The cheers of the crowd died down and a blanket of silence enveloped the Main Plaza. The Grand Duke was the first to react as he quickly scanned the crowd for the source of the scream. Instead, he spotted the same cloaked figures as Sable did. The sound of a sword leaving its scabbard broke the silence and the Grand Duke called out to his knights. 

 

“Knights, on your guard!” 

 

His order caused a rippling effect and, as the Lione Knights jumped from their horses and drew their swords, the citizens realized the seriousness of the situation. 

 

“Kill them all!” 

 

One of the cloaked assassins angrily barked out and rushed the knights. Several other cloaked assassins jumped out of the crowd following after him and drew their swords. It was clear that the Lione Knights were their targets. The sound of swords clashing rang out throughout the Plaza and fighting began as citizens hurried to get away, in fear that they would get caught in the stray path of a sword. 

 

Amidst the panic, Sable turned her head to the side and made eye contact with the cloaked figure standing beside her. Realizing that the assassin knew who she was, Sable’s instincts screamed at her to run. She twisted her body and pushed into the crowd at the same time the figure lunged at her, attempting to grab her. Luckily, they missed. Using the panicking crowd to her advantage, she moved between the mass of bodies all the while trying to avoid getting trampled. She peeked back to see the cloaked figure chasing after her. 

 

Sable lost sight of Aly and hoped she was safe, but she didn’t have the luxury to worry about her right now. The cloaked figure behind her pushed through the crowd and Sable heard them yell for their comrades.

 

“The kid! Get the kid!” 

 

Sable grimaced. With more people after her, it was only a matter of time before they would catch her. There was no way she could outrun them with her childish body and she needed to find a place to hide. Scanning quickly while weaving through the crowd, she spotted an alleyway that she could retreat into and moved towards it. She didn’t know how many of the cloaked assassins were chasing after her, but she wasn’t stopping to find out. 

 

Slipping into the alleyway, she pushed herself to keep running. The alleyway turned sharply to the left and she arrived at an intersection. Ahead of her lay branching pathways and she needed to quickly decide where to go. Judging from the footsteps behind her, Sable’s pursuers were closing in. 

 

Making a split-second decision, she ran into the right path and split off again into another smaller path. Finding a small alcove, she pressed her body against the wall in an attempt to hide. Hearing footsteps approach, she brought a hand up to her mouth to muffle her breathing. 

 

“Dammit! Split up! We need to find her!” 

 

She recognized it as the same voice who had called out to the others. Sable listened in as the assassin ordered the others to go search for her. She waited until she could no longer hear them, before she was back on the move again. She’d temporarily lost her pursuers, but she wasn’t in the clear yet. From the number of voices she heard, Sable counted at least three or four pursuers looking for her. She carefully maneuvered her way through the alleyways making sure to avoid any places where she heard footsteps, unsure if they were friend or foe. Sable would only be safe once she reached an open area where she could easily locate a guard or one of the knights. 

 

Relying on her memory, Sable navigated the alleyways and eventually arrived at a familiar spot. She recognized the stall where she and Aly had purchased the skewers. Immediately she surveyed the area and spotted a few confused citizens, but no guards were present. Sable reasoned that they had probably gone to the Main Plaza to help. She tried to calm her breathing and think of her next course of action. 

 

She could either run back to the Marquis’s mansion or circle back to the Main Plaza where the guards and knights would be. 

 

Running back to the mansion would take a while, but she would be farther away from the assassins, and she doubted that they would leave the market district to continue looking for her. Their plans had been disrupted and they couldn’t stay for much longer with the guards of the Capital and the Lione Knights bearing down on them. 

 

If she circled back, then she would be placed under the protection of the guards and knights and the assassins would need to break through them to get to her. 

 

Either way she needed a place to guarantee her safety. 

 

After a moment of deliberation, she decided to circle back to the Main Plaza. She figured the majority of guards would have left their posts after word of the incident spread and there was a good chance that she would run into one. It was also likely that Aly would be looking for her if she was still there as well. 

 

Some citizens were heading in the same direction as her and she made sure to blend in with them. They were looking for their companions who had gone to the Main Plaza and assumed that Sable was doing the same. Along the way, Sable kept an eye out for any guards as well as assassins but failed to spot any. 

 

A few more joined the group and Sable began to feel nervous. The assassins were wearing cloaks that covered their faces and Sable realized that she didn’t know what any of them looked like. It would be just as easy for them to hide in plain sight as she was doing. 

 

However, her worries lessened when the Main Plaza came into view and Sable let out a breath that she was holding. She could see guards and knights running around the area and some were yelling out orders to help the wounded. She moved towards them. 

 

Without warning, she was tugged backwards and a cloth covered her mouth. 

 

“Gotcha.” 

 

Sable heard her captor whisper into her ear. A wave of drowsiness suddenly washed over her and her vision faded to black. 

 

~~~

 

“Wake up, kid.”

 

Sable frowned and slowly opened her eyes. It took a moment for her vision to focus and everything came into clarity. 

 

The place she had been taken to was some kind of stone warehouse. Several boxes and wooden barrels were stacked around the room. A man was sitting atop one of the boxes, a cloak wrapped around his shoulders. His hair was messy and the stubble along his jaw gave him an unkempt appearance. Another cloaked figure was farther back in the room, leaning back against the wall and looking out the window. They appeared relaxed, but Sable realized that they were carefully watching her. 

 

She moved to sit up and found that her hands had been bound by a rope. 

 

The man leaned forward from his chair and spoke to her. 

 

“You’re more trouble than you’re worth, kid.” There was a slight irritation that she could make out in his voice. “Really made us run around town like headless chickens looking for you. Almost got away too, when she saw you in time.” 

 

He laughed and jerked his thumb back at the figure against the wall. He glared down at Sable. 

 

“Troublesome kids like you need to be punished.” The killing intent in his eyes made Sable tremble. 

 

“W-What are you going to do to me?” Sable tried to keep her voice steady. Every fibre of her being was on high alert. Her only route of escape was cut off and she could only bide her time.  

 

He opened his mouth to answer her when they heard the sound of a door opening below them. Footsteps sounded on the creaky floorboards and the man glanced back to his companion. She nodded at his questioning look. The man then turned back to Sable with an amused expression. 

 

“Oh we’re not going to do anything, kid.” The smile on his face grew wider. 

 

“He is.” 

 

At his words, a man emerged from the staircase. The two assassins in the room stood up to greet him with a bow. When Sable finally laid her eyes on him, her throat tightened and she could hear her heart pounding in her ears. 

 

“No, t-this can’t be... Why is he here? And he never told me. Why didn’t he tell me!?” Sable’s thoughts were in disarray. “If I’d known, I wouldn’t have… wouldn’t have…” 

 

She couldn’t finish the thought as an image of Aly flashed in her mind. She shook her head-

 

-and stared into her father’s eyes. 

 

Marquis Marten didn’t bother to hide the clear disdain in his eyes when he looked down upon Sable. His plans had been sabotaged by a mere child, his own daughter, no less. 

 

“To think that you would be a bigger eyesore than I previously thought.” He brought a hand up to his eyes and sighed tiredly. “I’m disappointed in you, Sable.” 

 

“...Why? Why didn’t you tell me?” Sable asked weakly. She didn’t realize that she’d reverted back to her sixteen-year old self. 

 

“Tell you?” Marquis Marten scoffed. “Why would I tell you anything? Did you think that if you studied all those books, then I would suddenly place my trust in you?”

 

Sable looked up in surprise. 

 

“That’s… I…”

 

 “An ignorant child like you is better off dead than alive.” 

 

His blunt words shattered her already broken heart. She lowered her head and tried to withdraw into herself, making her appear even more miserable. The world felt like it was closing in all around her. She failed to notice that her lips were bleeding as she bit down on them in a futile attempt to stop the tears that already fell. 

 

Marquis Marten remained apathetic as he witnessed the sight of his own child crying. He turned and moved back to the other two individuals in the room and gave a cold-hearted order. 

 

“Get rid of her. And make sure it's somewhere far away where they can’t find her body.” 

 

“Somewhere like the North, sir?” The woman suggested. 

 

Marquis Marten gave her a small nod in agreement. He looked back at his daughter one last time. Speaking to no one in particular, he spoke aloud. 

 

“Officially, the third daughter of Marquis Marten has gone missing during the Terror Incident at the Main Plaza. As her father, I am heartbroken and ashamed that the renowned Lione Knights were unable to protect her.”

 

With that, he descended the staircase and left the warehouse. 

 

Sable was left alone with the two assassins. 

 

“The North? Are you serious?” The man spoke to his companion. She raised a brow at him. 

 

“What? Don’t tell me you’re afraid of the cold?” She responded. 

 

The man shook his head and laughed at the provocation. “You’re more ruthless than I thought.” 

 

He turned his head and examined the listless appearance of Sable. He signaled to his female counterpart. 

 

“Go get the carriage ready.”

 

“We’re not going to kill her here?” The woman gestured at Sable. 

 

“Eh, too messy.” The man replied. “Besides, d’you really think she can survive in the North? Look at her. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say she looks dead already.” 

 

The woman shrugged her shoulders and disappeared down the stairs. 

 

The man walked over and picked up Sable. Seeing her body remain limp in his arms, he sighed. 

 

“Sorry kid. Should’ve kept your mouth shut.” 

 

He placed her inside an empty box and moved the lid over it. Sable curled up in the claustrophobic space. 

 

The strong facade that she tried so hard to put on crumbled into dust when she heard his words. Deep down inside, she didn’t want to acknowledge that she had been abandoned. No, she simply didn’t want to accept it. She wanted to believe that this was all a bad dream and she would wake up in her bed as if the day had never happened. 

 

But she could not escape reality, no matter how she tried to avoid it. Her own father had told her she was better off dead. The feelings of worthlessness and despair that she tried so hard to suppress surged up inside her, so much so, that she could barely feel herself being moved around. 

 

Rather than wanting to live a quiet life, at that very moment Sable felt like she didn’t want to live at all.