A cold bead of sweat rolled down the side of her head as she used the broken brick wall to propel her to run faster, leaving splinters and bruises in its wake.

She looked over her shoulder and saw two of the men hot on her tails. The golden emblems on their chests glistening in the sunlight and their blue capes flapping like a trail of ice behind them.

She turned around, not pausing to catch her breath, in fear of being caught. The dirt road stretched and spindled on before her with little stones cutting at her bare feet. She had lost her shoes a while back in her haste to get away.

She did not know what she had done wrong but earlier that day when she came back home after her apprenticeship with the seamstress, she found them home.

As soon as she stepped through the threshold of the house, she was met with her mother's worried clover eyes.

She could hear her three older brothers' muffled voices with some strange other male voices in the kitchen.

Her mother had covered her mouth before she could utter a word and had simply whispered "run," before shutting the door in her face.

She knew that whatever the reason for her mother's behaviour was a serious one and she knew that she couldn't leave her mother there so she went round the house to the back door that was almost falling apart with age and entered the house.

Immediately, her eyes set on her brothers, Adam, Emory and Byron. They stood around the small kitchen table with three other men. Their backs were to her so she could not identify them.

When she stepped on a certain old creaking floorboard, all their eyes turned to glance at the intruder. She smiled at them in greeting but her usually cheerful brothers did not smile back.

Byron, the youngest brother and his mother's copy was not just frowning but seething. His eyes held a flame in their pits and his whole body felt alive.

The girl was confused at his expression because he was usually the calm one out of the three. Adam and Emory wore fear on their faces and it was as clear as day from where she stood.

And that was when she noticed it. The sleek black uniforms and sky blue capes with golden emblems of a griffin and two swords, the symbols of the royal sentinels on their chests and the back of their capes.

The stiff postures and the stoic faces. These ones did not wear masks like the rest of the sentinels. Finally, the golden hilts of their swords on their waists.

The whole point of their uniforms was to instill fear in the people and fear she felt at that moment.

Her heart lurched to her throat and then her mother's earlier warning to run started to ring in her ears with alarm bells.

The royal sentinels were the personal bodyguards of the royal family, known for their ruthlessness and strengths. Most of them were faeries too.

They never showed up anywhere unless to summon a person to the presence of the royal court and it was mandatory.

Nobody ever came out alive, if they do come out. She would know because that was how her father had died.

And now there they were in the little cottage. Her blood ran cold when a smirk graced their faces upon seeing her. She knew immediately that they were there for her.

She knew it was no good at all. One of them opened his mouth to speak but as soon as her mother emerged from the next room with wide eyes, she turned on her heels and ran from the house.

She heard a thump as her brothers tried to hold off the sentinels long enough for her to escape but she did not turn around.

Her brothers were scrawny little twigs due to poverty each in their twenties and she knew the sentinels could overpower them in less than five seconds so she ran, knowing they were after her and not her brothers.

"Run, Astra!"

She heard her mother's muffled scream behind her and so she ran like she has never before.

She was at the third house on the street when she heard the heavy footsteps of the sentinels. She was no fast runner so she headed towards the market square which she knew was busy to try and escape them.

Her hair was the big give away though. Only a few maidens in the whole of Alera had golden hair and unfortunately, she was one.

So she lost her satchel filled with pieces of clothes and a few precious coins from the seamstress' shop and made herself go faster.

She did not realize that one of them had circled around to cut her off as she wove her way through the busy streets until she slammed into him and the other two caught up with her and held her by the arms, holding her in place. She was doomed and she knew it.

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That's the end of chapter 1. Hope you enjoyed it and make sure to anticipate the next chapter.