The sharp sound of his blade being drawn from its sheath beckoned forth bemused stares from the gang of women. After gifting the nearly unconscious man on the ground one last kick, the women turned to face Cassian. As he approached, Cassian noticed that their exposed skin was blanketed with spider web tattoos. Facial piercings with chains connecting them bounced as the group of women drew curved daggers from concealed sheathes on their thighs. The flickering light of the lanterns hanging above the tavern door painted the gang's faces in harsh shadows that made Cassian uneasy. Well, maybe it’s the daggers…or the face tattoos.

Cassian puffed out his chest, trying his very best to look intimidating, “Stop! What did this man do to deserve such a savage beating?”

The oldest gang member, appearing to be in her late twenties, looked down at the whimpering man then back to Cassian. With a wicked laugh she looked around at her friends who seemed younger, around Cassian's age perhaps. As if on cue they began laughing as well. The older woman ran her hand through her white mohawk before ignoring Cassian’s question entirely, “Well I’ll be damned girls, it’s the bloody prince of Cloudreach! It must be our lucky day—Cyrus will be over the moon when we bring him a royal present gift wrapped with silk rope. What’s he gonna do with you pretty boy? Perhaps he’ll torture you, or maybe he’ll get the old king’s ransom for you? If I had to bet though my money would be on torture. Cyrus has always had a bone to pick with your old man.”

Cassian rolled his eyes and twirled his sword nimbly in a show of skill, “Ransom? How original. I suppose we’re not going to be able to talk this out, are we?” Knots twisted in his stomach as he tried to consider every possible outcome of the seemingly unavoidable battle. Luna ran up beside Cassian with her arms extended, all things considered it was a fairly underwhelming attempt to diffuse the situation.

The woman with the white mohawks jaw dropped in disbelief, “What a day of surprises! Little Luna Stone has returned to the South Side all grown up, eh? Have you finally decided to leave that pitiful excuse you call a gang behind and beg Cyrus to let you join back up with the Widows? I can’t imagine he’ll be too merciful given the way you parted. You never know though.”

Her condescending words seemed to provoke Luna and she snarled, drawing her rapier in one elegant motion, “Well Eden, it would appear things haven’t changed much at all. Here you are, still exactly where I left you—battering defenseless citizens for Cyrus. That means you’re probably still just as pathetic at swinging those daggers as ever.” Luna looked at the younger girls beside Eden, “A word of advice, don’t trust this one. She may look like a spider, but I assure you, she's a snake. She’d sooner cut your throats then see you prosper in any meaningful way.”

The younger girls standing next to Eden glanced around nervously trying to shrug the advice off, but the unsure expressions on their faces exposed that they weren’t so sure. Eden glowered at Luna, “Those are pretty noble words from one I’ve seen do appalling things for a paycheck. I just can’t figure out how you ended up on the South Side, with the damned prince of Cloudreach. Does he know about the things you did when you were a Black Widow?”

Cassian hadn’t known Luna long, but this was the first time he’d seen her unhinged. These two definitely have some bad blood.

Luna looked like she was debating some ancient inner demon, with a grunt it became clear that the demon had won, and Luna charged towards Eden. Eden crouched low with a dagger in each hand parrying the sword aside with one dagger and swinging another dagger upwards, intending to slash open her old friend's belly. Luna, clearly familiar with the fighting style of Eden, rolled to the side narrowly avoiding the curved dagger. The younger gang members seemed unsure at first but decided to jump into the combat swinging daggers clumsily.

The prince had trained with expert weapons masters since he was a young boy, and he immediately recognized that these younger girls were like actors swinging their weapons about, all aesthetics with no substance. As Luna and Eden were locked in a dangerous dance of slashes, counters, and parries, Cassian faced the three young gang members.

Victory took less than five perfectly calculated moves from the disciplined prince. Doing his very best to ensure he only utilized non-lethal strikes and the flat of his blade, he quickly knocked his opponent’s unconscious. Putting his skills to use filled him with an unfamiliar but welcome feeling of euphoria. For a moment it consumed him like a wildfire scorching a field of dry grass. The feeling was rapidly replaced with shame as his practical mind regained control, reminding him that all he had done was best three borderline defenseless girls.

Luna and Eden were very evenly matched. In a melee strictly involving daggers versus rapier, it was a coin toss who might come out victorious on any given day. Luna knew this, and Eden knew this. Planting her palm on the cracked cobblestone and springing gracefully backwards Luna threw a vial at the veteran Black Widows feet. The sound of glass shattering was met by a curse from Eden.

A tangle of thick vines leapt up from beneath the surprised Eden wrapping her in a mess of thick roots. She tried to free herself, desperately screaming and thrashing about but her old friend's alchemy had immobilized her. Cassian looked at Luna wide eyed and made an inaudible sound of admiration.

Luna sheathed her rapier in one quick move before running the back of her hand against Eden’s cheek with a coy wink, “So long, old friend.”

Cassian and Luna hustled down the street, leaving Eden trapped in front of the tavern and shrieking profanities. Luna glanced back at Eden from the corner and grinned from ear-to-ear before disappearing down a rusted stairwell. Cassian noticed the parting glance and his mind couldn’t help but wonder exactly what the girl’s past relationship had been like. Luna traversed the slums with a familiarity and dexterity reminiscent of a panther leaping through the treetops and Cassian struggled to keep up.

Together they sprinted over shoddy bridges connecting rooftops and ducked through old winding tunnels. Luna knows these streets like the back of her hand. Anyone without such experience could be lost for days in these tunnels. Cassian thought. In time Cassian’s legs burned, cramps clawed at him, and he thought he couldn’t possibly run any more. Luna seemed barely winded, but noticing the prince on the verge of collapsing, signaled that they could finally stop to catch their breath in a dark tunnel.

He put his hands on his head and sucked in air, desperate like a free diver returning to the surface just before running out of oxygen. Between gasps of air, he asked Luna, “Why…are we...running…like…this?”

Her rapidly rising and falling chest indicated she was winded as well, but Luna seemed to be in much better physical shape than him. “The Widows have likely already found Eden. They’ll be out in full force to get us now. We need to get to the tunnels and escape the city as soon as possible.”

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Cassian looked confused, but at least he had started to catch his breath, “Well sure, but we made short work of them back there. I’d think we would be more worried about the soldiers that’ll be flooding through the gates into the Undercity any minute now.”

“The Black Widows have hundreds of members. Cyrus arms his lieutenants with amethite, and his people are ruthless. I’d certainly rather spend my life in the dungeons beneath the palace than be tortured and nursed back to health repeatedly by that madman Cyrus.”

“Jeez, I can’t say I’m particularly fond of either of those hellish scenarios, but I suppose I understand your logic.” Cassian took a big drink from his water skin and offered it to Luna.

Luna took a drink of water and handed it back to him. “This all feels crazy, but I’ll feel much better once we make it to the passageway on the edge of town. Maybe I’ll actually be able to get a bit of rest once we make it out into the mountains.”

“Won’t they just follow us into the passageway? The soldiers and the Black Widows that is.”

She picked her bags back up and began heading off into the tunnels towards the edge of town. “No one in their right mind would willingly go into that passageway.”

Cassian picked up his bags, throwing them over his shoulder and following her shaking his head. “Well, that doesn’t exactly make me feel much better.”

They made their way in silence for a while through a confusing maze of underground tunnels when a light appeared signaling the end of the passage. As they approached the mouth of the tunnel their eyes took a second to adjust to the light. Cassian gasped. Before them stood a block that was possibly a park at one point. It had a large, cracked stone statue of a man he didn’t recognize in the center and a series of fountains that looked like they hadn’t been operational in decades. The park block was flanked by tall poorly maintained buildings that were covered in spider-related graffiti. On opposite sides of the park stood hundreds of gang members wielding makeshift weapons and a company of heavily armored soldiers carrying banners embroidered with the eagle crest of Cloudreach.

The two forces were facing off and the tension in the air was discernible even from the tunnel. Denizens of the South Side ran in every direction seeking shelter in the surrounding buildings like ants running from the rain. Some of the more cautious citizens were even boarding up their doors and windows.

Luna squinted to make out the details of the scene unfolding in the streets. “Maker! It’s going to be a bloody war in the streets. Is all of this really over us?”

“I was worried about how my father might react. But him mobilizing the army in the Undercity in this capacity is beyond my wildest expectations. I have to think he’s just putting on a show to intimidate the gangs into cooperating.”

“Yeah, I don’t know about that.”

“Why do you say that?”

Luna pointed at the park. Cassian narrowed his eyes, and in the distance, he could see the two forces locked in battle. Swirling dust clouds made it difficult to make out specifics, but the screams and sounds of weapons clashing made the intentions clear enough.

“Now is our best chance. We can carve a path around the outskirts of the battle—it’ll lead us out of the city and into the tunnel. If we’re lucky they’ll all be too busy to notice us.” Luna said.

Cassian grinded his teeth nervously, shifting side to side. “Alright, I guess it’s the only way and we’ve made it this far. I’ll lead the way. Stay close to me and keep your hood up.”

They locked eyes and each took a deep breath before running towards the battle on the edge of the South Side. The mountainside was visible behind the buildings and rising dust clouds. Luna could just barely make out the mouth of the tunnel carved into the rock. Running as fast as they could and trying to stay as low to the ground as possible to avoid the attention of the forces Luna and Cassian charged into the haze. It was hard to see more than ten yards ahead given the conditions but that worked to their advantage.

Swords clashed and combatants cried out in pain all around them, but they kept their heads down and maintained their course. It’d be all too easy to get mixed up in the ferocity of this battle and end up surrounded. We just need to keep moving in a straight line. Now is no time to get disoriented. Luna thought.

Cassian winced as they stepped over countless mangled and shrieking bodies. The looks of sheer confusion and terror imprinted on his mind, and he knew he would struggle to expel them from his thoughts later. Did I cause all of this by helping Luna escape? How much do I really know about her? My heart tells me she's a good person, but can I really trust myself? This bloodshed is just too much. Cassian’s thoughts raced while he sprinted through the dreadful dust up. Eventually he forced the questions from his mind and focused entirely on making it to the mountainside passageway.

A screaming soldier appeared out of the smoke and lunged at Luna with his spear. Cassian’s heart jumped into his throat as he grabbed her arm pulling her just out of the polearms path. Just then a burly man with a spider web tattoo on his face thrust a long wickedly curved sword through the soldier’s chest. The force of the blow showered Cassian with gore. The prince gagged and thought he might be sick, but Luna grabbed his hand and pulled him along.

After a time, they passed through the raging battle and emerged on the other side. They both breathed a huge sigh of relief when they made it out of the Undercity and to the entrance of the passageway that led deep into the mountain. Looking back out at the Undercity from the entrance to the tunnel, Luna prayed for the first time in her life. She sent a prayer to the maker that her friends and family would be safe while she was away.

Cassian and Luna looked one last time at the city before staring into the dark tunnel staring out at them. The look of dread on Luna’s face made Cassian seriously question his recent life choices. The train of thought evaporated like smoke into the night sky. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but something about Luna had him intrigued. She was so different from him in every way and full of mysteries he longed to unearth.

Shaking her head, Luna stepped into the inky blackness and called back to him, “You coming, your highness?”

He tossed his bags over his shoulder, chuckled to himself, and jogged after her.

As darkness swallowed them, Luna sighed, “Out of the frying pan and into the fire.”