Growing more and more furious, Martha waited for the old beggar's answer.
"I don't know anything. I was just told to keep you away from your home for as long as possible, that's all I know," he replied with a pleading look.
Martha began to panic, trying to understand why the master of the lower districts might want something from her, and what possible interest she could hold for him.
Then she had a sudden realization and took off running toward her shelter.
Victor, recovering from his fright, realized that he had just been manhandled by a mere child who knew nothing of life. Ashamed, and fearing the punishment that awaited him should he fail his mission, he began to chase after Martha, pulling a knife from his clothes.
Hearing footsteps behind her, Martha glanced over her shoulder and saw Victor gaining on her quickly.
After a few seconds of frantic running, she slipped through a gap too narrow for Victor to follow.
Catching her breath, Martha heard Victor's roar of rage and decided not to linger, hurrying to get back home.
Disoriented by the chase, Martha began climbing the abandoned building she had just slipped into. Reaching the top, she looked through an opening. Not seeing well enough, she leaned forward to check if she could reach the roof and climbed the wall.
Arriving on the rooftop with difficulty, she started coughing, her eyes and throat burning from the smoke. Still, she managed to get her bearings.
She was about fifty houses away from the section of the wall where she had built her shelter.
Fearing another encounter with Victor, she chose to travel across the rooftops despite the smoke.
Thirty minutes later.
Exhausted and half-choked by the smoke, Martha finally climbed down from the roofs. Only a few streets from her shelter, she stopped to catch her breath and then walked toward the wall.
Thinking about Victor's words and fearing Pedro's men, she dreaded running into them.
Advancing cautiously, Martha came within sight of her shelter and froze in horror. Several of Pedro's men were gathered around the spot, her shelter reduced to ruins, her belongings scattered everywhere. Staying hidden behind a wall, Martha began to think about what she should do.
Then she heard a shout. Turning her head, she saw one of Pedro's subordinates holding up a small box. Martha would have recognized that box anywhere it contained her savings and her treasure.
Wild with rage, forgetting the overwhelming odds against her, she prepared an ambush.
Unaware of the danger hanging over them, the men began heading back to their headquarters, walking straight toward the spot where Martha lay in wait.
Perched atop a shutter, Martha watched her targets approach. When they passed beneath her, she dropped down, screaming, her dagger raised.
The men, startled, looked up just in time to see a girl leaping at them with a blade. With no time to dodge, Martha's target moved instinctively, avoiding a fatal strike but still taking a deep wound to the shoulder. Crying out in pain, he dropped the box.
Seeing her box fall, Martha released her dagger embedded too deeply to pull free and landed on the ground. She reached for her treasure, but a violent kick sent her flying into the wall.
The wounded man's companions had recovered their senses and counterattacked. Winded, Martha let go of the box as her attackers closed in. Curling in on herself, she was battered by a rain of kicks.
Stopping at last, they spoke to her:
"Micke, didn't you tell one of those beggars to keep an eye on her so this wouldn't happen?" they said to the wounded man.
"Of course I did. Victor will pay for this."
"I don't know if you can hear me, kid, but here's some advice if you want to survive: choose your enemies carefully. If we hadn't been ordered not to kill you, you'd already be dead."
Martha, slipping into unconsciousness, closed her eyes and passed out.