts, however, she still woke up shivering. Everything was covered in dew, and she hurt all over from sleeping in such a cramped space. Worse than this, however, was the pain, the distinct emptiness in her stomach. At one point as she was packing away her things, she heard a crow cawing at her from a nearby tree. She grabbed a rock and threw it with all her might, an attempt to hit the bird so she could get it and eat it raw if she had to, but the rock sailed by the tree, clipping a few branches and scaring the crow off. Frustrated, she stomped off, grabbed her sack, and started walking again. She was soon rewarded today when she found a well beaten wagon road cutting through the forest.

“I'll be somewhere soon.” She said to herself. The road had to lead somewhere, and a road also meant people. A road meant that she might even see someone pass by on the road, and they would help her. They would at least give her a ride, maybe even some food if they had any.

She walked on, focusing on the ground just before her. She was still sore all over, and the chill from overnight wasn't leaving, even though the sun was up. For the most of the day, the road was shaded, and even when it wasn't, an icy wind foretelling of a cold winter kept Lissa cold, and somehow, her hunger only seemed to make her feel colder. She had only been two days without food. How long could a person live without food before they starved? Lissa didn't know, it wasn't a question she had wondered about before. She was sure he mother would know though. She wondered how long her mother had gone without food before she went to Lord Mintas.

She remembered the day that they left their little home at the edge of the village, and went to Lord Mintas' house. She remembered her mother, laying on her back on her bed while Lissa herself dug through the cupboards, looking for something to eat. She remembered telling her mother that there was no food, and her mother getting up, looking for herself, and finding nothing. Lissa remembered her mother telling her to stay in the house, and that she would be right back. She was gone no more than an hour, but when she returned, she gave Lissa a loaf of bread, and told Lissa to pack her clothes, and her doll. They were leaving.

They went to Lord Mintas' house because Lissa herself, not her mother, was hungry.

The rattling of a wagon in the distance pulled her from her thoughts. She wasn't sure what direction it was coming from at first, hearing only an echoing in the distance, but after a while she heard it behind her. It was a large, red carriage with curtains drawn over the windows. A man dressed all in black sat in the rider's seat, clutching the reigns of two black horses. Lissa turned and smiled, raising one hand up in greeting. The rider passed by without acknowledging her, without giving any sign that he had even seen her. Lissa was left staring at the wagon as it bounced own the path. She ran after it at first, but realized how stupid that was. She couldn't keep up with a horse-drawn wagon. The wagon was very soon out of sight, and Lissa stopped and sat by the edge of the road, tired and breathless. Her feet were hurting now too, a large blister having broken on the back of her heel. She reached into her sack, and took out her old white skirt, and ripped a strip of fabric off it to cover the blister. It still hurt, but not as much. She rested for a moment more, then got up and walked on.

By evening, Lissa had caught up to the wagon. On the side of the road was a small house. A sign hung from a lit lantern, proclaiming the house to be an Inn. She could see the wagon by the wide of the house, though the horses were not to be seen. She ran up to the house, and knocked on the heaven wooden door. A moment later, a large woman wearing a faded gown and a stained apron answered. She had a large smile on her face, but it faded quickly as she took in Lissa' appearance, her large, baggy and tattered clothes, her grass-stained cloak, her worn shoes.

“Yes?” the woman snapped.

“I was wondering if you had a room to spare... or some food.”

“I”m wondering if you have any money.”

“I don't.” I Lissa said. The woman started to close the door. Lissa held onto the edge, holding it open, “But I'll work! I'll do anything you-”

“I have all the help I need, thanks. I have two sons who help me here, and I won't take food off their plates to feed a drifter like you.” She pulled the door out of Lissa's grasp, but Lissa quickly but her foot in the door.

“Please, I'll take any kind of shelter, any scraps, and I'll work very hard! Just for tonight, and then I'll-”

The woman pushed the door wide open, knocking Lissa to the ground. Wordlessly, she slammed the door closed, leaving Lissa alone in the cold once more.

For a long moment, Lissa sat on the ground, listening to the sounds from within, listening to the sounds of idle chatter, easy, drunken laughter. She could almost feel the warmth radiate off the house, she could smell rabbit stew from within.

“It's not fair.” She whispered. Nothing was fair, and as far as Lissa was concerned, nothing had ever been fair. She shouldn't have been starving outside int he cold when people so close were eating happily. She shouldn't have been out on the road int he woods so late, she shouldn't have to have wandered to far from her home, disguised as a boy. She shouldn't have been beaten, and buried alive for a crime she didn't commit. Luc shouldn't have been killed, she shouldn't have been bartered off. Her mother and herself shouldn't have had to work as servants for Lord Mintas.

Their only crime was being related to a thief. No, it wasn't being related to a thief that did it, it was that thief being caught. It was the hand of justice that had placed her and her mother in their positions, and which led to the injustice that she was suffering now.

She almost smiled. Injustice from justice. It was funny. No it wasn't, it wasn't funny at all. She still couldn't help but smile at it, she couldn't help but laugh. As she stood up and brushed herself off. She was still chuckling. She made her way around the side of the house, and towards the back.

She could accept that her father was a thief. She could even accept that perhaps any punishment she was taking now was a result of the good and comfortable life she and her mother had lived off a thieves earnings. But She had seen Justice used, manipulated so easily, so efficiently by Ghant. He had gotten away with murder and almost had Lissa killed because of it. Just a few words from a rich boy's mouth beat anything, any amount of pleading and logic that could come from her. Here, Ghant was the one at fault, and where was his punishment?

Behind the house was a large back-yard, an empty field form which Lissa assumed this years crops had already been picked. To the far side of the field was a farmhouse. The whole backyard was illuminated by light coming from one open window. As Lissa approached it, she could feel heat pouring out of the window. She peeked in, and saw a small kitchen, much smaller than the one in Lord Mintas' house, but it had a big fireplace, with a bubbling pot hanging over it. In the center of the kitchen was a table with several loaves of bread sitting under a sheet, and a circle of cheese which the large woman was cutting slices off of. Lissa watches as the put the slices on a platter with some sliced bread. She lifted the platter, grabbed tankard from the edge of the table, and pushed open the kitchen door with her large behind. Lissa got a glimpse of several drunken men sitting around a table, laughing and taking as they ate their food before the door swung shut.

Justice and law, working as it was intended, took her father from her, and robbed her of the happy family she had had once, a long time ago. Justice, manipulated and used by the rich, by the sons of merchants, had placed the guild of Luc's death on her shoulders, while his killers went home to their warm little houses, and ate large, warm dinners with their mothers and fathers.

It was easy to climb into the window, and at that point, even easier for Lissa to grab the whole circle of cheese off the table, and shove it into her bag. Two loaves of bread were thrown in quickly after it. She paused, and looked around. She took the knife off the table, wrapped it in a cloth that hung off the edge of a bucket. She looked around once more, then threw the sack out of the window, and jumped out after it, grabbed it off the ground and into her arms as she ran away from the house and into woods. She heard a sudden cry behind her, and angry shouting. She ran until she could not longer hear the woman shouting, then slowed, and collapsed to the ground, breathing deeply. She pulled open the bag, took out one of the loaves of bread, and tore into it, not bothering to cut off slices. After a while, she needed to slow down, she couldn't' breath, she was eating so quickly and she knew she would make herself sick. She had known that from the start. She just hadn't cared.

She set the loaf back into the sack, tied it up, and started walking, trying to find a place to sleep for the night. She had thought that once she had eaten something, she would start feeling some guilt for having stolen something. All these years, she was branded because her father was a thief. It was assumed that she was a moraless bitch, who only needed the chance to prove it. Perhaps that was what she had just done. Perhaps they were right, and this was her true nature right here. But to Lissa, it felt like she was taking something back. Like she was spitting in the face of justice, which had taken so much from her, which had failed her. To her, it felt like real justice.

After wandering a little further, she found a large log laying on the ground. She crawled in, grateful that there were no rats, and pulled out her old clothes from the sack, and used them, as well as her cloak to keep herself warm. She nibbled cheese as she fell asleep.

M.K.Barry

Chapter 5: sunset