A Storm of Chaos (The Hunter Legacy #1)

Chapter Three

Kaya was picking a speck of dirt off her robe when the caravan she was riding in jolted to a stop and, unprepared, Kaya tumbled into a stack of crates.

'Crusa,' she swore, rubbing at her head with a grimace.

Sitting up, Kaya peered through the caravan's front window just as the driver turned to her and said, 'We're here. You can hop out now.' He extended out his hand impatiently. 'That'll be ten silvers, like you promised.'

Kaya dropped ten silver pents into his awaiting hand, not bothering to tell him that they were the same silvers she had stolen from him when she'd first asked for a ride, and then made her way toward the back of the caravan.

She hopped out, earning a few curious glances from people in the street, and took stock of her surroundings. Like in all towns under Imperial control, the wealth was obvious. It was in the drinking fountains that were built into street corners, offering fresh, clean water to anyone parched, and the window shutters hand-painted with gold detailing, or the bronze door handles that adorned each home. To ensure Kaya blended in with the locals, she had donned a new set of clothing gifted by her master.

The robe she wore was one of the more simpler designs, coloured a deep, royal blue with black detailing and trim, and she had it fitted in place to her body by an outer-corset of similar colouring that laced at the front. The sleeves of her robe were flared at the wrists, and the hem was long enough to reach her mid-thigh where she wore black leggings of panelled-leather, and finally a pair of riding boots that laced up to her knees.

Remembering her instructions, Kaya made her way toward the town's marketplace. It didn't take long before she noticed the crowd growing, and caught the smells of freshly baked bread and grilled meat. She would have rushed straight for the food stalls, but she caught sight of several posters plastered to the wall of a building and detached herself from the crowd to approach them.

Given that Hisane was an imperial town, Kaya wasn't surprised to find the posters to be of wanted criminals. They each displayed a sketched drawing of the criminal in question, and Kaya recognised most of them – and their rewards, if found. Shield Killer, a criminal wanted for several murders of imperial Shields, was an older man with scruffy facial hair and an eye sealed shut by an impressive, but gruesome scar. He was wanted alive, and if found the reward was fifty-thousand silver pents; enough for Kaya to live comfortably, but not extravagantly, for at least a couple of years.

Then there was Hellfire, a hooded woman with sharp features which Kaya scoffed at. Clearly, the Empire didn't know what she looked like if that was all they could depict. She was a well-known assassin in Reven, said to kill her targets with magefire – though the colour of said magefire was debateable; some people claimed it was purple, or blue, and even black – and she was wanted alive or dead, because of her danger rating. Her reward was a hundred thousand silver pents, which was insulting, Kaya thought, considering the assassin's ranking. She was at least worth some gold.

Lastly, there was the infamous Lord of Crime. His picture was only the shadowed silhouette of a man, which meant the Empire had absolutely no idea what he looked like, but Kaya wasn't surprised. He was considered the worst criminal in Reven, in control of a syndicate that bore a particular brand, with most crime and corruption somehow being orchestrated by him. The Empire even believed the Hellfire worked for him.

Kaya frowned at the Lord of Crime's poster, and absently she pressed her hand to the back of her neck, her fingers threading through her hair.

She noticed a few passing glances her way then, and so Kaya left the posters. People probably thought she was a bounty hunter, since only bounty hunters would stop to stare at wanted posters as intently as she had. Kaya had considered going after some of the bounties placed by the Empire, but that would mean having to meet with an imperial representative to claim her reward – and Kaya wasn't willing to get that close to the Empire.