“Are you ok?” she asked. Due to her rushed transformation, her shirt and buttoned jacket had been ripped open, revealing her navel and hints of her breasts. Contrarily, despite being visibly strained, her trousers were still in one piece, though the same couldn’t be said for her boots or maroon cloak which she’d left in the tunnel.

Orion felt his jaw quivering as he looked around, trying to take the whole scene in: the entirety of his destruction. Few furniture had survived the clash unscathed, the majority battered and coated in blood. But more than that, there was gore splattered and painted over all the surfaces. Worst of all, however, were the men and women littered like stringless puppets, their limbs bent in unnatural ways.

They were a cancer that had caused his House’s downfall?! What a joke! How could a group of weaklings so far east have anything to do with one of the Empire’s pillars? With their strength, crushing an ant would be difficult, let alone the foundation of the civilised world…

Despite these thoughts spreading fast, he quickly countered them. Even if he had over-villainised them in his mind, it didn’t change the fact they had pointed blades at him. It didn’t protect them from the fact they had wanted to murder him and Kora. He had done what was required of him to survive, for the last wisp of his family’s gold-encrusted lantern to shine on. Yet, this didn’t excuse him from what he had done – even if it had been a must, he had still done it. And he had to shoulder that burden for as long as he lived. And he wanted to puke.

Lurching forward, he heaved his stomach out. Seconds later, with the acidic stench burning through his senses, he placed his hands on his knees and stood bent over. Kora patted his back.

“It’s not your fault, he had planned to kill us from the start, you saw in the tunnel,” she said.

“It’s not my fault but it’ll always be on me, in my mind,” he said in a wheezy voice.

She stopped patting and rubbed his back at this, keeping quiet for a few seconds. “Why don’t you wash yourself. Maybe it’s all the blood,”

He shook his head but listened regardless. He walked over to his bag, which had been sliced open during the fight, and found a dented canteen of water. Rinsing his hands in the stream, he watched the blood wash off his hands and onto the ground. It almost gave him some peace of mind until he looked up, once again meeting the carnage in mutual silence. Glancing down, he saw his hands were red again, covered and sticky. Every time he washed his hands, the process repeated until he gave up and stared at Kora, his eyes wide and shaking.

“The blood, it’s not going. It won’t go, Kora, it won’t,” he said, his voice breaking.

She looked down and saw the same hands he had cleaned seconds before, clear of any blood. Glancing down her own body she saw blood across her skin. Nevertheless, she stepped forward and hugged him.

In little time, he placed his head over her shoulder and began to sob, letting out all the grief he had built up in his heart. It was only after his cries waned that she spoke.

“Come on, you killed those bandits before and you were fine,”

“That’s different, all of it’s different. They wanted to kill me because I’m a Zakari. Do you realise how many people would follow them, queue up for a chance at my House? And I have to kill all of them, all of them!”

She snorted, before realising her mistake. What he needed now was support, not someone to laugh at him. “It’s all the same – no difference,”

“I’m the same, no different from those who killed my mum. Cold-blooded, heartless, destr—”

This startled Kora – he had never gone into detail about how his House had fallen. As much as she wanted to hear more, she knew that would only make it harder for him to bounce back. And if he truly desired to take revenge for his family, then killing a bunch of weaklings would only be the first step among the many he’d have to take. As for her, she knew, as ardently as he denied it, the Zakari had been involved with Yhaoli. He was her key to it all and some more, but he didn’t need to know either. All he had to do was recover.

“You’re not one of them, Jax. Remember what you told me, you’re a Zakari, the greatest, remember?” she said. It worked as he calmed, and his breath slowed – it seemed he was as proud of his family as she was hers, despite the distasteful, and sometimes downright sour, things they did.

“Alright, I can feel the heat from your cheeks, you blushing maiden. Why don’t you take a seat while I check what these bastards were up to? That way we can leave this place quicker,” she continued. While she had been joking, it didn’t surprise her when he moved back and sat down near the entrance with cheeks the colour of apples.

******

Kora walked over with several notes in her hand, mentally exhausted but also thrilled about what she had found. She had used her blood magic to clean any blood-soaked papers, although some had been too blurred to recover. Together they confessed more than she had expected.

Orion lay by the entrance, his eyes shut and head facing up. She thought he was dozing since it had been hours since they had entered the warehouse, but his eyelids snapped open as she grew close, giving her a gentle, albeit, nervous smile.

“Thanks for…” he paused.

“It’s alright, I knew what I signed up for. But anyway, look at this,” she said while thrusting the papers into his hand, and sitting down next to him. She was now wearing looted clothes, covering her skin from the chill that nipped away. “Do you remember when Rats was talking about Grima?”

He nodded.

“He said him, but Madam said they – that wasn’t an accident; I think all these people were Grima, a pseudonym they wove together.”

“Mmm. I figured,”

“Then why didn’t you say anything?” she asked.

“My mind was on… other matters,”

She rolled her eyes, earning a half-smile from him.

“Anyway,” she carried on, “It seems the rumour about them knowing all about Visgamar isn’t bullshit. The stuff I read, they go from small matters to massive ones. Look at this one,” she said while pinching a note from the stack, “It’s about the Honeyed Spitroast, the inn Flynn stayed. I told you the innkeeper was a dealer,”

He read through the note and finally felt a crack in his cold mask. It detailed the prices the innkeeper offered, estimated strengths of his products, and other stuff like where he hid the goods and how much it would cost to bribe him.

“And this is even better,” she said while handing another page.

This one talked about how Rats was seen many times near Madam’s home. It went onto list approximate times, detail as to who accompanied him, and the reactions he had when leaving. While vague, although that was to be expected considering the loyal protection he had around him, it seemed to hint at a relationship or at least a casual affair.

“Ok, this is clearly important stuff so why hadn’t they prepared any defences. Skitters knew I was a Zakari from the start so why did that shock the rest of them?” he asked.

“I’m guessing he was hiding it from them for personal gain, but it backfired. I don’t think he figured out my identity so he probably guessed you’d stay behind to look after me after I got stabbed,”

“No, I would have chased him down and killed the scum,”

“Mmm,” she nodded with exaggerated vigour, mocking him. “You know what? I think you would have stayed behind to make sure I was in tip-toppity condition before you left, by which time they would have gotten those crossbows pointed at the entrance. You’re not the most unpredictable person, you know? Quite the contrary,” she replied.

He grunted. “So, what now? Can we leave through those doors?” he said pointing to the far corner.

“No, I checked and we’re on some run-down docks or something. Everything’s like rotten around here. It’ll be quicker if we go through the tunnel, but wait, I haven’t finished. My bag got ripped when I changed so it’s likely to have leaked by now but look at this,” she said showing a potion, “Doesn’t it look similar to the stuff Old Joe makes? Murky oily colour, gives super strength, still easy targets but…”

“I don’t want to kill anyone more. I feel shit,” Orion said, looking away from the bottle.

“Fine,”

“Oh yeah,” he said, “Did you kill Skitters? I don’t remember doing it,”

She nodded while hoisting a looted backpack over her shoulders. “I told you, still easy targets. Come on then, let’s get outta here,”