Fennec

Cancel my appointments, I've been sold into slavery.

(Banti. And it's spelled Xiang. Xiang-Bao. Unless the Noxans are just being jerks on purpose. xD)

Aleksandra stood behind Aulfr's chair during the feast, drawing just about all the eyes in the room to her. It was only a matter of time before someone made a fuss, and she had already figured out the prince's plan. She was to fight any and all of the Oberjarl's minions on behalf of Aulfr, as a way to show his power. He'd likely battle these minions himself if she failed, but the thought almost amused her. She wouldn't fail to these worms.

To keep up appearances, she'd worn her cloak and kept the hood up for most of the feast, hiding most of her face in shadow. As the first Jarl, a portly man with a war hammer and a silly hat, stood to make his case against her, she lowered her hood and unfastened her cloak, readying herself for a fight. She draped it over her arm and stood away from Aulfr's chair to assess her opponent. Older, possibly mid-forties. Hardened solider, but unused to small and fast opponents. Added to that were any old injuries that might slow him down, along with the lumbering slowness of his hammer. A weak opponent. No fight to be had. She figured she could make her moves look more impressive for the crowd, and for Aulfr.

She waited there with a bland look on her face as the man drew closer and closer, letting him get within ten feet of her. He began to swing his hammer, ready to crush her skull. She could see the triumph in his eyes. Triumph that quickly died as soon as he saw the feral grin on her face. She dropped her cloak and jumped as high as she could, using the head of his hammer as a step. She vaulted over his head, twisting in midair to land behind him, and swept out a low kick to bring him to his knees. She was behind him in an instant.

She slowly pulled the ridiculous hat from the man's bald head, tossed it aside, and leaned in. "I am Ardanian, fool," she whispered in his ear. Then, with two quick jabs to his throat, he was unconscious. He fell on his face with a thump as Aleksandra straightened and tucked her hair neatly behind her ears. The fight had lasted no more than a minute. The room was dead silent as she bowed to the prince and retrieved her cloak, tying it back on and drawing the hood over her head. She took her place behind his chair and went still.

Cancel my appointments, I've been sold into slavery.

"You know I don't need weapons to be deadly, so it's not that great a loss." Aleksandra straightened her clothes and brushed her hair from her eyes, following the prince with barely a glance at the amazed onlookers. Okay, that wasn't entirely true. She was looking quite a bit. She smirked at a hungry-eyed guard and winked at him, causing him to blush. The servants were not as charmed by her. Most cowered away, conditioned by a lifetime of similarly dressed guards and soldiers beating them around for looking at them the wrong way. She'd fix that eventually.

She realized that she was thinking in permanence. She'd fix the way the servants reacted to her, and to Aulfr. She'd decided to make Aulfr's castle a base while in Noxus, maybe even in the years to come if he would have her. Aulfr could be a good friend, she knew. And a good employer. She'd always enjoyed Noxus, it's culture and landscape. The people were less tolerant of women doing things traditionally meant for men, but she knew how to talk her way around just about anything. Besides, she kind of enjoyed Aulfr's company. He was a warrior, and he didn't expect her to be more than what she was.

She had already loosened her mask from her belt by the time she stepped into Aulfr's room. She tossed it on the bed and unclasped her cloak, tossing it to the side as the prince locked the door and unsheathed his sword, quick as a viper. The metal of her daggers sang just as merrily as they were freed from their places at her hips. She crouched and gave a feral grin, more a bearing of the teeth than a smile, and beckoned him closer.

It was the hardest battle she'd ever fought.

Cancel my appointments, I've been sold into slavery.

Aleksandra's heart leaped and she followed him, ignoring the stares and whispers as the servants and guards saw her for the first time, as they caught glimpses of the scars on her back when the fabric of her shirt shifted. She could think only of her mask, the solid weight of her staff at her back, her daggers at her hips. Her hunting outfit, custom made for her and made for fighting in her style. Her cloak, the mottled grays and blacks that helped her blend into the shadows.

She was practically tumbling with excitement, bouncing on her toes with a wide-eyed expression as the prince brought her into the storage room and to the chest containing her only belongings. She was already on her knees, reaching for it as Aulfr threw it open. And there it all lay. Her mask, the fiercely snarling face of a wolf. Her daggers, etched with the pictures of bloody battles, and her staff, her height and capped at each end with metal to crack the skulls of her enemies. Her tunic and riding trousers, jet black with hard leather and lightweight metal panels to turn an arrow or a light sword blow. Her knee-height hide boots. Her coin purse was gone, as was the signet ring of House Belikov. The slavers had probably taken both, which she was glad for. Aulfr knew enough about her already.

She was tearing off her new clothes, turning her back for privacy as she pulled on her familiar uniform. Her cloak still smelled like the sea air and her horse, and she breathed in the scents with a contented sigh. It took her a few minutes to settle into everything and attach her weapons. Finally, she tied her mask to her belt and turned to face Aulfr, giving a wolfish grin. The clothing fit her like a second skin, clinging to every curve. She stood at her full height as proudly as she could, finally comfortable with herself. She looked taller than her height of five and two, mostly because of the overwhelming sense of self-assurance she radiated.

She grabbed Aulfr's large hand in her two small ones, beaming. "Thank you, Aulfr. Saints, I never thought I'd be able to wear these again. I promise I won't disappoint you." She let go and moved back to the chest to retrieve her boots, which she tugged on. "Just wait until your court sees this. Not only will I be laughing at all the foolish clothing, I'll be laughing at the looks on their faces. Oh, I might just die tonight," she chuckled.

Cancel my appointments, I've been sold into slavery.

"Trust me, none of the Ardanian royalty would wear that," she tutted, eyeing him up and down. After a few moments, she moved to the plush chair where she'd done all of her sewing the day before and sat down, picking up a few scraps of black fabric along with her needle and thread. She was working on some finger-less gloves, something to protect her hands and help her climb. She had a very nice leather pair wherever Aulfr was keeping her things, but she'd have to make do until he gave it all back to her.

"You never answered my question, by the way. I asked if I could be allowed to go out hunting. For the most part, I'd only hunt targets you chose for me. And I'd leave some sort of mark, symbol, or something else so anyone who finds the body knows it was your doing. Maybe a card with the Volsung crest on it, surrounded by wolves. I don't know how, but somewhere along the way I became associated with wolves. So I figured I might as well pick up the mask while I was in Xiang-Bao." And what a mask it was. Made of a lightweight metal, almost a helmet, and nicked and cracked and scarred from her many battles. It made the snarling wolf face even more fierce than when it was new. There was even dried blood on it, a nice touch she liked to keep to scare her enemies a little.

"Not to mention to benefits of letting me go out into the city or surrounding villages to find out what your nobility has been doing while not in court. And I need to get my slave mark tattooed over." She brought her foot up to her knee and frowned at the crudely inked words there. "I already know I'm guaranteed a royal pardon should I stay, and this castle is a safe place to come back to when I'm not hunting, so I'm not giving that up. I won't be running away once I'm no longer marked." She ran her fingers over the stinging mark, glancing up at the prince. "So? Will you let me hunt?"

Cancel my appointments, I've been sold into slavery.

Aleksandra rolled her shoulders and forced her muscles to relax, still feeling shivery from his touch. She stretched and bent and moved her arms, satisfied that she'd be able to move around properly in her clothes, then turned to watch the prince turn himself into a fool. She couldn't help herself. She started laughing, a surprisingly high, feminine laugh that sounded like a joyful little bird. "You look like one of the court jesters in Upper Genta. All those garish colors. All you need is one of those moronic hats with the little bells," she giggled, making long, curved lines over her head with her fingers to make the shape of the hat.

Her cheeks and belly were sore as her laughter died down into the occasional snort. Every time she looked at him, she couldn't help but laugh. He looked mad, honestly, and if everyone at the feast looked like that, she would die by asphyxiation from laughing so much. Not to mention how horribly out of place she would look, small as she was and dressed as if mourning someone's death. Though she guessed that was Aulfr's intention. Let everyone know she wasn't just a slave. She was a weapon.

She walked over and started straightening his clothes, retying anything loose or messy, making him look as decent as he could while dressed so foolishly. She was his servant, after all. She couldn't let him walk into that carnival looking a mess, could she? "If all your feasts look as festive as you, remind me never to attend another. This should be the first thing to go when you're Oberjarl. I want to burn this coat personally."

She stepped back, looked him over, then got close again. She grabbed him by the collar and pulled him down until they were face-to-face, and she put her hands in his hair. She paused for a moment, surprised. It was softer than she'd expected. She pushed that thought aside and combed the tangles from his hair, then arranged it into some semblance of order. When she was done, she took a step away and said, "There. Prince of Fools. Is it time for us to leave yet?"

Cancel my appointments, I've been sold into slavery.

"It had better be something good, or how am I to sneak around and kill people for you with little to no energy?" She tugged on her trousers but left the back of her shirt hang halfway open. This one was even tighter on her frame than the other, so she couldn't slip it on over her head. It had to be tied, and she needed help with that. So she walked over to Aulfr and turned her back, motioning to the ribbons. "I can have a servant tie this better later. But right now I need you to do it."

She turned her head and gazed out the window, trying not to flinch away from his fingers as they brushed against her skin. No one ever touched her scars unless they were treating wounds near them. She didn't know if she liked the feeling or hated it. "So, I've been thinking. There are plenty of criminals down there, and you have a professional bounty hunter under your employ now. I need to do more than sniff out political intrigue. I was hoping you'd let me have my mask back so I could go out hunting in the city when you don't need me here." She stepped away the second he finished tying the ribbons and turned to face him. She had to look up to see his face.

"I can't grow rusty in here. I know I'm safer with this castle as a base, and I can't return home for another year anyways. And I'm not leaving without my horse," she added, frowning slightly. "There are probably street lords and drug cartels that you want destroyed. Well, I can rid you of them. Or at least scare them into pissing off. Besides, what do you think will happen when they start to realize that Death's Handmaid is working for the crown? For you? They'll be pissing themselves."

Cancel my appointments, I've been sold into slavery.

Aleksandra woke as Aulfr was pulling on his shirt. She took her time in actually getting up, stretching and running her fingers through the knots in her hair. She watched the tanned, muscular skin of Aulfr's back disappear beneath the preposterous blue tunic that made him look silly. He belonged in armor and leather, not court dress. She almost told him as much, but what would that really accomplish? Her feeling foolish, is what. So she vetoed that idea and sat up, giving one last cat-like stretch.

She turned and glared at Aulfr, his question more an insult to her than anything else. "I slept like a child, truly." She got on her hands and knees and leaned forward, purposely giving him a wonderful view down her low-cut tunic. She made her voice a bit lower, the Ardanian purr more pronounced. "And after you woke me and went back to sleep, it looked as if you were having the most wonderful dream, if the sizable bulge in your trousers was anything to go off of." She pulled away then, acting very suddenly innocent. With her back turned, she let herself grin.

She pulled the ribbon from her hair and stood up, winding it around her wrist. "What's the plan for today? Are you actually going to feed me, or do I have to repeat last night's debacle and steal some poor servant's meat pies?" She grabbed her other set of clothing and changed into it quickly. She never really felt safe changing in front of any man, but she knew that Aulfr would most likely make his intentions clear first if he meant to bed her. She pulled on the new tunic, this one a deep black, the ribbons tying the back closed silver. The trousers were almost the same shade as the ribbons, and the scarf-skirt was a gentle blue that made her eyes all the more intense.

She wondered exactly what would happen now that he knew she was the Fourth Devil. Death's Handmaid. He hadn't killed her in her sleep, so he obviously felt differently about her job than his father. There was a bounty of 1,000 coins on her head for anyone strong enough and clever enough to capture her alive. No one had ever seen her face, known exactly who she was, and lived to tell the tale. Would he return her mask? Her daggers? And what about Caego? No smart man would willingly give up a horse like that, even if it never let him ride it.

Cancel my appointments, I've been sold into slavery.

(I fell asleep just before you posted. It's just so quiet in my house, I love it. :D)

Aleksandra watch him bed down, and called her brothers' leering grins to mind. "I'm a gem born among the scum of the earth, more like," she murmured. "But a clouded gem, and so roughly cut as to be unrecognizable." She cleared their faces from her mind and, looking down at the prince, she had the sudden insane urge to tell him who she was. It was true, pirates were ruthless and rarely took prisoners. She'd been incredibly lucky that day. And it wasn't as if she'd come away from that stunt unscathed. The whip marks on her back ached just thinking about what happened when she'd displeased the captain.

"The daggers I bought weren't mastercrafted. You can't even get those in the average blacksmith's shop. I bought them from a famous blacksmith and they were of very fine make. In fact, they might be in storage somewhere in your castle. Along with my staff and my other belongings." Her mask, her signet ring. Things to easily identify who she was. But she supposed it might be easier once he knew the whole story. "I know my horse is definitely down in your stables. Caego is worth three mastercrafted swords," she said with a sigh. She almost wanted to see the look on Aulfr's face when he went to the stables and saw a Tirion river stallion munching on the oats. Just one more impossible thing to tack onto her mystery. She wondered if he'd try to mount Caego? Good luck with that. The horse was in a perpetually foul mood, and he liked to bite.

She lay down beside him and burrowed under the blankets, turning her back to him as she tried to go to sleep. She'd shared a bed with less honorable men before, and she had a feeling he wouldn't be trying anything now that he knew her skills. She found sleep hard to come by, though she could hear Aulfr relaxing behind her, could hear his breathing deepen. Saints, what kind of mess had she stumbled into? She had to live another year, or she'd never be able to go home and complete her task. She'd always be haunted by her brothers, and what they might have already done to other young girls, or what they might do in the future. She would stop them before it happened again. And no longer would they lay hands on anyone.

Cancel my appointments, I've been sold into slavery.

Aleksandra stuffed the last of the meat pie in her mouth and executed a playful little bow, as if to say 'Yes, I know I did very well and you may shower me with praise.' She swallowed the gravy-filled pastry and straightened, raking her unruly black waves from her eyes to watch the prince settle into his place on the bed. "Some noble will be wondering where his cherry tart ran off to, but I don't believe anyone noticed me lurking. I'll make a cloak to help me blend with the shadows." She tugged at one of the ribbons tying her shirt closed, letting the three inches of fabric hang open, and used the ribbon to tie her hair back as she approached the bed. After a moment of eyeing him hesitantly, she sat down and leaned against one of the bedposts.

She thought for a long while about how to answer him, staring out the window at the nebulous sky. He probably already had some small inkling as to who she might be, her vengeance-driven persona at least, but she wasn't about to tell him about her father or her long ago past. She decided on some of her adventures. "I've been homeless since I was a young girl. Living out on the streets, I learned very quickly that stealing was the only way to survive. I learned how to pickpocket, how to rob people blind. I ran a street gang for awhile in Astra." Street gangs were common for orphans. Often the eldest, the teenagers, rounded up the strongest kids and began smuggling and stealing and even killing if they were skilled enough. She'd been the leader of the strongest street gang in Ardany's capital. She'd had to run away after her brothers caught wind of her whereabouts.

"I had some soldiers teach me the basics of defending myself, and when I had to leave the gang I decided on Genta. My ship was attacked by pirates, though." The pirates were one of the biggest problems of sea trade. Most of the sea dogs were Gentan, and Genta itself was the origin of the exploding black powder used in their odd weapons that fired smoke and metal. Any ship not allied with the pirates was at risk. "They captured me, figured I'd be some fun in the sack and a good little maid for them. I'm sure it was surprising when I nearly strangled the first mate with my chains, even smaller than I am now and at only fourteen. They realized I would fight until death before being their prisoner. The captain admired that. He taught me to fight properly, though I was no good with a sword. Never have been," she murmured, more to herself than to Aulfr.

"A year later, I'd learned all I could from him. So I stole some of his stashed loot at port and ran off. I had enough to buy a horse, some clothes, even weapons. So I bought some Noxan daggers of almost as fine a make as that sword of yours and then I sought out my next teacher. I've been learning and getting stronger ever since then. Anyone who will teach me, anyone who knows what I can do to improve, I learn from them. With a few stops along the way," she added, smiling to herself in a secret sort of way.

Cancel my appointments, I've been sold into slavery.

Aleksandra startled awake at the very rude and thunderous noise the prince made as he entered. She didn't bother to hide her frown. He wouldn't kill her for being irked, so there was no point in hiding her emotions from him. She turned away when he shut the door, ignoring him as she went about waking up. There was a glass of water on the small table beside the bed, so she picked it up and rinsed the crusted blood from her split lip, and drank what was left to quench her sudden thirst. She was, in fact, ravenously hungry. Slavers didn't feed their slaves well, if at all. So that was a solid week she'd lost not knowing if she'd been fed. She was about to ask for a meal when she turned, and the sight of an unarmored Aulfr surprised her. He looked almost hideously normal without the leather and chainmail. Not to say he himself was unattractive, but if not for the imperious look on his face and the set of his broad shoulders, he'd almost look like a common farmer.

She stood up and stretched, listening blearily to him as he instructed her on what to do. Saints, she was hungry. And how was she going to climb the side of his castle with that drug still in her system and a belly growling so forcefully that she trembled? She shook her head and muttered a few creative insults in her own language, stretching again to loosen herself. She rubbed the remaining sleep from her eyes, slapped her cheeks, and headed for the window. "If I die, I'm going to haunt you forever. I'll haunt your ghost," she grumbled, switching to Noxan. "And I won't be nearly as pleasant as I am now." She released the latch and stepped up onto the sill, taking a moment to breathe in the fresh, chilly air. It was autumn, and a night clear as glass. The stars exploded above her in a milky, colorful tangle of light. A perfect night. She glanced over her shoulder at the prince, then gave a sigh and began her mission.

Finding the hand-and-footholds was easy. It was clinging to the side of the castle on no food and drowsy limbs that was the challenge. Still, she'd climbed harder in worse situations, so she carried on. She slipped once or twice, but never far. She was sweaty and breathing hard as an angry bull by the time she reached the roof. She dragged herself a few feet from the edge and lay there, recovering her strength. She'd turned an ankle and her fingertips were raw, almost bloody. But it was nothing she couldn't live with. She sat up and massaged her ankle until she was sure it was just lingering pain from the suddenness of it. Then she pushed to her feet and walked along the roof, looking for a way in.

The prince's room was on the third floor, and she was just above the seventh of the main castle. The towers extended far above her, but those weren't important. There was no purchase on any of them, and no close windows to climb into. Several small chimneys, but all of them billowing smoke. She didn't fancy being burned to death. Although she was sure she'd taste delicious with a bit of spice. No, her only way in was through an open skylight above someone's room. They rest were closed, locked, or unable to open at all. She made sure no one was in the room before lowering herself in until she dangled by her hands, and then she dropped. She quickly rummaged through the objects to look for a weapon, but there was nothing useful. So she left, looking both ways in the hall before rushing to a shadowy alcove.

The next hour passed this way, with her sneaking past guards, hiding in small nooks and under beds, getting closer and closer to Aulfr's chambers. She had to keep stopping to rest, her lack of food causing her the occasional dizzy spell. She was becoming intensely aware of the strong scent of food the closer she got to center of the fourth floor, and was so relieved to see the kitchens that she almost cried. No one in the kitchens would rat her out, or even have time to pay attention to her. She stood near the entrance and waited. A serving girl hurried out carrying a platter on her shoulder piled high with meat pies. Hidden in the shadow of the door, Aleksandra nicked two of them with feather light hands. And so it continued with the next three servants, until she was full. She was still munching on her second meat pie when she knocked on Aulfr's door, three times and then twice.