Disclaimer: I do not own the Bardic Voices series and anything else in it. It all belongs to Mercedes L:ackey.

Chapter One

Kiralene Jerlan, Kira for short, ran out of her uncle's inn with fiddle in hand and set out for the forest. The forest was believed to be haunted by the villagers and nobody stepped foot in it at night. During the day, the villagers didn't go much further than the edges to gather wood, other than Kira. She was the only one that actually went deep into the forest as it gave her a place to practice her fiddle and harp without her aunt or uncle interrupting her in the middle of it to help with some chore.

Five years ago, one of the village boys had gone into the woods on a dare. When he didn't turn up the next day, a band of brave villagers, armed with pitchforks and sticks, had gone in to investigate. The found the boy dead, a stab wound in the chest and a look of terror on his face. This further confirmed to the villagers that the woods were indeed haunted and thereafter nobody from Dormenth, except Kira, dared go more than a few yards in at most.

Kira was just about to climb up the oak tree where she normally practiced her fiddle when she paused. Near the roots of the tree it was strangely bare of grass, and it looked as something had been buried there within the past few days. Then she remembered the talk there had been the previous week about bandits and how the local Sire and other wealthy people in other places had been robbed. Kira paused, then bent down and dug up the bare spot with her hands and a stick. Soon she hit something hard and after another minute, unearthed a wooden box. She opened it to reveal a bright pile of silver coins, mixed in with some gold ones.

"It looks like the rumors of bandits are true," whispered Kira. "And they took advantage of the villagers' belief that the forest is haunted to bury some of their money here. Well, this money is going to solve how I'm to pay for proper music lessons. And give Adian a chance to escape as well." Adian was sixteen, two years older than Kira, and her brother. His ambition was to be a horse trader, and the past spring, one had offered him a chance to be partner if he had some money. Adian, however, had no money, other than a few copper coins left from Mother's dowry, and he and Kira knew that their uncle would never give him any money.

Kira emptied most of the coins in her apron, then reburied the now mostly empty box. She then set out for her secret cave formed by tree roots over a bluff. Once there, she spread out her apron and gazed at the heap of coins. "This is so unexpected," she murmered.

When Kira was nine, her and Adian's father had died. Their mother had then taken them to live at the inn, owned by her sister and brother-in-law. Their mother had fallen ill two years later and died as well. Aunt Jina and Uncle Borlan had let Kira and Adian stay on condition that Kira played her harp and fiddle in the evenings and Adian helped out in the inn and stable. Kira was not at all content with her life. She loved her music and wanted to take it further. A Guild Minstrel who had stopped by once on his way to a job with a Sire, had told her that if she wasn't a girl, she could, with the proper lessonings, attend the Bardic Guild Trials. He had then told her about the Trials and Guild immunity.

After that, it was her dream to attend the Trials and become a Guild Bard, rather than a Free Bard like the musicians with bird names. However, there was no way that her uncle would let her have proper lessons, much less pay for them. Kira also knew perfectly well that even if the woods were indeed haunted, there was practically no chance that she could play for ghosts and get a windfall of gold like in the song "Fiddler Girl." But now finding what appeared to be some bandits' store of treasure just solved all of her and Adian's problems.

She quickly counted the coins and came up with fifty-eight silver ones and seventeen gold. The gold coins and thirty of the silver went into a belt that Kira created from a strip torn form her apron. The remaining silver went into another belt. She carefully tied the gold and silver money belt under her clothes, then put the all silver one in her fiddle case. She then went back to her oak tree and got ready to practice.

Kira had just finished tuning and had spent five minutes thinking over what songs to practice when a noise interrupted her thoughts. She peered through the lower branches to see a group of five men and three horses loaded with heavy packs. The men did not look like nice people and she held still, praying that she wouldn't sneeze and betray that she there.

One of the men, probably the leader, said, "We'll set up camp here. And nobody'll be bothering us like that foolish boy did five years ago."

The others chuckled. "But 'e learned better, dinnit 'e, Chief?" asked one. "We killed 'im an' those stupid villagers think they got proof that the woods are 'aunted. But it's only haunted by bandits."

The leader nodded. "Set up camp, then we go down to the village inn and buy some drinks."

Kira, normally brave and fearless, felt a tremble of fear pass through her body. She had no wish to die like that boy did, and if the brigands found her, that was what exactly would happen. She quickly stuffed her handkerchief in her mouth to muffle any noise if she accidentally made any and watched. After what seemed liked hours, the group of five robbers had set up camp and left for the village. After she was sure that they'd left the woods, Kira climbed down from the tree and returned to the inn.

When the inn closed for the night, Kira dragged her brother Adian into her room and in a whisper, told him all about the bandits and the money she had dug up. Then she handed him the silver money belt. "Take this. It should be enough for you to be able to accept that horse trader's offer and buy your way into his string. As for me, I'm going to run away to Nolton and get my music lessons."

Adian looked down at his younger sister. "So you can fulfill your dream of becoming a Bard? You'll do well, Kira. You can achieve what I can't. I wanted to be a musician once, but I was terrible at fiddle. My 'music', if you can call it that, was mostly squawks and screeches. The Free Bards tired teaching me, but gave up when they couldn't make any headway with me. So I turned the fiddle over to you and you've succeeded where I couldn't. The same happened when our parents bought that harp.Well, at least I'm good with horses."

He bid his sister good-bye and went to his room. Kira then quickly packed two skirts, three pairs of breeches, three shirts, two vests, two bodices, her nightshift, a winter cloak, her underthings, her two books, a wooden bowl and mug, a hat, a knife and spoon, rosin for the bow, and her mother's wedding ring and necklace in a shawl and her bedding. Once everyone was asleep, she opened her window and climbed out onto the kitchen roof with her pack and instrument cases. After tossing the pack down, she and her instruments climbed down the nearby tree. After shouldering her pack, she set out for Nolton and soon left Dormenth behind her.