The black rose chapter 3
The box was covered in dirt. The silvery metal peaked between a layer of watery mud. Emma grunted as she pulled the box free from the wall of collapsing mud. She whipped the top of it with her hand and read the label edged into it. "Departmento Munitorum X Bolt Shells." Encouraged, Emma tried opening the box but was stopped by a padlock.
After giving it a few hard yanks, Emma took a knife out from her belt and slammed the pommel into the padlock. It took her three hard smacks to get it off and when she did, Emma threw the lock away and started flipped the lock open.
She took the boltpistol from her belt, tossed the empty magazine and took a fresh one from the box. The metals clicked as Emma slammed it in. Manufactured by heretics. Emma thought. Meant to kill us. Emma holstered her boltpistol. Weapons are good. The feeling of death doesn't linger when I use them.
"Emma?" Anna entered the dugout. She was the standard bearer and clad in the black armor and the fiery orange robes of their order. Her face was hidden behind a helmet, similar to the Canonesses'. If not for her voice and the banner in her hand, Emma wouldn´t have recognized her.
"We´re getting ready for to assault the hill." Anna said.
"Let's bring them redemption." Emma put her own helmet on. She had to apply a little pressure before the joints of her armor connected to the helmet´s own. There was a sucking sound as the pressure in her suit equalized and respirator started taking air in. At first her sight was a black void until the circuitry buzzed back to life and gave her a clearer, sharper vision of the world then before.
They walked out the door and walked along the trench. Rain poured from the ground, turning the floor of the trench into a muddy river. The bodies of dead heretics were being purged and the bodies of fallen sisters were being prepared for sacred burials. Anna led Emma to the circle of sisters that had gathered around their Canoness.
Emma looked around her and saw Johana. She was clad in full armor but Emma recognized her by the pattern of a burning sword sown into her robes and the silvery, metallic wings on her shoulder pads.
The Canoness was standing on a ladder, peaking over the edge of the trench. A little bang of sparks left a dashed mark on her helmet as a stray bullet glanced of the metal. She turned and looked back down on the sisters surrounding her.
She jumped of the ladder and looked over the twenty sisters that had gathered around her. Emma and Johana were standing in the center, at the front of the row. "Sisters!" She shouted with a voice loud enough to be a roar. "What are you?"
"Sisters of the Hawk!" They roared in response, their voices layering on top of one another and drowning out the noise of the rain.
"And what are those?" She pointed over the edge of the trench.
"Heretics to the Emperor!"
For a moment, there was a silence before a shell landed on the far side of the trench. The impact trembled the ground and tossed dirt into the air only for it to come down with the rain.
"They are betrayers!" The Canoness shouted when the dirt stopped falling from the air. "They a filth! We are the Sisters of Battle! We are the daughters of the Emperor! We are the chosen! They are the forsaken! They´ve abandoned the Emperor's light and walked into the shadows of the dark gods!"
Emma felt her fist flexing.
"Those that have fall in service of the Emperor are bathed in his light! Those with who blind themselves with ignorance will burn in eternal flames!"
"Fire purges! Fire cleanses!"
The Canoness drew her sword. The blade flickered alive by the sound of a thousand birds as she held the weapon above her head. "Come with me sisters! Let them know the strength of the Emperor! Let them feel His wrath!"
The sisters gave a thunderous roar in response. Emma put her right hand around the sword. She could fell the muscles tensing and flexing.
"With me!" The Canoness turned and climbed over the edge of the trench. The other sisters followed her, climbing the ladders with their bolters and swords.
Emma drew her sword before she had even climbed the trench. She scrambled up the ladder and ran forward as white-hot bullets either flew past her or glanced off against her armor. Falling mortar shells crashed into the ground and released splashes of dirt at their points of impact, creating little craters with every explosion.
Emma couldn´t see the other trench. She couldn´t even see the source of the bullets zooming past her. Both were obscured by a wall of grey smoke hovering just above the ground.
The Canoness still lead the charge. Without slowing down, she ran into the smoke and disappeared as if it had swallowed her.
Emma followed her into the smoke and for a moment, her vision was a blurred haze. She could hardly see the sword in front of her. But she could hear everything. The shrieking scream of her blade, the deafening roar of the heretic´s bolters even the muted sound of rain smacking against her armor.
Suddenly, the smoke dissipated and Emma could see clearly what was in front of her. She was just on the edge of the heretic's trench with no chance to slow down. Her foot stepped over the edge, right into the trench and her body followed. Her head hit the wall and her back slammed into the ground with a loud crash. Her armor took the worst of it and she quickly scrambled to her feet.
She glanced to her side and her eyes locked onto the heavy weapons team on the edge of the trench. It was manned by two men, one gunner and one loader. Emma gritted her teeth and charged.
Neither of the men had noticed Emma. The sound of the bolter spitting shells drowned out any other noises.
Emma ran up and grabbed the loader by his leg, pulling him down into the trench and pushing her sword into his chest.
The gunman saw his partner disappear and leapt down to attack Emma. He hit her across the head with a shovel.
Emma turned and pulled her sword out of the loader. Behind her helmet, she was frowning and growling.
"Wait-" Was the only word that he had time to say before Emma pushed her sword through his stomach, spilling his entrails across the muddy trench.
Heretics. Emma thought. They are all heretics.
Emma looked around her and could finally get a decent idea of her surroundings. The trench had been dug in a sick-sack pattern and was just about two meters deep.
"Canoness?" She called out over the vox.
Silence was the only response she received.
"Sisters?" She turned to a different channel and again there was only silence.
Emma put a hand on her neck and felt a warm liquid running out from the joint between the armor and the helmet. She pulled her hand back and realized that the liquid was black and oily. It took Emma a short moment, but she realized that when she hit the ground, she pulled at her neck and snapped one of the cord between her armor and helmet.
"Emperor dammit." Emma cursed. To get an idea of where her sisters where, Emma climbed up to the gun turret.
She looked over the battlefield and tried to make out the shapes moving in the smoke. She had no chance to determine whether a silhouette in the smoke was one of her sisters or one of the heretics. No way of telling whether she should call them over or give them a burst from her boltpistol.
Instead she glanced to her sides, trying to see if she could see or hear one of her sisters making their assault.
To her right, she could hear the screams of heretics being slaughtered and the roars of battleforged sisters.
Emma leapt down from the turret and ran along the trench, almost jumping from one side to the other until she reached her sister. When Emma saw her, with her back facing her, Emma smiled under her helmet.
"Johana!" She shouted, trying to be heard over the sound of explosions and the roars of gun turrets.
Johana didn´t react. She cleaved the heretic she was facing in half and broke the second one's face with a punch of her armored fist. Broken teeth were flung against the trenches muddy wall.
"Johana!" Emma shouted again.
This time Johana turned. She threw a quick glance at her sister and gave a nod in recognition. Then she turned back and rushed down the trench.
Emma followed.
A mortar shell landed on the edge of the trench, next to Johana. The force of the explosion threw Johana against the wall and shattered the support beams by the trench, causing the entire wall to collapse. A torrent of mud and earth crashed on her like a breaching wave. It pinned her to the wall and lifted her up before burying her, leaving only her forearm above the surface.
Emma didn´t hesitate for a moment. She dropped her sword and climbed to the top of the mud, felling her feet sinking with every step. Just as she was coming close to the top of the hill, Emma could feel bullets clinking against her armor. She looked to her side and saw another turret, further up the hill. Emma pinned herself to the ground and kept climbing. The effort was in little wain as she could hear and feel the bullets slamming against her backpack, peaking just above the trenches edge. She turned to her side and released a burst from her boltpistol.
With the bullets zooming past her head and mud splattered across her helmet´s visor it was difficult for Emma to determine where the turret was or how far away it was. She also had little clue of whether her shoots hit their mark or simply hit the ground. It didn´t matter much. Emma only need the gunners to duck, hide themselves from the incoming bolter rounds while she moved forward.
She crawled up to Johana´s hand. Even when buried, Johana´s finger was scrambling and clasping at the air in panic. When Emma put her own hand next to it, Johana´s fingers snapped like a trap and took ahold of her arm in an iron grip. Emma tried to pull herself lose but to no effect, Johana simply refused to let go and Emma was forced to start digging with one hand alone. She handed her boltpistol to the other hand and gave the pistol turret another burst before she holstered the weapon and started pulling away the thick mud.
The dark soil mixed with rain had turned the dirt to a thick clay. As Emma pulled away the thick layers, she felt her own legs starting to be swallowed by the mud. For every third handful of mud Emma pulled away, she had pause to get her own legs up, shifting her position to not sink down, all while keeping an eye towards the gun turret. The upside to this was that Johana was forced to let go of Emma´s hand, or she would have twisted her own out its socket.
She could see some movement by the turret and she released a burst from her boltpistol. She fired three shots and the weapon started to click.
The sound of the empty weapon caused something to grip Emma in the back of her head. It shot a wave of ice through her veins and fire beneath her skin. She started scrambling like a mad animal, tossing away handful after handful of the mud as she shifted her eyes between the turret and Johana.
Her entire arm was free now, but her head was still hidden. The mud that Emma had dug looked something like a crater, with Johana´s arm sticking out of the center.
Emma dug her fingers in at center of it, right next to Johana´s arm and shoved away enough mud to reveal the tip of Johana´s helmet. Encouraged, Emma pushed her fingers into the mud. Down to the point where her hands where immersed into the mud and pulled her arms towards her.
Underneath, she found the upper half of Johana´s helmet. Emma glanced upwards and saw movement next to the turret again. She hunched forward and started digging around Johana´s head. As her fingers where pushing into the mud again, Emma could feel Johana´s arm grasping against her back.
For a moment, Emma smiled.
Then she felt a bullet slamming into her side again. Metal scraped against metal and Emma gritted her teeth. She looked to her side and saw a stream of bullets rushing towards her like little orange beams of light. One of them smacked over her head, causing her helmet to ring. In an instant, the world started to blur and Emma pushed herself down into the mud in order to get out of the turret fire.
She pushed her fingers into the mud again and started digging away the mud surrounding Johana´s head.
A fizz of air pushed through a thin layer of mud and Johana´s head started swing back and forth. She looked up and saw Emma.
Underneath their helmets, both sisters couldn´t help but smile.
Emma started digging away at Johana´s buried arm and Johana put her free arm to it. With their combined efforts, the sisters had managed to uncover Johana´s arm and most of her upper body.
Johana started flexing back and forth, moving her upper body and wiggle herself loose from the mud.
Emma took her sister by the arm and tried to pull her loose.
With Johana pushing upwards with her right arm and Emma pulling Johana up by her left, even as Emma felt her own legs sink down, Johana could feel the mud losing its grip.
Suddenly, giant hand came down and grabbed Emma by the leg and threw her down the hill like a ragdoll.
It happened to fast for Emma to grasp what was happening. She could only feel something wrapping around her leg and next thing she knew, Emma was flying through the air. The sky and the muddy ground vizzed past her eyes until the ground zoomed up to her.
Now a blur of mud and dirt flashed in front of her eyes before it settled. Emma closed her eyes and tried stop the world from shaking. She could hear a roar. A rage filled, savage scream. Emma put a hand on the ground, feeling her fingers sinking into the dirt and looked at source of the noise.
It was the height of a truck. At first Emma thought it was a heretical Astartes but once her vision cleared she could make out what she was up against.
An ogryn. Though it had the general shape and form of a human it was at least another meter taller than Emma and arms the size of tree trunks. In its thick, fat hands the orgyn held a shot gun the size of a heavy bolter. The barrel had blade larger than any sword Emma had ever seen attached to its underside. The ogryn roared and slammed its metallic breastplate, producing a thunderous, deafening sound.
Emma´s hand jumped instinctively to her side, grasping for her sword but she quickly remembered it was left in the trench.
"Dammit." Emma cursed and took her knife from behind her back. She flipped the knife in her hands, pointing the blade downwards and shouted to the ogryn.
"Come here!" She had to get the brute away from Johana. She was still stuck in the ground and had no way to defend herself.
The ogryn raised his arms into the air, flexing the muscular arms and charged. The brute didn´t jump over the trench, it just stepped over the gap and ran. Mud and dirt exploded from the ground with every step the brute took and Emma could almost feel the ground itself trembling at the assault.
But she stayed her ground. She shifted to present her side to the brute and put her free arm forward. As the ogryn got closer Emma felt her heart steadily climbing up her chest, to her throat and stabbing her side with every beat.
The ogryn raised his weapon above his head and was preparing to slam it down on Emma.
With just a little sidestep, Emma put herself out of the path of the ogryn´s weapon.
The weapon crashed into the ground and released a shower of mud and brown water into the air.
Emma was taking a step towards the ogryn, trying to push her blade into the trunk like arm when the ogryn pulled its weapon free and swung it to the side.
The movement was quicker then Emma had anticipated and she only barely managed to put stop herself from being in the path of the weapon. The point of the blade scraped against her armor, yellow sparks flew of and spread over her black armor.
Once the blade was past Emma, the ogryn flung the weapon over its shoulder into an over swing.
Emma was tempted to attack. The arch of the ogryn´s recovery was wide. The ogryn had left itself with the underside of its arm exposed to attack.
Instead, Emma made a dash backwards. She slid across the mud and waited for the ogryn´s next attack.
The ogryn took a step forward and prepared to slam its weapon down on her again.
Emma took a hard swallow and dashed forward, right in the path of the blade. She kept her eyes on the edge and raised her knife. When the sword was passing down on her, Emma caught the edge of the ogryn´s weapon. She deflected the force of the strike and let the blade fall to her side as she ran forward.
As she was passing by the ogryn´s side, Emma saw exactly what she was looking for. Between the plates covering the ogryn´s upper body there was a narrow gap, betrayed by the pink flesh pressed against it.
Emma turned on the back of her heel and rammed the blade of her knife into the gap. The flesh gave little resistance and the ogryn roared out in pain. Emma gave the knife a twist and pulled it out before rolling out of the path of the ogryn´s next swipe.
The ogryn screamed and stared at Emma with its large, beady eyes. The brute´s face had turned red and slaver flung from his tusk like teeth.
It was far from dead and Emma knew it. She hadn´t expected it to die so easily, but she was hoping for it. She bit down and ignored the pain in her side.
The ogryn stepped forward and made another swing, this time it was the faster and Emma could only dash out of the way.
Enraged, the ogryn made a series of swings and Emma kept avoiding them. The speed and frequency of the attacks forced Emma to stay on the defensive. She leapt and dashed out the blade´s path.
Emma felt pain bite into her side and the inside of her helmet started getting slick and moist with sweat. Felling the weariness starting to crawl through her body, Emma made a longer dash backwards and rolled to the ogryn´s left. As her hands touched the ground, Emma let her fingers sink and grabbed a handful of mud between her fingers.
As the ogryn turned to face her, Emma threw mud towards the ogryn´s head. She hit it right between the eyes.
Blinded, the ogryn let its weapon down and put one of its hands over its eyes, trying to dig the mud out of its eyes.
Emma took a moment to hesitate but quickly charged forward.
With the ogryn having its left hand over its eyes it had unknowingly exposed the underside of its own arm.
Emma charged for the left side of the ogryn. She grabbed one of the straps holding the ogryn´s plates and pushed the knife into the exposed flesh in the arm´s pit. The blade buried itself up to the guard.
Emma slashed and felt the blade cutting through muscles, skin and tendons like they were water. A string of rubies splashed across muddy ground and disappeared in the thick rain.
The ogryn´s arms came slamming to its side. The thick log of muscles and bone swung down on Emma and crashed into the side of the ogryn. With the brute´s arm just hanging onto its shoulder, Emma pushed herself away from the ogryn and dashed to get some distance.
The ogryn flayed and screamed. Its right arm flung the shotgun around like a club. The left arm merely hung from its shoulder, blood rolled down its side and splattered across the ground. The screams the ogryn made where pain and anger combined.
Emma didn´t dare to move close to it. One strike from one of those arms and Emma would be flung across the field again. And she felt her side biting with pain every time she took a breath.
One or two ribs might be broken. Emma thought. Emperor, don´t let it be anything more than that.
The ogryn stopped its flailing. The rain had washed the mud out of its eyes and the brute stared at Emma with eyes boiling with rage. The right arm flexed and the left arm struggled climb up to the shotgun. The ogryn puts its left hand on top of the shotgun, the fingers wrapped around the barrel and trembled as the left arm flexed.
Emma adopted the same position she had the beginning of their fight and waited for the orgyn to attack her again.
She felt her leg flinching.
Emma looked down and found her leg downright trembling. She looked back up at the ogryn and gritted her teeth to the point she could feel her jaw aching. She charged forward.
I can´t wait for this beast to attack. I must bring the wrath of the Emperor over it. I must bring vengeance, I must bring fire.
The ogryn bellowed out, in either rage or pain, and answered Emma charge. The brute raised its weapon, blood rolled out of the wound as the ogryn exposed and pulled the wound open further. The ogryn roared.
"By his name!" Emma roared and watched as the ogryn swiped its weapon towards her. In a blur, Emma saw the blade and the barrel sweeping towards her.
She threw herself forward, aiming to stab her knife into the ogryn´s neck.
The blade scrapped against the breastplate.
Emma didn´t managed to jump high enough and the ogryn flung her aside like a fly with its broken arm.
She landed on her shoulder and heard the bones cracking as the plates of her armor cracked in a loud clash. Instinctively, Emma clutched her shoulder without realizing that she was letting go of her knife.
Flinching, Emma rose and glanced at the ogryn.
The brute panted. Blood mixed with the rain and ran in a stream of crimson down its side. The left arm had let go of the weapon and merely hung from the ogryn shoulder.
Despite that, Emma knew she the odds were against her. She frantically searched the ground with one arm on her side. She looked for the knife but the weapon had sunken into the thick mud.
The ogryn roared and Emma felt the watery mud tremble with every step the brute took.
Emma had no chance to avoid the incoming attack. She lifted her arm to block. The move was more instinct than reflex. Instead of putting her arms in front of her throat, Emma took the attack by presenting it with the back of her forearm.
It was an effort to deflect the blow. But the edge of the blade attached latched onto the joint at her wrist and pulled her arm with it, almost tearing her arm completely out of its socket.
Emma flipped over. She crashed into the ground with her back. The jolt of pain reached out to the tips of her fingers. The pain quickly faded but Emma felt an electrical tingle running across her muscles. She could flex her fingers but her arms and legs didn´t move as fast as she wanted them to.
Looking through her muddy visor, Emma saw the ogryn in the corner of her eye. The brute was raising his crude weapon to strike down on.
Emma closed her eyes and heard the sound of a flock of birds screaming in terror.
She opened her eyes and saw the point of a sparkling blade sticking out of from the ogryn´s knee.
The brute tilted to its side, the leg folded and trapped the sword between the thick muscles. Behind the ogryn, Emma could see an armored figure, one of her sisters. It was no question about it, it was Johana.
Emma rolled away from the ogryn and used the momentum to get up to one knee. With one foot on the ground, Emma forced herself to her feet. The world swirled, like she was able to tilt the world just by leaning on one side over the other.
The ogryn was hunched over, tiling his head forward like it was bowing.
Johana pulled the sword out from the ogryn´s knee. The moment the blade slipped out from the ogryn´s flesh, the brute timbered forward. The cut left arm squeezed between the ogryn´s torso and the ground. Blood mixed with the muddy rain and created a river colored in a mixture of dark brown and crimson.
But the ogryn was still alive. Water bubbled around its head and the right arm struggled to lift the weapon.
Johana ran up to the ogryn´s left side and pushed the sword into the ogryn´s neck.
The brute gave of a twitch and stopped moving.
Johana drew the sword back. The blade was drenched in thick ogryn blood.
The river of brown and red became over flowing with crimson.
Emma´s helmet was warm. Every gasping breath Emma took sent a stab of pain from her side. Her muscles aced and burned. She wanted to say, "Thank you." but she only managed to take another painful breath. The heat of the air inside her helmet was enough to dry out her throat. It took great heaves for her to breath.
"Are you alright?" Johana asked.
Emma reached behind her head and released the hatch holding her helmet. There was a blow of air inwards before Emma lifted the helmet off. The air outside her helmet was filled the stench of gunpowder and blood but it was at the very least cold compared the heat she felt inside her armor.
Emma took a few large, stabbing breaths.
"A few broken ribs and a dislocated shoulder." Emma answered while wiping sweat of her head with her hand. Emma glanced the top of the hill. A banner donned with a white hawk was flying on burning wings flew from the top.
They´ve taken the hill. Emma thought. Means I can relax for a little while. She closed her eyes and tried to ignore the pulses of pain coming from inside her armor and the stenches from the battlefield She sat down on the muddy battlefield and spat. She noticed that the slaver was colored red.
Johana stared at her sister.
"Are you unhurt?" Emma asked.
Johana gave a subtle shook of her head. "Minor injuries. Just a few bruises at worst." She held the sword to Emma, presenting the hilt of the blade.
Emma raised a brow in reply.
"It´s our sword."
Emma puzzled for a moment. "What happened to yours?" She asked as she put her helmet aside before she took the blade back.
"It's still buried under the mud."
Emma closed her eyes. "Right." She drew a little sigh.
"Thanks for saving me." Johana said.
Emma opened her eyes and looked up at Johana. She smiled. "Thanks for saving me." She replied.
Johana sat down next to her sister. Her armor was covered in mud and the robes where drenched in it. Unlike Emma´s armor though, Johana´s wasn´t dented and scratched.
"You two!" The stern voice of the Canoness shouted.
Johana almost jumped to her feet at the sound of the Canoness. Emma felt herself jerking but a stab of pain stopping her halfway through turning. She turned staggering and wincing.
The two turned and looked up at the Canoness. She was standing on the slope of the hill, her armor and robes stained with blood and white scratches on her shoulder plates. Her sword was drenched in blood.
"What are you doing down the hill?" Despite the Canoness´ face being hidden behind a helmet, Emma could tell just by the tone of her voice that she was angry.
Emma forced herself to stand upright next to Johana. "We killed this ogryn." She answered.
The Canoness looked at the ogryn, then at Emma before her eyes locked to Johana. She rested her sword over her shoulder and paced towards the pair. "Last I saw you," The Canoness addressed Emma. "You were assaulting the hill at my side. Why did you stop to attack the ogryn?"
The tone of the Canoness´ voice made no effort to hide her emotions. She was angry, downright furious. Emma flexed her fist and tried think of an answer.
"She saved me, Canoness." Johana said.
Don´t. Emma wanted to say as her fingers started digging into her palm.
"So, you valued the life of one of your sisters over the will of the Emperor?" The Canoness stared down at Emma, her head slightly tilted.
"Once I reached the trench my vox broke and I-"
Emma was stopped by the Canoness slapping the back of her hand against Emma´s chin. The skin broke and Emma almost collapsed into the mud. She forced herself to stand and face the Canoness.
"You halted his wrath." The Canoness said with contempt.
"I-" Emma tried to speak but the Canoness slapped her hand across the cheek again, this time tearing a chunk of skin and meat of.
"You only speak when I tell you to speak." The Canoness took Emma by the throat and lifted her of the ground with one hand.
Emma´s hand clawed and scrapped at the Canoness arm. She clasped for breath.
Johana´s arm was trembling at the scene in front of her. Her arm started to shake.
The Canoness looked at Johana. "Remember your oath." She turned back to Emma. "When I tell you to kill, you kill." The Canoness said as blood started gathering up in Emma´s head. "When I tell you to purge, you purge and when I tell you to charge, you charge."
Emma heard the words but still fought to clasp for small amounts of air.
"We are the daughters of the Emperor and we act upon his will." The Canoness dropped Emma and she hit the ground with a hard crash. She put her hands around her throat and gasped for air in dry breaths.
"It will not…" Emma tried to talk but her voice was hoarse.
"You will not what?" The Canoness fingers tightened around the hilt of her sword.
"I will not…" Emma took a hard swallow. "I will not perform such heretical acts again." She coughed. "I will always follow the will of the Emperor."
The Canoness glared down on her. She walked past them down the hill, back to their camp.
Johana kneeled down next to Emma. "Are you alright?"
Emma took a few breaths through her nose. She climbed to her feet, despite the pain in her neck and side. "I´m fine." Blood ran down from the wound on her cheek.
Johana reached out her arms to offer Emma help but she didn´t accept. "Do you want help back to the camp?"
"No." Emma said. She looked at her sister and felt conflicted. "Just leave me alone for now."
Johana opened her mouth to argue but quickly closed it. She did as her sister wanted and walked to the camp alone.
Emma struggled to walk down the hill. She staggered and found it difficult to walk upright. After just a few short paces she stopped by the ogryn´s corpse and stared at it. "Damn heretic." Emma cursed and noticed something shining right under the ogryn´s throat. She kneeled down next to it and tried to grab it. She pushed her into the muddy ground, beneath the ogryn´s thick throat and felt something hard with a string attached to it. She pulled it off and looked at it in her palm. It was an Empirical Eagle made from metal. The silvery sheen of it was muted by the mixture of mud and blood. Emma rubbed it with her thump and some of the shine returned.
Shacking, her fist closed around it. Emma closed her eyes. "They are all heretics." She told herself.