The Dragon Thief [I]

Breaking the Taboo [9]

Breaking the Taboo

Lannasia

When Lanna awoke, it was dawn. She was still in the healer's room with the lantern quietly burning on the wall. She rose slowly, testing the muscles in her legs. Sore, but manageable. Wriggling her toes, she pushed off the bed and soft-footed to the door. Cracking it ajar, she saw an empty white hallway lined with identical wooden doors leading to what she assumed were identical looking rooms.

"Time to test how rusty I've gotten," Lanna joked, creeping into the hallway, her back to the wall and her eyes on any entrances. Sneaking about unnoticed was like second nature to her as a thief; Lanna easily managed to dodge the healers moving from one room to another. She found her way to what looked like a reception area and snuck out through double doors, walking into a grassy courtyard filled with bright morning light.

The Mages' Guild was one of the largest guilds in Elchwe and funded well by the King. The guild resided in an old, mossy castle decorated by grassy plains in the very east of the Southern Province. A large stone wall ran along the perimeter of the castle with a dried up moat beyond that. It must have been too early for the guild, Lanna thought, as she walked alone along a pebble pathway moving from one part of the castle to the other.

The castle was huge, looming over Lanna at tens of meters in the sky. Four towers donned the ancient building. Lanna had never been so close to a castle before-the only other castle she'd seen was the King's castle in Fellenhall, and even then, she'd only seen it from beyond the castle gates.

To her left, opening into another courtyard, were two stretched buildings of a modern design. To her right, Lanna saw an open field occupied by a small group of youths dressed in white robes. Lanna watched as they gathered together in a line. One by one they outstretched their arms and made a young, skinny tree shoot up from the earth. They were using magic to create a small forest, Lanna recognised. She was bewitched by their magic, by the sound of their laughter as they joked and played. It didn't take long for the supervising mage to emerge and scold them into working quietly again.

It reminded her of her youthful days at the Thieves' Guild. Although her guild doesn't have a castle or an academy like the Mages' Guild does, it owns many properties throughout Elchwe that members collectively gather at. Lanna was twelve when she left the priestess church in Terybred and swore into the Thieves' Guild. She was trained alongside Milena by Milena's father who, at the time, was the acting Leader. She remembered having to rise early in the morning before any of the other thieves woke up to train in a field on some farmland property in the Eastern Province. It was dreadful-Milena's father worked Lanna and Milena to the bone, training them in street fighting, knifework and stealth. As much as the training sessions were hard and gruelling, they were also fun. Lanna and Milena always got up to no good and were found more times than not laughing and cackling by Milena's father rather than completing some training task he'd set them both.

The old memory drew Lanna's attention to her conversation with Alderyth from last night and the big decision she said she would make today; whether she'd leave for her guild or choose to stay on here. She continued down her pebble path and through a large entrance to one side of the castle. Stairs and hallways split from the opening chamber. Lanna wasn't sure what way to turn. She didn't have a destination in mind. She simply felt the need to walk and explore, and most importantly, think.

She took a random staircase and followed it upwards. It led her into an oddly shaped room with lots of thin walls, as if it was shaped into an octagon or similar. The edges of the room was decorated with lanterns and wooden desks. To the front was a cabinet and a much larger, thicker mahogany desk covered in letters and parchments. From a slit in the wall appeared a tall, thin woman dressed in black robes, a stark contrast to the white robes Lanna saw all mages wear.