Malnai ran, jumped, tumbled and dodged. The royal guard stayed annoyingly close behind, but there was very little he could do about that. She was still very good looking, but now her hand was on her sword and he could feel that his chances were slipping away minute by minute. At this stage he was deep within the South Market Ward and he felt sure that he could escape. However the good people of Jarros city weren't making it too easy. Traders tried to grab the young man to sell him exotic wares from far off lands, young ladies tried to persuade him that his clothes could use mending and he was also offered a wide range fortunes, card readings or star charts. Thankfully it was a little too early in the day for the prostitutes to be out, but the beggars more than made up for their absence. Of course the guard wasn't troubled by any of this. The traders very quickly shut up as she ran by and the young women didn't make any claims about being able to repair her armour. Not of course that it needed repairing. It, like the rest of her, was perfect, which made the pursuit all the more annoying. He could think of several better ways for the two of them to work up a sweat, but no, she wanted to run.
After half an hour of running through the ward Malnai was beginning to feel angry. Most other guards gave up at this stage, but this bitch wouldn't. He'd threaded his way through several of the most tightly packed markets in Jarros and made his way between stalls with barely an inch to spare. He was practiced at this kind of thing, a guard shouldn't be able to follow, especially not one wearing armour. Thankfully the other citizens of the markets were paying as little attention to her calls as he was. Did the woman never shut up? "Malnai! Stop! Stop you fucker! Somebody grab him! Stop!" This had been going on for as long as the chase and it showed absolutly no sign of stopping. In fact by this stage her calls were making life easier for him. As the pair of them moved further away from the Castle and the centre of the city the people became more helpful towards the prey and began to hinder the hunter. However the hindrance was minimal due to the armour and the sword. Malnai was relieved to find that he had less barrels to jump over and fewer traders to avoid. Of course it would have been far nicer not to have to jump over or avoid anything, but beggars can't be choosers.
Problems began again at the main gate to the city. For a start the place became a lot more crowded. It began to seem like the people were standingon top of other people who were crushed up against some more people. The two runners found themselves slowed down, but the chase went on. The guard tried to climb over the people to get to her quarry but the chaos and confusion of the refugees, the traders and the poor city guard were insurmountable obstacles. After about 20 minutes of being in the middle of a near riot Malnai escaped into the relative space of the North Market Ward. He shot out like an arrow from a bow, but seconds later the whore of a guard was also out of the press and hot on his tail. At this stage he was seriously beginning to wonder if she had some magical help. He knew he was tired and he was only wearing light clothing, she was wearing armour! Then it happened... he slipped. His curses tumbled with him as he rolled across the hard cobbles of the street and he ended up in a heap against a butchers stall. Barely a heartbeat later the guard was standing over him, trying to catch her breath but holding him at swordpoint at the same time..."You little fucking bastard. Do you have any idea how many times I nearly got crushed or injured trying to chase you down? And some of those people? Fuck, you'd think they had some grievance against the law or something." The guard did not look impressed at all. Malnai bit back a remark about how she looked when she was angry and decided that lying on the ground doing nothing was probably the best gambit. "Right", the guard continued, "are you actually going to come with me or are you going to try something stupid like trying to escape. No? Good...ugh..." Her words were cut off as a heavy piece of metal connected with her helmet. The butcher stepped over her body and reached down a hand to the young man. "Right! Now, I haven't got a fucking idea what you did or why, just get the fuck out of here and next time you pass by don't bring the fucking law. Some of us are trying to do business." The butcher turned and walked back to his stall, he looked up and down the street and laughed, "Oh dear, some poor fucking guard has just had an h'accident, what a fucking pity."
Never one to luck a gift market-trader in the mouth Malnai got up, brushed himself off and headed back across the city. He continued to wonder what that guard could have wanted and in a stange way he hoped that the butcher would just leave her unconsious. He also hoped that they would meet again. Himself and the guard that is. Right now he figured he'd head home, get a change of clothes and earn some money. His birthday tradition had been broken and he wasn't going to impose a day of house watching on himself for no reason. About fifteen minutes later he was back at his house and changed. He picked up his tarot deck and his flute and headed outside. By early afternoon he had set his stall up in the area around the Mages Ward and the New Castle. Of course the first thing he did every day was pick a card for himself. He almost laughed when he saw what it was. The card was often thought of, by the ignorant, as the worst one in the deck but in fact all it meant was change. However it was still eerie to see that pale rider look up at you with his unchanging grin. While the laughter didn't come Malnai did accquire a smile of his own. He was probably being very foolish setting up his stall where there would be royal guards around, but surely that bitch could have arrested him here instead of chasing him. He got the feeling that not every royal guard had him on their shit list and it was going to be very interesting when they next met, as he had no doubt they would. For the moment he decided to set in the Autumn sunlight, to observe the Mages, the Nobles and the Priests as they walked by and to wonder exactly what Destiny had in store for him...