The First Assignment

It was a hard day. Not just the journey, which had taken almost a full day because she’d been on foot and stayed off all paths. Instead, she weaved through the forest as her mind whirled with her mission.

Yes, the journey had been difficult, but her thoughts had been worse.

Now, Raven of Borivessa huddled in an alley beside a tavern, her small frame hidden well behind large kegs piled up at the front of the alley opening. She should have moved by now, but her body was frozen and her throat thick with apprehension.

It was her first mission for King Buclear and Resilee.

The king – called Buck by his closest subjects - had sent her back to Borivessa, where she had been born and raised. At first, Raven had scoffed internally, for what could there possibly be in her little crossroads hometown to help their cause? It was on her trek amongst the trees when it came to her.

This wasn’t a job for the kingdom of Resilee; it was a task specifically for her. It was a chance to confront her past and her fears, things King Buclear had often said were holding her back from reaching full power.

The assignment she’d been given was to go to the town brothel and find an Imperial lord who frequented the establishment. She was to search his things to find troop movement documents and bring them back to the king. It was simple and could be done cleanly.

But, Buck knew Raven’s history. The brothel was a place of suffering for her. She closed her eyes and took in heaping gulps of air to calm herself. Memories tried to encroach, but she pushed them away. This was her first attempt at spycraft. She was the only girl with magic in Buclear’s court. She had to succeed or her future would go the way of her past and she’d end up a housewife to some minor noble.

You spend too much time in your head, girl. It slows you down, makes you hesitate. Hesitation could end in death. Don’t think. React. Trust your instincts.

Raven let Buck’s oft-spoken speech wash over her and finally was able to move.

It only took a matter of moments to duck from building to building until she reached the brothel. She kept to the shadows and moved silently though she was pretty sure the only people out this time of night were drunk or skulking as well.

She didn’t allow herself to stop when she reached the back door and the drowsy guard in front of it. She swept behind him and used a crate to give her the height needed to slice the man’s throat. He only gurgled, but the sound his body made when it hit the ground made Raven wince. But at least my heart rate has calmed, she thought. Buck was right. If she acted without thinking, it didn’t allow her body to show signs of anxiety.

She waited a moment to see if anyone else had heard it before she opened the door slightly and peeked inside a narrow candlelit corridor. It seemed everyone was busy upstairs. Carefully, she edged in, shut the door, and went up the stairs.

She remembered which ones creaked, and she avoided those out of habit. It may have been two years, but some things never leave your memory.

The information she’d been given stated the Imperial had a particular room he was reported to use for days on end. On the second floor, at the very end on the left. Raven kept her entire focus on that scratched wooden door as she approached and paused outside it. While it was late, she knew it wasn’t so late that the lord had finished drinking downstairs.

Raven looked up and down the hallway to ensure no one had snuck up on her as she reached into an inner pocket and withdrew her lock pick set. She leaned towards the keyhole and with two swift turns of the metal the door clicked open. She checked once more that no one had entered the hallway and then slid inside and shut the bedroom door.

A fire was lit in the cast iron brazier, providing more than enough light for Raven to find the satchel she sought. She opened it briefly to ascertain it held what she needed before she rushed back to the door and stepped into the dusky hall.

She had just finished setting the locks back in place when she heard a heavy step behind her.

“Well. Look at this.” The voice was hoarse.

Raven spun to face Madame Hosserd, the brothel’s owner. The woman was caked in makeup, perfume, and smugness.

“And here we thought you were as dead as the rest of your family,” Hosserd croaked with an ugly smile.

Raven blanched and inched to the side. “You can see I am not.”

A withered hand shot out to grab her arm in a vice grip. “Do you know how much trouble you caused, girl? How much coin I lost because of you?” The old madame gestured at her dress, which did indeed look shabbier than her normal fare.

“After those soldiers found your family they came here to see if we were hiding magic folk. Seems you had a secret, didn’t you?”

“Let go!” Raven tried to pull away, but the grip on her was a vice she couldn’t break free from.

“They set a fire.” To Raven’s horror, tears shone in the madame’s eyes. “We put it out fast as we could, but two girls were lost. Then sickness came to them and I had no money to pay doctors.”

She dragged Raven down the hall. “After all I did for you and your mother.”

Raven stumbled. “All you did? You made quite a profit if I recall.” The memories she’d ignored started to crowd around her brain. She felt darkness closing in.

Madame Hosserd stopped suddenly and pulled Raven around to face her. “What other way would you have of making money, hmm? Your mother had no skills. No way of feeding your little brothers and sisters. I gave her fifteen percent, more than any of my other girls! She wasn’t worth it, but I felt bad for the chit, left alone with so many mouths to feed.”

Raven shook her head to dislodge the images crashing around her and fought the fear coursing through her body once again. She closed her eyes and reached for her power, felt the wave of it crash through her blood. Dimly, she heard the madame speaking again.

“I will let the Imperials know I’ve found a girl with magic. That will put me back on my feet…”

When Raven’s eyelids popped open, barely a breath had passed. She looked at the madame and her lips tilted up in a cruel smile. Hosserd frowned, unable to look away from the tiny light that shone out of Raven’s left eye in the shape of a stag’s head. It was the madame’s turn to try to get away, but Raven grabbed the neckline of her gown and brought her close.

“You used my mother. And me.”

Hosserd blanched. “You know the law. I can’t help you. I must alert the Imperials.”

Raven didn’t answer but instead did exactly as Buck always instructed. She acted first. Madame Hosserd was struck with a blinding light and had crumpled to the floor without uttering a sound.

Raven stared down at her a moment until her breathing returned to normal. “That was for Mother.”

She tucked the satchel under her arm and headed down the stairs and back to Resilee to report to her king.