“Better safe than sorry.” Shaya nodded to her brother. “Also, walking into our turf to hurt someone? We have to send them packing so others get the message.”

“Then let me join you. I know what I’m doing.”

“I know you do,” she replied, expecting this from him, “but you need to stay with the goods. Get to a good vantage point and vanish if things go awry.”

She saw that he wanted to argue, but both of them could hear the footsteps now just a few buildings away. “Fine.” He slung the bag over his shoulder and scanned nearby rooftops for where to go.

“Hey,” she said to him, calling his attention back to her, “slow is smooth.”

“Smooth is fast,” he finished, sighing.

“Good.” She smiled. “Besides, maybe it’ll be totally fine.”

“You jinxed it.”

“I’d never!” Her smile turned into a grin.

Shaya hopped off the roof and rolled to her feet in a fluid motion, turning to offer a hand to Rel since he was less experienced at parkour than she was. He ignored it, hopping off the roof on his own. The pack’s contents rattled as he dropped down with less grace than her. They exchanged a look that lasted less than a second, but both siblings conveyed everything they needed to in that moment.

Don’t you dare say anything.

Know what you’re doing, eh?

Then they parted ways.

Shaya stalked away from the incoming noise and looped around to the back of the encroaching thugs. The boardwalk creaked as she moved along it, the Jade Sea’s warm waters oozing between cracks in the boards, but the sounds wouldn’t carry to be heard over The Blight’s general groaning as buildings shifted and water lapped against the wood. By the grace of the upper district’s enforcers, lanterns suspended on poles emitted a magical light that cast everything in a grimy shade of green, making the scrap wood all around her look even more decrepit.

“Someone, help!” a girl shouted nearby. The only response was the sound of doors and shutters slamming shut.

Unkempt blonde hair fell into Shaya’s eyes and she slicked it back behind a pair of thick horns that swept back from her forehead. Peeking around the next corner, she saw the girl rush past with three young men following a few feet behind. Cursing her luck, Shaya ignored them and continued moving the direction they came from, pausing to peek around that shack’s corner. Another young man flitted from shadow to shadow, leaning against the corner of each building as he did so.

Amateur. Could you look more conspicuous?

Seconds ticked by as she watched him, seeing if anyone else seemed to be entering into her territory. The man looked to have settled into his current shadow, head still stuck around the building’s corner like a sore thumb. He didn’t look around much at all but did clutch something bulky in one of his hands. Seeing his weapon, she checked the shivs at her hips to make sure they were ready to draw, if needed.

A cat yowled from the direction she came from, followed by another yowl three seconds later.

Time’s up. Go time.

Shaya slid around the corner and her long legs brought her to the rearguard a heartbeat later. The young man was a good foot shorter than her, but heavier than her given how much further food went when you weren’t trying to fill out a giant-blooded physique. He started to turn only as she planted her foot next to him, but he didn’t think to cry out in time. She shot a scarred, conditioned fist into his gut with the full weight of her body, driving the air from his lungs. As he doubled over, she grabbed his hair and slammed his head into the wall, dazing him further. Before he could topple to the ground, she twisted again and slugged him across the jaw.

She caught his tunic as he collapsed like a sack of flour, lowering his unconscious body to the ground without a sound. She patted him down, smiled at the clink of coins in his small pouch, then pulled a brick from his hand. She quashed the urge to make a snarky comment to the unconscious body, instead blending back into the shadows and moving towards the invasive thugs and their victim with her new brick.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Ears twitched as Shaya moved within range of the exchange again.

“Uh-oh,” Jikni said, tone vicious, “looks like somebody ran into a dead end. Lost, are we?”

“G-get away from me!” the girl shouted back, Shaya recognizing her as one of the usual vagrants of her territory by the furry, foxlike ears and tail. The girl was a full demigol, unlike Shaya, whose heritage was mixed with kitahm and more. “Our guys are going to be here any second!”

“Ho-ho! Looks like we got ourselves a spirited little mongrel!” The man cackled. “Shame we need to make an example of you, given how uppity your little gang is getting.”

Shaya came upon the scene just as the girl whimpered and shrunk away from the two thugs that cornered her against the edge of the docks. The third stood further back, looking Shaya’s way as she approached. He squinted hard into the darkness, but his eyes weren’t nearly as attuned to it as hers were.

Being a ‘mongrel’ had its upsides.

“Nalak—is that you? You’re supposed to be—”

He was cut off as Shaya’s thrown brick smashed into the big man’s nose. Cartilage shattered from the impact and he wailed as he fell backwards. Shaya rushed past him as the other two turned towards the noise. Jikni responded faster, so Shaya angled her approach towards his slower, fatter underling and planted a foot in his chest, launching him past the cornered woman and into the dark waters.

“Titan spit!” the leader spat, spinning away from Shaya to get some distance. He sneered as he looked her up and down. “Oh man, you chose so poorly. Get him, boys!”

“I’m a girl, dumbass.” Shaya replied frostily, her knuckles popping as she clenched them and fell into a fighting stance. A few feet away, his friend flailed in the water. “And you don’t have any boys left.”

“Nobody screws with the Canal Snakes!” He pulled a long shiv from his jacket, the brutal thing made from sharpened scrap metal, and lunged at her.

Shaya accepted a shallow cut on her scarred forearm as she deflected the stab and countered with a jab to the side of his head. He rolled with it and lashed out as he backed away from her. She dodged back from the slash and waved at the girl. “Get behind me!”

“I don’t think so!” Jikni shouted, grabbing the girl’s cloak and yanking her back towards him. “You beasts need to learn your lesson!”

Panic filled the girl’s eyes as she was dragged into Jikni’s grip, too afraid to even fight back.

Shaya lunged forward, wrapping her hand around the shiv’s edge as it went for the girl’s throat. Ignoring the pain, she punched around the girl and into Jikni’s face with her other hand, taking advantage of her unnatural height. The blow didn’t land with much force, but it still broke the thug’s grip and allowed the girl to scramble away from them.

With her out of the way, the two street fighters focused on each other. Shaya let go of the shiv and pulled one of her own, Jikni going berserk and launching himself at her. His reckless attacks left him open, but her counterattacks were shallow to avoid letting any cuts past her forearms.

“What’s that!?” the girl shouted from behind her.

The thug Shaya had kicked into the water put his arms onto the dock and prepared to heave himself up, a malicious grin on his face that promised retribution.

The grin was replaced by terror and pain as he screamed. Something dragged him deeper into the sea, the water churning red. The thug’s fingernails scraped across the wood of the dock as he resisted being dragged all the way back in.

“Go help your friend!” Shaya shouted, deflecting another of Jikni’s stabs and stepping back rather than exploiting an opening.

“I’m not falling for that!” Jikni retorted, pressing his offensive.

Shaya was done playing nice. She accepted another cut across her forearm so she could counter with a slash across Jikni’s wrist, her own shiv leaving a ragged tear that opened up the veins there and forced him to drop his weapon.

“Clamp a hand around that if you want to live!” Shaya snapped, rushing past him to his ally.

She dove to the floor of the dock and just managed to grasp his wrist before he was dragged into the water. The girl rushed over to grab Shaya’s foot, giving her just enough traction to pull with all her might. Wiry muscles strained and managed to pull the fat thug further out of the water. He scrabbled up the boards for a better grip, something still attached to one of his legs.

Before Shaya could identify it, the thing released its prey and disappeared back into the dark waters.

“Thank you,” the thug cried as Shaya dragged him further onto the dock, several large teeth sticking out of his injured leg.

“I’ve got you now, you filthy mongrel!” Jikni snarled.

Shaya’s eyes narrowed at the slur before she shouted, “Now!”

Jikni took another step towards her and a little pouch smacked into his face, bursting into a cloud of red and brown. The smell of pungent, hot spices filled the air and the thug started coughing and sputtering as they got into his eyes, nose, and mouth. He fell to his knees and rubbed at his eyes in desperation, screaming in growing panic. Neither helped rid him of the burning sensation.

“Are you okay?” Shaya asked as she pulled the other thug to his feet while it was Jikni’s turn to scream.

“I am,” he replied, wincing as he put weight onto his mauled leg, “no thanks to this piece of spit.”

Before she could agree, the water churned again and a monster leapt from it. The thing that landed on the docks had the body of a shark—maw, fins, tail, and all—but possessed even more features that just made it wrong. It stood upon four legs that ended in claws like a cat and its skin changed colour to adapt to its surroundings.

“Titan-spawn!” Shaya shouted, eyes wide. She had never seen a living one up close. “If we work together, maybe we’ll live!”