“Are you gonna be okay by yourself? Maybe I should come with—” Ashton had attempted to grab the second twin by her arm, only for her to pull away in disgust.
“Do not dare to lay your filthy hands on a Scarlet Sister, human swine.” She glared at him with a look of loathing. “You will remain here with my sister until I return.”
“Hey, if you think that’s the worst a woman’s called me, you haven’t heard the half of it.” Ash responded with an arrogant grin, hoping to catch the stern elf off-guard.
The first twin latched onto his shoulders while the second rolled her eyes. “Forget it, Mr. Clark. If you really want this reflection of mine to insult you and call you names, it’ll have to wait until she gets back! This is far more important than the bounty.”
The twins nodded to each other before the second one took off.
“I’m not really big on formalities. Call me Ash. Mr. Clark was my father.”
“Hoo boy,” replied the first twin. Her hands playfully gripped his shoulders even tighter. She leaned in next to his ear and whispered, “Do you use that line on all the ladies, Ash?” Her voice trailed a bit longer on his name.
“Not always.” He turned his head slightly towards her. “You think I’d use my best material on a woman whose name I don’t even know?”
“You sure seemed pretty desperate to get me out of that dress the other night.” She giggled. The elf finally let go of him and trailed slowly around to his front, brushing his shoulder with her fingers as she passed. “Not that you’d have survived in the attempt. But you're right. I've already divulged quite a lot to you already, what's the point in keeping my name a secret as well? It's Tamsin.”
“Tamsin? That's a pretty sexy name—Grrk!” his voice was cut off by the sudden tangling of a whip around his neck.
“Is now really the time to be flirting with me?” Tamsin grinned mischievously. She took a step forward, keeping the line in her hands taut, watching as Ashton clawed at the whip squeezing his neck, groaning for air. The elf brought her heel down on the bag of donuts she had been eating earlier. “You owe me for that now, by the way. Now shut up for a moment, I need to focus so I can keep an eye on my double.” She finally loosened the whip around his neck.
Ashton gasped for air, rubbing the newly formed welts around his neck. He had a smirking grimace scrawled across his face as he looked up at the woman in front of him. “Crazy bitch! Maybe a little too crazy for my tastes. Where'd your twin get off to anyhow?”
“Shut up!” she shouted, trying to keep her eyes shut. “That's what I'm trying to see! If I concentrate, I can see what she sees. Hopefully she won’t run into some kind of trouble.”
Ashton crossed his arms and watched as Tamsin searched around through some strange psychic realm.
“There she is! I see her!” Tamsin motioned to Ashton excitedly. “Or rather, I'm seeing through her. Looks like she caught up pretty quickly. Hanging back a bit… Hiding in the dark between a couple of houses… These guys are creepy as sin! They’re all hiding their faces, I can’t even tell if they’re human or not. And they won't shut up with that eerie, ominous chanting. It's gonna drive me crazy—and not in a good way!”
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“Are you sure you should be disturbing them? Sounds like they might be some kind of religious group. Didn't think the Scarlet Church persecuted people from other religions.”
Tamsin opened an eye to glare at him. “Is that any way to talk about the ones who have provided you with this bountiful mission from Macha? Even if we did do that, you should be thanking us for keeping the world clean of blasphemers. One of which you're starting to sound like, by the way!”
“Whoa, easy there. Chill. I get it. I'm grateful to the Scarlet Church. They see all, right?” he asked uneasily.
“And don't you forget it, mister. Now, I can feel her getting farther. It always feels a bit scary when she gets too far from me. Like I'm losing her.” Tamsin’s face scrunched up, a painful thought crossing her mind. “I’d probably go truly crazy if that ever happened.”
“Listen. I’m not going to try to act like I understand what you two have, but—”
“Shush! She’s on the move! Oh no. There’s more of them coming out of the nearby houses. They’re gonna see you! Be careful, Tammy!”
“Can she actually hear you, or…?”
“Don’t be silly. Of course she can’t.”
----------------------------------------
Down the way, a Scarlet Sister prowled the streets in search of perilous answers. The thrumming of the mob grew incessant, but she refused to let it stop her. She mustered all her stealth training and continued to pursue the monstrous procession down the darkening street. She leered at the shadowy garbed figures that drained silently from the open doorways of passing houses to join the growing march, disgusted by their almost seemingly unhuman repetition of movement. At one point or another, she thought she had been seen, but as luck would have it, they appeared to ignore the world around them as they continued down to a singular destination.
She continued following, hiding in the small alleyways between the increasingly dilapidated houses for what seemed like half of an hour. The growing throng of mysterious bodies continued forward, moving at a strange pace towards the outskirts of town. The elfwin twin managed to spot a ghostly building toward the front of the line where they had finally stopped. It was a great black church, hidden in the shadow of the other. But unlike the small chapel in the middle of town, this one was much bigger and grander. The Scarlet Sister knew immediately that this place was alien to her. The long line of masked men were greeted by a couple of others that all converged at the entrance, filing in one by one.
As she approached, she noticed the back of the building was partly sunk into a cliffside leading down into the murky depths of the planet. A small churchyard surrounded the place in which a ghastly patch of old, rotting tombs were partly hidden off to the side, lit only by the spectral fires of a couple of threadbare lanterns embedded into the cliffside. The scenery reinforced the increasingly creepy atmosphere, sending a chill up both twin’s spines.
The chanting stopped abruptly, catching Tamsin off guard. She remained cautious and stuck to the shadows while observing quietly. There was a solemn air around everything now that caused to her stand on edge. Looking around, she noticed that there were no longer any houses and only a single long cliff climbing up and leading off into the harbor. Beyond the summit of the cliff, the dim light of day was fading and the stars were now casting their glimmer through the darkening sky. The ancient temple before her seemed to have been built in some bygone era that she was sure was definitely not associated with her Goddess. And as she looked for some kind of sign or symbol along the face of the building, she noticed a strange etching that proved her theory correct.
“The Lost Star…”
As the words slipped from her mouth, a sudden tug pulled her from behind.
“Hey! What’re you—” Before she could react, the cold steel of a dagger penetrated the flesh of her chest. Blood spilled her lips, muffling her words, as a swarm of cloaked and cowled figures drew close and swarmed all over her. Each one driving forth the singular point of a dagger into her body, pecking at her insides like a flock of birds. A sanguine flood gushing forth as the Sister was laid bare.
From faraway, a grotesque howling of pain was drowned out by the wind.