Disclaimer: Yes, you caught me, I don't own any of T.P.'s literary genius...damn you ff.net.
Lalasa sat in her room, immersed in her work. She was doing some very intricate stitching on the edge of one of the sleeves of the dress she was working on. This wasn't just any dress, this was the dress the Queen would wear to the ball that was being held in honor of the newfound relations between the Empire of Carthak and Tortall. It was also the first time Princess Kalasin, now the Empress of Carthak, would make an appearance at home since she gained that new title. Lalasa was working on her dress next.
She sighed. Normally when she worked, she thought about nothing besides the task at hand, but today was different. Ever since she had been abused as a child by the men in her family and seen her mom and aunts receive the same treatment, she had mistrusted men. Sure there were some exceptions, like Uncle Garrow, and Keladry's knight friends, and the royal family, but for the most part, men were still more bad than good. And then he came along.
Lalasa set down her work. 'Luke,' she thought, 'you seem to be the root of all this.' The thief had haunted Lalasa's dreams for the past couple of nights now, with all of them ending the same: Luke dying in Lalasa's arms.
She shuddered at the memory of it. Why did she keep having this dream? 'He's driving me insane!' she yelled silently to herself.
Just then, the object of her thoughts strolled through the door of her room. 'Figures,' she thought, slightly disgruntled.
"How's it going," Luke asked with that trademark grin. Lalasa sighed; well at least it was a handsome figure that kept her up at night.
"Okay, I suppose," she replied not looking at him. Out of the corner of her eye she could see him frown slightly. "Are you ok?" he asked with a tinge of worry.
"I'm fine," she said, "just a little tired. I haven't been sleeping very well these past nights."
"Bad dreams?" Luke asked knowingly.
Lalasa smiled at him. "Something like that," she replied.
Luke nodded. He himself had not been sleeping well as of late either. Lalasa finally met his eye. Luke was unprepared for what happened next. A torrent of scenes seemed to flash before his eyes, all concerning him lying bloody and beaten in Lalasa's arms. Clutching his head he sank to the floor.
"Luke?" Lalasa said, alarmed. One minute he'd been standing there talking to her, and the next he was kneeling on the ground. "Luke, what's wrong?"
The visions cleared and Luke was able to look up at Lalasa. "I...I'm fine," he said shakily as he stood uncertainly.
"Luke, people just don't stand there and then collapse on the floor," Lalasa said angrily, "what happened."
Luke looked at her with sudden realization. "Your dreams," he said slowly, "they show me don't they."
Lalasa froze. 'How does he know...?' "Yes," she said quietly, "yes they do."
"I just saw them," Luke said, hardly believing his own words. "I'm dying..."
"Luke," Lalasa began, but Luke held up a hand.
"Don't," he said with the most serious face Lalasa had ever seen on him. "Don't tell me that it's going to be okay, and that they're nothing but dreams, and this is all going to have a happy ending." Lalasa stood there silently with her gaze on the floor. "I know the risks I take, and I know that's what very well might happen."
Luke walked over to her and with a finger tilted her face upward so she had no choice but to look into those hazel depths. He gave her a small smile as he said, "at least I know I might die in the arms of someone I care about."
Lalasa managed to give him a small smile in return. "Oh, Luke," she said with a sigh, "you're too much sometimes."
He slid back on his trademark grin. "Just sometimes?"
Lalasa laughed. "You scoundrel," she said, "Get out of here and let me do my work in peace!"
Luke shook his head as he turned to leave. "Women."
"Oh and Luke," Lalasa said, "We're going to have a little chat later about how you saw my dreams."
Luke winced, but gave a nod of consent before he left. Lalasa smiled as she picked up the sleeve she was working on, 'It's about time you and I had a talk,' she thought as she quickly begin to immerse herself in the complicated art of stitching.
Trows absolutely hated going to the market with Lila. And boy did she know it. It always took them a minimum of four hours to get everything, and Trows always seemed to be the one carrying it back.
"I don't suppose you want to help me out here," Trows said as he struggled with the multiple bags and packages.
Lila flashed him a smile. "Looks like you're doing fine on your own," she said sweetly.
"Looks can be deceiving," Trows grunted as one of the packages teetered dangerously on top of the pile. He took a few steps back to try and steady the now wobbling tower of "supplies". "There," he said with a relieved sigh as the pile stopped moving. His relief was short lived however, as a man roughly pushed past him.
"Damn!" yelled Trows as everything fell to the street. "Watch it asshole!"
Lila whirled around. "Trows! Watch your mouth, there are children here."
"Any children around here have all heard much worse," Trows muttered angrily.
Lila bent down to help Trows pick up the packages and bags. "That's because of people like you running their mouths in the street."
Trows rolled his eyes. "Yeah, people like me made these children morally corrupt."
Lila glared at him, but didn't say anything. Instead, she looked to see where the man had gone. Scanning the crowd, she saw him look around as if to check if someone was following him. Her curiosity aroused, she told Trows she'd be right back. Standing outside the tent, she checked to see if anyone was watching her and then slipped into the tent.
The tent obviously belonged to a merchant who dealt in precious jewels. Stones of all different colors and sizes sparkled at her wherever she looked. Suddenly, she heard two men talking. Frantically she searched for a hiding spot. As the voices came closer, she saw a large cabinet and ducked behind it.
"I told you I don't have what you're looking for," one of the men in a blue shirt said angrily. "Come back tomorrow."
The balding man who Lila had followed into the tent snarled in reply, "I'm sick of waiting on you. You have exactly five minutes to produce what I want or our business will be cut unexpectedly short."
Panic could plainly be seen on the other man's face. "Our agreement clearly states no violence," he said.
"Consider that agreement null," the balding man said grimly.
Blatant fear was evident now on the other man. "But I swear I don't have what you want," he said desperately. "The shipments have all been tampered with."
Lila raised her eyebrows. 'This man must be a merchant working with the Alliance, and the other guy must be one of Igor's agents.'
"That's not my problem," baldy retorted with a cruel smirk.
The other man was sweating heavily now. Lila debated what to do. Should she help the merchant out? He might have information that would be of great help to the Rebellion. On the other hand, she only had two knives on her. The other man was probably much better armed. 'But,' she reasoned, 'he doesn't know I'm here.'
With her decision made, Lila dropped into a fighter's crouch and prepared to take the man by surprise. Unfortunately for her, right before she leapt at the man, her foot moved a chair. Turning around quickly, the man was able to block her attempt to stab him.
'Damn,' she thought as baldy pulled out a sword and surveyed her in amusement. "Well," he said in mock surprise, "looks like I'm not the only one who breeched our agreement."
The other man gaped at Lila, "I had no idea she was there, I swear it by the Goddess!"
"He telling the truth," Lila said coldly. "I decided for myself that scum like you don't deserve to live."
Baldy regarded her with amusement and malice, "You shouldn't meddle in other people's business, it can get you killed."
"Thanks for the advice," she said coldly. Moving quickly, grabbed her hidden knife and flung it with all her might at the man.
He was too quick for her, however, and blocked the knife with his sword. "That wasn't very nice," he said with mock hurt as he approached her, his sword gleaming dangerously.
Lila looked for an escape or a weapon, anything that might get her out of this situation. She backed away from the man as he leered at her.
"Too bad we had to meet like this," he said, his eyes going up the length of her body. "We could have been...friends."
Lila shivered in disgust. "I would rather have my heart ripped out."
"That can be arranged," baldy said with an evil grin. He was less than five feet away now. Lila realized that she wasn't going to make it out of this tent alive. 'Too bad,' she thought grimly, 'there were so many things I wanted to do.' At this thought, an image of Trows came to mind. 'Oh no,' she thought, 'I never told him.'
Baldy raised his sword to deal her the death blow, when he stopped. Lila looked at him in surprise as he fell to the ground, a knife embedded in his back. Trows stood at the doorway with an eyebrow raised. "Are you still mad at me for what I called him earlier?"
Lila gave him a big smile as she ran over to where he stood. She kissed him on the cheek and hugged him while she thanked him. Trows just stood there in mild shock. 'Did she just kiss me?'
Lila let go of him to look at the man staring in shock at the now dead man on the floor. "I have some friends that will be very happy to talk with you."
The man whimpered slightly as Lila and Trows escorted him out to the street and towards the Dancing Dove.
"I'm going for a ride, tell Rhazier I'll be back by sundown," Luke called over his shoulder while saddling up his horse Koka. "It's been a while hasn't it girl?" he whispered to Koka. He hadn't really needed his horse since coming into the city.
Mounting up, he led Koka through the streets and to the city gate. Nodding to the guards, he kicked Koka into a gallop. After about ten minutes of pretty fast riding, Luke slowed Koka to a more leisurely pace. He had a lot to think about, and didn't fancy the idea of being knocked off his horse by a stray branch while he was deep in thought.
'Why could I see Lalasa's dreams?' he wondered. He didn't have the Gift, of that he was sure. Sure he had an almost supernatural talent of reading people and perceptiveness, but no Gift. 'Maybe she has the Gift, and she somehow transferred the dreams to me.' No, that couldn't be right. She had been just as puzzled as him.
Hearing hoofbeats, he looked up at an oncoming stranger. Luke didn't know why, but he suddenly felt a slight uneasiness. He checked to make sure all of his hidden daggers were secure (he had about seven on him), and watched as the figure drew closer.
The stranger's face was hidden by a cloak, but Luke could tell that he was tall and heavily muscled. Something about the man, for it was definitely a man, was familiar. 'What was it that was so familiar about this man?' he wondered. Horrified realization dawned on him as he noted how the stranger held his bridle. Instead of turning the straps out and holding it with three fingers and the thumb, he kept them in and held it with two fingers and a thumb.
Only one person Luke knew had ever held his bridle like that. And if it was him, Luke was in a whole lot of trouble. He was one of the reasons (a big reason) that Luke had left Tyra. As he drew nearer, he flashed Luke a feral grin, like a predator who's cornered its prey. "Luke," he called, "it's been a while."
"Not long enough your Majesty," Luke said jeeringly at the man the Tyran Rogue called king.
He flashed Luke another one of those horrible grins. "Please, call me Kris," he said. "I want you to be on good terms with everyone before you die."