Kagami Tsirugi, Miraculous Dragon, surveyed the ruined campsite. The reddish light of a Sun near setting blended with the crimson stains across the ground, painting the whole scene as red as Kagami's Miraculous leathers. A dozen bodies lay scattered around the campsite, though there were tents enough for more than that. Most were clad in the padded leather armor of common infantry, seven in the black-trimmed yellow of Paree and four in the copper-edged purple of Franeaux. And regardless of their colors, all bore a scar-like line of crude stitching over their heart, marking them as deserters.
Not that that on its own would have been an issue. This Plagg-touched war had brought many deserters, and most were simply desperate people who'd been conscripted by force and didn't want to die. A few had even been recruited as Miraculous over the years, and they had smuggled many more to safety in neighboring kingdoms over the mountains or in the demesnes of the few nobles on their side.
But these were not terrified and untrained conscripts, or those whose souls had been worn thin to breaking by the stress of battle, of killing and of seeing their comrades die. These were killers, trained and skilled professionals who didn't lack for courage or ability. They could have been among the elite of their respective armies, had they not decided to use their skills to prey on the defenseless rather than protecting their realm's interests. And worse, they'd gathered around the leadership of the final corpse. Sir Theo Barbot, formerly of Franeaux. Kagami had heard stories about him from Cat Noir, who had known him before the war began, and from what Cat had said Barbot had had the singularly unfortunate combination of considerable combat skill, fierce cunning, and a near-total lack of morals. There'd been a reason Cat had been checking on Barbot's camp today. Only now Cat Noir had been missing for hours, the camp was littered with bodies that had died by violence and been hastily looted, and there was a trail Kagami's mother could have followed smashed through the underbrush straight for Paree City.
Kagami glanced over to her partner. Nino Lahiffe, the Turtle, was the third of the founding Miraculous, and he and Kagami were among the few who knew Cat's birth name. Turtle would know how complicated things might get if Cat Noir were brought to Paree City.
"There must have been a fight," Kagami said. "Barbot and his men discovered Cat, and for some reason he couldn't break away. He cut down a bunch of them, but they took him down in turn. Then the survivors dragged him off towards Paree. Whether he's alive or dead, we both know King Bourgeoise would shower fame and fortune on anyone who could bring him the infamous Cat Noir."
She knew her voice must have sounded oddly emotionless to Turtle. Years of training in discipline kept her pain and horror internal, and these Easterners didn't value self-control in the same way that her own people did. Still, Turtle had known her for years now. He could see through her mask almost as well as Cat, and he would know why she had called up that focus.
"We may have time to catch them," Turtle said. "This blood is still relatively fresh, this can't have happened that long ago."
"Then let's go," Kagami said. She spun crisply on her heel, setting off down the broken path at a quick jog with Turtle in her wake.
From her hiding place just inside the treeline, Marinette stared across the clear-cut region to the walls surrounding the capital city of Paree.
How in the lamb's blood am I supposed to get Cat Noir through the gates? she thought. Her parents were tradesmen and, as such things went, of fairly decent rank. They weren't nobles or castle servants, but they did live inside the city proper, protected by the walls and the guard. Unfortunately, those same walls would block her from sneaking in or out of the city, and those same guards would certainly take notice if she tried to bring in a man who was unconscious, stripped to his underwear, and covered in bandages.
I don't have long. It's almost dark, and once the sun goes down the gates will close. Plus, even if I could sneak Cat Noir past closed gates it will be ten times harder to get him home without being spotted and questioned once the curfew takes effect.
Ok, she thought, looking around. So what do I have to work with?
She glanced back and forth from the improvised litter on which she'd dragged the Miraculous Cat Noir's unconscious form this far to the piles of cut brush and tree limbs around her to the heavy cloak she'd draped over him.
This is a stupid idea, she thought, but I don't have the time to think of a better one.
Sabine Cheng was nervous. It was almost dark, and Marinette still wasn't back. Even if she hadn't been able to find the knobweed sap, she should have been back home by now.
Did something happen to her? she thought, grinding willowbark into a paste. It was good to have something to do with her hands while she waited. She couldn't help fidgeting, but this at least let her do something useful with her fidgets. Behind her, dinner sat on the table, slowly getting cold.
Where is she? Sabine thought again. Tom being conscripted was bad enough, I couldn't bear losing Marinette as well. Please, Tikki, bring my daughter home to me.
As if in response, there was a rapid knock at the rear door of the bakery. Sabine's heart leapt, and she hastily released the pestle and spun to dash to the rear door. She threw the door open, to see Marinette standing there. She lunged forward and pulled Marinette into a hug, relief filling her.
"You're alright," she whispered. "Thank Tikki, you're safe. I was so worried!"
For a moment, the two of them just stood like that, reveling in the simple relief of being together again. Then, Marinette stiffened. "Uh, Mom," she said, pushing slightly against Sabine. She reluctantly released Marinette. That tone of voice made her nervous.
"Ok," Marinette said, ducking her head and looking nervous, "please don't panic. This is going to… uh…"
For the first time, Sabine registered that there was a huge bundle of fresh-cut vegetation on what looked like an improvised litter next to Marinette. Marinette turned and began to pull the brush off the litter. Under the brush was a thick blanket, which she pulled back to reveal a limp body wrapped in bandages.
"Uh, Marinette," Sabine asked, already certain she wasn't going to like the answer. "Who is that, and why did you cover him in branches?"
Marinette quickly looked around, as if checking for eavesdroppers. "I'm pretty sure he's the Miraculous Cat Noir."
Sabine froze, then instinctively glanced around herself. "Cat Noir?" she hissed, her barely-settled fears flashing over to anger. "Marinette, what are you doing bringing him here? If anyone finds out…"
"Mom, he saved my life!" Marinette hissed, cutting off Sabine's rant.
"What?" Sabine asked.
Marinette shuddered. "In the forest… there were bandits, they had grabbed me, their leader was getting ready to…"
Sabine pulled Marinette into another hug.
"Cat Noir saved me," Marinette continued, voice slightly muffled against Sabine's chest. "He took on the whole camp, got stabbed and hit over the head and hurt so badly to save me. I have to save him back."
Sabine felt her anger vanish. Outlaw or no outlaw, she owed Cat Noir her daughter's life. "Of course," she said. "Come on, we'd better get him inside before the Watch comes round."
"Thank you," Marinette said, pulling away from Sabine to dash over to the other side of the improvised litter.
From his hiding place just inside the treeline, Nino Lahiffe stared across the clear-cut region to the walls surrounding the capital city of Paree. The gates to the capitol were closed and barred, and soldiers patrolled the walls by lamplight.
"So…" Nino said, glancing over to where Kagami crouched beside him. "Now what?"
For a few long moments, Kagami just stared, her face smooth and expressionless as a porcelain mask. Only deep in her eyes could he see any hint of feeling.
"Now," she said, voice as hard and smooth as her face, "we return to camp. If Cat is dead, then he is beyond any of our powers to help. If he is still alive, Bourgeois will want to make a spectacle of him, doubly so if the king or the Princess realize who it is they truly have. We will have a few days to plan a rescue, and we will want the aid of the others."
Nino closed his eyes and sighed. "Agreed," he said. "Though I can't imagine how I'm going to get any sleep tonight, with my dude in Bourgeois's hands."
Kagami didn't respond to that as she turned back into the woods.
Cat Noir's wounds were cleaned, Marinette's improvised bandages replaced with proper bandages and dressings, Cat Noir himself was tucked safely into Marinette's bed, and his stuff was hidden under a pile of her spare cloth bits. He was as safe as they could make him. And suddenly, like a dam bursting, the horror that Marinette had kept down with her focus on needing to save Cat Noir came bubbling up again.
She wasn't quite sure how it happened, her mind was a little blurry, but she found herself on the couch, crying into her mother's chest.
"I killed him," she whispered. "I killed him."
She felt Sabine tense against her. "Killed who?" she asked.
"One of the bandits," Marinette said. "Cat Noir… the bandit hit him over the head and he just went down, and then…"
She felt her stomach twist again and practically ripped herself out of her mother's embrace, running for the privy. She just barely managed to get in position to vomit a few mouthfuls of bile into the chamber pot. Her stomach twisted, but there was nothing more to come up. Tears came instead, running down her face to drip into the chamber pot.
She knelt there for a moment, memories of blood pouring over her hands replaying in her mind. Then she felt her mother's arms wrap around her in a hug as delicate as if she were handling a freshly baked pillowbread.
"Was there anything else you could have done?" her mother whispered in her ear. "Was there any other way to stop that bandit and save Cat Noir's life?"
"No," Marinette whispered back.
"Then you did the right thing," her mother said. "I wish to Tikki and Plagg and the Almighty himself that you hadn't had to hurt someone, but you did, and that is not your fault. It doesn't make you a monster, it doesn't make you anything but a daughter whom I love more than I can say and who had to make a terrible choice."
"Uh," Marinette said, after they had knelt there a bit longer, "Could I have some water, please? I need to wash my mouth out."
"And then maybe some dinner," Sabine said. "We both know you need something to eat almost as bad as Cat Noir will, after the day you've had."
The pale moonlight shone down on a handful of tents arranged around a central campfire amongst the trees. Two figures were visible outside the tents. One was a redhead in brilliant white leather, who held a gleaming spear as she gazed outwards into the darkness. The other was Kagami Tsirugi, now changed out of her crimson Miraculous leathers into a white kimono. She sat cross-legged in front of her tent, and on the ground in front of her were set three small plaques. One showed a stylized turtle, the second an anthropomorphic cat, and the third a crimson-scaled dragon. In front of the plaque, a small cup held several thin rods of incense, the tips smouldering. Slowly, Kagami pulled the featureless silver ring from the fourth finger of her left hand, setting it between the plaques and the incense sticks.
"Plagg, Bringer of the End," Kagami whispered, shifting from the fluid Prench spoken in Franeaux and Paree to the sharper syllables of her ancestral Kazanchi. "I beg you, please spare Cat Noir your wrath, for he bears your name. May your touch fall instead upon his foes and mine, that they may yet loose the prize they seek. Wayzz, Shield Bearer, I pray for your protection on my beloved. Please, let him live, keep him safe, and bring him back to me. Longg, Rider of Storms, master of my stars. I ask for your blessing upon me through these days ahead. May I have the freedom of the winds to react to whatever may come, the cunning of the waves to see what must be done, and the will of the storms to seize what chance may bring. Sobiet."
She closed her eyes and sat there for a time, and then she opened them again. She picked up the ring and slid it back onto the fourth finger of her left hand, then extinguished the incense sticks, collected them and the plaques, and went into the tent. Inside it, she put away her ritual supplies, skinned out of the kimono and into a nightgown, and lay down on one side of the tent. For a moment, she contemplated the empty blankets on the other side of the tent, and then she rolled over and faced the outer wall.
Nearby, the same moonlight shone down on a three-story building within the walled city of Paree. In a bed on the top floor, a young blonde man covered with bandages twitched and murmured in his sleep while a woman of Kazanchi heritage sat in a chair and watched him. And on the floor below, Marinette Dupain-Cheng slept snuggled up in her mother's bed.