Chapter 1
Chapter One
Well, this is a fine mess you have found yourself in.
She sat on top the last of the men she had just cut down, her left arm resting on the hilt of her sword where she had drove it into the ground, but Teila knew that soon enough she would have to use it again. The snow came down in waves on top of her and everything else as she sat atop the dead man’s chest. The small battlefield and the men’s camp was covered in a few inches of snow already, except where there was chunks slightly melted from all of the blood that had been sprayed. Teila tilted her head and tried to decipher patterns in the bloody snow, then she looked down at the man she sat on top of. He was beginning to be covered already, but the large gash in his throat was still noticeable.
Movement made her look away. One of the men in the bloody circle was still breathing; his breath coming out of his mouth bits of vapor as he struggled to breathe.
You left one alive.
“I didn’t leave him alive,” Teila said as she watched the man’s chest slowly rise up and go back down, “I got him across his stomach. His insides are laying there beside him. He’ll be dead soon enough.”
She continued watching the man as the life left him. He convulsed and turned his head towards her, staring at her with blank eyes. Teila stared back into his eyes not moving an inch. His face contorted and his body tensed up, then he began to seize. Teila knew all too well that this was the man’s last movements in life. Part of her wished people could have a more dignified death, no matter the circumstances. But as she watched the man, she knew he was shitting himself in that moment. No dignity in that. He let out a half gurgled breath, half moan, and then that was it. His life was over.
Teila looked around the field to see if any of the other seven men were still breathing. All of them were already gone and in various states of dismemberment, courtesy of Teila herself. Bored with the campsite battlefield and the dead men strewn about, Teila moved her gaze to the surrounding area. Because of the snow, her vision only went to the tree line in front and to the sides of her. The men had managed to put their camp in the direct center of the clearing she was in. The trees began to sway as the wind picked up and Teila felt herself moving along in a motion similar to their swaying.
“Are you dancing?” she heard from her side. Teila glanced over to see Azure flapping her small wings as she hovered over in her direction.
“Not dancing,” Teila replied indifferently. “Just swaying.”
Azure stared at Teila with her small but big eyes, and then flapped her wings sending some of the collected snow off of her. “You know,” she said shaking some more snow off, “this cold doesn’t affect me, or you for that matter, but this snow shit can go to the pit.”
“If it doesn’t affect you, then why do you care?”
Azure groaned and shook some more. “Need I remind you that I am less than a foot tall? And that when this snow begins to collect on me that it weighs me down. You don’t have to worry about this, but you are a human, and normal size.”
Teila stopped swaying and looked at her tiny friend. Azure was wearing a black coat over her normal form fitting black armor and a little tricorn hat. It would be either comical or cute to anyone else to see. “Your size is normal for what you are.”
Azure threw her arms up and groaned again. “Forget it! Forget I even brought it up.”
“Forgotten.” Teila returned her gaze to the swaying trees.
Azure stood on the ground next to Teila’s leg tapping her foot with obvious impatience. “Are we done here yet?”
“Not until who I came here for arrives.”
“But that could take forever!”
Teila looked back down at Azure, and said, “You agreed to accompany me with my hunts. This hunt has lead us here. The man I am looking for is not among these men. But this is his camp. So he will return at some point and I will collect my bounty.”
“Meanwhile you get buried in snow.”
“So be it.”
Azure stomped her foot and shook her body and wings again. “Well, I don’t much relish the idea of being buried alive.”
“I’ve been buried alive,” Teila remarked. “Not in snow.”
“Yes, yes. And you dug your way out with naught but your hands.”
Teila nodded and returned to her swaying. Azure scrunched her face up and surveyed the campsite. “Well,” she said smiling, “you can sit on your ass and be buried like these men will be. But I’m going to keep moving.” She flapped her wings a few times before rising from the ground. “I bet these guys have to have some gold on them.” She fluttered over to one of the closest bodies that was not being sat on by her companion.
Teila watched her fly over to the dead man and start moving snow off of him. “So much blood in you people,” Azure commented, moving the red snow away. “I’ll need a bath or two for sure after this.”
Teila continued observing as Azure looked to have found a pouch. She disappeared from sight for a moment and came out holding a couple bones that had been chewed on. “Yuck!” Azure said throwing the bones away, then she dived head first back into the pouch. After a few moments of silence she reappeared holding a couple gold coins. “Jackpot!”
Azure held the coins up for Teila to see. “Put them back,” Teila said flatly to her friend, “we don’t steal from the dead.”
“What the hell, Teil? They’re not going to need or use it anymore. And we have to eat. Well, I have to eat.”
“We get our gold from these hunts.”
Azure quivered her wings angrily. “But we could always use some more. Come on, Teil?”
Teila opened her mouth to tell her to put them back again, but a noise in the woods behind her cut her off. She spun around and listened, the snow falling off of her as she did.
“What’s wrong?” Azure asked.
“Quiet,” Teila whispered, knowing full well that Azure’s ears would allow her to hear it through the wind. “They’re coming.” She turned back around and reassumed the position she had been in.
Azure’s eyes widened and she dropped the gold. In an instant she disappeared from sight. The only sign she had been there was the sound of her panicked breathing that Teila could still hear.
Teila remained motionless for a few moments as she listened to the oncoming sounds of the men from behind her. The sounds began to become clearer and she could hear that they were on horses, and obviously surprised at the sight of her sitting among the bodies of their comrades.
“What the fuck is this?” one of them said as they came up behind her.
Teila didn’t move or look behind her. She just sat on the body with her arm still hanging on the sword’s hilt. She heard several of them get off of their horses and land heavily onto the snow covered ground. Their armor clanking as they did. Footsteps began to come closer to her, and then the sound of a sword being drawn sounded out through the wind.
“Hey, bitch,” the one that came up behind her said, “get your ass up and face us.”
Teila tilted her head but faced forward.
“Hey, Gern,” another said from further back, “be careful. She couldn’t do this alone. Someone else has to be lurking about.”
The one called Gern moved from behind her and came into view on her right as he looked around the campsite. He was wearing leather armor and a steel breastplate over it. He turned to her and snarled, showing his mouth full of blackened and missing or broken teeth. The snow fell upon his already wet, or maybe greasy, hair.
“Alright, bitch, where is the rest of your crew hiding?” he asked her.
Teila glanced up at him and he backed away with his eyes wide open.
“Gern,” another called out from behind, “you scared of this bitch?”
Gern stopped backing up when his feet hit one of the bodies on the ground. “Something’s wrong with her eyes. They’re glowing red!”
Teila smiled as she looked at Gern. He shakily raised his sword up. From behind her, she heard the rest of them start walking up and making their way in front of her. Five more men joined Gern and stood in various spots among the dead. All had armor in various states of wear and tear. Some had only leather, some a mixture like Gern. One had almost all full plate on, except for his right arm. They all gawped at her when they looked at her face and eyes.
“Boss,” the one directly in front of her in the plate armor called out, “what we going to do?”
Teila heard a horse neigh behind her, and then the sound of another heavy landing on the ground. “Well,” the person behind her said, “what exactly do we have here?” He came into view and walked right in front of Teila.
“Boss,” Gern said, nervousness evident in his voice, “we need to get out of here. This isn’t right. Something is wrong with her and everyone we left is dead.”
“Fuck that!” the one in plate said. “I say we kill this bitch.”
“She killed everyone,” another standing near and left of the one in plate remarked.
“Bullshit! She didn’t do this.” The one in the plate began to step forward.
The man in front of her held his hand up forcing him to stop, and then he crouched down and looked Teila in the eyes. “I know who you are,” he said. His face blank yet nonetheless full of emotion.
He was a very handsome man, Teila had not expected that. His name was Victor Tresk. Age forty-six. He was around six feet tall and two hundred pounds. His bounty was put out for the murder of a family along the road outside of Torin, as well as an assortment of other crimes, including more murders. Teila memorized every bit of how he was supposed to look. Including his graying dark hair and beard, as well as the burn scar on his cheek. He stared at her with unblinking brown eyes.
“As soon as I saw your hair,” he said finally, “that fiery red hair, I knew who you were. You’re the Red Death, aren’t you?”
Teila grinned and nodded.
Victor shook his head. “I knew it.”
“Boss,” the man in plate said confused. “What the fuck is going on here?”
Victor ignored him and looked over Teila. “I never knew you would be so damn good looking.” He continued looking down. He stopped and looked over the body she sat on. “That’s my little brother you are sitting on,” he said with a hint of anger in his voice.
Teila continued to smile.
Victor nodded. “Yeah, you know.” He looked back into her eyes. “I thank you for not killing me outright.” He stood and drew his sword. “Are my men part of the contract?”
Teila shook her head.
“Probably only ever think about the leaders when they make those bounties.”
The man in plate stepped forward and drew his sword from his back. “I’m sick of this shit, boss. Let’s kill the bitch!”
“You can try, Bart, but it’ll do no good,” Victor said to him.
Bart snorted and lunged forward with his sword. He swung it hard at Teila’s neck. His intention was obviously to severe her head, but his aim was off and he only succeeded slashing her straight across the throat. She grunted as the blood sprayed from her neck.
“Ha!” Bart laughed victoriously. “Bitch is as good as dead now.”
Teila felt the searing pain and the blood rush from her. She put her hand up to her throat, and then looked at the blood that was on it. The idiot didn’t do the job he wanted, but it was a good cut. She laughed as best she could, but it just came out as a gurgled wheeze.
“What the fuck?” Bart said backing away with his sword pointed at Teila.
Teila put her hand to her throat again. She could already feel the wound healing, and the blood was starting to stop flowing. She grinned and stood, stretching as she did. The men surrounding her backed away.
“I suppose you all can run if you want,” Victor started, “but if there’s any man in you, you will stand and fight until it’s finished.”
Teila popped her neck as the healing finished. She leaned over and pulled her sword from the ground and shook the snow from it. She stood with it at her side, waiting.
“Fuck this bitch!” Bart moved forward again with his sword up over his head.
Teila twisted herself sideways and thrust her sword up with only her right arm. It caught Bart in the groin and continued all the way up through his armor and body until it came back out at his jaw. Bart stopped and dropped his sword, his insides pouring out of the gaping hole that split him in the middle. He fell into the snow. The heat rising from the canyon that used to be his chest and stomach.
“Holy shit!” one of the men screamed.
“She just split Bart in half!” screamed another.
Teila took her sword and flicked it to her side, throwing blood away from the blade.
Well, that was certainly an amusing way to kill a man.
She brought the sword up and held it in both hands. Victor read her face and glowing eyes. He raised his own sword up to block the sure to be blow just as Teila swung. Her sword shattered his asunder, and then sliced him across his chest. Blood sprayed and he screamed in agony as he fell back to the ground.
Teila spun on her feet toward the next nearest man, and swung again. She caught him at the neck and sent his head flying from his shoulders. One of the others nearby took a swing at her and slashed her left arm through her leather armor. Teila growled and kicked him hard in the chest. He stumbled back and dropped his sword.
Two more rushed at her from both sides of her with their sword and ax up and swinging. Teila only had time to dodge one, the sword was first, so she chose it. The man missed her by an inch as he slashed down at her body. As she moved out of the way of the sword, the ax slammed directly into her ribs just under her right arm and up across her breast.
She felt the ax split and break her ribs as it came to rest in her. The momentum shook Teila’s whole body and lifted her from her feet and sent her to the ground. She landed with a thud and grunt next to the man she had kicked to the ground. Blood started to pool in her mouth as she started to stand, the ax must have went all the way to her lungs. The man rushed to his feet and away from her, leaving his sword behind.
As Teila started to rise to her knees, the one with the sword rushed at her. Fortunately, she heard him coming and moved just as he swung the sword down where her arm just was. Teila twisted on her knees and sliced her own sword straight across at his legs, severing them both just above the knee. He howled as he toppled to the snow, and then writhed in pain, holding his stumps.
Teila quickly stood to face the remaining three men that still stood. All three stayed in place and gaped at her as she readied herself. She followed their shocked gazes and saw that the ax was still firmly stuck in her chest. Teila chuckled that she didn’t realize it, and then used her free hand to try and pull it out.
“We have to get the hell out of here,” Gren screamed at his standing companions. He dropped his own sword and took off. The other two men looked at each other, and then Teila who was still struggling with the ax. They did as their friend, dropped their weapons, and ran after him.
Teila pulled the ax out of her ribs and studied the rising vapor from all of the blood in the cold. She was aware that the three remaining men had fled from the fight. She didn’t blame them. If she was not what she was, Teila was sure she’d run too. She looked down at the legless man, still writhing and holding his stumps. Teila raised the ax with one arm and brought it down, burying it in his face. He seized and stopped moving.
“Don’t run!” Azure yelled. Teila looked up to see her tiny friend blink into existence hovering a few feet behind the fleeing men. Azure began moving her arms in a circular pattern at her sides and in front of herself until a bright light appeared. Crackling bits of electricity began to coarse through and away from her. Then, Azure pushed her arms forward with a scream as a lightning bolt streamed from her and raced to the running men. The bolt slammed into one of the men and he wailed as the electricity took over his body, then arcs streamed from him and to his fellow bandits.
Azure turned to Teila with a satisfied grin as all three men screamed behind her. Teila gave her an approving nod, and then she inspected her chest and ribs. Not that she couldn’t already feel it as she looked down, but her ribs had already started to reform as they healed from the ax splitting them. She spit the remaining blood that had pooled into her mouth out and made her way to the prone Victor. Azure fluttered her way over as well, just as the three screaming men became silent.
Victor looked up at Teila as she made it to him. He reached into a pouch on his waste and withdrew a tiny bag. He hefted it front of himself, revealing the sound of the coin inside. “Any chance that I can pay you to let me live? There’s platinum in here.” he asked her.
Teila raised her sword up and pointed it at Victor. “You can’t buy me, Victor.”
“Worth a shot,” he chuckled. Teila put her sword against his chest; the jagged onyx blade already cutting into his armor. “That sword is quite amazing,” he remarked looking down his body at it.
He has no idea.
“Will you make it quick?”
Teila stared down at him. He wore a face full of sorrow and regret, but she only saw the killer that she had taken the bounty for. The one who had murdered innocents.
She looked into his eyes. “No,” she said emotionlessly, and then she thrust the blade through his chest and to the ground below.
Victor gasped and tried to scream, but nothing came out. His eyes darted as he flailed his arms around helplessly. After a few seconds, his eyes locked onto hers as he moved his hands to the blade. Victor’s face contorted into one of anger and he tried pulling the sword from his chest.
Teila sighed as he lifted it out of himself slightly, and then she pushed it in all the way to the hilt and sat down on his lap. She kept her hands rested on the hilt while she continued looking at his eyes. “I missed your heart on purpose, but I got your lung, so this will take some time for you to die. I like to watch people’s eyes as their life ends, since I myself will never know what that true death feels like.”
Victor shakily reached his arm up towards her. Teila leaned forward and let his bloody hand touch her face.
“There’s so much you can tell about someone as they die. Right now, I can see all the things you regret in your life. All the horrible things you’ve done.” Victor tried to grab onto any part of her face, but his strength was leaving him. “You’re probably thinking of all the things you’d like to do to me right now. Even as you expire.”
“…Youu…Biiisssh,” Victor gurgled through the blood in his mouth.
Teila smiled wickedly at him as his hand moved around her face. “So those will be your last words? Shame really. I was hoping for something more this time.” She raised up and away from his hand. Blood was beginning to pour from his mouth now, and his breath was coming out only as wet rasps. “Well, won’t be long now,” Teila remarked.
Victor started to shake as his breathing became impossible. Teila’s grin grew wider as she watched his death throws. With one last body tremor, Victor stopped moving and let the last garbled breath he had out.
Teila stretched her arms above her head and raised her head, moaning as she let the snow fall onto her face. She waited a few seconds before using her gloved hands to rub and mix the snow and blood on her face.
“You have some serious issues,” Azure said to her, causing her to snap out of her little moment. “I’m pretty sure you just got off doing all that.” Teila regarded her small friend with her face covered in blood. “And you need to clean yourself, lest you want to look like one of the people we hunt.”
“There’s a stream nearby, I’ll clean myself in it.”
Azure shook her head and landed next to Victor. She walked to his side where he had dropped the bag. “Well, I heard what he said was in here. Some platinum would be nice.” She reached down and opened the bag of coins that was almost half her height. She whistled when she looked in. “Must be a hundred pieces in here.”
“I thought I said to leave the dead’s coins?”
“Hey, he offered it to you. So, it’s not really his anymore.” Azure picked one of the shiny white pieces of metal up out of the bag and held it in both hands. “Look, I won’t do this again, just let me have this one little bag.”
“We stand to make five grand on Victor here,” Teila pointed out.
“True, but this can be, like, a rainy day fund.”
Teila looked down at Azure’s pleading face.
The man offered it to you. Take it.
She grabbed the bag and the coin from her friend and put both into her own pouch. “Once. One time. We don’t steal from the dead, but since technically he did offer it, I’ll overlook it.”
Azure laughed giddily as she flew up and gave her large friend a kiss on the cheek. “Ewe,” she said wiping her face. “Go clean yourself, woman.”
“I shall,” Teila said standing up. “But first, I may as well do what must be done to him in order to get paid.” She bent over and took hold of her sword’s hilt, and then slowly pulled it from Victor’s body.
“Your armor is pretty torn up,” Azure said, flying out of Teila’s way.
“Yes, I’ll have to get it mended again.” Teila stepped over Victor up to his head and raised her sword, and then quickly swung it down cutting his head off. “Perhaps you could do the mending for me?”
Azure shook her head. “I’d love to, but as you saw, I used a lot of my energy with that lightning bolt.”
Teila nodded and picked the head up. She let the blood and other insides drain out as much as possible. From her pouch she pulled out a folded up sack, and then stuffed Victor’s head into it and tied it off. “The stream is nearby,” she said to Azure. “Come, let me clean this all off of myself, then we can leave these mountains.”
“Good,” Azure groaned. “If I never see the Sulan Mountains again, I think I’ll die happy.”
“No one dies happy,” Teila stated, then took off towards the stream. Azure sighed heavily, and followed her friend.
Just beyond the tree line they started to hear the stream. It was not far at all, and the cold had not frozen all of it, at least not yet. Teila shuffled through the snow while Azure flew alongside her mumbling to herself about the snow still falling on her. As they moved along, Teila looked down at her armor where the ax had torn through only minutes earlier. She played with the hole and found that her breast on the right was all but out; only a flap of the leather from the armor covered enough that it wasn’t obscene. That was bound to get some looks when they made it back to civilization for sure.
The sound of the stream grew until they fully heard it rushing a slight ways in front of them. Teila picked up the pace and walked past the last few trees until it was before her. “Wow, now that is pretty,” Azure remarked when she caught up to her friend. Snow covered everything on either side of the water and the bits of the brook that had frozen. Trees swayed in the wind and snow. Everything was covered and yet serene.
Teila took off her belt and dropped her sword, letting them fall on the snowy bank. Then she let the bag with Victor’s head drop as she headed for the water. Azure landed next to Teila’s things and watched. The woman waded out into the stream until it was at her waste, then she dropped and submerged herself.
Teila let herself sink into the few feet of water and remained motionless. She opened her eyes and watched the brook flow over her. It was calm and Teila felt herself succumbing to the peaceful water around her. She closed her eyes.
This peace you are feeling will not last.
Teila opened her eyes back up. She mouthed the words, “I know.”
Peace is a lie.
“Yes,” she uttered.
Teila felt around beside herself at the rocks and sticks at the bottom. The desire to let the water take her away was strong. Teila closed her eyes again and wished to herself that maybe her unending nightmare of a life could end. But she knew as soon as she opened her eyes back up that she would still be there in the water. Still alive, yet not.
Satisfied that the water had done its job of cleaning the blood, Teila raised herself up and stood. She was sure it was colder out now, but she did not feel it. On the bank where she had left her items, Azure stood tapping her foot.
“Do you have any idea how long you were down there?” she asked Teila shaking herself free of snow again. “An hour! One fucking hour! I should have ported and left your ass in the water.”
Teila shook herself and ran her hands through her hair. “Didn’t feel like an hour. Am I clean enough?” She held her arms out for Azure to inspect.
“Yes, yes. You’re fine. Except that your tit is hanging out.”
Teila looked down at her chest and found that the last little bit of leather covering her right side had come down, exposing her breast fully.
“Going to cover that up, are you?”
Teila shrugged, and then started messing with the strips of leather of her armor until she was covered enough to get by. “How many ports does your stone have left?”
Azure huffed and gestured with her right hand. There was a quick flash of light and a small gust of wind blew against her as a small black circle appeared in front of her. Her very own pocket dimension, as she liked to call it. She reached in and produced a small oblong crystal roughly half her size. The crystal seemed to be slightly heavy for her, but Azure always insisted on keeping it herself, usually by saying Teila would fuck up if she had it and end up teleporting them into a wall, or into the sea.
She studied it for a moment, then said, “One. Call that luck, I guess.”
Teila walked through the water and back onto land. She picked her things up. “Come, take us to Frostleaf. We’ll get to the guild from there to claim our bounty, then we’ll look into getting that recharged.”
Azure shook herself again and spread her wings before taking off and flying up to Teila. “Won’t be cheap,” she said, taking hold of her friend. Azure began mumbling in another language, Teila recognized it as elven. The snow falling around them froze in midair, and then a bright light surrounded them and they left the mountains.