Dragon's Fire

The next several weeks were spent dodging soldiers, both from the King and from her brother. The soldiers from the King, who were only searching because it was standard policy, were a half-hearted, unenthusiastic group. They weren't quite as worrisome as the soldiers from her brother, who were armed to the teeth, and ordered to bring her back no matter what. Several of the local thieves said the reward for her return to her brother was "in any condition". Although David seemed to prefer alive, he was willing to accept dead, as long as it looked like a thief or rogue had done the deed. He simply wanted to redeem his family's name, in any way possible.

For the moment, Rynna was content to stay in her home city and slip around the edges. She loved her home city, and really didn't want to leave. She knew she would need to some day, especially if her brother kept this up, but she didn't want to sever all ties yet. That all changed one night, however, when Rynna was slipping through a back alley to go back to the thieves' guild headquarters. Three soldiers from her brother jumped out and surrounded her. She pulled her dagger from its' scabbard at her belt, and managed to kill one of them and seriously injure another before the third overpowered her. The third soldier, a man she recognized as being very ruthless but not very intelligent, backhanded her across the face, and then kicked her dagger out of her hand. He grabbed her by her upper arm, and started to drag her with him. As he passed the injured soldier, he reached down to finish killing him, apparently to get the entire reward for himself.

Suddenly, he stiffened as a dagger pierced his neck and slashed through his throat. She calmly wiped off her reserve dagger and slid it back into the scabbard along the inside of her left arm. She retrieved her good dagger from the ground nearby as the third soldier gurgled slightly before dying. She knelt next to the injured man, to see how badly he was injured. She could hear the watch running toward her, and just as they came around the corner into the alley, she slipped into the shadows to watch. She needed to know if the guards could identify her. If they could, she was going to be in trouble. As she watched, the guards ran up, saw the two men dead, and turned to the injured man. He was very badly cut, and he was losing blood rapidly.

"What happened?" one of the guards asked.

"Maurynna Blackhart... attacked us... without warning. She killed... my companions... ready to kill me... when you came... Thank the gods... you came when you did... or I would have... perished at her hand... as well." Having strained to say all that, the man passed out. One of the other soldiers began to aid the man, the looked up and said, "He's dead, sir."

"Could any of you identify the person we saw crouched over this man just before we got here?" The captain of the guard asked.

"Yes, sir. It was Maurynna," one of the other guards reported. Maurynna winced in the shadows as she realized that she was probably in trouble now.

"But why would Rynna do something like this?" Rynna recognized the voice as that of one of her semi-friends in the militia.

"Didn't you know?" the captain asked.

"Know what?" The guard seemed confused.

"Maurynna Blackhart is a rogue, trained by her father and the leader of the local thieves' guild. The King valued her advice, but he never completely trusted her. I was given specific orders, directly from him, to keep a close eye on her."

"But..." the guard trailed off, trying to decide who to believe: the captain of the guard, one of the King's most trusted agents and his superior, or Rynna, his friend and another person that he thought the King trusted.

"Report this to the King immediately," the captain of the guard ordered, "and the rest of us will search out Maurynna. She'll regret this, I swear to you all."

Rynna stayed completely still until the men had all left, then sat down on the pavement in shock. The King's guards, which had just recently been her semi-allies, were now against her. How could they believe that I would do such a thing? she thought. Maybe the King won't believe it. She found a place to hide until the next day, and prayed that the captain of the guard wasn't correct.

The next day, however, there were proclamations of her guilt all over town. A very substantial reward was being offered for her, although it did specify that she was to be captured alive.

After seeing that, she went to Marcus and told him, "I need to leave tonight." She briefly described what had happened, and Marcus nodded sympathetically.

"I can give you a fast horse and a guide out of town if you want, dear," he offered.

"I'll take the horse, but not the guide, if you don't mind. I know this area well enough, and I don't need anyone else helping me. Besides, the more people, the more attention it will attract."

"I understand," Marcus replied. "Good luck."

Once again in the dark of the night, Rynna left her home, slipping through the gates and into the world, possibly never to return.