The morning of the next day was uneventful, as it needed to be. Khi awoke, she sat away from the windows until Evelyn had made breakfast, they ate, and then Khi was, once again, faced with the crisis of having nothing to do. Robin went down into the shop the second breakfast was finished, tending to the requests of the several early birds that, apparently, had all contracted the same sickness, but “certainly not from each other”. Khi eavesdropped intently, happy to have something to distract herself with. Happy, until she started hearing some of the more… intimate… symptoms. At which point she pulled her ear away and retreated to the bedroom.

She stretched, sitting on the floor and leaning from one leg to the other, then twisting her back, then she just splayed herself out onto the floor and stared up at the ceiling. She felt her breath rise and fall in perfect rhythm. She heard the movement a floor below her. She felt the cool of the floorboards chill her skin. 

this SUCKS

She sighed, and closed her eyes. She saw every hope she had. She saw the joy and light in her life. She saw Evelyn, and Robin. She saw the jewelry she would wear, the dress. She saw herself, at home, tending to her lovers, three smiles on three faces. Maybe, someday, four smiles. On four faces. Maybe.

“Khira,”

Khi sat straight up immediately. Evelyn stood before her in the doorframe to the bedroom.

“Robin and I need to head into town for a bit. We’ll close down the shop, lock everything up.”

“Oh, ok. Well, have fun. I'll be here.”

“Hiding and staying quiet, i hope.” Evelyn smiled, walking over to Khi. She bent down, and placed a kiss on Khi’s forehead. That was all she needed to behave, more incentive than she could’ve ever asked for.

“I’ll be so quiet you won’t be able to find me when you come back.”

“But I like you.”

“…well, fine. I won’t hide that well.” She watched Evelyn turn to leave with undivided attention. Every step, when her feet hit the ground there was this ever-so-subtle taut bounce, and it hypnotized Khi. She watched her love cross to the stairs, then slowly, step by step, disappear. 

The front door closed. The lock snapped shut. She was alone.

It was very quiet. The only consistent sound was the faint crash of water in the river outside their house. Khi sighed. She looked back, towards the windows on the walls. Nothing interesting, as she’d expected. She paced, off through the kitchen, setting the various bottles of spices and herbs back against the wall, away from the edge. She slowly made her way through to the hearth, and tasted a spoonful of the simmering broth. Leftovers, kept fresh by constant cooking. As tasty as the last four meals combined, mostly because that was exactly what it was. 

She walked on the balls of her feet, kicking her legs out between steps, swinging her arms, anything to generate motion in the otherwise perfectly still house. There was nothing to do. Truly nothing. The house was clean, she couldn’t go downstairs, the bed-

the bed! She could make the bed! Perfect. She hurried off into the bedroom and set to work at once. Pulling the blanket off, setting the sheet in place, straightening out and evening the bedding, then the blanket went back on, and perfect!

Done!

…shit. done.

It took her maybe three minutes to do. Then, as soon as she’d found purpose again, it left her and she was alone once again with the boring quiet. 

She looked around the room. Her eyes fell upon her boots, set over by the door. She could clean them. They needed it too, so, couldn’t hurt.

She took them out into the main room, and set them next to the sink as she filled a bowl with water. Then it was off into the shower, boots in one hand, bowl in the other. She set them down on the thin stone floor and fetched a rag from the cabinet set against the wall. Kneeling down in front of her boots, wetting the rag, she set to work. scrubbing them from the top down. 

They were long boots, coming up to her thighs, the tops flipping over and down to hang over the midsections of her thighs. They were meant to be waterproof, thornproof, snakeproof, you name it. They were boots for work. Khi knew she took them for granted, she couldn’t help it. She had a pair of regular, plain shoes, and there wasn’t even a competition which she preferred. But, that meant she wore them through the hells and back, which meant they got dirty. Which meant she got to sit there and scrub and rinse and wring out the cloth and scrub more and-

ugh. Fate-fucking muckers…

Next to the fear, the anxiety, the terror of persecution at their hands, there was anger. Frustration. Disgust. It was just easier to separate the two and focus on one when she wasn’t in immediate danger.

It was their fault she missed her day out. She could’ve sold her mixtures. She could’ve gone to work for Galgory, and pocketed her small take of the spoils. She could’ve gone out with her loves that morning. They both had looked so nice… 

It had started to rain. A clear morning turned into another shower, and the pattering of rain on the building was nearly enough to cover the distant rush of the river. Nearly. Louder than either sound, a wet rag scrubbed the side of a second boot. At this rate, she’d be finished with this in no time, as well. She sighed, and scraped a bit of caked-on dirt off the side of the heel. The wind was picking up outside as well, it almost sounded like a distant scream. Which wasn’t unheard of. The town’s seat in the valley put them closer to the wind-side mountains, and the currents could shake the trees with the same strength as the ground under Khi’s feet. It could still be unsettling, especially at night. Khi counted herself lucky she got to live in a quiet little town, without the fuss and worry of the crime she heard about in the cities. A quiet life suited her. 

There it was again, a bit muffled this time, that scream. She finished wringing out the rag into the little drain, which eagerly drank the water away to the outside of the building, out with the rain. No…

No, that wasn’t right. It didn’t sound like the wind. Khi could tell the difference, that wasn’t the wind. 

muckers probably dragging someone out into the street. monsters.

She was curious. She knew it was a risk, but she was curious. And she needed to make sure they hadn’t grabbed someone she knew. So, a little peek wouldn’t hurt…

She lightly stepped out into the living room and slinked over to the windows by the stairs that faced towards the street. If she could hear them, they must have been close by. 

She just barely, ever-so-slightly pushed open the wooden blinds and peered through them. But, the streets were empty…

With the window open she hear it more. That was screaming. A voice calling for help. Khi’s ears perked up. It was coming from back behind the house, towards where the river curved and formed the main street of the town. She ran back into the bathroom and flicked the window up and pressed her ear against the blinders. Pressing them open just a bit, yes, it was coming from the river. 

oh shit

She looked out.

“Oh shit.”

A man was out in the river, clambering for the shore. The rain had turned the waterway into a set of rapids as it drained into town, and they were threatening to drag him into the worst of it. 

“Oh shit!”

Khi’s mind started spinning.

go. boots. coat. gloves. bag. GO.

The boots went on fast, as she pulled them tight while stumbling around the building. She snatched her coat and threw it on, gloves right after. She sprinted to the door, yanking her bag off its hook. She burst into the shop, and quickly tossed a bottle of herbal powder into her bag, where it clattered against the other bottles of weaponized fire. On its own, it would make one feel warmer, more awake, more alert, increase heart rate, but not by much. But Khi knew how damned cold those waters could get…

She tore outside, slamming the door behind her and flipping her hood up over her ears. Her boots smashed against the stone and splashed fresh rainwater into the sprawling green grass. She could still hear him calling, more muffled by the second. More desperate. She could hear the coughing, interrupted by the rapids. 

“Oh, stars…” She muttered through gritted teeth, moving at a full sprint towards the river. 

She made eye contact with the man. An older sir. She saw the panic, saw him slip off the stone he was holding and be dragged down to the next, where he clung for his life. He was calling for her. Calling for help. The words he used didn’t matter, he was scared. So was Khi.

She threw her bag from her shoulder, onto the ground. Her eyes darted across the riverbed. He was just far out enough she couldn’t just stand on the shore.

Gods, fucking, dammit!

He was calling to her, still. With what breath he had he was begging her for his life, as if it wasn’t in the hands of river. She ran downstream, to the next few rocks that protruded from the water. She stepped out into the water. The currents were strong, but it was shallow enough against the shore that she could keep her balance and resist its pull. She stepped out with her other foot, the rapids coming almost up to her knee. She dug her heel into the dirt, finding her footing and leaning over the middle of the river as far as she could. She could reach him.

“Grab me! Let go and come to me!” She screamed at the man, for a moment deafening even the rain with her voice. There was fear in his eyes, but also understanding. Khi watched him look from her to her hand, then back to her. She couldn’t tell whether he slipped or let go, but he separated from the rock he was on and was swept away into the currents. He was going right where Khi needed him. He just needed to get his hand to her’s. She stretched out every inch she could.

“Come on, grab me! I’m here!” She called. She didn’t know if he could hear her anymore, but she didn’t know what else to do. She just needed his hand… It flapped in the water, as he paddled desperately to keep his head from submerging. She could hear his breathing. Ragged. Wet. He’d be coughing water for a while, when he was safe. 

He wore a wedding ring. It shined on his hand against the depth of the water.

Khi was getting him home safe. She slipped her foot an inch farther into the water, and felt the currents threaten to steal her away and smash her against the rocks. She could get him, she just needed to get his hand. He was only feet away. Inches, now. He was right where she needed, she just had to-

GOT YOU!

Khi’s fingers clasped around the man’s wrist and she locked her grip. She hauled him to the side of the river, pulling him away from the worst of the flow. Her feet threatened to give, the water frothing at the opportunity to wash away her shifting foothold. Khi felt his other hand wrap around her arm as he whimpered and sputtered. She was terrified. She knew better than to tempt fate like she was doing. Yet there she was, struggling against the current to free a man from watery death. The way he was tugging at her almost felt as if he was trying to drag her in with him. She shifted her weight and leaned back, grasping for anything on the shoreline to-

The man slipped from her grasp

“NO!”

She dove back in, throwing herself against one of the rocks as the man shrieked. Her hands landed on one of his arms and she dug her fingers into the sleeve of his coat. She felt it tear. He grasped her arm with his other hand. Khi was hooked around the rock she was laying on, the rapids assaulting the back of her head, soaking her hair through her hood. The water was frigid, and it covered the left half of her back, her side, as she pulled the man towards her. He was close. Just a bit farther to the shore and then she could sort herself out. Khi could tell he was beginning to find his footing. His feet were connecting, finally. 

She groaned, and swung the man as much as she could. 

“Grab! The rocks! Go, grab!” She yelled between the moments of silence the river commanded her to take. She coughed as she inhaled a bit of water herself. “Reach! I’ve got you!”

She felt one hand leave her arm and when she looked over, he was grabbing a thick piece of wood that was lodged into the rocky shoreline. That would do.

“I’m letting go! Grab it! I’ll pull you up!”

Khi saw him nod, and let go. She watched him wrap himself around the tree limb. She set about pulling herself up onto the rock, and as she did she let her feet slip back under the surface of the water until they found purchase in the riverbed. She was soaking, freezing, scared, but she was upright, and she trudged back up onto the shore. 

As Khi stumbled over to where the man waited, fighting to keep her breath, she stretched out her arm once more and stepped down until she was perched just on the lip of the riverbed. Her fingers snagged into the man’s coat and her other hand wrapped around his wrist. She heaved, practically throwing the man against the shore, where he scrambled away from the water. They were both panting. She lifted his feet up, and he pushed off her hands as though they were footholds. As he collapsed onto the ground, exhausted, Khi pulled herself onto the shoreline and fell to her knees. The frigid water was sapping her strength by the second, and she could imagine the man wasn’t doing much better. Nearly crawling, she fetched her bag and pulled out the bottle she’d brought along. She uncorked the top as she hobbled over the man who lay shivering on the ground. She emptied a palm-full into her hand and poured it into her mouth, swallowing half. She poured again, nearly twice the amount. 

“Open. Swallow half, chew the rest, until you feel your heart quicken. Then swallow the other half.” The old man didn’t resist. Looking at him, Khi worried about his ability to chew. He was missing more than a couple teeth. But otherwise, he listened, and swallowed some, and started chewing the rest. Khi sat down on the grass, gnawing the remainder of what she’d taken with determination. It tasted like weeds, but that was hardly a substantial concern. 

“Stars, what were you even doing out here?” The rain pelted her hood, her shoulders, the bottoms of her boots. She spoke mostly to herself, the man not making any effort to respond. “Out for a damn swim? Stars above…” she huffed. 

“please…” the man’s voice was weak, shaky. “i…i want… to go… h-home.”

Khi looked at him for a moment, stuck in her thoughts as the rain pelted them both. It was a horrible idea. Every second she was outside her literal life was at risk. Hers and her lovers’. But… she was fully dressed. As covered as she could be. And as she looked at the man crumpled on the ground in front of her, very slowly regaining a bit of the color in his pale face, she knew she had to get him somewhere. The shop would do for now.

“Alright, sir, I think we need to get you inside, and my family’s shop is just right nearby. we’ll get inside, warm you up, get you on your way…” she told him as she walked to get him on his feet. She was feeling warmer, more energized, so she knew he would be too. 

“I can’t… my… my head…” he was still whimpering, despite being safe. What did he mean, his head?

Khi circled him. The side of his head he wasn’t laying on looked fine, and so did his forehead.

“Come on, let’s sit you up, at least…” she slipped her hands under him to left him up, one under his shoulder and one against his cheek. If he bumped his head, the last thing Khi needed was to make it worse. Luckily for her, the man seemed to sit up fairly willingly. It was strange that her hand was so warm though, it felt kinda like-

blood. 

Khi looked at her hand, and saw the amount of blood caked into the creases in her palms. The way it hung to her flesh, only diluted by the rain. Khi swung around to his side, her heart rate picking up. 

“Shit… yeah, you hit your head alright…” The cut was at least an inch long, and eagerly spat blood down the side of the man’s head, mixing with the rain into a faded, thin red that ran down and stained his clothes.

“Sit here. Don’t lay down. I’ll be right back.” Khi didn’t wait for a response. She stood and took off towards the shop at full speed. He needed real medical attention. Stitches, a doctor. But Khi needed to improvise some sort of bandage or he’d faint before she could get anyone. Throwing the door open once again, she tore upstairs and grabbed another rag from the bathroom. Just as fast, she went back downstairs into the shop, and started sifting through a shelf of bottles over one of Robin’s instruments. 

Nope, no, no, not quite, no, definitely not, there! Yes!

She pulled a small bottle of anesthetic paste off the shelf and set back out. The simple truth, it was just a paste composed of water and ground up paramen, a plant that grew in the mountains to the east. The plant happened to work as a fantastic numbing agent, and high enough concentrations often correlated with lower risk of infection. That was as good as it was going to get…

She slid to her knees at the man’s side, who was hunched over on the floor, cradling his head.

“Hey, I’m back, here- stop, move your hands.” She pulled his hands aside and stared straight at her adversary. It was a nasty cut. And it wasn’t clean, which made it look even worse. She shook some of the paste out onto her hand.

“This’ll hurt for a second, then it won’t. Sorry.” She applied it directly to the wound, and the man cried out. Normally Khi would’ve been harder on herself, but she was hardly qualified. He would just have to manage. As she finished spreading it over the wound, her hands trembling, she took up the rag and held it to his head. 

“Alright, hold this here. I know, it hurts, I’m sorry, but for now just… just do that.” Her hands were shaking. It would’ve been normal if she’d been cold, but the dose she’d taken had her buzzing. It was making her more anxious. She knew this was a mistake, being outside. She knew better. She just… couldn’t leave him.

She helped him to his feet, standing beside him as he started to move. Her hands held his arms up, keeping him, more or less, balanced. He couldn’t move fast, and Khi wondered if that was because of his injury or just old age. Possibly both. All she needed to do was get him to a doctor. Then it was back home, to pretend like she hadn’t gone out. 

It proved difficult to keep a man steady when Khi was, herself, barely stable. She knew there was a smaller clinic a few streets south of the shop, it was just a matter of getting the old one there before he collapsed. The two stuck to the backroads, and, likely due to the rain, didn’t encounter many bystanders. The man whined and whimpered with nearly every step, but amid the panicking chaos of Khi’s own mind, she barely noticed. She wanted someone, someone she knew, to storm out and take the man so she could run back and hide. If Evelyn found out, she would be so upset at her…

A door nearby opened. Khi’s ears perked up and her eyes darted around. One house up, to the left. Soft footsteps, no armor, probably not a mucker. She relaxed a bit, her shoulders letting go of the stress. A woman emerged from around the corner of the house, cloth hood covering her head, basket in hand. She was muttering about her “damned laundry”, and Khi assumed she had been headed to the clothesline hung between two buildings. Past tense, as the second she laid eyes on the duo, she froze. Khi’s eyes were locked to her’s, but the woman was looking only at the man she held up. Shock spread across her face.

“Jed?!” She dropped her basket as the man meekly turned up his gaze to her. “Jed! Oh gods, Jed!” The woman ran up to Jed and hunched down in front of him, her hand lifting his chin so she could look at him properly. “Oh gods, oh gods, Jed, what happened? Oh no…” The woman mumbled, fussing over the man.

“I heard him… calling from the river, north, up by the bend…”

“Oh for the love of- the rapids! Oh gods, his head…”

“He needs a doctor. It’s bad…” Khi and the woman led the man over to a little bench along the side of a building across the street, covered from the rain. Khi was happy to let go of the extra weight. The woman, still fussing and cursing, peeked under the rag.

“Shitting sparks, Jed. Oh, yes, a doctor.”

Khi heard other doors begin to open. Others had either heard or seen them from their windows, and human nature demanded they investigate. 

“Oh gods, thank you so much, thank you miss-“ The woman met Khi’s gaze, and there was a pause as she seemed to finally notice the Vena. 

“Khi.”

The woman paused for a moment, her mind moving as fast as her fingers trembled. “Thank you, miss Khi. You’re… you’re good people.” 

Others started to venture out into the street. A couple men, a woman, soon to be more. The neighborhood was coming out to swarm. She heard several uses of the man’s name among the chatter. Clearly he had friends, which was good. Maybe she could slip away…

Just then, a woman ran up to her, placing her hand on Khi’s shoulder, “Oh goodness, what happened to Jed?”

A man stepped forward, arms crossed, “Where’d you find him, he looks like death…”

Khi watched as the first woman and a man she seemed to recognize began shepherding the man down the street towards the clinic. Some of the crowd trailed after them, others stayed to interrogate Khi, who began to feel more claustrophobic by the second. 

“You look unwell, do you need a scarf?” One woman offered.

“Oh gods, you saved his life…” a man half-mumbled.

“Can you fetch the girl a bowl of soup please? She must be freezing…” A woman pestered her companion. 

Too many voices, people bidding her to get out of the rain, the rain pelting the stone and the rooves, the clattering of metal plates, and she was cold, and tired and there were doors opening and closing and the man walking away… and the crowd then got very quiet. All eyes on Khi. No, no they were looking-

A hand grasped Khi’s shoulder. A gauntlet, a thick leather glove played with metal, spun the girl around.

oh no

She knew that armor.

oh fuck

She knew that insignia.

fate please save me

Mucker.

She froze for only a second before she turned to run, but before she could get any distance, a second hand wrapped itself around her throat. 

“NO-“  Her voice was cut off as her windpipes nearly shut. It squeezed her with the intent of breaking her neck. Yet it didn’t. 

“Same coat as ‘esterday… sloppy, fuckin’ vermin.” He spoke, revulsion dripping off his words like venom.

Khi wrapped her hands around his wrists and tugged. He was a massive man, a mountain of armor and padding. Khi might have been taller, but she was outclassed in weight twice over. Panic filled her chest. He easily brushed off her attempts to slip out of his grasp, his fingers like stone. Khi took to batting at his arms, to no effect, save for the clattering of her arms on steel plates.

“He was right. West side, ‘n you made such a fuckin’ racket I didn’ even ‘ave to look that hard. Dumb fuckin’ rat.” The hand on Khi’s shoulder left, reeled back into a fist, and careened into her stomach. Every ounce of air Khi was fighting to keep left in an instant. She wanted to collapse, but she was suspended in the man’s grip. Her legs gave out as she gasped for air, coughing, inhaling rain as she struggled to breathe. She hung from his hand, and he brought her down to her knees. 

fate please save me

Khi felt the man’s hand leave her throat, and she doubled over, choking on the breaths she so greedily took. Her hands went to her throat, where the indents of his fingers remained. No matter how hard she coughed, she couldn’t seem to clear her throat. From above her, she heard the long, deep call of a soldier’s horn. As she peered up, the man clipped it back onto his belt. She remembered that horn. It was the same call she’d heard so long ago. Right before an execution.

please i don’t want to die

The man lifted his foot, and lowered it onto Khi’s head, pressing her down into the street. The rain splashed water into Khi’s eyes, her nose, her mouth, and the water already on the street threatened to choke her. Unable to catch her breath, her fingers scrambled across the pavement, hoping for something, anything, to get her free. 

The man shouted something down at her, despite the fact his foot was covering her ear. She tried to push his foot off, and as penance the man dug his heel into the side of her head, pressing her face between the cobbled stones beneath her. 

The way Khi was angled, she could see the crowd. Still there, still watching. The man was talking more, to someone. Maybe to them. She couldn’t tell. She couldn’t even get her arms under her. Their faces… the faces of the crowd, sad, and resigned, and accepting. Khi knew she was on her own. She didn’t expect any different. 

Another set of footsteps neared, trodding up to meet the man. Khi could hear words being spoken, and then the foot shifted off her head. The blade of his foot, metal-plated boot and all, slid down to pin her neck to the ground, and a hand grabbed her hood and yanked it off her head.

“Dunno how cunts like her hide those ears. Like fuckin’ bats.”

“Indeed. She’ll be a good display.” It was a woman’s voice now. Followed by the noise of a chain being gathered, and at the same time the man cleared his throat. She felt the spit land on the side of her face only a moment after hearing him launch the disgusting little projectile. 

fate please i don’t want to die 

The faces of the crowd grew increasingly more concerned, and Khi heard metal chainlinks crash against the stone. A hand tangled its fingers in her hair and lifted her head, and the loop slipped under and around her neck. It pulled tight, and she gasped for air. The foot raised, and immediately she felt the snare tighten around her and begin dragging her away. 

She was going to suffocate. Her feet wouldn’t catch anything she could stand on. Her hands clawed at her noose, trying to loosen it for air, but every time she pulled, it tightened even more. She was terrified. She thrashed against her prison, and finally rolled over onto her stomach. With her legs now under her, she could better keep pace with her captor, and was gifted slightly more slack around her neck. She scrambled to get her feet under her, tugging at the chain, but every time she managed to get her feet under her, her captor, the woman, tugged at her neck and brought her forward into her knees once more, where Khi would fight to not fall face first into the stones. 

They were walking east. Towards the main road. She could hear the distant commotion of a crier. And carts. 

fate please, i didn’t even get to say goodbye…

Tears welled in her eyes. This wasn’t happening. This couldn’t be happening. She was days away, days away from everything she’d ever wanted in life. As she fought to breathe her mind raced through everything. The jewelry. The dress. Robin’s formal wear. Evelyn. The three of them, standing there. Hands in hands. The ceremony. Being theirs. Living with them, their future, her future, the only thing she wanted from life to be loved and to love and to do so with the two people in the world who meant half a shit to her after every one of her people that she knew had been killed-

She screamed. With every ounce of air she had, Khi screamed as loud as she could. She screamed in pain, in humiliation, in fear, and in anger. She felt only anguish. 

She would get out, and she would run. She would run until she couldn’t run anymore and hide. And wait. And then she would return. 

And when the colossal boot collided with her ribs, all the fight left her body. She collapsed, limp, and could do nothing but submit to the pull of her captor as she dragged Khi out into the main street.

A crowd was beginning to form. The crier was shouting the evils of the Vena. The rain poured down on the wooden monstrosity being constructed in the middle of the street. Khi finally came to a stop. The chain loosened for a moment, and Khi sputtered. Just as quickly she felt it pull her straight up to her knees, so she faced the militia in front of her. Some stared at her with hatred. Others stared as if they hadn’t eaten in days and she was a fresh cut of lamb. The woman who held her chain looked down at her with disgusted contempt. 

“We’ll need oil. Otherwise she won’t light in this rain.” She called to her compatriots, who ran off to one of their other carts.

no, no no no please no just let me say goodbye

“I didn’t realize parasites could cry. Go ahead, creature, give everyone a good show.” She spoke as if Khi herself had slaughtered her family.

The woman turned Khi out towards the crowd, and lifted the chain so Khi had no choice but to stand. She wrapped it around her hand and pulled, and Khi swore it would crush her windpipe. The woman had feet on feet of chain coiled against her back as well, enough to drag Khi behind a cart from nearly a block away. As soon as she had noticed, the man pushed her backwards. She stumbled, turned, and saw the wooden pedestal in front of her, atop the wooden pyre. She would be burned.

why, fate

She looked back at the man, unwilling to go on her own. He laughed at her, as her eyes pleaded not to force her up, and shoved her back, his free hand grasping the hilt of his sword. When she stumbled, hesitating, the man stopped laughing, and grabbed her once more. He threw Khi against the structure, its edge colliding with her upper stomach. She was already bruising, she could feel it.

Though, she supposed, that wouldn’t matter, soon, would it?

She took her place, trembling, kneeling on the wood, between the two wooden posts standing out of the center. The woman holding her chain called to a man behind Khi, undoing the rest of Khi’s restraint from her attire. She tossed the length up and over the bar that connected the two posts, several feet above Khi’s head, where another man caught it. It was then tossed back to the woman, who, when she caught it, looked up at Khi, smiled, and tugged. Khi felt herself be pulled upwards away from her pedestal, as if she was being hanged. Her hands clasped for anything, running along the lengths of the poles, filling her palms with splinters. Her throat burned. Her eyes burned. Soon everything else would burn. 

i wasn’t meant for this, why

The crier doubled up his efforts, and as Khi looked out at the town, her home, the crowd had become much larger. 

“These devils, these monsters, want you to think they’re like us…” the crier started up. 

Khi recognized a few of the people out there. She knew these people. She knew so many of them. And they were there… to watch. Quietly.

“…this thing’s ‘kind’ are a blight on the kingdom of man, unfit to live amongst the worms in our SOIL!”

She wanted to sob. So many faces stared up at her with disgust. So many with sadness. She saw the men and women who had taken the old man from her care not an hour ago. She saw the man and the woman who had offered to feed her. He still held a steaming bowl of soup in his hands, filling by the second with rain. 

“…came to this world, and all mankind has known since is VIOLENCE, DEATH, BLOODSHED!”

Tears streamed down her face, mixing into the rain. Her hands grasped at the chain, but the fight was gone. This was supposed to be her home. She knew the streets, she knew the people, she knew-

Bonna.

The little old woman, who she’d seen two days ago. Stood near the very front of the crowd. Her face was as sour as ever. Her arms crossed over her chest. Her lip quivered, and her eyes were scrunched up in a way Khi had never seen them. She came to watch. This was her  ‘goodbye.’ Khi looked at her, met her gaze, and her mind screamed, as if Bonna could hear her thoughts, how thankful she was. She pleaded that fate tell the little old lady how much she had always enjoyed her produce. How her cold demeanor had always been a beacon. Bonna wiped at her eyes.

“…to be purged from this land, and one day, to be purged from theirs as gods-damned well!”

Galgory.

A few people back, he’d clearly just come from his business. He’d taken time from his work, to come see her off. Khi choked on a sob. As she did, she watched Galgory fight off a sob of his own. He cried into his hands, obscuring his face as best he could. She wanted to run out and hug him. She wanted to tell him how much it meant that he’d been willing to do what he did for her. That he was the reason, the only reason, that she had gotten so close to her wedding. To her future. And she had. She had gotten very, very close. She hoped he would find someone else to fill her office. He didn’t deserve to be lonely.

“…Captain Ramanada Gines! Captain, the town is yours.” 

“People of Brookstead!” The woman holding Khi’s chain spoke. Ramanada Gines, Khi thought. If fate permits me, I will return for you, in the life after this one.

Khi wept. Her head held in place but her eyes shut. She opened them when she could no longer stand the darkness, and looked out again. She was terrified. She didn’t want to die. She wasn’t supposed to. Not now, not in twenty years, not in a hundred. She still had so much to do…

Robin.

Evelyn.

In the back of the crowd, off to the back left. There they were. Both of them. Evelyn, twisted in on herself, her arms shaking, clutching something. Robin had his hands on her shoulders, holding her close to his side. 

“no… no, no no no! Please! Please!” Khi wailed, her eyes on her future spouses. The loves of her life. The two who saved her when she had nothing. She wrenched at the chain. She shrieked, and several of the militia bared their weapons. Captain Gines turned to face her, and tugged on the chain. Khi was pulled backwards and up, but her arm remained outstretched even as her voice was silenced. 

“please!” she begged, her voice laden with desperation, with sadness. “please, don’t leave me here…” 

She could speak no more. The chain tightening again as Captain Gines turned, satisfied, back to the crowd and continued her speech. 

please let me say goodbye… i’m so, so sorry, Evvy…

She watched Evelyn’s face. As Khi wailed, Evelyn looked as if maybe, maybe she’d rush the pedestal and save her. Free her. But as the noose tightened, and men began pouring oil onto the bottom of the pyre, Khi watched Evelyn’s face turn into something she’d never seen before. Cold, distant, dismissive. She’d never seen her look that way. At anything. Even when Khi upset her, she still had passion in her eyes. But now, it was as if Khi was a stranger. As Khi’s heart sank, and she realized there was no rescue, she felt everything she loved die in an instant. 

It was over. There was no goodbye. There was only, wood, oil, rain, and hate. There was loss.

And as Khi stared at the crowd, faces she knew, she understood no one among them would change things. She would die, and they would live. All of them. Happily. In a week, she would be a fading memory. It wasn’t fair, but she could fight no longer.

She thought her goodbyes as the smell of oil washed up to meet her, and Captain Gines continued to preach the evils of the Vena. She said goodbye to-

the Truthbearer.

Standing far off in the back of the crowd. Stood perfectly still. Empty, black holes in a metal mask for eyes, they stared up at Khi. She couldn’t look away. They had been an omen. One of death, just like they always were. They were… patting their side.

what?

They moved like rigid metal but the movement was intentional. They were patting their hip, as if they had-

my bag. 

Khi’s eyes went wide. Her bag. Her bag, her bag! They hadn’t taken her bag!

She kept her eyes on the Truthbearer. She watched them, watched them nod their head. They… knew. They knew. They had to. She had her fire. Her bottles. Yes! Yes, she just needed to-

the Truthbearer held up one finger, and Khi could swear she heard what it meant.

Wait.

She nodded. The Truthbearer nodded in kind, and started moving towards her, towards the pedestal. Towards the pyre. Towards the militia. 

Khi undid the clasp on her bag as sly as she could manage. Some onlookers noticed, she heard the murmurs. The closer civilians were beginning to stir. Captain Gines’ tone was shifting. She was losing her audience, and she could tell.

Khi’s eyes flicked back to the Truthbearer, who stared up at her. They’d noticed. The militia saw the moving set of armor, they watched it dance through the crowd like quicksilver. She heard weapons slide out of sheathes, maces unclip from belts. 

She watched those black pits. It was coming. A mucker stepped towards them. “Hey! You!”

The Truthbearer nodded.

Khi ripped as many bottles out of her pack as she could and launched them at the Captain.

The glass shattered on the ground and after a brief sparkle the very air around the base of the pyre seemed to explode into flame. Gines, reeling, let the chain go and Khi tore her head free from its noose and catapulted herself to the ground. The base of the pyre erupted in flame, the oil causing the air in a wide radius to heat enough to make Khi’s cheeks burn. Firelight bathed the street, the militia, and as Khi stumbled to her feet she heard the sound of metal on metal, the cries of war, of fleeing men and women, the splattering of blood on stone. 

She ran.

She ran as fast as she could. She could hear the clattering footsteps behind her as she fled, and reached into her bag and pulled the remaining two bottles out. As she ran, she pulled the tops off and scattered the contents towards her pursuers, both being engulfed in crackling flames. She could’ve sworn she could hear their flesh snap and pop. Nausea threatened to double her over and empty her stomach, her pace faltering. She was numb, but every inch of her was tingling. The rain, the cold air, the wind, the noise of one final, lone man chasing her… it felt as if she was going to shut down. To fall over. 

what am i doing? fate, what am i doing?

She caught a glimpse of her final pursuer as she left the distant dirt roads and sprinted out between the trees across the shallow northern clearing of town. The same man who had found her. Who had held her in place, to await her end. The mountain of flesh of steel. And she had nothing left. But she did have speed. She could hear him stumbling through the woods, nearly tripping over tree roots, tearing through bushes in his way. She switched trajectories, moving northwest towards the thickets. She heard him curse, something shifting, clattering gear. He wasn’t running anymore. Maybe he knew he needed more forces. They’d come later and try to flush her out of the forest, they might just burn it all down, but she could get distance before-

CLACK

The sound of a crossbow. Of the mechanisms slamming the string into the prod. She turned, shifting herself over the vines at her feet. The bolt tore through the air towards her as she turned. Just when she had turned enough to lock eyes with her pursuer, the searing pain of tearing flesh tore through her leg. The bolt landed a glancing bow, not finding purchase in her leg, but instead carving through the outside of her thigh, before diving into the soil several feet away. 

Khi yelped in pain, and stumbled. She’d been lucky, her reflexes keeping her from having a bolt stuck through her leg. But as she tripped backwards, her damaged leg catching on one of the roots sprawling up out of the ground, and smashed her head against the tree just behind her, she couldn’t help but think she could not get any less lucky. Her skull bounced off the unmoving trunk, and her vision went fuzzy as she hit the ground. 

The sound of approaching footsteps sent adrenaline to every inch of her body. Her vision was foggy, her mind seemed to sway and lurch inside her skull, and her leg burned. The palms of her hands bled into the soil where sharp stones and jagged flora had punctured and torn her flesh. Her breathing was ragged, her lungs desperate to pump air they simply couldn’t catch. 

Her pursuer was closing on her, mumbling to himself. He despised Khi, she could pick up that much. He blamed her, her specifically, for everything. From the “fall of his ancestors” to the fact that now, after running so far in his makeshift, kitchenware-esque armor, he was out of breath. Khi scrambled for something, anything she could grab to pull herself up and away, out of danger. To get some momentum and keep it until she was far enough away that she couldn’t hear his awful breathing anymore. Until it was quiet. Everything was so loud. Her heartbeat, her own breath, his breath, the pattering of rain falling through the leaves, the sound of his footsteps, the sound of his crossbow being thrown to the ground.

His foot landed in the center of her chest, and pressed her into the dirt. It crushed the little air left in her lungs back out into the cold forest air. She grabbed at his ankle, instinct demanding her to free herself, but to no avail. She couldn’t get a good grasp, her arms felt weak, she was out of breath, she was tired. She was at the end of her thread.

goodbye, Robin.

The sound of the man cursing her, unhooking the mace from his belt. The sound of the rain crashing to the ground around her.

goodbye, Evelyn.

The sound of their breath, both gasping for air they couldn’t seem to catch. The sound of metal on metal. 

I’ll miss you, my loves. 

The sound of her hands, letting go, falling limp to the ground beside her. The sound of her breath slipping out between parted lips. 

I am so, so sorry.

The sound of steel tearing through the rain. The sound of blood spraying across the dirt. 

Silence.

——