CHAPTER 3

Lyra traveled north for a week and a half through the woods until they came out at Saltspear. She went due east towards Moat Cailin again for two weeks stopping at freshwater streams to fill up her waterskin along the way. Then she went to White Harbor almost a week after that.

After five more days of camping she arrived at White Harbour. Lyra checked into the most popular inn and went to the pub for dinner and listened to the local chatter.

That night in the inn, Lyra started a fire in her room's fireplace and put up the screen. She heated the water in a kettle with a swing arm and a dipper to take a bath. The room had a privy with a solid lid and a water pump with a bucket. There was a bathing metal tub by a window for tipping out the window to dump it. She took a nice warm bath and washed her hair, dumping the water then washing her clothes hanging them from a rope strung around the room. Lyra slept comfortably and hard.

~~~~~~~~~~~

The next day, she went out to the stores and bought men's flannel sleep shirts, a dressing gown (robe), small clothes for women (underwear), an outside lace up black corsets, cloth inside lace up corsets, skirts, blouses and black leather luggage. She had a bag for men's clothes and a bag for women's clothes with makeup and soaps, large cloths for drying after bathing. Both sets of clothes were for cold weather.

That night after eating, Lyra locked her room covering the keyhole and counted the money she had in her pendant. She had bought large leather bags to fill with coins until she knew how much she had.

After hours of counting, she found out that she had 57,491 gold dragons. Lyra had put all of the cut gemstones, gold and silver nuggets and the gold dragon coins in her pendant. She had 10,463 silver moons, 4,927 silver stags, 2,067 copper stars, 803 copper grouts, 326 copper half grouts, 120 copper pennies, and 37 copper half pennies.

She wished her change all condensed down to dragons and any remaining she put in her purse. Lyra had 59,180 gold dragons in her pendant with everything else. Lyra was tired of playing with money and washed her hands then went to bed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next day, she went out looking for ships for sale. She found a three masted carrack ship for sale for 12,400 dragons. She had the barnacles scraped off her hull recently and was cleaned up. Lyra went around looking at the condition and signs of leakage. It would complement a crew of 40 men with a capacity of 120 on a 500 ton. She whispered a wish for the owner to tell her the negative things about the ship.

The man hem hawed and told her it leaks badly and it was only worth 8,000 dragons. He said he had another carrack ship for the same price with no leaks and in much better condition with a captain and crew already on her. Lyra looked at that ship and it was in much better condition. She asked him what the captain and crew's wages were. She wrote it down. She bought this ship and told the man, for lying to her, she wanted him to put the name 'The Wyldwynd'' to be painted on the stern in fancy letters. Lyra commissioned a sail made on the middle large squared sail to have a blue-green maelstrom painted on it the previous owner also was made to pay for.

It took over a week to have the ship completed and outfitted, loaded with goods and provisions. She did not forget to hide the locked box securing the wrapped up oil lamp. She placed it in the hidden panel on the floor of her bedroom with a rug and chest of books over it. Lyra stood on the quarterdeck and addressed the crew and fifty sellswords she hired.

She said to them all loudly so they could hear, "I have doubled all of your pays and paid you three months in advance. If you do well for me and remain loyal, taking good care of this ship, me and each other, we will have a long prosperous friendship. I want good food and decent drinks on this ship for us all. You will take shifts in ports and your time is your own. With duties and discipline is at the captain's discretion, but my guards are to be the six top men we will determine on the way to Braavos in training bouts with prizes. Any severe issues with health or problems tell the captain and he will tell me. Start any shit and you can be replaced at double pay easily. I want us to be friends, but if you treat me or my ship shitty, I will become a real fucking bitch. I do not like being a bitch, so don't please. Here's to being a good crew, I hope to be the best." She raised a glass to them. They cheered. She sailed off the next day to Braavos.

~~~~~~~~~~~

The morning before they made it to Braavos, a fortnight later, rolled out of bed refreshed. Lyra got dressed all in her black leather men's clothing and gauze cowl hooded robe, with her weapons on. She had her long hair braided down her back with black kohl lining her eyes. She went on deck after locking her cabin to watch the crew from the quarterdeck with the captain. The crew went out to get the supplies and provisions they needed in Braavos. Lyra took her six sellsword guards into Braavos and went to the Iron Bank and opened an account with seven locked chests of gold equaling 35,000 dragons. She went to an appraiser of gemstones and had him sit down with her. She sold all of her gemstones for 103,293 dragons. Lyra got a voucher and cashed it into her account for a total rounded off to 138,250 dragons. She pocketed the 43 dragons.

She stopped at a tent and a woman with golden hexagonal metal pieces knitted together that shielded her face like a veil with only eye openings said, "Come, I have a message for you." Lyra invites her into the tent.

She said, "No, it's ok." She goes to walk away not trusting the woman.

The woman said, "You are from another world. I have seen you coming for a long while now." Lyra stopped, turned around and looked into the woman's dark eyes.

The sellsword guards next to her said whispering in Lyra's ear, "She is an Asshai shadowbinder priestess for the Lord of Light."

She said, "Stay right here all of you and wait for me." Lyra went into the tent with the woman. They sat down at a small table across from one another.

The priestess said, "I have seen you for several years now. You were taken from your life of reward, wealth, love and happiness too soon. The gods have given you to this realm to fix what can be fixed and change what must be changed to save lives in the future. You will have to be tougher than you were before to overcome the lives you must assassinate or to be sacrificed. It will bring about the survival of many in the chain of events to come. Men will be drawn and seduced by your beauty and charisma, people will underestimate you because you are a woman in this world and you will astonish those who witness your abilities. Pay attention to all of your dreams. Proceed in all things with caution. You have magic and you will possess a hrakkar cat in the very, very near future once you walk out of here?"

The priestess said, "You will temper yourself, process your actions and let no guilt touch you, for some may need to be sacrificed to accomplish what must be done for you know the future to a point afterwards you must rely on your dreams. I am proud to have seen you in my lifetime. Go in peace, child of man." Lyra's head snapped up looking in the woman's eyes that started to glow brighter and brighter. She stood up and turned to leave, but looked back and the tent was empty.

Lyra was walking with her men through the marketplace and saw a crowd around an auction block. They had a white very small too young white lion cub.

The man said, "It's the only hrakkar I have to sell. It is a female and will fight in the pits as an adult. I am asking 500 dragons to start." The bidding got up to 910 dragons.

She shouted, "One thousand!"

The man said, "Sold!"

She and her men went back to the man and she asked, "Will you take a voucher or can I go to the Iron Bank and get it for you?"

The man said, "You can write the voucher but must remain with my guard until I get back." Lyra nodded and wrote out the voucher and put her thumbprint and ring stamp on it. She handed it to the man and he handed her a bottle of milk and the kitten. The kitten was too small. She wished in a whisper in the baby's little ear to be healthy. The kitten started to cry. Lyra fed her the milk. The man came back and she asked him, "What kind of milk is this and how old is the cub?"

The man said, "Goat's milk. It is four weeks old." She nodded and took it back to the ship. She knew this lion cub would have died had she not taken it. It was only three pounds and was boney.

Lyra got in the cabin and wished for a quart bottle of lion's milk that never spoils and never runs out. She rinsed the bottle out. The kitten was shaking and its eyes were crusted over. She used tree moss to make the kitten go to the bathroom. It had the shits and peed all over in quantity. It must have been very sick before not going to the bathroom regularly. Lyra cleaned it up in some soapy warm water and cleaned her little eyes up gently with wet cloth. Keeping it warm and getting it dry wrapped up in a cloth.

She thought about the experience with the priestess and sat on her bed looking out to sea through her windows cuddling her kitten under her chin. The whole experience completely shook her to the core about it. She went over every detail. The cub wanted to be fed and cried out. Lyra kissed, fed and cuddled her.

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Lyra woke up with a crying squealing little kitten and fed her a bottle of milk on her back. She laid her on her back and was rubbing light circles around her belly where the umbilical cord had been. It calmed her and made her less tense. Her little ears were wiggling and twitching as she drank her bottle grunting. Lyra thought, 'God this is frickin cute, the poor sick little baby seems better.'

After the cub was done she wrapped her in the blanket and went to the privy. Her ship's privy in the master's cabin was in the back corner of the ship and it had a bucket of sea water to wash everything down the shute going out to the back of the ship. It was a cleaner and easier smelling way of doing it without plumbing, she thought. She has a pitcher, basin bowl, soap with a cloth and a small mirror on the wall to clean up with. Lyra bathed frequently and used clear crystal rock salt as a deodorant.

After three days went by the cub was active and feeling much better with a steady feeding diet of real lion's milk and a regular bathroom activity. She was very affectionate to the little girl cub. She talked, kissing and loving on her.

~~~~~~~~3 mos.(6.5 wks)

When they got to Pentos in two and a half weeks later, Lyra had been just over three months in this world. The lion cub was getting bigger, healthy and stronger. She was about six and a half weeks old and she was getting playful with her. She was about 10 pounds now and regaining the weight she should have had. Lyra named her Crystal.

When she would wake up in the morning with kisses, it would make her giggle. Crystal was always licking her eye, nose or chin to wake her up. When she would open her eyes the baby would start purring and making little soft mews. Lyra would flip her on her back and start kissing her all over. Crystal loved it pushing her paws against her chin looking at her with such a loving baby face. They were heading to Pentos.

~~~~~~~~3.75 mos(9.5wks)

They arrived docking in Pentos after three weeks. When they disembarked down the gangway at one point after getting off the ship, they got swarmed by throngs of people to the point Lyra got lost in the crowd and was pushed far away from her guards and the docks. A man was coming at her while she was holding her lion cub. She ran and hid when the opportunity had presented itself to get away. Then, she ran and the man spotted her. She reached outside of the city.

Lyra ran off into the sand and kept going. Suddenly, a small sandstorm enveloped her and she kept moving so as not to be covered in sand. She covered Crystal in her robe and held up her sleeve to breathe through cloth over her face and kept moving. After an hour had passed of walking through the sand she fell through a hole into a cavern filled with a sandy bottom with rock walls. She landed holding Crystal on top of herself to cushion the fall. Lyra could hear dripping as she rolled over standing up. Sand was still sifting through the hole above her. She was glad the sand cushioned her fall in a pile under her. She wished for a tall lit candle. Lyra started wandering through a maze of tunnels and a pool filled with water. She sniffed it and found it fresh and refreshing. She and Crystal drank some water together.

~~~~~~~~

Lyra's guards were having a fit. Her top guard had the sellswords scour the entire city and even the outskirts. Eight ships had departed and any one of them could have been slave ships for all he knew. Lyra was gone and any trace of her was gone. He was worried about where she could be. They would wait to see if she returned.

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She drank her fill of water and searched the entire cavern. She found a room with an even bigger pool of water and an all sand bottom with a steady stream of water pouring into it. Another tunnel led to a huge room filled with huge iron bowls and crates filled with gold and silver coins, nuggets, ore and uncut gemstones. Lyra grinned and thought, 'Its a fucking treasure room!'

She went further, finding a mine filled with crates up on crates lining the tunnels four high with ore and large chunks of gemstones in it. She searched for more tunnels and found a way out that was very overloaded with scrub concealing the entrance which was good. Lyra had found items and tools in the tunnels along with weapons. There was a very shiny steel jeweled dagger with amethysts set in the, handle ornately, a short sword that was both perfectly shiny with emeralds set in the guard above the handle like wings a larger emerald inset in the pommel and a rotted bow and arrows so old that it was no longer useful. The scabbard and sheath to both items were rotted away.

Lyra went back to the room of crates and pots wishing all items in that room but coins to enter the back of her pendant that she held out or form a pile at her feet if it didn't fit. Streams of materials flowed through the air in a swirl into her pendant. Everything fit inside the door in the back.

She then wished for increments of coins from ten thousand down to one. She took in 159,620 gold dragons, then 27,881 gold honors. That was all in this room.

Lyra went into the mine area but stood at the door and wished all gold, silver, platinum and copper ore, dust or nuggets to flow into her pendant. The crates cracked and broke up rocks that would fit and began flowing in a fast rate into her pendant. She had to sit down with Crystal covered in her gauze robe and holding her sleeve up from the dust clouds being produced. After a while the mountain started to tremble and rumble loudly as more materials flowed out of the mine which took hours. She had to calm Crystal from the loud noises. Once it was all through she wished the raw gemstones to enter her necklace with the large pieces to pile in front of her, causing more rumbling and shaking.

Once she had cleaned out the entire mine wishing for a burlap bag to bag up the large uncut gemstones. She tracked back to town. After all this time passed and it was night time, she went back into the city and made it to her ship to the relief of her guards.