Ravin sat upright in his bedroll and stared at Maggie who stood a short distance away, her nakedness nearly hidden by the hanging branches of a tree. She called to him and automatically he rose to rush to her side, but Maggie moved deeper into the forest, beckoning him to follow.
At first he hurried to reach her, but slowed his pace when rational thinking forced its way into his tired mind. Maggie can't be here. Coron took her back to the inn hours ago! Ravin had heard of people hallucinating before, especially when under the influence of black lotus or the opium plant, but he could never understand the concept until now. He wondered if weariness mixed with deep concern for someone could have the same effects as a potent drug. Ravin stopped moving and blinked a number of times before glancing once again at the woman who stood a short distance away. The lights that danced around her seemed to hypnotize him, while her voice----Maggie's voice---urged him to come to her. Rational thought vanished easily; he went to take a step forward...and froze.
The sound of a snapping twig alerted him to the presence of something behind him and he turned. Quicker than a heartbeat, a dagger was in his hand, ready for flight. At first his mind couldn't make sense of the bundle of rags that he found himself gazing upon, but slowly they seemed to take a form until finally realization struck. What stood before him was a person, but the meager light of the half moon made it impossible to tell whether it be man, woman or child. Suddenly, he wished he had brought a torch.
Ravin squinted at the figure, trying to determine if it was armed. He noted that the person remained perfectly still except to repeatedly lift one foot slightly as if it pained him or her. "Who are you?" Ravin finally asked, his voice seemingly overly loud in the silent forest. He pushed away the weariness he felt, and awaited a reply while forcing himself to remain alert to any dangerous moves the figure might decide to make.
The thief's leaving of camp had caught Arcanum's attention and he wondered what it was he heard to attract his attention. As Ravin wandered away from camp, Arcanum inspected his surroundings to make sure nothing was amiss and started to follow his companion. Slowly, he withdrew his own sword, in case there was reason to believe that a danger threatened them.
Arcanum paused as had Ravin. For some reason, the thief was staring at something in the distance; what it could possible be, Arcanum did not know. He decided to await Ravin's next move when the fighter heard a twig snap. As Ravin's head turned toward the sound, so did Arcanum, it was difficult to ascertain whether the individual was male or female. One thing was certain, however, what was a person doing out in the middle of this forest this late at night.
Arcanum slowly and quietly moved a bit further toward the stranger until he heard Ravin's voice ask the individual to identify themself. The fighter remained on guard, occasionally glancing back at the camp for other dangers.
The twig snapped and gave her away, and she silently cursed herself for her carelessness, using the more potent expletives she knew. The man she had been following turned to face her and had a dagger in his hand--she could tell by the glinting of half-moonlight upon the blade--quicker than thought. "Who are you?" he demanded. In comparison to the silence of the surroundings, he shouted.
Kyri's quick mind raced. What she should do is pretend to be a lost waif, an orphan, a woodcutter's daughter, anyone, and play on the sympathy a man would give a young and helpless woman such as herself, but her own mannish pride made her lift her chin and step completely into what light there was. "Kyri...Suzerain," again the pause, just as when she had introduced herself to Smith and wished to hide her true name for fear of his distrust. You shall have to work on that, Kyrianna, she chided herself. But she kept her head held high, her shoulders squared, and her back straight.
Firmly she placed even weight upon her feet and banished thought of pain. To show pain to anyone, be them stranger or friend, was admittance to weakness. Kyrianna Raziel--Kyri Suzerain--was anything but weak.
"And stay your hand," she continued. "There is no need for a blade against me. I am unarmed." She held up her hands and pushed back the wrap past her elbows. Revealing her flesh was a major risk for her, for when she dressed as she was she always made sure to keep her face and hands, and bare feet, smudged and dirty as any other poor wretch. However, just past her wrists, just beneath the collar, her skin was clean and cream and soft as any rich man's daughter's. She trusted the wan light of the half moon to conceal that fact, and the distance between her and the man.
She was small, but that could just be distance between her and the man. The rags all but made her form shapeless, so even in full light it would have been difficult to make out any woman's shape. Her height was nothing to speak of and by taller men she could be mistaken for a child, but her voice was strong and confident, throaty, and most definitely a woman's.
The man. He did not trust her, peering harder into the gloom though she had stepped into more light, trying to see her better. The blade remained in his hand, the tip gripped between fingertips. He is a master of the blade if it is his reflex to take it by the tip. She remembered that little bit of information from her lessons. Tread carefully.
"I have done as you ask, my lord. Now in truth, identify yourself."
While Ravin's eyes remained on the stranger, his attention was actually focused on the sound of footsteps behind him. Whoever was attempting to sneak up on him was not versed in the art of stealth, considering the noise they were making.
Ravin tensed, certain now that the raggedy girl was only a diversion. She was probably told to keep his focus riveted on her, while one of her comrades crept close enough to knock him unconscious. Then they would strip him of valuables and make a clean escape as most bandits did. His mind was quickly sizing up the situation and formulating a plan of attack that would turn the tables on his assailants, when he heard the footsteps behind him move to his right. A second later, he spotted Arcanum making his way through the foliage, toward the rear of the girl.
Ravin nearly laughed aloud when he realized his error. He would have to speak with the fighter later and explain to him how unwise it was to sneak around behind an experienced thief in the dead of night. Arcanum was obviously oblivious to the fact that he came close to having a dagger tossed into his gullet.
Ravin relaxed his stance now that he knew he had an ally present. He offered the girl a smile while sheathing his blade, although he remained alert for any sudden moves on her end. It didn't make sense to him that a girl, or is she a child? would be out in the forest alone. She still had some explaining to do before he granted her his trust. He watched warily as she pushed up her sleeves to reveal a lack of weaponry. But the clothing she wore appeared rather bulky, making him wonder what the hell she had stored beneath it.
The thief listened carefully while she stated her name, noting the hesitancy between the first and last, and he began to wonder about that as well. The girl was definitely hiding something, but he couldn't fault her for that since he spent his entire life keeping things hidden. Ravin had studied the body language of people for years, and could tell that the girl was proud and somewhat defiant by the way she held her head high in the face of danger. Her eyes spoke volumes to him.
I will not go down easily, they said. I will kick, bite, and claw your eyeballs out with my fingernails if I must!
Ravin grinned at his own musings about the girl, then decided it was time to get to know her better and see just how accurate his assessment was. "Well met, Kyri...Suzerain," he said. He made certain to keep the same pause between the names, and noted the slight frown that crossed her face by his doing so. "I am Ravin Rue. The man trying to creep up behind you is, Arcanum Tabar."
The blonde fighter stopped dead in his tracks and grinned sheepishly at Kyri, who now glanced in his direction. "We share a camp with some friends a short distance from here," Ravin continued. "We are on our way to some nearby swamps, in search of a healing herb that only grows in that area."
Ravin stifled a yawn. Now that the tenseness was gone, weariness returned to plague him. "Perhaps you would like to join our camp," he said, rubbing eyes that were swollen from lack of sleep. "You'll be safe with us milady...Suzerain. I know that my friends and I would be delighted to learn why a child like yourself is wandering around the forest alone, and unattended."
The thief raised his brows and smiled pleasantly once again. "You are alone, aren't you? Or should we be prepared for company to arrive shortly?"
There was a pregnant pause between her introduction and his, but at last the man gave her a name. Ravin Rue. As is the Ravin Rue, the most famed and cursed thief in all of Bizmar? Greater, even, than The Fox? Kyri wasn't so sure. Many have attempted to wear the name of the great Ravin and many have found themselves on the short end of a rope for their hubris. Was this such a man, or was he the flesh and blood truth?
If he was, he was unwise to give his name so freely. If he wasn't then she was the unwise one for following him.
Then he introduced Arcanum, and Kyri whirled around, astonished. She had heard faint rustlings but had assumed it to be a night creature poking around. Suddenly she was afraid for her safety, for if she had been caught that unawares and was among--seemingly enough--friends, with her mind and impression of the man that was her father, she could imagine all too well what could become her fate if she remained in unknown wilderness much longer.
She was offered company, protection, and the warmth of a fire, and then insulted when Ravin called her a child and then presumed to question the worthiness of her word.
The young woman ignored Arcanum, knowing that she most likely had a weapon aimed for her back and knew that any show of fear would only show advantage over her. She should present no such advantage, whether it was true or not. In a hard, cold voice she said, "Aye, I am alone, and no I am no child. Are you such a man that you think women weak and uncapable of fighting for themselves? Then I assure you, Ravin, if that is truly who you are, that is not so." With defiance, and a hint of vanity, she removed her hood and lifted her chin haughtily.
Her midnight hair, left uncut since her birth nearly twenty years ago, cascaded down her shoulders and sifted in the slight breeze. That had always been her best feature, she believed; her hair, black, glossy and finer than silk. Her waiting gentlewomen had always fashioned and piled and plaited it to her best advantage, and it held her pride and confidence and power. As she revealed herself to indeed be a woman, however young she was, Kyri had taken on her mein as a strong and assured lady of standing. As long as she let the Ravin and his bodyguard see her that way, there was no room for fear of advantage.
After a sufficient pause had passed, she tucked her hair back under the hood and replaced it, again shadowing her face. Kyri let down her grandeur--for she seldom wore it--and spoke normally. "I shall accompany you, oh great Ravin Rue, and your friend Arcanum Tabar to your camp. And I thank you for extending me such an honor." There was a bite of sarcasm in her voice, not enough to be insulting, but enough to jab in retaliation for Ravin's marking her hesitancy. Kyri Suzerain was not a girl to let much slip past her, quick of wit and sharp of tongue, and she would let the Ravin know this early on.
"If you would lead," she said to the men, "I would most humbly follow." Again, the sarcasm, for Kyri was anything but humble.
The ability to keep an expressionless, stone-like face was one of Ravin Rue's many talents. He stood calmly, revealing not so much as a raised brow or hint of a smile while he listened to the girl speak. He nearly lost his perfectly executed composure when she removed her hood, revealing long, dark silken hair. The gorgeous mane framed the face of a full-grown woman, perhaps only four or five years his junior, rather than that of a child, as he first believed.
Ravin faked a wide yawn in the hopes of covering his surprise. There was no need to let the girl, woman, he reminded himself, know how much she had piqued his curiosity. He began to wonder what she would look like without the bulky clothing and dirt smudged face, but quickly pushed the thought away, focusing on her words instead. Her manner of speech marked her as one well bred and educated. Perhaps she was a nobleman's daughter or the offspring of some rich, northside merchant. If such was the case, why was she running around barefoot in the forest, trying to look like a simple street beggar?
A possible scenario played itself over in Ravin's mind, making a sigh escape from his lips. Kyri, most likely, had an argument with her family and showed her rebellion by running away from home. If word got out that she was with the most noted thief in Bizmar, Ravin Rue would undoubtedly have kidnapping added to his list of crimes.
Never presume you know a thing, Enos had always told him. Make friends with each new lock you find, and get to know it inside out before you attempt to pick it.
Ravin contemplated the words of his mentor. Perhaps I'm jumping to conclusions and she is nothing but a servant. Her good mannerisms may simply come from working around such people. Once again, Ravin tried to cease the workings of his mind which viewed nearly everything as scattered pieces of some elaborate puzzle that needed to be put together instantly. It never let him rest with its constant prodding, probing and analyzing of people, who were likes pieces on a chess board, each trying to make the right move and trap the others.
The thief's brown eyes lifted to meet the eyes of Kyri. They stared at one another while she finished her short speech, topping it off with a proper dose of sarcasm that Ravin found amusing. He finally allowed himself to smile, while at the same time breaking eye contact and turning away from the woman. "Follow me then to the safety of our camp, if that's what you've a mind to do," he said, before walking away.
Kyri bit her lip to keep from uttering a nasty retort to the man who turned his back on her. Slowly, she began to walk along with Arcanum, who came up beside her. The fighter was smiling and his eyes danced around merrily in sharp contrast to the solemn, calculating one calling himself Ravin Rue.
"We've got company," Ravin announced to no one in particular, when they reached the campfire. "Arcanum will make the introductions."
Without another word, Ravin made his way to his bedroll, sat down beside it, and took a long drink from the ale flask he pulled from his belt. He glanced at Kyri Suzerain once again then replaced his aleskin before crawling into the makeshift bed and trying to fall asleep. He forgot all about the vision of Maggie that haunted him earlier and found himself thinking about a raven-haired bundle of rags instead.