Thestra waited at the entrance of an alleyway. Looking at the entrance of a large stone building. It stood out as it was the only one of its kind, the other buildings around it were made of wood rather than stone. The only thing that she had seen so far was the coming and goings of guards. Most swaying to and fro with a bottle in their hands.

Even when one entered completely sober she didn't make a move. She was sure that those two could take care of themselves. No, she waited for something bigger to show up, something that made her act without hesitation, but she hoped it never did.

Adjacent to the large stone building, there seemed to be other official government buildings. What was across from them however is what made Thestra a little amused. There was a huge theatre across from the prison, and it seemed that tonight was special with families dressed in their best going in.

The only other thing that stood out in Thestra's mind was two buildings down from the theatre there was a large stable with wagons and carriages parked there. When she had passed it she heard a young merchant talking about being attacked by Lord Mortis himself.

Thestra just shook her head as she heard the man. It wasn't that she was doubting what he said. In fact under the circumstances it was almost definitely true. She just regretted her decision to leave her group. She thought about what she would be put through when she got back. It was unlikely any one would believe Mistress Sadine's excuse. Especially Mistress Vale.

Although if she didn't leave the people that she was waiting to come out of that prison would probably all be dead by now. She would have to make them thank her more later.

Whenever a luxcian passed by the entrance to the alley besides the theatre, Thestra would lower her head as to cover up her crescent eye.

Thestra veiled herself in darkness, blending into the shadow of the theatre behind her. Despite this however, whenever a luxcian walked by the alley entrance, she would lower her head to conceal her crescent eye. She doubted that anyone would even notice her if she didn’t use her blessing, though. The luxcian's were too busy celebrating Galaris. The thought of the event brought complex emotions to Thestra, who would try to dismiss them, but even when she did a trace of them lingered.

All she could do now was wait. She had no doubt that the two would be able to find Faldrid, and she believed Kagi could get in and out of the building unseen easily, just as long as something didn't happen. At this point it really was just a waiting game for Thestra.

For every passing moment she grew more worried for the attoka they left behind. Not for them, but the glaive that they were currently protecting. Thestra about brought the thing with them, but Kagi and Umbren had convinced her that the beast could be trusted with the weapon. Thestra was unsure about that then and even more unsure about it now…

Thestra's eyes popped open as she dove into the street, spinning to face where she once was. The whole side of the house was littered with shards of light. In an instant they disappeared leaving scorch marks. Thestra looked down and saw one tiny single shard in her side, but it too disappeared with the others.

Thestra dusted herself off as she looked towards the cause of the attack. A man smiling stupidly at her from not far down the road. The whole scene caused a commotion among the spectators, which mostly consisted of the theatre goers and the guards outside the prison. The guards looked as if they were going to get involved, but after seeing the silver military coat of the attacker they decided it was better to stay where they were. The families that had seen everything shortly fled without a second thought, but there were still couples and individuals that watched in awe.

"That Green Cloak said you wouldn't come. I was beginning to get worried that he was right, but here you are!" General Amian said.

Thestra looked around her. Luckily her hood still remained up concealing her left eye. Though she didn't know how long that would last. She thought about running away, but that was out of the question. If she left then the general would go into the prison, and she didn't believe that the other three could deal with him. Kagi and Umbren almost died last time they met him.

Thestra's look of frustration was clear on her face, and General Amian noticed, "What's wrong?" He followed Thestra's glances to the onlookers and the prison, and put a finger to his chin, "So that's what's wrong. Don't worry we don't have to make a scene. We don't even have to fight if you don't want to?"

The general sounded overly pleasant for Thestra's comfort, "Is that so? And how may that be?" She said,

General Amian's smile suddenly became more sinister, "All you have to do is submit to me."

Thestra's hands instantly went to her kukris. The general shook his head at her reaction, "I see that you're going to be difficult. Really this could be so much easier. So much easier!" He paused and his smile deepened, "Though this is just so much more fun."

The general reached out his hand. However, after a moment confusion rose on his face, "How..." Confusion turned to fury, "YOU BITCH! What did you do to me!"

Thestra slowly unsheathed one of her kukri at his sudden explosion of anger, though the many murmurs that rose from the crowd stopped her. Unsheathing even one would tell them what she was. Though it wasn't as if they hadn't figured it out yet. She still had to be careful.

"What are you doing? Do I really make you so scared that you can't concentrate on your blessing?" She put a hand over her mouth and gave a subdued laugh, "How embarrassing."

General Amian started trembling his anger and yanked his halberd from the sheath on his back. Thestra narrowed her eyes at his actions, "Do you really want to do that? Didn't I almost kill you last time? Surely you don't want to embarrass yourself even more. Especially in front of all these people?"

The general's eyes took on a look of insanity, "DON'T YOU DARE LOOK DOWN ON ME!"

General Amian charged, aiming to impale Thestra with the tip of his weapon. Thestra jumped to the side when he reached her. All she had to do was stall for time until the others got out. There was no need to actually fight the man.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

As Thestra dodged the thrust, the general never lost sight of her. He swung the blade of his weapon in her direction. Thestra swung her body backwards just nearly missing the blade. She then uses the momentum to flip backwards putting distance between her and her opponent.

General Amian was on her in no time. Swinging, and thrusting his halberd in a blind rage. Thestra avoided almost all his strikes, some too close for comfort. She jumped back once more to give herself a break. Her opponent breathed heavily though if that was from his ire or from his attacks no one could tell.

Thestra was so focused on her opponent that she had failed to notice that her hood had fallen away.

"That's...That's a Hound of Mortis!!" Someone in the crowd called out. His fear spread like a virus to those around them and chaos ensued.

Most of the bystanders ran away in every which way and many screams could be heard along with their retreat.

Thestra sighed, there was no use in concealing them now. Truthfully dodging all the attacks was becoming a bit of a hassle.

General Amian snarled at the fleeing observers, “How annoying, how very annoying! At least there out of the way."

Thestra held her kukris in both hands, getting comfortable with them, she smiled wryly "Awww, were you worried about hurting them?"

"Shut up! Things are more complicated than you could possibly understand!"

Thestra twirled one kukri in her hand, "And I don't believe I will ever try to. But really how much Rena root did you use? You really got back into shape in such a short time. Or was it some other method that you luxcians know of?"

The general took a deep breath to calm himself, "I'll give you one more chance to make me your master, and become the best version of yourself." It was more like a demand than a question.

Thestra pointed a kukri at him, "Don't make me laugh. There's no way that someone like you can make me better in any way, shape, or form. I would actually rather you kill me than end up with you as a master. Not like you can even do that anyway."

Rage once again rose in the generals face, but he spoke with a subdued tone, "Killing you would be a waste."

"Huh!?" Thestra blurted out.

With that General Amian was on her again. However ferocious his attack she would match it with her own. The only problem was that she couldn't close the distance in between them. It was as if he was completely different then he was before. He attacked with brutality, but it was more precise and he left less openings.

Thestra and him were left in a deadlock. Neither gaining any ground on the other. This began to irk Thestra as the fight went on. She almost forgot that she just had to stall until Umbren and Kagi came back with Faldrid.

She started to move around the general searching for some type of opening, but each time he would somehow predict her actions so accurately that it was scary.

The sound of blades clashing drowned out everything. The two opponents spared no concentration or focus on anything other than the one in front of them.

How much time went by neither party knew, but as time passed Thestra only became more and more irritated, while her opponent was quite the opposite. The longer the fight went on the more his anger changed into joy. It got the point where he was laughing madly during their confrontation, which only annoyed Thestra more.

"Say Faldrid, you don't by any chance know where any treasure..." Thestra suddenly became aware of the world around her once again as she heard Kagi's voice, and with it the will to fight. Sure it would be a pity to let a man like this leave alive, but they all had more important things to attend to.

Noticing her break in concentration General Amian got excited and swung with all his might threatening to cut the Hand clean in half. Thestra was able to jump back in time, but the tip of the weapon gave her a minor cut halfway across her stomach.

The attack itself was an opening. Realizing this Thestra jumped at her opponent reading to bring down a kukri on him, bringing an end to this chase.

It was as if time slowed down for both opponents and they looked into each other's eyes, both being the complete opposite of the other. Thestra going in for the kill, and General Amian seemingly having the time of his life.

"Thestra no!" Two voices shouted at her at once, but she didn't have time to heed their words as suddenly her whole body tensed up and locked in place.

She was brought to her knees in front of her opponent. Though she didn't care about him at the moment, her first instinct was to look to the voices.

Faldrid and Kagi stood at the entrance to the prison with two guards aiming their spears at them. However, not very confidently. She couldn't see Umbren anywhere near them.

General Amian didn't seem to notice anything except her, "I almost killed you just then! I must apologize. Though if you were killed by that you probably weren't worth the trouble. Don't you agree!"

Thestra just grimaced at him as a severe pain grew in her head. In response he just looked closer into her eyes.

"C'mon struggle a bit. Do that thing your kind does to block whatever I'm doing. It will be so fun to see you struggle!" The general's voice was full of delight.

Thestra did nothing as the pain grew and grew until it felt that her brain head would burst. General Amian waited a moment but after nothing happened he looked perplexed.

"Why aren't you doing anything?" A smile soon grew on his face, "Are you saying you can't! I gotta say this is a major disappointment. Though now that I think about it, this can be its own kind of fun. Wouldn't you say!?"

Thestra tried to move her body desperately, but nothing would move no matter how hard she tried. It was as if her whole body had fallen asleep.

"Yes, this is it's own kind of fun. I could get used to this! Now let me ask what's under that eyepatch anyway?" Thestra's eyes suddenly widened, and General Amian laughed madly, "Yes, yes, yes, Ijust love that look. Just love it!"

The general slowly reached a hand to the eyepatch. He moved it slowly as to see the fear in Thestra's eyes grow as it drew neat. As he grabbed the eyepatch, he said, "You're mine..."

Thestra was suddenly released from his hold and she rolled away, grasping her eyepatch as if to protect it.

The general looked down, "Uh...What's this?" A black blade stuck through his abdomen.

"It would have been more satisfying if it was the other general, but I can't complain."

Dilem craned his neck behind him to see Umbren glaring at him.

"How...DARE YOU!!" The general swung his blade around to Umbren, who quickly jumped back, but not far enough as the spike of the halberd was dragged across his chest.

Umbren swung his blade to the ground, marking it with a red streak. Thestra looked for a similar streak on his person, but the only thing that caught her eye was a piece of leather armor.

General Amian stood between him and Thestra with the remaining onlookers gasping at the turn of events. The general clutched his side and looked from Thestra to Umbren in a frenzy. His gaze especially rested at Umbren.

"To waste my blood on the ground...you really want to die that badly?! I will be generous and fulfill your wish! So come at me so that I can get a good look at the life draining from your eyes as I kill you!"

Umbren readied Cronai and Thestra her kukris and the two darted at the general prepared to bring the monster to an end.

Just before he got to him, Umbren was blinded by a bright light. He was sent flying as a loud explosion rocked his skull, and before he knew it everything went black.