The coastal city of Nashramae stood before the ship of Ionia, while the sun bathed the earth with its light and scorching heat. Both Damien and Kai were smiling as they approached the dock to abandon their vehicle so they could finally set foot on land after a week at sea. However, inside the cabin there was still the redhead, tied to a chair tightly. She wasn't unconscious, though, but she knew what her destiny was going to be. The two Ionians couldn't leave a witness behind, so someone could follow them and boycott their mission.
"Well, how do we settle this, Kai?" Damien said as he grabbed his friend's arm "A quick execution or shall we make her suffer?" his plain tone caught Kai off guard, making him turn somehow annoyed.
"Du...dude! Weren't you the one who used to say that every life is important and all that stuff?" he replied as he took a step away from the Whisper. "Anyway, why should we kill her? We got free, you see..."
"You see, if we free her, she will follow us, and we don't want that. I know you have always had a fantasy with redheads, but this is something more important than your dick." Damien said with a shadowy face. "A clean, painless dead should be enough for your content, but she has killed countless of our people, so she should pay. We can pray later if you want." he explained, as he turned towards the cabin, with the intention of ending that problem once and for all.
Kai remained silent as he looked down. He remembered how Damien was when they first trained, unexperienced and afraid of hurting others. Kai had the theory that Damien only lived until then without ending his own life thanks to his almost sickly obsession with defending Ionia and his promise with Iraki. He could kill without thinking it thanks to it. He had no doubt, but when battle was over, he always prayed and let the dead ones rest peacefully. Maybe it was his way of convincing himself that he was doing the right thing, or maybe it was all just a lie.
"Kai, are you coming or not?" Damien said, holding the cabin's door, looking at him
Kai nodded silently and followed his ex-pupil, still thinking about how had he changed so much. "Have I changed this much too?" he thought as he entered the room, looking at their prisioner "Are we just murderers with an excuse or are we actually heroes?"
Katarina narrowed her eyes as the sunlight fell on her face, unused to the bright light after several days inside the dark cabin. After a few seconds, his eyes grew accustomed to the light and he could clearly see the grim expression on Damien's face, knife in hand, as Kai looked doubtful behind him. She sighed slightly, hopeless.
"Any last words, lady Katarina?" said the Whisper as he approaching her carefully. "Don't be afraid, I'll make sure you don't suffer. Consider it a gift from a fellow assassin, I guess." she did nothing but smile briefly, looking Damien directly in the eyes for some seconds that seemed eternal for both, just before opening her mouth one last time.
"Just make it quick, though my comrades won't do the same when they catch you, Whisper. The same goes for your friend back there. Your land is as hopeless as I am right now. However, I will die without regrets." he laughed tired, nodding off "Farewell, Ionian Whisper. May we meet soon in hell."
Her tone was calm. She accepted death, a total denial of the noxian habit to fight until the end. As Damien severed her spinal cord, he swore he saw a white specter in front of him, with a sort of bow in his hand. It wasn't the first time he had seen it, but it was the clearest vision he had ever seen. Only one word crossed his mind: Kindred.
Indeed, Katarina didn't suffer a bit. Her death was quick and silent. Her face relaxed as blood started pouring out of the wound on the back of her neck. The sound of the blood slowly dripping was the only thing to hear inside the cabin, as both Ionians remained silent, Damien praying eyes-closed, and Kai looking the knife, bloodstained.
They left the boat moored at the dock after burying the body in a remote part of the coast where the waves did not reach. Then, they focused on their mission. They had to reach Nezimareth at any cost.
A small tabern was the place they chose to search for a guide. Some coins would have to make it, as they didn't have much. Mercenaries poured throughout the taberns, eating and drinking loudly wherever you could look. There were men, women and even children. Kai noticed that there was no one unarmed. Even the smallest of kids there had a pocket knife.
As they entered the place, some of the people inside looked at them, analyzing them. After some seconds, they continued to their affairs without any discussion. Both Ionians came to the bar and took a seat.
The bartender quickly reached them. He was a man with dark skin, with some kind of turban around his head "Well, what's it going to be?" his accent sounded strange in Damien's ears, only used to the strong noxian accent and his own.
Kai got closer to the bartender before speaking lowly, trying to sound like a Shuriman "we want someone to take us somewhere, you know someone who could do it?"
The man rose an eyebrow before giving a brief smile "Yeah, sure. With enough money, some of this people would even take you to Azir's bedroom." He laughed to his own joke "Anyway, I am no one to ask for a guide. You should search for yourselves."
Just as Damien sighed disappointed, a girl appeared behind them, reaching for a bottle with some unidentified liquid inside "I'll pay you later, boss. I need something to drink first."
The bartender replied anoyed "Sivir! You just can't take my stuff and then promise to pay me later!"
She smirked as she handled a bag full of coins "Is this enough to pay off my debt?" just as she realised the two boys looking at her surprised "And you two are...?"
Both remained speechless for a second, just before Damien spoke for both of them "We are travelers in search for Nezimareth, and you are..?"
She drank some of the liquid and sighed before replying "I'm Sivir, and I can take you there. I happen to have to go there too, so I'll give you guys a discount. What do you think? Do we have a deal?"
Without think twice, Kai took her hand and shook it strongly, as his eyes shone after her figure. "We have a deal."
To be continued...