Chronicles of Death

Night wore on and it wasn’t until just past the stroke of midnight, signaled by a bell in the town square, that Katya finally heard stirring within the tent. Muffled voices, in fact. Sound didn’t carry the way she’d expected. The tent was extra insulated, likely for privacy given the General’s extracurricular activities.

The seam in the back of the tent was secured in several places but she was able to squeeze her raven body between the sizable gaps between buttons. She kept low to the ground, which was a hilarious image.

A raven on their belly, sneaking within a tent.

And there he was within.

Aither was tall and muscular. His head was shaved on the right side and thick locks of dark hair cascaded down the other in waves. His green eyes were cold and cruel. His armor was white and gray, atop black leather. He was stripping it off piece by piece and setting those pieces in a neat pile to the side while humming a familiar tune.

A young woman, barely old enough to legally work in Mahinaka, lay bound and gagged nearby. Her tan cheeks were stained with tears and dirt. Her eyes darted around the tent, unmistakably disoriented, and most importantly, frightened. She’d probably been drugged. It was rare to see anyone making themselves as small as this woman was. Aither didn’t even look at her while he undressed. Armor removed, he pulled at his coat, his shirt, and unbuckled his belt.

Aither was one of the worst kinds of monsters. He had a gentle and attractive face to mask the wickedness hidden beneath.

At long last, he turned to his prey. But his eyes betrayed his gentle face. He didn’t see this woman as a living creature with thoughts, feelings, or rights. He saw her as a thing. An object of desire.

There were too many like him. Those with deceitful eyes. People who wished only to consume and control. Yet, Aither was naïve. Considering what had become of Alev, he foolishly had not bothered to take any precautions for his safety. He believed he was beyond hunting. Katya was grateful for his recklessness.

The key he guarded was not worn like jewelry as Alev’s had been. She scanned the tent. It was likely in a bag or a pocket. Not to worry. She’d find it once he was dead. With another quick glance to get the lay of the land she found it entirely by accident. It was there, dangling from the loop of his pants, caught on the belt he’d unbuckled.

He approached his prey. She pled, sobbed- even with a gag in her mouth. Katya did not need to hear her words to know they were pleading.

Katya secured the flap in the tent that she’d sneaked through.

“Are you frightened, dear thing?” Aither’s voice was slimy- a slithering hiss. The girl sobbed, her face red with panic. Aither grinned, pleasure dancing within his eyes. His posture over her was threatening, like a wolf leaning in for the kill. “You should be.” His grin widened.

Katya released the magic of the raven and returned to her body, withdrew her blade from its sheath, and approached. The captive’s eyes widened in shock at the sight of her. A sob escaped her gag as Aither grabbed a fistful of the woman’s short, dark hair and threw her hard on the ground. He was completely unaware that he was no longer the most formidable predator in the room.

His delight became a gasp of shock as Katya’s blade plunged through his back and emerged from his stomach. Once aggressive hands grasped the tip of the blade with surprising care. Before he could make a sound, she placed her hand over his mouth from behind. He muttered and blood splattered against her black gloves.

Good.

Let him choke on it.

“Does it hurt?” Katya whispered in his ear then twisted the blade before yanking it free. Blood. Everywhere. Gushing. He turned toward her with a stumble, opened his mouth to speak or scream, it didn’t much matter which. She sliced his head from his shoulders before he made a peep.

It rolled to the ground and stopped at the edge of the tent. Before his body could collapse with a thud, Katya grabbed it and laid it to rest. She gathered the blankets from his bed and tossed them around the body and head to keep blood from seeping beneath the edges of the tent.

Wiping her sword clean on one of the blankets, she slipped it back into its sheath. Then she crouched next to the captive who was whimpering in terror, eyes wide.

“Are you alright?” Katya made certain to sound soft and non-threatening, to keep her hands in sight at all times. The woman, shaken, nodded upon realizing she wouldn’t be Katya’s next victim. “I’m going to untie and ungag you, but I need you to promise that you’ll remain silent. Can you do that for me?”

The woman stared at Aither’s corpse before making eye contact with Katya again. Then she nodded resolutely. With a quick motion, Katya removed the dagger she kept hidden in her boot and cut the woman free. Then she untied her gag after replacing the dagger into its sheath. The woman’s breath trembled but she did not cry out. She stayed silent as promised.

Her once tan skin was a sickly pale and grew ever paler by the second. Katya was unusually comfortable around death after years at war. She’d seen more than she cared to say. It was easy to forget that most people were not usually witnesses to murder. “Take deep breaths. Careful now. Try not to focus on anything but breathing and your freedom.” The woman did as she was told and soon her cheeks were rosy again. “Are you alright?” Katya repeated. Adrenaline had a funny way of clouding judgment of such things.

“Just frightened.” Her voice was low and shaky. “Did you come here to save me? How did you know where to find me?”

“I wish I could say you were the reason I’m here, but you are not. Call it luck if you wish. If you are from Vira, then I suggest you leave town and never return.”

“No, no. I’m a… I travel with my cart and sell wares to… I… there were soldiers and I thought they were customers but instead they grabbed me.” She was trembling all over. “This was my first time making the journey alone.”

“Never do it again. Change is coming to Mahinaka, but the road will get more difficult before it gets better. For now, I will help you home.”

“I’m sorry but if not to rescue me then why is it you’re here? How could I possibly be so lucky?”

“He had something I required. That and I’m not the type to look away when someone is in trouble.”

“Thank you. With my whole heart, I thank you.”

Katya approached Aither’s fallen corpse. She pulled the key ring from the belt loop of his trousers. A white key, the end of it shaped like clouds. He was the Wind General. Far less of a hassle than the General before him but equally deserving of death. Katya replaced the keyring with a small trinket in the key’s place. The more of this she did, the sooner her motives would be discovered.

One missing key could be explained away. One freak incident resulting in the death of a high-ranking official could be dismissed. But two deaths and both their keys missing? That was the beginning of a pattern. The woman had turned away from Katya who was searching through the tent. She dug through a chest in the corner. Within there was a heavy bag of gold coins and expensive linens. She tore through them and tossed the linens about.

“What are you doing?”

“Creating a motive.”

“With me missing won’t it just look like I was the one who robbed him?”

“No, dear. Trust me. This motive is but a distraction. They will be uncovering mine soon enough. Only fools would miss what happened here. You will not be hunted. They’ll forget all about you.” Katya pulled a dagger from the chest and offered the hilt to the stranger. “Take this. Never go anywhere unarmed. If you like, I can teach you a few tricks on our way out.”

“I will not take it. They’ll know it was me if they find me with it!”

“I doubt it. Do you see the inscription on the hilt?” Katya gestured to it. The woman looked it over.

“For Tessa.”

“A trophy likely. Of a woman just like you who did not get so lucky. There are a dozen more like it in his chest, secreted away.”

“Oh.” The woman’s shoulders dropped, and her gaze softened.

“If you are ever attacked again, take the blade, and gut them. Just like I did to him. Below the ribs and pull up. Then you run.”

“Who are you?” She accepted the blade as her own.

“That does not matter.” Katya offered the woman a hand once she’d finished ransacking the tent. “I need you to be as quiet as you can for this next part.”

“I can do that. I’m very good at quiet. My father used to scold me for sneaking up on him.”

“We will make our exit through the back of the tent and sneak through the forest together. There is a seam there with a few buttons. I can keep us shrouded with my magic for a time so do not rush. Make your steps careful and deliberate.”

“Why are you helping me?”

“Do I need a reason?”

Very few deserved death. Over the past few days, Katya had made herself judge, jury, and executioner. The weight of that would be carried on her shoulders for the rest of her life. If she could do some good in the process, then perhaps it would tip the scales just a little though she knew nothing would absolve her of these sins.

Not even Vrana could save her soul now.

“I suppose it doesn’t matter.”

Katya untied the back of the tent and pulled it open to allow the woman to sneak into the forest. With a whisper, she cast one of Vrana’s spells to obscure them in shadow. No one would see them fleeing. She took a pair of Aither’s boots and made footprints leading into the forest before handing them to the woman to protect her bare feet. Katya would burn them later. She’d taken the cloak and shoes that had been stolen from the young woman and held them at her side. Then she tied up the back of the tent again and hurried beyond the trees.

His body would likely not be found until the morning. She did not mourn him.

He was a monster, and she needed his key.

Katya was willing to leave a trail of corpses throughout Lupinaio if it meant she could save her niece and nephew the way she’d saved this woman.

Once safely further into the forest, Katya allowed the woman to change her shoes into her own. She threw Aither’s shoes over her shoulder and they walked. It was inconvenient for Katya to escort this woman to wherever she’d come from, but she had made a silent promise to return her to safety.

They stopped only once after hours of walking to eat and drink. Katya burned the shoes. They stunk horribly but they were so far from where she’d killed Aither that it wouldn’t give them away. She retrieved water from a nearby river and used a simple spell from Vrana to purify it. Much of the water in Lupinaio was contaminated. It needed to be boiled to become drinkable and that took time they did not have.

Lupinaio was rotting. She hadn’t noticed until Raven had pointed it out. The task of killing the Gods seemed less and less insane with each passing second. If it would save Lupinaio then it would be worth it. If it would save her niece and nephew, she would do it.

The trip took the entirety of the next day. The young woman had lost her cart and her wares, things that she had worked hard to come by. Katya offered her the money from her purse. She’d keep what she’d stolen from Aither lest it be tied back to him. This woman would not be tracked back to her crime if she could help it.

“This is far more than what my goods were worth. It is too generous. I cannot keep it.” She counted the coins, her eyes misty with tears. “You saved me. I owe you my life.”

“You owe me nothing. Please. Take it. Use the extra to remain safe for a time. I’m willing to pay for peace of mind.” Katya hadn’t been sure the woman trusted her but much to her surprise, she was hugged tight to the woman’s chest in response. Then the woman sobbed quietly into her hair.

“I could never manage to repay you.”

“Good thing you owe me nothing.” Katya reassured her. “All I ask is that you don’t tell anyone about me. When asked where you got the money, say that your horse broke its ankle and had to be put down. A generous stranger paid for the cart and meat. A man. You were blinded by the opportunity and do not recall much about him.”

“But… you should be praised. People should know about the good in the world.” She seemed uneasy about the lie.

“If it is too hard for you to lie then don’t. Just don’t tell the whole truth either. There is plenty to say without saying what happened. I’m a stranger, not a woman.” Katya hoped that would help. “I have much to do anonymously. The longer I am hidden the more that I can do. I will be hunted, but with any luck they can perhaps not know who they’re hunting quite yet.”

The woman let Katya go and placed a soft kiss upon her cheek, held both her hands over one of Katya’s, and then walked toward the town in the distance. Katya watched her go for a time before disappearing into the forest. Then she became the raven and followed the woman from the skies to assure she made it home safely.

From the rooftops of the small, quiet town, she watched as the woman made her way through the streets and up the short steps of an old building in dire need of repair. A man opened the door at her knock and wept at the sight of her, pulling her into his arms. Katya heard the soft mutter of her explanation, of how her horse had died and she had sold her cart and the wares within.

Sobbing, the man brought her inside.

Not everyone in Mahinaka was corrupt with greed and malice. Most were just trying to survive. Katya waited for the door to close and then took flight. She made her way northeast toward the third mark on her map. It was impossible to know if the General would still be there, but it was as good a place as any to start looking.