His Royal Highness Gaile of Maren, duke of Avery, servant to the throne of Tusaine, sat bored as a councilman droned on about tariffs. Once the man exited he turned to his personal messenger, or nuncio as they were called in Maren court.
"Has there been any news of the fugitive?" the king asked his personal nuncio.
"Not yet, milord. Our messengers should have reached the other courts and spread the word of the girl's status." The nuncio, a young man in plain clothes replied. "We did, however, receive some interesting news from His Majesty of Tusaine."
"Well, what did he say?" Gaile asked impatiently, wondering what his master wished for him to know.
"Apparently, on their border with Tortall, close to the River Drell Valley, the bodies of several bandits were found. The bandits, apart from the leader of the group, were all frozen as though made of stone." The nuncio paused, "They believe 'twas the girl who did this. The investigators found traces of music magic at the site, milord."
"Well, at least we know where she is heading then." The puppet king nodded. "Excellent work, Cairn. You may go now." The nuncio bowed and left without a sound.
"Tortall..." Gaile thought of the country with distaste. In his opinion it was a wretched place where thieves became nobles and woman were allowed to fight. "And where the little brat thinks she'll be safe." He added out loud. Striding over to his desk he pulled out a piece of parchment and wet his quill. Formulating the words in his mind, he began to write.
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"Come on Stone, you've been drinking for at least the past half-a-hour. I didn't make you ride that hard." The teenaged girl told the grey gelding. "Besides, you should be grateful to me. If I hadn't come and taken you from your stable, you'd likely would have been ground up, sold to some dog breeder, eaten, digested and now have your being spread throughout Maren as dog dung. And now that I have reached my preferred country, the same could happen, 'cept you'd be spread throughout Tortall instead."
The gelding, Stone, raised his head and looked at the violinist with a look that on a human would have said Fine, you win.
Smiling, Raven approached the horse and stroked his mane. "Not that I'd do that to you, now that I've named you." The horse looked pointedly at her, slightly put off at her odd sense of humour. "Well, I guess we should—damn." Pulling the horse back into the brush, she looked out cautiously at what had made her hide herself abruptly.
Two men, clad in 'casual armour', walked along the opposite side of the bank talking. From their gait, Raven deduced that they were likely knights, bored out of their minds at being posted to a peaceful area. The pair came with in earshot; the redheaded man complaining to the slight, brown haired one with many freckles beside him about various things.
"But why are all of us out here." The redhead was saying, waving his about for emphasis. "I could be at home with my wife and son right now—as I should be—but I'm stuck here."
"Would you really want to be home at the moment Merric? We have a dangerous fugitive to look out for. You heard the message we got from that Tusaine messenger. This fugitive turned twenty bandits into stone and was part of the assassination plot against Barnesh." The freckled man reminded him.
"Yes, I did hear the message Esmond, but I think that sending more than two well-trained knights is a bit extensive for one little girl, despite how magical or devious she is." Merric put in. Raven did not appreciate being called a little girl or being underestimated, but stayed hidden when Stone lightly tugged one of her braids.
"Perhaps, but would you rather be out here or have the deadly, little bugger sneak into Corus?" the brown haired Esmond countered. Raven didn't appreciate being called a bugger either, but stayed silent about it. If they were indeed looking for her, then bringing their attention to herself would not be wise, simply because she felt insulted.
The two continued to walk and talk, going over the details they were meant to watch for, before moving onto more casual topics such as the previously mentioned son. As the two moved out of earshot, Raven considered her now limited options. She had previously considered trying to find employment in Corus as a court musician, but now that sort of dream had been crushed in a few short lines of dialogue.
One thing stuck out in her mind though, the way they had described her. Apparently, apart from the fact that her eyes were amber, they were to watch for a pale girl of possible K'miri descent, whose hair was kept in many thin, long braids. Touching her hair, she felt the long thin braids that started like cornrows atop her head. It was settled then, the hair would have to go. Grimacing, for despite her previous disguise Raven was quite fond of her braided hair, she drew a dagger.
Then in the cover of the forest, Raven severed the braids in clumps so the once she had undone the cornrows, she was left with very wavy, rough-cut hair to her earlobes. She then spread the excess hair about in a 'natural' fashion so that next time someone passed through they would think nothing of the black hairs that were scattered seemingly aimlessly about.
Tucking the dagger back into her boot, as she had used it to chop the severed braids into little bits, she peeked out of the forest again to look across the bank. Satisfied with the lack of patrol there she returned to Stone and remounted turning the grey gelding deeper into the forest towards what looked like a forest trail.
"I don't understand…how do they know we're here?" Raven asked the gelding Stone. After being together for many weeks, she had become attached the animal, and often spoke to him. The horse gave a shake of his mane, almost as if saying, 'How should I know?'
The girl sighed, she should know better than to ask a horse. Honestly, this journey was driving her mad. Shaking her head at her foolishness, she turned her eyes back onto the thin forest path on which she travelled. Up ahead, the trees parted to reveal a meadow bathed in sunlight. Reining Stone as the approached the gap, she dismounted and peered out into the light. She had come upon a small village.
Leading the gelding out of the forest, she squinted as the sun assailed her forest-light adjusted eyes. The village was rather tiny, more of a hamlet really. Looking across the field she spotted a couple of barns amongst the tilled land, some homes and what was likely the inn and administrative office where any children would attend school. Carefully examining the minute community, she picked her way along the forest edge pondering what she should do.
Should she go into the village? Should she ride on? If she approached the village, what would happen? What if the people knew about her, would she run? Fight? Submit?
No. She would not submit, but she did not feel like being in anymore trouble than she already was. It was decided, she would approach, but if anything happened to indicate otherwise she'd bolt.
Come Stone, let's see what these people know." Gently tugging on the reins, she led the gelding towards the little village. Maybe the said people could help her figure out who had set up the assassination plot, even if they were unaware to the parties involved.
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