A banished girl
 

Mary sat in a tree, watching the road. She was banished from her village. She lost both her parents and not any of the villagers looked after her because her mother was not born there, she had to steal to be able to eat and the village sherrif caught her, gave her a public flogging and threw her out. Since then she robbed passenger from their money and food, she found out she was very skilled with a pair of twin daggers she stole when she sneaked into the village for some revenge. She stole some food, the daggers and played some nasty pranks before she quickly fled again.

As the girl sat in a tree, she was soon greeted by the sound of rickety cart wheels, slowly growing louder, as well as a voice in the distance that seemed to be talking to itself.

"Lazy, good for nothing servant boy... I give him one simple task... One! And he can't even do that right. Now I'm going to be LATE, the client is going to be ANGRY, I'm not going to be home until well after DARK... Ugh, How did I become this unlucky...?"

After a moment, the owner came in to the view of Mary. A man, somewhere in his late thirties, wearing simple leather and cloth clothing, walking down a dirt path and leading a donkey with a cart. He was Desmond, the village's fur and pelt trader, on his way to do business with the next village over, and from the looks of it, in a very foul mood about it.

Mary grinned. Desmond was one of the nicest villagers. "Poor Desmond, he mood will become even more foul." She whispered to herself. She took one of her daggers and threw it right before Desmonds feet, almost pinning one to the ground.

"Goodmorning mr. Desmond." She said as she climbed down. "I hate to bother you but I am sure you have some coins and a blanket to spare for a nice girl like me."

"I swear, when I get back, he's going to get such a- AH!"

Desmond let out a yelp as the dagger bug itself into the ground near his feet. His eyes quickly darted up into the trees while his hand flapped towards his hip, where he kept his own weapon hidden. It was dangerous traveling between towns, after all. A man HAD to keep SOME form of protection. When his eyes fell on the young girl, he frowned.

"Mary! Foolish girl! Why are you throwing knives at me? Someone could have gotten hurt!"

He grasped the dagger's handle and pulled it from the dirt. As he gazed over the simple blade, he thought back to a not-so-distant event that the village had held; Mary's banishment.

"So, this is where she went..." He muttered, before looking back up at her.

"And WHAT," he asked, raising an eyebrow, "makes you think I'll just give over my wares, hmm? A man has to make a living, you know."

"Same as me." Mary smiled sweetly. "Besides, if you don't I am forced to bury this one in your throat." She said, holding up her second dagger.

"Now you're THREATENING me? Young one, if I wasn't in such a hurry right now, I'd throw you over my knee and turn your rear the same color as this fox pelt back here, but I don't have time for this nonsense, I'm already late."

Grumbling to himself, Desmond tossed Mary's dagger into his cart and snapped his fingers at the donkey to get it moving again. He offered one more glance up to Mary before shaking his head and muttering about how lazy the youth of today were.

Mary blinked. "Mr. Desmond, I am serious here! I am robbing you." She objected. "I will make you a deal, you give me my dagger back and that fox pelt you told me about, you won't to give me your money this time."

Desmond stopped again.

Was this girl serious? Trying to bargain for HIS wares?

"I suppose I'm late anyways..." he muttered to himself. "Another few minutes won't make a difference."

He looked back up at Mary, his brow furrowed. "Alright, Mary. You want to barter? I'll bite. Come on down and we can work something out."

Mary smiled, put her dagger away and walked over. "I knew you would, you Always where the nicest of the villagers."

Bingo.

"Nice, maybe, but not foolish!" With a swift motion, Desmond lashed his hand out and grabbed hold of Mary's wrist, causing her to drop her remaining dagger.

"You can have the pelt, oh yes, but you WILL pay for it, one way or another. And I have the perfect payment in mind, taking into account how late you've made me and how much of a problem you've been for everyone!"

Keeping his firm grip on the girl's arm, Desmond dragged her over to a rotting stump, where he sat himself down and pulled Mary over his lap.

"And since you don't have money, I think a good, sound spanking should do just the trick!"