Here we go.


Beta: College Fool

Cover Art: Dishwasher1910

Book 8: Chapter 8


Gripping the cloak around my collar, I kept my head down and pushed through the crowd in the open-walled tent-like structure that made up the central accommodations and tavern structure of the Mirage Isles. There had to be at least four hundred people in it, all garishly dressed or, in some cases, undressed, laughing, talking, drinking, eating or even fighting. Tables of various shapes and sizes but no single theme dotted the decking, some even arrayed on second and third floors, which were just more wooden decks strapped to and jutting out of the rock monoliths on either side.

The carousing went on unabated, even as someone cried out and fell from an upper deck, crashing down into the water with a loud splash. Those nearby laughed and one tossed some beer into the sea. Of the one who had fallen, there was no sign, alive or otherwise.

No one cared. Life seemed cheap here.

My Greycloak disguise kept me safe and unmolested, those not wearing one parting before me without a word, allowing me through and dropping whatever arguments existed on the tips of their tongues. Ascending a rope-bridge that was fashion into a flight of stairs, I passed onto a new, quieter decking and into a tunnel carved into the rockface itself.

Sound slowly became muted as I entered what had turned out to be a warren of tunnels, caves and crudely fashioned rooms that the Pirates of the Mirage Isles used as lodging. Most, I'd been told, slept on their ships, both for ease, cost and to defend it in case someone decided to try and steal it. Most of Adam's crew would be sleeping there, though a fair share would also be in the crowds below making merry.

I came to a wooden and slatted door roughly fit into some holes hewn into the rock. It was battered and bruised, not to mention worn from all the salt water in the air. I tapped on it and waited for Pyrrha to crack open the door and see me before I entered.

"Any news?" she asked.

"No drama down there. I don't think we've been noticed."

"Yet." Yang sat on a rickety stool, legs up on an equally rickety table that was made of a different wood and colour. Much of the furniture in these rooms were mismatched, telling us the pirates had stolen them from various ships and cobbled the décor together.

The room was a small and cramped one with all eight of us squashed into it. We might have been able to afford better, but Adam assured us that would invite suspicion. If we wanted to disguise themselves as the bottom rung of the Greycloaks, then we didn't want to appear too wealthy or influential. We'd either be reported up the chain or mugged. Either was possible in this lawless haven.

Either way, it would not be the first time we'd camped together, and while the cave was cold and damp, it was no more so than tents pitched in the freezing cold night-time of the Vacuo desert. At least the beds, mostly hammocks lined with furs and pillows, were held up off the floor. The rugs and carpets strewn haphazardly about didn't disguise the fact it was uneven rock. Picking my way over it carefully, I sat down on one of the hammocks, letting it swing under me.

"Where's Adam?"

"Off ordering supplies and hounding the Greycloaks to do their check." It was Ren who replied, sitting cross-legged in his own hammock. "Or I hope he is. Are we sure we can trust him?"

"He had us dead to rights. If he wanted to kill us, he could have sunk our ship."

"Maybe we're worth more to the Greycloaks alive. He could be going straight to Raven."

"He wouldn't." Blake was laid back in a hammock with her hands behind her head. More than any of us, she'd adapted easiest, though the Assassin seemed oddly restless for finally coming home.

"You're sure?" Ruby asked.

"Yes. Adam fought and killed Greycloaks beside me before I left. He thought the world of my mother and father, and he despised the ones responsible for killing them."

"By your own admission, it's been years," Weiss pointed out. "People change."

"Not without reason. There's nothing Adam wants that Raven could offer him. His dream is to oust the Greycloaks and reclaim the Mirage Isles, turn it back into the kind of place my parents worked on making it."

Curious, I glanced over to her and asked "Is it just his dream? Not yours?"

"Hmph. Apart from Adam and his crew, the people here turned on my parents without a care in the world. Their bodies were hung from the masts of a ship that sailed around the island, then torn down and fed to the carrion." Blake's lips peeled back in absolute rage. "The people here can die with Raven or Salem for all I care, and the isles can sink below the sea. I only came because I had to warn Adam."

"What is he to you?" Yang asked. "Ex?"

I tried not to look too interested as Blake answered. "No. More… More a brother, or a mentor. A close friend who didn't let me down when everyone else did, and who went out of his way to keep me alive in a world that wanted me dead."

"Is that why you had to come warn him?" Pyrrha asked. "Because it would have felt like he risked his life for you, but you didn't risk your life for him?"

"I'd have never been able to live with myself if I hadn't tried."

That brought a sombre quiet to the room, within which the muted sounds of revelry from outside continued to filter through. I'd not heard such raucousness the last time I'd been here, which probably meant I'd been kept prisoner further up the rock structures. Maybe even on the very top.

The Mirage Isles weren't really as big as I'd expected. Everyone referred to it as a Kingdom of its own, but that didn't fit. Vale had a population of over a hundred-thousand, closer to two. Vale and Atlas were supposed to be similar – Mistral with a little more, Atlas with a little less due to the harsh terrain there, and Vacuo being by far the lowest, with an unknown population. Even Vacuo dwarfed the Mirage Isles, however. At most, I'd have guessed there were three to five thousand people here, most of which would lodge be on the hundred or so ships docked at and surrounding it. It really was more of a glorified port town than a Kingdom.

The only proof of its autonomy was that it created its own laws.

Or rather, didn't.

"I expected the Mirage Isles to be lawless, but this is ridiculous." Weiss said. "Prostitution, outright murder on the streets – if you can even call them streets – and these rooms. There isn't even a lock on the door."

"Not that a lock would do much," Nora pointed out. "I could break that thing down by breathing on it."

"Exactly! And the person we're renting them from offered us guards as if he expects someone to try and kill us in the middle of the night."

"Someone will try," Blake said. "But they'll give up if they see someone on guard."

"But they'll try…" Ruby had to ask.

"Yes. It would be rude not to."

"That!" Weiss snapped. "That is what I'm talking about. Some level of cultural differences I can accept. I was fine with Vacuo, fine with Mistral and even fine with Vale, but this is madness. You cannot survive without at least some laws."

"Are there laws over ships and crew?" Pyrrha asked. "I mean, these are pirates. Perhaps their laws are focused on the naval aspect of life."

"Afraid not." Blake sounded morbidly amused. "Each Captain is a law unto themselves. There are treaties, kind of like how you don't attack other pirates – but those are broken all the time. They only exist in the first place because pirate on pirate combat is far too bloody to be profitable. If one crew is wounded or exhausted, though." She shrugged. "All bets are off."

Yang huffed. "Great. So, someone is going to try and kill us tonight and it won't be for Greycloak reasons. Just because we have money and gear to sell, I'm guessing."

"Yes. There used to be laws. My father imposed them, many to the benefit of those who couldn't support themselves. He tried to bring the Mirage Isles in line with other Kingdoms and build schools, facilities for craftsmen and even trade opportunities. All that got thrown out the window when the Greycloaks took over. I never understood why but knowing what we do about the Greycloaks and Raven now, it makes some sense."

"Does it?" Ruby looked confused.

"It does." I said.

I shouldn't have been surprised that Blake figured it out, but the only reason I knew was because of the time I'd spent with Raven, and because of the terrible things Lisa and I had been put through. As it was, my understanding was all too accurate.

"A lack of laws creates chaos. Chaos, especially among people like this, leads to conflict, and conflict leads to fighting. The strong flourish in that and the weak are killed or subsumed, either as Exp or forced into being crew for the strong. It all perpetuates Raven's desire to recruit the best of the best. If the Pirate Captains are constantly squabbling and fighting amongst themselves, they'll grow stronger and stronger."

"That sounds like her, but to what end?"

"Recruitment or resources. She'll either bring them into the Greycloaks or kill them, getting the Experience for herself or her people." Raven couldn't afford to constantly hold those arena fights I'd been thrown into. Sooner or later, people would rebel if they were being sacrificed like that, and she'd made a point of only using prisoners caught in raids or naval battles.

But in a way, she'd turned the Mirage Isles itself into an arena. An arena in which the strongest crews reaped the biggest rewards and would eventually become too large to handle. At that point, they'd either prey on the other pirates and become powerful enough for Raven to reap and take as Exp, or the weaker pirates would band together to kill the strong, ultimately repeating the cycle anew.

It was genius in a way. The biggest risks of something like this was the chaos either dragging the Greycloaks in or destabilising the economy, but the Mirage Isles didn't have an economy, and the Greycloaks were either strong enough to defend themselves, or Raven wanted them tested as well. If any fell to the riff-raff below, I had a feeling she would say they deserved it for being so weak.

In a way, I felt that would ensure Adam's loyalty to Blake more than anything else. He knew what Raven was like, and no amount of promises would mean anything to someone who knew they would be killed at the end of it.

"I don't think we should stay in here all day."

The sudden words came from Ren and earned immediate condemnation. "You're suggesting we go out there and run the risk of being discovered? That's madness."

"Got to say, Ren, I kind of agree with Weiss on this one."

"It's not that," he said. "I'm just thinking that we're cornered here. If the Greycloaks do come for us, we're stuck in a cave with only one way in or out. Even assuming we fight our way out, we don't know the lay of the land or where to run."

"You think we should recon the area, then?" Pyrrha asked.

"Essentially."

"It's a thought…" Yang didn't like the taste of the words even as she said them. "The odds of any of us being recognised are low. Raven might, but what are the odds Raven would come down here among all these idiots?"

"She will be in the castle top the western plinth," Blake said, eyes focused on the ceiling. "It's where my family lived – and it matches Jaune's description of where he was kept captive. It's likely the Greycloak stronghold at this point."

"There you have it. It's only pirates down here and we're probably harder to spot if we're mingling with them all. Even if someone saw us, we could lose them in the crowd."

"Ugh." Weiss looked irritated at the idea. "I can't disagree, but I don't personally like the idea of dealing with all that noise."

"Then stay here." Ren said. "Someone should to defend our luggage and room anyway."

"I'll stay with her," Ruby offered. "It's too crazy out there. If someone just starts a brawl and hits me in the back, I'll probably die…"

That was entirely possible. With my Rune bolstering her, she had more Constitution than normal, but it was still sub-fifty in total. Ruby compensated by being fast, but she couldn't really employ that in a crowd containing hundreds of drunken pirates.

"Alright." I nodded. "But we shouldn't go off alone. We should split into pairs."

"I claim Renny!" Nora said quickly.

Yang glanced at Blake and grimaced. "I claim Pyrrha."

Leaving me with Blake. Wonderful. Should have expected it really, especially with everyone still being upset at her for dragging us into this situation in the first place. A part of me wanted to suggest she'd be fine on her own, but that was stupid. She might be recognised. With a grimace of my own, I accepted it. "Fine. What are our limits?"

"We shouldn't go near the top of the cliffs or anywhere away from the pirate areas," Weiss said. "Don't talk to anyone important and don't cause any trouble."

"Finish it if someone else starts it," Blake interrupted. "You'd be more suspicious here for not doing so. Cruelty is expected, especially if someone attacks you. You'll stand out if you try to go easy on someone."

"Messed up place," Weiss grumbled.

I couldn't help but agree.

/-/

I let Blake lead me around the Mirage Isles in relative silence. That wasn't to say we didn't speak at all, for she would pause to say the occasional thing or point out where supplies could be purchased and I would nod, make a sound of understanding or politely ask a question back. The noise all across the Mirage Isles helped drown the awkwardness out.

Some of the routes Blake took me down were less busy, though that didn't mean empty by any means. The decking the pirates used for their floating city was so small that it was cramped wherever we went, but some parts only had ten or twenty people as opposed to hundreds getting drunk and arguing. The docks were not one such place and she bid us stay away from where more Greycloaks were likely to be.

There was a second dock. A jetty of sorts. The one thing I immediately noticed was the nets and fishing lines strewn all over it, making a veritable forest of poles and lines with several small fishing boats – little more than wooden rafts or two-seaters – out on the water.

"I guess this is where your love of seafood comes from."

"It's not because I'm a cat faunus," she replied. "I grew up on seafood."

"We were served some vegetables and bread in the cages."

"Some additional food is imported. Flour and grain because it transports well, along with salted meats and hardier vegetables. Fruit is rare. A lot of additional food is either brought as trade or stolen from other ships."

"People trade with the Mirage Isles?"

"No. But Pirates trade amongst themselves."

"Ah." Trade in stolen goods no doubt, though I supposed some of them could have docked and purchased them legitimately in Mistral or Vacuo. It had never occurred to me that the scant food we'd received might be a delicacy here. Then again, I'd had other things to focus on. Blake moved away from the jetty when a party of fishermen arrived. She took me up a rope bridge that spiralled in and out of the plinth leading higher. "This doesn't lead to the top, does it?" I asked.

"Eventually. If you continued all the way up. We won't," she added, reading my concern. "I just wanted to visit one place in particular."

"Is it safe?"

"Yes. It's nowhere special…"

We trudged further up the rope path, and across some rock stairs cut into the cliff face, with rope on the side as the only barrier to prevent us from an almost certainly fatal drop. The path was a thoroughfare of sorts between the lower and upper sections and we passed by several people coming and going, none of whom bothered us and most of whom gave our cloaks subtle nods of respect or deference.

In that regard, we weren't out of place. Two Greycloaks making the journey up or down weren't suspicious in the slightest. Eventually, Blake came to a stop. It was on a section between a fresh batch of rope and wood-panelled bridge and the curve of the rock. We'd passed jut around the bend and come upon it, and I almost collided with her back when she came to a sudden halt.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Nothing. We're here."

I looked out. There wasn't much to see other than the ocean and the clouds in the distance. Even the revelry we'd come from was out of sight, with the two of us being on the outer side of one of the stone monoliths. It was a good view if nothing else, but if the Mirage Isles had one thing going for it, it was the view. You could get a nice stretch of ocean vista no matter which way you looked.

"And where is here? This looks like every other stretch of this path we've been down."

Blake's smile was wan, her eyes distant. "This is where my mother died."

"Shit." The curse was for both the words and my own big, stupid mouth. "I'm sorry. I didn't realise."

Her shoulder rose and fell helplessly. She looked out over the ocean and drew in a deep and shuddering breath. It was the first time I could recall seeing her look like this, except for when I'd messed things up, and maybe that moment in Atlas where we'd both thought we would die. Although, even in that situation she had been stronger.

I remembered asking about her parents before and getting an evasive answer. Mentions of them in their life, how they might like me and how good they'd been to her. What little I'd learned had changed that a little, but not much. Pirates or not, the Belladonna family had obviously been close. I couldn't imagine losing my own.

"Do you want to talk about it?" I stood behind her, unsure if I should offer a hand. "You don't have to, but I'm not sure if it might help or not." A moment of silence. "Your call."

Blake didn't turn back to face me.

"The attack came without warning. Literally. One moment we were meeting for dinner and the next, we were under attack. My mother took an arrow meant for me in the arm, shielding me, and my father kicked over the table and drew a sword from beneath it. His crew moved to try and help, but they came from nowhere and everywhere. They… They didn't wear the grey cloaks back then. There was nothing to tell us where or who they were, but they were Heroes one and all."

"My father stayed to fight them off, but mom was wounded and bleeding. He told her to get me to safety, to our ship, and that he would fight his way down. He told Adam and the crew to get us out."

Blake's eyes drifted shut.

"It was bloody…"

/-/

Blake stared up at her mother's face, the only thing she could see as she was carried bodily against Kali's chest, her head nestled under her mother's chin as they streaked from the hall with unnatural speed and darted across the grass. Behind them, the sounds of Ghira roaring in angry defiance split through the air.

"D-Dad," Blake gasped. "W-Why are we leaving him? What's happening?"

"We're not leaving him, dear. We're just getting the ship ready. He'll catch up with us soon."

"I – I don't like this…"

"Stay strong, my kitten. I'll always look after you."

Trusting her mother, Blake nodded and tried not to make any noise as Kali cut to the side suddenly, dodging an arrow that impacted the dirt ahead of them and snapped in two. The sound of steel on steel rung out all around, along with screams. People were fighting. People were dying. Ahead of them, Blake heard a familiar voice.

"KALI!"

"Adam?" her mother whispered.

Wriggling in her mother's arms, Blake managed to look over one shoulder towards the low wall surrounding the compound. There, atop the gate, the redheaded figure of her best friend waved a bloody sword in the air. There were others fighting alongside him, up on the walls. The gate beneath him was half-closed, but no longer closing.

"GO!" Adam yelled. "RUN! We'll hold them off!"

Kali gasped and rushed toward it. "Thank you," she whispered, far too softly for Adam to have a hope of hearing.

"Adam!" Blake yelled. "Don't die. Please!"

As she and Kali passed beneath the gate and out, she heard his reply. "I won't. For the Belladonna! For Ghira! Slay them all!"

Kali swept her away from it before she could see what happened, rushing out of the gate, over the rocky and weathered grass and to the staircase that wound down around the plinth they lived upon. Her breathing was laboured, and blood pooled from the wound on her arm, but she still had the presence of mind to both carry Blake and keep talking.

"Adam will be fine, as will your father. You know how stubborn those two are."

"Y-Yeah…" Blake didn't believe it even as she said it. Nor, she imagined, did her mom. She pressed her face into her mother's bosom and tried to stifle the tears that spilled. Why was this happening? Why were people trying to kill them? Her mom and dad were good people. They wanted to change things and make them better for everyone.

"Shhh," Kali whispered. "It's okay, dear. Everything will be okay. You'll see."

They crossed another of the rope bridges that spanned the gaps between and around the rocky faces of the cliffs the Mirage Isles were suspended within, all the while the sounds of combat and bloodshed above slipped away.

Suddenly, Kali cursed and leapt to the side, carrying Blake with her as the chipping of metal against rock echoed through the air. Landing and rolling, Blake still against her chest, Kali came to a stand and let Blake down, keeping hold of Blake's hand with one of her own and drawing an ornate knife with the other.

"You dare? I am Kali Belladonna, Lady of the Isles."

Ahead of them, three pirates stood in waiting. They'd hid around the corner and sought to take Kali's head off when she rounded it, but the Assassin's instincts had been too great.

"Not much of a Lady anymore," one of them said. "And we've been offered plenty for your head. And the brat's."

Kali hissed and tugged Blake in against her side. "Keep hold of me, Blake. Whatever happens, don't let go." Raising her voice, she said. "I will grant you one warning and one alone. Let us pass or I will kill each and every one of you."

The apparent leader laughed. "You don't-grk!"

Whatever he thought Kali didn't died on his tongue, blood bubbling past his lips as Kali drove her knife into and through his windpipe. She didn't wait for the others to recover and lashed out on the one to their left, slicing through the tendons of his arm while dragging Blake behind her, stumbling and gasping at her mother's incredible speed.

"You bitch!" the last yelled, swinging for Kali but almost certain to hit her instead.

Kali's knife caught the blade and diverted it at the last second. Her eyes flashed, as did her hand, puncturing the man's ribcage three times and driving him back. As he staggered on the edge, Kali delivered a powerful kick to his stomach, launching him into the waves far, far below.

Rather than wait to catch her breath, Kali moved again, dragging Blake with her, this time with Blake stumbling along after her mother as they ran down the cliffs together, hand in hand. "Keep going, dear," Kali said. "Not much further."

Together, they came to the final turn around the mountain's face, one the three of them sometimes came to for views out over the ocean. It was where Ghira had proposed to her mother, with Blake there as a younger child smiling happily. It was a place of memories.

As they rounded the corner and came upon four archers, three with bows and one with a crossbow, Blake realised it was also the place she died.

"No!" Kali screamed.

It happened in an instant. Kali picked her up, spun and shielded her. Bowstrings twanged and the body she was pressed against shook violently under the impact of arrows and bolts. Even though she knew what had happened, she didn't – couldn't – process it.

"M-Mom…?"

Kali's smile was so soft and gentle as she looked down on her. "Stay here a second, dear."

The four traitors never stood a chance. Pierced several times through her back but still alive, Kali tore through them as if they were made of wet paper. Blood sprayed, screams echoed, and the dying were hurled down into the waves to drown for their treachery. After she finished the last, Kali sagged and fell onto one knee.

"Mom!" Blake covered the distance, small arms wrapping around her mom's shoulders. "Mom, please. Come on. Y-You'll be okay." She heard shouts from above, people chasing them. Blake tried to tug Kali up. "W-We have to go. Reach the ship. Dad will be waiting for us. H-He said he would be. He has to be."

Smiling at her daughter's words, Kali tried to stand, only to manage three or four paces before slumping again, falling against the rock face with her back to it. Blood pooled under her as the arrowheads were forced deeper into her.

"Mom…?"

"I think…" Kali took a deep, ragged breath. "I think you'll have to find your father on your own."

Tears poured down Blake's cheek. Her breath caught in her throat and she threw herself into her mother's chest. "No!" she screamed, trying to wrap her small hands around Kali's back and lift her. "I-I'll carry you. We'll escape together."

Her arms strained and strained, but Kali didn't budge, too heavy to lift and too weak to assist her. Blake's hands slipped off her mother's back and she fell. Looking down on them, Blake trembled at the blood dripping between her fingers and running across the palms of her hand. Her mom's blood.

"Blake," Kali rasped. "Come here."

Desperate to obey, she hurried over, kneeling between her mom's legs.

"There's something I need to give you. Something I want you to have." Kali took her hands and laid the bloody dagger in it, closing Blake's fingers around it softly. "I thought we could make a life where this wasn't needed, but that was probably naïve." She smiled weakly. "An Assassin can never truly escape her fate."

"M-Mom?" Blake tried to pull away but Kali's grip on her was strong. Her hands were still over Blake's, enclosing her smaller hands in Kali's own, the dagger gripped within it.

"You need to keep running, Blake. Please. Run and survive. You need to be strong." With a sad smile, Kali brought Blake's hands up towards her own neck. "And this, my dear, is the only way I can help you now."

The dagger was placed against her throat.

Blake's eyes grew wide.

"Remember that I'll always love you, Blake. And I'll always be with you. Just… not in the way either of us would have liked." Bringing one hand to the back of Blake's head and keeping the other locked on Blake's small hands, trapping them against the knife's handle, Kali drew her in for one last embrace. "I – hrk – l-love… you…"

Blood bubbled from Kali's lips, and the gaping hole in her throat.

"M-Mom?" Blake pushed back, leaned back. Her hands were wet. Wet and hot. She knew what had been done, but her mind was distant and foggy. She looked down regardless, screaming as she found her hands wrapped around the knife plunged through her mother's throat. "Noooooo-arghhhhh!"

Her cries cut off into a tortured scream as something, something painful, ripped through her.

Not metal, not a sword, not an arrow but something far more agonising. Blood and vomit rushed up her throat as she bent double, hands latched around her stomach as something changed. Her eyes flashed. Once, twice, three times, four, five. Each tick was a fresh punch to her gut as her small body became stronger, faster, more intelligent.

There was a roaring in her ears. In her blood. In her brain.

Shadow Stride. Shadow Strike. Dance of Knives. Coup de Grace. Sound of Silence. Sever Soul.

Blood poured from Blake's mouth. She'd bit her tongue. Bit through the tip of it. Her eyes continued to flash and flare as her body convulsed. Her hands came up to her head shaking, gripping her hair on either side of her temples as she cried out in raw agony.

Such a small body, a small mind, was not made for such change. Not so sudden. Not at once.

"Found her!" someone cried from behind. Footsteps, her newly heightened instincts told her, even as she convulsed and screamed and writhed on the floor. Three people. Armed. Dangerous. Enemies.

Her legs wouldn't move. She sat on her knees, back arched so far it was nearly breaking and eyes shining up at the sky. Bloody hands gripped to her face with her mother's blood pouring down her cheeks.

A shadow appeared behind her, a man blocking out the sun with his sword raised.

"I'll shut the brat up."

The sword swung down.

Blake disappeared.

The blade cut through a thick cloud of shadow that dispersed under it, the sword carrying through and to the side, the man confused as to the lack of resistance. "What the-?" A weight settled on his sword arm. A small figure, not seven years old, was kneeling on his arm, face covered in blood and eyes glowing with gold light, burning like two small suns. "Impossi-"

The knife plunged through his eye socket before he could finish the word.

He fell like a cut tree and Blake kicked off his body, moving with a grace she'd never had before, even as fresh waves of agony cut through her, another level gained from a fresh kill. One of her eyes closed against the pain as she landed and stumbled.

"DIE BRAT!"

Turning, she saw a large man behind her attack with a club. He seemed to be moving so slowly to her eyes, almost as if he was wading through water. The club was almost as big as her chest, but she reached out and caught it with both hands, stopping it in its tracks.

The man grinned and placed all his weight down upon her.

Blake didn't move.

Her tiny hands held it suspended, not once struggling. With the third running, Blake twisted the club to the side, shocking and disarming the man, before she brought it swinging back for his leg. Bone crunched and he fell howling in pain. His cries were silenced as the club came down once more, crushing his head and causing it to pop like an overripe grape. Blake stepped past him, eyes locked on the third, who was already trying to run.

He had a bow.

He…

He had to die.

"Demon!" the man screamed. "Monster!" He fled back up the track, crossing a bridge and then turning to draw out a knife and saw through it. He glanced over, screaming in fear as a tiny figure streaked after him. He stabbed down at the rope in terror. "Die, damn you!"

The rope snapped and the bridge lurched and fell sideways. It would have spilled her off and the man gasped in relief – only to curse as the tiny Assassin leapt the second the floor under her departed. Agilely, she landed on the single remaining rope itself, barely an inch wide, and continued to run down it as if it were a road a mile wide.

He stabbed down on that too, but not quickly enough.

Blake landed feet first on his chest and carried him down, the two of them skidding on the rock and with her eyes blazing.

"NO!" he screamed. "DON'T!"

Kali's dagger fell.

The first blow punctured through his stomach. It tore free in a gout of crimson. The second caught his shoulder, driven down with such force – more than a child her age could ever hope to have - that the bone cracked and shattered. The third caught his breastbone, puncturing through that and filling his lungs with blood.

Intelligence she'd never had before told her he was going to die.

But Blake raised the dagger again in two small hands.

"Where's daddy?"

Through dying eyes, the man spat "He's dead."

With a scream, Blake brought the dagger down into his face.

As he died under her, more Experience flowed forth, crashing into her body and mind like a galleon. Falling onto her side beside the man she'd killed, Blake vomited blood and bile, twitching and convulsing as a seizure overcame her, driving her mind into nightmarish visions of her mother, blood and the dagger through her throat.

All alone and already an accomplished killer, Blake Belladonna cried.

/-/

"Adam found me there," she said dispassionately, looking out over the waves. "Bloodied and beaten, he limped his way down the mountain with what little of his men remained and found me among a pile of dead bodies, covered in blood. He carried me away and the rest, I guess, is history." Her hands tightened into fists. "Father never made it. Never intended to. He died to buy us time, died thinking he'd saved us both." She let out an angry breath. "At least he saved one of us. I have to hope that was enough for him."

"I'm sure it was."

"Mm. Me too. I know it was for mom. I… I know she did it on purpose because it was the only way she could think to keep me safe." A hand rose to her forehead. "I had seizures for days after. I couldn't do things properly. I'd take a step and fling myself into a wall, or pick up a glass and shatter it, driving glass into my hand. I must have been level four or five at the time, and then suddenly I was almost Level thirty."

I'd always wondered how Blake had such a high level – we all had, hoping we could emulate it. Now? Well, I wouldn't have wished it on my worst enemies. "She gave her life for you. Think of it that way. Like she said, she's still with you today. Just…"

"Not as either of us would like." Blake finished with a rueful smile. "I know. I… I don't regret leaving for Beacon. It's what they would have wanted. Adam has more to love here and wanted to see the Mirage Isles brought back to how Ghira and Kali would have wanted it, but I didn't. I'd rather this place and everyone in it burn. But… I couldn't leave Adam to the fate Raven has in store for everyone."

"I understand." I placed a hand on her shoulder. "I think we all do."

"There is… There is one thing more."

My heart sank. "What?"

"I said they didn't wear cloaks when they attacked us. That I didn't know they were Greycloaks. And they didn't," she said quickly. "They were dressed as any Hero might be; in leather, steel or cloth armour of random colours. But I remember Raven. I remembered her."

"I can imagine. You shouldn't feel bad about that, though. By the time we figured out she was leading the Greycloaks, the information wouldn't have done us any good. It's not like you kept anything a secret that we could have benefited from knowing. This… This was a private issue."

"I know." Blake turned towards me. As expected, her eyes were red and teary, but there was a firmness to her expression. "But there was someone else with her," she said. "She wasn't the only one leading the attackers and this person did wear a cloak. A bright white cloak. She was a Warrior, and the one who attacked my father. Probably the one who killed him."

Blake drew in a deep breath, eyes closing.

"Her name was Summer."

My heart fell.

"And she had silver eyes."


Dum-Dum-Dum.

A flashback chapter, or one I've been sitting on for ages anyway. Finally, the truth of Blake's title of Kinslayer and her meteoric rise through the levels is known. I know a couple of people made guesses along this line, with some also thinking she gained levels surviving alone and killing to get by, which would have happened.

The most levels came from Kali forcing Blake to kill her, however, and since Kali killed all who wounded her, the Exp wasn't shared with anyone else.

And yep, Blake saw Summer Rose among those killing her parents.


Next Chapter: 15th April

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