Dark Lady Rising

Chapter 2

Kellara hated sweating. She was doing a lot of it, perched as she was, under the battlements of King Stephen's high stone walls. She wasn't going to be anywhere near a bathtub for days, which did nothing to help her mood. She sighed to herself as she watched the peasant traffic below. Oh well, a nice bath would be a welcome reward when she returned home. Maybe she would let Zare join her...or better yet...take Yegwa.

She adjusted her small pack and focused her thoughts; this was hardly the time to think of play. She had a mission to accomplish.

A guard walked by underneath her who looked a little like the young captain. And once again, she thought about forcing Yegwa into her bath. Strange that. Why was it she kept thinking of him and not Zare? Zarin - robust, strong and powerful - was her only real lover. Yet Yegwa was there in her mind's eye - loyal, honourable, trustworthy. Bah! What kind of a life was that? Bound by such nonsense rules? Never. She shook his image from her mind's eye.

It was not for Kellara. There were only two things Kellara did: whatever she damn well felt, and whatever Zare asked. It was an unspoken, unbreakable trust they had; something she had never questioned.

It was also the reason Kellara found herself preparing to invade one of the most heavily defended fortresses in all the Realms. She would be striking into the very heart of King Stephen's home. But that was half the fun wasn't it? Zarin didn't call on her for the easy stuff. He was up to something and she was, after all, Kellara.

Looking over her shoulder at the temple's glass windows, she could see the reflection of the setting sun. It would not be long now. She recalled the image of the castle map, reviewing her plan of attack.

A few more minutes and the guards would be changing. Then she would have to get to the roof until darkness fully descended. She stretched the muscles in her legs and flexed her fingers, to keep them from cramping. She was wedged in a crevice underneath the stone battlements. It was a shadowy corner; the sun setting on the other side of the wall. The guards could not see her from above unless they were hanging by a rope over the edge. In fact, the only way she could be seen was from below. But it was only servants and drudges entering and exiting the castle beneath her. She doubted anyone would notice her - a tiny spider climbing the shadows unseen.

The temple bells began to chime signalling afternoon service. The guards would change now, new ones pausing to give a quick prayer to the gods. She hoped it would be enough time to get herself over the walls.

Counting under her breath as the chimes began, she readied herself. The steel hooks on her boots and gloves begged to tear into the stone flesh of the walls. As the last chime died away, she launched silently up the battlements. The faint clicking of steel on stone was muffled in the whipping wind. She crested the top, pulling herself easily onto the walkway. Dancing swiftly over the inner side of the wall, she was careful not to let the steel hooks sound off the hard stone. Her feet barely touching the battlements, Kellara was up and over the wall before the guards could blink open their eyes from prayer. Now came the hard part. Planting her grapple deftly into the edge, she flung herself down towards the kitchen courtyard.

Kellara dug her feet and hands into the stone and quickly scrambled down. With luck, she would not have been noticed. If she was...well, she was ready for that too.

Nothing sounded out of place above her.

Nothing sounded out of place below her.

She dropped the last few feet to the ground, paused and looked around. No shouts, no commotion. She had not been seen.