Chapter One; Banishment.
"But Father…"
"Do not interrupt me! You and your brother Thom have brought disrepute upon this family! He shall stay at the cloisters but as of this moment I have no daughter! I do not doubt that this was your plan and you persuaded him to do what you wanted."
Coram and Maude stepped forward at this, involuntarily. Before they could speak Lord Alan held up a large hand, "Be silent! And be thankful I have not banished you too! Alanna, leave Trebond by nightfall."
Alanna stood tall, steely eyed. Her father had never cared for either of his children overmuch, preferring to bury himself, and his grief for his wife, who had died giving birth to Alanna and her brother, in his books. He hated the fact the Alanna was a girl instead of a boy, she reminded him more of his late wife than Thom, her twin did. The twelve year old showed great restraint as she bowed at the waist
"As you wish. By your leave my Lord…"
"Go. Go. And don't let me set eyes on you again inside these grounds."
Alanna turned and fled the Great Hall. With a hurried curtsey and bow, Maude and Coram followed her. They found her in her rooms, packing her bags. Silently they helped, knowing that they could not leave Trebond. Alanna packed light, plans rushing through her head as fast as she abandoned them. She would go to Corus. Surely she could find work there, if not as a girl then as a boy. It would not be so different to her original plan.
It was early morning still when Coram saddled his own horse for Alanna.
"Go." He said huskily, "he'll come back when you send 'im. And ye must send him or he'll have our heads. You know where to go?" Alanna nodded and Coram didn't ask. He trusted Alanna to look after herself. She was hardier than her brother and fought better. "Send us letters when you can." Alanna nodded.
Maude gave the small girl, dwarfed on top of the large gelding, a bag of herbs and food.
"Use your Gift." She said "Use it well."
Alanna nodded then turned her mount's nose to the south. She took one last look at her childhood home, and then she wrapped her cloak tightly around her slim body and waved to Maude and Coram. They stepped back when, with a jerky movement, she jabbed her heels into the gelding's sides and rode off down the long road that connected Trebond to the Great Road to Corus.
Alanna reached Corus in two weeks, riding hard during the day and using the herbs Maude had given her, along with her Gift, to shield herself with protective circles. After one night on the road when she had fled from a band of thieves, she had been forced to overcome her fear of her Gift and to use it to survive.
When she reached the outskirts of Corus she slid off the horse's back and unloaded her meagre supplies into the saddlebags, slinging them over her shoulders. With a regretful sigh she sent her last connection to Trebond home, with a scribbled note under its saddle. She hoped that it would get home all right, cutting across country, not by the roads they had come by.
She wandered that day, asking everywhere she could find if they needed an assistant. No one would take in a twelve-year-old noble girl, even if she did have a strong Gift. She had very little money with her, which she kept in a purse tied around her neck, tucked inside her dirty shirt. She had changed into breeches and shirt on the road and roughly hacked her long copper hair off with her knife, leaving it ragged, but she could pass for a boy. Boys were less likely to be attacked than girls she had discovered. Another purse, containing the herbs Maude had given to her, hung at her waist.
With not enough money to rent a room at even the cheapest inn she began to seek out a sheltered doorway to sleep in. She could not stay out in the open; she would freeze to death. She was wandering through the emptying market place when a tall, brown haired, young man bumped into her. He was perhaps twenty,
"Careful love." He said, steadying her with two hands at her waist. With a quick smile he disappeared into the dark. Alanna smiled grimly to herself in the gathering darkness. She knew this would happen eventually. Slowly she turned and followed the man down the alley.
As he bent down to examine something on the ground she drew her dagger silently and, stepping closer, holding the knife out, spoke coldly
"My purse if you please master."
He laughed, looking over his shoulder at her. Although she was the one with the knife pointed in his direction, close enough so that she could stab him with a quick step forward, the glint in his eyes was more of amusement than fear. She had no doubt that if he really wanted to keep her purse, and they fought over it, she would loose.
"All right young miss. Let me up and I'll give it t'you."
Reluctantly she stepped back, drawing her knife away, but keeping it obvious in her hand. Good as his word he gave her back her purse.
"You're quick lass." He said, looking her over, "And what is a pretty young thing like yourself doin' here in th' Lower City t'night?"
Alanna was too tired to lie,
"Trying to find a place to sleep."
"Come along with me then." She eyed him suspiciously. "No harm'll come t'you I promise, or your purse. I give my word." Alanna looked him in the eye. He seemed to be honest, with the exception of stealing her purse. But he had given it back to her as he promised.
Too tired to argue, she followed him through the maze that was the streets of the lower city. She reasoned that even if he was taking her somewhere to kill her, if she had refused he would have either killed her then and there or she would have frozen to death wherever she chose to sleep outside.
"What's your name?" He asked
"Alanna."
"Of…"
"I'm not a noble." She said flatly.
"You are." He insisted, "Yer dressed like one, and you talk like one too."
"I'm not. Not anymore."
Before he commented on her strange remark he stopped. Alanna looked up, above them, swinging slightly in the breeze was a faded sign, on which she could just about discern a grey bird, wings outstretched. It proclaimed that the inn she was standing by was 'the Dancing Dove'.
"Come on in then." He pushed open the door and as they walked in, they saw each other better. Alanna saw a man, dressed in white breeches and a white shirt. He was a little older then her previous estimation, perhaps twenty-two. He had light brown hair and mischievous hazel eyes that were looking her over shrewdly.
He saw a girl of twelve, hair mussed and clothes torn. She too wore breeches and shirt, but of a finer quality then his. Her hair was coppery red and her eyes were a startling violet. He tore himself away from the depths of those eyes, filled too high with sorrow and pain than any eyes of that age had a right to be.
"Rispah!" He called. A tall, chesty redhead, locks darker than Alanna's but still bright in this land of dark haired folk, appeared. "Can Alanna here have a room? She'll be stayin' with us a while."
"Sure she can, George. I'll take her up to the small un at the end of the corridor."
"No bother, I'll take her up. Got all your stuff lass?" a cry of pain came from an unlucky man who had just been caught with his hand inside Alanna's bag. He had been dealt a smart rap across the knuckles by the flat of her dagger. The girl nodded in answer to George's question as he glared at the culprit.
"'Fingers!" George shook his head at the sandy haired man, then took a torch from the bracket on the wall and led Alanna up a narrow flight of stairs.
When they stopped it was at the entrance to a small room Alanna stepped in first to look around. It was simple and plain, containing only a bed, writing desk and chair. A wooden wardrobe stood against one wall, beside a full-length mirror. With a sigh she dumped her bags in the bed and turned to face George.
"How much?" she asked flatly. He waved the question away with a flick of his hand.
"Stay here as long as you like."
"Why?" she said cynically, "Why would you let a complete stranger stay in an inn for free?"
"I've taken a liking t'you lass." Seeing her disbelieving glare he continued more sensibly, "I've the Sight. It told me to look after you. That's all I know, but it's enough for me. Now you tell me about yourself."
Slowly, question by question George drew the long sad story out of Alanna that cold, dark night. It was a terrible story that pulled at his heartstrings; it was a tale of a mother's death, a father's uncaring behaviour and the betrayal of her twin and her father. She needed to tell someone, soon the dam burst, and the woeful tale flooded out. George said nothing as it did so; he merely patted her shoulder and bade her goodnight, as, for the first time since her exile from her home weeks ago, she allowed herself to cry.
She cried herself to sleep that night, and for many nights afterwards.
But as the years passed her heart hardened and she grew into a young lady, not of Trebond, but of the Rogue.