[ ––––––––– Ϫ ––––––––– ]

Noemi was more than satisfied with co-operation. It wasn't just her protecting the two, but rather her clearing the dungeon, while Zahar could take care of himself and his wife in unfavorable situations. Thanks to that, Noemi could ask both companions to wait, while she scouted areas several hundred meters ahead.

Noemi strained her eyes in a frontal direction. She recognized the boy from before, he was standing idly, soaked entirely in blood. Its smell was new to the girl. Not only that, but he achieved the impossible and somehow outran the girl.

Noemi was in a better mood after learning how to co-operate with humans, so she decided to use the situation to her advantage and gather some information. Mostly, she was curious and upset about losing the race to someone of such a meager appearance. She approached the boy, but he still paid no attention to her. He was looking with lowered head in a single spot, like behind the wall far away.

“Hey.” - Noemi called.

“...” - The boy turned his head and looked at the girl, his expression was unchanged and impassive like earlier, but there was deep, hardly noticeable pain in his eyes.

“More than a day and you're alive. Well done.” - Noemi wasn't sure what to respond after she ditched the guy, so she started with awkward praise.

“...”

“Tough day?” - Noemi couldn't crack the boy's mind. - “You do look a bit more like a warrior right now.” - The girl asked herself where all the blood could come from. It looked unnatural like it wasn't the combat, but a novice butchery.

The boy spotted two silhouettes approaching Noemi. He looked like he recognized them, but paid no attention to it. He finally responded. - “Leave me alone.” - It was cold and resolute.

“Wait. How did you get here before...” - Noemi grabbed the boy by a shoulder as he turned away, but he violently pulled it away straight off. It was as unusual as If he was being branded by a hot iron.

“DON'T TOUCH ME.” - The boy screamed angrily, losing all composure, but after he realized it, he recovered in a second, just calmly repeating. - “Don't touch me.”

Noemi was stunned and didn't utter a single word, she simply allowed the man to leave.

[ ––––––––– ҉҉҉ ––––––––– ]

“Who was that?” - Zahar walked up to Noemi and asked.

“Another challenger.” - The girl sighed and reluctantly replied.

“It was Arath, the fugitive sororicider.” - Delza replied in a weak, hoarse voice from behind the Zahar.

“Fugitive sororicider? What does it mean?” - Noemi turned to Delza, but the woman just lowered her sight, then clutched her hood and hid her face, and moved behind Zahar.

“It means he murdered his own sister.” - Zahar replied with a serious grimace.

“Sorry, murdered?” - Noemi still lacked knowledge of basic concepts.

“Killed. The victim was found dead nailed to a wheel over a tavern. She was apparently drugged to endure six hours of torture and rape, then her corpse was put on the display after the perpetrator was done.”

Noemi's blood boiled, she recalled the desecrated shrine. She knew enough but wanted to inquire further. - “You speak words unknown to my tribe. What do you mean by torture and rape?”

In astonishment, with a questioning face, Zahar looked at the woman, but she didn't react. Thus, he knew that she was serious and answered.

“You want the short or the long story?”

“Don't skip any details.”

“By torture, I mean that the victim's injuries were listed as numerous cut wounds, burns and biting marks, dislocations, shattered bones, crushed fingers, ripped fingernails, gouged eyes, skinning, removal of the scalp, limbs were partially devoured by rats... ” - Noemi shuddered and began to tear up, but she didn't ask the man to stop. She had thought that she had lost the last bits of her innocence, but it was far from over. - “...and by rape, I mean he...”

[ ––––––––– Ϫ ––––––––– ]

Noemi regretted hearing the last part. Even If she herself asked, the girl couldn't understand why Zahar was so eager to explain all the details. After the escort would be done, Noemi was confident that she would want nothing to do with the man.

But that was an unimportant issue right now. She knew the taboo codex. There was no mention of rape or well-defined torture, only the sin of kinslaying. She knew that the worst possible punishment for that, to members of her tribe, was branding, but in this case, she would make an exception. She no longer considered humans or intelligent humanoids as equals, it wasn't part of her codex. They were something different and could be judged by different rules.

She would be purging the evil out of that demon in a fire until he gives his last breath.

Noemi chased Arath until a three-way crossing. Apparently, the man was standing there, waiting for them, but there was a catch. A broad pressure plate in front of him.

“Don't make any sudden moves” - Arath spoke, devoid of emotions.

Noemi was furious, but she controlled herself. She knew not to judge before establishing the truth.

“Are you Arath?”

“Yes.”

“Did you kill your sister!?”

“I did.”

Once again, Noemi was in a state that she couldn't comprehend. How could the man be so unbothered about self-incrimination? He just coldly admitted it, staring her right in the eyes. Noemi couldn't stand that expressionless face, it was demeaning, like he treated his victim not even like an animal, but an object to dispose of.

Zahar and Delza caught up, Noemi was clutching her spear so hard that splinters got in her hand.

“I had to kill their guide too...” - Arath looked at the duo and added with no visible remorse.

Noemi didn't let him finish. She lost her composure and barged right into an arrow trap. Realizing the mistake, the girl had to put her arms on guard and evade. It drastically slowed her down, but the whizzing arrows ricocheted off her scales or caused only a few minor scratches.

At the same time, Arath ignited a smoke bomb and tossed it in front of him. A dark cloud obscured Noemi's vision, but she could hear the steps of a running man to her side. She aimed for the target, but all she could hear was a hard 'CLING'. The tip of her spear had struck a pan hanging on the boy's backpack.

“They’ll want to murder you.” - These were the last words that Arath whispered.

[ ––––––––– ֎ ––––––––– ]

After the dark fog dispersed, Noemi spotted her companions coughing and with swollen, red, and teary eyes.

Noemi tracked the smell, but it stopped at the wall. She searched thoroughly, but couldn't find any way to follow Arath. He escaped and Noemi wouldn't forgive herself. Her holy warrior mission was to prevent evil from spreading, to make this right.

She couldn't.

“We will find him. We must. Don't worry.” - Zahar, still coughing, approached Noemi.

Noemi hissed, pissed off. - “How!? We don't know where he is heading.”

“Zurno. That's the only place he can go.”

Noemi criticized herself for not calming down and thinking reasonably. It was so obvious, they had to be heading in the same direction. She was sure that nobody would ever want and be able to live in these canals.

[ ––––––––– ֎ ––––––––– ]

Noemi and Zahar fought their way through tunnels filled with skeletal undead and a single stronger ghoul, everything went smooth and easy, but Delza started coughing blood.

Noemi stopped and asked - “Is everything alright?” - but Delza didn't want to answer.

“We will somebody to help her once we get to the town.” - Zahar responded instead of her, but he looked like he had doubts in mind.

After a few hours, the situation happened again, but this time Delza vomited.

The journey continued, but Zahar started staring at Noemi very often. She didn't want to confront him, but she remembered the words of Arath, which had planted a seed of doubt in her. However, she couldn't find a reason why would someone with a sick wife want to get rid of an important asset to their survival, so she dismissed these thoughts and forgot them instantly.

Delza was getting worse, her skin became more of a dark, deep shade of yellow and her eyes were jaundiced too. Zahar was helping Delza to walk, but she collapsed halfway through the current corridor and began to frantically cough out blood. She had trouble breathing.

Zahar spoke to Noemi in a steady voice.

“The city is just behind the corner, you take care of her and I'll call for help.”

Noemi nodded in agreement and turned her back, then crouched to help the lying Delza, who was averting her face to be hidden under the hood. She was unusually still compared to after having an attack. Noemi's instincts kicked in, her senses sharpened and time slowed down. Her ears picked up a whoosh of air and she lowered her head at an instant. An ax swung right above her head, cutting some loose hairs.

Noemi rotated as quickly as she could and counterattacked at Zahar's legs, wounding a left ankle slightly. At that moment, a warm sensation spread around her back of her waist, then a wet liquid began dripping down her tail.

Delza had wounded Noemi. Protruding from the wound, there was a crimson, crystal, spiked icicle with a sinister orange glow in its core. Noemi slapped the woman away, with full strength, and Delza landed on the ground.

Noemi then moved away, to the wall and assumed a defensive stance.

“No!!!” - Delza shouted in despair, in a hoarse voice.

Zahar began speaking. - “No hard feelings, it's you or her.”

Noemi ignored it. She focused because she has started to lose a lot of blood.

Delza's coughing intensified with every second, her breath was uneven and short. It was obvious that it could be her last moments. She teared up and desperately looked at Noemi, like begging her to just give up and die, while Zahar cautiously tried to close the distance. Noemi just responded with a hateful, disgusted gaze directed at the now dying Delza.

At the last act of desperation, Delza started licking drops of Noemi's blood off the filthy floor. It didn't end well due to a gag reflex, she threw up more blood and collapsed on the floor.

Zahar stood there, dumbstruck. He quickly moved to Delza, while being careful about Noemi. However, the girl was too far and too badly injured to pose the danger or strike. Zahar lifted Delza's face and realized that she's lifeless, then cursed under his nose. He raised and prepared to swing at Noemi, but the girl hissed warningly and zoned him effectively.

Zahar was angered, but the inability to vent off made him cool down and think the matters through. He looked at the lizard's wound, realized it won't heal, and simply declared before leaving.

“You're dead anyway.”

[ ––––––––– ֎ ––––––––– ]

Noemi slid down the wall as her legs were barely able to stand. She looked at the pool of blood under her, it was expanding at a slow pace. After a few minutes, her hearing was no longer keen and she had trouble focusing, her vision became darker and blurry.

Noemi got terrified, really, really terrified. She was becoming cold. She was about to die. Surrounded by filth, the stench of feces, and deprived of a proper burial. She knew that she would definitely turn into an undead, cursed to wander for who knows how long. She teared up and began to sob. Of all the bad things, her biggest fear was that she would die alone.

“No!” – Noemi was pale, but regained full consciousness and screamed with eyes full of tears, she wasn't going to go out without fighting.

“Don't overexert yourself.” – Noemi heard a voice in front of her. It was Arath, he was crouching in a safe distance and holding a knife in his hand.

Noemi knew it was over, she gripped a spear, lifted it, and pointed at the boy with the last ounces of her strength. A fierce, fiery, hostile gaze met Arath's eyes, through gritted teeth female uttered a firm statement - “I. Refuse. To. Die.” - and collapsed.