Volume 4: Dereliction of Duty
Chapter X: In The Dark
Felicia followed the shadows around the miller's building, not wanting to stick too far out for fear of catching the eye of Sorash's militia men clopping about on horseback through the village. It wasn't just because of the questions she'd be expected to answer, but there was always that looming possibility of unkind things that happened in the dark between people in power and those without it. . .
Her mother had made it clear that 'civilized' nations weren't any different than savage animals, they just found different ways to express it. Even so, there was no point in life where caution was not a virtue. Especially not considering what was at stake here.
She rounded the building to a small door labeled 'office' and carefully rehearsed what she'd say. "Hello, I was looking for a friend of mine- no, that's dumb." Of course it was. A village with this many people coming and going didn't just let people in. "I'm looking for Sarah Kettar, the woman at the bar said I could find her here." That sounded better. Maybe a little direct, but it cut to the chase. Felicia paced by the door, murmuring her lines a few more times until she was satisfied it didn't sound like a demand.
She gave a knock.
Fury and noise broke the stillness of the night. Loud barking from the other side of the door. Felicia scrambled away just as the dog reared up to face her, teeth bared. It barked louder.
"Over here!" A man shouted.
Her first instinct betrayed her; she ran towards it. Protection just in reach. The teenager rounded the corner right in front of a pair of armored militia men and a third wandering up from the center of the village with a torch in his hand. The four of them exchanged a glance. Felicia opened her mouth to explain that she wasn't trying to do anything illegal.
"Stop, you!"
Felicia bolted. Still riding the high of adrenaline and fear, the only thought was to escape. To flee. So that was exactly she did.
The teenager pumped her arms for greater speed, barely managing to out pace the men. As the haze of raw fear gave way to actual thought, she realized she was only making herself look more guilty. It was too late now, but maybe she could get to a more populated area before they brought her down. She pivoted sharply around a house aiming towards the center of the village. Then she'd explain what'd gone on and everything would be okay.
Just as she turned towards the center one of the soldiers whistled sharply twice. She cleared the second house. A soldier on a horse trotted out from behind the next one down the alley, brandishing a crossbow. He aimed it directly at her face.
"Hey!" Felicia shouted, throwing her hands up defensively. "I didn't do anythi-"
THOCK.
The sound of the bolt releasing was joined by a bloom of pain from her shoulder. It didn't bite in, but the glancing blow sung agony through her body all the same. She screamed as she turned, looking for somewhere to hide. They were going to kill her. They weren't going to ask any questions. She took off at a dead sprint, her fear made all the fresher when she saw him go for his blade and kick his horse off to give chase.
To make matters worse a specter followed the corner of her vision; brief glimpses crossed her awareness from the shadows only to meld back into them. The horseman was only a few feet behind. Felicia juked towards the outer ring of houses and doubled back to keep in the horse's turn radius and on the soldier's off handed side. "I didn't do anything!" She shouted to no one in particular.
The horse's startled neigh was the only reply she got. It also heralded the sign of horrors to come; in the split second Felicia was turning to look up at the creature something exploded from the shadows. A wraith born of pure darkness flowed effortlessly from a pocket of gloom, bending the light around its body as it launched towards the horseman. The horse tried to sidestep but it was far, far too late.
Just as the other soldiers got to them blood arced through the air from where the horseman's chest had been opened up. A long cut from hip to shoulder opened his armor and organs to the evening but the shadow didn't stop there- even as the man started to fall from his horse it leapt towards the nearest soldier. He was quick to bring his blade to bear but the wraith was so much faster than that; it tumbled to the side giving Felicia a brief glimpse at a humanoid figure before it pushed off with one arm, kicked him in the back of his neck and threw a dagger into the unprotected inner thigh of the farthest man.
Felicia stared in horrified awe as the scene continued to play out in slow motion. The figure was still behind the three soldiers, two of them were already falling towards the ground and the third hadn't had a chance to face the threat before it was upon him. His eyes went wide as he stared at Felicia, not realizing the danger he was in- But that wasn't it at all. It dawned on her when she saw blood spraying from the quickly growing hole in his throat. The tip of a blade punched through the tender flesh from behind and he jerked upward, grabbing for the wound as if it would do any good.
It was the meaty
thump
of the horseman's body slamming into the ground that brought her mind back from the ballet of violence to the realization of what had actually happened. The figure was recovering its dagger when Felicia managed to squeak out some kind of whimper.
"We need to go." Lostariel's voice cut through the distance. It was Lostariel. It. . . How?! Why?
A million questions ran through Felicia in the space of a breath but none of them would find her lips as she continued to stare.
"There will be more soldiers. They're looking for Sarah. You will not want to be here." The figure started to turn away. At Felicia's second whimper it looked back at her- the light warped around it but it quickly gave way to a familiar face when Lostariel took her mask off. "Are you hurt?"
Was she? Why was that important? With so many dead, how could she have had the right to
be
hurt? In instant Lostariel was upon her, shaking her. They locked eyes. The girl whimpered again, earning a slap. And another across her other cheek. She jerked away to avoid the third. "Why?!"
"Because you need to move-"
"Them! Why did you kill them?!"
"You would rather I let you die instead? After all my warnings you went looking for vipers and now having found them you know nothing of how to handle them. . ." The killer cupped Felicia's cheek. "Go. Home. Before its too late." With that she turned away and slipped on her mask.
Felicia eyed the dead for the first time actually
seeing
them as human beings. Would it have been any different if they'd caught her instead, would they have shown
her
any mercy? Did they even deserve her sympathy? Weren't they just doing their job? "W- Wait!" She scampered after the wraith-like killer. "Wait, please-"
