Prologue
The candlelight flickered, casting an eerie glow on the hand that moved rather quickly across the page. The hand itself sported ugly red blisters. Two fingernails were torn, and blood trickled from a wound on her palm, dotting the page with the thick, red liquid. She seemed not to care. Her shockingly icy blue eyes glowed out of the dark, intent on the page, following her words. She finished the sentence with a heart, and with the other hand she retrieved a dagger from her belt. She poked it into the skin of her thumb until a drop of blood escaped, and pressed it to the parchment. When she removed it, a thumbprint remained, printed, next to her signature. She folded the paper and sealed it with a red piece of wax retrieved from her shelf. It needed no envelope. A bird sat on her shelf with red, orange and yellow plumes.
"Take this to Chase," she told the phoenix, who grasped the letter in her claws and flew off, out of the window, disappearing into the starry night sky.
Her duty done, she pulled the holder out of her hair, permitting her hair to tumble down her back in raven-black waves. She tucked a strand behind her pointed ear, leaned over and blew out the flame that still flickered weakly on the wick. The room plunged into darkness. She rested her head on a pillow and picked up an old, torn book. The worn red cover read Gone with the Wind, and the picture of Rhett and Scarlett still lit a certain fire in her heart, the same that kept her going. She whispered a few words, and a small ball of yellow light lit and hovered over the book, which she now opened and read.
With enough courage, you can do without a reputation.