Chapter I :

Thorn

Faye sat, quite content, on the windmill, letting the pleasant breeze run through her long, well kept black hair. She loved this place, where she could gaze over the emerald hills and into the azure sky, and watch her village across the way. This was a quiet place, apart from the noisy bustle of the town, where she could relax and take in the beautiful world around her. Faye didn’t like the busy village. There was always work to be done, people to talk to, standards to reach. She was perfectly happy with nothing at all to do, whether the little community liked it or not. So she came here, to this little place that had been forgotten long ago, to escape. This way, she could do as she pleased, and not be a bother to those people who liked running around. She took in a deep breath of the sweet, clean air, and leaned back against the bricks of the windmill. This was wonderful.

Soft footsteps in the grass came from below. Faye looked over the edge of the windmill, and saw a man walking in the direction of town. There was a sheath at his side. A swordsman! It was rare you ever saw one around here. She pushed herself off of the windmill, which was rather short, and landed in the grass behind the man. He continued walking. She ran to catch up.

“Hello there! Are you heading to Mayflower? You know, that village up there?” she said, pointing towards it as she reached him. She looked up at him. He was taller than she was, and obviously older, but not by too much. Faye was fourteen. This young man may have been seventeen, maybe eighteen. Her eyes widened. He was a bit odd in appearance, with bright orange hair and icy blue eyes, but those were not his strangest features. There was a thin X shaped scar that crossed on the bridge of his nose and went above his eyebrows and across his cheeks. He shook his head no.

“Then, where are you going? There isn’t much else out there for a long while,” she told him, giving him a quizzical look. He stayed silent. Faye continued walking with him. “If you don’t want to tell me where you’re going, I don’t mind. But do you have a name? Mine’s Faye.” He was quiet for a moment, the brow of his before expressionless face furrowed, as if deciding whether or not to tell her. They walked a ways in silence, and they came to an area surrounded by trees. Then he spoke, but it wasn’t an answer to Faye’s question.

“You said your name was Faye, right?”

“Uh, yeah. That’s right.”

“Okay, then, Lady Faye. Get down.” Before she had a chance to ask him what in the world he was talking about, he jumped on top of her, knocking her to the ground. He kept her head beneath his torso, as if protecting her. Black things soared past his head, and stuck in the grass in front of Faye’s face. They were thin throwing knives. She gasped. What was going on?

“I fooound you, carrot-head!” called a voice from trees. A slender woman leaped out of the branches and landed gracefully on the ground before the swordsman and Faye. “I’m here for the money on your head, darling.”

Faye looked up at the man on top of her. Money? This man had a bounty on his head? She pushed the young man off her. He got off, but glared tensely at the woman. His hand gripped the hilt of his sword.

“Oh, who’s this?” the woman said, walking over to Faye and inspecting her with her hand on her chin. “You don’t seem to be an outlaw.” She looked over at the swordsman. “You really shouldn’t walk around with innocents, you know. Someone could get hurt.”

“What do you mean by tha- ” Faye started towards her, but the swordsman’s arm flew out to block her way.

“Is that a challenge?”

“Hmm? Yes, I suppose it is.”

The man drew his sword. It was a katana, but it was in terrible condition. It was worn and chipped away. It didn’t look particularly intimidating.

“Ha! What can you do with a dull blade like that?” the woman mocked. Faye’s heart sank a little, for she had been thinking upon similar lines. The man didn’t answer with words, but with his sword.

For a second, Faye thought he had vanished altogether. But then he appeared again where the woman was standing. A second later, and the woman was flying through the air. She didn’t have a chance to react, and Faye didn’t even see what happened. The woman hit a tree, knocking leaves from its branches, and collapsed on the ground. The man walked calmly toward her and knelt down. He examined her a little bit, and then got back up.

“She’s unconscious,” he said simply. He sheathed his sword, and began walking again. Faye stood there, slightly slack-jawed for a second, and then realized what was happening.

“H-hey! What was that? Who is she? Are you really just going to leave her here?” she called after him. She couldn’t believe he was just walking away. He stopped, and turned his head.

“I have nothing to do with her. I have completed her challenge. There is no reason for me to be involved with her any longer. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a place I need to go.” He started walking once more. Faye stared after him. An outlaw? No way. That was impossible. There was a strange, tugging feeling in her chest. He was just leaving, but she couldn’t stand it. She went after him.

“Why do you insist on following me?” the young man asked the girl at his heels. She had been boring a hole in his back with her eyes for a while now.

“Perhaps I’m not following you, but just heading towards the village. I do live there, you know. I hear swordsmen are mostly nomads, but you must have lived somewhere at one point, right? Where do you come from?”

“The city,” he said simply. He had a habit, it seemed, of answering questions quite basically, or not answering them at all. But Faye wasn’t really listening for an explanation. The city! Oh wow. You might never guess that from the way he was dressed, which was quite traditional, whereas people from the city wore very modern clothing. That modern kind of clothing was rare around here, and vice versa. The city was almost like another world. It was very rare to see a city person in the country – so rare that Faye had never really seen one herself. She had seen people who had been to the city, even people who had lived there a year or two. But never had she seen anyone who was born and raised there. So she asked him if he had. He said yes.

This almost stopped her in her tracks. Were there really swordsmen trainers in the city? Almost unbelievable. She had heard that they only lived in far away, secluded places. The city was fairly far away, but certainly not secluded. It was so well known that no one even bothered to call it by its real name, which was The City of Thorn. There were plenty of swordsmen in the city, it was known, but Faye had never heard about any swordsmen trainers. So she asked him about it. He didn’t answer.

They continued without a word, but then Faye realized she still didn’t know this man’s name. She knew now if she asked, she probably wouldn’t get an answer. “…If you aren’t going to tell me your name, I’ll give you one.”

The swordsman stopped. Faye almost ran into him. “What?” he asked. There was an odd note in his voice.

“A name. I’ll give you one.” He turned his head to look at her. His expression was strange. It was a mixture of sorrow and a desperate longing. His gaze intimidated Faye. His pale eyes drilled into her. “…Thorn. That’s your name,” Faye told him, hesitant. For a while the swordsman continued to look at her, but then his expression softened. He seemed satisfied, and turned again. They walked the rest of the way to the village in silence.

When they reached the village, many people in the crowd stopped and stared. Some whispered quietly to the person beside them. A few hurried their children inside. Faye thought this was strange. Swordsmen were rare, yes, but was it really so suspicious? Did they know something she didn’t? No, it didn’t seem that way. It was probably the scar. The swordsman in front of her seemed undisturbed by their stares. Faye looked at his back nervously. His face may not show it, but was he bothered? Surely anyone would be, with such a showing of disrespect. But he continued walking, as if not the slightest bit unnerved.

“Where is the best place to buy supplies for a three day journey, Lady Faye?” Faye looked up. She had been watching the ground to avoid the townspeople’s stares.

“Huh? Oh…well, Miss Lawhorn’s shop, I suppose. She has all sorts of things.” Faye thought for a moment. If he was already buying supplies, he wasn’t staying for long. “Hey. Wait, do you have any money?” Thorn took a pouch from his side and tossed it to her. It was heavy. She pulled the string that kept it closed to open it. It was filled to the brim with bronze, silver and gold coins. Where in the world did a traveling swordsman come across such money? She didn’t bother asking him, she wouldn’t get an answer.

Faye led him to Miss Lawhorn’s shop, where Thorn bought ten traveler’s cakes, which were a bland biscuit like food, a flask of water, and some dried meat. Miss Lawhorn, who was a friend of Faye’s, had looked at him nervously when he came in, but then brightened as she saw Faye, and Thorn’s heavy coin purse. She bagged the wares happily, and wished him a good journey as they left the shop.

Thorn then asked about a good place to stay the night, for the sun was beginning to set. Lanterns began to come on. Fireflies hovered about. Faye pointed him in the direction of Johnson’s Inn. He bowed slightly. “My thanks.”

Faye nodded. “No problem.” The two looked at each other for a moment, and then, seeing as there was nothing else to say, Thorn spoke.

“Farewell, Lady Faye.” Faye’s eyes opened in surprise. That’s right. When he left tomorrow, she would probably never see him again. Thorn turned to leave. Faye watched, frozen, as he walked away. Why? Why did it bother her so much? He was practically a stranger. An outlaw, maybe. But…

“I’ll come with you!” Thorn stopped. Faye saw him turn to look at her. Her eyes met his, but then he was lost in the crowd.