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Her reaction did nothing to reassure hi fro as though noting all possible escape routes She did not lower her bow, nor relax her grip on its string She had all the anxiety of a nervous beast while at the sah he were soht not begrudge her such a mannerism; she had only barely survived the Abysmyth’s touch Surely, he reasoned, fear and panic were reasonable reactions But towards him? Towards the ht of her as not just a shict?

He found his hands tensing of their own volition and quickly fought to relax theht just as hard to keep thenore her,’ it uttered ‘If she wishes to scorn us, then let her rot here while we do our work There will be more Abysmyths We know this’

He clenched his teeth, straining to ignore the voice His thoughts were glass, however, and the voice was a vocal rock He felt theain, it was a thousand echoing shards

‘LEAVE’

‘KAT!’ he shrieked

She looked at hih she could hear what breithin hirunt, he forced a new face, a frown of concern and narrowed eyes Don’t upset her, he told himself, don’t let her hear it

‘Listen,’ his voice sounded strained to his ears, ‘you can tell me I’m not the enemy here’

She cocked her head uncertainly at that Onceshattered within him His heart contracted under her wary stare and he felt his face twist to match the pain in his chest

‘Kataria,’ he whispered, ‘don’t you trust me?’

‘Usually,’ she replied

Her face nearly h as her shoulders sluht him no relief; she seeht of talking to him was a surrender

‘Do you remember the Abysmyth?’ she asked

‘Uh,’ he blinked, ‘it’s rather a hard thing to forget’

He felt his heart go nuht of her stare, dire and sharp as an arrowhead

‘Fine,’ he continued, ‘no, I don’t re the da on the beach’

‘Youmet it?’

‘And had a conversation with it’ He nodded ‘It’s rather a polite des’

‘You said you barely re’ She seemed unimpressed with his humour ‘What do you remember?’

Voices Or rather a voice, in ry Told me to pick up my sword and kill the dehter, to rip it apart And I did And I know I shouldn’t have been able to, but I was I killed the dahed The voice laughed and I wanted to laugh, too I wanted to laugh like a ’s blood

That’s what I remember

He told her none of this Instead, he looked up, and replied in one word

‘You’

It was not exactly the entire truth, but though it was no lie, Kataria’s frown seeht back a sigh and instead took a step forwards, feeling at least soht Instead, she regarded hi curiosity he hadn’t come to miss before she looked at him like he was a lunatic

‘I saw you,’ he continued, unhindered, ‘I saw you shoot the Abyso still and cold as a fish Then, I saw you drop’

‘And you knohy I dropped?’ she asked

He blinked, shook his head

‘Because of you,’ she replied, ‘because you cut the demon’s arm off, because you killed it’

‘I didn’t kill it’

‘I’m fairly sure you did’

‘We settled this already,’ he replied, ‘the poison killed it The longfaces killed it’

‘It didn’t stopuntil you put your sword in it’

‘The poison took its ti this?’ She seemed as if she wanted to snarl, to spit the words Instead, she could only shake her head at him ‘I saw you, too I saw you kill the demon I saw you save me’ Her froisted and Lenk could see that her heart sank as well ‘Why are you denying that?’

Because, he thought, fingering the hilt of his sword, the Abysed to say such a thing to her, if only so that she ht knohy he couldn’t say it Instead, he could do little h She returned the expression and, without any fear, walked past hiainst his; she felt cold

‘So,’ he spoke up, desperate to ease the tension, ‘do you see anything that I ht have lancing over the jungle soil ‘Soh here, but I can’t tell who or what Nothing’s clear’

The leaves shook in the trees Birds fled in a sudden burst as a thunderous roar split the forest apart Kataria rose to her feet, following Lenk’s gaze out and away, towards the distant shore

‘That is, though’

Gariath could tolerate wounds of all kinds: piercings, cuts, gashes, bruises and assorted scrapes were things he could res he could respond to For those few injuries that drew no blood and beat no flesh, he had no patience

‘Stand still!’

He lashed a claw at the feain, she stepped away fro quite tireso hardly irritated hi, beyond offering hi,’ he snarled, ‘in battle!’

His roar drove his fist as he ra to pulp her placid expression Her sole defence was an upraised hand, a deentle hu hi seemed so quiet, so meek, his muscles like jelly When he opened hisnued forwards, ar out before hihts, pulling hiround with a crash

He roared, or tried to roar, both at himself and at her He tried to rise, to crush her jaw, rip out her tongue, sht only sputter out a tune with notes of broken teeth His body, however, would not answer him His eyelids beca darkness enveloped hiills flickering curiously, her gaze lingering only for a

The arrow bit angrily through the air where her head had just been, spitefully taking a few strands of green hair as it sped past her and sank into the sands beyond The feh eyelids that closed like twin doors and regarded the two pale shapes at the distant end of the beach

‘What the hell was that?’ Lenk cried, punching Kataria in the arm ‘Shictish archery, my left tes--’

‘Shehim away, she drew another et her this time’

Like a silk-swaddled bellows, the fe so wide as to threaten to dislocate her jaw The arroas lowered in momentary curiosity Shict and man stared dumbly as the female took one step forwards, turned her mouth upon the shriller; annoying, Lenk thought through his fingers, but little ree

Collapsing next to her bow, the shict writhed upon the ground, shrieking as she clawed at notched ears that withered like roses Her legs kicked as she proceeded to bash her head against the sand, straining to pound the noise out of her head

That left two coh reason to stick a sword into soed towards the female Her alien features did not cause his much more ferocious than her He aimed at a spot between her breasts, undoubtedly where her heart was If it wasn’t there, he reasoned, he’d just keep stabbing until he found so to beat that

It was only when he drew close enough to see her eyes that he hesitated She cocked an eyebrow, or rather an eyeridge, at hiesture with a confused expression

Who, he wondered, s at the doesn’t even know I’m about to kill it

Even as he continued to advance, his sword held high, still she did not see him curiously Good; better that she focus on him than look behind her Better she lock eyes with hiaze over her shoulder

If she did, sheknife clenched in one hand

The rogue’s scoas as cold as his hand was quick He slipped a gloved hand around and clasped it over her er up beneath her chin as she tried ers

‘Shh,’ he whispered as he ’ The tip of his blade scraped the bottom of her chin ‘Don’t you scream’

‘STOP!’