The Shrouded Llar: Warrior of the Core

Chapter One

     The storm was harsh, no one in their right mind was willing to travel in it. Even the creatures outside seemed to be hide in their homes. The only people at work were at the inns and the town pubs, but of course people lived there. The small, dank inn was filled with people, mostly men, who were drinking and eating, many of them caught by the sudden summer storm.

     Except for one girl, who looked to be no older then seventeen, sat at a table near the fire drinking one of the strongest ales around. Many stared at her in disbelief, as she drank and devoured her food. Her, on the other hand, paid no attention to them, and kept drinking and eating. She was extremely hungry, and had more then enough money to pay the keeper for the food, drinks, and a room for the night. “This place is boring.” she said as she took along sip of her ale, as if she had went days without anything to drink.

     Once again the men just stared at her, but none of them were willing to go near her. The rule around this place was to leave everyone alone, especially if you didn’t know the person, and this girl was most defiantly a stranger and just strange period. She looked around once more when she had finished her third glass. I think that is enough for one night. Don’t want to over do it like that one time back in that small little village…what was its name again? she asked herself, but let it go. She was more amused by the looks she was getting from everyone, even the dog was giving her a weird look.

     Though, when she first came in it had barked at her. She wondered if that was because she was thief, or because she had just robbed someone in a carriage with out them knowing it. She smirked to herself, and scooted her bag closer. It was now between her feet, so know one could get it, or come near it, without her knowing it, unless there was a wizard about. Maybe someone could get it, though she knew a little magic, and was confident that a wizard wouldn’t even touch her stash. “I’m getting tired, maybe I should go get some sleep.” she said out loud.

     She got up and started to go upstairs when the door swung open between the two guards that stood next to it. There was a man dressed in the finest clothing around, and behind him was another man, the sheriff. The thief’s eyes grew a little wide, but went back to normal before anyone could notice. They were quick around here, or maybe it was just luck that they had decided to rest in the same place as her, if luck was what you wanted to call it.

     “Inn Keeper, make us a table and have food ready with the best drink in the house.” ordered the Sheriff. Everyone was silent, even the dog had stopped begging people from scraps. The sheriff was not liked much by the people around here. He was rotten, so to say, not even the most corrupted of men liked him. The Sheriff stood in the middle of the room and looked at everyone, even the strange girl on the stairs who looked at him from over her shoulder. “We’ve had an unfortunate event happen earlier tonight! Our young lords Carriage was broken into, and money stolen from it. We would hope no one in our town would do such a horrible act, but sense this has happened, our guard will search everyone’s belongings and rooms, while the young lord and I eat.”

     Everyone moaned and groaned. It was a common thing for the sheriff to come in and make some story up about thieves, But the only true thief was usual the sheriff himself. In this case, he wasn’t, and with the young nobleman at his side that was obvious. Of course, this didn’t mean he would not take what he wanted anyways.

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     “They don’t call me one of the greatest thief’s for nothing.” she whispered to herself. She had wrapped the stolen money in a cloth that smelt like peppers and sulfur. She thought fast and opened the closet door, bent down, and took a knife out of her pocket. She used the knife to pull up a board in the bottom of the closet. “There, if they can find it, it will be a miracle.” she said to herself. She made sure the spot didn’t sound hollow if it was stepped on. With a smile of triumph she sat down on the bed and looked around the small room. She heard the footsteps of the guards down the hall, they seemed to say, we are getting closer. She wasn’t worried, no one had seen her face, so they couldn’t turn her in. Plus, She was dressed like a hunter, there are many dressed like her downstairs. The only exception was that she was a woman.

     There was a sudden knock at her door, and when it opened two guards stepped in and smiled down at her. “We are here to check the room and your belonging to see if there are any stolen goods from the young lord’s carriage.”

     She smiled and nodded to them. “Go ahead, but you will not find anything of the sorts in my stuff.” she told them. She pointed to where her one bag was, it contained maps of the forest and roads, and a few furs that showed she could hunt. The bag was next to her bow and quiver that were made just for her.

     “There are five gold coins in here.” the guard to the right said. He looked at her with suspicion set on his face.

     She didn’t flinch at his words or the look he gave her. “I sold some furs in the town before this. If you like, you can buy one as well.” she said with smirk. The guards could not find anything, and cursed as they left her room. They took the five gold coins, or so they thought. Seeing that there is so much fun going on downstairs, I think I’ll go back down, she thought to herself. She really wanted to see the look on the guard’s faces when they saw that the money they took was missing.

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     “M’lords, I’m sorry to say that we found nothing from the carriage in the inn.” One of the guards stated. The young lord glared at the two guards as the sheriff stared at the two as a wolf would stare at its prey.

     Everyone had went back to what they were doing. A few people glanced at the strange girl, which had gone up stairs just seconds before the sheriff and his accompany had arrived, came downstairs again. The dog started barking at her as she came down the stairs. She looked down at it and pouted as the others stared. “What do you have against me uh?” she asked it as she looked the straight in the eyes. The dog stopped and just stared back, but it didn’t take long for it to start barking at her again. “Well I don’t like you either, I’m more of a cat person anyways.” she told the dog, as if it was a person who would talk back to her.

     Most of the people in the inn just laughed as they watched the girl talk to the dog, some of them even found it cute. After all, the girl didn’t look old enough to be out on her own. When she stopped messing with the dog she looked around to see a lot of people staring at her, even the young lord gave her a weird look. “What, did I do something wrong?” she asked.

     The young lord sent one of the guards to bring the girl to his table to join him. This made the sheriff smirk, he had no idea that the young lord would be interested in small girl such as this. “Like the poor much do you?” he asked. His guest turned to him with a look that said be careful. The sheriff shrugged his shoulders and sat down to eat. He couldn’t help but think there was something out of place with this young girl. “She is a cute little thing, isn’t she?” the sheriff asked wanting to see exactly what his rich friend had in mind.

     “Yes, she is.” was the only answer he got out of him.

     The girl was brought to him, taking both the guards to get her near the table. She glared at both of them. “Calm down, we mean you no harm.” the young lord said smiling at her. His smile was not returned, she had no idea what he wanted from her, but she had an idea. She wasn’t willing to give anything up to some rich boy. “I was hoping you would join us.”

     She smirked, and couldn’t help it. She always wonder what would happen if you turned down a rich mans offer, and she was about to find out first hand. “I’m sorry. I just came down to get a glass of water, other then that I’m off to bed. I have a long day ahead of me.” The young lord had a look of puzzlement on his face, like he had never been refused before. You could hear the sheriff snicker, but he had covered his mouth with his hand, the only thing that gave him away were his eyes. “Good night sir.” with that she started to turn around.

     Before she could fully turn around, the guards grabbed her shoulders and forced her to face the men at the table. “Our lords did not dismiss you.” the guard on the left said. The young girl just stared up at him as if he was the next on her list to kill.

     “What is your name?” asked the sheriff. She said nothing to him she had said good night and that was all there was to it. She was going back upstairs to bed one way or another. The sheriff looked at her harder and repeated the question but the small girl was still silent. “I can always cut your tongue out, and then you won’t be able to cry for help when you get into some trouble.” The words some and trouble were emphasized to tell her she better say something, but he didn’t seem to scare her.

     “There is no need for that sheriff, I’ll just give her a name. How about Maggie?” The thief raised an eyebrow at this. “Don’t like that one, how about Marcy?”

     The dark haired girl sighed deeply. After a few more tries to rename her she grew bored of the game, and decided to give the prince her first name. Gods forbid she give him the name she went by, they’d have her hanging from the nearest tree out side. “If you must know, and sense it seems impossible for you to come up with a good name, my name is Alexis.”

     She had insulted both the young lord and the sheriff several times in the short passing hours. “Well then Alexis, you should really learn some manners.” The young lord stated.

     She almost busted out laughing at. The men around the table glared at her and the ones around her stared and shook their heads. “Really? Where I’m from its rude to have guards bring you to some one, and have them force you to stay where you really don’t want to be, especially after you have reclined their offer so nicely.” The hands on her shoulders squeezed her to let her know she was beginning to over step boundaries.

     There were few snickers and laughs from the rest who sat drinking and eating. “Is it now? Did they also tell you it’s rude to say no to someone of noble birth?” asked the young lord, who had yet to give her his name.

     She looked up at the ceiling for a few seconds, as if she was thinking on the answer hard. “No, I lived out in the country on small farm near the woods. I’ve farmed and hunted my whole life.” Alexis said with a small smile. The sheriff slammed down his fork into the table and looked as if he was about to hit the girl He stopped when he saw the lord staring at her in anger and amusement. “I also know it’s rude for a gentleman to not give his name to girl or lady who he seems to have some interest in, for what ever reason.” she gave him a questioning look that made the noble man smile.

     “You are right on that one.” he admitted as he stood up and bowed at the waist. “I am Lord Chamberling, first cousin of the king.”

     Still not impressed, she thought. She yawned just a little to show her lack of interest, and the fact that she was tired.

     “What would I have to do to get your interest?” he asked. He finally gave up sense his title did nothing for him in her eyes.

     She didn’t have to think twice on this one, “A glass of water, and allow me to go to bed.” Everyone around her laughed, even the dog seemed to stop barking and looked as if he was smiling.

     “Very well.” said Lord Chamberling. His guards finally let her go, so they could to get the glass of water. She insisted that one of the bar maids of her choice get it for her, because she did not trust it in the young noble mans hands.

     While she waited she heard an older man speaking of stories of an object that held great power to the one that possess it. Many thought the old man told of lies, but the thief had heard of this before. She wanted to know more, so she sat down by the old man and began to ask questions.

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