Page 13 of Shadows and Flames
Oh, for the love of—I sighed. “We are not here for either of you. Just him. Do you have any goodbyes before I end him?”
Reason flickered in the wife’s swollen eyes as she looked between us. Her shoulders relaxed infinitesimally, her lip trembled. At least the overwhelming scent of fear began to wane. The man in question still reeked of it, mumbling pleas, releasingfat tears as he stared at his family. That couldn’t be helped, though.
The wife remained a trembling statue, expression shifting and hands shaking as she held onto her child. Now that she knew we weren’t here to harm them, though, she didn’t seem inclined to stop us. Very well, then.
I removed the spare dagger I had sheathed to my thigh, blade shining under the moonlight. One plunge into the heart would be sufficient.
As I turned to the bed, an urgent hum reached my awareness, and I hesitated. The child came forward, long braid swishing against their back, dressed in night tunic and trousers. They couldn’t speak, but their intention was clear when they pointed to my weapon.
The wife protested but stayed rooted in place, probably motivated by Tana at her back, as I flipped the pommel toward the child. Watched the resolve shine in their brown eyes.
Instead of taking my kill, I stood beside the head of the bed and pulled the gag from his mouth once again.
Pleas fell. “Please, princess. G-go get help. I need to be here for your mum and you. Grandpa will know what to do, how to help. Run along now and get someone to h-help!”
But the child was already climbing on the bed, mouth set.
The man’s screams came after the first plunge of the dagger. After that, it was a flurry of blood, the woman’s wailing. The child’s determined grunt as they stabbed the man’s groin. Over and over and over.
Red splattered on their face, ruined their tunic. Even then they kept on, seeking their revenge I wouldn’t dream of taking from them. It wasn’t until they let the dagger fall to the soaked mattress, panting with burning stare, that I approached them again.
But they were still with us, still present and not retreating into their mind or the memories that probably haunted them.
The man was barely hanging on. Passed out from shock, most likely, so I ended him swiftly. The blade I conjured plunged between his ribs like sinking toes in sand. The death infected his heart quickly, released a puddle of blood beneath my fist.
Unlike the guard, I let his life force go to waste.
The child, I helped climb off of the bed. They clung to me a moment, when their bare feet met the carpet, holding onto my arms.
The memories threatened to wash me away, then. Made me suck in gasps and blink back tears while this child stared up at me like I was their savior when they’d saved themself.
It was a little wobbly with my stomach tossing and empty, but I managed a smile down at our employer. Kissed their brow.
In their ear, I whispered, “Be well, little one. I know that you will thrive.” This country, luckily, did not mandate a woman marry after losing her husband. Their mother could inherit the wealth, pass it to this child who I would wager was the stronger of the two.
With the proof of my killing blow still clinging to my skin, I dragged my fingertips over their forehead, leaving a warrior’s mark.
“I suppose we don’t need these now,” Tana mused, and the child and I both looked to her. The fingers rolled in her palm like chopped carrots.
The wife watched her child with renewed tears, shocked. She hadn’t known that the child wrote to us. Had been a victim of his cruel words and strikes since before they were born. If they’d told us otherwise, she would be lying beside the corpse, joining him in whatever afterlife awaited humans.
She reached for the child, ignoring the blood and filth, and pulled them into her arms. She muttered apologies, swayed as they clung to each other.
And I tried not to break. I fought like hell to keep the jagged pieces of me together. To not fall to the floor and demand that they burn me with the rest of the bodies. Or turn my own blade on myself.
Tana took a moment while they had theirs, and she ran her palm up and down my spine. Breathed with me. She hadn’t removed her hood, but I held onto her stare. The jade that reminded that I hadn’t losteverything. Everyone.
I blew a concentrated breath from puckered lips. Felt the weight of her touch and my feet beneath me again. I nodded at my cousin. A gesture she returned with a sad crinkle of skin beside her eyes.
Grounding myself into our last tasks was harder. Floating in and out now that the carnage was done. We stepped over bodies and directed the wife and child back to the bedroom. Instructed them to change and wash while we took their soiled clothing—evidence—with us to burn elsewhere.
Freshly bathed and in a clean tunic and trousers, the child stopped us before we could leave and thrust a coin purse into Tana’s hands. When she and I both refused payment, they huffed, stomped their foot to remind us that though they’d known the horrors of life, they were still a child. That they knew what they were about, which was honorable.
So, we sighed and took our payment for ridding this monster from their lives. We instructed them both to barricade furniture against the door once we left so that when reinforcements came, they had a story to tell.
And Tana and I went once again to the forest, taking to the shadows all the way to the inn where we stayed. Her first, thenme, we slipped through the window, boots thumping on the dusty wood floor.
We were still working our way up, replenishing our pockets since we had no access to our accounts this far away from Nethras. Not like I was touching that coin, anyway.
