A young noblewoman

Looking up to face the person who had spoken to him, Theron was pleasantly surprised to find out that the silky, articulate voice belong to a woman who’s looks matched her speech.

Standing almost six feet tall, with her magnificently shaped body crowned by a full head of golden blonde hair and a face that surely struck most of those who looked at her for the first time with a mixture of both lust and awe, this woman practically oozed of fine breeding and good aristocratic stock.

It took Theron a moment to gulp down the ale in his mouth and to catch his breath, but he somehow managed to sound reasonably calm as he let out an inquisitive “Yes?”
“May I join you?” The young woman, clad in tight green breeches and an exquisitely crafted leather jerkin, asked him. There was little chance of anyone turning down a question like that from a woman like her, and Theron did barely have time to nod his head before the woman was seated opposite to him.

“How may I help you?” Theron asked after a few seconds of silence.
The woman might be beautiful, but there was a steely quality to those large, blue eyes of hers as she locked her gaze on Theron.
“I understand that you are travelling through this country. I am willing to pay you good money if you were to serve as my guide.”
The woman was direct and to the point, even if her demeanour implied a certain degree of haughtiness. Still, Theron had an easier time putting up with that breed of aristocrats than the scheming sort who would commend a man one second and leave him to rot in the wilderness in the next. The straight-to-the-point and no pussying about sort might annoy him at times, but they were dependable followers of classic chivalrous ethics.

“And where would you wish me to guide your party?” Theron inquired.
“There is no party, only me. And I am bound for Faeria.”
So, the noblewoman was heading in the same direction as he. That was nice.
But why would she be in need of a guide? The road to Faeria might be flooded right now, but the journey would be an easy one as soon as the flooding ended.

“Faeria? Why would you need a guide for that journey?”
“Because I intend to travel there via the borderlands.” Her reply was carried out with the same calm tone of voice.
“The borderlands? Without any escort?” The borderlands, just north of the big rivers, was not good country. It was the thoroughfare for the raiders, some human and some not, which came down from the northern wastes. Few settlers lived there, and their villages were far between and well entrenched.

“Please, I have rented the northernmost room upstairs. If you are interested in taking my offer, come up there within the hour and I’ll tell you why I must take the road less travelled by.”
Her voice had been slightly softer at the end, but she still carried the same air of pride and determination as before when she now rose up and made her way through the crowded inn.
She left Theron to ponder over her proposal, while he finished his tankard of ale.

A noblewoman travelling on her own was a rare thing in itself, but Theron had never before heard of one deciding to head out into the borderlands without any other escort than a guide.
There was good chance that she was involved in something extraordinary.

It took ten minutes before Theron got up from his seat and followed the woman’s path through the inn.