Renegade of the Isles
Ayla had escaped her home on the Yamani Islands after being formally disowned by her family for rejecting traditional values with her fiery and temperamental outbursts.
Now she has been accepted into both the Tortallan Upper and Under class; yet no one suspects that she brings more with her than her temper, ready tongue and outstanding combat skills, least of all her.
Chapter 1: Arrival
Ayla watched Port Caynn draw closer. For once she stayed quiet, waiting as her new life approached. The captain of the tradeship, a robustly built merchant from the Copper Isles who had thankfully asked no questions when she had offered him five silver nobles for passage to anywhere on the mainland, ordered the sails to be gathered in as a war galley flying Tortallan colours drew up aside the bow. The Tortallan customs officer barely glanced at the captain's papers before ordering his men to search the ship. Ayla, knowing the trader's hold carried considerably more than the cargo of Yamani forged weapons stated on the form, quickly decided she had little future with the now worried-looking captain, and, grabbing the duffel she had carefully hidden behind the various coils of rope on the deck, quickly slipped over the side of the ship and onto the lower deck of the wargalley.
The Tortallan vessel was not built along the conventional lines of war ships. Flat decked and with low sides, it was designed more to be a troop transport and landing craft than for naval combat, and offered few places to hide. Nevertheless, Ayla was soon hidden from sight among the carefully folded sails in the stern. Knowing that she would likely only be discovered if the ship set out to sea and the sails were put up, and also that the issue with the Yamani trader cum smuggler would not soon be settled, she allowed herself to relax and catch up on some much needed sleep.
The soft sand of footsteps awoke her, she judged the distance to whoever made them. It seemed to only be someone going to the rear of the vessel, yet she quickly burrowed deeper into her hiding place. A shout, followed by a constant rhythmic rushing noise. They were moving, she realised, and hoped it was landwards. Now that the footsteps had retreated, she could afford a peek over the side, and felt relieved as she saw that the port city was now considerably closer. She also noticed that the sun was much lower, she must have slept the better part of three hours, she reasoned. She settled down for a prolonged wait, but this time remained awake.
The galley landed, and the supposed Copper Isles trader was forcefully disembarked and marched off together with the soldiers who had been on board. Knowing she was next to a busy dock with watchful sentries, she was unable to suppress the excitement welling up inside her; her new life was about to begin.