It was almost becoming of the exiled rider who, cowl and crow faced swore allegiance to a brash lipped smile now worn on copious blackened stained lips whispering enticing and frightening horrors yet to approach.

Kaelna, the Silent Blade has become an undivided vessel and in these shadowy years of her life, and benefits from an advocated aristocracy; to worship and pay tribute to Daemonic Gods and their greatest servant in living flesh, the Lord of Gharnholme, Lucius DeAuster.

But there is a weight of irony here, as her current employ is quite stark from her young sanctified heritage that she once so valued with blind devoted passion, of which she vowed to take the grave on the promise of eternal anguish should her soul fall helplessly to ruin....The vigour of those once so proud and pure words from a young submissive Knight now lay scattered in an ocean of mindless dominance and lust for battle, to serve and protect those malevolent forces as a follower of Chaos.

Riding a steed of the foulest of ash and eyes comparative to that of swirling protean flames, heated air twisted from the large nostrils from the hellish mount as it trotted up an unforgiving bank of ferns and dark mahogany. The trees that stand condensed reach up their thin budding limbs towards the grey clouded sky while the fauna below wilt at the supernatural heat as the female passed on by, sitting erect upon her mount with bare pale palms wrapped about the horse's leather reins.

Kaelna threw her icy gaze left and right, chin held steady all the while as she paused at the brink, turning her head to scrutinize the trail as the mount stomped and huffed at the order to stand still.

Someone was following her. She could feel it. Curious eyes jumped about looking out for anything suspicious, any part of the path that may had been misplaced after her passage. Yet she spotted nothing out of the ordinary, which meant that her silent pursuers were not as clumsy as she first thought"

The cloaked bandit that had craftily hid himself from view took a single step forward from the tree he hid behind, and stood bewildered. The armoured and white haired woman they had been stalking for the last several miles had disappeared altogether without a disturbance. This troubled the man for it was not uncommon that this side of the forest had strange stories of ghosts and daemons lurking within the creaking swaying bodies of the silent trees" Had they been stalking a ghost' The idea paled his face.

"Where'd she go?" He asked his other hidden companion in an alarmed whisper, flicking his dark brown cloak from the hilt of his sword, ready to grasp it from its sheath if he needed to suddenly defend himself.

But he didn't get an answer from his partner, and so swung his head and drew the low hung hood back from his bearded face, crouching lower against the tree trunk he now again hid behind, looking towards where his companion should have been standing a meter away off to his right, hiding behind his own entity be it tree or outcrop.

But now his friend wasn't where the bandit thought he was either" His friend was missing.

"Patin?" The bandit spoke louder through the veil of curled straggly long chestnut hair, deep brown eyes widening to the situation arising. Surely his closest comrade would not have run away, surely' It was but one woman to deal with " and with no escort! The items she wore could easily sell for a few thousand coins on the black market' So why did he run away with such potential profit at hand"

As the bandit turned his head so that it lay back against the trunk, his heart wrenched up into his throat and he drew that short sword as he slid up to his full height against the rough bark that itched against his back.

"Fine, I'll keep your half" Coward" Running away from a woman' But where did she-" His words were cut short, as blood shot up into his throat and clogged his airway entirely before he could even cry out, yet there was the gargle of his words to scream his pain.

The shaft of the claymore he had seen on the back of the woman as she rode moments earlier was protruding out from his stomach, as if his body gave no resistance to the dull and rusted blade in its passing. Blood erupted from his mouth as he dropped his sword " the last remnants of air in his lungs pushing the liquid out, hands shakily curling around the blade, disbelieving the sight before his very eyes.

On the other side of the tree Kaelna stood staring at the muddy ground, releasing a gentle breath from between moisten and supple black lips. It almost looked impossible but she had managed to thrust the sword through the tree and through the man with inhuman strength. Not only this, but she was able to move silently without his keen senses knowing regardless of the noisy protection she wore. "I have no compassion for thy thieving attempt at mock villainy, Sir." The words were spoken in a soft melodic song that echoed the qualities of both a funerals" mantra whispered from a devoted Priestess, and a demented soul that took pleasure in the unnecessary bloodshed, "Thou made thy blunder of forcing me sword from upon mine back..." The sharp twist of the claymore finished the bandit from his slow death, "A waste of a life." She took a step back and yanked the skewer of her claymore from both man and plant, and turned to make her way silently back to the horse which waited patiently where she had dismounted it. The body behind her thudded to the ground in the leaves, which at the same time she replaced her weapon away upon her back.

Remounting her steed she muttered something as her neck arched back, taking a glance at the sky. She's going to be arriving late now, for darkness was soon approaching. "I have wasted enough time dallying." Whipping the reins, the horse reared back onto its hind hooves after a grunted huff, and took off at full gallop to the City known as Rhy"Din.

She had an appointment to make and an introduction to produce.

* * * *

She was " for the lack of the better term, "invited" to become apart of the same affiliation as her Lord DeAuster and his family. This was not only an honour and a privilege to her, but came as a complete shock. She didn't answer straight away, she didn't know if she had a choice or not " Kaelna didn't know if this was an order, or a request. She couldn't find the line between the two, as her militant mind only took on board and processed orders effecitvely.

She at first, gave excuses as to deem herself unworthy of such a label, for she was nothing but a soldier and could do nothing else but swing a sword. Negotiations and diplomacy and other such businesses and all its other ventures never had been strong point for Kaelna, for her use of bargaining skills requiring her to be delicate in such matters were usually dealt with a fist or blade, despite her silver tongue and polite and regal demeanour. Nervous was an understatement, yet you would not see it upon her face. As she arrived at the Blood House Onyx, her stomach turned as she closed the door behind her. If she were to anger her new peers " to say the wrong things, she would not only dishonour herself but her Lord, too.

Kaelna stood without her cowl and in her armoured glory. Pale blue eyes glancing silently about at the foreign territory which rendered her to feel the sensation of being a clean nosed recruit once again, and she despised the feeling totally. She might as well call out, she couldn't see anyone.

Maybe she did leave it too late after all" "Forgive the ungodly time of mine trespass this eve!" She raised her voice, stepping in further.