Etana tried to kick and flail, but the pain in her sternum kept her from making any sort of progress. As soon as she regained her breath, again, a hard fist was thrown into the soft spot below her breast plate. And again. And again. What inhales she could manage caused her to choke, and her coughs revealed that she was choking on her own blood.

The figure slammed Etana against the door again, rattling her brain inside her cracked skull and causing something to fall out of her shirt and hit the floor gently. As she moaned and rested her throbbing head on her chest, she opened her eyes and saw the strip of satin with the flower pinned to the center on the floor next to where her boot would be if she were touching the ground.

Another bash of her head against the wall, and Etana saw stars. It was becoming nauseating, all this pain. One more hit to her head, she concluded, and she would be knocked unconscious. She stared down at the flower.

Remember what you have to come back home to…

As the shadow began to swing her knee into Etana's – most likely to displace the kneecap – Etana found the strength to redirect the blow with her leg and swiftly reach into her boot and pull out her dagger with her good hand. Immediately, the silhouette tried to knock the dagger out of her grasp, but Etana kept her strong hand as such, and instead aimed the blade toward her shadow, causing blood to fall from its hand where it hit the knife. The blood was bright red, just as Etana's or any other human beings. They were still human? It wasn't possible…

But Etana didn't have time to think it through, for now was her chance to get free. She swiped once in front of her, not aiming to hit the shadow at all, but only to startle it enough to release her. And it did. The second her feet hit the floor, she ran out the door and hid on the other side of it, remembering her last fight with Ivan. When the shadow ran out without taking heed to its surroundings, Etana threw her knife into its chest. Or so she thought, as it was hard to see a shadow in the nighttime. She heard a gasp and a gargle, until a thump was heard on the ground at her feet, which she presumed was the shadow, slumped over dead.

The figure suddenly became apparent in the darkness as its vivid fresh blood outlined its shape, identical to hers, creating a pool around it. Etana had not stabbed it in the chest as she had thought, but right in the throat. As safe as she should feel, however, the blood as bright as her own paralyzed her. She stabbed herself. She killed herself. She listened and watched as she choked on her own blood and died. This kill was different from her others… it was personal, as personal as a kill can get.

She watched her dead self in horror until the sound of guards and armies enveloped her senses, and her instincts told her to run. In this moment, Etana was thankful to have both of her legs functioning, although each step sent a stabbing pain through her lung that she thought might cause her to keel over at any moment.

As she ran, avoiding the lights cast down on the ground from above and avoiding those searching for her in the darkness, she swiped a piece of grass and continued running, trying to remember the tune that Drury played that would call her horse to her. Getting that horse would have to be worth the conspicuous tune that summoned it, for her only way of escaping now with these serious of injuries was by horse. She brought the grass up to her lips and whistled.

Etana ran to the sound of hooves hitting the ground in the distance, trying both to get to it as fast as she could and to get away from where she had made the sound, where they would look for her and kill her. She had to trust her ears for when the horse would be near, and when it was, several guards were close on her tail. By the sound of arrows whizzing by her ear, it was apparent they had bows. If she rode now, she would get hit. If she stood her ground, she would get captured. But there was a third option still.

The girl snatched her bow from where it hung on the horse's saddle and struggled to string it with her broken wrist. She hid behind the rear of the horse to shield herself from incoming arrows, and inwardly apologized to her companion for using her as a meat shield. The horse would have to hold, though, if she had any chance of getting out of there.

Bow strung and straining her wrist, Etana aimed and waited for the soldiers to show the slightest sign of light, whether it be from torches or reflections from weapons or the light from their very eyes. The last option proved viable as she let loose and arrow and heard a deathly groan ten yards in front of her. She did it once more, and again, until the next squadron of soldiers that would find her were far enough away that Etana could climb the horse and ride away. As she mounted, the horse whinnied at the arrow gouged in her hip, but she would remain steadfast and sturdy, just as Etana needed her to be.

Etana rode only a short bit, each gallop worsening her already gruesome injuries, when she saw a small flame ahead. Without any thought, she knew it was for her, and pushed her horse faster toward it. That light was her safe point, her haven. She ignored her pain as best she could and rode on.

She noticed shortly thereafter that the light was running toward her, as well. A sound came from it, but she couldn't make it out until a little while later, when they were closer. Her head pounded and made things fuzzy.

"Etana!" someone called, just loud enough so she could hear it, but not loud enough so as to draw attention. Etana rode up to Ivan on his horse, holding a torchlight, and they galloped back toward Kondo together.

"You came for me," she said weakly.

"You wouldn't have found your way back otherwise. You think this was a one person plan, Etana?" As he said that, the two riders reached the top of the hill on which they were running, and Etana was able to gaze over the peak. There were many lights, just as the one Ivan was holding, and many men and women fully clad in armor and with weapons.

"Split, Etana! Now!" Ivan pushed Etana's horse away from him and ran off around the right side of the army, whilst Etana rode around the left way. Before they could even go all the way around, Etana's pursuers reached the summit of the hills and were greeted by a great rainstorm of arrows. The Kondian forces fought Ilom back over the hills in no time, the latter force not having the army needed to fight the one against them, and celebrated as Etana was rushed back into the medical ward, minutes away from dying.