Chyna Rhalin - A Background

[Chyna Rhalin]

Chyna Rhalin – Part 1 (Many years ago)

“Go find daddy and tell him dinner is ready.”

Chyna raced through the house. She loved this game she played with her parents. She knew her father hid in a different spot each time, but she always found him. Laughing, he would scoop her up and carry her out to the dinner table, and carefully put her in her chair.

Chyna’s parents had not been able to have another child, so they devoted themselves to her giving her everything she desired.

She was happier than any little girl had a right to be.

Giggling, she picked up her fork. When she looked at her plate, it was covered in blood. Blood dripped from the over-full plate and spilled onto the table, then continued onto the floor, where it pooled into a shiny puddle.

Confused, she looked up at her parents. Their blank eyes looked back at her. The blood was dipping from the gash in each of their throats.

She woke screaming.

Gasping from the nightmare, she sensed the change in the room.

Something was wrong, she could feel it. She cautiously looked around the dirty room. She felt the presence although she couldn't see anyone in the darkness. She kept her breathing even, waiting, listening. The sound of the footsteps were almost imperceptible, but she could hear them. She knew this room like the back of her hand.

Chyna quietly slipped her hand under her pillow and wrapped it around the hilt of the dagger.

When she heard the footsteps get close to her bed, she jumped up startling the intruder, and landed behind him, dagger pressed to his throat.

"Chyna! Wait!" the man gasped.

She paused. "Simon?"

The dagger dropped to the floor.

"What are you doing here? I could have killed you!"

"You were screaming. It was the nightmare again, wasn't it?"

When she didn't answer he said, "someone is going to hear you, then we will both die."

She looked at him, eye flashing angrily. "Fine, I'll leave then." She started putting her meager belongings into her pack.

Since her parent’s death, she had constantly been on the move; never staying in one place very long. During her travels, she had met Simon. They connected, so she stayed with him far longer than she intended. But it was now time to leave. Simon was distracting her from what she needed to do.

She had been on the hunt for the men who killed her parents.

She had come close several times, but they always managed to elude her.

It had been three years since that fatal night. Three long years, since she had watched her parents being slaughtered. She had been twelve at the time. Not much more than a child still.

Her mother seemed to know what was about to happen, she forced Chyna into the cabinet and told her no matter what she saw or heard she was not to come out. Chyna had stayed there for two days, afraid that the men knew she was there and would be back. Hunger and thirst forced her out of hiding. She grabbed what she could and ran from the only home she ever knew, and the bodies of her parents which were lying where they fell.

She never looked back.

She would never forget the faces of the three men who destroyed her life that day. And although she had not once held a weapon, she vowed to find them and kill them.

To be continued...

 

[Chyna Rhalin]

Chyna Rhalin – part 2

For several years she searched, and trained and tracked, always keeping to herself; always staying in the shadows.

Those years had been hard for a very young girl on her own with no skills. She often had to run from danger. And always she trained with any weapon she could hold in her hand. She trained every skill she thought would bring her to her ultimate goal.

She stole food and anything else she could get her hands on to survive. What she couldn’t steal, she bartered for. She got adept at hiding in the shadows, “overhearing” bits of information. Information that people would pay handsomely for.

And every day she learned something new. Sometimes about one of the weapons she managed to steal and work with, sometimes about some person who interested her. She discovered, the more important a person thought they were, the more they would pay for her information. However, the more dangerous they were as well. She learned this the hard way, and nearly paid for that bit of information with her life.

That was when she met Simon.

She was in some tavern, sitting in the shadows, nursing a drink. Just listening to the chatter around her. Taverns were the best place to gather information; drinking tended to loosen lips. She had dropped her guard, and allowed the drone of voices to lull her into a daze.

"You!"

Blinking she looked up into the eyes of the most powerful man in town. She had done a small job for him recently.

He grabbed her by the arm and hauled her out of her chair.

"I have unfinished business with you." He tightened his grip on her arm, causing her to emit an involuntary gasp of pain.

"I gave you what you asked for."

He pulled her close to his face. "You think that's all? You work for me now."

To Chyna, Simon was like a white knight swooping in to rescue her.

"Excuse me, sir." Simon exuded confidence, smiling at my captor. "I believe the young lady would work better if you didn't break her arm."

With a growl, the man tossed her into a corner. Pointing at her he said, "You will come to my office tomorrow. Do NOT disobey me. I will find you if you dare to run."

She sat where she landed, rubbing her arm and blinking back tears.

Simon offered her his hand and helped her up. Leaning close to her ear he whispered, "It would be best if you left quickly. Meet me at the old tree at the edge of town."

She quickly gathered her belongings and without a backward glance left the tavern.

She and Simon quickly became an almost unbeatable force. Between the two of them, they managed to amass quite a tidy sum of money. If she wasn't hiding from a man that surely wanted her dead by now, she would think her life was almost satisfactory.

But now, it was time to leave. She had learned all she could from Simon, and although she had come to care for him, she had a mission to complete.

To be continued...