The Shadow Assassin

Chapter 8

Rowan unlocked the door to her room and went inside, locking it behind her.

First and foremost, she thought, was that she needed bath.

She shucked her scratchy boys trousers, shirt, and her two throwing knives then drew a bath in the tub in the corner of her room.

Her room wasn't much to boast about, as if she had anyone to boast to, but it was hers. It was one of the great many spare bedrooms in the fortress like castle, used for guests whenever someone of importance would come from abroad. She had a four poster bed in the center of her room that had curtains that would close all the way around it. There was a wardrobe a few feet away and hidden from view by the curtains of her bed was the wash basin and bath tub.

Her weapons were hidden underneath her boys clothes in a locked chest at the foot of her bed. 

The best part about her room was that on the far wall there was a set of double doors which opened up to a great balcony where there was the best view of just about everything worth viewing. Rowan could watch the stars at night and she could see the entire town below. She could even see as far as beyond the town, where a great forest known as the Wildwood lay.

After a nice long bath Rowan got out of the tub, dried off and donned a fresh set of boys clothes. These were much more comfortable than the set she'd been wearing earlier. She had three sets of boys clothes total; one for travel, one for going to the village, and one for "assignments". Her favorite set was her traveling clothes they consisted of fleecy brown leggings and socks, a green long sleeved wool-woven tunic, and her brown knee-high leather boots.

Rowan unlocked the chest with one of the keys around her neck and pulled out her leather satchel. She packed her "assignment" clothes which were black leggings and long sleeved tunic. Rowan buckled the satchel closed and went over to the wardrobe to retrieve her ashen gray cloak. She put her cloak on, dug down to the bottom of the chest and found her bow and arrows in their quiver.

The quiver Enders had given her was specially made for Rowan to house her bow, arrows and both of her long daggers and still be light enough to carry on her missions. She strapped it to her back, hid her two small knives back in their places, and grabbed her water skin and bedroll before closing the chest. 

After Rowan had locked her door, she walked out into the corridor, took a right and walked on for about 15 minutes, past the throne room, heading out into the center courtyard. From there she went back to the stables and into the tack room to get her saddle bags.

Once she'd gotten her saddle bags, she went across the courtyard and around to the south wing of the castle where the kitchen was at. She went in and took a left to a staircase leading to one of the multitudes of pantries, where she grabbed a bundle of dried strips of meat and filled one of her smaller saddlebags with it. Then she went back into the kitchen and found two loaves of freshly baked bread so she added those to anther small saddle bag. On her way out she filled her water skin with cool water from the pump and then went back to the stables once more.

After she'd saddled Daisy, Rowan stuffed her bedroll into her main saddle bag and secured her  other two bags before leading Daisy out of the stables and into the center courtyard. Rowan rode out into the falling twilight.