It was a slow day at the Red Tiger. Despite the momentary drop in monetary intake, few people actually minded a little drop in business every now and then. Days like these came around once every week or so and it gave the workers a chance to rest up. It may sound odd considering the profession, but the times they were actually able to rest their eyes were pretty rare.
Given the decreased risk of having an incident, Lutrice had decided it was safe enough for Shade to be allowed to walk around in the open. She got an odd look from the two patrons that hung around, but they didn't make any kind of scene. Most people who came on days like these weren't interested in any kind of fuss. Just a quiet place to drink in peace and maybe contemplate their empty existence.
It was one of those quiet days.
"Have you ever had a drink, Shade?" Ophelia asked absentmindedly while wiping the countertop
"Once."
"Really? When?"
"A couple years ago. My master believed it was an important experience in order to understand the full effects of alcohol on the body and how it can be exploited."
"Why would he want you to know that?"
"It might be useful."
"Huh, he's way cooler than my father was. Before he died," Ophelia left the last bit in the open and waited for some sort of reply. Shade, in response, stared at her blankly. "...You're not curious?"
"No."
"...He died in a fire."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"...You don't talk much, do you?"
"No."
"Does Kragen ever talk to you?"
"When necessary."
"Has he been talking about anyone in particular? Someone special?"
"No."
Ophelia winced, "You...don't want to think about it? Maybe you just missed something…"
"He has not talked about anyone having special importance to him. I am certain."
"Oh...well, I'm sure he has a lot on his mind, being a Ranger and all. You know, it's really cool that you're going to be a Ranger. I wish I could do something like that, they seem so awesome. Is it true that you guys can tell someone is lying just by looking at them?"
"I'd rather not talk about it," Kragen had told Shade that in instances such as this when someone begins asking about her abilities, or Rangers in general, she should be as vague as possible. Kept enemies guessing as to what her actual abilities were, or at least that's how he put it.
"That's so cool," Ophelia seemed impressed anyway, "Geez, I can't believe I'm jealous of someone a decade younger than me…"
"You're in your twenties?"
"Of course I am! Couldn't you tell?"
"No."
Ophelia looked like she was about to break down crying at the utterance of that one single-syllable word if it hadn't been for the sudden shouting at the front door
"Imperial Guard! Open this door!"
Every head was trained on the front door. In a single moment, the peaceful calm that had been held over them had malformed into a different kind of quiet. It was now the calm that heralded the storm. The dread that came over people when they were forced to look ahead and see an uncertain future, the only certainty being that whatever happened, it would end up with them being hurt in some way. In that moment of quiet, Kyle had been the only one remotely close to the door, and so the unspoken responsibility fell to him to walk across the creaky wooden boards and open the door.
"Can I help you?"
The guard pushed the door wide open the moment the knob had turned revealing no less than five guards fully geared with shields bearing the symbol of the Araluen Empire, some wielded swords and others wielded spears, and all of them covered in the bright and intimidating armor of Imperial soldiers.
"We have received word that this establishment his harboring a fugitive. Step aside, civilian."
"I need confirmation from my boss before I let any uniforms inside," said Kyle, "You'll just have to wait here."
"I was not making a request."
"Neither was I. This is a respectable, and private, business. Under the Imperial Bill of Rights-"
"This is an investigation, therefor all rights are to be revoked as deemed necessary. Now step aside," Shade noticed the soldier's hand drift to rest on the hilt of his blade. Kyle noticed as well, and responded in kind
"Under whose authority?"
"In the name of the Emperor, and under orders from Governor Lorias."
Shade's ears perked up at the name as she remembered something Kragen had said. "Remember every conversation you hear involving Herendel, and Governor Lorias."
If he suspected Lorias of something, and that same man sent guards here…
Shade grabbed Ophelia by the hand and pulled her ear down to her to whisper, "I can't be here."
Without a word, Ophelia grabbed her and led her toward one of the back rooms. She moved so smoothly that they might have been able to get away with it if one of the patrons hadn't stood up to get out of their way, drawing the attention of the guard at the door.
"Hold it! That's her!" He pushed forward, but found Kyle standing in his way, "Move aside! You are harboring a criminal!"
"You know I used to wear shiny armor like that," said Kyle with his hand gripped firmly around his sword, "It really is cumbersome stuff. Good when moving in a team, but when your buddies can't reach you because your worthless hide is blocking the door, well…"
The guard stared intently at the sellsword, "There's five of us and one of you. Are you really going to kill yourself over a girl?"
"Kill myself? Nah. But I might kill you."
Kyle drew his sword the moment he saw the guard's arm flinch toward his, slicing him across the under part of his shoulder, right across a gap in his armor. Ordinarily, there would be a bronze plate to prevent such a strike, but anyone who had worn Imperial armor before knew that the strap on that plate dug into the skin creating an irritating rash and most guards decided to go without it during their day-to-day patrols. It was such a small gap anyway that nobody would really notice it.
Unless they already knew about it.
With that single slice, Kyle disabled the guard's arm, leaving him unable to defend himself when he coordinated a second slice across his throat, opening his airway and allowing blood to flood in. With his free hand, he pushed him to the side, letting him lie on the ground to choke on his own blood so the sellsword could deal with the four other problems sitting at his door, all with their weapons already drawn and aimed directly at him.
"This won't be easy…"
Shade and Ophelia could hear the ensuing fight from the relative safety of the back room that the working girl had brought them into. "You can hide here," Shade wasn't sure where she was referring to until she broke off a detachable piece of the wall, revealing a small human-sized hole, "The Madam had this installed to hide friends in trouble."
Shade nodded and crawled into the small container, "Where will you be?"
"I'll wait out here until Kyle is finished."
"What if he doesn't win?" That thought had to have occurred to her, otherwise she wouldn't have bothered putting Shade in the hiding compartment
Ophelia just smiled, "...They won't kill me."
Before Shade could inquire further, Ophelia placed the piece of wall back over her, encasing the young Ranger in darkness. In that moment, the small compartment became her entire world. She couldn't see anything out of it, and she could barely see what was in it. If she pressed her ear against the slab, she could hear the sound of clanging steel in the background as Ophelia breathed heavily. The girl had forced her breathing down to a steady pace, and it showed with the occasionally irregular lapses of panic, as well as the small gasps whenever the sound of steel striking flesh and the resulting cries occurred.
Then as suddenly as it began, the fighting stopped.
And heavy footsteps made their way toward her door.
The door was kicked open with a loud crash, and Shade could hear three sets of armored feet make their way inside.
"W-Where's Kyle?!"
"We're not obligated to say. Where'd the girl go?"
"I...she left! She ran away, I don't know where! She's gone!"
"I don't see any windows, how'd she manage to get out of here?"
"She's a Ranger, of course she would have magic or something!"
"Hold on, Ranger?" Some other soldier cut in, "Captain, the governor didn't mention anything about a Ranger. Don't they outrank him?"
"She's lying," said the captain
"But what if she isn't? If Rangers are involved, they're our superiors-"
"You want to know how to live a long life, rookie? Do as you're commanded and don't ask questions," The captain seemed to finally turn the conversation back to Ophelia, "She didn't use magic to get out of here. You know something."
"I don't-"
Shade flinched at the sound of the heavy bronze gauntlet smashing against Ophelia's face as she shrieked in pain, "I don't like liars."
"I wasn't...I wouldn't…" She screamed again as more strikes came down on her
"I especially don't like persistent liars."
Ophelia cried, "I...can't tell you what...I don't know…"
"Hold her down."
Shade felt herself retreating inward as Ophelia's tearful screams announced her pain. She could hear her cries resonating in her skull and burrowing into her mind. I've heard this sound before...but where… As they went on, Shade felt something root itself in the pit of her stomach, her heart began to beat at a painfully rapid pace as that root twisted around inside, seemingly tearing her apart. Suddenly she couldn't stop thinking about the past few days and the time she had spent in this place. Ophelia's kind and somewhat hyper tutelage, the way Kyle treated her like a true equal, Lutrice's often failed attempts at being some sort of motherly figure. The small, insignificant memories forced themselves into her consciousness and she felt the dire need to do something.
I see...is this what a 'conscience' feels like?
Shade had heard about 'conscience' before, but never thought she would have felt it herself. Her master had described it. He had called it "a person's inner sense of right and wrong based on previous experience and the unpredictable 'human element' which caused people to act in ways they wouldn't typically." The ability to ignore one's conscience in favor of the practical option was supposed to be what made Rangers so deadly. Her master would tell her that hiding was the more logical decision, but he would also be scolding her for ever allowing the situation to become this dire. He would have convinced them to leave, or laid some sort of trap and killed them before they ever became a threat to his allies. He would not be pleased with her progress so far. Shade was supposed to be a deadly Ranger.
A deadly Ranger should be able to do something about this.
She didn't know what her plan was when she pushed open the hidden door and forced her way out into the gruesome display of cruelty. When she came out they were distracted by Ophelia, and without a plan Shade fell back on her instincts. Reaching into the hidden pockets of her dress, she gripped her knife and rushed the nearest guardsmen, cutting at his throat. She managed to get a scratch, but he withdrew the moment she came into range and the strike was just shy of lethal. To make matters worse, she now had the undivided attention of all three of them.
She tried to throw her knife, but the guard raised his arm and the blade deflected off of his shoulder armor. Suddenly she realized she was being faced with three heavily armored opponents who were clearly bigger and stronger than herself. And she had just thrown her weapon.
I'm outmatched. Even he wouldn't be able to handle this. Not without a plan
Shade moved back carefully as they closed in on her, and her foot hit the edge of the doorframe. It was then she realized there was a perfectly valid escape route behind her. Shade eyed the soldiers in front of her, and spotted Ophelia behind them, beaten and bruised and silently screaming with her eyes for her to run.
So she did.
Kragen had just missed them.
Evidence of a fight was obvious before he'd even entered. A crown had amassed outside the doorway, onlookers watching the scene as a distraction from their own monotonous lives. Pushing through the thin layer of bystanders he continuously scanned the room for any clue of what transpired.
In the doorway, he saw the aftermath of what must have been the first encounter. Lying in the door frame was one of Lutrice's sellswords, his body kicked to the side with a spear lodged in his side, blood spilling from his mouth. Given the shocked gaze that had frozen onto his face, he had lived just long enough to realize how undignified is death was before he lost consciousness. Killed in a brothel by an underpaid uniform with a spear. It wasn't anything dramatic as far as last stand's went, no prolonged combat wearing him down over a thousand cuts. Just one clean strike with a spear to some unarmored region, and he was done. At least he had managed to take two down with him before they overcame him.
Patrols operate in teams of five. If he killed two of them before dying himself, that means Shade would have had three to deal with.
Then his ears picked up the sound of crying from one of the back rooms. Moving on from the bodies he hurried his pace. The building was empty, any guests had long moved on, and all that was left were the workers gathered in the one room. When he first entered he had to push his way past a few before seeing the reason they had all gathered.
The soft tears he had heard were Ophelia's. Sitting on the couch, she wept almost silently as her friends gathered around her in a form of quiet comfort. The signs of abuse were obvious. Her youthful face had been scarred almost beyond recognition, peeled skin and cuts and bruises covered her. Even at a glance, it was obvious that the damage had been done. What had been broken would never properly heal.
"They came for her," Lutrice said when he walked in while Ophelia kept her head down, hiding the worst of the marks from him in a pointless effort to save her pride
"Where did they go?"
The girl's voice trembled as she forced out the words, "I...she ran, and…"
"I need details, what happened?"
"...I...told her to hide, but...she ran out, and attacked them...then she ran out the door, I don't know where…"
He turned on his heel
"Kragen," Lutrice called him with ice in her voice, "Where is she going?"
"Where anyone goes for a desperate final stand."
