Three silver pieces that's all I need, just three silver. I repeated this to myself as I crept through the dark alley ways of the widow's gutter. It was the lowest district in the white valley, where most of the brothels were located and many were homeless or damn near it.
The streets here were not paved nor were they cobbled, instead it was dirt paths and ditches filled with feces and urine from those who had chamber pots tossing them from their high windows.
I was not fortunate enough to live in a proper home nor was I blessed enough to own a pair of shoes. My eyes became blurry as raindrops trailed their way down y face making streaks through the muck to reveal my pasty colored skin. My feet squished in to the mud beneath them on the path-well at least I hope it was mud but who knew in the widow's gutter.
Three silver pieces Arya, that's all you need. I had to keep reminding myself that I didn't need much more to pay my dues but it was so hard to keep going. My stomach pained with every step from the last three days of an empty bellie, my legs weak from walking around for days trying to find the money.
The brothels beast Malcom demanded three pieces of silver and two coppers a day from me for a shitty worn out mat on the dusty floor of the basement below the brothels. If I didn't pay my dues, Malcom was sure to make me one of his working girls. I was only eleven years old way too young to be used for that, I ducked in to one of the ditches sinking at least a foot deep in filth to slip in to the crawl space beneath the tavern.
The board's beneath the tavern had wider gaps than most the shops along this ally but the crawlspaces mud piled up to my chest at the entry way. I had to hold my breath with my face so close to other people's waste. Feeling along the bottom of the floor with my feet to find anything that felt like a coin.
Moving was rather slow in the thick mixture I trudged through when I got to the rise in the floor. It was dryer in these areas as the rain didn't get more then a few feet in to the crawlspace. I hauled myself up on to the dry dirt crawling through the last of the much and looking up toward the patches of light shining through the gaps.
The tavern was mostly dead tonight save for two men that sat in the stools. One had a massive sword strapped to his back and armed to the teeth and the other while he didn't look like much seemed much more dangerous than he let on. He wore a long coat that touched the ground revealing a pouch I was sure either held potions or coin and a dagger. His hair was jet-black not very long but it seemed he hadn't had a hair cut in a while, I couldn't see much of his face but had a feeling I should hurry and do what I came to do.
I crawled across the ground low to my belly pulling myself forward on my arms as I felt around blindly for anything that may have fallen when I saw a twinkle out of the corner of my eye. Gold! That would pay my way for a month through and maybe put food in my belly...food. gods did that sound like a plan. I felt my stomach vibrate with hunger as I stretched my hand out to grab the peice. I had to avoid being caught directly below these men as just one look down and I'd loose my hand.
One thing to keep in mind about the white valley kingdom was the law's. It didn't seem to matter if the gold silver or copper was tossed between the gaps of a tavern or not it was still the barkeeps property therefore Id be a theif In the eyes of the king and judged as guilty.
Shit! It was too far and slinking any further into the lighter parts beneath these boards that threatened my discovery. I need that gold...slowly I'd try to inch myself further feeling the boards bow under the weight of these men, suddenly my face is slammed to the floor, fuck! I bit my tongue fighting the urge to make any noise when I saw the asshole that shifted his weight on to me look down between the gaps. It was the one with the dagger. That fuckin prick, I could feel my face scraping against the tiny pebbles and grainy texture of the dirt.
He moved again, this time to pin my legs as he held his finger to his lips singling to stay silent. I wasn't entirely sure of the game this maniac was playing at but I hoped it wasn't the intentions of most drunk men. I wasn't even a woman yet I was barely a girl, the girls men wanted most were the ones well endowed. I was the very opposite, Malcom and joffery liked to tease me calling me carpenter's pride. Flat as a board. They were assholes but they gave me a place out of the rain, I was in no place to complain.
I didn't dare move let alone breath under the weight of this man, I was at his mercy and I didn't like that much. Come on, think girl. I said to myself racking my brain for a way to untrap my legs. As I looked a bit before myself seeing the gold coin just a foot or two from my face, I'd reach my hand out for it wiggling my fingers begging them to reach it. I could feel the cold rugged edge as my fingers barely grazed it when I felt the mans weight shift to press my right knee in to the ground.
Tears welled up in my eyes from the pain as I bit my lip to keep from crying out. I was sure this meant meant to kill me, who was this drifter and why had he come to widow's gutter? I began to taste the metallic taste of blood in my mouth realizing I'd bit in to my lip. Shit, with all the feces in this dank hole this was bound to get infected. I would suck my bottom lip until the blood stopped flowing and let it breath in the musty air to attempt to close it.
A rough raspy male voice spoke from above me causing shivers up my spine as my skin turned bumpy in fear."General Costello McBride, do you know why I am here sitting in this shack of a tavern drinking this horse piss next to you?" The voice said. I assumed it was the man placing his weight over my knee keeping me from my escape.
I could hear the metal of the brutes armor as he moved to look at the scrawny man above me. He had turned and I was able to see his face much clearer now, he has a rather handsome face but it held look cold as stone. His eyes were grey paired with a pale face and dark black hair, he was slender as a knife with high cheek bones and thin lips. Not to thin and long but thinner then a woman's, I began to relax my leg hoping he wouldn't feel the shift hoping to use this moment of distraction to wrench my leg free and crawl to freedom.
I began to map my surroundings that I could make out through the dark and the dust. I was approximately six feet from the exit, about two feet from the coin. If I rolled just right after freeing my leg I could lunge forward grab the coin and roll in to the mud at the entrance. It would suck to swim in shit water but I had to get out of here before I ended up handless or worse dead.
The soldiers voice was a low baratone but it was a honey to it that would make some women weak in the knees. " Do I know why legendary assassin azunè is sittin' next ta me in'a bar? Well," he would take the shot of whiskey in front of him and press it to his lips, his breath leaving a white film over the glass as he exhaled and tilted the glass back drinking back the fiery liquid. As he swallowed his face cringed as he hissed through his teeth at the heat I was sure seared down his throat. I knew the whiskey here had stolen some from Malcom once when he was sleeping, it burned like the nine gates of hell.
"I'd assume you're he'e because I pissed off thee wrong person and them smarmy bastads wan' me dead eh? " The man finished with a smart ass grin." Well then lass, if ya got your gold, get on with it than" he said ordering another shot and waiting for azunè to make his move. Hearing the mans name sent my mind in to a frenzy of panic now realizing the danger I was really in. This man was said to have walked in the shadows for eighteen years with a higher kill mark then any other in the shadow syndicate.
Azunè smiled his teeth crooked with a slight overlap with the two front teeth. "why in such a hurry?"
The man shifted in his armor I could hear the creak of his stool as his weight shifted. I swiftly moved my arm to prevent the mans weight from crushing down on it, he would definitely break it under his weight. I suppose he wasn't much paying attention to how weak the floor was or that the board had grown thin under that stool after so many years, but the board snapped driving the stools leg in to the ground inches from my face. Out of instinct I wrenched my legs from beneath azunè and tried to curl in to a ball and protect my head from the man that began to fall backwards, shutting my eyes as tight as I could to protect from the splintering wood from the barstool.
The armored man came crashing down on my body slamming the wind out of my body. I could feel my ribs bend inwards before hearing a sickening snap, fuck! He had broken my rib. They really needed better flooring in this place but it was to be expected with such a poor spot in down. We could barely afford to have two barstools in most places here, let alone nice floors.
Although it may not have seemed like such a scary thing to witness had you been on a surface level but from below It was like being stampeded by an army of grown armored men all at one time. When the man moved to get himself up I was able to lift my head, I felt a trickle of liquid drip down my forehead I didn't need to look to know it was blood. My vision was blurry and dazed as I tried to look around me the voices from above were nothing more then thunderous muttering in my ears as I painfully willed my body forward to grip the gold peice in my hand my knuckles scraping against the ground as I pulled it back to my weak body shoving it in to my coin purse. I shoved the bag in to my mouth and attempted to crawl to the exit, I had to get out of here azunè never leaves a survivor.
Before my hands could reach the sludge of waste Infront of the entrance the massive sword from the soldiers back slid down before me. It's blade just a few centemeters from the tip of my nose, my heart skipped a breath as I felt my breath catch in my throat. I was fast but not fast enough, tears welled in my eyes stinging threatening to fall from my lashes.
For a moment, no one spoke. My body shook with fear as I felt my pants grow wet with piss, I had actually pissed my self. Shit. Well I guess it wouldn't make much difference I didn't smell so pleasant to begin with. I could hear the pitter patter of the rain as it fell along the dirt paths and dropped in to the puddles. Wagons traversed through the upper parts of town if you listened closely you could hear the clacking of the hooves as the wagons creaked with the heavy loads of grain and food.
"You breath a word of this, you will not breath again." The raspy voice said as the shining blade yanked itself from the gaps. I never heard him leave but as soon as my body was no longer paralysed with fear I practically dived in to the shit water. Moving painfully slow I clawed my way to the exit and on to the road, I tried to run but I only just realized how dizzy I really was as I clutched a nearby wall on the other side of the ditch and doorway to the bar and vomited.
I would have wiped my mouth with my sleeve but forgot that idea as soon as I glanced down seeing the muck covered my entire body. I held the wall as I headed to the gates I had to visit a stream and clean my self at least a little. The smell alone was nauseating but to bring it in to Malcolm's was unforgivable.
I hobbled my way to the gate and decided instead to use the route to climb the wall instead, as the guards were standing post. no one in this city was stupid enough to fall in to the trenches, but perhaps one would on purpose to kill or steal if desperate enough. One look at my emaciated form would tell them I was.
I gripped the strong vines that had grown over the stone and over the wall. I pulled myself up finding the proper footing to hoist myself up climbing to the top. I straddled the wall hoisting my legs over the side and climbed down I jumped down a few feet from the ground were the vines stopped and looked out over the rolling hills of the valley.
The stream wasn't too far from the kingdom and the land was mostly just quiet rises and falls of hills and grass with a few scattered farms made of wood with thatched hay rooftops. I headed westward toward the high mountain ranges to the ice cold stream at the base.
I peeled my soiled clothing off first tieing them around rocks and throughing them in to the shallow water beneath the waterfall that fed the stream. The rocks would hold them under the water while the waterfall would move them along the bottom tumbling them clean.
I'd step in to the water feeling the filth lift from my skin with every step in to the ice cold water. It made my teeth chatter but I wasn't shivering from the cold, I was still in that tavern in my mind. I didn't realize until this moment, that azunè had killed the other man before I had even moved six feet...what if I had not moved would he have killed me too?
My hair was covered in filth as I used my fingers to comb it out through the water and clean it thoroughly. I often came here to bathe or wash my clothing, beneath rock on the edge safe from getting wet held shampoo and a bar of soap which I used to scrub my skin until it was a bright pink.
I had witnessed a murder tonight...all I wanted was six silver pieces to make it through the night and maybe buy a decent meal. Instead I came a breath away from being killed by assassin azunè stone, found a gold piece and received what I was sure was a concussion.
The sun was setting, I'd have to sleep out here tonight. Nothing I could do about it, city has a curfew your in the gate by sundown or you stay outside for the night at the mercy of bandits wolves and trolls. For me this wasn't the first time I'd been stuck out here at night, I knew how to build a fire and string a snare if i was lucky maybe I could catch a rabbit to eat.
I was just hauling myself out of the water when I heard a twig snap. I instantly sunk back under the surface and hugged the stoney edge, don't let be bandits please...I said to myself trying hard not to breath as I knew it was to big to be a wolf.
"I wouldn't bother hidding. I already know your here" the raspy familiar voice said that made my teeth clench and my body began to shake with terror. It was him! Had he fallowed me? But why I wasn't going to say anything I wouldn't I didn't want to to die.
"Come on girl, at least show your face. I'm not particularly interested in the rest of you."
The rest of me? What did he want with me...all men in this world wanted from a woman was what was between their legs. In this world a woman's job was to breed and give children, what could this assassin want with me. I decided it wasn't wise to disobey him so so I peaked my eyes over the edge to see the leather boots of the swatted azunè stone.
"Huh, your quite pretty when ones view isn't obscured with boards and filth. " He spoke softly tilting my chin up to meet his eyes. If my bladder was full I think I would have emptied it again in that moment as I was now face to face with one of the worlds most dangerous men. 136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYI8xBr9azy
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