“Rein. Stay with me okay? It’s just a little scratch, nothing to worry about!”

“Are you kidding me? There’s a hole in my torso… It stings!”

“What do you mean hole?”

“Yeah ugh… Never mind, fine mess this.”

They kept on running. Following shortly behind, the sound of boots and chainmail. The assassination had failed, and all they had achieved was the retrieval of a stack of documents whose content had stunned Rein but for a moment, and that was when the arrow had struck him. The wound was deep and leaking blood despite her best attempts at plugging him up on the fly.

“Think you could stop bleeding? You’re leading them right to us.”

“Sure… ack. No problem… I’ll just… Just…”

“Hey, eyes ope…”

Suddenly Rein’s body became dead weight, and with nothing to keep them both going, they both keeled over and landed heavily on the stone road. She climbed to her feet, gave him a few slaps and checked his pulse. Horrified, she found it weak. She took hold of his arms, and pulled him into a backstreet, a red stripe drawing up behind him.

“Wake up!” She hit his cheek, and to her relief, he seemed to come to.

“Just go…”

“Sorry. I can’t. I still owe you for dragging me out of that mess way back.”

“Yeah?” He coughed. “We’re even.”

“That way! Follow the trail!” Shouting voices just a little down the street. The footsteps drew closer and closer. She stood and drew her blades, ready to ambush the pursuers.

Before she could act, a series of explosions and screaming echoed down the street. She peeked around the corner to see two familiar faces looking in her direction.

“Tili! Indas!”

“Hi Carys! Sorry we’re late, we got held up at our location.”

“It’s good to see you, but Rein’s in pretty bad shape… I need to find… Huh?” She turned back around to find that Rein was nowhere to be found. The trail of blood leading up to a door belonging to the nearest building. Without waiting, she ran up and kicked the door open, weapons at the ready.

“Stop.” She felt cold metal against her throat. “We mean you no harm. Lower your weapons, and we’ll treat your friend.”

“Who are you?”

“You are the enemy of the guard, that makes you an asset to us...”

She sheathed her blades and turned to face the person next to her. An older man, that was deceptively stealthy. Indas and Tilia soon entered and though the situation felt tense, no further fighting began. The old man ordered one of the other men in the room to wash away the blood outside and another to get more fresh bandages and remedies.

“I… I guess I should thank you for this…”

“Yes, you should.” Another voice spoke up, the source soon appearing in the nearby doorway. “I’m sure Elly would be distraught to have you die on her.”

“Wh… Sarvalen!?”

“You’ve sure grown Carys… The others too… How’s my sister doing these days?”