The Rogue
By: Caroline North

Lana ran quickly into the back alley she called her home. She looked from the two loaves of bread to the four hungry faces that stared at her out of eyes similar to her own. Her three sisters and her brother were all younger than herself, and more in need of the food. Lana sighed, breaking the loaves in two and handing a portion to each of her siblings. "Besides," she thought,"I can always get more later."

Lana had started stealing for a living only last month, and was not yet accustomed to living on the run. Her parents had died a year earlier, but until last month, the five younger children had lived with their grandmother. "Thinking about her still hurts," she thought, brushing away the tears streaming down her face.

Lana was pretty for a girl of her age. Her high cheekbones and dark brown hair gave away the fact of her noble blood. Her eyes were a startling bright green that could be either piercing or gentle. She was smart, and gifted with magic, though she daren't show it in public. The last time she had used her magic, someone had been hurt, and now she used it only when she was alone or withonly her younger brother, Jonathan.

Jonathan was just as gifted in magic as Lana. In fact, Lana often found herself wondering if Jon didn't have even more power that he kept hidden. He possessed the same hair and cheekbones as his fair sister, but his eyes were an astonishing deep purple. Many people were afraid of Jon, even if they already knew him. He was becoming quite handsome, especially considering he was only a young boy of fourteen, the next oldest to Lana's sixteen years. For one of his years, Jon also possessed amazing wisdom and understanding.

As her other siblings ate greedily, Jon pulled Lana aside gently and shared his small portion of bread with his sister, for whom he had enormous respect and affection. He then looked knowingly into her eyes and whispered quietly to her. "It's getting harder, isn't it?" he asked sorrowfully. Lana nodded, and then stated simply, "Everyday I feel more people probing for my magic. I can't use it safely anymore." Jonathan sighed and stood. People with magic were rare, but almost everyone on the police force had some powers.

A loud crash sounded nearby, and with a pop, Lana was gone. Jon knew better than to look for his sister. She had left to find someplace safe. "And just in time, too." he thought as four policemen skidded around the corner.

The place where Lana reappeared was not that different than her home. She was in yet another alley, this one deserted. She pushed aside a trash can sitting at the back of the alley and pushed aside what seemed to be a brick wall.

Stepping inside the dark room concealed there, one would know immediately that they had just entered the headquarters of the Rogue's guild. The spoils of their efforts all over the floor, unkempt men and women lay on small cots of rages. Many were drunk, and the others were engaged in different competitions.

Lana gazed with a look of disgust at the slovenly thieves, sighed, and picked her way through to another doorway opposite the one she had come in. She stepped into a lavishly furnished room where she bowed and kneeled, as that was what one did in the presence of the Queen of Thieves.

"Catlyn, can't you do something about those slobs?" Lana asked with a sigh. Her eldest sister, the Queen of Thieves, looked up at her out of dark blue eyes. She yawned and sat up.

"Really, sister. If you want to do something about those lazy bums, you do it. I get so tired of doing everything around here." she pouted, making her usually beautiful face rather ugly in the process. She stretched and slid daintly off her four-poster bed covered with fur blankets and wool coverlets. Lana looked at the bed, her face bearing a distinct expression of distaste. How could her sister stand such things! She had always been a tomboy, and she simply couldn't stand to see her sister do anything she wouldn't do.

She left the alley in a very bad mood. With people searching for traces of her magic, what could she do?


End of Chapter 1

Chapter 2