The closer they got to their destination, the deeper they went into the forest.
While they had no problems navigating through the thick vegetation, it certainly wasn't what they were expecting.
It made no sense. If there were truly people living there, they must be keeping to themselves so much and be so independent, that they seemingly didn't need any connections to the outside world.
And if there were no people living there, leaving a simple lake off of a map was nothing other than senseless.
Maybe their curiosity was leading them into the middle of nowhere."
But there was something off about the forest itself. Some of the trees were tall enough to block out any ray of sunshine while others were barely up to the sisters' shoulders. On its own, that would not have been unusual, but the small trees stood in two perfect lines on what could have been an old dirt road at some point.
It had enough impact to make Su stop worrying about a potential ambush and instead let her thoughts be occupied with finding a possible explanation of this strange place.
Eventually, the line of small trees ended rather abruptly and the could see what seemed to be a learning in the distance.
"Stay together", Su ordered with a low growl, her voice barely above a whisper, her mind now fully focused on their 'mission' again.
She sniffed the air to decipher whether or not anyone was following them.
Nothing.
Her attention turned to Wing for a brief second. "You know what to do if you hear anything."
"I've got your back if you decide to take the offensive."
She turned to Wan next. "Will you be my eyes?"
"As always", the youngest sister declared with a bright smile.
Su stopped in her tracks for a moment, taking a breath. "Let's make this quick. I don't plan on wasting any more time in this forest."
They found something they didn't want to find.
Su found it nothing but useless. Nothing but a waste of their time. Not worth the travel.
Wing thought the place was awesome. Definitely not something they needed but certainly a potential entertainment.
And Wan- Wan didn't like that lake at all. It freaked her out if anything.
With a disappointed look, Su slumped down a fallen tree trunk. "Great. We just found a destroyed village."
She let her legs slump down into the tall grass as she took a look around the ruins. Some of the houses were still partially standing while others had collapsed into little pieces. Vegetation was slowly starting to take over the place.
As tragic as the sight might have been the scenery was actually quite nice. The flowers blooming in between the moss-covered ruins, the sunlight dancing on the water, the peaceful emptiness of the former village- they all made everything seem so calm. It almost seemed like something out of a fairy tale.
Su had wanted a place for them to stay where no one would ever bother them and these ruins might have been the perfect spot in that regard. It wouldn't be something to brag about but it would work for the time being.
But the more she looked at what was presented before her, the more questions started to creep out from the back of her head.
Something was off about that place.
The snow leopard frowned, her eyes drifting to the big lake next to the former village.
Wing had already started to wander through the ruins to take a closer look at their findings. "There was a fire", she yelled over her shoulder, tapping on what seemed to be the remains of a staircase.
"Looks like we've walked into the aftermath of a big accident", Wan softly whispered as she joined their older sister.
Su kept her eyes fixed on the water, seemingly not even caring about what was around it anymore.
The conversations she overheard the previous day. Freaks. They kept mentioning freaks.
"Not an accident", she corrected. "Genocide."
"This trip just went from good to great", Wing chimed in with her usual excited tone. "You think we can find some skeletons?"
"What- no! Su, seriously, why must you always think of the worst possible explanation for everything?"
She turned to Wan with a somewhat perplexed expression. "Because I'm always right about it." Su paused for a second before pointing at the lake. "I highly doubt an entire village can burn o with this much water nearby. Besides, don't you think the fire would have spread to the forest if that was the case?"
The youngest sister seemed to think about it for a second. "But…who would burn down this village? And why?"
Su shrugged, dismissing the question. "I don't know and I don't care. All that matters is that this place has no use for us." And I now have one more reason not to let you stay here.
Her attention turned to Wing, who was busy exploring the green ruins, unbothered by her sisters' conversation."Sister dear, what did I tell you about sticking together?", she asked with a hint of annoyance.
Wing dropped the piece of burned wood she was examining with a sigh of defeat. "You are not fun. Why not check this place out if we're already here? Maybe there is still some stuff around here that was spared by the fire."
"Oh yeah why not just casually engage in grave robbing" Wan interjected.
"It's not grave robbing unless there is a grave."
"I don't want to find a grave, Wing."
"Girls, please." Su held back a chuckle as she stepped between them. Her little sisters' small bickerings tended to entertain her most of the time. "Just make my life easy for five seconds and behave until we reach our next stop."
Su rubbed her eyes, not even bothered to try and hide her disappointment. "Out of all the places to stop at, it had to be some underground bar." She paused, sighing in defeat. "Wing I swear this is the last time I let you pick the location we're going to."
"Pretty sure you said that the last twenty times", the middle sister. She happily grabbed the small menu in front of them to flip through it again, just to waste more time. "Besides, as long as we can get food it doesn't even matter."
Wan simply rolled her eyes with a smile. Every time. Every single time.
"On the bright side they have cheap desserts- and you promised us cake."
"You forced me to promise you cake", Su quickly declared. "However I did not agree to-"
She stopped mid-sentence when the waitress finally arrived at the table.
The sisters looked the small fox up and down, making her wince a little.
Su leaned back in her seat once she was satisfied. Wan shortly turned her attention back to looking around.
Wing was left as the only one to address her. "Yes hi, we'd like to order three of those…tofu thingies", she said, pointing at the menu. "Oh, and two-" she paused, looking at Su who only gave her a small nod. "Three pieces of chocolate cake."
"You three aren't from around here, are you?", the waitress hesitantly asked before even noting the order.
Wing leaned down to her level and put on her most charming smirk. "Oh trust me, if we were from around her, I would have remembered your pretty little face."
At that point Su was gripping the edge of the table, telling herself to hold back whatever remark was about to come. She had made a point not to criticize her sister's behavior but sometimes, Wing was really pushing it. At this rate, I won't be able to take her anywhere.
For some odd reason, Wing's cheap pick up line had worked on the fox as she turned into a blushing, giggling mess and quickly hurried away with their order after voicing her hopes of seeing the idle sister more often in the future.
Naturally, it did nothing but boosting the snow leopard's ego- not that it would have needed too much boost.
"I told you I'm irresistible", she proudly proclaimed.
Wan waved her gloating off with a sarcastic tone. "Yes, yes. You are the dream of everyone who has a decent taste. Now would you be so kind and get us the drinks you forgot to order?"
"Got it." And with that, Wing jumped up from her chair. "A round of drinks for our older sister who is about to lose all faith in me and my favorite alcoholic."
"Who are you calling an alcoholic, slut?", Wan jokingly asked, sticking her tongue out at her.
Wing clutched her chest in fake hurt. "You're mean!" But she went on her way to complete the quest anyways.
Su sighed, letting her head fall back. This day wasn't going exactly as she planned. Their trip was nothing but a major set back and they still had a fairly long way until they reached their next destination. Not only that but they needed to find clients.
She looked around the bar, scanning for anyone that could probably be of any use for them.
"Watching the fight?", Wan asked, pointing at a group of bulls pushing each other around.
"Just thinking", Su simply answered. She wasn't one to be entertained by bar fights.
There was a moment of silence before Wan hesitantly uttered the next question. "How's the ear?"
Su jumped a little, turning her head back to her sister. The snow leopard reached for her ear and softly traced her bandaid. "It's…fine."
"It's not infected again, is it?"
"It doesn't feel infected." She smiled a little at her sister's concern. "Why, do you want to cut out even more of it?"
The youngest sister crossed her arm in defense. "It looked bad", she paused for a second, thinking of a good comeback. "Besides, a clearcut will look better than a ripped out wound."
"Anything would look better than that", Su said under her breath.
Wing came back with a tray of drinks which she would have swiftly slammed down on the table if the glasses weren't full. "As requested, my ladies", she said with a bow.
"How much did you pay for these?", Wan asked with a hint of suspicion as she eyed the full tray.
Wing simply dropped back in her seat and took one of the drinks. "Nothing at all."
"You flirted with the barkeeper, didn't you?" It was a rhetorical question. Su already knew the answer.
"He gave me all these free drinks so you shouldn't be complaining."
The good thing was that they had found the path leading to the black market Su planned to head to. The bad thing was that they had wasted so much time that they had to et camp for the night.
They were in the mile of some woods yet again, the only difference was that they had a good idea of what was in them.
So they set up their tent without any worries of walking into something they didn't want to see.
Wan had made the decision to stay close to the dirt road so that the three of them could get going as fast as possible.
They went to sleep soon after, squeezing themselves into the small tent. Their hopes of getting a good rest were low, to begin with, but neither of the sisters expected being woken up in the middle of the night by what sounded like someone sneaking around in the woods.
"I'll go look", Su declared before anyone else could say anything.
She was sure that taking matters into her own hands would have been the fastest approach- and considering the snow leopard wanted nothing more than to go back to bed, she wanted this to be done as soon as possible.
Su climbed out of the tent, stretching as she looked around. "I'll be back in a bit. Just go back to sleep."
Soon enough she had found footprints on the dirt road next to the camp. While they were leading away from their tent, Su still decided to follow them.
Who in their right mind is wandering around these woods in the middle of the night?
Whoever it was, they were traveling alone.
Her senses were heightened as she stalked along the path, ready to go into battle or fight of an ambush. Su held her breath and listened for anything that would be out of the ordinary.
Somehow, the noises had disappeared, even though the footprints continued.
Maybe the person she followed was onto her.
No. That can't be.
She shook the thought off. Su was an assassin who mostly used her stealth for man-hunting. There was no way some random person in the woods would have noticed her.
Slowly, her curiosity began to grow. Adrenalin filled her veins as she seemingly came closer to her target. The snow leopard had set her mind; whoever she was after, she would make them regret coming close to their camp.
Maybe this would provide an opportunity to let out her frustration.
Maybe this little chase would get her mind off of what was going on.
Su always felt a sick enjoyment when tracking someone down. It was an advantage if it came to her profession but has also got her in trouble a fair amount of time.
Yet again her and was racing with possible scenarios the inevitable fight with her target would go down. Ways of how she would deliver the final blow. She wanted to make it quick but at the same time, the snow leopard desired entertainment after everything that day.
In a matter of seconds, the choice to go for the throat was made.
Suddenly, she could make out a silhouette in the distance.
To her surprise, the tall figure didn't seem to be armed.
Well, well. This is indeed going to be fast.
Su hid behind a tree, patiently waiting for her target to come close enough and walk into her trap. She took a deep breath as she got in position. The snow leopard was prepared to jump and tear down her target.
Her pupils narrowed into thin lines, her claws were out and ready to slash through flesh.
Three.
The sound of footsteps came closer.
Two.
Su pushed herself away from the tree.
One.
She jumped into action, lunging at her target. They landed with a hard thud on the dirt road. Su raised her hand to stick down and end the intruder below her before they could even blink but-
She stopped the motion midway.
The snow leopard froze as she examined the person below her. A startled water deer was looking back at her.
Something about her had caught Su's attention. If it wasn't for the deer's warm, brown eyes she would have managed to somewhat intimidate the leopard.
Her eyes wandered over her face, settling at the long tusk- well one tusk. The broken tooth pointed towards a lifestyle of fighting. She was wearing some kind of dark green uniform that made her blend in with the dark woods. Next to her laid a large, white bag that the deer has dropped at Su forced her to the ground.
But before Su would do anything else, she was swiftly thrown off. Luckily, she managed to land on her hands and feet, assuming a ready stance and blocking the path. She wasn't going to back down that easily. Her opponent might have been a head taller than her but Su had killed people twice her size before.
"Out of my way", the deer warned in a low voice as she picked up the bag she next to her.
Su gave her a low growl. "First you are going to tell me what you are doing sneaking around our camp."
"You were the one who decided setting cam next to a road was a good idea" the answer came without missing a beat and did nothing but anger the snow leopard even more.
"And you really shouldn't have said that."
...
Wan sleepily looked around in the tent. She must have dozed off soon after Su left. Rubbing her eyes, she softly nudged her sleeping sister. "Wing?", she whispered.
"Mmmm five more minutes." The middle sister simply rolled around.
"Wing this is important." Wan started to sound more concerned as she continued to speak. "Su isn't back yet." She sat up, searching for her mask. "I think we should look."
A firm grip on her wrist held her back from getting out of the tent. Wing shook her head and gently pushed her back down on the sleeping at. "It's Su we are talking about. She knows how to take care of herself as much as she knows how to take care of us", she reassured her little sister with a warm smile. "But if it makes you feel better, we'll rush to her rescue if she isn't back in five minutes."
"Three minutes."
...
Su's back hit one of the trees with a loud thud, a groan of pain escaping her lips. She quickly regained her composition and jumped back into the offensive.
She lunged at the deer with the sole goal to cause as much damage as possible. This was no longer about getting rid of an intruder- this fight has turned into a challenge. A challenge Su was not willing to lose.
Her attack was dodge which send her flying to the ground, forcing her to roll through the dust to get back up on her feet. The snow leopard looked at the blood dripping from her claws. She still managed to inflict a somewhat deep cut on the deer's arm.
And yet it didn't seem to slow her down at all as Su was quickly reduced to holding her arms in front of her in an attempt to block the hits coming at her before she could continue going on the offensive.
Damn, she's fast!
Su needed to think of something and she needed to do it quickly. She needed something that would take her opponent by surprise and give her the upper hand.
A risky idea crossed her mind.
For a mere moment, Su intentionally let her guard down, leading her to be swiftly brought down with a final blow.
A foot stomping down on her chest held the leopard down. "I told you to get out of my way."
Su looked up at the panting deer, slightly smiling to herself. This was giving her the perfect chance to turn the tables. "And I'm telling you to stand down."
And with that she wrapped her tail around the challenger's other leg, pulling it out from under her and sending the deer flying to the ground.
"But it seems like you aren't listening."
...
Against her sister's better judgment Wan did end up leaving the tent and forced Wing to come running after her, still half asleep. The two of them wandered through the forest, following the same footprints Su was following not too long ago.
Wan knelt down, examining the tracks. She sighed, looking over her shoulder at her sister who was barely able to keep herself on her feet. "Maybe you were right. A random deer doesn't seem like something Su couldn't take care of."
"Yes, yes. I was right you were wrong." Wing yawned, rubbing her eyes. "Can we go back to bed-"
The sound of something going off suddenly echoed through the quiet woods. The sisters froze in place for a mere second.
Wan searched for the origin of the sound, trying to decipher where it came from and what caused it.
Wing on the other hand suddenly became wide awake, grabbing her little sister and forcefully pulling her up. "Smoke bomb."
"Wha-" Wan didn't get the chance to ask as she was dragged behind Wing, who started running wherever the footprints were leading them.
"You were right, I was wrong!" Wing almost sounded like she was panicking. "Smoke bomb means a possible ambush!"