The mother with fox ears on her head holds a knife in her hands, one that she had taken off the body of one of the women that Sigvor had killed. Her forehead is still carved up in green and brown lines. They would need immediate treatment but Mrs. Litun doesn’t care about her face in the slightest at the moment.

“Look, my friend Dzan is taking care of him, you know? He’s a strong guy, he’ll defend your boy to his dying breath, I’m sure of that.” Sigvor tries to convince her. He’s not lying though. Dzan will do everything he can to protect that kid. He’s the kind of person who would make sure that any kid in his care is safe no matter what.

Sigvor has known a few people in his life, especially in his childhood, who could not say the same. Mrs. Litun bites her lip.

“Well… No, still I have to be there for my son. He can’t walk by himself without his crutches, but even then, I’m his mother. I’m his mother. I hope you can understand why I’m unwilling to just sit back right now.”

Sigvor would like to argue against this measure of recklessness since it will make her job more difficult. Protecting this woman might cause unforeseen complications. She simply sighs as she looks at the woman one more time.

Whatever. It's just another thing I have to deal with then.

Tears of pain are still falling down the woman's cheeks as some wind moves through this stairwell and touches her wound. Sigvor tries her best to not draw attention to her slight sobs but she can somewhat tell what the woman is thinking.

Mrs. Litun is coming to terms with the pain of her disfigurement as well as the consequences their family will face because of it. At the very least, her child is still alive. She is happy about that above all else.

But, to heal a wound like this, she doesn't know what she'll do. Though she loves how her husband would do anything for her happiness, she doesn't want him to break his back so she can look like herself again.

But nevertheless, she still is fond of her face. She doesn't want to live with this grievous wound if there is a way to fix it. Her pretty face fills her with confidence day by day. It tells her that her husband still loves her whenever he compliments it.

It was what made him talk to her the first time they met. It's also the face her child sees everyday. Once she reunites with Bels, he'll see this scarred face of hers every single day. It will remind him of the pain he had gone through today.

He won't be able to look at her. It's not just a disfigurement, it's a reminder of a horrible trauma. The thought of her child not being able to look at her face without being reminded of one of the worst days of his young life fills her with pure terror and sadness.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

Every few steps up the stairwell, Mrs. Litun's breath catches at this new agony that has befallen her life.

The two of them soon reach the door to the fourth floor.

Sigvor's fox ears carefully scan the area past the stairwell door. She can hear soft footprints, several of them moving slowly, likely going door to door in their search. She has found the people who are hunting for Dzan. She still isn't certain why he thought he could handle these guys instead of taking the kid outside or something.

But, he still managed to pull off an amazing feat by saving the kid as it was. Sigvor smiles for a moment.

He then turns to the beastkin mother, Mrs. Litun.

"Wait in the stairwell until I deal with the attackers. It'll be a lot easier for me to handle them without hostages around. I don't mean any offense, it's just that I have a plan that I want to use right now and you would get in the way of its success. It might jeopardize your son. Can you please agree not to interfere?"

Sigvor’s words are harsh and direct, but he needs the concerned woman to know that her presence in this hallway would prevent him from saving her child. That’s what’s most important right now anyways.

"...F-Fine. But if you take too long then–"

"No. Wait until I call you. Either I die or they die. If I die, at least you can ambush them more easily. But, that'll only work if they don't know you're here to begin with. If they die, then you can just come out, ok? Will you comply?"

“...Alright. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. We all want these guys dead. I can promise you, they will be.”

With no more talk, Sigvor opens the door to the fourth floor stairwell as silently as possible. She sees the men who are currently moving from apartment unit to apartment unit.

It looks to Sigvor as if they have lost track of Dzan and the boy, hoping that they're in one of these apartment units rather than another floor. She smiles at how things are going so far. While walking up the stairs she had been considering all the bad ways this situation could end up.

The worst case would have been if the men were already able to drag the boy back in their arms with Dzan's blood staining their clothes. He'd rather not face anything like that. Her smile disappears as she puts on a persona.

"Hey!" Sigvor shouts.

The four men each turn to face her. None of them know who she is. She has her hands behind her back.

"What do you think you're doing here!? We've had several noise complaints about a group of loud people shouting obscenities! Who are you!?" She shouts angrily as she walks towards them, her arms crossed in outrage.

Ironically, she didn’t actually hear the obscenities they did shout. She just decided to accuse them of a crime while pretending to be a nosy neighbor, or perhaps a member of this building’s underpaid security presence. She simply put on the guise of someone who would be underestimated.