Kets, eyes to the ground, the heavy weight of the hammer weighing her down, crashed headfirst into someone. She almost dropped the hammer, and as she regained her balance, she glanced behind her, gave a short wave and muttered an apology under her breath.She took another step forward, but that same person grabbed the cuff of her uniform to prevent her from taking another step.‘Sorry, girl, but a sorry is far, far from enough.’ It was a man’s voice, edged with the signs of grand nobility. He let go of her cuff, grabbed her shoulder, and spun her around to face him. His eyes were cold and cruel, and Kets bit at her tongue as he inspected every corner of her body. The man was unnaturally tall, almost twice as tall as Kets, with vibrant orange hair and a face contorted like a vicious tiger. His eyes lingered on the badge of the Amber Army.‘Amber Army, eh? A vicious smile crept over his mouth, demented, and far different from Cracker’s. ‘What’s a rat like you doing here? Has Stag made h
Ya …Ha …Ha …Pain. Every punch that hit her filled her with nothing but pain. Every second was spent suffering in it or fearing the next crash of it. But still, she refused to cry. She refused to do anything but stare Lion down. She could not let him have the upper hand. She could not forfeit her soul. She refused to give him any pleasure or catharsis. She refused to let Stag, the person who had given her a home, and sheltered her from all woes, down.‘All you can do is stare at me, but you can’t do anything else. Is this the best that Stag has to offer me?’She said nothing and glowered at him.‘What can I expect from such a hopeless and fickle man. He leads the worst unit in the Royal Army. He is a continuous embarrassment to us all. Anyone with half a brain wants to see him chased out from the army. What a pathetic excuse for a captain … no, what a pathetic excuse for a human.’Kets jammed her fist into his wrist and wriggled herself free in the moment of shock. Lion’s insults to
There was an air of silence that passed between them. Kets kept her lips shut and her eyes intent, staring at her legs. Every now and then, her legs would wobble, and she would give a brief smile, but it seemed as if there was a barrier that prevented her from gaining her full control back. Locke kept by her side as Stag paced the alleyway.‘Well, at least we won’t have to return to Justisar for a while. That’s a positive,’ Stag said.‘Did you sort out everything in the Royal Army Office?’ Kets asked.‘Sort of,’ Locke said. ‘They could not entirely verify my identity, because, well, I’m from city in the middle of nowhere, which is now destroyed. Stag made a good case to them, but I think they were quite reluctant to have me officially join.’‘That’s because you’re joining my squad,’ Stag said. ‘If you were to join anyone else’s team, everything would be over in an instant. Oh well, at least this is one less thing on my mind. I’m eager to get back to the Amber Hall as soon as possible,
But what if they’re right? I’m also suspicious of her now that I can hear their accusations and their claims.Then what am I to do?The woman took another step back and a knife, coated with blood, fell out from underneath her uniform. Her face, which was pale, turned a stark white, as the horror of evidence fell to the ground. The crowd, up in arms from their accusations, looked like rabid dogs in that moment.This must be hers!Locke turned to Stag. ‘Stag, we can’t let them get her.’ A look of pure shock had stuck to Kets’ face since they had arrived here. She
Rag returned with his arms laden with plates of a delicious meal. He set them down on the table and smiled as Locke and the other’s eyes lit up at the sight of the meal. It was a mouth-watering mixture of medium-rare steak drizzled with tomatyne source, with a side of salad.‘Eat up, eh. And Stag, make sure you pay this time.’Stag broke out into laughter when Rag returned behind the counter. ‘Does he really think that I am going to pay?’ Quite elegantly, betraying Locke’s perception of him, Stag cut a slice of the steak and placed it in his mouth, wiping his lips with the serviette when he was done. ‘Carla, I think you have a confession to make, don’t you think?’Carla gave a stiff and curt nod, keeping her eyes down to her laps.‘Well, spit it out.’Carla refused to speak.‘I found you with a knife soaked in blood. Out with it, or you will regret it.’Still, she did not speak.‘And your family will regret it, too.’Carla’s eyes widened with shock. ‘F-fine. I did it. I cut their neck
Kets stepped out of the tavern, dragging her hammer by her side, then dropped it when the weight had exhausted her too much. She knelt by the man, and rifled through his pockets, searching for some form of identity or clue to discover who could have sent him to attack them.Inside the tavern, Stag stepped forward and grabbed the front of the other man’s tunic. Locke stood by his side, taking in deep breaths. He felt proud of himself, and how quickly he had reacted and called on his fire. He did not want to think of what could have happened if he did not meet the attacker’s energy ball in time.Stag hoisted the man to his limp feet, staring down at the rags and bruises that covered the man from head to toe. Stag had very rarely felt such wrath in his life. ‘Who sent you.’The man said nothing.‘Who sent you!’ Stag repeated, slamming the man against the wall.‘To the Coordinator,’ the man said, a sly grin creeping up his mouth, ‘next time, bring live bombs. Sylderitha!’ His body glowed
They stepped outside and found Kets next to a crystal, her nose pressed to a note.‘What’s that, Kets?’ Stag walked up to her and crouched down by her side.‘I found it in his pocket.’Stag yanked the note out of her hand. ‘Why were you rifling through his pockets?’‘I wanted to see if he had any valuables on him. I only found the note, then he turned into crystal before I could find anything else. Ya ha ha.’Stag read through the note. ‘It’s a note detailing the plan to kill me. Either the man who wrote this did not have any other devious plots after this assassination attempt, or he just did not write it down here.’‘Is it signed?’ Grindel asked.Stag shook his head.Smart idea, Elandra, but how could we get something solid like a crystal into a syringe?Melt a crystal? With our fire? There’s no way we can get it hot enough to do that.
When they returned to Rag and Tags, Rag (and Tags) were not pleased to see them at all. They did not want to see any more harm come to their establishment, but it was the years of warm and unlikely friendship that they shared with Stag that had them welcome them into their tavern and lend them a room.‘I’ll send some money over for your reparations,’ Stag said, patting Rag on the shoulders.‘Oh, Stag, you don’t need to make up so many lies. We know you’ll never pay us for anything.’Stag smirked. ‘This time I mean it. I owe a friend who always has my back when I need it.’Rag could hardly believe it, and he was smiling from ear to ear as he showed them to their rooms. ‘Two beds here, one for you and the boy, and the girl can have a room to herself.’Stag shook his head. ‘They’ll both be sleeping here. I’ll be keeping watch.’‘I thought you dealt with the assassins.’‘It seems that this a deeper problem than I first thought. I thought they were just petty assassins, with half-hearted m