Category: Raya

Once again, the leaders of Raya’s group gathered in the common room of the inn.  Axar and Ailo stuck together, while Avri sat near Benn, across a few empty tables from the mage and his guard.  Dondar and his guards filled a long table near the bar.  Raya sat with Hallist, leaning against the counter.

“What if the City Watch doesn’t show up?” Dondar asked.  “If Ramas ignores the meeting, then you end up actually meeting with a criminal boss—having to deal with him and everything.” Continue reading Raya 51

Commander Ramas took a week to contact Raya once more.  The waiting was difficult—Hallist and Dondar advised that Raya double the number of patrols and urge everyone to keep an eye out.  If the City Watch were to attack them, there was little they could do to stand their ground; in the very least, an organized retreat deeper into Massed Alley might save some lives.  Benn, estranged from Raya by her busyness running the group, joined the patrols or spent time discussing strategy with Hallist.  Axar and Avri argued anxiously about every topic they could. Continue reading Raya 50

Raya had been relieved when Avri and the other volunteers had returned unscathed from their multi-day reconnaissance mission, but now she grew nervous once more.  Ailo, Benn, and Avri had reported on several sergeants, captains, and a single Commander that was willing to meet with Raya.  Now, on their trek across Ith to make the meeting, Raya’s anxiety was growing once more.

The only neutral ground that the City Watch and Raya’s group could agree upon was in the Low Dales, out of reach of all three factions.  Unfortunately, reaching it required a crossing of several other neighbourhoods. Continue reading Raya 49

The sounds of combat were almost a daily occurrence in Ith.  Raya woke to shouting that morning, but was relieved once she had sat up and repositioned her auditory senses.  The cries of fighting were too far away to be within her own territory.  Her scouts reported that the borders between factions were now frequently marked by discarded corpses.  At least the factions kept their controlled regions a little cleaner.  Raya’s patrols helped ensure a similar bubble of tranquility within her small partition of Massed Alley. Continue reading Raya 48

Even sitting in the common room of the Blue Evening Inn with her feet flat on the ground and the solid spindles of a chair against her lower back, Raya could not believe she was this sore.  The bruises on her forearm and hip ached dully, but so did most of her muscles.  Her gashes from the attack on the prison in Pranan’s Hill had healed well, but still itched or stung depending on how she moved. Continue reading Raya 47

Nothing could have prepared Raya for the wall—rather, what came after it.  She had fought bandits in the ashes of Ellakar and survived the ring of archers at Axar’s estate.  Not even the more recent assault on one of the Massed Alley prisons had given her any forewarning. Continue reading Raya 46

When Raya came downstairs from her quarters in the Blue Evening Inn, her normal route toward the kitchen was interrupted by the inhabitants of the common room.  There were newcomers—but most were familiar faces.  Dondar had returned from Olston, she saw, and had brought eight men with him.  She had only asked for a few!

“Welcome back!” she called as she approached.  She was still happy to see him.  But when she glanced from Dondar’s wave to the faces of the others, she realized one of them was not a warrior.  One of them was Councillor Kama!  “Councillor?” Raya gasped. Continue reading Raya 45

Raya’s group grew slowly from word-of-mouth.  Primarily, their new recruits were friends of the survivors that Raya and her friends had rescued from the Massed Alley jail.  Though there had been talk of what to do next—such as liberating another prison, which Axar insisted was the best strategy for their public relations—nothing had been agreed upon yet.  Raya finished off a quick breakfast and readmitted herself to the common room of the Blue Evening Inn. Continue reading Raya 44

The news came shortly before lunch.  There were two men hanging in cages in Pranan’s Hill.  The men who had heard this reported it to the crowded common room of the Blue Evening Inn to Raya’s twenty-odd supporters.  Raya let Ailo and Benn ask the questions while she digested the information. Continue reading Raya 43

Raya sat with her back against the cool stone wall and inhaled deeply.  Benn had insisted on picking the lock, despite Ailo’s offer to do the deed himself.  He fiddled quickly, his eyes focused and a layer of sweat on his brow.  It felt like it was taking too long—guards were patrolling ten feet over their heads, after all. Continue reading Raya 42