She woke up , almost dazed - her body still aching from last night's venture. A ray of light entered from one of the many holes in the tent, glistening on her brown shingled hair. It wasn't a pretty cut either - almost as if the person cutting it had tried to do it as badly as they could.
But not even the uneven abruptly cut hair could make the female in the tent look ugly. Her black orb like eyes, sunken cheeks and almost dazzling skin refused to let her be mingled with the other ordinary women of the tribe.
She took a deep breath before taking a look around. Her mother was not in the tent yet, which was probably for the best. She would not have been amused to see her lying " bare faced " as she called it - so pretty yet so contrasting to her background which indicated nothing but dirt and poverty.
She casually overlapped the hole from which the light was coming with the loose folds hanging still from one of the torn up corners of the tent.
She hated the light , as it was the the same light which gilded the royal spires and the polished marble of the wretched royal palace. The same palace where the people slept peacefully in their extravagant chambers and never had to worry about food or money. Just because they had royal blood...
Her thoughts were interrupted by faint footsteps in the direction of the tent.
"Not now ", she thought, half irritated half panicky as she quickly picked up a long black muslin scarf lying near her pillow and fastened it across her face. .
"Back already?" called a sharp voice, from outside the tent.
It was Tessa — her cousin, sharp-eyed and with hair even shorter than that of Shayna, carrying a basket of wilted herbs, which she laid down heavily on the floor.
" I didn't go out last night ", Shayna lied, smoothly. Her only grab last night had been a loaf of bread from a rather haughty looking noblewoman and she could not afford to share it with the others.
"If you're thinking of heading into the market now, wait until the patrol passes. They're on alert too."
Shayna smirked, though the curve of her smile didn't reach her eyes. "If I waited every time they were 'alert' , I'd end up starving."
Her tribe had lived on the empire's edges for centuries — once a proud desert tribe, known for their fierce independence with the gift of getting rid of bad curses and illnesses .
But due to some reason unknown to the youngsters of the tribe, and of which the adults refused to speak - the empire had branded them liars, thieves, traitors.
Their lands were taken, their men imprisoned or enslaved in far off North or sold as slaves to the noblemen and knights. The women… especially the beautiful ones were handpicked and sold to the royal court as concubines or sex slaves to the high ranking officials, by the soldiers who patrolled in the regions.
And those who remained learned to survive by other means.
Shayna seemed to be a natural, at what they called their honorary trade.
She worked the markets, the noble districts, and even those out of touch noblemen residences when she was desperate. Her hands were quick, her mind quicker. However, every night of her was a jumble of confused thoughts and sadnesss.
What good was cleverness in a world where her people were hunted for the crime of existing?
Today, she told herself, she'd just steal enough for the week, probably some small jewel which she could further sell at one of those antique shops down the market street.
Thud..Thud..THUD...
It seemed to grow louder by the second. It only indicated one thing. Some nobleman had stepped into the nasty market. They purposedly played drums on their arrival, almost as if announcing their presence.
Shayna could not help but grimace at the situation.
"Right when I need to go out ", she thought, angrily.
But then, all of a sudden, a happy thought crossed her mind. Today, instead of wandering off till the noble residences, she could simply slip some ornament from this arriving noble. The jewels they wore were quite expensive, probably even enough to feed her entire family for a month.
She remembered the saphire studded ring which Arina had once brought. Probably some rich woman's engagement ring. 20,000 gold coins they got for it !
She imagined what she would do if she could get 20,000 coins now. She could probably move to Arizona and settle there with a small haystack buisness....Oh what a delight that would be !
And then she could grow out her hair, probably even get rid of the her face scarf without having to worry about being sold off for looking too pretty.
The thought alone made her so happy that she did not even realise that she was now out in the open. The sun was shinng bright on her head and shoulders, though she did not feel it much due to her dark coloured cloths.
"Ow", Shayna groaned, after accidently bumping into somebody and her eyes widened at the scene in front of her.
A large crowd was gathered in the centre of the marketplace, even bigger than the one which had gathered when they had taken Alvera away, and her mother was crying and kicking and begging them, and everybody had just stood watching her....
She stood at a safe distance from the crowd, as her kind were not recieved warmly by the normal citizens.
"This had to be someone really big because even noblemen came their often....Maybe, it was a knight , or maybe even one of those royal ones who came into the public to announce things. How cool was that ?"
Suddenly, without any warning, the crowd started seperating. She could hear someone's loud voice saying something intangible to the crowd, but her eyes along with everybody's became fixated on the woman who had came out of the carriage.
She was the most over dressed woman Shayna had ever seen. With a beige ball gown with intricate designing that clashed perfectly with the dirt around her, she looked ready for a wedding. The top undercorset was ivory with actual pearls woven on it in the shape of roses and her earrings were those extravagant kind - which only the very rich ladies wore, that too on special occasions. Every move, every gesture she showed had that delicate and elegant style of the upper class women.
There were aggravated whispers all around her.
"Look at her hair. "
"Look at those shoes she's wearing. "
"She's a duchess ,for sure", one lady said , still staring at the embellishly dressed woman , "Or probably one of her royal highness' ladies in waiting ".
But Shayna's attention was no longer on the woman. Instead, her eyes had spotted a familiar figure moving swiftly in the crowd.
Ryan ! That stupid idiot.
Ryan was one of Shayna's neighbors and probably the stupidest person in their tribe. This person could be convinced that his brother was having a baby with a few good choice of words. There was no way , he was upto any good this time.
It didn't take Shayna long to realise what he was after. The woman's diamond crusted tiara was shining beautifully on her magnificent brown bun. Its reflection was almost making it look as if it was swaying, although it was placed quite sturdily at its place.
If he stole that tiara, he'd get the entire village under questioning.
She couldn't risk that.
Her heart pounded loudly in her chest as his shadow moved closer to the woman.
Forget getting everybody arrested, this fool was going to get himself killed. The guards were going to rip him apart with their metal spears.
She entered the crowd without any further thoughts, moving swiftly because of her petite frame.
And then it happpened. A loud swoosh, but only Shayna saw it. The tiara wasknocked right off the woman's head while she was too busy staring elsewhere.
She couldn't believe it.
He actually managed to steal that tiara quietly ?
Wait, no. This wasn't the moment to ponder about such stuff. If they found the tiara in the village....
It was too late as Ryan had already escaped from the other side of the crowd.
Well, then. Let's get out of here.
Just as she headed back towards the crowd, shs heard a loud scream...
"MY TIARA ! MY TIARA ! SOMEONE STOLE MY TIARA ", the woman was screaming her heads off and the now alerted guards quickly spread out in all directions...
Great , just great.
She quickly ran as fast as her little legs could carry her and was about to make it out on the other side whenshe felt cold metal on her shoulder...
"Where do you think you're going ?"