Moonlight glinted off Kael's unnaturally striking face, but anger was the only expression that graced his features at the moment. He stood so close to Emily and Ashe that they could easily sense the difference in their heights.
“I asked what you were all thinking fighting at a time like this? Emily lower your damn weapon. And for all our sakes Jerhia, stop messing with my people.”
Jerhia had not moved from his crouched stance but his shoulders had relaxed somewhat.
“All I was doing was poking some fun, and then your woman over there lowers her weapon at me. I take no responsibility for what would have happened.”
Emily was still breathing hard as she recovered from the attack before. She was incredibly lucky to have reacted in time, but as she replayed it back in her mind she could only see one thing. That damned red disk left Jerhia’s sickle and moved through the air at speeds she could scarcely follow. To make things worse it had traveled on a meandering path as though possessed by a serpent. Had she been any slower that thing would have separated her head from her shoulders and Emily hated coming back from that type of injury.
“Marth to me, what's happening here? First I feel an explosion and then I feel one of my men in danger, a client to top it off. I thought I told you to keep the peace.”
Marth glanced at Emily with an indignant look on his face.
“Boss I did, but this woman came to provoke-”
Jerhia laughed as he piped up.
“Your man likes to spin a good story, from where I was sitting it looked more like he was trying to steal from the poor girl.”
Emily squinted at the guy, he’d been spying on them longer than she thought. Just moments ago he was about to take her head off and now he was helping her?
Marth’s eyes narrowed at Jerhia, but Kael's gaze never left the man.
“If I wanted your opinion on my men Jerhia, I would have asked for it. Shouldn’t you be heading out at this stage? The Elder wanted to talk to you.”
Jerhia made a waving gesture.
“I’ll see the old man in the morning when he’s feeling better. Plus, there’s so much left still to talk about here.”
Jerhia's eyes briefly moved over to Marth who was glaring at him.
Kael cursed under his breath so softly, that Emily and Ashe were probably the only ones who could hear him.
“Well, I’m done entertaining you. Marth head back to your post, we’ll talk about this later. Don’t engage with this one he doesn’t have anything interesting to say.”
Marth didn’t move from his spot at first but when Kael narrowed his gaze at the man he flinched. He shot Jerhia and Emily withering glares before moving over to the campfire they had set up.
Jerhia still had the balls to look innocent as he waved and trailed back to the other camp with the villages in tow. If she was being honest she didn’t expect him to give up so easily, but she had another problem right now as Kael spoke again.
“You three, return to the camp,” he said to Ashe, Loch, and Beth. “Emily you’re to follow me.”
Emily just briefly contemplated making a run for it, but to be honest, she was curious, so she took up a step beside him. She glanced back to wink at Ashe, who looked concerned, but sadly that was all the reassurance she could offer right now.
Kael glanced at her out of the corner of his eye but said nothing as they wound through the streets. They weren't heading toward the tents like Emily had initially thought, but seeing as the night was still young she decided to just go along for the ride. When that got boring she began to hum, and finally, she decided that she might as well risk it.
“Soo... were you able to sense that I was in danger? How does that work? Like, if I could handle myself, does the skill still alert you, or do you get a hundred warnings a day every time someone stubs their toe?”
Kael kept walking but an arched brow was the only response she got.
“Ouch, okay, don’t tell me. Can you at least tell me when I’m gonna get paid for my work in the tomb?”
This did get a response from Kael as he arrived in front of a small stand-alone house.
“You still wanted more after I gave you that artifact?! Greed is good, but don’t swallow more than you can handle.”
Emily pursed her lips at the man.
“Aw come on you can afford to lose some pocket change, can’t you?”
Kael’s nostrils flared as he arrived at the door, inserting a key and unlocking the house.
“You call that weapon on your waist, pocket change? I could buy a house in the upper levels of Tagrin’s keep with that thing.”
Emily adjusted her shoulders as Kael entered the house indicating for her to follow.
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“I mean, I have debts to pay off and you’re also getting a good deal out of this. With me wielding the scepter you have one more card up your sleeve.”
Kael scrunched his nose as Emily entered the small living room and shut the door behind her, letting the lock click in place.
“Nice try, can’t say I’ve ever heard that expression before, but I’ll do you a favor and make sure you get paid for the Blightstinger extermination.”
Emily crossed her arms as she looked around the room. It was small and sparsely furnished but probably left empty for visiting big wigs. Now that she was here she was fairly certain it was close to their main camp and while the house was spartan it beat sleeping on the ground by a mile.
Sighing Emily turned to face the freakishly tall man.
“Fine, I suppose I’ll take what I can get. Now, what exactly did you call me here for?”
Kael went over to the bed and grabbed a pack off it before rummaging through it.
“What else would I call you here for? To help me with the problem I told you about before.”
He brought out a small wooden box that fit snugly in the palm of his hand.
“I need you to open this box safely without destroying whatever’s inside.”
Emily’s brows lifted as she looked at him.
“You don’t know what’s inside? Then why are you going through all this effort to open it?”
Kael sat down on the edge of the bed and pulled a clear flask out of his pack.
“Sure. Don’t tell me you wouldn’t try to open a mysterious box to find out what was inside just because you could.”
Emily had to force the edges of her lips from turning up as she stepped forward and extended her hand. Her silence let him know he’d won that round.
He placed the box in her palm without shame in his eyes.
Now that it was closer Emily turned it over in her hands and realized the wood reminded her of driftwood. It was worn down and bleached by years of sun and sand. Yet unlike normal wood, it was surprisingly dense even with its naturally porous exterior. If Emily had to guess it was probably the same strength as a metal like iron or steel.
Bringing it up to her face she could see several runes etched into the sides of the box, forming a loose ring of wards. One of which she recognized, having seen it in Ashe’s books just hours prior. The rune ‘bind’ sat prominently on the top.
“Well?”
Emily hummed as she looked up.
“I can open it.”
Kael took a breath through his nose but didn’t say much else, clearly used to having his hopes dashed.
“But first, where does it come from?” Emily asked curious.
Kael took another swig from his glass flask.
“Why does that matter?”
Emily looked up from the runes.
“Because it does. Whatever you can give me of its origins helps me to understand what runes would best work on it,” she said lying through her teeth.
Kael snorted hollowly as he fixed her with a glare.
“I’d been led to believe you didn’t know many runes…”
Emily held up her finger to silence him, leaning heavily on Performer.
“Blood Magic is different, do you want me to open it or not?”
Kael made a face like he was eating sour grapes but then sighed.
“That box comes from mine and Jerhia’s tribe. Our people live in harsh climates and I was supposed to deliver that to the homeland but some circumstance made that impossible.”
Emily blinked not expecting such a sudden reveal.
“Wait that guy is from the same tribe as you? You guys look nothing alike?”
Kael snorted as he took another swig.
“Jerhia hated everything to do with our tribe. Wears a long cloak to hide his limbs and grew out a beard to hide his features. Something my people look down on. To be fair I hate them too, but I don’t get any satisfaction from cutting out our roots like he does.”
Emily frowned because now she just had more questions than she’d started with, but she sensed she pushed the limits of his patience at this point.
It would be best to unlock this thing now so Alex wouldn’t come badgering her later.
Unfortunately, there was a problem.
Alex had just given her the rune earlier today, and she hadn’t expected Kael to come asking for his dues so soon. She’d shoved the scrap of paper into her coat without bothering to memorize the thing. Pulling out the cheat sheet Alex had handed her would look mighty suspicious right about now.
Thinking fast Emily stood up.
“I have to go to the ladies room…”
Kael’s hand paused halfway up to his mouth the alcohol forgotten as he squinted at her.
“Can’t you hold it?”
“Nope, and don’t ask a lady such an insensitive question. If I’m going to be unlocking this thing for you, don’t you want me to be at my best? It’ll only take a moment.”
Kael shot her a baffled look as he let out a big sigh but shrugged his shoulders.
“Go ahead, but leave the box.”
Emily chucked the box on the bed and made her way to the chamberpot shutting the door to the small room. She pulled out the sheet of paper and began studying it for the next ten minutes until she could imagine every flowing line of the circular shapes.
When she walked out she straightened her traveling leathers and wiped her hands on a small hand towel.
“Okay, let's get this get this go.”
Kael looked up at her from the bed with an arched brow.
“Ready?” he said as his handsome mug flushed with whatever alcohol he’d been drinking, even the top buckle of his armor had been loosened for comfort.
Emily took a moment to take in the beautiful man before taking back the box.
“Right, now let's see,” she said as she moved blood to her fingertips.
She made a show of cutting her hand and letting way more blood come out than she needed, but she couldn’t let her ‘customer’ think it’d been too easy.
Slowly she moved the blood to hover over the box, waving her hand in mysterious and non-sensical motions to add to the show.
When her blood had finally gotten into the right shape she let Scarlet sister check over her work. The ward was far more complex than anything Emily had done before. She had to rework entire sections until everything was perfect. When Scarlet sister was finally happy she began to power the thing.
Grey source began to flow into the ward, but at first, nothing happened. Emily squinted in concentration—she could feel her energy pouring into the magic, yet it remained stubbornly inert.
It wasn’t until she felt her blood straining, the familiar sensation she experienced when activating a blood ward, that she realized just how much power the ward required.
Adapting quickly, Emily switched to the wave method, sending out a surge of energy, then immediately transitioned to the stream method as Ashe had taught her. A steady flow of grey source followed the wave, and the moment it reached her hands, the ward finally responded.
The runes didn’t just activate—they ignited, glowing like hot iron. A ripple of energy surged out from the ward and collided with the box, accompanied by the sound of glass shattering and a satisfying click from the wooden vessel in her hands. But the magic didn’t stop there. The ripple of grey source continued to spread through the house, reaching every lock and fastening within its range, forcing them open. The front door swung wide with a click, and even the buckles on Kael's armor came undone, sending the pieces clattering to the ground.
Emily quickly cut off the flow of source before it spread beyond the house, unlocking anyone else’s home. The last thing she needed was rumors about her going around opening doors for no reason.
Once the ward's energy faded and her blood reabsorbed, she turned her attention back to the box. The lid slid off and fell to the ground, revealing the largest sapphire Emily had ever seen, glittering even in the room’s dim light.
She glanced up at Kael, expecting to see excitement or greed in his eyes, but instead, she was met with sheer horror.
“Oh gods, no…” he muttered.
Blood points: 157