I limped out of the dark night and into the flickering torch light that illuminated the bridge to Erosette, shouting. “Guards! Guards! A demon! A demon in the hills!”

“Halt!” One commanded, drawing his sword and pointing it at me.

I stumbled, nearly falling at their feet. The rip in the hem of my dress tore and ran further up my thigh. The guard that didn’t have his sword drawn stepped forward and caught me gently.

Between heavy breaths, I tried to tell them what they needed to know. “Demon. . . Azeralphane. . . Coming.”

The guard, still holding his sword, narrowed his eyes while his counterpart helped me regain my balance.

“Smit,” He grunted. “Is that her?”

Smit, the guard that had caught me, shrugged his armored shoulders. “Dunno. I’ve never seen her before. Springier and Woolie are on duty back up at the manor, they’d can tell us.”

I didn’t know what they were talking about. I had no interest in finding out. I’d gotten what I needed.

To get close to them.

I let go of Smit’s supportive shoulder and dropped until my head was even with the other guard's crotch. Before they could realize that I had moved, I drove the point of my elbow up and into the man's prized possessions.

He dropped with a pained wheeze, his body folding reflexively around the place he had been struck. I caught his fallen sword out of the air as I rose. Snapping it towards Smit, I held the point of it at his throat with my arm bent enough that I could easily kill the man if he did not listen.

“What is the meaning of this?” Smit froze, his own sword caught halfway out of its sheath.

The other guard groaned. “It’s the girl, she’s lost her mind. Sound the alarm!”

“I can’t, Bool. She’ll kill me.”

“Smart boy,” I had no worry of the other guard being able to do anything. He’d be lucky if he came away with all the bits he had started his shift with. “Your sword.”

“That’s hardly fair. You’ve already got one.”

I pricked his throat just enough to make him feel a trickle of warm blood run down his neck.

“Alright,” He cried. “Take it.”

Without withdrawing the blade from his neck, I reached and pulled his own from the sheath that hung off his hip. They were identical short swords that could have been mistaken for normal weapons if not for the center section cut out of them and the crystalline pink pommels.

The sight of the color brought a violent tension into my hands.

“You have a choice,” I said to the guards. “Jump into the river or have your blood turned into one.”

“Hold steady, We must not allow her to enter the city.” Bool growled through clenched teeth at his counterpart.

“It is your choice.” I reminded the terrified guard, pushing the sword just a little more to renew the pain.

“Ahh, Mothers forgive me. We’ll jump.” Smit spat.

With the swords held ready incase they did anything but what I had told them to do, I watched Smit drag his prone partner over to the bank and drop over the edge and into the rushing river below.

By the time they washed up at the next bridge, my business would be done.

I didn’t know why I had woken up so close to Erosette and had made it to the city itself without being captured, but I was not one to let an opportunity go to waste.

I knew, with every part of me, that I had finally been delivered the chance to kill Mother in Red.

“Ironic.” I said, stepping onto the smooth bricks of the bridge. I hoped that it would hurt her more knowing she had been killed by weapons she had empowered.

I made it halfway across the bridge before I heard quick footsteps running up behind me.

“Autumn!”

I turned to see a dark haired girl standing where the guards had been only moments before.

“Summer,” I answered, not understanding why we were naming seasons. “Who are you, what do you want?”

My words seemed to hurt her for some inexplicable reason, but she approached regardless of the pain in her eyes.

“You don’t know who you are.” She said.

I couldn’t waste anymore time. I brought the blade in my right hand up and pointed it at her. I had no ill will towards the girl but I would kill her if she delayed me any longer. “I am Suri. Remember my name. It will be all that is on Zenithcidel’s lips come morning.”

I turned back to the city. The Mother in Red was in there somewhere, probably mindlessly lost in one of her countless celebrations. I hoped she was, then I would have an audience.

Will he be there?

“Do you remember the first time we met?” The girl called after me.

“How could I not?” I called back without turning. It had been only a moment ago. Despite that, something in the girl's voice made me hesitate.

“You were naked and it embarrassed you so bad, your whole body turned red.”

“What are you on about?” I shouted back at her, looking over my shoulder.

“Or when we got drunk and I went to get you seconds but you fell asleep before I came back?”

Did I. . . know her?

“Go somewhere and fuck off kid.” I called back to her, shaking my head. Of course I didn’t know her. I’d never seen her before in my life. If it got any later, I’d risk The Mother in Red being asleep. I wanted the ditzy bitch to still be drunk or wrapped around one of her play things.

Hopefully, both. I wanted her to see me coming.

I stepped off the bridge and onto the cobblestone streets of Erosette, but before I could take another step, someone grabbed me by my wrist and spun me around.

It was the damn girl. I should have taken her head right then and there, but my blade stopped just short of her neck. “Do you truly wish to die this badly? Will I have to kill you to get you to leave me alone.”

“Yes,” she said without hesitation. The fact that there was only a fingertip so space between the blade and her neck did not seem to bother her. “What about last night? Do you not remember begging me to sleep in your room because you were too scared to sleep alone?”

“I wasn’t scared,” I said, the words feeling strange coming out of my mouth. “I just didn’t want you to go.”

I, No. Not me, Suri. . . and what it felt like to be her, vanished.

The girl was Anna and I had almost killed her.

I stepped back from her and the swords clattered to the stone street when I dropped them from my hands. “Oh fuck, It happened again. Did I hurt you?”

As if he had folded out of the air itself Sam strolled into the small space between where I stood and Anna.

“Mortal, I commend you. Though your flesh is weak, your mind is strong.” My familiar spoke, his deep voice not sounding as strange as it once had. He still looked like a cat, a blue one at that, but his kitten days were long past. Standing on all fours, his back came to just below my knees.

“Where were you? This is supposed to be your job.” Anna said, putting her hand on her hip and giving Sam a nasty look.

“The blame is mine,” My mother said, walking quickly to the city side of the bridge where we stood. “Samsara, I see you have returned.”

Sam turned his blue eyes to my mother. “I left her in your care, Lady Aubrey. And yet, there is a recently dead boar, far outside of Erosette, that is quickly growing cold because you did not restrain her.”

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

My mother came to me and began a rapid inspection. Raising my arms, smoothing my hair, checking the tears on my dress. “Why did you go? You told me you wouldn’t until Samsara returned. Are you hurt,” Her eyes wandered down from me and to the sword laying on the ground. “Who did you hurt? Where are the guards?”

“Down here.” Came a grunt from over the side of the bridge.

All of us, even the cat, peered over the side and saw Smit crawling up the bank, dragging his partner by the collar behind him.

My mother ran and gave the soaked man a hand up and helped pull Bool off the steep bank that was slick from climbing. They both laid on their backs, armored chests heaving from their effort.

“Are either of you injured?” She asked, lowering herself to her knees by their side.

Smit answered her. “She nicked me fairly well on the neck, but it’ll heal on its own. Bool over there,” Smit said with a nod towards his partner. “She got him fairly worse.”

My mother slid over the wet grass, unaffected by how dirty her long dress was becoming. “Where does it hurt?”

“Hmphhhh.” The guard Bool groaned, hands clutched around where his legs met.

“I,” I began. Almost deciding to not continue, but the guilt I felt was enough to push me onwards. “I hit him. . . there. . . really hard.”

“Damn, Autumn.” Anna sighed, a little laugh sneaking out of her mouth at the end of it. She threw her arm over my shoulders and pulled me close to her.

“The lowest of blows.” Sam added.

“You poor man, let me see it,” My mother said, wrenching Bool’s hands away from himself and replacing it with her own. The man's eyes went wide and he struggled to sit up but my mother pushed him back down. A momentary brightness came from my mothers palm. Bool slumped back to the ground with a relieved sigh and closed his eyes. With two gentle pats on the area of interest, my mother stood and said. “There. There.”

A cold weight had settled into my stomach and if it hadn’t been for Anna supporting me, I would have sunk to the ground. I couldn’t look away from my mother. From the moment she stood, her blazing green eyes burned into me with a heat that rose with every step closer she took.

I had to say something. I had to make her feel better. “I didn’t, I just thought that, I didn’t know it would happen.”

My mother held up a hand and the stream of words coming from me ceased. “You told me that you would wait.”

She paused, which felt like permission to speak. “I know,” I cried in an accidental whine. “But whenever I’m not,”

She cut me off. “I understand who you are, my little Delpha. Your. . .”

“Clear the road!” Someone shouted, cutting my mother off.

All of us, even the cat, turned back to the city.

A man, wearing nothing but a white cloth wrapped around his waist ran towards us at a brisk pace, repeating. “Clear the road!”

From where I stood, only the back half of Anna’s feet were off the bridge and actually on the stones of the city street. What could that possibly have been obstructing?

“She is coming! Clear the road.” The man turned up the street that lay opposite the bridge and ran further into the depths of Erosette, parting a stream of people that had suddenly appeared as he went. Excited chatter rose from the crowded street as every person gave way to the runner and packed together against the buildings on either side.

“What is happening?” Anna whispered to me.

Before I could answer her, a heavy rhythm echoed from the direction the runner had come from. It bounced along the walls and out over the river, loud enough that I could feel it pounding in my chest. The parted crowd before me erupted into cheers and claps once the rhythm reached them and the sound of it all drew me in completely.

A stream of women dressed in nothing but thin white robes that flared and flowed around them danced around the corner. Seven, fourteen, twenty one, more than I could count, they spun and swayed to the rhythm as they strummed the golden lyres in their hands. With every up and down swing of the rhythm, the hems of their white robes showered small red flower buds over the stones of the street. By the time the first of them had nearly reached the bridge, the street had been covered with their crimson tide.

I had never seen anything more entrancing in my life.

“Mothers forgive me,” My mother said under her breath behind me. Then she raised her voice. “All of you, return to the manor immediately. Do not stop until you are within our walls.”

I looked at Anna and saw that she shared the smile that had spread across my face. Then I turned to my mother. “What is this?”

She did not seem to be enjoying the procession as much as I was. “Go home, I will explain once I return.”

“But, I,”

“Autumn. Not another word,” Her emerald eyes bore into my own. She wasn’t yelling, but her words carried an intensity that forced me to pay her attention. “You must not be seen. They will take you away from me. Do you understand?”

There was something in her voice that I had never heard before.

My mother was scared. . .

“I understand.” I said, my voice coming out flat and emotionless in my shock.

The rhythm pounded louder and louder at my back and a roar from the crowded street rose over the music.

My mother wrapped me in her arms and planted a kiss on the top of my head. Even with her speaking directly into my ear it was hard to hear her over the procession. “I cannot let them take you from me, Autumn. Go home, we will speak once I make peace with the guards.”

She released me. “Samsara, Anna, see her to the manor?”

I caught a glimpse of the rhythm makers. Two rows of men, each with a drum larger than themselves strapped to their chests, stretched out of sight around the corner. Every violent impact of their mallets against the tight skin of the drum sent flares of momentary fire out in rings. Sweat poured from their muscular bodies, dripping off them onto the crimson buds that had been left in the dancers wake. The muscles of their arms and legs shook with every step, but despite their effort, each wore an expression that was alight with joy.

Anna gently took me by my hand. “Let's go, dinner might still be warm.”

A ravenous groan echoed in my empty stomach at the mention of food. Anna always knew how to get to me.

I tore my eyes away from the entrancing spectacle and let my friend lead me away.

“Hurry along,” My mother rushed us as we passed her. “Samsara?”

My familiar sat in the middle of the bridge, unmoved. “I will return to my hunt after I speak with you, Lady Aubrey.”

I had no issue hearing the cat's baritone.

A new sound rose above all the others from around the corner. Clear and high, a female voice sang loud enough that it could be heard over the lyres and drums and cheering people.

My mother hurried us off the bridge and onto the path that led to where our home sat atop the rolling hills. “Do not be seen. Do not slow until you are behind our walls.”

Anna listened, pulling me up the path by the hand. Tripping and stumbling as we went, I tried to keep my eyes on the parade. The voice sang in a language I did not recognize, but its sound alone stirred my heart into a desperate longing that ached in my chest. It carried the lightness of hope and a burning passion within its notes and if I had not been being pulled away from it, I would have sprinted back across the bridge until I could lay my eyes on the singer that was making me feel the way I did.

We reached the top of the first hill and a rough voice disrupted the song.

“Girl, how did you get out?” The rough voice shouted.

Anna stopped pulling me. The manor stood in the distance, but the guards that should have been posted at its gate were sprinting up the otherside of the hill we stood atop.

The one who had shouted, either Springer or Woolie if my memory of being Suri was trustworthy, slid to a stop before me. His hand clutching the hilt of his sheathed sword, he dropped into a ready stance and scowled at me. “We can do this the easy way or the hard way.”

“Shut up Springer. She’s almost here.” The other guard, who by elimination could only be Woolie, said as he ran right past us. He dropped to the ground facing Erosette and was still.

“Damn it all,” Springer clinked his sword in its sheath. “Don’t move.”

Anna gave me a confused look. “I think what your mom said matters more than what they say, let's go.”

“Wait, come here.” I said, taking my turn to pull her. Springer did not sit next to his partner, but Anna and I dropped to the dirt path beside him, hand in hand. Just as we got settled, the singer's song rose into a high note that echoed across the hills as it was sustained.

The rhythm makers passed through the crowded street and the song faded away with their exit. An eager stillness settled over the crowd. The pounding of the unseen drums remained and though I could no longer feel their impact in my chest, I found myself nodding to their beat.

“There!” Springer shouted, pointing at the corner the parade had first rounded.

A blur of rose colored fire burst around the corner, blazing over the flood of crimson flower buds that covered the stone street. The buds did not catch fire and burn away under the roaring flames. Rather, their petals unfurled as the heat passed over them, blossoming into thousands and thousands of perfectly red roses. The blur landed on the city side of the bridge with an audible impact and the crowd burst into raucous cheers. The flames flickered and spread in a cluster of blinding flashes.

“Don’t stare at it, dummy.” Anna pulled me into her and shielded my eyes. When the light had dimmed and I felt her relax, I looked back down.

Taller than the buildings standing before it, a blur no more, the shape of a lion made entirely of rose colored fire lifted its maned head and roared. Mounted on its blazing back, a rider clad in shimmering armor raised a shining sword above their head.

The singer. I had no evidence it had been the rider, but I knew in my soul it was true.

“Who is that?” I asked aloud, feeling like I already knew.

With the raise of the rider’s sword, the newly bloomed roses rose into the night sky and vanished into the darkness, leaving the stone streets clean. A moment later, explosions of colored embers appeared in the sky above Erosette in dazzling patterns. Each heralded by a pop that played over the quieting beat of the rhythm makers and echoed over the surrounding hills.

“Fireworks,” Anna said to me. “Have you ever seen them?”

The rider atop the lion of rose-fire raised their shining sword once again and whipped the crowd back into a chorus of cheers and shouts. With another deafening roar, the lion bounded from the ground and onto the top of the buildings in front of it before vanishing deeper into the heart of the city.

I grabbed the guard Woolie by his sleeve and asked again. “Who was that?”

I couldn’t be sure if he had been crying or if his nose had an itch he desperately needed to scratch, but it seemed like he wiped his eyes before he answered my question.

“Where are you from girl? Everyone knows who that was.”

Anna raised her hand. “I don’t.”

Springier, still standing, cleared his throat. “Neither of you know?”

“No.” Anna and I said in unison while we helped each other back on our feet.

“It is not often that you meet someone who has never seen one of her displays,” The guard gave himself a settling shake and placed his hand on the red pommel of his sword and smiled. “It makes me remember my first time.”

“Your first time with who?” Anna asked, annoyance evident in her voice.

“Who the fuck was it?” I added.

Woolie, who definitely was wiping tears from his face, finally answered my question.

“The rider was,” He paused and looked up at the sky, the fireworks reflecting within the moisture in his eyes.” The Mother in Red.”