4 Years Previously

Marion hid behind the corner, careful not to make a sound. Her hand was gripped tightly around the handle of her blade in anxious anticipation, as she listened. She heard the Men's voices as they slowly cornered their victim; some young woman.

"Ooh… What do we have here, eh?" One of the men stated, speaking first. His voice was unexpectedly soft and caused Marion's resolve to slip slightly, if only for a moment as her grip tightened once more.

Looking around the corner, making sure not to reveal herself, she spied the scenario. Four men, all standing around a woman whose presence was hidden from sight by those surrounding her. One of the men stood forward, his demeanour that of a leader; and also, she realised with a slight burst of anger, that of nobility. Though he wore similar clothing of those around him, there was no mistaking the well-postured and clean appearance. Her resolved strengthened tenfold with the realisation that it was one of her kingdom's Trusted Gentry that was partaking in the act. The idea that one who had been given the honour to rule over others would take advantage of such a position made her feel enraged. Though she quickly regained control of her feelings, they remained bubbling beneath the surface.

Though she wished she could step out now and help them, she knew that it was impossible. Her ability with her sword was not yet anywhere near a level where she could take on four grown men in a fair fight. She had no choice but to wait until they were otherwise preoccupied, though the thought made her feel a little ill, upon which she could surprise them.

As she looked on, keeping within the shadows that were protecting her from the eyes of the men, she watched the noble leading them take a step forward; only to pause when the woman's voice rang out, soft, yet holding a strength and character Marion had never heard before.

"I am a personal servant of the King. You would be ill advised to proceed, lest you wish to take on his wrath. You are aware of just how protective his Majesty is of his staff?" The woman spoke with a tone of such authority that it made her shiver. Her mind almost believed the words even as she knew them to be false; she herself knew of every servant held by the King and this woman was not one of their number.

Even the men seemed to pause, their expressions turning to ones of worry and doubt.

"Ah… Perhaps we should leave her. I don't want to catch the attention of the guards…" One of the taller men mumbled, the others creating small sounds of agreement as they looked around worriedly, as though expecting said guards to pop out at any moment.

Marion sighed to herself in relief, noting the apparent success of the woman's plan. Her fast words seemed to have saved her.

Only the Noble seemed to actually think beyond her words, as he studied her. "You appear… Very young, to claim a position as one of the King's personal staff…" He said slowly. Marion could here the grin slowly seep back into his voice as he spoke. "And besides, even if you were of the King's staff, there is no way we could be found out… If we were to take care of anyone that might know about it…"

Marion's grip tightened again, as she realised the man had seen through the woman's powerful words.

"There is always someone who knows. A noble of all people should be aware of that." The voice said smoothly. Marion blinked, surprised by the woman's unexpected deduction of status. Commoners were not often learned in the recognising of others.

The man also seemed surprised, though by his posture she guessed that he was not yet willing to back down. It took a decidedly more intimidating look as his tone became more serious, losing the playful attitude it had held thus far.

"Not in this street. This street belongs to me, nobody's going to talk to anybody about this. Besides, who'd believe them?" He grinned with a sharp look in his eyes. The men by his side all stood ready to do his bedding.

"Take her." He worded with a tone of finality.

Realising this was the moment she had been waiting for, Marion quickly, and as silently as she could manage, sprinted up towards them. Only the noble heard her coming, and turned round to look, only to have the tip of her blade pierce through him. His eyes wide in shock, he slowly fell over as the strength of his legs left him. Pulling the blade out, Marion rushed towards then next man, the biggest of the other three.

Unprepared for the speed of the attack that had come seemingly out of nowhere, the man only managed to stagger an empty, grasping hand towards the girl as the tip of her slender blade sliced across the breadth of his throat, slipping through the vein as though it were paper.

When she turned to take out her third victim she felt her blade knocked to the side, only to have a fist meet her in the side of the head. Stumbling backwards, her hand desperately slashed upwards. Through sheer luck, she managed to slice into his hand, causing the man to scream in pain as he clutched the injury to his chest. The moment was enough for her to recover from the hit, as she delivered another blow to her opponent, this one across the neck once more.

Before she could bring herself about to take on the final man however she felt a foot slam into her back, throwing her to the ground as her blade fell from her hand, clattering a distance too far for her to grab. The foot she had felt before suddenly slammed into her back, causing her to wince in agony. The man, last of his comrades, did not stop his attack, instead kicking her side to turn her over before slamming the heavy shoe yet again into her. Marion cried out as she felt the resistance of her ribs give way to the heavy blow.

As she looked up at the furious eyes staring down at her with venom, she returned the stare resolutely, hating her opponent with everything within her. When his foot raised again, obviously planning to continue the assault, she realised that he would have no intention of stopping. She was going to die.

'A shame', she thought to herself idly, she had not yet even mastered her sword and her life was already over. Acceptance of her fate was surprisingly easy, her mind briefly noted.

But even as she looked up tat the man, she spotted a sight that caused her to blink despite her situation. A small blade, seemingly only a sharpened cooking knife, snuck its way across the neck of the man. He himself did not notice it however until it slid back, pulling through the soft flesh of his throat. Splattered by the spray of blood from the man's wound, Marion stared upward in shock as she watched him casually pushed to the side, falling over obediently.

But as she continued to look up, a new face appeared. That of a woman, though not one she recognised. "You are hurt." The woman stated passively, staring down at her. Marion realised that the voice, so very unique sounding, was in fact that of the woman she had been attempting to save. She had not managed to catch a glimpse of the woman before this moment, and she realised what the man had meant with his earlier words. Though her voice displayed a maturity and timelessness that told of a woman, this was in fact a young girl, many years younger than she had been expecting. Though strangely to the swordswoman's mind, the voice seemed fitting for the petite figure; perhaps even more so than that of the woman she had imagined.

Marion attempted to respond through the pain, but a whimper was all that managed to make its way past her lips before she silenced herself again. Her body was crying out in agony.

Without pause, the girl looked her over. Tracing her fingers delicately over Marion's chest, she noted the winces given by the older woman. Finally she nodded to herself.

"We cannot wait here, word will no doubt spread to the guards before long. But I would not be able to carry you the distance to somewhere safe…" Frowning for a moment, she considered a solution. "… I cannot carry you myself, but I may be able to garner the help of another who could. My apologies for this, but I must leave you here for a small while." She stated apathetically, walking behind the woman as she spoke. Looping her arms around her, she dragged her as carefully as possible towards the side of the road and into the dark shadows of an alley, a little away from the blood covered scene. Despite her attempts of delicacy, the woman cried out in pain from the motion of being dragged. Without pause, the younger girl quickly kicked at the dirt of the small trail caused, hoping to give her saviour at least a little chance to hide herself should someone arrive before she managed to return.

She hurriedly walked off, quickly bursting into a run the moment she was out of the sight of the older woman as she rushed towards the person she had in mind. She even managed to trip over in her hurry, but it did not deter her. Upon reaching her destination, she rapidly knocked upon the door. Despite the late hour, the door opened after a moment to reveal a hefty man, the scent of baking bread wafting out of the door as he looked down at her in surprise.

"Ah… Lilinette. Why are you trying to break my door down at this late hour?" Though he noted her serious expression, the big man had a habit of making jokes until he himself had acknowledged it as inappropriate. It was an odd trait, but one that the younger girl had come to get used to.

"I require your help, urgently." Her tone surprised him. It was a rare occasion indeed that he would find the younger girl as anything less than calm and collected. It was how she portrayed herself to others, and it was something she was loathe to breaking.

"What is it? You're not needing someplace to hide, are you? I'm sure you have more than enough places of your own for such a thing." And it was true; despite the girls age, he knew her to have many such spots dotting the city. She was extremely adept at planning ahead, always seeming to have whatever she needed within a close distance.

"No. Well yes, but that is not the primary issue. I need to borrow your strength." That raised his interest. It was rare indeed that she would actually ask for him to perform some service. Being in his debt was not something he had ever expected her to willingly allow.

"Oh? Whatever for? And can it not wait until tomorrow? I was planning on going to bed soon." He remarked.

"No, it must be now. I… There is a woman, injured. She requires aid, but I cannot deliver such a thing to her in the street. Nor can I lift her…" He blinked. She was calling for his help on a charity case? That was also very unlike her, he noted. "And… Just what exactly has she done to deserve your help?" He asked her curiously, even as he grabbed the key beside the door and walked out, locking it behind him.

"Saved me." She stated softly. "Quite selflessly. It was… Very remarkable."

The statement meant nothing to the man, however, as he found it difficult to imagine a situation where the girl would indeed actually need saving, prepared as she always seemed to be. Still, he followed her brisk pace anyway, curious about who exactly it was that had caught the young girl's attention.

Upon arriving to the scene he stopped, staring in shock at the four bodies littering the ground stained with their blood. Lilinette walked on past the bodies without a care, moving towards the shadows by the side of the street. As he followed hurriedly, he spied the woman she had been referring to. Though to him, she appeared to be only a few years older than the young girl herself; hardly worthy of being given the title 'woman'. He moved over to the unconscious girl, looking her over for signs of harm.

"Her chest. I believe some of her ribs are broken." Lilinette explained, shaking her head as she watched him. "I cannot lift her, nor even move her sufficiently with the care necessary. You must do it, and quickly. That one is a noble." She stated, pointing towards one of the bodies. His eyes widened in understanding, and he nodded without hesitation. Gently picking the young woman up, he gave a small frown, noting a familiarity about her face. He shrugged it off however, and stood up with her in his arms. He looked at Lilinette who quickly grabbed a blade and sheathe off of the ground before returning to him. He carefully started, taking the girl back to his shop while Lilinette ran to his side..

Once there, he slowly laid her down upon his bed as his young friend watched on with sharp eyes.

"You realise the danger in doing this? The death of a noble is no small thing. They will be searching for her."

"They do not know who she is. There were… No witnesses present, save myself and the walls. I have no intention of talking, and the walls do not speak to the guard."

The man nodded in acceptance, before stripping the girl without regard towards modesty so that he might bandage her. Lilinette watched him curiously as he suddenly tensed, staring down at the girl in his care, before slowly continuing his task.

"A problem?" She asked of him.

"… No. Just make sure that she does not stay here for long. Witnesses or no, there are going to be people looking for this girl, I assure you of that."

She frowned at that response, studying the girl again. She could see nothing unique about her.

"Do you know the meaning of this symbol?" He suddenly asked her, and he carefully turned the girl to the side. Lilinette saw what she assumed had caused his worry, a tattoo, though she did not recognise it. A large symbol of a cross covered the entire back of the girl, heavily ornate with decorations of Ivy and various other things covering it. It was a work of art, that she was sure of.

"I do not. It is important I assume?"

He simply nodded. "Indeed."

She waited for him to continue, frowning when he said no more. "Will you not tell me?" She prompted, look to him to continue.

He simply shook his head. "No. You shall find out soon enough, but I think it'll be better for now if you do not know."

Her eyes narrowed at that answer, but she accepted that he would speak no more on it. Still though, her curiosity about the unnamed swordswoman was peaked ever greater.

After a long while of the man's careful tending, he finally leant back. "How is she?" Lilinette asked him quietly, her eyes showing an unusual amount of worry within them.

"I can't say. She's been hurt bad. Probably won't even be walking for the next couple of weeks, even if she does get through. But she can't stay here for that amount of time." He said firmly, looking down at Lilinette. "Too dangerous."

"That is not a problem. I can find her somewhere safe. But I am still unable to lift her." She remarked, looking up at him evenly. Her ability to outstare people unnerved the man sometimes, and he didn't bother with trying her.

"Aye, that's fine. I'll take her, if you need, but you'll owe me for this, aye?" He said eyeing her, telling her that more to see her reaction than for any actual sense of debt. As he predicted, she tensed at the words, before forcing herself to relax.

"Hardly. You owe me more debts than I care to count." She informed him coolly. And he knew it wasn't quite true; she would be aware of exactly how many debts he owed her, just to make sure she never fell into his. The baker simply laughed.

"Fine, fine. That's true enough, I suppose. But don't be having me lugging her miles on end. Dangerous enough taking her, even at dark. Don't want to have to deal with that for longer than I have to." He remarked, to which she simply nodded.

"Very well. I'll see if I can find somewhere close." She stated. Alarm bells immediately rang in the bakers mind.

"Keep it at least a couple blocks distant, ok?" He spoke hastily. "She ends up next door, then you'll probably have me caring for her as if she were here." He grumbled. She simply gave him an apathetic look.

"You are picky. But very well, I think I can find somewhere that is reasonable." She replied.

"Ain't picky, just sensible. And it doesn't matter anyway, for the moment. She isn't being moved anywhere for the next couple of days. Don't imagine you'll be either, eh?" He stated questioningly, unsure about what the girl was intending.

"No, I do still have my own work to do. But I'll return in the evenings to help you with her care, if you wish." She offered. It drew a scrutinising look from the man, as he realised she was offering to help take care of the bedridden girl in an entirely selfless way. It did him no good, however. Lilinette's thoughts were forever a mystery to the baker, and he'd sooner expect the end of days to occur before that changed.

"... Well, it'd definitely be appreciated, that's for sure, elsewise I don't know when I'd be able to go to my bread-making." He joked, though the girl paid him no attention.

After a moment's pause, Lilinette spoke. "I'll stay until she awakens." She announced, looking down at the bandaged girl. "That much I can do, at least."

The baker stared at her for a long minute, before simply shaking his head. "You do that, you do that." He replied, getting up to find somewhere to sleep a while. He'd be getting customers in a few hours, and the new target of fascination was currently occupying his bed.

Lilinette simply continued to sit, watching the girl sleep in silence.