Yuki was stuck between a frightened Bee and the threatening thug. Instantly, the alley snapped into focus; it was a dingy little place between two wooden buildings. Old but well-kept wooden walls enclosed the alley. A closed door stood off to one side, framed by mounds of discarded trash while the wall opposite featured neither door nor window. The cloying smell of rotten fruit and the buzzing of flies emanated from the garbage scattered about; sticky liquid oozing from the worst areas. Bee was backed up against a pile stacked planks. The wood, water damaged and splintered, completely filled one half of the alley; leaving the only exit, the one guarded by the thuggish boy.
It painted a strange picture, and Yuki wondered why Bee was even there to begin with.
“It’s my lucky day,” the boy gloated, “not only one, but two.” A garish smile broke on the boy’s face, looking between Yuki and Whisker.
What could Yuki do in this situation? Using magic was out of the question, not inside the city unless it was a last resort. But how else could she fight?
“Gimme that rabbit.” The thug demanded, brandishing his knife.
Bee took a few steps back, closer to the pile of planks blocking the passage. “No!”
“Don’t be daft, girl, ain’t nowhere to run.”
“No! It’s mine! I saw it first.” Bee argued back.
An ugly smile crept on the thug’s face, wide and full of rotten teeth. He took a fast step forward, hands darting toward Yuki.
The beginning of an idea sparked in Yuki’s mind. She didn’t have much time to think things through. She squealed loudly and dashed toward the trash pile away from the boy’s reach. The thug’s hands followed Yuki’s movement. She hopped over the appendage, using the trash as a springboard to leap up behind the boy. She’d lead him away and track down Bee again later.
Arms waving frantically, the boy started to turn toward Yuki, but Bee took a step forward. “Shit!” The boy cussed and turned back to face Bee, brandishing his blade her way.
Yuki stopped dead in her tracks.
Knife first, the thug approached, and Bee stepped back. Her feet hit the woodpile behind her, and she almost fell, one arm catching her balance while the other held Whisker even more tightly. Whisker bucked and twisted, trying to get free but couldn’t. At the same time, the boy stepped closer, and Yuki leaped back, this time silent.
A memory from childhood, of school and that annoying girl and all the bullying, surfaced in Yuki’s mind. She was upon him between the boy’s steps, her hind legs thumping his feet as hard as she could.
Like those bullies from school who would wait until you’d turned your back to them to gently trip your feet while you try to walk away, the boy lost his balance with a surprised yelp. He tried to keep standing but his legs tangled with one another, and he hit the ground face first. The boy’s nose and forehead met the dirty cobblestone of the alley with a crunch. Fresh blood spilled, the boy curled on himself, both hands holding his face, while a pained moan escaped him. The knife clattered away in the chaos, coming to a stop by Bee’s feet.
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Wide-eyed Bee stared, her gaze quickly flicking between the knife, Yuki, and the boy. As if in a trance, she lowered herself to pick up the blade.
“Run!” Yuki yelled.
“EEep!” Bee squeaked in surprise. She grabbed the dagger and ran around the boy. One of his hands lashed out, trying to catch her, but Bee jumped away, making it past the fallen boy and into the larger road.
Yuki turned to follow, but a movement caught her attention again. The boy had started to get up, one hand still holding his bloody nose. His eyes were full of anger, glaring toward the alleyways exit and the road proper. She knew in her gut he would follow. Could she afford that? Tripping him once was a stroke of luck.
The magic words left her mouth before she had finished processing the situation, her arms weaving in the now familiar pattern. The boy was already on his knees, preparing to move.
Instead of pushing the magic as much as she could, Yuki did the contrary. No shaping was invested in range or magnitude. She hopped closer, faster than the boy could react, and unleashed [Wrack] by biting his shins. Her plan was to disable, hurt, and leave the boy in no shape to chase, but hopefully alive.
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Life stunk more than Bo’s armpit after two weeks without a bath ever since the old baron jumped into the Vortex. Work, beatings, work, more beatings, and always more work. Bee legged outta there at the first opportunity, but things’d gotten even worser. Outghta become an apprentice; twas the plan, but n’one even paid any attention to her asking. Too bony, the uncle at the store complained; too weak, the butcher retorted; not my problem, that one at the stall yelled. The cobbler, the tanner, the carpenter she tried. Even the birdcatcher she talked with, but they all wanted silver to take her as an apprentice.
Bee wouldn’t go back to the beatings. It was better to hide in town. But the town had no food, or at least n’one was willing to give her any. Not two nights after, she’d resorted to ruffling through trash for leftovers. It was icky and disgusting, but Bee refused to pocket and steal. She’d found this one alley, where the old lazy lady just threw away the things that wouldn’t sell no more. Rotten fruits, maggot-ridden meat, slimy veggies. It was horrible, but it beat being hungry, so long as Bee managed to keep hidden, that was. The old hag didn’t like anyone going through the shit she threw away.
The day had the beginnings of another stinking mess until the rabbit dashed into the alley. Bee reacted before her nogging did the thinkin’. She lept and wrestled the big critter down, only noticing after the rabbit had no horn. Lucky for her, she didn’t want to get skewered by a rabbit. Jester’s luck, these rabbits sold for a handful of silver. With that silver, she could pay to be an apprentice. She caught it, but then the second one showed up.
Bee knew that one. She remembered it. Small, all-white with black circles around the eyes. Last time she saw it, it was like a dead thing, she poked and tugged but it hadn’t made a sound. Now it was here, staring unblinking. What happened next happened too fast. Big bully Vince blocked the alley and demanded the rabbit. Somehow, the white rabbit tripped Vince and yelled at her to run. Bee fled the alley, but a strange sound made her stop.
It was worse than believing the rabbit could speak; it was like a sound from a nightmare, like when you yell at a big empty room and hear your own words. She moved back and looked inside the alley.
Vince was on the ground, yelling and crying and full of snot and blood. The rabbit, if that was a rabbit, had dark, soot-colored snake-like things leaving its body and ripping chunks of flesh from the crying bully. The white rabbit stopped, turned glowing red eyes toward her. Bee might have gasped or cried. She wet her undies. The rabbit took a small hop toward her, and Bee fled screaming.