"Last call for sir Pavel!"
Calandra started to worry. Finnean wasn't going to show up...but what would he do instead? Suddenly she knew.
She jumped back down on the windowsill and slid down the rope. Leaving the pouch of money behind was against her instinct, but there was no way she could get it to come loose and a shout from the arena confirmed her suspicion that she had to hurry.
"We've been robbed!"
"Finnean." She cursed breathlessly.
Suddenly the name that had always been wholesome to her had become nothing more than a filthy swear word. The backstabbing bastard had stolen the money and left without her.
He had left her behind.
She felt a sharp stab in her heart as she ran towards the inn. She had always been together with Finnean. They hadn't parted since her sixth summer. She had never betrayed him and never dreamed of doing so.
But now, at the age of twenty-one, Finnean had turned on her.
She burst through the door of the inn and whispered a thanks to her deity that the landlord wasn't there.
'Stupid.' She thought. 'He did not even lock the door. A haven for thieves.'
She ran up the stairs and into her room. She had to go. After the tournament the people would come back to the tavern to collect their winnings and so would Writath.
She shuddered. In her mind she could almost feel his sharp teeth tearing at her skin. Or perhaps worse...He would chase her and find her and he would find a way to make her pay her debt. But how...
The beginnings of a plan began to take shape in the back of her mind as she threw her things into her dufflebag. She slid her set of lockpicks in her pocket and threw her cloak around her shoulders.
Her heart stopped when she heard someone knock on her door.
"Miss Robin! Please, are you there?"
Calandra cast an anxious look towards the door. She could not risk to open it and be caught now. She took the rope from around her waist again and tied it to the windowsill. She swung her dufflebag over her shoulder and slid down the rope.
She landed on her feet and quickly ran towards the stables. There she took her favourite lockpick and moved towards the door. Nervously she dropped her tool. With trembling fingers she picked it up again and pried the doors open.
She didn't waste time with picking out a horse but just grabbed the first one and jumped on its back.
"Sorry, no time for a saddle, boy. Go!" She whispered.
As she raced through the streets of Jabol she faintly noticed a pair of grey eyes staring at her from the window of her room at the tavern. She pulled the hood of her cloak over her eyes and kept her face hidden in its shadows.
She ignored the pain in her heart and the tears that burned behind her eyes. She would get her revenge. Finnean wouldn't get away with this betrayal so easily.
Calandra urged her horse on and rode north, the way they had planned to escape anyway. If Writath realy wanted to find her then he would have to spend a lot of time and money to do so. And in the mean time she would have the chance to try and get some money in her pouch to pay him back in full.
Calandra urged her horse to run less and less. The sun was already setting and she knew she wouldn't reach the village she was heading for before tomorrow. She took the time to look around her properly.
The landscape had changed from dry and barren to green fields and she could see the rim of a forest ahead of her. Calandra halted and tied her horse to a tree.
In the middle of nowhere and all alone, that was how she felt. She didn't know exactly where she was, she had lost her bearings doing all that hurrying and racing to get away from Jabol. But perhaps this was good. If she didn't know where she was then chances were neither did Writath.
She sank to the ground and leaned against the tree. From her dufflebag she pulled a piece of bread and started to chew on it. She longed for a nice meal, a pheasant or a roast...
She pulled her cloak a little tighter around her.
Tomorrow she would reach the village and after that she would head for the capital, Marek. There she woudl try her luck again.
But the exhaustion of the day took hold of her now and she fell asleep with only the horse as her guard and friend.
The morning that followed woke Calandra with a rainstorm. She felt her cloak stick to her frame heavy and cold. Patiently she waited for the storm to pass, hiding under the tree. Somewhere inside her she felt sad that the horse had no shelter. She stroked his haed and whispered to him softly.
When the dark clouds had finally passed, forest animals slowly emerged from their hiding places. Calandra whispered a prayer of gratitude and carefully reached into her bag. She pulled a bow and quiver from its depths.
With a feeling of relief she slid the quiver on her back. It felt like seeing an old friend again. She took an arrow and then took aim for one of the rabbits that had appeared after the rain. But before she released the arrow from her bow, she put it back in her quiver again.
What use was a dead coney when there was no dry wood to roast it on?
She sighed and swung her bag on her back, squashing the quiver and bow against her backbone.
She looked at the horse. "Come on, Silta. Let's go."
Silta. She had thought of that name during the long wait for the rain to stop. She had thought it was rather sad to have to travel on a nameless horse, never able to call it anything but its species. She was rather proud of the name, she liked it and it made her smile.
But at the same time she felt a strange sensation. This smile had been one of the very little real smiles she had ever smiled. Normally it was just an act, a role to play.
She stroked Silta's nose and then climbed on his back. Softly nudging Silta in his sides, she urged him to move again. She rode through the forest and was relieved to notice that she slowly started to recognise where she was again.
Not too far ahead there would be the village where she was headed and she knew there were soft beds and a warm hearth that waited for her there. Once she'd reach that, she would continue to think of her plan that was now taking a more solid shape every minute.
"We'll get Writath off our backs soon enough, Silta. And Finnean...we will see about him too."
Silta whinneyed solftly.
When the tower of the small church came in sight over the top of the village walls, Calandra felt an uneasiness inside her, something that made her feel like she couldn't go on much longer now that she was so close.
The people in the streets gave her strange looks, but she understood that. She looked like a drowned cat. Her dress was heavy and her cloak stuck to her thin frame. Her hair was plastered to her head like an auburn helmet.
She jumped down from the horse's back and looked around. She headed for the inn and looked up at the sign.
'The Silver Lute.'
She stepped inside and embraced the warmth like she had done two nights ago in Jabol.
"Good day! Good day!" said a cheerful voice from the other side of the room.
She smiled. "Tehk! Tehk, dear Tehk."
She ran forward as fast as her skirts allowed her. When he closed her in his arms she finally couldn't hold her tears back anymore and let them stream down her face like she had wanted to do for the last two days.
Tehk hadn't expected to see her like this. "Calandra? Why are you crying? Where's Finnean?"
He could feel the young girl in his arms stiffen. She pulled away and dried her eyes with her sleeve as good as she could.
"Finnean...the thief." She spat. "He left me! He left me with Sharkface breathing down my neck for his money while he made off with all the gold!"
Tehk didn't seem to understand. "...No...Finnean?"
"He never showed up at the arena. He must've stolen the gold during the night. He left me, Tehk! He betrayed me!"
"Calandra...calm yourself. You are tired from your journey, that's why you're talking like this, saying these things...I'm sure Finnean will come here in a day or two." Tehk said, trying to calm her down. "He has never broken a promise before."
"He broke this one." She hissed with as much controlled hate and dislike as she could muster.
Tehk laid an arm around her.
"Finnean will come." He said reassuringly. "Now come, I've readied your room. Try to get some sleep."
Only now did Calandra feel exactly how tired she was. She nodded slowly and yawned.
"Tehk? Will you take care of Silta?"
"Your horse? I will get it to the stables, but first I will get you up to your room."
Calandra allowed the older man to guide her up the stairs and into her room.
"Goodnight." He said as he closed the door behind him.
As he walked back down to the tavern he wondered about everything he had just heard. It sounded so unreal. He had known both Finnean and Calandra since their childhood.
Both had been eager students. They had been enthousiastic, strong of will and loyal. And this story Calandra had told him collided too much with the picture of Finnean he had settled in his mind. Shaking his head worriedly, he sat down near the hearth.
"So I see you calmed her down a bit." A voice said from the darkness beside him.
Tehk's eyes narrowed. "How dare you show up like this. You left your partner on her own, you betrayed your own family! You never do that, it is the most important rule of all!"
A laugh. "I thought that was 'always blend in, never stand out.' Besides, Calandra isn't family."
"Yes she is." Tehk hissed angrily.
In one swift movement he let a dagger slide down his sleeve, caught it in his hand and pressed it against Finnean's throat.
"You fool. I taught you everything and this is your repayment? You insult and betray your own partner and throw away all I ever tried to teach you. Of course Calandra is family. You two have lived together since the age of six and you two have been partners ever since. When you come to learn from me, you become part of the family. And I even though Calandra meant more to you than just a partner and family."
Finnean smirked. He silently let a similar dagger slide into his hand and quickly pressed it against Tehk's throat.
"I know every move you do, Tehk. You showed me everything. But you are old and you can't teach an old dog new tricks. I, on the other hand, learned a couple of new ones. So don't try to outsmart me, old man. The time that you could keep me under control has long passed."
Suddenly something shot past his ear, causing his eyes to open with shock.
"Let him go." A voice demanded from the bottom two steps of the stairs.
Finnean didn't move.
"For Eleonora's sake, Finnean! You know how good my aim is!"
"Drop the blade, Finnean." Tehk said, putting a little extra pressure on his own.
Knowing he was outnumbered he let his dagger drop to the floor. Tehk nodded and slid his knife back up his sleeve. He looked at Calandra and eyes her with caution.
Her eyes glowed with anger and hurt. He should not leave her alone with Finnean now, she would probably do something foolish. She always did in situations like this.
This was where she would fail in a test and yet she was one of the best students he had ever had. Apart from Finnean, he had to admit grudgingly. Yet no one could pick pockets like Calandra could, nor could they fight with a bow or sword the way she could. And he felt pride swell in his chest that she had flourshed so well in his teachings.
But he knew that all of those things couldn't prevent or stop the talk that his two students would have to face right now. He sighed and retreated to a dark corner of the room, leaving them to themselves.
Nahaa! I actually got reviews! I feel loved :D
Olga de Bont: heey, bedankt over dat verkeerd spellen van 'of'. Ik heb het meteen veranderd. Het leuke van dit verhaal is dat je het spel niet hoeft te kennen om het verhaal te kunnen volgen omdat de personages allemaal origineel en van mij zijn. De wereld waar ze in rond lopen ook. Het is een soort lotr wereld, maar dan net niet helemaal ;) Het spel is meer een basis om dit verhaal op te kunnen zetten. Verder hoef je er niets voor te kennen. T is meer een avontuurlijk bedoeld verhaal.
Grayangle: I know it doesn't sound really special just yet. I hope it gets more exciting for readers to read, but it's hard for me to judge. It's also meant as the history of my D&D character, so that's kinda the base I built the story on. But please continue reading and reviewing, because it means a lot to me! Thanks!
Love, Raven55