CHAPTER 3:

Lishay jumped into the rowboat, landing with a quiet thud. She picked up the oar and began to row to the docks, her pack, bow, and quiver on her shoulder. Once she reached the dock Zhamin lept out of passive and stretched, yawning. It took him a moment to register his surroundings. He looked up at Lishay expectantly.

"We're in Eura," She muttered to him,

Zhamin sat down and scratched an ear. He stretched again and took of into the night with Lishay behind him.

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The cellar smelled of moss and wet stone. Cold seeped in, signifying the release of winter. Two pairs of footsteps echoed through the dark, empty, room. One, pacing. The second, occasional steps, trying to calm the other.

"Beasts, how could I be so stupid. I knew he was going to do this. How-" The girls voice was weak, as if she'd been crying.

"You didn't know they were going to attack. No one did. Quit blaming yourself for what Shane did." The boy had a strong northwestern Euran accent, mixing beautifully with the girl's Stetrolian accent.

All sound of footsteps ceased and the only sound was that of a tortured soul, crying out in yet more frustration.

"Drina." The name rolled off of the boy's tongue, his voice full of love and grief.

"I- Just let me be for a while, Dawson! Let me be."

There was a moment thick with hesitation, but as all moments do, that one passed, and footsteps echoed once more through the cellar, growing fainter and fainter until they were gone.

Lishay edged silently across the room, closer and closer to the girl in the corner.

And then she struck.

As fast as lightning, the girl leapt towards Lishay, holding a long knife out, pointed at Lishay's throat.

"How long have you been here?" Drina demanded. Though she tried to keep her voice steady, Lishay could tell that Drina was truly scared by her presence.

"How long have you known I was here?" Lishay's voice was cold. No feeling, no compassion, no fear. "I have been here since before you came. Believe me when I say, you might want to step back."

Drina scoffed, "I know your tiger is dead. My brother killed it himself."

How dare you. Anger crashed over Lishay, like liquid fire was running through her veins.

There was a pop and a spider appeared on Drina's shoulder. The spider crept across the length of Drina's arm and sword and reared, fangs dripping thick venom.

Lishay whipped out a thin blade and flicked her wrist in the spider's direction.

The scream that followed was one of heartbreak.

Lishay felt a suffocated pang of pity for Drina, but it was almost all drowned out by the bitterness she felt for the girl. Lishay stepped closer to the figure in front of her. She was so pale she appeared a phantom with a human face. She was so delicate in the dim room, as if a single touch could break her glassy skin.

Lishay was almost surprised that the skin of her throat was soft as she pressed her arm against it.

"I have had my share of encounters with your brother. The first time he was wiping a bloody sword on his sleeve. The sword he used to kill my brother, the sleeve that now held my brother's blood. It was his left sleeve." With a flick of two fingers, a small blade was in Lishay's hand. She stabbed it through the first finger on Drina's left hand. The girl let out a muffled cry, choked back by tears. Lishay felt something far from nothing. She felt everything. All of her grief was a fire that pulsed with ferocity through her veins. She remembered how her brother had plead to the phantom in front of her.

Lishay angled her head at the wound. The girl with the glass skin had rubies for blood, and spun silver for hair. Her ruby blood continued to leak from the broken glass of her fingertip, running thickly down her porcelain arm.

Funny how much fingers bled.

"The second time I met him, he ran masquerade through Zhong on the crocodile's back, making me think he was his uncle. I saw his face when he killed, and I thought it was him, but I dismissed it for a flashback. His leg had my tiger's blood on it. It was his right leg."

With a thick blade with a jagged edge, Lishay slashed Drina's leg. The angled serrations on the knife caught and ripped her skin. Drina's eyes became unfocused briefly and a sound as jagged as the bloodstained knife emerged from her throat.

Her eyes reminded Lishay of waves on a beach, mixed with sea foam. Lishay remembered how the girl with the ruby blood had smirked and laughed shrilly at her brother's request.

The third time it was a vision. I watched as he sighed in relief at the news of Tarik's death, how one more soul lost was a beautiful thought. Your brother breathed deeply while my love would never breathe again."

One final blade, one long, light, blade with a simple leather grip. A blade that had belonged to a warrior who she had loved.

One final breath, one short, sobbing, breath from the girl with skin made of glass. A breath from the person who she had loathed.

One final slash, right across her throat, for the cackling girl with spun silver hair. For the girl made of glass and rubies and ocean waves.

One tiger in the shadows, a black tiger with a white twin who would never see light again.

One woman out the window with the curling dark hair and paint on her face, surrounding eyes of gold, copper, and bronze.

Hey! So sorry it took so long! I had the chapter written, but lost it in my notebook that was stolen with my computer and sketchbooks. :|

Anyway, review eight more times if you want to see more….. :D

-IADS