Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters you may possibly recognize.
The ones you dont are MINE!!
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~*~*~* "Bring forth the next," a white bearded man called from behind a table. In front of him sat a pot of black ink and a variety of pointed instruments. A young women, 16 years old, was roughly pushed towards a chair that stood in front of the old man's table. She did not fight the guard as he pushed her into the chair and strapped her right arm to the armrest. She did not kick like the others when he strapped her ankles to the chair's legs.
'What an odd girl,' the guard thought as he stood up.
"Hand," the old man said absently, looking at the wide array of tool that sat before him. He picked up a large needled tool and took the offered hand in his own. He noted that it was not tense as most others were during this time. He looked at the owner or this strangely placid hand. His tired brown eyes met tranquil gray ones.
"Such a pity to mark such a lovely hand," he said as he placed his chosen instrument back on the table.
"Warren?" the old man called.
"Sir?" the guard who had prepared her asked.
"How many after this one?" the old man asked motioning to the girl.
"She is the last sir. Sorry to keep you so long today," he answered smartly.
"Very well. If she is the last then you may leave. She does not seem to be violent," the old man said.
"Sir. Do you think that wise? You can never be sure with her type," Warren said with obvious disgust.
"I am sure Warren. You may go home to your family."
"But sir."
"No! Go! I will be just fine," the old man said with a twinkle in his eye. "I'll be sure to lock up."
"Yes sir," Warren said his discomfort about leaving the old man with the girl apparent.
Warren glared at the girl and slowly walked out of the room. When the old man was sure that the guard was gone he turned back to the girl. She had put her head down a bit and her strait, jet-black hair had fallen into her face like a vale.
"Those can't be comfortable," he said, referring to the bands that secured her to the chair. He did not receive a response.
Swifter than the man thought possible the girl pulled her hand off the table and deafly undid the holding bands. When she was done however she remained seated.
"Well in any case, as I said before it is a shame that I have to mark such a pretty hand with the 'X' of a convict. Would you allow me to do more than just the 'X' on your hand?"
The girl pushed her hair behind her ears and nodded, smiling slightly.
"Well alright," he said happily. "Don't flinch though. This will hurt."
The girl sat perfectly still though the entire process. The only sign of discomfort she showed was the constant pressure she applied to her bottom lip.
As the old man began pulling other colored inks from under the table he asked, "so young lady, what is your name?"
She did not respond and so he quietly began to color the design he had placed on her hand. When he finished and looked at the girl she returned his gaze with not a single tear in her eyes.
"There now. All done," he said as he began to clean his tools.
The girl lifted her hand and gazed at the pattern that he had placed on the webbed skin between her thumb and index finger. It was still the jailhouse 'X' but it was much prettier than any tattoo she had ever seen. People paid money to get one that didn't look half as good as this. The 'X' was made with an open grate (kinda like a gazebo type pattern). Inside the grate a vine snaked through. On the vine grew 5 closed flower buds.
She sat there staring at her hand for minutes, her hair once again shielding her face from view. She lightly brushed the tattoo with her index finger and flinched slightly as pain stabbed through her hand.
"Oh. Don't touch it," he said sympathetically. "It will be soar for about 2 days."
The old man took her newly tattooed hand in his again. The girl saw a brown mist form in his hand. Slowly the mist settled on her tattoo and the pain eased.
"Don't tell anyone I did that," he said. "But seeing as how you don't talk much I am sure my secret is safe with you."
The girl once again pushed her hair out of her face and grinned at the old man. He smiled back as he stood up to walk around the table.
"Paige," a small but strong voice said.
The old man stopped his hand halfway on the door handle. "Excuse me?"
"My name is Paige," the girl said standing.
Paige shook out her black worn and patched breeches, her overly lard black tunic. She walked to where the old man stood and smiled at him again.
"Thank you so much for this," she said as she raised her tattooed hand. "And for stoppin' the ouch."
"You are quite welcome Paige. But remember," the old man said as he cupped his and to one side of his mouth, "Its our secret."
"Yep. Our secret," she said as she walked out the door. She disappeared into the shadows and the old man thought, 'must have been on a night raid then they picked her up.' He turned to lock the door and as he did he could feel someone watching him. As he turned around and started walking to his house he heard a jingling sound. H stopped to get a better idea of where the jingle was coming from, but the sound stopped when he did. The old man put his hands in his pocket and pulled out two copper coins along with a torn piece of tunic. On it, written in blood, was "Old man. Thank you again for my lovely 'X'. I will be the envy of all that bear the mark of a caught thief.' It was signed with a P.
'She's good. I didn't even feel her put those coins in my pocket,' the old man thought as he continued to walk home.
Paige sat on a roof watching the old man as he walked down the street. She smiled to herself and rose to her feet.
'Now to get my blades and Dark Fyre.'
Silently she jumped form the roof to the street and walked in the direction of the guards' station where she knew they had taken her belongings.
As Paige walked she planned out what she was going to do. She decided she wouldn't waist time looking for her tack. It was useless to her and a burden to care for.
'Alright.I'm gonna get Dark Fyre out first so he is read if I need to make a hasty get away. Then I'll see if I can just sneak into the station and not have to deal with any of the guards. I'll get my stuff and be gone before any ones the wiser,' she thought triumphantly. 'Oh who am I kidding? My plans never work the way I want them to anyways.'
She reached the station about 10 minutes later and quietly sneaked around to the other side of the building.
Dark Fyre was tethered between two posts. Obviously he did not like the capture any more that she did.
'Silly horse. He must have bit someone.or someones.' she added on an after thought.
If she knew her horse, he had probably bitten anyone who came close enough.
She picked up the sharpest rock she could find and headed over to her mount. He stood there silently giving her a look that said all to clearly, 'what took you so long?'
"Sorry. But wait 'til you see what I got," she whispered to him as she cut his ropes with the rock she found. She got through half of them before her patients wore out and she hurled the rock into the shadows.
"You can break through the rest. Make it quick. I'm gonna need you when I'm done getting my knives."
Her copper gelding shook his black mane in reply and then set to work biting through the ropes that still bound him.
"Good boy," Paige said giving her horse another pat.
She walked to the side of the building and crept through a window that had been left open in hopes of catching a slight breeze. She looked around the room and realized she was in the very storeroom she wanted to be in. She pulled her 7 blades out from under the cluttered mess as quietly as she could. She put the first two in her boot sheaths. The next two went into wrist sheaths. One went in the sheath she had around her waist. Once it was secure she swung it to her back and slid her tunic over it so that is rested undetected at the base of her back. The next went into the obvious sheath she wore around her left thigh. The last hid in a sheath that was strung onto a chain. It rested nicely between her breasts. It was her favorite blade. The handle was engraved with her name and a blood red ruby sat at the end. Her father had been a rather wealthy sword maker before his death, and it had been her 10th birthday gift.
Just as the blade fell into place a guard walked in.
'Damn it. He must have heard me. Why did they have to put my knives under all that crap?' she thought as the guard came towards her, sword raised.
"Just let me go. I don't want to hurt you," she said her hand reaching for the only obvious blade she had.
He scoffed at her, and took a few more steps daring her to do something.
"You hurt me? It seems to me that you are mistaken. Let me clarify things for you. One, I am a soldier. Two, you are a thief. Three, I have a sword. And four, you have a single knife."
As he finished he laughed and took another step closer to her.
"Well the only things I learned from you are how to count to four and that you know the difference between my choice in weapon and yours," Paige said shaking her head as if ashamed. "Its really sad just how little you know."
This did exactly what she believed it would. The soldier charged her, sword above his head prepared for an overhead swing. Not reaching for the knife her hand hovered over; Paige drew her two blades from her boots. Experience taught her to draw the weapons that would be harder to reach first. The soldier brought his sword down and Paige knocked it to the left as she moved right. H regained control of his sword and swung it at her. She dodged it, but not quick enough and felt the blade bite deep into her left shoulder. She threw her right blade into the soldier's left arm and quickly shifted her left blade to replace the one she had thrown. The soldier dropped his sword, unable to hold up the weight now that his arm was injured. He pulled the blade out and charged Paige with her own weapon.
'Smart,' she scolded herself as she dodged his attacks. 'Give him something lighter to attack you with so he can move faster.'
She blocked some of his attacks but dodged most of his assaults. When she heard movement from outside the supply room door she threw her other knife into the keyhole jamming the lock. The other guards banged on the door. Paige heard them cursing when they realized they couldn't unlock the door.
While the guards at the door occupied Paige the soldier took this opportunity and sneaked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her placing her bloody knife to her throat.
"See I told you that you were no match for me," the soldier boasted. "And look, you have been caught once already," he said looking at her left hand. "Must not be a good thief either."
'I'll show you very good,' Paige thought to herself.
The soldier slid his hand that was not holding the knife around her waist, pulling her closer to him.
"You are very good looking though."
He slowly raised his hand up her stomach, between her breasts and up her neck. The soldier lightly brushed her cheeks with his fingers before letting is hand travel down the same path that it had traveled up.
"Why don't you give up being a thief. There is other ways a pretty girl like you could make some money," he whispered in her ear as he nuzzled his face into her hair. "I know I would pay you."
Lightning quick Paige reached down her shirt and pulled out her ruby crowned dagger. The gem flared and the soldier pulled away covering his eyes and cursing. She came up to him and sliced his throat. Warm blood splattered her hair, face, and cloths. She retrieved her blade that the soldier was holding and tried to wipe off the dried blood. She cleaned her ruby dagger (blood as she called it) and climbed out the window.
'Stupid soldier. Now I gotta get a new knife,' Paige thought to herself angrily.
She placed her index finger and thumb to her lips and whistled. Dark Fyre came around the corner at a gallop and stopped beside Paige. With skill that showed much practice, Paige mounted and rode down the empty street, her pale hands and face glowing against the black of the sky that her cloths blended into.
Paige rode at a steady gallop until she reached the city's outskirts. She slowed Dark Fyre to a trot then eventually to a walk. When they reached a cliff face Paige dismounted and pushed aside a few branches from a bush. Behind hid an opening into the mountain. Paige entered it and walked through a series of tunnels. Left, Right, Right, Right, Left, Right, Left, Left, Right, Left, Left, Right. She turned in the last tunnel and emerged into a cavern. This cavern looked like a house. Cooking over a fire was Paige's mom. When she looked up she let out a small cry and ran to her daughter.
"Paige! Paige your home!" her mother cried grabbing her daughter by the shoulder and hugged her.
"Yes Mom I'm home," Paige said keeping her voice from showing the pain she was in.
"Paige. What happened? You're covered in blood," Sarah, Paige's mother, said pushing Paige back by the shoulder and taking in her daughter's appearance.
Paige was just about to answer when Zailer walked in.
"Zailer! Paige is back," Sarah said moving Paige to the table and pushing her into a chair. "Lets get you cleaned up a little," she said to her daughter.
"Hey sis," Zailer said.
"Don't you 'hey sis' me!" Paige said standing up.
Sarah, who had been carrying a bowl or warm water and a cloth to the table, moved so that Paige could get by. She knew better than to get in the way when her two children got into fights. She set the water and cloth on the table and sat in a chair to watch.
"What did I do Paige? Don't yell!" Zailer yelled back defensively.
"I'll yell if I want to. It's your fault that I haven't been home for two days!"
"How is it my fault?!" Zailer interrupted.
"It's your fault I have this," Paige said holding up her hand to show her 'X' tattoo. "It's your fault I have one less knife. And its your fault that I got hurt!"
"You got hurt?" Zailer asked, his anger draining as his worry for his sister began to rise.
"Yes I got injured," Paige said calming down as well.
"Where?"
"My shoulder."
"Let me see," Sarah said breaking through the silence that had taken over since Paige's reply.
Paige slowly lowered her tunic's sleeve and revealed her shoulder.
"Oh. I'm sorry," Zailer said.
"Your sorry now," Paige snapped as she felt her anger begin to rise.
Sarah pushed Paige back in her chair and began cleaning her wound.
"I sat there for two days! Two! Then I had to fight off some stupid oaf's passes at me. I'm lucky to have got such a nice old man to do my tattoo. And to top it off I had to fight to get my blades back and still had to leave one behind."
Talking about her blades reminded Paige that she still needed to clean two of them.
She pulled the one blade from her boot and took the cloth her mom had used to clean out her shoulder and began to wipe the blood off the steel. When the steel gleamed back at her Paige replaced it into her boot. Carefully she pulled the chain out from under her shirt and held blood in its sheath. She drew the blade and began to clean the blood she had missed earlier from the steel.
"You had to use blood?" Zailer asked.
"Well I wasn't going to, but the soldier ended up behind me with my own knife against my throat."
"I've still never known you to use blood in a panic. You don't use it unless someone really makes you mad. Isn't that why blood is named that?"
"Yes. Blood is called such because I only use it when someone makes my blood boil. But this guy did," she said sheathing blood and putting it back around her neck.
"What happened?" Sarah asked coming over to Paige with a thread and needle.
Paige told them about the old man who was so nice to her all the way through to her arrival at the cave. While she talked Sarah sewed up her wound.
"Paige." Zailer said seriously. "I'm really sorry. I didn't mean for you to get caught."
"I know Zailer. Please try not to worry about it. Those things I said earlier I didn't mean. You know that as well as I do. I was just angry. And besides my new tattoo is beautiful and I didn't have to pay a cent for it," she smiled happily and looked at her 'X'. Paige wondered silently to herself what color the flowers were, and why the old man had made them closed.
"Paige?" Sarah called, but Paige didn't hear because she was so lost in thought.
"Paige," Sarah repeated. "Paige!"
"Oh.what? Sorry." Paige replied shaking herself mentally.
"You should get some sleep. Give you body time to heal. You look exhausted."
"Yes mother. I believe I should. I am very tired. I haven't slept well for the past two days," Paige said teasingly to Zailer.
"Good night Paige," he replied. "I'm going to bed as well. Good night mom."
"Good night you two," Sarah replied standing and kissing her children on their foreheads.
Paige walked down yet another tunnel into a smaller cave. This served as her room. She had a small bed that they had used the horses and dragged into the cave when they left their home. Next to the bed there was a small flat stalagmite that Paige used as table. She kept her clothes in a small trunk on the other side of the room. The trunk was another of the things they were able to save when she, Sarah, and Zailer had moved.
Paige removed her waist sheath and placed it on her end table. Next came her wrist, boots and thigh sheaths. She sat down on her bed and pulled off her black boots then stood up again and walked over to her trunk and pulled out her nightclothes. Quickly she pulled off her blood stained tunic and breeches and replaced them with an overly large tunic that reached past her knees. It had been one of her fathers.
Paige slowly crawled into her bed and blew out the candle. Sitting in the dark, Paige pulled blood off her neck and hung it on her headboard where it could easily be reached if needed. Paige snuggled deeper under her blanket and closed her eyes, wondering how blood's ruby had lit up so brightly, and waited for sleep to come.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~*~*~* "Bring forth the next," a white bearded man called from behind a table. In front of him sat a pot of black ink and a variety of pointed instruments. A young women, 16 years old, was roughly pushed towards a chair that stood in front of the old man's table. She did not fight the guard as he pushed her into the chair and strapped her right arm to the armrest. She did not kick like the others when he strapped her ankles to the chair's legs.
'What an odd girl,' the guard thought as he stood up.
"Hand," the old man said absently, looking at the wide array of tool that sat before him. He picked up a large needled tool and took the offered hand in his own. He noted that it was not tense as most others were during this time. He looked at the owner or this strangely placid hand. His tired brown eyes met tranquil gray ones.
"Such a pity to mark such a lovely hand," he said as he placed his chosen instrument back on the table.
"Warren?" the old man called.
"Sir?" the guard who had prepared her asked.
"How many after this one?" the old man asked motioning to the girl.
"She is the last sir. Sorry to keep you so long today," he answered smartly.
"Very well. If she is the last then you may leave. She does not seem to be violent," the old man said.
"Sir. Do you think that wise? You can never be sure with her type," Warren said with obvious disgust.
"I am sure Warren. You may go home to your family."
"But sir."
"No! Go! I will be just fine," the old man said with a twinkle in his eye. "I'll be sure to lock up."
"Yes sir," Warren said his discomfort about leaving the old man with the girl apparent.
Warren glared at the girl and slowly walked out of the room. When the old man was sure that the guard was gone he turned back to the girl. She had put her head down a bit and her strait, jet-black hair had fallen into her face like a vale.
"Those can't be comfortable," he said, referring to the bands that secured her to the chair. He did not receive a response.
Swifter than the man thought possible the girl pulled her hand off the table and deafly undid the holding bands. When she was done however she remained seated.
"Well in any case, as I said before it is a shame that I have to mark such a pretty hand with the 'X' of a convict. Would you allow me to do more than just the 'X' on your hand?"
The girl pushed her hair behind her ears and nodded, smiling slightly.
"Well alright," he said happily. "Don't flinch though. This will hurt."
The girl sat perfectly still though the entire process. The only sign of discomfort she showed was the constant pressure she applied to her bottom lip.
As the old man began pulling other colored inks from under the table he asked, "so young lady, what is your name?"
She did not respond and so he quietly began to color the design he had placed on her hand. When he finished and looked at the girl she returned his gaze with not a single tear in her eyes.
"There now. All done," he said as he began to clean his tools.
The girl lifted her hand and gazed at the pattern that he had placed on the webbed skin between her thumb and index finger. It was still the jailhouse 'X' but it was much prettier than any tattoo she had ever seen. People paid money to get one that didn't look half as good as this. The 'X' was made with an open grate (kinda like a gazebo type pattern). Inside the grate a vine snaked through. On the vine grew 5 closed flower buds.
She sat there staring at her hand for minutes, her hair once again shielding her face from view. She lightly brushed the tattoo with her index finger and flinched slightly as pain stabbed through her hand.
"Oh. Don't touch it," he said sympathetically. "It will be soar for about 2 days."
The old man took her newly tattooed hand in his again. The girl saw a brown mist form in his hand. Slowly the mist settled on her tattoo and the pain eased.
"Don't tell anyone I did that," he said. "But seeing as how you don't talk much I am sure my secret is safe with you."
The girl once again pushed her hair out of her face and grinned at the old man. He smiled back as he stood up to walk around the table.
"Paige," a small but strong voice said.
The old man stopped his hand halfway on the door handle. "Excuse me?"
"My name is Paige," the girl said standing.
Paige shook out her black worn and patched breeches, her overly lard black tunic. She walked to where the old man stood and smiled at him again.
"Thank you so much for this," she said as she raised her tattooed hand. "And for stoppin' the ouch."
"You are quite welcome Paige. But remember," the old man said as he cupped his and to one side of his mouth, "Its our secret."
"Yep. Our secret," she said as she walked out the door. She disappeared into the shadows and the old man thought, 'must have been on a night raid then they picked her up.' He turned to lock the door and as he did he could feel someone watching him. As he turned around and started walking to his house he heard a jingling sound. H stopped to get a better idea of where the jingle was coming from, but the sound stopped when he did. The old man put his hands in his pocket and pulled out two copper coins along with a torn piece of tunic. On it, written in blood, was "Old man. Thank you again for my lovely 'X'. I will be the envy of all that bear the mark of a caught thief.' It was signed with a P.
'She's good. I didn't even feel her put those coins in my pocket,' the old man thought as he continued to walk home.
Paige sat on a roof watching the old man as he walked down the street. She smiled to herself and rose to her feet.
'Now to get my blades and Dark Fyre.'
Silently she jumped form the roof to the street and walked in the direction of the guards' station where she knew they had taken her belongings.
As Paige walked she planned out what she was going to do. She decided she wouldn't waist time looking for her tack. It was useless to her and a burden to care for.
'Alright.I'm gonna get Dark Fyre out first so he is read if I need to make a hasty get away. Then I'll see if I can just sneak into the station and not have to deal with any of the guards. I'll get my stuff and be gone before any ones the wiser,' she thought triumphantly. 'Oh who am I kidding? My plans never work the way I want them to anyways.'
She reached the station about 10 minutes later and quietly sneaked around to the other side of the building.
Dark Fyre was tethered between two posts. Obviously he did not like the capture any more that she did.
'Silly horse. He must have bit someone.or someones.' she added on an after thought.
If she knew her horse, he had probably bitten anyone who came close enough.
She picked up the sharpest rock she could find and headed over to her mount. He stood there silently giving her a look that said all to clearly, 'what took you so long?'
"Sorry. But wait 'til you see what I got," she whispered to him as she cut his ropes with the rock she found. She got through half of them before her patients wore out and she hurled the rock into the shadows.
"You can break through the rest. Make it quick. I'm gonna need you when I'm done getting my knives."
Her copper gelding shook his black mane in reply and then set to work biting through the ropes that still bound him.
"Good boy," Paige said giving her horse another pat.
She walked to the side of the building and crept through a window that had been left open in hopes of catching a slight breeze. She looked around the room and realized she was in the very storeroom she wanted to be in. She pulled her 7 blades out from under the cluttered mess as quietly as she could. She put the first two in her boot sheaths. The next two went into wrist sheaths. One went in the sheath she had around her waist. Once it was secure she swung it to her back and slid her tunic over it so that is rested undetected at the base of her back. The next went into the obvious sheath she wore around her left thigh. The last hid in a sheath that was strung onto a chain. It rested nicely between her breasts. It was her favorite blade. The handle was engraved with her name and a blood red ruby sat at the end. Her father had been a rather wealthy sword maker before his death, and it had been her 10th birthday gift.
Just as the blade fell into place a guard walked in.
'Damn it. He must have heard me. Why did they have to put my knives under all that crap?' she thought as the guard came towards her, sword raised.
"Just let me go. I don't want to hurt you," she said her hand reaching for the only obvious blade she had.
He scoffed at her, and took a few more steps daring her to do something.
"You hurt me? It seems to me that you are mistaken. Let me clarify things for you. One, I am a soldier. Two, you are a thief. Three, I have a sword. And four, you have a single knife."
As he finished he laughed and took another step closer to her.
"Well the only things I learned from you are how to count to four and that you know the difference between my choice in weapon and yours," Paige said shaking her head as if ashamed. "Its really sad just how little you know."
This did exactly what she believed it would. The soldier charged her, sword above his head prepared for an overhead swing. Not reaching for the knife her hand hovered over; Paige drew her two blades from her boots. Experience taught her to draw the weapons that would be harder to reach first. The soldier brought his sword down and Paige knocked it to the left as she moved right. H regained control of his sword and swung it at her. She dodged it, but not quick enough and felt the blade bite deep into her left shoulder. She threw her right blade into the soldier's left arm and quickly shifted her left blade to replace the one she had thrown. The soldier dropped his sword, unable to hold up the weight now that his arm was injured. He pulled the blade out and charged Paige with her own weapon.
'Smart,' she scolded herself as she dodged his attacks. 'Give him something lighter to attack you with so he can move faster.'
She blocked some of his attacks but dodged most of his assaults. When she heard movement from outside the supply room door she threw her other knife into the keyhole jamming the lock. The other guards banged on the door. Paige heard them cursing when they realized they couldn't unlock the door.
While the guards at the door occupied Paige the soldier took this opportunity and sneaked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her placing her bloody knife to her throat.
"See I told you that you were no match for me," the soldier boasted. "And look, you have been caught once already," he said looking at her left hand. "Must not be a good thief either."
'I'll show you very good,' Paige thought to herself.
The soldier slid his hand that was not holding the knife around her waist, pulling her closer to him.
"You are very good looking though."
He slowly raised his hand up her stomach, between her breasts and up her neck. The soldier lightly brushed her cheeks with his fingers before letting is hand travel down the same path that it had traveled up.
"Why don't you give up being a thief. There is other ways a pretty girl like you could make some money," he whispered in her ear as he nuzzled his face into her hair. "I know I would pay you."
Lightning quick Paige reached down her shirt and pulled out her ruby crowned dagger. The gem flared and the soldier pulled away covering his eyes and cursing. She came up to him and sliced his throat. Warm blood splattered her hair, face, and cloths. She retrieved her blade that the soldier was holding and tried to wipe off the dried blood. She cleaned her ruby dagger (blood as she called it) and climbed out the window.
'Stupid soldier. Now I gotta get a new knife,' Paige thought to herself angrily.
She placed her index finger and thumb to her lips and whistled. Dark Fyre came around the corner at a gallop and stopped beside Paige. With skill that showed much practice, Paige mounted and rode down the empty street, her pale hands and face glowing against the black of the sky that her cloths blended into.
Paige rode at a steady gallop until she reached the city's outskirts. She slowed Dark Fyre to a trot then eventually to a walk. When they reached a cliff face Paige dismounted and pushed aside a few branches from a bush. Behind hid an opening into the mountain. Paige entered it and walked through a series of tunnels. Left, Right, Right, Right, Left, Right, Left, Left, Right, Left, Left, Right. She turned in the last tunnel and emerged into a cavern. This cavern looked like a house. Cooking over a fire was Paige's mom. When she looked up she let out a small cry and ran to her daughter.
"Paige! Paige your home!" her mother cried grabbing her daughter by the shoulder and hugged her.
"Yes Mom I'm home," Paige said keeping her voice from showing the pain she was in.
"Paige. What happened? You're covered in blood," Sarah, Paige's mother, said pushing Paige back by the shoulder and taking in her daughter's appearance.
Paige was just about to answer when Zailer walked in.
"Zailer! Paige is back," Sarah said moving Paige to the table and pushing her into a chair. "Lets get you cleaned up a little," she said to her daughter.
"Hey sis," Zailer said.
"Don't you 'hey sis' me!" Paige said standing up.
Sarah, who had been carrying a bowl or warm water and a cloth to the table, moved so that Paige could get by. She knew better than to get in the way when her two children got into fights. She set the water and cloth on the table and sat in a chair to watch.
"What did I do Paige? Don't yell!" Zailer yelled back defensively.
"I'll yell if I want to. It's your fault that I haven't been home for two days!"
"How is it my fault?!" Zailer interrupted.
"It's your fault I have this," Paige said holding up her hand to show her 'X' tattoo. "It's your fault I have one less knife. And its your fault that I got hurt!"
"You got hurt?" Zailer asked, his anger draining as his worry for his sister began to rise.
"Yes I got injured," Paige said calming down as well.
"Where?"
"My shoulder."
"Let me see," Sarah said breaking through the silence that had taken over since Paige's reply.
Paige slowly lowered her tunic's sleeve and revealed her shoulder.
"Oh. I'm sorry," Zailer said.
"Your sorry now," Paige snapped as she felt her anger begin to rise.
Sarah pushed Paige back in her chair and began cleaning her wound.
"I sat there for two days! Two! Then I had to fight off some stupid oaf's passes at me. I'm lucky to have got such a nice old man to do my tattoo. And to top it off I had to fight to get my blades back and still had to leave one behind."
Talking about her blades reminded Paige that she still needed to clean two of them.
She pulled the one blade from her boot and took the cloth her mom had used to clean out her shoulder and began to wipe the blood off the steel. When the steel gleamed back at her Paige replaced it into her boot. Carefully she pulled the chain out from under her shirt and held blood in its sheath. She drew the blade and began to clean the blood she had missed earlier from the steel.
"You had to use blood?" Zailer asked.
"Well I wasn't going to, but the soldier ended up behind me with my own knife against my throat."
"I've still never known you to use blood in a panic. You don't use it unless someone really makes you mad. Isn't that why blood is named that?"
"Yes. Blood is called such because I only use it when someone makes my blood boil. But this guy did," she said sheathing blood and putting it back around her neck.
"What happened?" Sarah asked coming over to Paige with a thread and needle.
Paige told them about the old man who was so nice to her all the way through to her arrival at the cave. While she talked Sarah sewed up her wound.
"Paige." Zailer said seriously. "I'm really sorry. I didn't mean for you to get caught."
"I know Zailer. Please try not to worry about it. Those things I said earlier I didn't mean. You know that as well as I do. I was just angry. And besides my new tattoo is beautiful and I didn't have to pay a cent for it," she smiled happily and looked at her 'X'. Paige wondered silently to herself what color the flowers were, and why the old man had made them closed.
"Paige?" Sarah called, but Paige didn't hear because she was so lost in thought.
"Paige," Sarah repeated. "Paige!"
"Oh.what? Sorry." Paige replied shaking herself mentally.
"You should get some sleep. Give you body time to heal. You look exhausted."
"Yes mother. I believe I should. I am very tired. I haven't slept well for the past two days," Paige said teasingly to Zailer.
"Good night Paige," he replied. "I'm going to bed as well. Good night mom."
"Good night you two," Sarah replied standing and kissing her children on their foreheads.
Paige walked down yet another tunnel into a smaller cave. This served as her room. She had a small bed that they had used the horses and dragged into the cave when they left their home. Next to the bed there was a small flat stalagmite that Paige used as table. She kept her clothes in a small trunk on the other side of the room. The trunk was another of the things they were able to save when she, Sarah, and Zailer had moved.
Paige removed her waist sheath and placed it on her end table. Next came her wrist, boots and thigh sheaths. She sat down on her bed and pulled off her black boots then stood up again and walked over to her trunk and pulled out her nightclothes. Quickly she pulled off her blood stained tunic and breeches and replaced them with an overly large tunic that reached past her knees. It had been one of her fathers.
Paige slowly crawled into her bed and blew out the candle. Sitting in the dark, Paige pulled blood off her neck and hung it on her headboard where it could easily be reached if needed. Paige snuggled deeper under her blanket and closed her eyes, wondering how blood's ruby had lit up so brightly, and waited for sleep to come.