He waited until he was sure Calandra was alseep. Then he crawled out of his bed and wrapped his cloak around his shoulders. Making his way out the door, he made sure the hood completely covered his face.
He embraced the cold midnight air with hesitation. Why was he meeting Finnean? What was the meaning of all this?
Their conversation had been far from nice, so why did Finnean suddenly insist on this meeting? He was certain it couldn't be for a few friendly pints of mead while comparing notes.
He reached the door of the inn and was surprised to see it was still open.
'Still.' He thought. 'Thieves are fond of shadows, so it shouldn't be surprising they love the night too.'
He went inside and saw Finnean's dark head at the far end of the room. He sat down with him.
"What do you want." He said bossily.
Finnean laughed. "Cheer up a bit. I invited you here as a friend."
"A friend" Ahro rolled his eyes. "What a laugh. You didn't exactly roll out the welcome-mat for me today and now you want me to believe you when you call me a friend?"
Finnean let out a sigh. "I may not know you, but there is one thing we have in common and I intend to protect her. I don't want her to be harmed. As much as she doesn't want to believe it herself, I really do care and I don't want to see her hurt...or dead."
Ahro looked at Finnean. The man did seem to be honest.
"Then what do you want?" he asked.
"I know she won't accept my money. But she'll accept it from you."
Ahro gave him a surprised look.
"I thought that she could not care for me because I am so different from you." He said quietly. "So why would she accept my gold? And besides that I have nothing I can offer her and she knows that."
Finnean looked at him with a mixture of anger and seriousness. "I only said that this afternoon because-...I miss her and I want her back, even though I know that will never happen. Jealousy never was a virtue, okay? But all that doesn't matter right now. We have to do something to help Lan, whether she wants it or not. You don't have to pay her the money. I want you to take mine."
He threw Ahro a pouch.
"It's all there. 5250 pieces of gold. Tripple what she owes. Now listen to me. She won't accept it from either of us, headstrong as she is. But her plan won't work, she'll only get herself into more trouble if she goes through with it."
"How would you know what she's planning." Ahro said, slowly reaching for the pouch.
Finnean chuckled. "I was trained by the same mentor. We have been taught by the same master. I've known her almost all my life. That makes you think and feel the same. And listen the same too. I hear what she hears. We're trained to be in tune to each other like that."
He leaned back, a more serious expression on his face.
"But robbing the diamond transport won't work. There are too many soldiers out there to guard it. I'd do it myself if there weren't as many of them. But they would catch me in no time. And if I gave the money to Writath myself they'd only capture me again and that would solve even less. No, what I want you to do is this..."
The sun rose and entered the bedroom through the window. Calandra woke and smiled softly. Today would be the day. She turned around and woke Ahro. He blinked and stretched out.
"Come on." She said. "We need to move today, or we won't have time enough to lay out an ambush."
She got up and washed her face with the water from a pitcher in the corner of the room. Ahro looked out the window, thinking about the meeting he'd had. It felt so strange that he doubted it had even been real. But when he got dressed and wrapped his cloak around his shoulders, the weight of the money reminded him it was true.
"Calandra...are you sure we shouLd do this?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well...it is the treasure of the king. It'll be heavily guarded, won't it?"
Calandra laughed. "Of course it will! But don't forget who you're with. I was trained for this sort of thing. Even Finnean would consider doing a job like this."
Ahro looked into her eyes and discovered a sort of reckless thirst for adventure in them that scared him.
She didn't care how many men would guard this treasure. As long as she had a chance at stealing it, she would try.
"Don't you care for your own safety?" he asked, taking her hand. "You might die or get thrown into prison. Doesn't that frighten you at all?"
She threw her head back. "Fright? Scared? What fun or excitement is there in life when you let something like fright tell you how to live. We'll all die some day. I want to live my life with adventure and excitement, otherwise life would be hardly any different from death."
She turned around and buckled up her boots.
"All...all I fear..." she said, suddenly more quiet. "All I fear is that I'll die without getting paid the respect all humans deserve. Prison is just something I can get out of, or a place I can hide to avoid running into people who have scores left to settle. No, prison does not scare me anymore, Ahro. Nor does death itself."
He turned away. "Well they scare me. I don't want you to die."
She laid a hand on his shoulder to comfort him. "You don't have to be scared. It would be foolish to fear for my life if I do not fear for it myself."
"If...if I could give you the money...would you forget about the treasure?"
She laughed again. "Where would you get such money. You're not the son of a rich nobleman, are you?"
He hung his head. "No..."
"Let me do this. I'll get Writath off our backs and we'll have something to see us through the winter."
Ahro gave up. He would not be able to make her see the danger of this folly. He followed her silently and continued his silence as they ate breakfast, bought supplies and mounted their horses. Calandra, absorbed in her plan, didn't notice.
In his mind, Ahro could see the plan failing, over and over again. The transport would be so heavily guared that you'd think the king himself was in there. Calandra would try to make of with a wagon full of treasure and she'd be caught. Perhaps even shot.
He shuddered as an arrow pierced her chest in his thoughts.
"No!"
Calandra was startled and looked at him, a dagger in her hand.
"What?" she asked alarmed.
"N-nothing." He stuttered embarrassed.
She slid her dagger back up her sleeve and grunted aggravated. "Well, if it's nothing then don't shout like that."
She urged Silta to go a bit faster. She pointed at a tower over the treetops.
"That's a small comunity where monks live. It's south-east of Marek. Keep it in mind. If you need help, go there. It's called 'The Grey Monastery'. The people there are kind and will give you food and water and even a place to spend the night."
Ahro looked at where she was pointing and tried to keep in mind where it was.
"We'll go there tomorrow night. They'll allow us to rest there and they know a lot of healing methods as well."
Ahro licked his lips and took a breath. "Listen, the transport won't be here for another day. Then it will take us another day to get to the city. Can't we just watch the transport first? I'd feel a lot safer if we knew what we were dealing with before we jumped out. You know, just to evaluate the situation."
She sighed. "Alright! If that will make you less edgy. Besides...that's what I meant to do anyway. Don't forget I have done this before. You thought I was just going to jump out like an ordinary highwayrobber?"
"No...and I know you've done things like this before. But...never this big and never alone, right?"
She looked up surprised. "Alone?"
"Well, as good as. I'm just a city boy, remember. You used to have someone like Finnean at your side."
She ignored him and dismounted her horse, leading it into the bushes beside the road. With a sigh, Ahro followed her.
"You've got to admit that you're the one trained for this, not me."
She turned around. "The transport will pass this road. It's the only one leading into Marek from this side of the city. So, we'll make camp, wait for the transport to pass by and then we'll attack tomorrow."
"Very well."
"I'll make sure to give you the easy jobs. I had planned to do this on my own, so now it'll be easier, I hope."
Ahro nodded. "Right. Well, I guess I'll go looking for some firewood."
Calandra nodded. "Good idea. I'll go and see if I can find something to eat. Try to get that fire started before dusk falls."
Ahro watched her take her bow and quiver. He waited until she had disappeared into the bushes before turning around briskly and jumping on his horse. He steared it towards the city immediately.
He felt like a traitor doing this, but he would not risk her life with this stupid plan of hers that was doomed to fail.
Calandra closed her eyes and listened. Beside her she could hear a soft breathing sound. It was definitely a small animal. Her hand tightened but she couldn't kill it from where she was sitting now. She would betray her presence with the slightest movement.
She waited for it to leave when she spotted a rabbit not too far away. She smiled and lifted her weapon slowly from the stone she had been resting it on.
The second she let the arrow go she knew it had been a hit. She jumped up and retrieved her prize. This would do for two people, she thought, remembering the two chunks of bread in her saddlebags.
She looked forward to a nice meal, a selfmade dinner always had more taste than anything you could get in an inn or a tavern. She pulled the arrow from the dead body and checked the iron tip. It was still good.
Feeling a lot more at ease than usual, she made her way back to the camp. It surprised her that she felt so at eas. Normally she would feel really nervous. But now she found herself almost humming a small tune as she walked through the trees.
When she reached the camp she laid the rabbit on a rock. She laid down her quiver and bow and loosened the straps of her boots. She looked around, expecting to see Ahro somewhere.
To her suprise, he was nowhere to be seen.
'Maybe he's still looking for wood...'
But she had expected the fire to be in a roaring blaze by now.
She looked at the tree where they had left the horses and found only Silta, alone in the shadows. She threw her knife down into the ground, realising Ahro was gone.
She bit her lip, making sure no curse escaped from her mouth. Her nails were digging into her skin as her hands clenched to fists involuntarily.
She had thought that this boy would be different fom the others. She had thought that he would never leave her. But now she understood that thinking like that could only satisfy dreamers. And a dreamer...that was something she would never be.
She ignored the burning feeling behind her eyes and marched away from the camp to gather firewood.
She roasted the rabbit above the flames with an emotionless expression on her face. She would wait for the transport and rob it herself.
She would become a rich woman soon and then all her troubles would be over.
It took me a while to update. Had a few busy weeks. But I passed one of my midterms! Barely, but I passed! And I don't have any internet at home, so when I go there during the weekends there's no opportunity for me to update.
Kar-Vermin: I'm really happy that you liked that last chapter so much! That dialog between Finn and Lan was so hard to write! I wanted it to be harsh and cold, hateful if possible, but I wanted to hide all that under a layer of something else. I hope that came across, but seeing as how you thought it to be 'top-notch', I suppose it did :) Hope this chapter was likable like the last one.
Grayangle: I'm one who compliments? You're the one giving me wonderful, complementing, reviews every chapter! And thank you so much for that :) It really feels good to have someone like your storywriting this much, enough to review every time. I hope this chapter worked up to your expectations!
I say it every time and I never seem to be able to keep that promise, but I'll say it again: I'll try and update as soon as possible! Thanks you both for your wonderful reviewing and I'll see you at the next chapter!