They had returned to the lessons after that, and there were plenty of awkward silences between them. Cass’s mind was in shambles, between her already conflicted feelings, her lack of sleep, and that magic, Cass was barely coherent. In some ways, that was a good thing, since she was not able to think too much about what her Master had said. It had been wish that she had kept wrapped up in her own heart, mostly hidden even from herself… But it still hurt to have that wish denied, no matter how impossible she knew it to be.

She was still lost in her thoughts that night when Vincent came up to the campfire she and Hall shared with a smile. “

Busy day, huh?” He said with a wink and a nudge towards Hall. Cass nearly dropped her bowl, but instincts born from the streets had her catch it in time. Even if food was available in plenty to her now, her old habits died hard.

“Ugh,” her Master scowled. “I had forgotten about those ears of yours, you’d think that Elhven blood would have been bred out of your family by now. I assure you it is not what you think.”

“Oh I know what you like to do friend,” Vincent smiled wider. “You know I don’t judge, I was just hoping you might change your mind about sharing.”

“I told you before Vincent,” Hall dropped his scowl and sighed. “She is mine, drop it.”

Cass knew that they were friends, but her Master clearly did not like what Vincent was asking for. To some extent, she wondered why. She was glad that he refused, but if she was little more than property… Of course, that is not what her Master had said. He had said she was too young, that he was worried about the sadism affecting possible children, and that he had an arranged marriage. He had not said that he did not want to be with Cass, just that it was not possible.

“Fine, fine.” Vincent held up his hands in defeat but his gaze lingered on Cass, then he frowned and his head whipped around to look into the darkness beyond the fire. “What the hell?”

Next thing Cass knew, Vincent had shoved Hall to the side as an arrow passed through the place he had been sitting.

“Oh for fucks sake, who the hell was keeping watch?” Vincent bellowed, hid demeanor totally changed. “Enemy attack! Get on your feet or die in the dirt like the dogs you are!”

Cass tossed her bowl to the side and rushed over to her Master’s side, he was perfectly fine, if absolutely infuriated. Now that their chance for stealth had failed, the assailants yelled war cries and charged into the camp. In the dark, it was hard to tell what was going on or whether a dark shape was an enemy or an ally.

“Master, stay by me.” Cass poured power into her glyphs and pulled Hall to his feet.

“I do not need you to protect me.” Her Master had a dangerous look in his eyes, one that would terrify Cass even with her mind broken to him. “These fools need a lesson in what pain really is.”

“Of course Master,” Even in this situation, Cass would obey her Master. But if it looked like he was in danger… Better to be punished later than to lose him now. “I will watch your back for you then.”

A man charged out of the darkness at Cass, yelling at the top of his lungs. He was wielding an axe, which was a give away that he was one of the intruders. None of the subjects or soldiers had an axe for a weapon after all.

The man hesitated when Cass became clear in the firelight, perhaps he did not want to attack a young woman, and that was the last mistake the man would make as Cass punched him the gut and when he bent over in pain she smashed his skull in.

She had just killed someone… And… She did not care. Cass was angry, and Hall was right, these fools should learn what pain really was. They would carve the lesson into the souls of anyone who managed to escape, if anyone managed to escape.

Her Master lived up to her expectations as well. As Cass had taken her first life, Hall was driving a group of four men to their knees, screaming in horror and pain before they died spasming. Even Vincent was doing better than Cass had thought he would. from looking at him she would not have expected him to be any use in a fight, but he cut down the ambushers with ease. The sword at his side had seemed decorative, but Cass was quickly disabused of that notion.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

However, it did not sound like the others were doing very well at all. The ambushers had too much of an advantage in the darkness, one of the subjects stumbled into the light near Cass, holding his stomach.

...Or what was left of it, he intestines dragged on the ground behind him as he finally collapsed and died. Cass felt sick at the sight, she didn’t want Birdie, or even Rattan to die… They needed light, and Cass realized she could provide it. She had only used her glyphs mana to fuel her glyphs currently, so she had her own pool to use for other things. She had summoned flames to use for light before, and now she did the same spreading them out around the camp. It was not very much light, but enough to reveal the melee around them.

Men in leather armor and wielding axes clashed with the glyph enhanced dregs, it was clear that they had far superior training than the subjects. But as she saw Rattan tear the head off his opponent before taking his axe and laying about him, she realized just how much of an advantage the glyphs gave them.

Two other men came after her, seeing her as the weaker of the three people around the fire. In terms of pure killing ability, that was probably true. But then, her Master and his friend were like reapers on the battlefield and it did not take much to not be as dangerous as them.

But that was not to say she was not dangerous.

Her magic was not near the level of her Master’s, or even the other mage who had accompanied them. Someday, she would be able to fight with her magic, but for now she would rely on the one thing she had above any opponent.

She had picked up the axe that the first man dropped and stepped in to the approaching men swinging with her full strength. Her arms were a glowing blur as Cass’s full power flowed into them.

The man was far more skilled than her, despite the speed of her strike, he managed to predict it and prepare a block. The only issue was that Cass was far stronger than even the other glyphed subjects, she smashed straight through his defense and embedded the axe in the man's chest, blood fountaining from it as his yells turned to screams.

The other man rushed in, thinking that she would be open when removing her weapon from his friends corpse. However, Cass just threw the body at the man knocking him over. Then all she had to do was jump and stomp and she crushed his chest.

And Cass felt wonderful, she looked back to see a grin on her Master’s face and understood. They had attacked her, she was free to do as she wished, and… She wanted to hurt them… What had happened to her?

That distraction cost Cass and she was surrounded and cut off from Vincent and Hall. There were so many men, where the hell had they come from and what did they want? They were barely two days out from the capitol, they had not even reached the South yet, this was Imperial territory! They lacked the polish of any Imperial force, and were far more determined and better armed than bandits were likely to be.

Cass snarled at them and fought like a wildcat. She had learned how to fight in the streets, and the only rule that anyone paid attention to in the streets was “winner take all.” Still, she was slowly being pushed away from the campfire… And that worried her, she had said she would protect her Master’s back.

She twisted a man’s head around and she heard the neck snap. Well, if she just kept killing eventually there would be no more to separate her from him.

“For the love of the Gods.” One of the men muttered, “The Haj Empire really has created monsters, I have a daughter her age…”

Cass snarled back, she was a monster? She was not the one attacking people in the night! She wasn’t the one attempting to butcher a girl that reminded her of her daughter. Cass knew she was not a good person, but what right did they have to judge her?

“Most of the men are dead,” Another man said. “They were far stronger than we thought they would be, this one will have to do. She seems special compared to the others.”

“The won’t be happy.”

“They don’t have a choice, if we wait any longer the tides will turn against us.”

“Are you going to talk all night or are you going to come and try and kill me?” Cass growled, and her glyphs flared brighter with her rage. She was covered in blood, but none of it was her own. She would break through this group and return to her Master.

“How about neither?” The man held up a small orb, probably some type of magic tool. Cass’s instincts told her to run, but she was surrounded and unarmed. Most weapons she picked up broke in her hands after one or two strikes after all…

The orb flashed, and for the second time that day, Cass blacked out.