Bodil leaves the School of Cat.
Four empty beds, four white sheets, four pillows and a naked oak desk.
The room was as empty as she felt inside.
Resting in the window-post with her back against the wall. With one foot on the outside and the other close to her chest, she sighed heavily. A piece of paper fell from her hand, but she did not make an effort to pick it up. The contract would not change anything if it stayed on the dirty floor for a few minutes.
Bodil took a last sip from her famous red wine as she stared through the open window. The darkness covered the faces of those who took their drinking business outside.
She though she heard a familiar voice calling her name from the main gate, but she could not give him a name. Her mind and focus was elsewhere.
The moonlight faded for a second, and Bodil knew it was time. She closed her eyes before she glanced over her shoulder. The oak desk was cleaned for the first time since she entered the school.
Her backpack was packed lightly, filled with the absolute necessary items needed for this mission.
Next to the desk stood the chair she considered hers now. Excellent for reading, writing or just pretending she was doing something useful while she actually did nothing but staring on a blank page.
Then there was Vatkyrs bed, always clean and free for half dirty boots or bottles of wine.
As the same for the two other beds of the Claws.
Bodil smiled, but it died almost instantly. Would she ever see them again?
''You better, or else I will find a way to resurrect you and kill you again.''
Master Bastian and Vaktyrs words, she remembered them well as they came up as a joke under a cheerful evening.
Bodil found the dark courtyard again. Stars were visible on the sky now, and the clouds were drifting south. Slowly she pulled away from her safe spot and closed the window.
It's time, she thought and grabbed her bag and threw it over her left shoulder.
''I have the most important things'', she said to herself forcing to believe it was true. She had information, knowledge, strength, stamina, swallow, a bottle of golden oriole and a weapon. . . The only thing she lacked was experience with a Wvyvern. A damned huge, flying son-of-a-bitch.
''One day got to be the first'', she said and picked the contract from the floor.
She left the room and the School when the night was at it's darkest, made sure no one followed her tracks. She may not have a horse, but Bodil had put a lot of training around her speed and stamina, and her focus was just there.
Walk quickly, because the road was long.