The Aldonn Chronicles #3 "A Stroll through the Market" July Patreon Sneak Peak Free Excerpt

“Becca!” Kimmy called her daughter’s name as she came through her front door. She’d had to grab some things from the market, but told her daughter to keep packing while she was gone. Her daughter also knew not to let any strangers in. That was rule number one.

Kimmy’s living room was largely a mess, where she had tossed many of her belongings into two piles. A pile of things she could take with her, and a much larger pile of things she’d have to leave behind.

Dropping her suitcases on the living room floor, she stormed through her small humble dwelling into her daughter’s room where she found Becca sitting quietly on the bed.

“I’m sorry mommy,” the kid said, and the door to the girl’s room closed behind her. Kimmy turned around to find the same cloaked figure who had helped her the day before.

Kimmy screamed despite herself, and grabbed her child off the bed.

“Can’t you just leave us alone!” Kimmy yelled at the woman.

“It’s me,” the woman said, pulling back on her hood. She had pale skin and long black hair, looking not that much older than Kimmy’s own daughter. “Don’t you recognize me?”

“I don’t exactly make a habit of associating with teenagers,” Kimmy said in a huff, grabbing her daughter’s knapsack and tearing open the zipper to look inside. “This is all you’re taking?”

“Sorry mommy,” Becca said. “I tried to think of everything. When are we going to be back?”

“We’re not coming back,” Kimmy told her daughter sternly.

“You’re ditching town,” the teen girl commented to Kimmy. “That’s good -- Good idea.”

“So who are you?” Kimmy asked the young girl, wondering why she thought Kimmy would know her.

“I’m only the most recognizable person in Capsin,” The girl said, seeming to be bragging at least a little. Kimmy just shrugged. “You’re telling me you don’t know what the princess of Capsin looks like?” Again Kimmy shrugged. “I’m literally the heir to the throne.”

“I’ve never cared much for royalty,” Kimmy admitted.

“Well you can call me Penelope,” the girl told her.

Kimmy stepped past Penelope into the hall, and began collecting important things from her mantle to place in her suitcase. “How did you find me?” she asked the teen princess in between collecting her things. She had been so sure she had covered her tracks. Never ordered delivery, never told anyone where she lived.

“I talked to your friend,” Penelope told her. That was funny. She didn’t have any friends. Not anymore. “The one at the house on Bay and Maple.”

Penelope saw Kimmy look at a shirt near her, and she passed the shirt to the mother.

“Thanks,” Kimmy muttered.

“You seem terrified,” Penelope stated what Kimmy assumed was obvious. “I’m here to help you. I promise you that I will.”

“The most recognizable girl in Capsin is going to sneak me and my daughter out of the city?” Kimmy asked Penelope, using her own words against her.

The girl was young. Too young. She didn’t understand.

“You want to know why I’m so scared of the Thieves Guild?” Kimmy zipped up her bag and sat on it. “I had a friend once. She couldn’t make ends meet, and never was willing to degrade herself like so many of the rest of us do. She always thought one day she’d make it big as an actress.”

Kimmy felt a shudder course through her body as painful memories resurfaced. “She defied the Thieves Guild,” the mother continued to explain. “And one day she just disappeared. I searched and searched, got witness accounts, bribed drug addicts. I couldn’t find her anywhere.”

“But one day you did,” Penelope said, guessing where the story was going.

“Yeah,” Kimmy said quietly. “I did. At the house on the corner of Bay and Maple.”

“That’s where they put the girls they think they own,” Kimmy explained to Penelope who was looking at her with unmasked horror. “Make the women work for the Thieves Guild.”

“You should have let me grab a sandwich before we came,” a male voice said from outside the front window behind Kimmy. Kimmy got off her luggage and almost screamed, shooting Penelope a dark look.

“Did you bring anyone with you?” Kimmy hissed at Penelope.

Penelope shook her head frantically. “They’re not with me,” the princess insisted quietly.

“Would you shut up,” an all too familiar voice said. “This is her house.”

“That’s Cody,” Kimmy told Penelope in a hushed whisper.

“Who the hell is Cody?” Penelope asked, not nearly as worried as she should be.

Kimmy frowned in frustration. “Cody is the guy you let slip in the alley yesterday.” Penelope’s hand seemed to unconsciously go to her abdomen.

They were royally screwed. There was nowhere to run now. Only the one way in or out of her small house. Realization of the severity of their situation was still dawning on Penelope’s face, all too late.

“Should we knock?” Cody asked someone neither of them could see.

Suddenly Kimmy felt Penelope grab at her hand, and the mother was yanked from the living room. Penelope pulled her down the hallway towards Becca’s room but a loud commotion from behind Kimmy could have only been her door being kicked in.

Not able to make it to Becca’s room, Penelope made a desperate dive for Kimmy’s room instead, dragging the mother with her. Penelope held Kimmy in place behind the doorway, and she could feel the teen trembling beside her. Or maybe she was the one trembling. Or maybe they both were.

She could hear three sets of footsteps enter her house, one sounding a little lighter than the other two.

“Your girl’s been busy,” a woman’s voice said. “She’s been packing for a trip.”

“I’m gonna kill that bitch,” Cody’s voice said harshly. Kimmy squeaked, imagining the horrible things Cody was going to do to her. And worse yet, what was going to happen to her daughter.

Penelope put her hand over Kimmy’s mouth, and Kimmy tried as hard as she could to control her breathing. Why did it suddenly seem like every breath was so deafeningly loud. They would no doubt hear her for sure.

“Her bags are still here,” the woman’s voice said, and there was the sound of a zipper unfolding as they seemed to be going through her things. “It means she hasn’t left yet.”

From the doorway where they were hiding, Kimmy could see her daughter Becca come to her doorway across the hall. Kimmy raised a trembling finger to her lips and held it there, praying her daughter took the hint.

Why couldn’t she stop breathing so heavily. Her only solace was that Penelope seemed to be breathing just as hard.

The princess waved her hand to get Becca’s attention and pointed to a window behind the ten year old girl. Becca nodded in understanding, and Kimmy blew her daughter a kiss as her daughter grabbed her backpack and proceeded to climb out the window into their backyard.

“Search the house,” the woman’s voice said.

Penelope got Kimmy’s attention with a snap of her fingers and pointed to the window in their room. Kimmy nodded, and the two of them made for the window as quickly and quietly as they could.

“With pleasure,” Kimmy could hear Cody’s voice say, only too close.

She opened up the window quickly, allowing it to squeak. They had no more time to be stealthy.

“Go!” She said to Penelope. She had no connection to this. It wouldn’t be right if the princess got hurt because of her.

“You have a daughter,” Penelope argued, and Kimmy didn’t see the point in wasting anymore time. She dived through the window as fast as she could, and Penelope started after her.

“They’re going out the window!” Cody yelled, getting to the doorway.

“Run!” Kimmy yelled to her daughter who was frozen on their back lawn.

“It’s okay,” Penelope said as she dropped from the window and got to her feet. “Let’s go!” She said, leading them from the house to the fence. She boosted Becca over the fence and then the two women climbed over after her.

“Where are we going?” Kimmy asked the princess, as Penelope jogged through a stranger’s backyard and out into the crowds on Beggar’s road.

“We’re heading to the Market District,” Penelope said, out of breath, grabbing Becca’s hand. Kimmy grabbed Becca’s other hand and Penelope led them through the crowds. “We should be able to lose them in the mass of people there.” It was true the crowds were even more dense in the third district than they were in the fifth.

“From there,” Penelope continued, “we’ll get you to the front gates. Once you’re outside the walls you should be safe from their reach.”

There was a crack in the air. “This is official Thieves Guild business,” the thief woman’s voice was heard clearly over the crowds on Beggar’s Road. “Everyone step aside.” Almost as if parting the sea, the crowds split in half to reveal the three girls.

Penelope reacted immediately, pulling on Becca’s hand and steering them into a restaurant. They pushed past tables and tables of people, running as fast as Becca’s little legs and Penelope’s wound could handle. As it was the princess was grabbing at her side in obvious pain.

They surged into the kitchen, and Penelope stopped to wave Kimmy and Becca past.

“Go!” Penelope yelled to them, and Kimmy picked up her daughter to carry her past cooks busy at work in the kitchen. Well mostly. One seemed to just be watching a pot of water boil. Looking back she saw Penelope move to follow after her. But she didn’t make it far.

“I got you now bitch!” Cody roared at her, grabbing her arm roughly and yanking her so hard he smashed her heavily into the fridge.

Penelope looked back at Kimmy. “Go!” she yelled at the mother. “I’ll catch up!”

Kimmy did exactly as the princess ordered, carrying her daughter into the back of the restaurant, past stairs and out the back door into sunlight.

She knew where she was. It wasn’t much further to the Market District.

*

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