Minirtha: Warrior Woman Ch. 05

Minirtha headed fast through the streets, preparing to leave the capital city of Hyperal for the Forbidden Heavens. Before leaving Obstanus, however, she had one stop to make. She had left her shield back at the inn she had stayed at during most of her time in the city, as the innkeeper was also a part-time blacksmith. She had paid him to replace some of the shield's wooden components that were badly damaged days earlier in her battle against the five Piktans and make some repairs to the metal framework. Her trusty shield back in working order, Minirtha finally made it to the city's western gates and exited them, finally returning to the road and on to the rescue she hoped to enact within a few days. As she left, she did not notice that a cloaked figure that had picked up her trail as she left the inn also went through the gates to follow her on.

Her shield once again on her back, Minirtha soon found herself back into the woodlands she had enjoyed most in her travels. She always felt like she could live forever among the trees and in the mountains, much like the land she had come from at one time. She was still in the prime of her life, only having lived one year short of thirty, and still had much fighting and traveling left to do. She could never see herself being a Queen like Rhala was, but if she ever did stop her journeys she no doubt would head off into the wilderness and live her life among the trees and wildlife she enjoyed to watch.

The miles went on as the midday sun beat down heat rays onto Minirtha's practically naked body. Only clad in a loincloth, she was still sweating as she walked along the cobblestone path. Needing a rest, she left the road at a forest and walked in, hoping to cool herself in the shade of the trees for a time. She would walk in the woods, keeping the road in sight to avoid getting lost. She walked a little ways before coming to a small pond, stopping to dip her hand in the cold water. It felt nice to her, a relief from the heat, so she decided to break for a moment and stripped down. She walked naked into the pond and swam in the water, letting her lean muscular body cool down and refresh. Not wanting to take long, she got out and lay on the bank of the pond for a moment to dry off in the warm air.

She rose up from her rest, ready to get many more miles in for the day. Her hope was to cover enough that she could make it to the gates of the Forbidden Heavens by dusk the next day and she felt she could. As she dressed and gathered her possessions, she checked her belt and noticed that her most prized possession was gone, the necklace she wore. She carefully had set it in the pouch that she kept all her other items in. She emptied the pouch out, scattering the contents on the ground as she checked everything. It was gone, not there no matter how many times she went over the ground.

As she hastily repacked her belongings to look over the ground again, she noticed a fresh footprint next to where she had set her clothes. Someone was not careful enough to hide the trace, as Minirtha could tell by the size it was a man's foot and that they were heading in the direction of the road she wanted to follow. Her anger rising that she appeared the victim of a theft, she returned to the road and set off in the direction the footprint had pointed.

Minirtha was deep in thought as she followed the road and hoped to catch up with the thief. The necklace was the most important thing she owned and the one thing she would never give up. Everything else could be replaced; her meager clothes, her tools for survival, even the trusty sword that she carried in many fights. But her necklace was special. On it, the green and orange charm was the only thing of Minirtha's that she still had that had belonged to the mother she lost as a girl. It had been one of two earrings her mother had worn constantly, a symbol of their devotion to Tricta. After the invaders overran their village and all the women had been taken, young Minirtha had returned and found the one earring on the ground. She kept it since and had worn it on a gold chain as a link to her past since then. No matter what, she would get it back at any cost.

The road led on, and in the distance Minirtha saw signs of smoke. Smoke usually meant people so she walked towards it. She came upon a roadhouse quite populated with many patrons. Minirtha had a feeling that the thief she was after would be in here, maybe even trying to sell it off. She entered the place and walked around. The inside was crowded and the people were spilling out to stand around the outside of the building to have more room. She kept her ears active, listening for talk of someone trying to sell jewelry or gold, anything to give her a hint as to who the thief was. She knew she could not stay long, she had a journey to continue, but this was important enough for her to put her quest on a pause.

As she looked around the roadhouse, she began to notice the floor stained with several footprints in mud. The area must have seen rain in the past few days. Among all the prints, one stood out to her searching eye. The mud in which it was outlined was the same color as the mud around the pond that Minirtha had entered to cool off from the hot day. And it was the print of a man's sandal, the same one she had studied as the pond. Her thief was here after all, she thought. The footprint pointed towards the door and Minirtha went out following it. She looked at the feet of all the men standing around talking outside of the roadhouse, searching for one wearing sandals stained with the right colored mud. As she moved to the side of the building, she looked down and saw against the wall there was indeed a pair of sandaled feet sporting the tell-tale mud.

Minirtha looked at the man who was wearing the sandals. He was a wiry man in her eyes, pale skin, long blond hair, very lean and did not look that strong. He wore, in addition to the sandals, a white tunic with red legging underneath; a belt around his waist held a short, scabbard sword. She was pretty sure he was a professional thief just looking at him, he had the bearing of one who could slither into a home without anyone the wiser and walk off with a hoard of valuables. She inched closer, keeping her distance as to not hear him while she listened to him speaking with a young couple, obviously trying to coax the man into shelling out his hard-earned money to buy some of the thief's ill-gotten trinkets for his lady. The couple walked off, not interested in anything the scrawny blond man had. After they left, Minirtha approached and engaged the thief.

"Excuse me, sir, but I could not help overhearing you saying that you have some gold pieces for sale?" Minirtha could barely stomach calling him sir, but she needed to make sure he really had her necklace.

"Why yes, yes I do. Is there something particular you had in mind, or should I just show you the lot of my wares?"

"I need something particular and it is not easy for me to describe in words. You had better just show me everything and I will see if there is something you have that will work for what I require."

As cunning as a thief as he may be, he could not help but look like a fool to Minritha. He fell for the trick and was soon spreading a blanket on the ground to display what he had. He must not have seen her in the pond when he robbed her. He was emptying his pockets of jewelry, piling them atop the blanket. Everything was tangled togethering in mounds of gold as he worked to separate them. Minirtha recognized quite a bit of it as fool's gold, showing he was a cheat in addition to a thief. She did catch a glimpse of what looked like real gold at one point and soon saw in his hand a familiar gold chain.

"That chain in your hand," she said, "looks like it may suit my needs. May I get a closer look at it?"

"Ah yes, this is a most excellent piece that I recently acquired in my travels. Here, take a good look in the light."

He held up the necklace and sure enough it was Minirtha's. It was undamaged, her mother's green charm still present. She knew from the small chip in the bottom that she was not mistaken. She fingered the necklace as he held the chain up to her view. He looked at her carefully eyeing the piece and seemed to think he was in for quite the pay day.

"If you want, I can let that piece go today for as low as..." He was stopped here, not allowed to speak further by Minirtha. She snatched the gold chain from his hand and held it in her left now. Using her right hand, she grabbed the thief by the throat and soon he found himself off the ground, being lifted by the half-naked woman staring at him with eyes like fire.

"You listen here you damned insect," she growled. "You dare to steal from me and then try to pawn off what is rightfully mine for a few meager pieces of metal? I ought to tear your head clean off with my bare hands and crush it like a melon, and I believe you feel that I have the strength to do it."

Minitha threw him back several feet and he landed flat on his back. She walked over and slammed her sandaled foot onto his chest. "Now you had better do yourself some good and get as far away from me and this place as you can as fast as you can. I will let you go this one time, as I got back what you stole from me."

Minirtha walked away from the roadhouse and started to continue down the road towards the Forbidden Heavens. She placed her precious necklace back around her neck, the charm once again resting in her cleavage. She felt right, in a much better mood now as she prepared to make up the time she spent dealing with the idiotic thief. Her walking was soon interrupted as she began to hear rapid footsteps approaching and closing the gap between her and them. She turned to find the source and saw the thief was now after her, his sword drawn.

"Damn you woman, I will teach you to make a fool of me," he cried, preparing to strike. But he proved the true fool in uttering his last words. As he rushed, Minirtha, with a single motion, drew her own sword and swung up, chopping off the thief's hand clean from his body, sending his sword to the ground and the severed limb flying back. She had not practiced drawing her sword so many times for nothing. On her down stroke, she drove the sword straight into his chest as felt it come out the other side. She pulled the sword from his torso, and there was no doubt in her eyes that all life had left him before the corpse hit the roadway.

Minirtha stood over the dead man, remarking how mistaken he had been thinking he would be able to outspeed the warrior woman. Such was the way of life in her time though and he was not the first who she had faced this way. She knew this would cost more time out of her journey as now she would have to clean the thief's body off the roadway. She dragged him into the trees and left him among the branches. At least he will make a good meal for the wolves, she said to herself as she returned to the road and was greeted by the sight of a figure cloaked in a brown robe facing her direction.

She stared at the figure for some time, not sure what to think. It was clearly a man she could see, despite his features being totally hidden. She still held her sword in her right hand, the blood of the thief she just killed dripping off in need of being washed. She stood as the figure began to approach her, getting close to her before he lowered his hood. To Minirtha's surprise, she recognized him at once.

"You, you are the man who approached me at the well outside Obstanus a few days ago." The long black hair was unmistakable to her.

"That I am. I could not help but notice the quick work you made of that fool Tilus. He was a good thief, but quite a stupid man. Hopefully he can be much more helpful as food for the animals than he ever was as a person."

"I demand to know who you are, at once," Minirtha said firmly to the man.

"Of course, Minirtha of Carg. Yes, I am aware of who you are. My name is Jarro and I have been interested in your services for quite some time. I would like for you to accompany me back to my lodgings so I may discuss a proposition with you."

"Leave me alone man, I have much to do and will not be interrupted..." She did not finish her sentence as Jarro spoke up.

"I think you should consider coming with me. If nothing else, I will provide you with a hot meal tonight at no charge. Besides, I happened to be the only witness to your fight with Tilus and therefore only I can testify that he was also armed. So it is in your best interest to at least hear what I have to say."

Minirtha was half-tempted to plunge her sword into his belly and spill his guts onto the road at once for attempting to blackmail her, but her civilized side took over. He was not holding a weapon and had both his hands in clear view. Killing a thief wielding a sword was one thing, she had every right to defend herself, but slaying someone unarmed would result in her spending the rest of her life imprisoned in the rock quarries of the island fortresses of Hyperal, if she was lucky. Without another word said, she followed the strange man as he led her down the road.

It was not far before the two reached a house that was obviously abandoned for quite some time before recently being occupied. Jarro gestured to Minirtha to follow him through the front door. Inside there were sparse furnishings and the sounds of others throughout the house grew louder as they approached. Soon, the room was filled with four men besides Jarro and a young woman who immediately rushed to his side.

"Welcome back, Prince Jarro," the woman said. Minirtha was slightly taken aback by this.

"Did she just call you 'Prince?'"

"Yes she did Minirtha of Carg. I am called by many the Prince of the Thieves. There is nothing I cannot get my hands on, no defenses my skills cannot bypass. But there will be time for the introductions later. For now, get to know the men here while I retire for a few moments to the bedroom with my dear Colla. Hopefully it will help you see your way to working with us." With that, Jarro and the young lady left the room and Minirtha heard them going into a room somewhere else.

Minirtha looked at the four men standing around, all of different races. One she could tell at once was a native of Hyperal; his light features gave that away and he had the bearings of someone who knew the land well. Two of them were brown-skinned men who no doubt hailed from the vast land of Katshr to the south of Hyperal. The fourth, a tall, muscular man clad only in a loincloth like Minirtha, was obviously some sort of barbarian. Based upon his build and features, she believed he was probably of the same race as Queen Rhala, possibly even a relative.

The four men stared back at her, all of them studying her closely. Before long, the barbarian stepped forward and spoke.

"So, you are the Minirtha that Jarro has spoken about for the past week?"

"I suppose I am. Who all are you?"

"No doubt we are the same as you," the Hyperalian said to her. "A victim of blackmail by that delusional bastard who dares to call himself a prince."

"Are you not his band of men?"

"Not by our own choice. He holds information over our heads that could cost us our freedom or even our lives. He has me here under the threat of informing the maritime authorities that I worked as a guide for smugglers to get their goods from the shores inland to the east borders."

"He holds information on my brother and I as well," one of the brown-skinned men of Katshr stated. "He knows that we harbored fugitives from our King's Army, deserters who protested an unfair war. If the royals find out, we will be put under the axe."

"As for me," the barbarian added, "Jarro does not have any just information. He claims falsely that I stole from the Queen of this land we are in, one from the same country as I. While she would not see me put into chains for it, they would have to hold me over until I prove my innocence, and there are men from other lands that Jarro would surely reveal my location to who have legitimate charges that will see me hanged from the highest gallows."

"Then we do have something in common," the redheaded woman replied to them with. "That so-called Prince witnessed me slay a thief who came upon me with a drawn sword. He implied it was in my best interest to at least follow him here."

"That is how he will start it," the Hyperalian told her. "No doubt he has some plan to get you to fully go along with his plan. That is how he has all of us. And you can stop calling him Prince. Nobody really calls him that except himself, he invented the image. In reality, the people he blackmails do all the stealing; I doubt he could really steal anything if his life depended on it."

"And what about the woman?"

"Colla is a slave he bought about three months ago. Her love is really just an act on her part. If she plays along with his delusions and treats him as some great mind, he will treat her better, for when she does not he usually withholds food from her until she does. In reality, she could care less for him as a master, as when he is not around, her attention and lust is all directed at him," he said pointing to the barbarian.

"Then why not strike him down? Any one of you should be able to take him down?"

"Because," the barbarian interrupted, "he is too smart and expects it. You notice that he never carries any sort of weapon for that reason. We would not dare to attack him unarmed because he would expect that and we would find our heads in a noose for killing an unarmed man. He must have some sort of plan to get us caught if we kill him, but we cannot figure it out. It is best for us not to take the risk. Besides, he has implied that he holds information on others we care about that could spell trouble."

"He could be bluffing."

"He might, but none of us want to risk it, at least not yet. Anyway, you all better go get the meal ready. No doubt Jarro will not be keeping Colla in the bedroom long today." With that, the two brothers from Katshr and the man of Hyperal went to prepare dinner. The barbarian sat upon a wooden box on the floor and looked up at Minirtha.

"Well Minirtha, you should know that you and I are in Hyperal for much the same reason. My name is Kron, and I come from the same country as the Queen of Hyperal. I have heard that you are hired from Torran to rescue a couple of prisoners held in the Forbidden Heavens. I myself am doing the same, for I have been hired by the King of Vil to rescue his daughter, who is set to marry the heir to the throne of another kingdom. I too came here some time ago and received a pass to enter the Forbidden Heavens from the Queen. Sadly, that damned lunatic who wants to be a prince so bad has interrupted my mission."

"That is strange, because the Queen did not mention to me that another was on a similar quest."

"Of course she would not. Rhala is a strange one, I will say, giving up the life of a barbarian to be queen of this place. I probably have known her my entire life, and can remember her always being like some sort of wild animal in battle. Half the time she would lose her armor and weapon and by the time she came back to camp she would be completely naked and covered in blood from ripping her enemies apart with her bare hands."

"But still, she could have said to me that another was on a similar task."

"She probably knew that you would figure it out for yourself when we met at the Forbidden Heavens. She will not bother herself to waste words like that and prefers to let people learn things on their own."

"Well, did you have to fight her too, Kron?"

"I did not, but she did have me fight her so-called champion. It was not difficult and I made quick work of him. Now you are the type she would personally fight and it sounds like she did."