Adelayde - A story from the Seven Kingdoms

A Girl

The girl peeked up from the barrel she had chosen. They had finally arrived, she was home - in Westeros. She smiled for the first time in days, in the city there would be plenty of food to go around in the city of Kings Landing.

She eyed the deck and the pier to which the ship was anchored. The sailors soon left the ship to roam the local pubs. She carefully climbed out, causing as little sound as possible and snook to the door of the captains cabin.

The lock on the door was hardly a challenge for her, and it soon clicked open. She grinned as she pocketed the silver that lay on the desk and after a few moments if digging through papers she found what she was searching for.

She was lucky to have been picked up by V'hag when her parents had died. It was a repayment for a debt to her mother, but what it was he never told. He had taught her everything she knew, climbing, swimming, killing , charming, reading, talking. They had travelled the east together. Lys, Braavos, Mereen, she had seen them all, though some she was too young to remember.

Then, he had died, "His past had caught up to him", and she was no longer safe. She would have to make it on her own in the cruel world, despite her young age. He had given her a coin and a location of a friend in Braavos, and had her climb down the balcony. His dying screams was what finally made her leave.

That was an entire year ago, the coin had gone to the ship that had lead her to a burnt out husk if a house, and a burnt skeleton piled up in the entrance. She had lived on the streets since then, doing the occasional chore, cutting the occasional purse.

Now, she headed out of the room, shut the door and left the ship via the gangplank. "Oy! Watcha doin 'ere 'lil lass?"

She had been so lost in thought that she hadn't seen the guard on the pier. Stupid little girl thought, V'hag would be disappointed.

When the guard grabbed her, she stuck a knife in his throat and moments later he was slowly sinking through the water. Noone would notice a missing guard. She wiped her dagger, and tucked it away again. She felt a little sorry for the man, but this is a dog eat dog world.

The man gave a toothy grin, "So yuu cam le'a, got dem paps?", she smiled, she never told anyone her real name, to them she was just a little thief. She waved the roll of parchment alluringly in front of him, and he reached to grab it. She took it just out of his reach, and offered her other hand, "Money comes first", 'never trust a pirate', they said. The mans smile faded, and he grumbled as he forked over the shiny, golden coin. She dropped the parchment on the table, turned around and walked away.

In roughly two months, the rich merchant vessel would be returning from Lys with a shipment of silk and the finest whores to fit in them. There would be a bravoosi ship with black sails waiting for them in Massey's hook.

Adelayde was sorry for the captain. He was a good man and he would die. Yet, she had food and lodgings for quite a while.