Escape

Standing in a small alleyway besides the church, Ava pressed her body against the wall, waiting for the two lanky men just a few feet away to pass. With any luck they wouldn't bother to loiter around the church any longer then they needed to, and would only do a cursory check before moving on. But against Ava's wishes, one of the two men pointed into the alleyway while pinching his nose, and after a brief argument, the two men made their way to enter the alleyway together.

Panicked, Ava could only run further into the alleyway to reluctantly find it was blocked off by a small fence. While the fence was scalable, crossing it would lead her into the church grounds, and she couldn't help but feel reluctant at the thought of the pudgy face of the local pastor, who would without a doubt, hand her over to the two lanky men behind her should he get a hold of her, as they were the followers of the local richman, and the church's biggest donor, Allan Bosbody. Of course, calling them followers was being rather generous. It was more fair to say that they were bootlickers who would go out of their way to please Bosbody, and Allan, seeing their use, kept them around.

Seeing the two men closing in, she could only grit her teeth and make an attempt. Anyways, even if she got caught on the other end, the result would be the same as being caught here. Stepping onto a nearby crate, she launched herself upward, barley grasping onto the top of the fence with one hand, gritting her teeth slightly as the coarse wood ripped into her hand. Mustering all the strength that she could, she managed to pull herself up about halfway, and then swung her body to the left, managing to hook her left foot over the top of the fence as well.

Then, with a slight rolling motion, she made it over the fence, landing with a soft thump on the flowerbed on the other end.

Looking at the soft yellow petals below her feet, Ava's first thought wasn't about how she was going to compensate for the flowers, or even remorse for crushing the flowers, but rather if she should grab a handful of the petals beneath her feet. From what she remembered, although the flower petals had a slight astringent taste, they were edible. Hesitating for a moment, Ava simply plucked off the flower heads of two of the nearby flowers, directly placing one of the heads in her mouth and chewing, while pressing her ear against the fence and listening.

Although she hadn't been particularly stealthy with her escape, neither were her pursuers particularly vigilant, and looking at the closed gate to her right, it looked like the pastor wasn't currently in the garden of the church.

"Why'd Bosbody want this twerp anyways?"

"Erd' it's gat somthin' to dew with her fucking up one of his deals cuz some merchant got pick pocketed and said Bosbody don't got no control ova this town."

"For real? Damn, what sorta fool can't keep a hold of his own coin purse? Pity I didn't see em' first."

"Haha, how much do you think that sucker had? Real pity for it to fall in the hands of a lil' twerp. Hell, how'd they even know it was her who nabbed it to begin with?"

"Erd' she was paid by da rat, girly never even saw what was in the purse, just passed it along thinkin' the rat would keep her safe after the task. Girly knows her limits at least. Too bad the rat's a rat, left her for the slumps. Bosbody needs da rat around, so we got this twerp instead."

Through the wall, Ava couldn't help but tighten her fist. Indeed, normally she wouldn't go out of her way to mess with a merchant, or even anyone who looked rich. She knew her limits. The village wasn't so big that she could avoid getting recognized, if she stole a coin here and there, but didn't go over the limits, most people were too lazy to bother with her, giving up if they couldn't catch her immediately, as long as she threw back the majority of their stuff.

But messing with the 'noble stock' as they called themselves was asking for trouble. You'd think they wouldn't mind, considering how much wealth they had, losing a purse or two couldn't count for much, but stingy was stingy, and they had the power to mess her up good.

After all, even if she died, who would care? In the face of money, the local constables would turn a blind eye if a resident died, much less a street urchin like her. Who cared if the money they lost was less then the money it cost to bribe the constables and hire a strongman, the rich folk were just petty.

But this time around, the rat had promised her a route out of town, as well as a good enough payout that she decided to take the risk. Anyways, the man wasn't a local, so as long as she left town, she should be fine right? Of course, she hadn't entirely trusted the rat either, but in the end, feeling her grumbling stomach, she had gone ahead and taken the risk.

"Anyways, looks like she ain't here, who knows where dat twerp has gone. Pissin' me off searching for this kid. Who know's where a lil rat like her is hiding."

"Aye, don't worry bout it, worst case we grab some other rat off the street and cut up their face a lil before sending em back. Bosbody just needs a body."

"Aye, Richard, I like the way you think. Howsbout we go to the bar and search for the twerp there and go and find a rat after if we don't find em there."

"Haha…"

Hearing the footsteps trail away, Ava's face remained impassive. Waiting a few moments after the footsteps dissipated, Ava grabbed a few more flower heads, before preparing to make her way out the church yard from the other side. As she was crossing over, however, she noticed that the church's trash bin in the back seemed to be slightly bulging.