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The Game	By : RTietjen Category: A through F > Dragonlance Views: 1956 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own the book(s) that this fanfiction is written for, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 5
- 6
- 7
A week had passed since the Incident, as Irybis insisted on referring to it. Rae had been true to her word and confined her tricks to tried and true, less dangerous acts of mayhem. The three had turned their focus from the Knights and taken to harassing members of the few clerical orders which still walked the streets.
Granted, priests of Chemosh and Zeboim were not noted for their sense of humor, but even Irybis had to admit they were less likely to pull a sword on their tormenters. Even so, Rae was terribly bored, itching for bigger and better prey.
She finally decided to slip away and see what trouble she could find in the District. Curfew was only an hour or so away, but that was one law she had decided to ignore completely. If the patrols got sticky, there was always the rooftops.
She slid into her regular corner booth at the back of the common room. A few minutes later, a scrawny kitchen wench dropped a mug of dark ale in front of her and scurried away.
The Scaly Dog wasn’t the kind of place most people admitted to frequenting. The upper rooms rented for half a steel a night, or three coppers an hour. It was often better to find a place by the fire in the common room if you had to spend the night. The floor usually smelled better than the straw in the mattresses.
The whole place smelled of old pipe smoke, stale beer, and vomit. No food was served in the tavern, although for the right price, one of the serving girls would bring something over from across the street. For the right price, the serving girls would do damn near anything.
But the beer was good. Dark, thick, with a rich undertone of hops. Beer you could chew. The bar owner refused to be bribed into revealing his source. Rae had tried to pry this secret out of him on more than one occasions, and failed.
Tonight, she scanned the crowd, instinctively seeking out both friends and foes. She found neither in the sparse crowd. A few regulars tipped their hats and made snide remarks behind their beer glasses.
She was nothing more than a knights’ brat to most of these men. Her mother - a local whore - had the nerve to get knocked up by some nameless Solamnic lordling. Her mother, an enterprising and surprisingly intelligent whore, had naturally set to extorting a monthly stipend from said lordling in return for her silence. When her mother died, Rae didn’t see any need to inform her benefactor, and continued to receive payments as usual.
Although those payments had ended abruptly a few weeks earlier, Rae wasn’t feeling the crunch yet. Her lifestyle was far from extravagant and she still had plenty of steel stashed away in a few places around the city. The local riff raff had always resented her to a point. They hated that she had enough money to get drunk every night. They hated the way she managed to slide through life without working at it. Showed how little they really knew.
Drifting. That’s what she’d always done. From her earliest memories, she haunted the streets like a ghost trapped in her own body, watching other people live their lives and wishing that she could have what they had. That she could have anything of value. Then she’d met Tristan and Mara. Later Irybis. Her three friends were an island in the sea of nothing her life had become.
The Game had started as a way to kill time in between their other adventures. It soon took over, became their whole reason for living from day to day. For four years, The Game had ruled her life. Every spare moment spent planning the next caper, big or small. The next conquest.
Now Mara had disappeared. Irybis spent the days pacing from one end of their warehouse to the other, muttering to himself. Tristan was talking about leaving Palanthas.
Everything was falling apart.
Rae finished her second brew and ordered a third. She pushed her chair closer to the empty fireplace and farther from the crowd. Even with all the doors and windows propped open, the air inside was stifling.
Halfway through her third glass of beer, Rae saw two men who were not regulars walk into the bar. Although they wore no armor, she knew instantly that they were Knights. Something about the way they stared down their nose at the other patrons, and wrinkled their noses a bit as though they smelled something foul. Then again, maybe they did. This was the Dog.
The two ordered a group of men to vacate the table nearest the door. A short argument ensued. The group slunk out the door, growling insults under their breath as the two knights called one of the serving girls over to wipe down the table. The two took a seat with their backs to the wall, keeping both the door and the crowd in view.
They kept sweeping their eyes from one side of the bar to the other, checking out each patron in turn. Rae felt paranoia rise in her gut. They couldn’t be looking for her. Plan B had taken care of that. She shoved the feeling away and ordered a fourth mug. Perhaps they’d get bored and leave.
As the girl counted out her change, she looked up to find the lighter of the two staring at her. She met his eyes, steady and unafraid. He smiled and motioned for her to join them. She took her change from the girl and turned her chair around. They left a short time later, and she was glad to see them go.
Rae waited until most of the remaining patrons were passed out on the floor by the empty fireplace, killing time by making small talk with two of the serving girls.
“You should stay here. There’s always room.”
Rae shook her head and smiled. “I prefer to sleep in my own bed.”
“Aren’t you afraid, walking the streets after curfew? If you’re caught...”
“Most of the knights are all bluster and no blow. I’m not worried. I do need to leave before the second watch comes on, though. If I’m not home before then, Irybis and Tristan will come looking for me.”
“Be careful.”
“I will,” Rae said, and passed the rest of her steel pieces to the girl. “Take it. Empty pockets make for a smaller target.”
“Thank you. You can take the back door if you like.”
Rae nodded and stepped through the kitchen, out the back door and into the alley behind the Scaly Dog. She started back towards the warehouse, winding through back alleys, over fences, until she was less than a quarter mile from her destination.
This was the most dangerous part of the journey. No one actually lived in this section of the city, not officially. During the day, it was an open air market. At night, it was empty, except for the scrabbling of rats, and dozens of cats which hunted them. Patrols still crossed it at regular intervals, and on a moonlit night like this one...
Rae straightened her shoulders and strolled out into the street, imagining the bustling crowds which would be here during the day. A rat ran across her foot and she kicked it away, muttering a curse. The sound echoed eerily around the open yard. She quickened her pace.
As her leading foot touched the shadows cast by the warehouse, a hand clamped down on her shoulder. Whoever it was spun her around and shoved her against the wall behind her. She opened her mouth to scream, and a hand covered her mouth. His face pressed close to hers, the smell of the bar still clung to him.
She recognized the smiling knight from earlier. Behind him stood his companion, watching the shadows behind them, looking concerned.
“Leir, let her go,” the other man said.
“Shut up Gavin... Out a bit late are we, darling? Don’t suppose we’ve got our papers on us, have we?”
She struggled in his grasp, trying to breathe.
He took his hand off her mouth and she drew in a breath to scream, but he slammed his fist into her solar plexus, forcing the breath from her lungs.
“Let’s be quiet now, shall we? We’ll have plenty of time for that later.”
“Leir, Lord Ariakan won’t like this.”
“Lord Ariakan isn’t here. Go stand watch.”
The other man retreated into the darkness. Her attacker growled something in a language she didn’t understand, then pulled her roughly against his chest.
One of his hands moved to the back of her head, twisting painfully into her hair as he forced his mouth against hers. She felt his fingers digging painfully into her arm. Rae sank her teeth into his bottom lip until she tasted blood. He shoved her back into the wall and struck her across the face.
As he did, he dropped her. Rae slid to her knees, reeling from the force of the blow. Pain exploded in her head as he struck her for a second time. She felt blood running down her face, into her eyes. She felt his hand on her face, wiping away the blood with mock tenderness.
“You going to behave, now, darling, or do I have to rough you up a bit more? I know some women do like it that way.”
As she blinked the blood from her eyes, Rae saw that he had his cock in his hand, hovering near her face.
“I swear,” she growled through clenched teeth, “If you get that thing any closer to me, I will chew it off.”
He laughed.
“Have it your way then, darling,” he slapped her again, then unbuckled his sword belt letting it slide to the ground. She heard him behind her, felt his hands on her hips, shoving her dress over her hips. She scooted away from him. Closer to where he’d dropped the sword, and the dagger which hung from the other side of the belt.
He hauled her back to him, still laughing. She lashed out with her heels, hoping to catch him a glancing blow but she couldn’t get any traction. She felt the stone cutting into her knees, lunged forward again, reaching out, felt her fingers brush the hilt of the knife, wrapped her fingers around the hilt....
He caught her and flipped her over on her back, grinning down at her. She still had hold of the knife and felt the peace strap snap. The man grinned down at her, not yet aware of his own danger.
Rae turned the knife in her hand and swung it up and sideways, heard a meaty thunk followed by a tearing sound and warm blood washed over her hand. His eyes widened and a strangled cry escaped his lips. She kicked and flailed at the man wildly, shoving him off of her.
Rae scrambled to her feet and fled into the dark, away from where the other man had disappeared. She ran without thought, fear driving her back to the only place she’d ever thought was safe. She slammed the door behind her and collapsed to the floor, sobbing.

Irybis and Tristan looked up from their gameboard.
“Gods, Rae, what happened?”
“Someone jumped me in the alley... two of them... oh god I think they were knights... oh god I think I might have killed him...you’ve got to go, you’ve got to get out of here!”
She still had the bloody blade in her hand.
“No one’s going anywhere, Rae. If you didn’t kill him, I’ll finish him off,” Tristan said, heading for the door.
“No, there are patrols oaa over the district. They’ll be here any minute. Go, both of you.”
“No, Rae.”
“Go. If they take all three of us, there won’t be anybody to bust me out. Irybis, make him go!”
“She’s right, Tristan. We can help her more from out here than we can anywhere else. And we will help Rae. We’ll find a way...”
She could hear noise outside, shouting and the clanking of armored men.
“Now!” she shoved Tristan for the stairs. “Go out the roof. I’ll take the back door.” She didn’t wait to see them leave, only bolted for the door.
She heard a deep voice ordering her to stop, ignored it and tried to dive under the three men blocking the alley. Several pairs of hands seized her and hauled her off her feet, she struck out wildly, terror choking her. Somewhere behind or above her, she heard words that sounded like magic and her limbs froze. Her heart pounded against her chest, threatening to break its way out of her rib cage.
A man stepped into the light of the torches, and she found herself looking into a face she had hoped never to see again.
“Remember me, darling?”
It was Ausric Krell.
Rae did something she’d never done in her life. She fainted.
- 5
- 6
- 7
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The Game