[Light fragments 430/3000]
So the kills added up
Several minutes after she had escaped Rin smiled through gritted teeth, the definitely-not-an-arrow lodged in her back burning like a brand. Thick, warm liquid seeped into her clothes, soaking her skin, but she forced herself to focus on her breathing. She just had to make it to the outskirts,to where Nephis's people were. They might help.
Stumbling over cracked stone and debris, she finally reached the signs of life, humans carving shelter in the bones of a forgotten, ancient city. The stares followed her, heavy and unreadable.
Rin Lunar. Heiress of a very dead clan but an honorable one. And thanks to Nephis's loose tongue, her secret identity wasn't so secret anymore. The way people looked at her now… it was different.
Then came the voices. Shouts. A woman rushed forward, catching Rin before her knees gave out. She was half-dragged, half-carried inside, then buried under a pile of musty fabric just as Gunlag's men stormed in, demanding to know if anyone had seen her.
Lucky me. I'm getting popular.
The denials came swift and sharp. No one had seen her.
As Rin lay there, struggling to stay conscious, her foggy mind pieced it together, the woman who'd pulled her to safety was the same one she'd freed from a cage months ago. And the guard who'd thanked her for bringing his lover home? He was here too, standing just beyond the open door. Their eyes met, a silent exchange passing between them before he turned away, moving on without a second glance.
Good karma. Thank you so much.
Her luck ran out in the next few moments.
Hands seized her, lifting her onto a rough wooden table. Before she could protest, someone shoved a strip of leather between her teeth. Confusion flickered, then came the sickening sound of tearing flesh, and with it, a pain so blinding her vision whited out.
"Mhhh—fuck!" The groan escaped through clenched teeth, muffled by the leather.
A flask appeared in front of her, swaying like a taunt. She snatched it, took a burning swig homemade, and strong enough to strip paint before coughing violently and shoving it back.
Then came the liquid. Splashed across her wound, it seared like molten iron. Her eyes watered, breath hissing between clenched teeth
Another sensation small, precise pokes. And the feeling of flesh being pulled by string
Stitching.
A minute later hands worked swiftly, winding bandages tight around her upper torso.
Trembling, she managed a shaky
"Thanks"
before they led her to a small, dim room. A bed of furs lay on the floor, gods, it looked like heaven and the second her body hit them, she was gone, swallowed by the dark.
*****
Rin woke with a hiss as pain lanced through her back at the slightest movement.
Night had swallowed the sun, and the small outpost was bathed in the flickering glow of scattered torches, enough light to navigate by, but not so much as to draw the attention of prowling horrors. She pulled on a borrowed cloak and slipped silently into the cold night air.
Outside, she found the woman from earlier sitting on a rough-hewn bench with a small group, her lover among them. Rin stiffened. He was still one of Gunlag's guards.
"Relax," Jess said, catching her wary glance. "He won't do anything." She patted the space beside her with a grin.
Rin exhaled, stepping closer. "Thanks for the save earlier... uh, Miss?"
"Jess," the woman supplied, amusement dancing in her eyes. "And that idiot there is Toby. Though surely you, Rin Lunar, heiress of the illustrious Lunar Clan, should be addressing us as lowly peasants"
Rin deadpanned. "Yep, I'm sure my very, very dead clan will hold you to that. Besides, they weren't ever big on formalities."
Jess laughed, Rin looked at the bottle on the table
"Yeah that's the same one, it was a special mix, one of the ladies here likes to make the stuff"
until it circled back to Rin.
"The whole place is buzzing about you slipping free from Gunlag's castle," Jess said, her tone turning serious. "There were... rumors. That he was keeping you there to turn you into one of his..."
She didn't finish.
"Well, glad I escaped, huh?"
Rin forced a smirk, steering the conversation away from darker paths.
A boy shuffled past, his head low, and the moment might have slipped into uneasy silence if not for the four red-robed figures gliding down the path in eerie unison. Rin yanked her hood deeper over her face, slumping against Jess as if unconscious.
The cultists passed close, scanning the area with hollow-eyed scrutiny. Finding nothing, they moved on, trailing the boy like wolves after prey. Rin tensed, ready to bolt after them but Jess's hand clamped down on her wrist.
"Not worth it," Jess muttered. "If they find out who fought back, they disappear into the dark."
Rin's smile sharpened. With a flick of her wrist, a katana sheath materialized in her grip. Her blood-red eyes gleamed as she met Jess's gaze.
"Then let's make them fear the shadows instead."
The hunters thought themselves untouchable.
But real hunters always watch where they step.
The last man in line never heard her approach. One moment, he was scanning the alley; the next, a hand clamped over his mouth, steel punched through his ribs, and darkness swallowed him whole.
Ahead, the remaining three had cornered the boy in a dead-end alley. Their voices slithered through the gloom, join or die. Two loomed over the trembling kid while the third guarded the entrance, eyes darting for threats.
Then she appeared.
A lone woman, hobbling past with a limp, cloak tattered, posture broken. The cultist barely glanced at her, just another cripple in a dying place.
no threat.
Until the razor's edge parted his flesh with a lover's cruel precision.
A wet gasp escaped him as his hands flew to his throat, fingers slipping against the hot rush of blood. His legs buckled, sending him crashing to the earth. The world narrowed, the coppery tang flooding his mouth, the muffled shouts of his brothers-in-arms twisting into distant echoes. Their faces, frozen in shock as they whirled toward him, were the last thing his fading vision knew before the dark swallowed him whole.
Alarm.
Panic.
Fear.
"Where's Jarek?!" one hissed.
The other snarled, blade raised. "Come out and fight us, you cowards!"
The wind wailed through the narrow alley, sharp with the metallic tang of blood and the damp chill of weathered stone. Silence pressed in, heavy and suffocating, until even the darkness seemed to shift, breathing, stirring.
Then, from the inky black, a shadow peeled itself free. It landed with a sound no louder than a sigh, a phantom weight settling at the alley's far end. Slowly, too slowly, it unfurled, a shapeless void given motion. Only the barest ripple in the air betrayed its presence, a ghost of movement where none should be.
And then
Eyes.
Twin points of crimson, smoldering like the last gasp of a dying fire in the endless night. Watching.
"This place is protected."
The voice was soft, almost amused. The eyes tilted, just slightly, as if considering the trembling men before them.
One of the last cultist's breath hitched. His companion, foolhardy with fear, let out a strangled cry and charged, blade flashing
There was no clash of steel.
Only the wet schlick of parting flesh. A gurgle. Then the heavy thump of a body hitting the ground.
The remaining man scrambled back, boots slipping in his fallen comrade's blood. He tripped, hands slapping against the cobblestones as he crab-crawled away from those eyes those terrible, burning eyes.
Then
Sparks.
A blade dragged lazily along the wall, steel kissing stone in a trail of flickering light.
Sparks.
The firelight caught her then just for an instant.
A woman.
Drenched in blood, katana gleaming in her grip.
Rin.
Alive.
Here.
He ran.
It was strange before the woman stepped into the dim glow of the pathway, she stopped at the alley's edge.
Just… watching.
As he fled, he dared a glance back.
Nothing but those eyes.
Still staring.
The boy hadn't moved. He stood frozen, wide-eyed, as the bloodstained woman knelt in front of him.
"Why'd you let him live?" he whispered.
She smiled.
"Sometimes, you need to send a bigger message."
The kid swallowed hard. "Are you an angel?"
A rough chuckle escaped her as she scooped him up. "Nope. Just a deranged teenager in a world filled with death."
He hesitated, then asked, "Are you going to protect this place? Like Lady Nephis?"
She paused.
Nephis had trained these people, hardened them, but they weren't her or Nephis, They weren't warriors. Not really.
And if she walked away now… who would stand between them and the dark?
Nephis... scratch that, the whole cohort wasn't here right now
She ruffled the kid's hair, her voice firm.
"I sure am, kid."
She definitely pulled a stitch though and needed Jess to fix it