Prologue
I slowly came into consciousness, my head throbbed from the blow I had received and I felt groggy and strange.
I blinked my eyes, they seemed to be stuck together with a sticky substance, but when they finally opened I wished that they had not.
The sticky substance was blood, some was mine from my head wound but the majority was from the man lying on top of me. His hair was a mess, his eyes wild, one of his hand was clutched around my upper arm and the other was clutched to his chest, where a small, delicately made and horribly familiar dagger was protruding.
I scrambled backwards on the bed, trying to get as far away as possible, but his hand still held its iron grip on my arm and his wild eyes held me frozen.
I struggled out of my stupor and managed to pull back my arm with a hard yank. I brought my hands up to my face, trying to hide the sight, but they were covered in blood. His blood.
I screamed, my voice echoing loud in the room. I pulled back again and fell off the edge of the bed, my head hit the floor with a sickly crack and I descended once more into darkness.
Chapter 1
"Scat! Wait up!"
"You'll have to catch me first!"
Two children raced through the market, not an unusual sight but made all the stranger by the girl.
She was dressed in Shang style clothing, though it was badly made and grime and dirt had layered over the original cloth. But the main cause of surprise was the flaming orange and black tiger striped hair, it had been plaited neatly, but was now loose and flying everywhere as she dashed through the market after the rather more inconspicuous boy.
They weaved in and out of alleys and between stalls and people, the girls golden eyes darted here and there quickly, working to keep up with the boy.
The girl and boy were young, neither older than eleven, but seemed to know the market place like the back of their hands. They ignored the annoyed people who yelled after them as they rushed past and seemed to be completely ignorant of what was going around them, only worried about their own little game.
The boy took a sharp turn into a narrow alley and disappeared, the girl paused searching for a moment before rocketing off again. Her movements were graceful and she made no noise at all, slipping in and out of the crowds without making an impact on any one.
But five minutes later when she rocketed out of the alley, blinded in the sunlight, she ran straight into a pair of fine bred horses, giving them and their riders a fright.
Serena's POV
Damn that Scat! He was so damn fast, she hated chasing games especially in the markets, there were too many people and Scat knew the alley much better than her.
Serena blinked. Where did he go? He was there a minute ago. Her golden eyes flickered around, barely acknowledging that she had seen the alley way before she shot off down it.
She stretched her arm out in front of her, finding the wall and following it. She couldn't see a thing but hopefully this alley didn't fork.
A light appeared and Serena ran gratefully towards it, it was a bright day and she was blinking hard before she even left the alley. She rushed out, determined not to be left behind even if she couldn't see a thing.
A horse's nicker was the only thing that warned her before she ran straight into it. On the ground, she blinked a few more times and her vision slowly came back, her eyes widened.
The two horses were clearly well bred and good specimens and they screamed "Noble-property!" plus the added fact that the face staring down at her was the most well known face in the land.
Alanna the Lioness.
Her famous fiery locks were hanging down around her face and those unnatural purple eyes were appraising Serena thoughtfully.
"Now what would a Shang girl be doing in Corus?" Alanna's companion said from her horse. The face was less known but still quite legendary, Lady Knight Keladry.
"Good question" Alanna said, her eyes turned back to Serena and she squirmed.
"Are you a Shang" She asked when Serena didn't reply.
She got to her feet and lifted her chin, "I was." Then promptly turned and started to walk away.
"Whooh! Little tiger, calm down" Alanna said, snagging her arm. "Explanation please"
"Simple, I used to be a Shang but I'm not any more" Serena's golden eyes met the calm purple ones and she glared. Alanna, despite herself, looked impressed.
"It takes a lot to glare at the Lioness" Keladry said from her horse. "Though it doesn't take a lot for the Lioness to glare at you so be careful, little tiger."
Alanna treated Keladry to a glare then turned back to Serena "look, are you going to tell me or do I have to take you back to the Palace."
The golden eyes turned molten "You can also let me go!"
"Huh" Alanna snorted "Like I'm going to leave a Shang girl with magic in a Corus market without an explanation"
"Magic?" Keladry queried.
"Magic?!" Serena spat, "right, just so you know I don't have magic!"
She yanked her arm from
Alanna's grip and tried to get away, but Alanna grabbed her arm
once again and lifted her onto her horse. "Your coming with us,
till we get an reason"
She leaped up behind Serena and nudged
her horse into a trot, turning back up the road and heading to the
Palace, Keladry watched them go for a second before giving a small
smile and nudging her horse after them.