Chapter 3

She could hear voices arguing. ‘Oh no, here we go, bad times coming.’ she thought.

“It’s the girl woman, we need the reward money. So I say we hold her and turn her over to the Duke’s men,” said the man she recognized as the owner by his voice. His voice stood out. Kind of gruff, yet was squeaky the same time. She heard a noise that surprised her then, a loud slap. The man went silent then.

The wife started in on him then. “Oh and what kind of man does that make you,” said a woman that she had not heard before. Her voice was the sort a woman that owned the household had, and brooked no argument from a mere man. “Turning a little girl over to those beast, to be raped and murdered?” There was another slap. “That is what they plan on doing to her, you heard them,” and then another slap. “They only need her head to satisfy the Duke. These are beast, not real guardsmen, and the Duke himself has gone insane,” she said. Another loud slap followed by soft grunt, followed by the sound of a body slamming into a table or chair hard.

“And if we don’t hand her over and they find out we hid her away for even a day, they will burn us out and kill everybody in the village. Which is worse woman, which is worse?” he whined back. He was trying to sound defiant even when he knew he had lost the fight.

“Well don’t be running off to find them, if you do, I will remove your manhood once and for all. Now clean that stables like I told you too yesterday!” she said in a not yell that still shook the building.

Brena heard the front door open and shut with a loud squealing of rusty hinges. Thinking, ‘I hate to hurt that boy, but I need to get out of here now or I’m lost for sure.’ She started back towards the rear when the door opened and the boy ran in, stopping when he saw her standing in the hallway rather than locked away. She put her fingers to her lips in the motion to stay quiet. He nodded in fear and backed into the corner by the door he had come in.

Going to the door, she peaked into the back room and saw a woman in armor standing in it. Not the Duke’s armor, but a warrior caste of some sort all the same. “Damn,” she thought, “can’t go that way and the front is out of the question.” Looking at the boy, she knelt down to him, “Who is she boy?” she whispered in his ear.

“She’s a regular visitor here, a traveler of sorts,” he whispered back.

“Does she work for the Duke?” she asked.

“No, I don’t, now stop scaring the kid and come with me girl.” Brena startled, fell back and landed on her butt, looking up at the armored woman who had a short sword out and had it pointed in her general direction, not a direct threat, but a firm warning at least. Before she could get up, the door from the front opened and the Innkeepers wife joined them.

“I thought I heard you come in Mira, what brings you here today?” asked the Inn Keepers wife.

Pointing the sword at Brena, “She does.” Mira waved the sword then with a flourish, re-sheathed it. “I’ll take her off your hands. The Duke wants me almost as badly as he wants her as you well know Kindar. Of course I am not the daughter of the head of the Thieves Guild either.” She saw the look of sudden fear in Brena’s face. “No, I have stopped his tax collectors from being over eager about collecting a few times. Come on girl, we need to be moving out or we’ll both be snared when that fool man comes back with the hounds.”

Brena scrambled to her feet, made sure she had all her stuff and followed the armored woman out of the inn to the back stables. “Can you ride girl?”

“Some.” said Brena.

“Good, grab the grey there and follow me, we haven’t much time to get clear.” Brena had been trying to get a better look at the woman’s face, but she kept her head turned just enough and kept moving so getting a clear look was not easy.

Brena studied the saddle for a second then slipped her left foot into the stirrup. She was able to climb up without difficulty, but as she tried to settle her feet in the stirrups, she found they were too long. This prevented her from rising up a bit to take the bounce of the horse on her knees. “You can fix that later,” Mira had seen the problem. “Just hang on and follow me for now girl.” Mira clucked at her brown horse and snapped the reins lightly. With a snort, the horse started down the path Mira had aimed it. The path led into the woods and towards the river Brena had been following before she had moved up to the road. The Grey followed without objection. Brena could see right away she was going to be very sore later that day if she did not get a chance to fix the stirrups soon.

They rode for an hour, getting well clear of the hostile village before stopping. Brena was happy to dismount but found standing was now a painful affair. Her back side and groin had been pounded hard and she hurt in places she had never hurt before. Rather than wait, she adjusted the stirrups up the distance needed for her to ride easier. Once that chore was done, she joined Mira by the river to relax for a few minutes and relieve her full bladder. This is when she found a bit more damage from the ride. The pounding had started her period, she had the blood in her short clothes to prove it. She washed herself and cleaned the blood off her linens. Mira saw what had happened but didn’t comment on it.

Once Brena finished getting herself back in order, they remounted and rode along the river. “How long will I be able to ride with you Mira?” She shifted her shoulders to get the bags to settle back into place.

“We have at least two more days of hard riding kid. I can get you far enough west then south I think to get to the main road to Tarin’s Crossing. You will still be a few weeks walk away, but you will also be well out of the area of this Duke.” She turned towards the river and Brena saw that it was shallow here. The gravel had settled where the river had widened out and the current slowed. They crossed and Mira continued along a hunter’s path. Several time’s she spotted small portages where local fishermen would pull their small boats ashore while not out on the water. Only once did she see another person as they rode.

Mira steered clear of the man who was mending a net by his boat. He looked up at the sound of the horses, but didn’t seem to really care as long as they kept going. They did and Mira soon had them on a wider path. It was not a major roadway, but the locals to move to and from the river. “We’ll be clear of immediate danger in another hour if we keep going this way.” She reigned in and waited for Brena to join her. “Sadly, I may have to leave you sooner than planned.”

“Why?” asked Brena. She had been careful in what she disclosed to this stranger. This Mira was an unknown and could be as dangerous to her, just as dangerous any of the guard.

“I’m wanted in that area as well girl. I had to leave the Planes Guard because when the new guild master took over, he made it clear that free lancers would not be welcome in the city, so I moved on.” Mira started her horse along the path again before continuing. “Well, I manage to piss off the local Thieves guild by not following the rules of getting approval to work in the area. The Baron that rules that land wants my head and the local guild wants my life. Bad both ways as you can well imagine.”

“You do understand why my father ejected all the freelancers from Planes Guard don’t you?” said Brena.

“Yeah kid, I do.” Mira paused speaking a moment when a bird flew up in front of her horse. “It was to get things under some control, but it still sucked for those of us not affiliated with the guilds.”

“Why didn’t you join the Guild? You would have been a hell of a lot safer in than out.” She saw Mira duck a low branch and she did the same, never taking her eyes off the other woman.

Mira reigned in and looked at the girl, “Some of us don’t like being bossed around or under the thumb of others.”

“And yet, here you are, running from those same people.”

“Yeah, I know kid,” she said with a wry smile.

Brena dismounted her horse and carefully set her packs on her back and handed the reins to Mira. “Thank you for helping me escape Mira. I can’t promise anything, but should the day come I take my rightful place as what is being called the Queen of Thieves, I will ask for you to come to Planes Guard. I will be in need of leaders and command staff to get settled in and in gain control of the chaos.” Stepping back, “For now, it is best I not know where you are as I am the daughter of the man that sent you packing in the first place. Safer journey’s and full pouch’s in your grasp.” Brena moved down to the river edge and continued next to the small path. As she moved away, she listened to see if Mira would follow her or go her own way. She rather hoped Mira would turn away for her own safety.

In a few minutes the sound of hooves faded and she knew she was alone again. Being a city girl in the wild was not easy for her and her hunting skills had left much to be desired so far. She had been using the inns and roadhouses she had encountered along the stream. The events of the morning left her wary of any town or village she would encounter in the coming days. She knew she was still in the Duke’s lands and he would have sent word out to keep an eye out and report her presence if she was spotted.

She traveled along a faint path that ran a few feet up from the water line, just managing to avoid the muddier patches along the way. The inevitable finally happened and she missed one, sliding down to the water and almost went in face first. She had managed catch a tree root just before she hit the water and stopped her motion. She rolled onto her back with a groan, feeling the pain of a pulled muscle in her groin and scrapes on her legs and arms. She managed to sit up and take stock. Her packs were still on her back and closed. A quick inventory showed she still had all of her bags and pouch’s on her body, nothing had been lost as yet. It was when she checked her bags, she found another pouch she didn’t expect to find.