Leera glared at Bryne.

I’m not a child, she thought, you can’t tell me what to do. She got off just to make a point of it. Her legs were still wobbly from the perilous descent. She followed the fence of the terrace in the opposite direction of the trees. She didn’t belong in a place like this. All she wanted was for this nightmare journey to be over.

The promenade arched around the mountainside, and a massive staircase led up to the next level of the city. Smoke billowed out of a ruined building that had probably once served as some sort of checkpoint. Leera ran her fingers over the rough surface of the façade. The inside of the building was nothing but a heap of charred rubble.

Something was sticking out from under the pile. Carefully, Leera climbed over the smoking debris and lifted a piece of mortar. It was a porcelain doll. It looked just like the one she’d once had. Again, she saw herself on the hardwood floor of a burning building. Aelar was pulling her arm. She was struggling. She didn’t want to leave her doll behind.

“Scream, and I’ll put a bolt through your neck.”

Leera flinched and spun around. A tall woman with caramel skin and jet-black hair was blocking the entrance to the building. She was training a hand-crossbow on Leera.

“W-what do you want?” Leera whispered, looking at her feet, feeling the weight of her mistake sinking in. Why had she left the boat?

Leera looked at the woman again. She had never seen anyone clad like her before. Her right leg and arm were sheathed in straps of hardened leather, while her left leg was only covered by a thin layer of fishnet. She had a blade on her left hip and silver ribbon shaping her hair into a ponytail.

“Come on,” the woman said and tossed a set of manacles at Leera. “I don’t have all day.”

Leera suddenly felt the need to sit down or run away – one of the two – but there was no other way out of the ruin. She looked at the manacles. She felt herself sweating. She did her best not to start bawling. Her lip wobbled. She was about to be hauled off somewhere. Killed, sold, or worse… she thought about the dangling corpses in the trees.

Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

“You are a pretty little thing, aren’t you?” the woman said.

“I saw her first,” Bryne said, and the edge of a blade appeared right under the woman’s chin.

For a moment, the woman locked eyes with Leera. She seemed disturbingly calm. A smile crept up on her face.

“Look out!”

Leera’s warning came too late, and the woman gracefully somersaulted backward and, in the process, kicked the blade from Bryne’s hands. She drew her own sword and disappeared from the doorway and Leera’s line of sight.

For a moment, Leera stood there, frozen in the smoking building. Then she took a trembling breath and ran outside. On the way she picked up the manacles, thinking she could perhaps use them as a weapon.

Bryne was on the ground with a red gash across his cheek. He had no weapon, and the woman was closing the gap. He kicked out at her once – she side-stepped with ease. Oh, no, she’s going to kill him, Leera found herself thinking.

She stabbed. Bryne rolled, barely escaping. It was only a matter of time before she would land a fatal blow, though. In a panic, Leera looked around for anything at all that could help her – she found something.

“Stop!” Leera cried and aimed the woman’s own crossbow at her.

“What are you going to do, girl?” she said without turning around. “I saw it in your eyes; you’re no killer.”

“G-give him your sword – my uncle taught me how to shoot,” Leera said, hoping she’d get away with the bluff. “Bryne, take it!”

“Bryne?” the woman said, and hesitantly handed over her sword. “Is that you? I didn’t recognize you in that ugly haircut.”

Bryne took the blade and looked at the woman. He smirked.

“Violet?”

“Violet? What do you mean Violet!” the woman cried and threw up her hands. “It’s me, Maya!”

“Huh, I could’ve sworn your name was Violet…” Bryne said. “You know, it’s getting hard to keep track of all the women in my life.”

“Do you know her?” Leera said.

“Yes, he does,” Maya said.

“Aw, I’m not so sure I do – we best put those shackles on for safety.”

Maya snorted and shook her head. “So, Bryne what do you do these days?”

“These days?” he said, rolling up his eyebrows in feigned surprise. “I’ve always been the most respected tattoo artist in Brimport!”

“A tattoo artist?” She laughed. “That’s cute.”

“What is she talking about, Bryne?”

Bryne just smiled deviously and put the manacles around the tall woman’s wrists.

“So, a tattoo artist, huh?” Maya said as Bryne pushed her towards the ship. “That’s hardly a well-paying profession, how do you make that work?”

“By being responsible and economical.”

“You’re the worst person I’ve ever met when it comes to handling money!” Maya held her ribs as another fountain of laughter poured out of her. She turned to Leera, who was still trying to understand what was going on. “Did you know, he once lost his purse and all his food to a pack of migden bandits, isn’t that right, Bryne?”

“I swear, they’re a lot smarter than they look!”