(Ryla)

“I think we’ve found it.” I said as I bore witness to the inhumane sight in front of us.

As far as the eye could see, the kidnapped villagers were hung up all along the raiders’ camp.

But worst of all, none of them were dead. While they were all extremely malnourished, I could see the shallow rise and fall of their chests every so often.

“Why would they do this?” Eve asked.

“Probably for bait. If monsters came hunting for food late at night, they’d have a free meal sitting out here before they ever reached the camp.” I answered, after analyzing the possible reasons in my head.

“That’s insane! Shouldn’t we rescue them?” Amelia asked.

“We can’t. Look at them closely.” Eve quickly pointed out.

I hadn’t noticed at first, but Eve was right. Every kidnapped villager all had their mouths sewn shut. Their wrists and ankles were twisted backwards and tied to posts behind their backs. Many were still bleeding with holes in their bodies. It wasn’t a question of if they’d die anymore, it was about when.

I knew it was meaningless, but I couldn’t help myself. I walked up to the closest person. As soon as our eyes met, tears started pouring from her eyes. She was a beautiful girl, who couldn’t have been much older than Eve, with silky black hair, and brown eyes.

“I promise we will make them pay for what they’ve done.” Grabbing her hand to try and calm her down before continuing. “Then we’ll come back for all of you, and try to help you.”

I watched her slightly nod her head, before I patted the top of her hand and gave her a solemn smile, before walking away, signaling the other two to follow.

“Ryla, don’t you think we should at least put them out of their misery? We don’t even know if we can help them.” Eve asked when we had walked out of earshot of the hung up people.

“No. If we killed them, the smell would only draw attention from the monsters around here. And I believe we all know what’s a bigger threat between the bandits and them.”

“Yeah, you’re right.” Eve answered as she continued to look back.

“Don’t worry, we’ll have a chance to make them pay soon.”

~~~~~~~~

It hadn’t been too long since we left the area of the hung up villagers before we finally arrived at what I assumed was the main camp. The land in between was vacant. There were a few teams of guards but they were relaxed.

‘Must not get many human visitors out here, so they are just here to report sightings of beasts.’ I thought to myself

It only took a cursory glance around the camp for me to see that the bandits had done extremely well in adapting to life in the Borderlands. From the carved tunnels out pathways in the sand that had been fortified by those with earth magic to make it easier to go in and out of the camp.

All the tents had two entrances, the first having a small pathway that led into the main part of the tent. Allowing less sand to be tracked into the main parts. Along with all of the tents being circular to reduce the chances of the wind blowing them down or away.

Even the bodies they had put outside, albeit immoral, still proved just how adaptive they had been forced to become.

“They’re quite smart, for bandits that is.” Amelia said softly next to me.

“You shouldn’t underestimate people just because of their morally questionable way of life. Very few can survive a journey through this place, let alone create and survive in a settlement. Their ability to adapt proves their competence, to some degree.”

“Does either one of these things matter? Shouldn’t we be getting down there already?”

I studied Eve for a brief moment then made eye contact with Amelia. She only gave me a weak smile and shrugged.

“Eve, it’s never good to just rush in. You should always scout and try to gather as much information as possible, no matter the difference in strength between you and your enemy. Even the best situation can turn bad in a matter of moments.”

“Alright, but still what more do we have to learn from here?”

“That’s the next part of my plan, stick with me. I’ll use my shadows to help hide us.”

I had to fight back a smile as the girls huddled up against me without another word. Their confidence and trust in me warmed me in a way that was hard to put into words. We have been through a lot together, our new dynamic being one of the good things that has come from it. I released a steady stream of mana that clung to my skin then grew to cover the girls. I couldn’t draw them into my shadow domain, so becoming partially translucent would have to suffice.

The only sound as we descended was the soft shifting of sand, cloaked by the near ever-present wind. Once we were on ground level, we shifted along the sand until we were behind one of the well-worn tents.

“Now we have to keep ourselves hidden, it’s best we gather what we can from the idle chatter of the guards outside the tents so keep your aura from flaring and hide your mana signatures as much as possible, as long as no one here is stronger than me they won’t be able to detect us.” I whispered to the two before our first mission as a group started.

~~~~~~~~~~

(Eve)

I couldn’t help but be amazed at how well Ryla’s shadows managed to hide us, even when guards walked past us they still couldn’t notice anything. I briefly wondered if I could manage something similar with my own mana but shook the thought away so that I could focus. I needed to focus, this was a camp full of murderers. I wouldn’t give them the chance to escape.

But in terms of gathering information, it seemed to be all for naught. All the guards just seemed to talk about leaving here, their families back home, occasionally kidnapping more villagers, their hatred for them, or being ready for a break so they could eat, sleep, or drink.

‘After everything we’ve seen and heard, why don’t we just kill them all already?’

“Alright, we’re going to move towards the main tent.” Ryla whispered as she pointed towards the much larger tent that sat apart from all the others, with a tattered black flag billowing in the wind on top of it.

We only nodded as we began to move towards the tent, and I could only hope that this tent would provide us with more than the others had so far.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

“-hear about that sword one of the new guys brought back to camp?”

“Yeah, I heard it was quite a find, he even got extra rations tonight for it.”

“Man, what a lucky bastard. He just joined three days ago and he’s already getting special treatment while we’ve been here for years and all we get is to guard the boss’s tent.”

“That’s just how the world works sometimes, but what do you think the boss is going to do with that sword anyway?”

“I don’t know, maybe he’ll sell it, give it one of his guards, or maybe even keep it for himself. After all, you know how much he likes stylish things, though I think the twin golden hummingbirds etched into the blade are a little gaudy for my taste.”

“What do you say we go and take a look at it?”

“Are you insane?! You know we can’t go in there, what would happen if we got caught?”

“Come on man, the boss just took off a few moments ago. It'll be a while before he’s back, and I’ve got a few excuses I think can get us out of it if need be. So whatta ya say?”

“Ah man, fine, but if we get in trouble don’t blame me for throwing you under the bus for it later.”

“You worry too much, we’re just going to take a look at it anyway. Quick in and out.”

“We’re going to follow them inside.” Ryla suddenly whispered beside me as the two went inside, with an expression I’d never seen her have before.

‘Just what is she thinking?’ But I had no time to let my thoughts wonder, as she was already making her way towards the entrance.

“Wow this sword is insane! No wonder the boss doesn’t want anyone knowing about this, you could probably sell this thing and start a good life in one of the cities. Hell, you could probably buy a small village of your own.”

I heard the other guard begin to talk, but my focus was quickly taken away as I saw Ryla rushing towards the other entrance where they were.

“Hey what’s th-?!” I heard one of them begin to yell before everything went eerily quiet.

I quickly glanced at Amelia before we both walked towards the entrance, unsure what sight might await us.

As I was about to step through, a strong stench of blood hit my nostrils.

‘I hope that is something Ryla did and not the normal smell here…’

As I entered I felt relief wash over me, as I only saw Ryla standing there with the body of the two guards laying next to her. Although they were now both missing their heads.

But I found my eyes drawn to what Ryla was holding, although I couldn’t clearly make it out as her back was turned towards us.

“Ryla, what is that?”

I watched as she turned around, tears brimming at her eyes, before I felt my breath catch in my throat.

“Eve, is that what I think it is?”

I couldn’t believe what I was seeing, why would it be here? But no matter how much I tried to rationalize it, there was no denying what I saw.

It was Kalan’s sword.

“Hey, where did Evan and Michael run off to? Help these day- Do you smell that? Blood. It’s coming from inside the tent.” A harsh voice shouted outside the tent.

I felt my heart skip a beat, as I quickly scrambled next to Ryla.

‘Damn, I can’t believe I let my guard down. What are we going to do now?’

“Ryla, what should we do?” I tried to ask but it was clear she wasn’t listening, she was looking down at the sword. Cradling it in her hands.

And then before anyone could say anything else, four men burst through the entrance of the tent.

All four of them were quite well built, but their clothes were all tattered, their weapons were old and rusty, and their bodies had scars to show the signs of many battles.

I could feel the tension rise in the air as both groups just stared at each other, not uttering a single word, not moving a single muscle.

“What are you….” One of the men tried to say, before he and the other men behind him suddenly fell to their knees as they started silently gasping for air.

I wasn’t safe from it either, but I at least could remain standing by reinforcing my legs with as much mana as possible.

The killing intent coming off Ryla was so intense it felt like I was breathing in through thick layers of cloth and my instincts were screaming at me to run away.

“Silence.” Ryla said with such power and command that even I stopped breathing, afraid of making a sound and setting her off. The ice in her voice crawled along my skin making me shiver.

Darkness expanded from around Ryla and she blurred. As I belatedly followed her movement, I passed over three falling corpses, each missing their heads. My eyes caught up to her right as her boot smashed right into the fourth man’s face. The sickening crunch of his nose resounded as he flew backward, leaving a trail of blood in the air. He crashed into a few storage boxes near the wall of the tent and struggled to get back on his feet. He only managed to cough up blood and teeth as Ryla slowly walked over to him.

“I’m guessing you’re the leader of this group?” She asked, grabbing him by the hair and lifting him up to her eye level. The man didn’t meet her eye and instead nodded with a slight whimper escaping his lips.

“Good, tell me exactly what you were planning to do with this blade.”

But he remained silent, to which Ryla responded by bringing his face down into her knee.

I winced at the sound.

“I said tell me.”

“I was planning to…” He began to answer, before Ryla took the sword, and slashed with a flash of light across his stomach.

I heard the sound of metal slicing through bone and watched as the man’s lower body fell to the floor, remnants of flesh tearing like fabric. Like a barrel turned upside down, his blood gushed out of him and painted the floor. Ryla kept her eyes on his face until the rest of the color and life left his face. Once he was dead she tossed what remained aside, his dangling intestines writhed in the air.

“I don’t care what you planned to do with this sword. You’re not worthy enough to have it in your possession. No one is.” She said to the corpse, as she began walking towards the entrance.

“Ryla, what are you going to do?” Amelia quickly asked.

“I’m going to kill them all.” She responded coldly, not even bothering to look back at us as she walked away.

As she opened the secondary flap, her mana exploded out of her. Shadows grew all around us and from what I could see from the half opened flap it wasn’t just happening inside. An ocean of darkness had descended on the camp, trapping everyone inside. Inside with her. She left the tent and luckily she didn’t leave the flaps open because as soon as she was outside the screams started. Shouts of alarm, thuds of bodies hitting the ground, pleas of mercy. Through it all Ryla said nothing and didn’t stop.

I felt my legs shake, as the killing intent grew stronger with every scream. The blood lust grew mightier with every footstep. Until all that remained was silence. Before Ryla returned to where we were.

“Let's go, we are done here.” She said, covered in blood, with an expression as cold as Amelia’s ice.