Chapter 1 - Training

"Now, Donnia, if you are ever to get this right you have to practice," Donnia's father said to her. "There is no point in learning anything if you don't develop it to best of your ability."

"I know, Dad, but I'm just so excited that you're finally teaching me." Donnia had not stopped smiling since when her father had agreed to start teaching her how to use a sword.

Rael Thensbane was moved that his daughter would want to be a city guard like him. He had explained to her that women were not allowed to be guards, and she had accepted it. Donnia did not want to be a guard to change things. She told her father that she wanted to have her children want to be like her as much as she wanted to be like him now.

Donnia watched, eyes intent on her father, as he showed her another basic defensive move. He came behind her and guided her arms before stepping back to watch her do it on her own.

"Donnia, you must hold the sword higher or your head will be chopped off."

Donnia laughed, "It might help in my defense if I weren't fighting with a wooden sword."

"You can use a real sword when you're older."

"But, I'm older now than I was five minutes ago," Donnia pouted.

"Darling, I would love nothing more than to train you with a real sword so that you will get the most benefit from this, but your mother would kill me," Rael smiled. "Now, you keep practicing, I'm going inside to talk to your mother."

After her father left, Donnia just sat down and looked at her practice sword. It was nothing grand, just some wood fashioned in the shape of a sword, but it meant more to her than almost anything in the world.

She had been begging her father to train her to fight. When she was older she was going to be a member of the city guard, just like her father. She did not care what the city said, it was her destiny, she just knew it.

"Donnia, love, your dinner is getting cold," Laitha, Donnia's mother, called from the door.

She raced inside, eager for what new meal her mother had fixed. Laitha Thensbane was by far, the best cook in all the Frozen North. Her family was not the only ones to feel that way. Her father's friends in the city guard had all come to her house to eat at least once; most of them had come several times. It was possibly connected to the fact that Laitha made magical potions. She owned a shop in the city of Neverwinter. Most of her patrons were the adventurers who all stopped through the city to be granted the opportunity to speak with Lord Nasher Alogandar, the ruler of Neverwinter and famed adventurer through out all of Faerun.

Laitha walked her last customer of the day to the door, locking it behind them. She walked through her store making sure that all was in place for the next day's customers. The day had not been all that busy, but she still had quite a few gold coins that she had to carry home. She knew that there were those who would kill even over one small coin, but she was not worried. She had fashioned an inside pocket of her dress that kept the coins out of sight and from clinking together and making noise. She went into her back room where no one could see her to put the coins in their pocket. She checked herself in the mirror to make sure that no bulge could be seen and left her shop.

As she stepped out the door a soft rain began to fall.

She was intent on getting home before Donnia returned home from school. At first, she had been against her learning how to handle a sword. However, she could see now that she was quite adept at handling herself and the sword despite being so young. However, Laitha still prayed every night that her daughter would never have to use those techniques to defend herself.

Lost in thought, she never noticed the shadow that followed hr around every corner.

Crash!

Donnia slowly opened her eyes, a grimace on her face. Only a slight murmur could be heard when she saw what had happened. She was practicing inside, knowing she was not supposed to. In her eagerness to learn all that her father was teaching her, she was practicing the moves he had been showing her over the last few months almost nonstop. Currently, that meant practicing inside since it was raining. She had rushed home after school hoping to beat her mother so she could get in even just a few extra minutes of practice.

The mirror lay in shards and small pieces scattered across her floor. Before taking a step, Donnia heard her mother come in from downstairs. Before she could even think of the trouble she would be in, she heard a knock on the door. She carefully pulled on her boots so as not to cut her feet on the glass and headed for the stairwell.

When she reached the top of the stairs she saw her mother speaking with a man Donnia had never seen before. He was very tall and was wearing a dark cloak that barely allowed her to see his face. Just as she was headed back for her room, she heard her mother cry out in pain.

Donnia turned as the strange man hit her mother again. Without thinking Donnia rushed forward, wooden sword in hand.

"Bitch, I know you have that money on you. I know you carry home a small fortune in gold coins. Now hand it over and I'll spare your life," the strange man demanded.

Laitha turned at the sound coming from the stairs, "Donnia! No! Run!" her mother cried out to her in her final breath. The man stabbed her mother with his dagger and turned as he heard Donnia. The first thing she noticed was his eyes. They were cold, depthless, yet deep enough that Donnia felt lost in them.

"You think you can hurt me, you little bitch, with that?" he said, gesturing to her practice sword. "Come on, I'll even give you a free..."

Before the last word had escaped his lips, Donnia swung out as hard as she could, striking his knee, bringing him to her level. Before he could stand up, she started swinging at his head, striking harder than she thought she could.

Donnia never stopped fighting him. She used every ounce of her being to attack the man who had just killed her mother in front of her. He stabbed her once in the arm, and once in her leg. However, her blows to his head never faltered. Finally, he fell dead from her attack.

Consumed by her exhaustion, grief, and pain, Donnia collapsed to the floor, her body falling between her mother, guarding hr then as she had been unable to do earlier, and the strange man.