"Thief!" Marissa shouted, her voice a sharp, sudden scream of pure, unthinking outrage.
The thief was running, disappearing into the midday crowd, clutching her reticule.
"Catch that thief! Stop him!" she screamed, her voice high with desperation.
She ran. She gathered her heavy lskirts and ran, pursuing the thief, her own heart hammering in her chest.
The thief, with panicked eyes, was fast. He ducked and weaved through the shocked, angry crowd, knocking aside a merchant's fruit cart, sending apples and oranges rolling across the cobblestones.
"Stop him! Thief!" Marissa shouted, her breath burning in her lungs, her heavy, noble-woman's clothes a terrible, tangling burden.
The thief, looking back over his shoulder at her, wasn't watching where he was going. He rounded a corner at a full, desperate sprint and collided, hard, with a woman who was walking calmly, as if out for a simple stroll.
