The damp tunnel smelled of soil and rotting wood, and Idris could catch a whiff of iron now and then from the crimson footprints leading them.

“If these belong to Iris, she probably fought off her assailants and escaped this way,” explained Andrei as they ran. “There doesn’t seem to be anyone following her, and there is still a lot of blood…”

The blood led further and further down the complex system of tunnels, meant to give contracts a secure and untraceable way of travel. The further they went, the redder the blood became, until it made little splattering noises under their feet.

At a junction the blood trail stopped, vanishing abruptly at the middle of the intersection. They stopped to catch their breath, Andrei examining the trail carefully.

“Where’d it go?” Saya asked through her panting breaths, gripping her spear tightly.

Andrei held out an orb of light in his hands, illuminating the area with a yellow glow. He knelt down and touched the blood with his finger before examining it carefully.

“It’s not quite dried,” Andrei whispered. “An hour at most.”

“How do you know?” Saya asked.

Andrei didn’t answer, instead holding up a finger to signal silence. “Someone’s near…”

Idris listened intently, and for a moment he was sure he could hear ragged breathing coming from close by.

There was a flash and a swoosh, then a dull thunk as a metal blade sank into Saya’s spear.

Using the force of the strike, Saya swung her spear around, slamming the other end of her spear into their assailant’s arm, the dagger still stuck in the wooden pole.

“Saya stop!” Shouted Nina, catching her spear and holding Saya still. “It’s Iris.”

In the dim light, Idris could see the familiar face of their fellow apprentice, bloody and covered in mud.

She was breathing heavily, her weak body shaking violently, barely able to remain standing.

“Iris,” Nina whispered. “It’s me, Nina.”

“Stay away from me!” Iris screamed, her voice breaking badly. “Stay away…”

She backed away and fell to the ground, weeping softly.

“Stay away…”

Nina slowly walked over and knelt beside her, gently laying her hand on Iris’ shoulder. “It’s okay Iris, it’s okay. We’re your friends. We’re here to save you.”

“N…Nina…?” Iris whispered through her ragged breathing.

“Yes, it’s Nina. Andrei, Saya, and Idris are all here too.”

Iris looked around at them with her sunken eyes, tears rolling down her cheeks, running around her pale lips and collecting on her chin.

“Are you hurt?” Nina asked.

Idris and the others slowly approached, kneeling around Iris in a little circle. He could see the massive blood stains on her clothing, and the rivulets of red running down her legs, dripping slowly onto the ground.

“Yeah…”

“Where?”

Iris slowly pulled back her long cloak, revealing a patch of blood-soaked cloth that she was still holding down tightly. Nina reached out and tentatively lifted Iris’ blood gushing out of the wound as soon as she lifted her hand.

Quickly Nina placed her own hand on the wound, pressing down hard as she held a glowing blue orb over it with her other.

Iris groaned in pain, biting her lips so hard they began to bleed.

Nina leaned her ear against Iris’ chest, listening carefully to her heartbeat.

“She’s lost a lot of blood,” Nina whispered. “Heartbeat’s very weak…”

“I’m cold…” mumbled Iris, her eyes beginning to slowly close. “I want water…”

Without a word the four of them took off their jackets and cloaks, throwing them over the shivering Iris, who grabbed at them and snuggled like a scared puppy.

“I’ve got some water in my pack,” said Saya, reaching for her big backpack.

“No!” Nina snapped, still holding a blue orb of healing magic over Iris’ deep wound. “We can’t give her water right now, it’ll make things worse. If anything, we need a transfusion…”

Nina, like all healers at Rose, has been trained in first aid and medicine. Though healing magic is powerful and able to reverse all forms of tissue injury except death, it is slow, often not fast enough in immediately life-threatening situations. Aside from the most skilled of healers, those like Sandra, healing magic alone is often not enough to wrestle someone away from the hands of death.

“How do we do that?” Asked Andrei.

“I’ll need to…” Nina began but was cut off by a small groan from Iris.

“Sleep…”

“What?”

“I’m sleepy…” Iris whispered.

“No no, don’t go to sleep,” replied Nina, shaking Iris gently. “Don’t go to sleep.”

But Iris’ head was already beginning to fall, her eyelids slowly but surely closing shut. Her breathing was becoming shallow now, her rapid panting echoing through the tunnels.

“Not good. Transfusion, now.”

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“How…”

“I need to figure out whose blood is compatible with hers, otherwise it will kill her. All of you, make a little cut and get some blood,” commanded Nina.

Idris pulled out his dagger and made a tiny nick in his palm, clenching his fist tight to squeeze out a few drops of blood. The others did the same, holding out their hands in front of Nina, who collected a few drops of Iris’ blood on her finger and dripped a single drop into each of their palms.

Immediately, the blood on Saya and Andrei’s palms coagulated, quickly becoming a solid, gelatinous clump. But the blood on Idris’ hand stayed flowing, shimmering in the dim light.

Seeing this, Nina reached around the back of her belt and pulled out her medicine kit, one which all healers of Rose carry. From within the little leather sack, she withdrew a glass syringe.

“Idris, come closer,” said Nina, her words stern and her face serious.

She plunged the thick needle into Idris’ arm with practiced precision, before hastily withdrawing a syringeful of blood. The needle hurt, but not enough for Idris to react.

Then she turned around and slowly injected the crimson blood into the back of Iris’ forearm, who grimaced slightly as the thick needle slid into her skin.

They repeated this several times, until some color returned to Iris’ lips, and she stopped shivering uncontrollably.

“Okay… she should be fine for now…” said Nina as she replaced the lid on her bloodied syringe and laid it down on the floor. “How are you feeling?”

“Better…?” Iris whispered, her sobbing now mostly under control.

Everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief as they slumped onto the floor. Assassins are trained to withstand stress and concentrate for long periods during assignments. But watching a comrade battle with the Grim Reaper is different.

They stayed with Iris until Thomas arrived with the others, tending to Iris’ wounds and chatting with her to cheer her up. Whatever happened had definitely traumatized her badly, and she would probably need to take quite a while off.

Finally, they could hear the other’s footsteps, rapidly coming down the tunnels toward them. A beam of light illuminated the otherwise dark tunnels, probably from Kana. Nina stepped around the corner to check if it really was Thomas who was coming for them.

With a lantern in hand, Thomas and the others sprinted around the corner, sliding to a stop at the intersection.

“Iris…” Raina gasped, looking at her blood-stained clothes. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah…” Iris replied as Raina knelt next to her, checking her over for injuries. “They saved my life, I thought I wasn’t going to make it…”

Thomas let out a big sigh, covering his face with his free hand. He inhaled deeply, and rubbed his eyes, before finally pulling his hands away from his face.

“I’m glad you’re all safe,” he mumbled, eyes shimmery. “Iris, can you move? We should leave as soon as possible, preferably through an alternative exit.”

“I’ll carry her,” Kana offered, handing her pack to Bruno.

“I’ll do it!” Shouted Saya.

“No, Saya, save your mana in case we run into trouble,” said Thomas.

“Fine…”

Raina helped Iris to her wobbly feet, lifted her onto Kana’s back, and together they began making their way out of the tunnel system.

Following Iris’ direction, the only person in the group who has the tunnels memorized, they soon emerged from a trap door in a tiny alley on the outskirts of town, disguised as a disused drain opening.

From there they made their way back to the inn, where Otto was anxiously waiting for them. The sky was already beginning to darken, and after laying Iris down in Raina’s room to rest, they decided to discuss some important matters.

“So then,” said Thomas with a mug of tea in hand. “Iris, how are you feeling?”

“Better…” Iris replied, sipping from her own mug of tea, which Kana had brewed with the special tea leaves.

“Can you tell us about what happened?”

Iris hesitated for a moment, placed her mug down, and soothed her nerves, before opening her mouth. “Sure…”

“Take your time…”

“Yes…” she mumbled. “It was a little after noon when the three people showed up to the outpost. I was eating lunch, so I quickly put away my food to greet them…”

“What did they look like?”

“Umm… I don’t remember their faces, but they were all wearing black clothing of sorts.”

“Any markings?”

“At least I didn’t notice any.”

“Please continue.”

“Anyway,” said Iris, taking another sip of tea. “They came in, and I told them that we are currently not open to new contracts, as per the usual formalities, but they didn’t seem to want to talk to me. They took out their weapons and began trying to get behind the counter…”

She paused for a moment, apparently collecting her wits. Then she cleared her throat, before continuing.

“I got up and tried to send a message back home with the telepath gemstone, but they broke through the gate before I could do it.”

“They broke through the gate?” Asked Thomas.

“Yes.”

“All gates of outposts are held shut with four locking lugs made of hardened steel protected by magic-repelling gemstones. There is simply no way anyone, even with specialized tools, to break through that easily,” said Thomas, scratching at his hair. “Even for an extremely powerful mage, it would take a good few seconds.”

“I know…”

Thomas thought for a moment, furrowing his brows. “Anyway, please continue.”

“I tried to fight back, and I got a few of them quite badly. They left shortly thereafter…”

“Why did you hide in the tunnels?”

“I… I don’t know…”

“Why were you so scared?”

“I…”

“Um…” muttered Andrei, raising his hand. “This might seem a little patronizing, but, did you lock the door, Iris?”

“I believe so… why?”

“I took a look around while we were there, and… I’m fairly certain that the locking lugs weren’t damaged.”

Thomas furrowed his brows. “What do you mean?”

“The gate wasn’t broken through, it was just unlocked.”

Iris gasped, frozen in place. “I… I remember now…” she whispered.

“Iris?”

“I opened the door… I opened the door for them.”

Everyone held their breath at the same time, staring aghast at Iris. This revelation has sent all of their plans whirling down the drain.

Just like they’ve always been taught.

The symptoms of mind control are, as follows, partial memory loss, difficulty in recalling events, and unstable mental state immediately after.

According to Iris’ accounts, her assailants seemed to have controlled her with some sort of powerful telepathy, badly injuring her before leaving her to die.

“Thomas…” mumbled Kana quietly.

“Yeah?”

“I think this could be our guy…”

It was persistent control. It must have been.

“I walked over and opened the door for them…” Iris whispered again, snapping them out of their thoughts. “Then we started fighting and I got injured… and one of them leaned over me and told me…”

“Told you…”

“To… pass on his greetings to the assassins of Rose…”