Lumeria POV

The moon is hanging tall when she descends the battlement with Ovid and Theo. The soldiers have already moved inside Kanra’s square. Hungrily feasting on the banquet laid out on the tables. They cheer when they see her, raising their mugs at her, 

“Merciful healer, ruthless destructor! The Red Witch of Astia!” she’s getting a drink pushed into her hand, and she can’t help but to ask,  

“Who spreads the information?” Ovid clanks his glass with her,  

“Who else? Lord Blaine of course. He wants your efforts to be recognized.” Theo throws an arm over her shoulders,  

“He’s really taken by you, honestly. I won’t be surprised if he’s going to ask the Crown to officially grant you a title for your contributions in Kanra. You may be a noble soon, Miss Lumeria.”  

“If that happens, don’t forget us! Make us your stewards or something!” Funny how that makes her feel so bitter now... She instead clanks their glasses and downs the alcohol to forget all the negative feelings. Soril hasn’t returned yet. Seeing him just drowns her in a torrid of mixed emotions. And right now, she really doesn’t want to experience it anymore. She wants to put it past her. So, she goes around, knocking cups, downing jug after jug until her head buzzes and she can laugh and banter with the soldiers again.  

She distracts herself with the Astian drinking games they teach her. There’s one involving tracking a hidden ball in five shuffled cups. Another one with cards. One more with throwing daggers, until eventually. She’s too wasted to even learn the rules and her vision spirals. She dances with Ovid and Theo to the beats someone began drumming.  

Two hours into the celebration, she is suddenly tugged aside. She stumbles into a building, cradles her head and waits for her sight to focus on a sniveling girl. Her hair, braided into pig tails, now so unkempt. Seemingly she’d been picking at it. But her gown is expensive. She’s seen this girl before, it’s Wascald’s younger daughter. The one that thanked her for sparing Wascald the first time. The young girl finally finds her words through her hiccups,  

“Please. Please, you must save my older sister! Stop him. You must stop him!”  

“Stop who?”  

“Lord Blaine! He already killed my father and mother, and-” she lunges into her dress, screaming at the top of her lungs. Her heart seizes. Piecing the dots together. So, this is why the gates suddenly opened. It wasn’t because Wascald had a change of mind.   

“And. What is he doing to your sister?” the girl shakes her head, tugging her forward,  

“There’s no time. Please.” she’s almost in a state of half delirium just recalling the scene, stuttering, 

“My sister. My sister, her legs. She-” but the girl can’t say it. Instead, she just screams and shakes. It freezes her veins to ice. Lumeria has an inkling idea of what’s going on. But does she really want to see it? Can she still side him after she does? The girl is urging her,  

“Come on! What are you waiting for! Please! Hurry!”  

Lumeria halts dead in her tracks, “No.”  

“Please! You’re the only one who can stop him! You must help her!”  

She finds her resolve, stopping her hands from trembling as she forces her statement out,   

“No. Your family has jeopardized us and stabbed us in the back twice. I no longer owe you any kindness.” Ovid and Theo are right. She ought to prioritize her allies even if it means she needs to be a bad person. It cuts like glass on her tongue, 

“I suggest you get out of Kanra quickly as possible.” and avoids the girl’s exasperated face. Her helpless pleas stab like a knife to her heart. Lumeria turns to leave. Wascald’s daughter holds her back,  

“Please! Please! Rhea is only person I have left in this world!” she collapses on the ground, tugging the hems of her skirt,  

“Please... if you even have any heart.” But she’s no longer looking at her. There’s a commotion stirring on the opposite side. The drunken troops are gathering. There’s yelling in the mix, 

“The prisoner has escaped! Seize him! Seize him!” She shakes the girl off to sprint towards the chaos. Climbing the crates to get on top of the roof. Rakgar has broken free from his cell and he’s ferociously cutting through the crowd. Mauling forward like a rage induced buffalo. His shackles has been unlocked on one side. The other dangling off his wrist, there’s a dagger in his hand. Her dagger. She must have dropped it when she wasn’t thinking straight. She pats her corset. Fuck! She tossed out all her weapons during the stupid game just now. She flicks her gaze around. There’s a soldier with a bow and quiver on his back. She calls out to him to throw it to her.  

But by the time she draws her aim, Rakgar’s at one of the dynamite stuffed buildings. A torch in hand, profusely bleeding from his reopened wounds and fresh new ones,  

“Don’t move unless you want me to blow this place to shit!” He waves the fire to drive the soldiers back, before he brings it in her direction,  

“You too missy. I see you up there!”  

“Ignite it, you die too!”  

“You think I care about my life if it means being a hostage for the disgusting snakes who murdered my sister?” Rakgar laughs, 

“Clear a path!” he barks towards the soldiers behind him. They’re looking at each other. Uncertain to obey, so he repeats, lowering his torch to the detonation cord,  

“I said, clear a path.” they’re slowly bubbling away this time, 

“Move out of the way, everyone to this side I want no one at the gate!” He gestures them towards the banquet center, backing them to the opposite end of the street. Then he finally turns to her again,  

“Drop your bow and come down here.” She follows the orders. He grabs her when she’s within reach, her dagger put to her throat. Pressed down hard enough to draw blood,  

“Now. None of you are going to follow me. None of you are going to attack.” He slowly backs away, dragging her along with him. She can feel his heart beats. It’s fast. He’s desperate. He doesn’t have a clear plan either. That means, she’ll find her chance if she stays calm. She swallows hard. Looks at the flickering flames on his hand. Once he is between buildings. She immediately orders,  

“Attack him! Now’s the chance!” before she dives for the torch. Grabbing the burning end with both hands to stub it out. Screaming at the pain. But that gets quickly stifled with saw to her neck. Spraying blood out like a crow’s wings before her vision. He chooses to run instead of looping her head completely off at the sight of the charging soldiers. She’s stumbling around. Holding her grotesquely gashed throat until it heals before turning around. Rakgar’s just making an insane sprint towards the gates, not even looking back, 

“Catch him!”  

But something else abruptly attracts their attention towards. Crazed laughter. She finds Wascald’s youngest daughter at the top of a building where most of the troops gather. Tears streaking down her face, as her shoulders hitch with each sniffle, 

“I’ll make you all regret betraying my father! Every single one of you will regret this!” No... No! It can’t be. The sight of her makes Lumeria shake. She has a bad feeling about this. Yelling at the top of her voice, she begins to run, 

“Everyone! Escape! Get out of Kanra! Get far away from her as possible! No matter what, just escape!”  

It’s exactly as she feared. Wascald’s daughter pulls an ominous black bottle out. With a heavy swing of her arm. She smashes it to the ground.