"Where exactly are we going?" Sayuri asked curiously, throwing a sideways glance at Raeden. He seemed preoccupied with something in the distance though and wouldn't answer. She gave a small sigh and she too focused her attention on the long stretch of path before them. She shifted her bag to her right to give her left shoulder a break. They had been walking for almost four hours with no stops in between. She was already exhausted but Raeden seemed to be unfazed by the distance and was simply determined to get to Southshore.
"Need me to carry your bag, Sayuri?" he asked- eying her as she switched the bag back to her right shoulder due to her left being rather weak.
"No," Sayuri said embarrassed. "I got it. You have your own stuff to carry."
"I know, but if you're having trouble you should let me carry them," he suggested. He watched her struggle a bit under the bags' weight before taking matters into his own hands. He set his own bags down and grabbed for her bag. She kept her grip on it though. "Sayuri..." he mumbled, "Just let go, please. A woman doesn't need to be carrying things."
She stood there for a moment, just staring at him. Their blue eyes met and she studied her reflection inside his glossy orbs before setting her bag down gently. He nodded at her and threw her bag over his shoulder, bent down and picked up his bags and began following the path once again.
'I don't understand him at all.' Sayuri thought sadly. 'We're a couple and...I don't even know the first thing about him.'
She looked up and saw that Raeden was several yards ahead of her and broke into a brisk jog. After a few minutes she finally managed to catch up to him and slowed her pace down, though not by much since he took long strides and always seemed to get ahead of her when she wasn't paying attention. Sayuri hated not having her bag. It made her uncomfortable; making him do all of the work. Though, she was happy to be twenty pounds or so lighter. However, the lack of baggage left her with little to keep her distracted and she instead fidgeted with the belt over her white and red robes. She focused on her belt and played with the strings hanging off the end- twirling them around her fingers before pulling them out and letting the strings fall back down along her robes. She continued keeping herself busy when she bumped into Raeden. She bounced backwards a bit with a small 'oomph' and glanced quickly at him curiously. "I'm so sorry," she apologized quickly; a slight shade of red danced across her face- embarrassed for not paying attention. She looked at him and noticed that he wasn't paying attention to her and was instead looking towards a a small wooded area on the side of the pathway. Her eyes followed his and she felt her blood freeze and her eyes widen.
In the small gathering of trees stood five members of the Syndicate. Their grey armor and red masks stood out against the luscious green and brown of the trees behind them. They each held a set of daggers and were moving closer to them.
"Sayuri.." Raeden whispered, his voice just barely audible. "I want you to run."
She looked at him frightened. "Run where?" she asked; looking around them. She didn't know the area well at all. He was the one who had been there many times before.
"This road goes to Southshore," he whispered; giving a quick look towards the Syndicate members to gauge their distance and how much time he had. "Just run into the woods for a bit and when you're farther ahead, get back on the path and keep going until you see a fork in the road. Take a left and keep going until you see the town. It's easy to see from the road."
"Okay," Sayuri said uneasily. She took a moment to take in what he said and quickly memorize his directions. She had a feeling he wouldn't be able to repeat them for her again. She stopped a moment, "Wait! What about you?" she shrieked at him; her voice teetering between a whisper and a yell.
"Shhh..." he glanced back at the members. They were really close now and only coming closer. "Don't worry about me. I'll distract them and then I'll meet up with you in Southshore, okay?"
"Alright..." she swallowed uneasily.
"Okay..." he watched the nearing group out of the corner of his eye. "In three...two...one!" he whispered quickly; running towards the armed humans.
At the sound of 'one' she turned and took off for the other side of the path. The sudden movement seemed to have been their signal to attack because as soon as she took off she heard several footsteps behind her at once and she knew they had completely disregarded Raeden.
"SAYURI!" Raeden yelled from behind her.
She kept running but turned her head to see what was going on. However, after what she saw, she wish she hadn't. Two of the Syndicate members were right behind her followed by Raeden and the other three were behind him. She sped up to the best of her ability and pushed herself more; her winded hair whipping at her face and her robes dancing around her legs. Her heart was pounding and she felt each beat up inside her throat but continued running when she heard a scream followed by a loud 'thud' on the ground. She turned her head once again and saw that Raeden had fallen and that two of the Syndicates were pulling daggers out from his back."RAEDEN!" she screamed and watched in horror as she saw blood shoot out of now open and unblocked wounds. She felt tears stinging at her eyes and her body shivered with a newly found weakness as sorrow drowned her. The running was getting to her and she had a stitch in her side that was pinching her and only getting worse and worse with each step she took. She finally collapsed onto the ground; both sadness and fatigue finally taking it's toll on her. They wasted no time falling to their knees beside her and bounding her wrists tightly. She didn't feel anything though. Her entire body was numb and her eyelids felt heavy. The Syndicates mentioned 'slave' and 'kill' and that was all she heard before she drifted off to sleep.