The boneknit lattice completed just enough to make do before the cover was ripped from above. Rain poured down and the fire popped and hissed. Lye's vision began to sharpen enough to make out Scarlet jump into action. Black vines spouted from her back and plunged into the unknown attacker. Lye recognized his aura through his second sight. The bolt in his chest belonged to this man. Muffled cracks and pops preceded a violent scream of pain. Scarlet put the man on his knees, heel buried in what used to be genitalia. The man yowled one word before Lye spring into action.

"EISKALT!"

"Enough!" Lye roared. The ivory sutures strained against the bellows from his chest.

He forced himself to stand as Scarlet turned to him. The inky appendages flickered and faded into dust. Hand clutched to his chest, the other reached out to her. And then she staggered. The assassin cursed the recent chain of events, but as Scarlet began to buckle under her own weight, he managed to catch her by the wrist. It was a brief moment. As she dangled, pressed against his legs, he saw a ring of amber in her eyes. Between the pitch black and blood red, golden hues crawled through for a fraction of a second as she slipped two words through her lips.

I'm sorry.

What for? Passing out? Taka? Shinsou? Exposing him and his location to the world and enemies? What for?

The black sclera devoured the slivers of gold near as quickly as they appeared and Scarlet's body wracked as though struck with lightning. Parts of her body untouched by the corrupted cracks shattered like glass. New paths and webs of darkness etched across fair skin to the point, it singed his hand. He let her out of his grasp to collapse to the damp earth. Half of his glove fell from his blistered hand and joined her on the ground.

"Fuck," he swore as he clutched his hand.

Two motionless bodies now lay in the midst of the Condordian Forest. One banged up assassin, still lightheaded from blood loss, stood over the two of them.

"Fuck," he repeated, then drew a long, deep breath.

Lye hobbled over to the downed killer, his arms twisted in ways they were not meant to bend. Yet, despite the black wounds from Scarlet's dark magicks, the assailant's chest still rose and fell. Beside him, the shattered crossbow and bolt laid. For curiousity's sake, the assassin plucked the bolt from the ground and stashed it away on his person. As for the two bodies, Lye did recall a farm with a particularly putrid ale, a dead swine, and far more firewood than necessary. In the barn, were several wagons.

What bad luck for that poor soul.

------

The journey took them only as far as Underwood. Neither Scarlet nor the assailant woke during the nightlong trip. The storm subsided mid way, and with his wound shut, Lye felt his strength begin to return. Unfortunately, the farmer and his wife paid the price for their expedited journey. The two children however... Well, only time would tell if they joined their parents in the afterlife. He thought of them on the trip. Why he spared two lives he would otherwise have taken. Perhaps it was the wounds? Perhaps he was worried his assailant would wake? Perhaps he was worried Scarlet would be eaten by a Gorian'Fel? All in all, he spared them.

Once at Underwood, Lye managed to persuade a local mage to conjure up a portal to Archen in exchange for their wagon and the bales of wheat within. It was an unfair trade, but the steal he gave the mage was indeed stolen afterall. There, an envoy from the Sanctum granted them passage north. All the while, Scarlet slumbered and their captive unfortunately slipped into eternal slumber. Lye stripped the man of his belongings and ditched the corpse in the Forgotten Forest for the Dark Crawlers to enjoy.

"Sir, what happened to you?" Caellus asked as he aided the assassin from the wagon.

"It's a long story I rather not tell," replied the assassin. He noticed Caellus pause as he looked at the second passenger in the back of the wagon.

"Go on," Lye urged. "Her too."

"Is that--?"

"Yes, it is. Bring her to my chambers and have that... alchemist take a look at her," Lye ordered with a groan.