The man could hear the clanking of metal and the heavy footsteps of the Noxian soldiers from miles away. He hid behind a tree for a moment. In his haste, he had forgotten to pick up the deceased soldier's weapon.
Damn it, He thought to himself. How many times am I going to contradict the requirements for my work? He took a quick peek from his hiding place and saw a platoon of soldiers marching away from where he was. He groaned inwardly. Guess I'll have to do this the tedious way then.
His footsteps were as silent as a cat's compared to the soldiers' heavy ones.
oooooooooo
Katarina and the other soldier sat in silence, the only sound breaking it being the crackles of their fire's flames. "Do you think something has happened to him?" The soldier asked, sitting upright. Katarina maintained her tense position. "Maybe." She replied coldly, offering no comfort to the soldier's worries.
With that, the silence continued. Katarina spared a brief glance to the light mage, who seemed to have gone back to her unconscious state. The meager amount of food she had given the mage could not possibly sustain her for long, she would be extremely weak the next day.
"Can I ask you something?" The soldier suddenly piped up. Katarina turned towards him and jerked her head in a small motion, a silent prompt for him to ask away. "What General Darius said the other night, what did he mean?" As soon as he had finished his sentence, Katarina's breath stopped. The soldier made the risky move of pressing, "Who was he referring to?"
Katarina swallowed, gathering her thoughts, and preparing what she was going to say. One wrong show of emotion would immediately tell this soldier what was up. Two people already knew about her little 'affair', and she did not need any more people to know as well.
"He was referring to my friend." She said, slightly surprised that her voice came out calmer than she thought it would. "For me, those are extremely rare in a place like Noxus. She was one-of-a-kind." She glanced at the soldier, who looked back at her with earnest attention. She took a silent, shaky breath and continued, "So when I call someone a friend, you'll be bound to know they're a good thing." Another breath. "And she had to go."
She looked away from the soldier. She had managed to keep her voice steady so far, but she couldn't say the same for her eyes. Tears were beginning to well up as she remembered the tragedy. "Why did she have to go?" The soldier asked, and although he seemed like a good person who was part of a rare breed in Noxus, Katarina wanted to smack him for asking so much about her 'friend'. Still, she pushed the urge down and forced the next words out of her throat.
"She found out something she shouldn't have and so I had to get rid of her." She responded, her tone being colder than she would have liked. "You know how it goes. When someone finds out about your dirty little secret, it's better to get rid of them than to trust them to keep quiet and risk having it exposed."
Miraculously, the tears in her eyes dried up, and she turned back towards the soldier, staring at him dead in the eyes. "And in to continue this phenomenon, I'm somewhat affected by what I did." The soldier eyed her warily before looking away and mumbling something inaudible. Maybe he was giving his condolences.
Katarina inwardly sighed in relief. Her lie and delivery of it seemed to fool the soldier. She quietly thanked her father for teaching her to be a good liar. Not to Cassiopeia's level, but still good enough to fool a regular person.
Then again, the lie hadn't truly been a lie. The ending of it was what had happened in her eyes. And it had happened. Her only other friend had done his best to convince her that what happened wasn't her fault, but no matter how many times he tried to convince her, she knew that her blood was on her hands.
The sound of leaves crunching startled her and the soldier, and the two immediately reached for their weapons. "Hold! Hold! It's just me!" A man's voice called out as its owner himself stepped out from behind the trees. Katarina and the soldier let out a breath of relief. But the relief turned into anger.
"God, Ansel! I was beginning to think you were dead!" The soldier shouted, only for Katarina to shoot him a petrifying glare. "Shut up!" She hissed. Ansel stepped closer. "I thought I saw some wild game," he explained shortly as he and the others sat down. "But I realised I was getting too far from camp, and I was already pretty far." Katarina and the other soldier stared back at him in silence before the former waved a hand dismissively. "Be sure to not do that again." She said, annoyed at the roller-coaster of emotions she was going through in one night.
The soldier and Ansel pulled out their respective bags of meat and began to dig in while Katarina watched the woods on her left, checking for danger in the path they were going to take the next day. Navigating the forest in the dark was vastly different from navigating the Noxian streets, she would have a much easier time doing it in daylight.
Which meant that she needed to rest up.
She reached into her bag and pulled out a folded blanket. She unfolded it and lay it on the ground before sitting on it. "You two figure out who takes the first watch," she ordered, laying down on the blanket. "Wake me up when it's my turn." She began to turn away from the soldiers but turned back slightly to address them for the final time of the night. "If you feel like rutting the prisoner, do at silently."
She wasn't sure why she said her last sentence. Then again, she wasn't sure of what she was going to say or do next.
oooooooooo
It had passed a couple of hours or so, but finally, the Noxus' camp came into sight. The man heaved a sigh. He had done enough sneaking around for the night, he wanted to rest.
As soon as the platoon entered the campsite, he followed and broke away from following them. He kept his head low as his eyes darted around, looking for the soldiers' quarters. He located them soon enough and walked there with hurried steps. The other soldiers took no notice of him, too wrapped up in their own business to see his hunched posture or his fast pace.
A sense of relief washed over him when he walked into the wooden shack that was called the soldiers' quarters. He took his helmet off and sat on one of the beds.
The first part of the plan was complete, it was time for part two.
oooooooooo
Quinn looked up at the sky expectantly. As if on cue, a dark shape in with something that looked like wings spread out in the sky tucked them in and headed directly towards her.
Most people would shriek in fear at the sight of a flying creature going for them in the dark, but Quinn had no reason to do the same as they did. Instead, she extended an arm, and the shape spread its wing-like limbs as it slowed its acceleration, revealing itself to be a large, blue eagle.
The eagle gingerly landed on the ranger-knight's outstretched arm, cawing gently. "What did you see, Valor?" Quinn asked in the same gentle tone she always employed whenever she talked to her friend. Valor cawed again, more anxious this time. Quinn's brow furrowed. "You saw what?"
oooooooooo
"Unbelievable…" Quinn muttered as she stepped out of the bushes. The word she used was to describe the scene in front of her.
There was a dying fire with a corpse on top of it. The corpse's head was shaped in a way it was not meant to be shaped. It looked as though someone had taken something blunt and beaten the front of it with enough force to make the victim's skull cave in on the inside. Part of the corpse's skull had broken through layers of flesh and skin, exposing the victim's brain, and
The Noxians couldn't have done this. They prided themselves in their skills with any type of blade. A fellow Demacian would have done the same and head off to report their encounter to a superior officer. However, when Quinn surveyed the area, she found no tracks or traces anywhere around the fire, and the body looked too charred to check for fingerprints, except for the trail that was left from the body being dragged to its current location.
The Wings of Demacia looked around one more time, ensuring that there were truly no traces that the assailant could have left behind, before pulling out a parchment of paper and a pencil. She hurriedly wrote her coordinates down and motioned for Valor, who had been hovering in the air the entire time she was investigating the scene, to come closer to her. Valor did so, and she tied the parchment to the bird's ankle with a blue ribbon.
"Take it to High Marshal Crownguard." She instructed. The bird cawed once, sounding as if he was worried about something. "I'll hide in the trees near this area until forces arrive, don't worry." She assured. "Now go." Valor cawed again before spreading his wings and taking off into the night sky, determined to fulfil his friend's request.
Quinn looked around once more before picking a tree. She climbed it with relative ease and settled on a sturdy-looking branch. As she got comfortable, her eyes drifted to the corpse. She had seen bodies before, and some had outmatched this in terms of grotesque appearance. So, she was quite confused when she suddenly felt the urge to vomit at the sight of it.
She fought the urge down and forced her gaze elsewhere. She looked at the sky, admiring the stars. It was somewhat therapeutic for her whenever she was alone and wanted to distract herself, simply gazing at the stars and letting her mind wander.
However, she was not going to have one of those moments, as she spotted smoke rising from two other places in the forest in the moonlight.
What was happening in this forest?
oooooooooo
Ansel grumbled to himself as he pulled at his breastplate. The night was already warm, and underneath his armour, he was boiling.
He took his helmet off and exhaled, hoping the action would let off some steam from his head. He glared at Barry, who was sitting against a tree, snoring away peacefully. As soon as the Sinister Blade had turned her back to them, Barry immediately went over to the tree, stating his desire to sleep. Before Ansel could protest, the leaner man had closed his eyes and pretended to snore, leaving him to take the first watch.
Ansel rested his chin on his hand as he folded his legs, cursing his misfortune. He never wanted to partake in this so-called 'mission', but alas, the General had appointed him, and in the military, the General's word was law.
As he continued to wallow in self-pity, his eyes landed on the Demacian mage. If he was being honest with himself, and he always was, he did not see the significance of the Lady of Luminosity. He did not see what was so damned important about her that they had to spend time and effort transferring her all the way to Commander Moreno's camp.
Sure, if Demacia had found General Darius' camp and taken the Lady of Luminosity back, it would be catastrophic for Noxus. But General Darius' camp was well-hidden in the forest, there was little chance of it being so easily discovered.
Ansel continued to stare at the unconscious light mage. She was facing him, and he took in her features. She had a beautiful face, a nice-looking body, and she was young too. Even better.
Ansel stole a glance at the Sinister Blade again. Her last words to him and Barry were if they wanted to 'rut the prisoner', as she put it, they'd best be quiet about it. His gaze flicked back to the light mage again. Eventually, he stood up and began walking towards the mage.
If he was going to take first watch, he may as well enjoy himself while doing it.
He grabbed one of the mage's hands and began to drag her to one of the bushes. The mage must have begun stirring at the sudden motion, for he heard a weak sound of protest. He ignored it and continued pulling.
The mage must have recovered a bit her strength since Ansel felt her other hand grasp his, trying to pry his fingers loose. However, she hadn't fully recovered from the effects of the anti-magic device, for her attempt was weak and did absolutely nothing to make him loosen his grip. "I advise you to stop struggling, girl," Ansel said, a terrible smile spreading across his face. "You don't want to piss me off."
He dragged the light mage, who continued to make sounds of protest, to the back of the bush, which would help keep his comrades from seeing what he was about to do. He pulled the mage a little more before laying on top of her.
"Y'know, I was hating this mission more and more by the second. But you," he paused to move the back of his hand across the mage's smooth skin as if he was admiring fine Ionian silk. "You're about to make it worth my time." He leaned in closer to the mage's mouth, only for a hand to suddenly hit his lips.
"Hey." He warned as he tried to brush the hand away, only for Lux to continue trying to push him away. It did less of actually defending herself and more of annoying the man. "Hey," Ansel growled as he tried to grab hold of the mage's wrists and pin them down. "Stop it." The mage continued to resist.
Ansel's irritation reached its peak, and he finally managed to grab the mage's hands. He slammed down onto the ground. "Listen here, bitch." He hissed. "Nobody asked for my say when they sent me on this stupid trip, so you're going to provide me some happiness right now, or I'll make you." Lux's blue eyes flashed with terror at his words, and that only encouraged Ansel.
"That's right. At this moment, I'm in charge. No one's coming to save you from this. So, if you obey me, I may go gentle on you." He saw the Lady of Luminosity gulp as tears welled in her eyes. "That's right, get to accepting it." He growled, letting go of the blonde's hands and beginning to undo his belt. "Cause I'm definitely going to."
Before he could proceed with his sick desires, he heard a throat being cleared. "Who's in charge?" He turned to find the Sinister Blade standing behind him, arms folded. And with her face illuminated by the fire's light, it made the indifferent expression on her face still look menacing.
Ansel stood up quickly. "Lady Du Couteau!" He started, sheepishly brushing his hair back. "I-uh-" Katarina didn't let him finish. In a flash, she had pulled out a dagger from her belt and now had it pointed at the soldier's neck, causing the soldier to raise his hands in a gesture of surrender while taking a step back. "I said, if you want to rut the prisoner, do it quietly." She hissed, taking a step forward. "And what to you do? You fucking wake me." Ansel took a deep breath, choosing not to say anything out of fear he would let the wrong words loose. Despite the height difference between the two, the redheaded assassin gave out an aura she normally did whenever someone just mentioned her name.
That aura was fear.
Seeing that the soldier had nothing to say, Katarina scoffed. "You don't even have the balls to stand up for yourself." She disgustedly spat. She sheathed her dagger away and bent down to pick the Demacian up. "No happiness for you since you woke me up." She dismissively said, turning and dragging the mage with her, leaving a confused and shocked Ansel behind the bushes.
"Fucking men." Katarina angrily muttered as she walked back to the fire. She gingerly placed the mage beside the blanket as she herself lay on it. She closed her eyes, and in the last moments of her mind being conscious, she thought she heard a voice, no louder than a whisper, say something.
"Thank you."
Katarina stared at the mage in disbelief for a brief moment. Maybe the blonde had somehow forgotten that it was the redheaded assassin who took her from her home, or maybe she was just too thankful to care about that at the moment.
Or maybe she was still woozy from the effects of the anti-magic device. The makers of the device hadn't exactly disclosed how long the effects the device had on a mage would last. In fact, earlier tests proved that the duration of a mage's unconsciousness and woozy state from the device was inconsistent. One even suffered the two effects for three whole days.
She didn't have time to think about it now. She needed rest. She could cover more ground in the forest tomorrow at a higher risk of being seen by Demacian forces, which meant she had to be on high alert tomorrow.
Before she fell asleep, however, Ansel came walking back to the campsite. She sent a death glare his way, daring him to say or do something. When the man chose to sit down at a place that gave the assassin and the light mage distance that Katarina liked to call her 'personal space', she finally lay her head down on the blanket and closed her eyes, hoping for sleep to quickly come.