Cradle of the Filthy

[Rogue]

How many times had she almost-lost, and then found herself back up on top?

She pushed herself off the ground gingerly and messaged her throat. Her hands hurt. Her arms hurt. Her shoulder blades hurt. She stumbled her way out of the stairway. Every movement was pain, but Arainthe was glad for it. This meant that she was still alive. And if she was alive, then the game wasn’t over.

She was breathing, unlike the rest of the poor sods who had collapsed in the entrance hall of the Tomb. Huh. She knew something looked different about his hallway.

They were the most vivid things in this hall. Nothing else were as red, or as wet as they were. She would recognize that head of blonde hair anywhere, even if the head attached had its eyes closed and were slashed with blade-wounds at several places. The body’s neck was roughly sliced, and it was the body closest to her.

Three more laid in various poses around the hall. None of them were neat. They looked like they were mauled by some large animal. Vicious. Disgusting.

She almost puked at the sight. Instead, she leaned against a wall, and heaved deep breathes. The logical part of her, though, expected nothing less. What else was she expecting when she left them with Hruine? Hruine had no ropes, no tools to subdue. His opponents were armed, and there were more of them. Hruine was vicious in fights, even back at the Temple, except an instructor always stopped the fights before it got too far. There were rules around these things in the middle of civilization.

They’re not in the Temple now, and Old Man Taius had cautioned them about staying alive.

Arainthe breathed sharply.

The chill of fear that shot up her spine stilled her and silenced her pain. She understood something then, and the situation took on a new kind of gravitas. While she had the will to live, Hruine had the will to kill. She wasn’t sure if she could have done the same.

The fact that he only subdued her in the sanctum chamber was a strange mercy on his part.

Which meant that if she wanted to turn the situation around, if she wanted to get anywhere, she had to be more ruthless.

Oh.