Toy Soldiers
Chapter 11: Always there
AN: Hey hey, sorry for the lack of updates, I got back from Italy two weeks ago and then went camping for a week. But here it is at last, the next chapter and one of my favourite ones to!
Disclaimer: I do not and never will own Beyblade, but I do own my oc's!
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The moon hung high in the sky; the inky dark sky behind it made it seem brighter then it actually was. The pale moon beams floated over the land including a small pub on the out skirts of Veara.
Sitting on a stool after a long days work, Zai was nursing a cup of moon shine debating if she really wanted to drink it of not. She sighed and took a swig of moon shine, enjoying the sweet tangy taste, burning her throat on the way down.
She put her cup down with a soft clank and sighed with satisfaction. She dug a gold coin from her pocket, placing it on the table before turning to leave.
But as she passed a table with two men talking quietly, she stopped dead in her tracks. Her eyes widened and her skin paled as she eavesdropped on there conversation.
"Hey did you hear about those four boys that Cardinals boys captured last week?"
"Yeah, the Hiwatari, Kuznetsov, Kong, and the Ivanov boy's." The other said.
"That's the ones. Three of there parents have decided to pay but the Kuznetsov boy's are both dead and there's no one to pay for his freedom."
"Well I guess Cardinal has a new play thing?"
"I suppose but apparently the other three boys families aren't taking this seriously and haven't paid yet. So Cardinal is going to start sending home pieces of them." He said lazily.
The other laughed saying "Nice. So what about the Hiwatari girl?"
"There going to send a second team to get her."
"Who's leading it?"
"I am." The large man said with a stretch. "Four hours. So I better get the guys and get going."
He then dropped two gold pieces onto the table and left with a quick good bye to his friend. He passed Zai on his way out and she made sure to get a good look of his large face; grey eyes, double chin, mousy brown hair…she'd find him easily tonight.
She turned and glared at his friend, muttering "First things first."
Zai then slipped behind the man drinking deeply from his glass. She wrapped her arms around his head before whispering "You should never hurt a friend of the Night Stalkers."
The man froze before carefully putting the large cup down saying "What are you talking about?"
"The four boys, we happen to be quiet fond of them." Zai said coldly before twisting his head; there was a loud snap that was drowned out by the noise of the crowd. She gently lay him down making it look like that he passed out and silently left the pub…
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Four Hours Later
Kala sighed as she sat on the porch of there home; inside Ray's, Tala's and her patents were all talking about how they were going to handle this situation. Kala lay her head on her knees sighing; she missed her brother and was worried about his well being. But little Kala was also worried about the others to, especially Bryan considering that there was no one that was going to pay for his safety.
Kala's head snapped up when she heard something move in the dark. She slowly stood and started to back her way to the door, keeping her eyes open for any sign of movement.
But the little girl back right into a large figure; she gasped and froze. She inhaled deeply getting ready to scream her head off, but was stopped when a large hand covered her mouth preventing her to do so.
Little Kala tried to scream again and struggled against her captives tight grip. A soft voice whispered into her ear "Shh it's Ok I'm a friend of Zai's. My names Decoda and I'm here to help you. Ok."
Kala stopped struggling and looked up at the large boy; through the darkness she could see two softened brown eyes looking down at her. "I'm not going to hurt you ok? Now I'm going to let go of your mouth ok, but you can't scream or you could alert the bad guys. Now you won't scream will you?" Kala shook her head no and Decoda let her go.
"What's going on? How do you know Zai?" Kala asked.
Decoda pulled the small girl behind the railings of the porch, forcing her to sit down. As he crouched beside her, he said "I'll explain later. Right now you have to be quiet."
Kala nodded and looked around the large boy who was staring out into the darkness. At first she saw nothing; but in the distance four shadowy figures emerged from the forest. Decoda scowled before whispering "Here they come."
Kala looked at him and asked "Isn't that Zai?"
Decoda shock his head no saying "No, those would be the people trying to kidnap you."
Kala gasped a little and grabbed onto Decoda, whishing her brother was there. Decoda, sensing her fear, said "Don't worry; the others will be here any second now…here they come."
No sooner had Decoda spoken those word, four more shadows emerged from the forest. They were moving faster and quieter then the first four; stalking there prey like true professionals.
"Little Kala you should close your eyes. This won't be nice at all." Decoda said quietly.
Kala shook her head softly saying "I want to know what Kai knows."
Decoda sighed saying "You're only seven, you shouldn't be seeing this."
Kala sneered at him, looking very much like her brother as she did. But she ignored Decoda's warning and watched the four shadows creep up on the ones in front. Swiftly and silently the shadows behind pounced on the ones in front, knocking them to the ground.
They didn't get back up…
Kala gasped and slunk behind Decoda in a slight shock. The large teen said "I told you not to look."
Kala shrugged before saying "You're assassins aren't you?"
Decoda nodded as he slowly stood and whistled once. The four shadows silently approached them and Kala recognized the three girls as Zai, Kelly and Jay. Another girl was with them that the little one knew as Ray's friend Mai.
Zai moved in front of Kala saying "Listen Kala I want you to go back inside and not come out until morning. Your brother will be back by then. But for now I want you to stay here."
Kala nodded and turned to go inside, but Zai grabbed her shoulder to stop her. The little blue-net turned to look at her and Zai handed her a silver necklace with a black gem attached to it with a bird etched into the gem. Kala gave Zai an odd look so the young assassin said "It's a protection gem. Any one who sees this will know that you're protected by an assassin from the Night Stalkers and if they have any brain they'll leave you alone. So never take it off, it'll warn any kidnappers away."
Kala smiled and quickly slipped it on. Zai nodded saying "Good, now go into the house and go to bed."
Kala nodded and hugged Zai before running into the safety of the house. "Well it seems she likes you." Decoda grinned.
Zai shrugged saying "I didn't let any body pick on her." Decoda rolled his eyes and Zai said "Right then. Now that Kala's safe lets go get the boys."
The other girls nodded before disappearing into the darkness. But before Zai did she whispered "Decoda take care of Kala." The large teen nodded saying "I'll make sure no one hurts her."
Zai nodded before disappearing into the night…
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Past the castle that held the royal family of Veara, past the beautiful homes of the nobles, past the small towns and even past the farms, is the dark said of Veara. The underworld… the other side; where assassins and thief's take refuge from a long nights work. Where whores did there best work and made the most money. This is where the dark ruled; not even the king him self could rule over the dark side of Veara and every noble had it in there best intentions to stay away from this place.
They say that one man knew every thing that happened in the Dark side of Veara, the one man who had his hand in every dirty little thing that happened there and even in main Veara it self. His name is Cardinal, and some say that he is the most dangerous man in all of Veara, be it the main side or the dark.
The only people who had the guts or even the knowledge to stop or do any thing against Cardinal was the Night Stalkers. Not even Cardinal wanted to deal with there wrath. So, long ago he made a deal with them; you leave me alone I'll leave you alone. Those were Cardinal's exact words to the then much younger leader.
But that was then, this is now, and Cardinal has something the Night Stalkers want back…
Zai walked into the dimly lit pup and looked around. The place was huge and it would take them virtually hours to search every room; this was the main room where they had a public bar; which was where most dark deals were done. The upper three levels were rooms for guests; the more money you paid the higher and more lavish the room would be.
But beneath the building were the dungeons…four under ground floors of them. Zai sighed, there would be no way they would be able to search the whole place with out being found out, and she would much rather be far away from here when Cardinal found out that the truce was over.
She sighed again as Jay, Kelly and Mai entered the building. Kelly frowned saying "We'll never find them in here, it's just too big."
Zai nodded in agreement before saying "Jay go find out what you can from the bar tender."
Jay blinked at her friends madness and asked "Why the bar tender?"
"Because Cardinal is very suspicious of whom he hires. So he'll know who every one is and will trust them. So one of them has got to know what's going on…talk to the older one. He's likely to know more."
Jay looked at the two bar tenders; one was large and had short blond hair wile the other was a small cruel looking little man who was already loosing his grey white hair. Jay sighed and glared at her leader before swaggering over to the two men.
She leaned against the bar table, showing much more cleavage than she was comfortable with. She smiled sweetly at the younger one wile batting her long eyelashes. "Say" she said sweetly "You wouldn't be able to help me now would you?"
The man smiled at her, and watching from the shadows Kelly scowled. "Why isn't she talking to the younger one?"
Zai grinned before saying "Don't worry Owl; Fox knows what she's doing."
Kelly scowled again and went back to watching Jay work. Jay mean wile was still batting her long eye lashes at him. "Well what can I help you with?"
"Well I'm here to pick up some prisoners, Cardinal sent me. I just don't know where to go looking for them."
The older man looked up when he heard Jay say she was picking up some prisoners. He quickly walked over to the two younger people before barking "Go back to work Joe!"
Joe mumbled under his breath and went back to working the bar, wile the older man spoke to Jay. He leaned forward so that only Jay could hear him. "So yer here to take the prisoners are you?"
Jay nodded and the old man looked suspicious. "How come Cardinal didn't tell me 'bout it?"
Jay frowned, dropping her voice to sound low and mysterious. "He just got word about a traitor in his forces. He doesn't want to take any chances so he's having the four boys moved to a…more secure location."
The man frowned saying "There's no place more secure then here!"
"This is true but no place is more secure then Cardinal's own safe house."
The old man's eyes widened, saying "It's that bad?" Jay nodded and the man said "Damn. Never thought that someone would have the guts to betray Cardinal!"
Jay made a face of deep regret wile nodding. The man sighed and reached under the table, for a moment Jay tensed wile gripping her dagger's handle tightly. But she relaxed when the man placed a ring with a dark green stone in it. "Just show the guards this ring and they'll let you pass with out any trouble." Jay nodded and picked up the ring; she turned to leave but stopped when the man said "Pity you're taking the boys with you. It would have been fun to have a roll in the hay with them, no? All the others were."
Jay froze and her eyes flashed dangerously as she glared at the floor. Her hand slipped into her hip pouch and her hand closed around a tinny vile filled with clear, cool liquid. She turned suddenly smiling happily at the man; she strutted back to him and sat at the table.
"Hey how 'bout you pour me a drink. And get your self one too. On me…for being so helpful." Jay said happily wile secretly pulling the small vile from her pouch.
The man shrugged saying "Sure why not. What d'ya want?"
Jay shrugged saying "Surprise me."
He nodded and disappeared under the table again; from the shadows the other three girls waited patiently. Well almost…
"What the hell is she doing!" Kelly hissed angrily.
Mai hushed her quickly saying "Give her a minute, she's up to something."
Kelly rolled her eyes saying "Yeah and if we get caught, we'll all be in shit's vill!"
Zai rolled her eyes saying "Hang on a minute. Let Jay do her thing. She'll be fine she always is."
Kelly huffed but stayed silent as the man reappeared with two closed bottles of alcohol. He opened them both and handed one to Jay; they both clinked bottles and each took a swig.
He placed his bottle on the table and turned away for a moment to help another customer; but as his back was turned, Jay quickly opened the vile, poured its content into his bottle, re-capped it and put the empty vile back into her pouch before the man had time to turn back around.
Jay smiled at him as he took another swig of his drink and she placed three gold pieces on the table before saying good bye. She stood and disappeared back into the crowed room and slipped into the shadows.
She slipped back beside Zai with an evil smirk on her face. Zai looked from Jay to the bar tender and back to Jay. She frowned before saying "What did you do?"
Jay shrugged saying "Nothing…much."
The other three girls eyed her suspiciously as she walked towards the only door that was being guarded by two large, heavily armed men. They shrugged and turned to walk away when some one screamed.
The three of them whipped around to see the older bartender was slumped on the table coughing up blood. Mai raised an eye brow saying "She poisoned him."
"Yes I know that. Now come on there'll be less people to see us go in now!" Jay snapped from be hind them.
They quickly turned and headed for the guards. As they did Zai muttered "What was that all about?"
Jay, her usually warm eyes were cold as ice, said "Later. We have work to do."
Zai smirked a little as they came up to the two guards. They were both trying to see what was going on at the bar. Jay cleared her throat, getting there attention. They looked down at her, frowning.
"What the hell is going on over there?" The one on the left asked.
Jay looked back at the man before looking at the guard. "Heart attack I guess." She said with out any thought, remorse or guilt.
The guard shrugged and the second one said "So what do you want?"
Jay held out the ring; the two guards examined it before looking at each other. They both nodded and stepped aside to let the four girls passed. Jay took a step forward but stopped when the guard on the right grabbed her shoulder.
She looked up at him; her grip was tight on her dagger. He cleared his throat saying "So who are you looking for?"
In a cold voice she said "We're moving four prisoners to a more secure location."
The guard looked down at her with a frown but let her go. Once they were inside the hall, Mai said "Wow nice one Jay. You sounded very professional, even after a year off."
Jay smirked saying "Thank you."
The four girls walked along the empty dark corridor until they came to a heavy wooden door. Zai stepped forward saying "You ready?"
The other three nodded and slowly Zai opened the door. The small group of assassins slowly came into an even longer hall; the hall was very cold and dark, with a set of stairs heading down and the hall curved into a new hall.
Zai inwardly shuttered from the cold; she quickly shrugged it off whispering "Split up and find them."
The others nodded Jay started peeking into the rooms that lined the first hall, Mai quickly disappeared around the other hall while Zai and Kelly disappeared down stairs…
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Jay sighed as she reached the end of the hall; there was no sign of Tala or any of the boys in that matter. Sighing she went down the hall Mai had, only to discover the doors were all closed, locked and no Mai. Surly Mai would have released any of the boys if she had found them, but there was nothing.
Sighing Jay slowly walked down the hall, only glancing into the other cells, confident that Mai had checked them thoroughly. She walked all the way to the end of the hall to find another door. Slowly opening the door, she peeked through to find another set of stairs.
Frowning Jay slowly slipped down the stairs with silence that only a highly trained assassin could possess. As Jay went down the stairs she found that it was slowly getting darker and darker as well as colder. 'This must be where they keep the more heavily guarded prisoners.' Jay thought to her self.
She came to another door and pushed it open. She found her self facing down two hall ways. Biting her lip, she had the choice of left or right. She looked left then right and left again. In the end Jay decided to head left.
She tip toed down the hall, peeking through the peek whole in every cell. But still no Tala. Sighing Jay headed for yet another set of stairs and was about to head down them when some one grabbed her from behind.
Jay, with out hesitation, gabbed her dagger and whipped around coming into a defensive position. But Jay sighed with relief when she saw it was Mai holding her arm. "Mai what is it? Did you find anything?"
Mai held her finger to her lip before saying "Yeah. Listen carefully; Tala is in a cell around the corner. But he's heavily guarded. Four large guards inside, two on the out side. So you'll either have to fight or fool. There on the very end. I'm sure you can look after your self, I'm going to go look for Ray."
Jay grinned and put her dagger back into her belt saying "Thanks Mai. I owe you one. Where do you want to meet if we live through this?"
Mai smirked saying "Upstairs in the bar. Try to look innocent and don't draw attention to your self."
Jay nodded and turned to head back towards where the hall way split to head down the right side. As she did she called to Mai "Watch you're self."
Mai nodded saying "You too." Be fore disappearing down another set of stairs…
Jay mean while backtracked to the divided hall and headed down the right, towards Tala's cell. She walked with her back straight and head held high; she walked like she owned the place.
Jay strutted down the hall and almost instantly saw the two large guards that guarded Tala's cell. Jay took a deep breath and confidently walked towards them. As she approached them, they puffed out there chests and re-gripped there axe's in case she decided to attack.
But Jay merely put her head up high coldly saying "I'm here to pick up the prisoner."
The two guards looked at each other then glared down at her. "And why should we let you take him?"
Jay narrowed her green eyes before saying "Because if you don't Cardinal is going to be very angry."
"And how do we know that your not one of the bad guys?"
Jay chuckled coldly saying "First of all we are the bad guys. Second of all who in there right mind would try to steal from Cardinal, so why don't you just stop fucking around and give me the boy."
They started at Jay, trying to stare her down; she stared right back praying that wouldn't see through her lie. But then again this was what she did best…
The larger guard finely sighed and nodded. "I'll get 'em."
Jay suppressed a grin but smiled inwardly as the guard disappeared into the cell. 'This is way too easy.' She thought to her self but mentally kicked herself for jinxing her self and then did it again for being superstitious.
The other guard glared at her, but Jay could tell the larger man was studying her face in case he had to pick her out from a crowd. Jay's eyes narrowed knowing that, that could be a bad thing. But if she killed him, then that would raise suspension, so she went with an alternative approach.
She reached for her trusty pouch that held all the poisons, antidotes, pain killers and her special mixtures. Jay, having been the one to bottle and make every single one, was able to tell the difference between each vile by touch; she had long ago scraped symbols into the thick glass that would allow her to tell the difference between one vile to another and what was inside that vile.
Reaching into the pouch Jay pulled out a vile that had two thick vertical lines carved into if. She slowly pulled it our, realizing what it was and reached for one of her two her hip flasks. She uncorked it before taking a mouthful of water. She sighed when she pulled the flask away from her lips saying "Damn good." As she did she poured the contains of the vile into the flask with out the guard noticing.
The guard looked at her with extreme thirst and with a smile Jay said "Like some?"
The guard looked at her suspiciously but thought 'Hey she drank from it her self so it can't be poisoned!' so with little hesitation the guard took the water from her and drank the little bit left in two large gulps.
Jay watched with a calm face, but on the inside she was ginning madly; the guard went to hand back the flask when the other guards came out. The one who had gone inside was carrying a heavy rope that was attached to Tala's wrists and neck. His eyes were on the floor and there were dark bruises along the side of his face. His cloths were torn and tattered and long painful gashes could be seen through the ripped clothing. Some were with out a doubt infected as they were dirty and full of puss.
The guard pushed him foreword hard enough that Tala fell to the ground to his knees and it took Jay every ounce of self restraint not to help him up and hurt the guards in every way possible. Tala kept his head down in submission as the four guards that had been inside the cell with him walked passed and down the hall. One even giving him a longing look; Jay scowled at that particular one wishing that she could do more at that time. But it would not be wise to do such right then; Tala needed her help first.
Jay's attention was snapped back to the two guards left as the one she had given the poised water to said "Well his in your care now. You deal with him." He rubbed at his eyes as if they were in pain. Jay smirked knowing that the liquid was already taking effect.
She took the rope from the second and bigger guard saying "'Bout time. I've got better things to do other then drag half dead kids around!"
The two guards nodded and she gave Tala a sharp tug, wincing when he refused to move. She bit her lip as Tala ignored her; she was surprised that he didn't recognize her voice. But then again he was use to her being the soft spoken submissive one, not the harsh one in charge.
The guard who had been holding the rope frowned saying "He's stubborn. All he needs is a good kick to the ribs." He raised his foot to kick Tala. But Jay was quicker and wouldn't let them kick the boy when he was already down. She stepped in front of Tala allowing her self to get hit in the shin.
Jay didn't even wince and the guards looked appalled. In a cold voice she said "Cardinal wont like it if he's hurt." She then grabbed Tala by the upper arm and practically dragged him down the hall and up the stairs. Not once did he look at her.
Jay reached the bar and quickly sat Tala down at the nearest table that still aloud her to watch the door for her friends. Sighing Jay looked at Tala, who was still ignoring her, before cutting the ropes from his wrists and neck. Jay lowered her self so that she would be eye level with the red head softly saying "Tala look at me."
Tala recognized her voice that time and his head snapped up to see her. For a brief moment he was happy to see her, but the smile faded and he glared at the floor. "How'd you know I was here?" he mumbled.
Jay sat beside him with a shrug saying "Word in the under world travels."
There was a moment of silence before Tala asked "Why are you here?"
Jay blinked at him saying "Come again?"
"Why the hell did you even bother saving me? You're an assassin, one of them!" Tala said angrily.
Jay's eyes narrowed saying "First of all keep your voice down; we're trying not to get noticed here. Second of all I am not part of Cardinal's forces. That's an insult really. And as to why I saved you…well I couldn't leave you. What kind of friend would I be then?"
Tala looked at her surprised saying "Then why did you pretend to be a slave?"
"Mai went missing and we needed to find her. Posing as slaves seemed like the best idea at the time." Jay shrugged as she dug out a thicker bottle. She poured some of the green glop into her had and carefully rubbed it into Tala's wounds.
"Oh…what are you doing?"
"Don't worry I'm just putting this stuff to help clean out and close your wounds. Here have some water." Jay said wile hading him the second flask. "Don't worry there's nothing in there but water."
Tala took a mouthful before saying "What was in the last one?"
"I gave it to the second guard and it'll make him go blind with in a week." Jay said with a shrug.
Tala looked down saying "Oh."
Jay finished with his wounds saying "It really bothers you that I'm an assassin… doesn't?"
Tala shrugged saying "It's just…I was always taught that killing was wrong."
"Some people deserve it."
"Then let the courts deal with them." Tala said softly.
"Some times people can pay there way out of getting in trouble. We take care of the guilty that get off."
Tala looked at her, quietly saying "You could have killed me."
Jay sighed, wrapping her cloak around him. "I could have but I have no reason to. And I'm not going to let them hurt you either. You're a good person Tala and you shouldn't have gone through all this." He looked down and Jay handed him a necklace with a black gem attached to it.
Tala looked at it confused before saying "What's this?"
"It's a protection necklace. Any one wearing one is under the protection of the Night Stalkers and no one in there right mind would mess with us."
"What about Cardinal?" Tala asked, carefully putting on the necklace.
Jay wrapped her arms around the red head saying "We'll deal with him. You should rest now, we have to wait for the others and it may be a while."
Tala nodded and with a yawn, rested his head on her shoulder falling into a light sleep. Jay smiled at her former master, happy that he was finely safe. She looked across the room to see the guard she had given the water to rubbing his eyes in pain…
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Zai slipped past yet another set of guards unnoticed; the further in she got with out any one noticing her, the better. If she walked out of this place with Kai it would look as though she was suppose to be there and not breaking in to the place.
She quietly slipped down another hall in hopes to find the boy she had just weeks ago abandoned. Zai sighed, feeling guilty. She had left him alone at the mansion with Hilary and the Tarmans and to top to all off she left angry with him. Zai snorted thinking 'He'll probable not want to see me now any ways."
She turned another corner; Zai was becoming over confident and stopped being cautious…and that could get one killed. As she turned the corner, Zai nearly had a heart attack when she saw two guards standing by a door half way down the hall. She gasped a little, jumping back. She pressed her back against the wall on the other side of the corner, praying that they didn't see her.
She heard nothing from either of them; not a sword being drawn, not a rustle of clothing, not even some one talking. Zai sighed hoping that they had not heard her; she then cursed herself for being so careless. Another slip up like that could get her killed or even one of her friends.
She took a deep breath calming her wired nerves. Taking a deep breath she regained her composer and walked out to the large guards who only now saw her. They straightened a little saying "Can we help you?"
Straightening her self a little more, Zai said "Yes I'm here to collect the prisoner." Even if it wasn't Kai she would take them out of there as quickly as she could.
The guard raised an eye brow saying "Come again."
"Cardinal sent me. He wants the boys."
The guard submissively nodded saying "Fine but your going to help him out of here. He's pretty beaten up."
Zai twitched a little before saying "Open the door."
The guards nodded, being used to the rude kind of people that Cardinal sent. One opened the door, letting Zai through and she gasped at what she saw. Kai lay on the ground his blue hair matted with dirt and blood. His once milky white skin was tainted red and covered in bruises and gashes. His wrist was twisted in an odd way and Zai was sure that it was broken.
Zai's eyes narrowed and became cold as she started at the battered boy. She slowly walked towards the fallen boy, crouching beside him; pressing two fingers against his neck. She smiled when she found a pulse.
She went down onto one knee, gently brushing his blood stained bangs out of his closed eyes. She leaned forward so that her lips hovered over his ear. "Kai." She whispered taking his hand. "Kai if you can hear me gently squeeze my hand. Don't let the guards see."
At fists nothing happened; Kai just continued to breath. Then, ever so gently, his fingers curled around hers squeezing her hand. Zai smiled a little before whispering "Good. Now I'm going to help you up."
Kai murmured something as Zai pulled one of his arms around her neck and wrapped an arm around his waist. She was about to hoist him to his feet when both men gasped. Zai had Kai leaning heavily on her as she turned her head to look at them before, cursing under her breath; her pants had slid down revealing the crow tattoo on her hip. The sign that she was a Night Stalker and not one of Cardinal's men.
Turning back around she eased Kai back onto the ground saying "Keep your eyes closed."
Kai weakly opened his eyes before asking "Why?" from behind Zai he saw the two guards pulling out there swords; the metal reflecting the little light in the room. Kai gasped and Zai said "Just do it." Kai closed his eyes tightly, biting his bottom lip hard; he put his hands tightly around his ears to try to block out the sounds that were to come.
Zai nodded and could hear the two men coming up from behind her. She sighed reaching for her sword; she sprung up, swinging the sword around as she did, catching one of the guards in the stomach. He cried out in surprise and pain as he fell to the ground clutching his stomach.
The second guard swung his sword at Zai's head; but she easily dodged his attack with a quick duck. As she did she aimed her sword for his chest; she thrust the sword forward and into his chest. The man gasped and fell to the ground with a dull thump.
Zai sighed as she carefully put her sword back into her belt. With out making a sound she walked over to the still huddled form of Kai. Zai crouched beside him, lightly toughing his shoulder. He flinched a little before opening his eyes. "You ready to go home?"
Kai nodded mutely and allowed her to help him to his feet. Zai guided him around the dead and dieing guards and out into the hall way. She closed the door not to raise suspicion and lead Kai down the hall.
As they headed up one of the many dark stair wells Kai darkly said "Why are you doing this? I presumed you hated me."
Zai took a sharp intake of air before saying "I don't hate you I was…angry."
"You threatened to kill me."
"I was very angry. But rightfully so."
"How so?" Kai said, still leaning heavily on her.
"You did allow me to be whipped." Zai pointed out.
"Right, and you killed how many people?" Kai said sarcastically.
"Yes and I put my life on the line to save you and your little sister." Zai said with out hesitation as she led him down another hall.
Kai paused before saying "I suppose…but why did you bother to save me? Aren't I the one you're supposed to kill? You know being a noble and all?"
Zai sighed before saying "I'm not going to kill you ok? I was angry and…I apologise"
Kai snorted saying "You still haven't told me why."
"Because."
"Because why?"
"Because… I couldn't leave you here to rot that's why." Zai said between gritted teeth.
"I see. And you care why…" Kai asked sarcastically.
"Listen after a year after being a fucking slave and I've become attached ok, and I wasn't going to let you stay here when I found out." Zai said her teeth were again gritted.
Kai paused again, suddenly feeling very tired, he said "So your attached to me are you?"
"Don't push it." Zai growled.
"It's a simple question. So is it yes or no?" Kai asked ginning looking a little evil.
Zai bit her lip hard and thought about strangling Kai but just quietly growled "Yes."
"Hn." Was all Kai said as he leaned on Zai. Zai inwardly sighed, happy that he wasn't making a big deal about it.
"I knew it." Kai told her with a grin, making Zai sigh in annoyance.
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Jay sighed as she watched the door that lead down stairs carefully. Tala was still leaning on her, sound asleep; his soft breath tickling her neck. She subconsciously rubbed his back in smoothing circles wondering were the others were.
She tensed slightly as the door opened and Zai, half dragging Kai, came out. Her eyes slid around the room until she spotted Jay. Sighing a little Zai led Kai to the table, sitting him down. Kai sighed in relief, nodding to Jay.
Zai sat beside him before whispering "Any sign of the others?"
Jay shock her head saying "Nothing yet. You're the first."
Zai nodded saying "They'll be here soon. Just give them-"she stopped dead suddenly, her eyes widened and her face paled.
Jay cocked her head to the side a little saying "What's wrong?"
Gulping a little Zai said "Cardinal's here."
TBC…