Disclaimer: As you already know I... oh alright, alright, I don't own anything!Sob, sob!

Authors Note: I just wanted to see if you like this story enough for me to write more so I posted another chapter. True to my word, as soon as I got a review I posted more and here it is. Also this is the same as last time, If you want me to continue this Fan Fiction then just review.

Oh and on another note:

Gretta99: Thank you for reviewing, you have no idea how glad I am. I will make sure to read your story and hopefully you like this chapter. If you have anything for me to fix or any ideas let me know!

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Chapter 1: Night Life

She ran across the fat surface, hoping her confider was right. Then she suddenly stopped, looked down, and smiled. "So he decided to see if the rumors were true. Well he's in for the surprise of his life tonight." She flipped down from the edge of the roof she was running on and landed crouched behind the bulky man. She swiftly put a knife to his throat while whispering into his ear, "So, you wanted to see if the rumors were really true, huh? Well let me tell you something: next time you want to mess with someone, especially a young woman remember tonight. If you so much as touch another unwilling girl again, you won't be alive to see another day afterwards. But just so you don't forget," she drew the knife slowly down and then made a motion to the right, leaving a cut shaped in the form of a 'L'. She then said, "That is so you don't forget my warning." She slammed the butt of the knife into the pressure point on his neck, watching him pass out. "This is so no one else does either." She told his prone form, even though she knew he couldn't possibly hear her. She then bent down while uncovering the bottom half of her masked face, and kissed his forehead. She watched as the red shape of her lips, then glowed a light shade of violet. The small smile, almost smirk, returned to her face as the magic embedded in his skin the likeliness of her small lips. She then walked over and jumped, grabbing onto the edge of the roof as she did so. She flipped herself onto the roof and ran towards her desolate hiding spot.

Alanna knew that soon she would have to leave her haven and go back to the dreaded prison she had been forced to live in for 4½ years now. She had only been six the first time she saw the Covent, she was sent there when her father died, but she knew then that it would never be her home. She was 10 now and she knew she wouldn't be able to keep this act up much longer. "Maybe I should go to Corus." She mused to herself, while cleaning her dagger. "I remember being told that the King of Thieves lived there and I have been longing to meet him for a while now. Plus, I have learned all that I can here and maybe more Shang will go there." She then thought about her life up until that moment.

She had come to that dreaded fortress of evil when her father 'died', more like killed himself, when she was six. She wasn't all that sad, she didn't know him all that well. That night she climbed down from her room and when into the city. They had thought, they still thought, she corrected herself, that she was too little to be of any concern for her to leave. 'I'll show them all. I'll prove that women are just as good, if not better, than men.' She walked through the city until she heard a noise behind her. She swung around and saw a man standing there, with a purse, undoubtedly not his, looking at her. She was afraid at the time that he would hurt her but oh was she wrong. He had became her first friend, after talking to her. He was the one who taught her how to protect herself, and at when she was 7 and there was a Shang visiting the Court, introducing her to him. She had met the Shang Snake, and he was her first master. He taught her some of the ways of the Shang for the time he remained in the city, all of 1 year. In that time she grew from just barely knowing how to protect herself to being able to hold her own against the criminals of the city. She didn't stop there though. For the next 2½ years she learned from all the other Shang that visited the City of the Gods. She learned from the Wildcat, the Horse, the Snake, the Bear, and even the Shang Dragon himself. During this time she made friends with all the thieves and spys of the Court of the Rouge that were in the city. She did all this in the secrecy of the night. Her days were a different matter all together.

She made no effort in her dancing classes, or her edict classes at all. Her embroidering teacher had given up on her altogether, along with her dressing teacher, and her horse riding teacher. She refused to sow or learn about all the different dresses, and she would only ride a horse like a man and not side saddle, normally she didn't use a saddle at all. She also rode a war horse, not a pretty, slow, ladies horse. In fact, the only classes she like were, reading, writing, and sorcery. She learned not to fear her magic and she was the top in her class. The Mistress didn't even try to make her go to dance class, seeing how she would always find a way to get out of it. All in all she hated her life at the Covent and was always trying to find an escape.

Then she found it. She always was hearing about how the Temple of the Goddess helped ladies and so she went there to see it. When she got there they were having a trial about a man who had wrongfully harmed a servant. He got off easy, since he warned the servant before the trial that he would kill her if she didn't say she had lied. So he got off, and Alanna knew it. She had heard him threaten the servant before the trial and thought it was wrong how he could get away with it. She had always aspired to become a lady knight, some one to protect the innocent, and she decided to do something about this. The girls at the Covent always called her 'the Lioness' when she was in a temper and so that was to become her calling card. Through the entire city, from the servants to the nobles, she was known to protect the women and girls. So if they were hurt or harmed they would make sure it got to her, through her messengers, who had done it. For the past year she had protected those women, and made sure that they were safe. Whenever she had heard of a woman not being treated right she left them a warning. The second time, she left them a warning and a alarm to make sure they didn't do it again. If the alarm alerted her , which it did, since it was made of magic, she did what she did to the man tonight. If it went off again she killed them. She had never killed any one of the men she talked to, after the 3rd warning they realized she was serious.

She walked into the Hopeful Holiday, the inn where her Rouge friends congregated to talk to them one more time before she left. Damian, the leader under the King and in charge of the city, looked at her and smiled. He knew she had been on a mission, seeing the clothes she was wearing. Her bright, unusual violet eyes being the only thing you could see uncovered on her head. Her flaming, copper, hair pulled back underneath the vale that covered her small lips and straight nose. Her clothes happened to be a black tunic, black breeches, a black cape with a silver clasp, and black boots with silver clasps as well. Her hands her gloved, and you couldn't see the many daggers she had underneath her clothing. She walked towards him and sat down in the rickety, old, wooden chair situated in front of him. She glanced at the fire before looking into his deep, dark, brown eyes and saying curtly, "I'm leaving for Corus." He looked at her and asked, "When?" She looked back at the fire and said, "Tonight. I just received word this afternoon that the Sweating Sickness has found its way into the Capital and my brother was one of the first in the palace to get sick. I need to go just in case he needs me." Damian looked at her for a moment and said, "Well, I will let Hearin know that you are coming to visit him. When you get to Corus go to the Dancing Dove, he will meet you there. Have a safe journey, and Goddess bless." She looked at him, stood up, and bowed. "Thank you Damian, for that and for being a good friend. Gods bless." She then turned and walked out the door. "Time to go." She thought and went to get her stuff.

Still sitting down in his chair was Damian, as he watched her go. He thought about the first time he had met her and seen her not curtsy to a noble man after he introduced himself. He was of higher rank than her and he thought that she would have curtsied like every other little child. She looked at him and said, "Nice to meet you." And walked away. When he had seen her again, he asked her why she hadn't bowed or said, "My Lord," like it was custom, her reply shocked him. Her reply, when asked was this, "I bow out of respect, because that is what bowing shows. Bowing shows that this person has your respect and is of a higher standing than yourself. How do you know if they are worthy of the title they bear if you have never met them? You don't. I also know that you can be a noble by blood, birth, or marriage, but the true nobles are those who act in noble ways. The only way those people got that status is if an ancestor deserved respect. Even though you are noble by association doesn't make you worthy of the title so I don't bow to you unless you command my respect. In the case of my lord, he isn't my lord. He doesn't own me, and he doesn't command my loyalty so I don't use that term." He had learned the greatest lesson on true honor from someone at the age of 8. That was an experience he would never forget. "Goodbye, Alanna of Trebond, the Lioness. I hope I hear great things about you, in fact, I know I will." He whispered as he watched her fade into the night. He sighed and turned back to his papers, making sure that he wrote down a message to George and Hearin before he forgot.

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