Part 3.

The approach of the stronghold had been the worst part. The fear in her gut and the shivering, despite how fucking hot the sun was, its heat magnified as it bared down on her. The stares of the guards on her back, some armed with crossbows for if she tried to run, perhaps wondering if they could get off a shot even if she didn't run, just for fun, or revenge for a killing Thera would barely remember. The stronghold itself, four times her height, with soldiers guarding the gates, and with archers appraising her from a distance.

All that combined with the fear of failure, of getting herself killed and then having Altan's death be all her fault, the prospect of trying to fight was overwhelming.

But as with most things, once Thera actually got started, it wasn't so hard. She'd dodged the arrows, slammed her axes through the helmets of the guards, scaled the gate and cut into the necks and chests of the archers. Everything after that was easy.

Covered in the blood of the slaughtered soldiers, Thera continued her rampage through the castle, killing everyone she saw, except for those who'd ran when they'd seen her.

She found a group of guards defending one large door, and after dispatching them and opening it, found a woman in the middle of being suited up in Armour. Attendants had fixed the breastplate and greaves unto her, but no gauntlets. She looked up, saw Thera, and pushed the attendants away. She marched up to Thera, catching a spear one of the attendants had thrown her, and thrust. Thera dodged it and tried to cut the tip off with one of her hatchets, but it was pulled back too fast, stabbing at her face.

Thera backed up, dodging yet another thrust before realizing this wasn't going to work. She pulled back a hatchet, and threw it at the woman, who dodged to the side, which gave Thera enough time to turn around and begin running.

Without a hint of hesitation, no cries to "get back here!" or anything, the woman began chasing Thera. She was worried the second she looked back to check on the woman she would get a spear through the face, so she continued running. She took a left, another left, and then ran up the stairs that led to the ramparts.

Upon reaching the top of the stairs, she placed a foot against the top of the last step, and pushed herself back and over the opening. The top of the spear appeared where she'd been, with an annoyed curse following it. Thera grabbed the shaft of the spear and cut the top off the spear with one swing. The shaft jerked forward again, almost pulling Thera with it before she remembered to let go. She backed away, and let the woman reach the top of the steps. She looked blankly at the spear point, before cursing again and throwing it over the roof. Sh fixed cold and hating eyes on Thera.

Thera smirked.

The woman charged, swinging her new staff at Thera's head. Thera ducked it, and swung her hatchet at the woman's face. They lifted an arm to block, on instinct or reflex, there eyes went wide when they realized their mistake, wider still when the hatchet cut deep into their arm. They screamed and shoved Thera back with her remaining arm. She looked at the wound on her arm, switching the staff to the other hand, the fingers on the other couldn't grip.

Tears appeared in their eyes as they stared Thera down. A dark knot was beginning to tie itself in Thera's gut, something she couldn't let happen. She charged, bringing her hatchet forward.

The woman tried to block with her staff, but her control in the other hand wads much weaker. The staff cracked against Thera's shoulder with little force. The hatchet swung forward and into the woman's neck.

Thera pressed forward, pushing the woman to the, and then over, the ramparts. She heard a loud thump as they hit the ground, but Thera didn't look down. Her breathing was ragged heavy. She rubbed at her eyes, no tears.

She let herself sit down, and pushed her back against the ramparts, until her breathing slowed down to normal. That kill had been harder than the others. Was it just that it had been more physical, and therefore exhaustion, or was Thera feeling a different kind of tired.

She rubbed her face into her palms, a small ritual she usually did at the end of the day to calm her down. It was pleasing on a fundamental level Thera couldn't describe.

"Nnnnnnnnnnn, Fuck!" Thera got to her feet.

She wanted to rest but she still had work to do. There were probably still soldiers in the castle, and Thera wasn't going to give Suya the chance to say she hadn't fulfilled her promise, by any means.

-Break-

A wave of mounted knights came over the hill, the hill Thera had started her assault on. They raced down the front, and galloped to the gate, which as now open. They came through the gate in a flood. When it was almost full, one of the knights, wearing Green and black armour looked up, to the ramparts.

They saw a young girl staring down at them, stained blood and a tired smirk on their face. Suya didn't like the girl, and he had given her this mission in the hopes she would fail, while still taking out some soldiers, she had implants after all. But, she had done this job, and apparently had done it well judging by the Vazer soldiers lying lifeless around the courtyard. He wasn't a man of his word, but he was a man of opportunity.

Suya looked up to the girl, gave her a nod, then entered the castle and began giving orders to his men.

Part 4.

A courier brought Thera to Altan's room, they told her to knock and announce her presence, or wait for Suya to call her in. Thera nodded, waited for the courier to be far enough they couldn't do anything, then kicked the door open. She saw them turn, but not the look on their face. Disappointing.

Altan looked up from documents spread around his small table. Thera was a fireplace that made the room warmer than the rest of the castle. Saying nothing at her bursting in, he reached beneath his table to take out a hatchet with a blue ribbon tied around it.

"That's yours." He said.

"Bastard, I was looking everywhere for that after the battle." She snatched the hatchet off him, and started trying to take the stupid ribbon off.

"Don't remove it. It's so soldiers can know its your and return it to you if you lose it." He reached into his pocket and threw another ribbon at her. She grudgingly caught it and tucked it into her pocket.

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"Thanks for the hatchet, and not the ribbons. Is this all?"

"No. We're going to renegotiate our deal."

A different heat to the one from the fireplace washed up Thera's back. She curled her fists. "I did everything you asked for." She hissed.

"Yes, but you didn't do what I thought you ere going to do, die, and you proved to be better than I thought you would be. So, now we're changing the deal so its better for you."

Thera unclenched her fists, and relaxed her shoulders. She frowned. "What?"

"You were meant to die in this attack, hopefully take out some of the soldiers so my or Kali's, or both of our assaults would go better. Instead you did exactly what I asked of you. That deserves a reward even better than what you were going to get."

He started pushing a piece of paper over to her, then paused. "Unless you're happy with the current deal?"

"Fuck no, lets negotiate." She grabbed a stool and sat at the desk.

"Right. Sorry for calling you here so late. I had other orders and people to see, and documents and things."

"No worries, I'm used to staying up late. I've gotten used to it so much my mind won't let me sleep half the time."

Suya nodded, then paused. He tilted his head to the left, Thera lifted her shoulder up and tilted slightly, hoping she was inconspicuous.

"Why do you have a bruise on your shoulder?" Suya asked.

"Because I was fighting all day, dumb ass." Thera scoffed.

"It wasn't there at the ramparts."

I was meters away, and you had that weird bulky helmet on. People get hurt fighting you know."

"Yes, but your visit to the medics, after the battle, there was no report of a bruise on your neck."

"You read my medical report? I thought that was meant to be private."

He shrugged. "Most of the time, but you are a special case. I'm not going to punish you for having the bruise, I'm just curious about it."

Thera tapped her fingers against the table, when that didn't magically make Suya or this whole scenario disappear, she sighed and said. "I got in a spat with my dad. I went to see him, after the medics, nosy git. He asked what was going on, with him and I still being alive. He seemed confused and agitated, and I wasn't explaining fast enough, or too fast maybe, and he hit me on the shoulder to get me to focus. That's all."

Suya tutted and said, "Do you want to cut him out of the deal then?"

"No!" Thera slammed her fist on the table.

"Alright, fuck. This is good wood go easy on it." He held up his wood in mock placation.

Suya grabbed a document near him. "The new deal is, you and your father's stay of execution will be extended for every action I deem to be helpful. If you do enough, you have the chance of execution being canceled, and you'll be allowed to go free, but restricted to moving in certain parts of the country. Your father's stay of execution will not be canceled, if he survives til the end of the war, and assuming you follow orders, he will be moved to a good prison, where he will have the chance to atone for his crimes."

"Thera nodded along, this sounded good. "Shouldn't my father be here, for the parts that involve him at least? He should get a say in how he is handled right?"

"Meh, fuck him." Thera recoiled a Suya's apathy. "Your father isn't trusted enough or wanted on the front lines. Yes, its technically a miscarriage of justice to not give the poor bandit leader this chance, but he's been subverting laws and morals since the day eh became a bandit. And if he tries to toe those lines here, acting like an asshole, I'll have him killed anyway. I simply do not care for him or his freedom, only that his survival keeps you under control."

Thera frowned. "Fine. I suppose that makes sense."

"Good, I trust you'll be the one to tell him this, or would you like to risk a couriers life?"

Thera pictured the shocked face of the courier who'd escorted her here. It was a moment of levity on her heavy mind.

"Its better if I tell him." Thera sighed.

"Can I ask why you're protecting your father?"

"Yes, but to save time, 'm protecting him because he's my father."

"That's all?"

"Do I need another reason?"

Suya shrugged. "Forgive me, I've just never liked that line of arguing. Its annoying."

Thera snorted. She was enjoying this conversation, and she hadn't expected that. The room was warm, Suya was being nice, for now anyway, and it was better than having to confront Altan. he was going to be unhappy, no matter when she told him the news, so she might as well stretch things out for herself.

"Fair enough." She said. "My dad did a lot to protect me when I was younger He knew he was going to have to deal with, unsavory people, so he taught me how to defend myself. That's part of the reason he got us implants. Also, he did raise me, so I have to pay him back for that."

"Hmm. Couldn't he have done all that, while not being a bandit? He was already a criminal before you were born, but he could have raised you somewhere safer."

"Yeah, but he didn't and this is the life I have now and I'm," She paused, looking for the word. She snapped her fingers, "Content! That's me."

The room got quiet, Suya was writing on a document, and didn't seem to be paying much attention anymore. Thera waited to be dismissed, she was in a good mood so she could at least pretend to follow the chain of command. But the order never came.

Thera titled her head looking at Suya. He was more hunched over his paper, and he kept pausing before writing more, as though he were in deliberation. Is he working up the courage to ask me something?

Thera put her chin on her hands, and stared at Suya with a mall smile on her face. He looked up, noticing her posture. He set his pen down, clicked his tongue, and said, "Do you have a mother?"

Thera sat back in her chair. This was going to be complicated. "Yes, but not a living one. I think she either died during my birth or soon after. I have no memories about her."

"Ah."

"Were you asking because you assume she wouldn't want this life for me? Because she's dead. She doesn't get a say."

"I was, to be true. Does your father ever talk about her?"

"Nah. Well, sometimes, but not by name. He likes to group all the women he's slept with into one group and brag about that to his men. So I guess she's talked about then. None of the other bandits have ever brought her up to me, except to look for a fight by calling her a whore. Didn't mind, still fought a lot."

"Hmm. Your father, despite his bragging, is a surprisingly secretive person. On the files and stories we've heard about him, we've never actually heard about any woman who've spent time with him. You don't have to answer this if you don't want to, but do you think you're father could have killed your mother on purpose? To protect himself."

Thera tilted her head up and thought. She guessed he had, and there was no strong emotion from her on the subject. Thera pictured what life might have been like if her mother was alive. Less fights maybe, but she couldn't make the image of her parents loving each other stick. A smile broke across her face as she thought about her father trying to propose to her mother or something sappy like that. Like that would ever happen.

"Yep. Probably killed her." Thera said, still smiling. She looked back at Suya, and her smile broke. He was frowning at her, his eyes wide with concern. Did he actually care what she thought about her mother? Why? Sh grew up fine without the woman.

Still, the worried eyes on her didn't waver. "Do you want to talk about it?" Suya asked.

Thera felt a pang of emotion, she couldn't say what it was and she didn't know what to do with it. She began tapping her fingers nervously on the table again. Was she nervous then? She looked back at Suya, still concerned.

Of fuck him! This feeling was his fault, prying into her life like this. "Was here any point to these questions?" she asked, injecting venom into her voice.

The worried eyes faded a little. "Well, we already know a lot about what your father was like. These questions were so I could know what you were like."

"I see, and are you happy with what you found? Would you prefer to pry a little more." More venom.

Suya shook his head. "I'll take my leave then. Thera stood to go, hooking her hatchet back unto her belt, and was already at the door when Suya called, "One final order though."

Thera turned back and glared at him. "What?"

"The next time you father tries to punch, or get physical with you, I want you to fight back. I don't care if he's in a bad mood or he needs to let off steam, I'll not have one of my assets be hurt because your father wants to throw a tantrum."

Thera gave him a quizzical look, but nodded her head and left.