The Bane of the Empire

Chapter 4

After the accusations she threw his way he had left their table to collect his thoughts. When he saw her outside the inn he had only intended to engage in some friendly conversation and maybe help the young chit. But her demure appearance hid a firy personality that came to the surface once some food was inside her. And when the waitress had followed him out and offered a midmorning tryst in the stables he had declined, much to the woman's dissatisfaction. When he returned the girl was gone and the coins he had left were missing too. Interest, he thought, and left the inn in search of the girl. She was too interesting to let through his fingers. And when he found her pressed against the trunk of a tree, a filthy man readying himself to violate her, his hand had gone to the blade without second thought. The fear in her hazel eyes had struck him into action, an instinctive need to protect the girl igniting inside him.

Now facing the girl, Gavin handed Dawn the sword she had unsuccessfully brandished against him.

"So, you are the one The Guild is looking for."

He watched Dawn struggle to place her sword back in its scabbard, noting her awkward movements. She looked and acted like an average girl. Her face still had the softness from living a comfortable life. Her hands lacked any callouses and she could barely hold her sword up. She had no training, so why was The Guild looking for her?

"The Guild?" She questioned him. Her voice was average. Everything about her was average, normal. Mundane. Yet she was...

Gavin could not find the right word, other than that she was more. However, naive and underdeveloped the description was, it fit her. She was someone that many overlooked but those that stopped to pay attention could see a depth that went unnoticed at first glance.

"They are a private brotherhood that specializes in the extermination of people." He said and watched her eyes grow larger and the colour drain from her face. She was hiding something.

Hunter would kill him if he let her go. And they would surely kill each other when they met. He swallowed a smile but how would he convince her to join him?

"From the look on your face I can assume that you don't know who they are." Gavin arched his brow in question and watched Dawn slowly shake her head. He could see the thoughts running wild in her and catching her off guard he quickly asked, "where are you headed? Maybe I can be of assistance?"

But she did not fall prey to his abrupt question. Instead he watched as her brows knitted together and she looked at him with renewed suspicion. The longer he was in Dawn's company the more he became interested in knowing why trained assassins would have been hired to kill this her. And most of all, how had she managed to escape such men?

He watched as she surveyed his body. Her eyes rested on his daggers and the line of throwing knives he kept in his person. Raising his hands in front of him he said, "no weapons."

Gavin even went as far as reassuring her that she could keep the coins she took from him. "I don't have a need for it. But you obviously do. So, consider it a gift, between friends."

He gave her his best smile and tossed in a rakish wink at the end. Gavin knew the effect he had on women and despite her mighty talk, she was no different. There was nothing to be ashamed of, attraction was a normal human emotion. And, he just happened to have a knack at bringing it out in human women. Her cheeks turned rosy and she looked to the ground.

"Where are you headed?" He asked again.

"Tenense"

That caught his attention.

"Why are you headed there? It is no for a girl like you."

She clenched her jaw and Gavin could see how that comment had stung her.

"I need to secure safe passage to the Continent. I am going to Ilaburn."

The Continent and the surrounding Lands were ruled by King Arnoldus. He came into power twenty years ago and word of his rule spread through The Lands. But the King was not as benevolent as the stories suggest. He was a tyrant King. He restricted the use of Forboro Sea and taxed his people until they were forced into poverty. Dawn probably did not know this because only the "good" stories could cross Forboro.

"Let me and my friends help you. We can protect you from The Guild." Gavin walked toward her and standing a few steps in front of her, he offered her his hand. But instead of placing her hand in his, she smacked his palm away. The sound seemed to echo around them and he stared at her, stunned by her reaction.

"I don't need your help. Tenense is where I planned to go and that is where I will go." She said that with such conviction, the fire he had seen back in the inn flaring in her eyes once agains. But her stubbornness would get her into trouble. And Tenense was truly the last place Dawn should go. Even his friends and him were looking for alternate routes to the Continent.

She turned away from him, but he couldn't let her leave just yet.

"The minimum cost of passage across Forboro is two gold coins!"

She turned back and he continued, "From what I saw, you couldn't even pay for stew. And my two silvers will not cut it."

He watched her mull this over.

"The Guild will be in Tenense! That is the only open port and the only way to the Continent." Gavin pressed. Without thought, he gripped the handle of the small blade hidden in the leathers covering his forearm. Holding it out to her he said, "this was given to me by someone special. It is the one object I cannot part with. I'll give it to you to hold as a symbol of trust. I am not going to harm you."

She reluctantly reached forward and grabbed the dagger. She held it like a sword and seeing this Gavin gently cupped his hand over hers and moved the dagger, so it was pointed down.

"Here, hold it like this. Daggers are for close combat." He raised her hand and brought it to where his neck met his shoulder, "like this, you can kill a man from the blood loss alone."

His breath brushed her cheek and his dark eyes met her hazel ones. He heard her breath hitch and he gently moved a stray lock of hair behind her ear. Smiling to himself he was sure that Dawn trusted him or at least felt confused enough to keep her guard down during their trip back to his friends. Hopefully Hunt wouldn't give her a hard time.

"Let's go before it gets dark."