Rebellious by Dravinea Merolette (e novels to read online TXT) 📖

Mara took a step then took one backwards, always keeping an eye on the figure. But as if the wind blew him away, the man was gone. It had vanished into thin air. Mara thought he was some sort of creepy magician and was pulling a joke on her. Mara shrugged and moved on.
Soon after this she became hopelessly lost. Mara had no map and she was lost in a maze of alleys in the outskirts of town. She looked left and right at an intersection. Old rickety carts moved past her. Someone’s cart lost a piece of jewelry, an emerald necklace fit for royalty. “Is this yours?” Mara shouted after the man who was driving the cart. The horse cart slowed to a stop. The driver looked around and he nodded. Mara ran forward and gave the man the necklace back. He nodded in thanks and handed her apiece of jewelry in to thank her.
“That one is meant for the king, but this is much nicer.” He said as the man dropped a ruby and diamond necklace into her palm. Mara looked at it amazed; she had never seen such a beautiful necklace. The cart driver moved on.
“Hey you! What’re you doing with that?” shouted a guard of the palace who was patrolling the streets. Mara held the gold, red, and white necklace close.
“That man just gave it to me.” Mara protested in alarm.
The man grabbed at the necklace, but Mara stepped back so he couldn’t get it.
“Why you little…” he said in anger as he reached again, but Mara backed away. The man was about to draw his sword, but Mara was quicker.
“I suggest you get faster at that, sir.” Mara taunted as her sword saluted him and then she placed it in her 'en guard' position.
“You little brat!” he shouted as he lunged with his bare hand to grab her coat. Mara scooted backwards until her back hit the wall of a building.
“What do you think I did? I returned some fallen jewelry and the man gave me this. What do you want?” Mara asked. The man grabbed her by the shoulder, but she was able to squirm out of her coat and rush away. The guard chased after her, but the armor he wore slowed him down.
As Mara ran, randomly picking streets. She became more lost as she ran, but that did not matter, the guard was slowing down and she was almost away when a hand reached out from one of the doors of the houses and yanked her inside. The door slammed behind her.
The house was dark and only one small candle glowed gloomily from the table in the middle of the one room house. Mara looked up, but no one else was in the room. Even in the dark room she would have been able to see outlines of someone. She took a step further into the room. A breeze blew through the crack under the door. Mara clutched her arms, she missed her coat.
“Hello?” Mara called, but no one answered. “I know you’re there…” she said in a shaky voice.
Suddenly a knife was at her throat. A hand grabbed her arm and a cloth covered her mouth. Mara gave a small cry of surprise and fear, but the cloth tightened and began to gag her. The hand that had her arm pulled her down to a kneeling position. She felt a breath on her ear. Mara was more frightened than she had ever been before. She did not know what this person was doing, but she didn’t like it.
“What were you running from?” a man asked from right next to her. Mara turned her eyes to see him. It was the person who was following her earlier. “Answer.” He ordered as the gag tightened. She chocked and coughed.
“A guard. A guard was chasing me. Um… sir.” She answered half panting still from the run. The man let go of the cloth around her mouth, but he kept the knife at her throat. Mara could feel the sharpness of the weapon as it grazed her neck. She gasped for breath as she gulped.
“Come on.” the man said as he pulled her to her feet and he made her walk, she knife was at her throat, so she had to obey. They walked to one side of the room where a chair was. He pushed her into it and as her arms touched the armrests he pulled a rope out from behind his back and tied her arms to the chair. Then he tied her legs together and to the legs of the chair.
She began to struggle when he took the knife away from her neck and put it into his many robes for safe keeping. The man walked away with his back to her. She tugged at the ropes, but they were very tight. She was so scared for her life that she felt tears flow down her cheeks.
“Why are you doing this? I did nothing to you.” Mara asked through her tears. The man threw back his hood and turned his head to look at her. Mara shrieked. He looked remarkably like her. Long, ragged, black hair, a strong and swift build, and he had the masculine version of her face. Basically the only difference was the nose and her eyes were slightly different in color than his, but the same main color, mist blue.
Her eyes were wide with shock. The man smiled wickedly.
“Clearly you’ve been bitten by a rabid dog, but why on earth do you look like me?” she asked the man. He had started to chuckle, but now his laugh was loud and nothing short of evil. She felt her tears dry and hatred overwhelm her.
Mara struggled harder at the ropes but was not able to break them. She continued trying. At that moment Deviate slammed into the door and knocked it over. Through the dust he surveyed a scene that seemed to make him very uncomfortable.
He looked at the man who seemed to be a clone of Neroli, the man he had killed and taken his daughter. Then he saw Mara tied hand and leg to a chair. Deviate’s eyes went from father to daughter quite rapidly. He rushed over to Mara and then cut the ropes. With Mara in his arms he faced Neroli.
“I don’t know what’s wrong with you, but why are you after your own girl?” he asked them man. Neroli let out a maniac laugh and charged deviate with a sword. Deviate drew his weapon quickly and countered the attack. Neroli continued to advance, and Deviate retreated. When deviate tripped over the chair and fell onto his back he shouted, “You know I can’t hurt you.”
Neroli’s eyes became more insane, “You already have.” His smile became drunk.
“Father, what…” Mara asked she was very confused.

“I’ll explain later.” He said as he tossed Mara towards the door. She landed on her knees. “Go now!” Deviate shouted as he stood back up to fight Neroli.
Mara ran out the door and down the streets hollering for help. Most people passed her without a second glance, but a young man came up to her, “What’s wrong?” he asked.
“Someone is fighting my father back there and I think the man’s insane!” Mara told him and the two ran back retracing her steps. When they came around the corner to the house someone grabbed Mara. It was the Man who looked like her. She struggled and writhed, but the man put the knife to her throat again. The young man who came with her watched. His expression was blank.
“Where’s the girl’s Father!” the young man asked.
Mara’s abductor pointed back at the house. The boy ran over to the house and found Deviate, wounded on the ground. He helped Deviate to his feet and walked him out of the house.
“What was your name again?” the insane man asked her as the knife began to cut her throat.
“Stop! My name’s Mara.” She answered in frenzy. Deviate took a knife from his bag and threw it. The knife pinned the madman’s shirt and robes to the wall behind him, he was forced to drop Mara who, when she hit the ground ran like her life depended on it. Deviate also recovered his ability to run. They ran down the street with deviate holding his
Wound in the shoulder. The boy who helped them brought up the rear as they ran into a main square. People gasped and pointed at them. Mara realized she still had the necklace in her hand. She looked down at it then back up at the crowd.
“Guard!” shouted someone in the crowd. Deviate shushed him as he listened for the madman who resembled Neroli. “She stole!” shouted another person in the crowd.
“Tattle tale.” Mara shouted at the little boy who had said that. Deviate looked at her with a surprised glance. “What? I fought for my life with this thing.” She protested his scolding glance.
“Did you steal that?” he asked
“No. a man gave it to me as a thank you for returning something to him.” She protested.
“Uh huh.” He said, clearly unconvinced. Then he turned to the young man who had helped them. “Thank you, without your help then I would be dead and that madman would have kidnapped my daughter.” He said as Deviate and their rescuer shook hands.
Deviate and Mara walked back to their ship and it’s crew who cheered at their return. As their ship sailed out of the harbor deviate went below deck and cleaned his wound. Mara was on deck and thinking to herself as the crew made ready to sail.
She suddenly remembered that Deviate and she had sunk an entire navy the week before. She dashed down the steps and into deviate’s room. He was bandaging the stab wound to his shoulder at the time. “What?” he asked as she pushed open his door.
“We were just in Firion. And a week ago we sunk their navy. The king will have our heads if we ever show our faces there again.” Deviate nodded and returned to bandaging himself Mara left the room and closed the door slowly