Title: Destiny Reborn

Author: Queen Serenity

Fandom: Labyrinth

Chapter: Four – First Battle

Tah'rina watched as two men snuck up on Althor's party's camp. Obviously, the two were elven bandits, since there was no other reason that they'd be sneaking up. Well, she was battle-trained; she would take care of them.

From a distance, she took down one of them, but the second one heard his comrade fall and jumped out of the way of the next arrow she shot. She drew her sword and she and the other man approached each other, each wanting to kill the other.

There was a clash as their swords met, and they battled for several minutes, rather evenly matched; him with more experience and strength, seemingly, and her with more speed and agility. Finally, though, somehow she messed up and was knocked to her knees as his sword sliced across the back of one of her calves, her sword kicked from her hand in the next moment. The man moved in for the kill, grinning, so sure of his victory…

…And, in the next moment, his sword dropped from his hand as the grin slipped off his face and he looked down in horror. Quick as a flash, Tah'rina had retrieved her dagger from her boot the moment her weapon left her hand, and now she twisted it and pulled it from where she had stabbed him in the stomach, both her hands and her blade covered with blood. Seeing that he was bleeding to death anyway, she decided to be merciful as the man fell to his knees, and stepped forward, sliding her blade cleaning across his throat.

After he was dead, she wiped her blade on a clean patch of his clothing before returning it to her boot, and retrieved her sword, resheathing it after cleaning it, too.

As she moved towards Althor's camp, planning to be there when he awakened, she winced and fell to her knees again. Lifting up her hands, she could see the blood on them, and it sunk in what she had done. Tears filled her eyes, and she hastily wiped them on her sleeve. It had to be done, she said to herself silently. They would have killed Althor and the rest of them if I had not…

It was the first time she'd taken even one life, and she unfortunately was sure it wouldn't be the last. The thrill of the battle was intoxicating, but when it was over…

Ripping a strip of material from the bottom of her shirt, she bound the wound on her thigh and quietly slipped into Althor's camp, finally falling asleep there…