Harmoni scrambled back, and bashed against the table. She hadn’t realized just how close it was. She leaned back, desperately trying to avoid Cyep's multiple thrusts.

In another circumstance, maybe she could talk her way out. What Cyep was doing was self-sabotage. She could be using this time to get away instead. But she didn't have time to argue this, and she suspected Cyep wouldn't listen anyway.

Fleck bit into Cyep’s leg and yanked her back. He still wasn’t the biggest, but he was strong, and he had sharp teeth. Cyep cried out and lifted her hands up, the knife moving away from Harmoni.

Cyep kicked him with her free foot. She bashed his head repeatedly. It didn’t seem that bad, but that was because it was a distraction. He didn’t realize until he saw a glint through the hole in the ceiling, the knife in Cyep’s hand still.

Fleck jumped back. Cyep took a second knife, the glint Harmoni had noticed on the table earlier, and flung it at him.

Harmoni had found a door. She rattled the handle. Locked of course, but the wood was weak. It might give in.

Then Cyep’s attention turned back to her. She slammed Harmoni as hard as she could, practically falling on her with her bitten leg. Harmoni felt one of her horns bash against her, though thankfully not the tip.

Fleck could see through the gap in the ceiling. Hathanier and Ferren had both also grabbed weapons, Hathanier a knife and Ferren a meat hook. But Ferren did not seem comfortable with that. There wouldn’t be help from upstairs.

Harmoni almost fell to the ground, but Cyep was standing, and she kept Harmoni on her feet. She grabbed her, digging into her arm with sharp nails.

“Going somewhere?”

Harmoni felt hot breath on her ear.

Fleck bounded towards them, but they’d moved farther away, and Cyep had nicked him. He was moving slower than usual.

“Let me go.” Harmoni jolted, but it didn’t help. She wasn’t very strong, and was at an odd angle.

“Now hold still,” Cyep said, jerking her back. “You struggle and your death’s going to be a lot more painful.”

The blade went near Harmoni’s neck. She found herself moving back, closer to Cyep, to avoid being stabbed. But there was nowhere left to move and nothing left to do. The knife was close to her neck. Cyep was behind her, face in her hair.

“I said let me go!”

There was a pop in the air. It was subtle, more like a cork out of a bottle than any explosion, but it was important.

Harmoni opened her eyes. Everything seemed froze around her for a moment. The knife hung in the air. Fleck had screeched to a stop just out of reach. And Cyep? Cyep was gone. The only thing where she had been, was a small haze of red droplets in the air. For a second, everything hung like that.

Then, Harmoni was forced to move, to catch her balance. Fleck also shuffled his weight, spreading his wings to avoid faceplanting. The knife clattered to the ground. The red paste fell like a splatter of paint, hitting the floor, and hitting Harmoni across the side.

She gasped, staring at nothing, breath a little unsteady. It was Fleck who spoke.

“What the fuck?!”

~~~

Of course, they weren’t alone in the former slaughter house. (Or, maybe you could argue it was a current slaughterhouse.) Ferren popped down a moment later, with the news that Versith was defeated, and Udo and the colbber were making sure Hathanier was secure.

Harmoni wasn’t able to explain what happened. Fleck was even more confused than her. She actually had a guess, but she wasn’t going to tell Ferren. She lied and acted like she’d had nothing to do with it.

Fleck didn’t think she had anything to do with it. After all, how could she-

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

‘Fleck. Stop,’ she thought at him.

Ferren narrowed her eyes, but Udo chose that time to appear. He came between Ferren and Harmoni, grabbing Harmoni’s shoulders. She could see him looking her up and down. Checking to see if she was hurt?

“We should get out of here,” Udo said. “The woman outside is contacting the Desert Crest. But, you’re hurt. You fell through the ceiling? We should worry about that now.”

He put a hand on her shoulder and gently guided her away. His grip was loose. She didn’t have to let him do this. But she was too shaken to do more than wobble along beside him.

Fleck followed. He’d been nicked by one of Cyep’s knives. He’d have to get that looked at. But it wasn’t bad. She’d hit his wing. Not much blood.

Udo had come from the door on the first floor, so it wasn’t locked now. Udo and Harmoni went out. Ferren stayed in the room. She seemed to be waiting for something. Fleck didn’t like her expression.

“You can use my sand rover to get back!” Ferren called out. “Since Aqua’s busy.”

Udo nodded and muttered a thanks. Then the three of them went outside.

~~~

Harmoni sat in her room, alone at Udo’s house, looking out the window. She was looking out, but barely seeing.

It should be over. Hathanier and his wyvern had been caught. Cyep couldn’t hurt them. They were back at Xentron City. They were safe. A cleric had healed her arm and Fleck’s wing.

Fleck thought they might’ve healed it better than it was before. His one wing seemed just a little stronger when he flapped it.

But . . . Cyep couldn’t hurt her, because she was dead. Blown up. Turned to nothing but red droplets of blood. Fleck could lie and say she didn’t do it all he wanted, but she knew otherwise. She had wanted Cyep off, and she had sort of felt something. It was like when a trolley abruptly shifted tracks, but deeply internal. And with their link, Fleck should probably notice this as well. She had done it. She felt kind of sick.

There were noises downstairs. She heard someone open and shut the front door, and shuffle around near the front.

Udo must be back. He’d been out talking to the Desert Crest about what happened. They'd have to decide what to do with Hathanier, after all.

Harmoni wasn’t particularly ready to talk to him, but she probably should. He’d let her sit out the conversation with Desert Crest, even though she was the one who’d been kidnapped. She should see how it had gone, and if they’d need something from her after all.

She slipped off the bed and left her room.

It wasn’t Udo at the front door. It was Ferren. She stood with her arms crossed, wand in one of her hands. It was pointed at the floor, and Ferren was standing beside the stairs, instead of directly in the way, but Harmoni slowed down anyway.

“Going someplace so soon?” Ferren asked.

“I, um,” Harmoni sputtered, miserably failing to explain her thought process.

“Good,” Ferren interrupted, as if Harmoni had answered. “You know, I sensed magic in that slaughterhouse. Not just Hathanier’s magic. Not a normal level, either. That was more like if three elves cast the same spell together.”

The only reason Harmoni was breathing evenly, was because she was afraid of what Ferren would do if she stopped. “Why are you telling me this?”

“Because it was you, wasn’t it?” Ferren asked. “Did you expect me not to notice?” She uncrossed her arms. It would now be easier to use her wand if she wanted. “I’m not actually the best at sensing other people’s magic. It all kind of blurs together, and it’s hard to notice the subtleties in different people’s magic. But I will notice if someone casts dark magic directly below me. Udo might be ready to trust just about anyone, but I am not. And I won’t let him get hurt because of it.”

Ferren moved her wand hand. Harmoni didn’t wait to find out what she was going to do. She didn’t remember going down the stairs. She was near the top, she moved forward, and was at the bottom like she’d leapt the entire staircase. She opened the front door and ran for it, not bothering to close the door behind her.

Fleck was behind her. He was fairly certain Ferren had cast a spell after them, but whatever it was, it wasn’t enough to stop them. The only spells he'd seen her cast before were light spells.

Harmoni wasn't going to assume she was safe because of that.

For a while, she just took turns at random. Well, not entirely random. She knew Xentron City better than when she’d first arrived, after all. She was steering away from the most familiar locations. She felt exposed. She didn’t want to see anyone she knew. It felt like they’d instantly see her for the horrible person she was.

She wasn’t horrible.

‘Oh? Because I killed someone! I’m pretty sure that’s as horrible as you can get.’

That’s . . . well . . . if it was most people, maybe. But Harmoni had killed someone on accident. And it was someone who had tried to kill her, and certainly had killed other people. And eaten them. Didn’t people like that get executed anyway?

That . . . really, really depended on the location.

Harmoni still hadn’t wanted to kill Cyep. She still felt horrible. There was accidentally breaking a dish, getting into a traffic accident, or even accidentally hurting someone. But then there was accidentally murdering someone. That was a whole different level of feeling bad for your mistake.

'And I don't care that technically, you can't accidentally murder someone, Fleck.'

But Fleck’s point, more grounded in reality than his flat-out denial earlier, was enough to slow her down. She stopped and took a few deep breaths, putting her hands on her knees.

She had a vague idea where she was. The only times she went this far East into Xentron City were to get to Suzan’s house or that time she went to the Desert Crest. And she was a bit farther South than she’d been for either of those. The only other soap shop in the city was on this street, but she’d never had any need to go there while she was working with Udo.

So she’d successfully gotten away from Ferren, and anyone else she’d known. Now what?