Asharlyn’s mouth formed into a slight grin. “She would let the blade bend towards mercy this time. She would use the cover of the magically induced fog to slip away again. Maybe she could reach a small town or somewhere where there were guards posted to help keep the order in these smaller hamlets and towns. She was not sure of what hold she now traveled through considering her inability to learn what had happened across the many kingdoms since she was imprisoned at such a young age.”
She spoke “Volkun Fiik” which loosely translated to “Shadowed Mirror”. She was now protected by darkness and a mirror that would reflect any initial magic back at its user. A quiet pause for contemplation, “The teacher had said we live both in Sgath, shadow, and Leoht, light. That both were useful if they were invoked in balance. Thus Vokun, shadow magic, and Fiik, or mirror, magic of the light. “
She stealthy moved her way through the pathways revealed by her earlier casting that would allow her to travel around and past her pursuers. Anytime, one of them thought that they had seen something, a noise would draw their attention away from her and she passed by without them ever knowing the lost attention was part of the magic of the mirror, Fiik.
Asharlyn arrived at the edge of the reach of the fog she had invoked to hide her passing. What she did not know is that there was a tracker among them. One who had their own unique abilities. His were of Sgath, dark in their embrace and there was no balance. He had been following her movement as she passed through them quietly. As she neared the cliff-side trail there was a sudden movement of a sword swinging toward her back.
She turned with her Katana swinging upward and singing a song of its making as it sliced the air and met the downward arc of the fighter’s sword. Asharlyn pivoted and as the blade of her sword met the others there was an air splitting sound. Her sword had been forged by metals and fires not seen for over a thousand years. It had shattered the fighter’s sword as if it was made of glass.
Asharlyn then reached out and grabbed the fighter’s shoulder using his bulk and her lighter weight and form to create the momentum to leap over him. While in motion and before she landed she drew her other hand to the hilt of her runic inscribed silver tanto. With a fluid motion she used it to slice deep into the fighter’s shoulder removing his ability to fight.
A cry came out and the man dropped to his knees in searing pain. A voice called out to the fighter’s, “What’s wrong with you? Are you hunters or are you children playing with their toys? It’s only a single girl.” Asharlyn had shifted to another position and then out of shadow came another fighter with dual long knives slicing the air from side-to-side. However, she was no longer where this new fighter had seen her.
Asharlyn had rolled between her new attacker’s slice of his long knives and came out behind. She slid both her blades across the calves of his legs to force him to his knees. The fighter cried out as the pain of her act had fired along the damaged nerves and muscle to the hunter’s mind. Asharlyn then called out, taunting them, “You think you come against a child, an easy target for you. I will teach you respect when you address a daughter of Rhiannon.”
The leader of the group was standing next to the dark magic user and quietly said to them, “This girl was taking her fighters out one-by-one with precision not seen in any one he had ever seen in the current era. In fact, that sort of skill in swords was rarely seen in any era regardless of how old or well-trained they were.” He paused then said, “We need a distraction, it’s time I go in, or I’ll be spending all our remaining coin on burials and healers instead of collecting the coin promised for bringing her in alive.”
The caster nodded silently. They then began to whisper some words, dark in their intent, wrapped in the shadow of their caster. The leader of this band of hunters felt the magic surround him and he vanished from sight of most who were not attuned or aware of magic such as that used on him. He then began to move in silence towards where the girls current trajectory would take her.
Asharlyn was tiring, she dug deep then as the teacher had taught her and thought to herself, “This was exhausting her, how many were there?” She then thought, “I need to find a way to escape this before they got to her through share force of numbers.” It was during this final thought that the leader of this force of bounty hunters had come close enough to open a window of opportunity.
He propelled his sword forward to penetrate her armor. However, in that moment he also broke with the dark magic of the spell used on him. Asharlyn, instantly detected his presence. So fast was her awareness that she rotated to the side and back before his sword stroke stuck her. What had been meant to disable her, now only partially met its mark.
Asharlyn, although extraordinarily fast, did not have time to react quickly enough and felt the bade break through a weakened spot of her armor. She had not had the time to weave repairs due to the constant hide, seek, engagement used with her withdraw tactics.
These hunters had pursued her for a few weeks now. Ever sense she made it down from the high mountain where the temple was perched. Her brain acknowledged and felt the sting of this attacker’s blade as it penetrated her stomach and cut through her skin and tissue. She thought briefly, “This one was different, better trained, smarter or more experienced than the others.” She knew she needed to find a way to end this battle, or she would be done for.
A sudden whoosh of arrows sent not at her, but her attackers slid by her and hit with accuracy a pattern meant to persuade her attacker away. One of the missiles had met its mark and penetrated the extended forearm that held the sword that bit her flesh. Asharlyn reacted instinctively and made a desperate lunge towards the edge of the cliff trail.
She thought inwardly, “This was a risk that could end her life, but one that could also give her time to pass into the hidden pathways again.” She, like her attacker, had accessed that whoever was feathering these hunters, was located somewhere in the valley down below the ridge.
Asharlyn propelled herself into the open air beyond the edge of the cliff. She fell through a series of tree limbs extending outward from its trunk that she used to slow her descent. When she landed she felt the impact of having landed in a thick foliage of bushes and brambles and hit the ground hard enough that it forced the air from her lungs . The pain was intense and Asharlyn began to sense her awareness blackened and her surroundings slipping away into the silence of unconsciousness.
Below, a figure dressed in an old scout’s outfit of the imperial legion of Rhiannon watched in horror as they saw the lone fighter upon the ridge roll off into empty air tumbling down through the trees. Instinct took over and this figure moved towards where she had seen the person hit the ground.
They thought to themselves, “I wonder why they made the decision to launch themselves off the cliff side!” She found the body of the figure tucked away in a deep thicket of bushes and brambles that grew along the base of the cliff side. She reached out and gently let her fingers rest upon her neck to see if there was still life within this person. She sensed it beating and thought, “They were lucky to be alive after all of that, there is a story here. I am going to need to administer some help.”
This new person reached down and grabbed a bag from her waist. She pulled out a small vial and gently removed the sealing cork from it’s top. She then reached out and pinched the figure’s chin to force her lips open and poured some of the liquid it contained into her mouth. She paused in thought, “I am going to need help, but I don’t want to leave her, especially with danger still lurking above. I wonder what I should do?”
Asharlyn eyes lifted slightly. She raised her hand reaching out to touch this lady, their eyes met, and the scout felt something come alive inside of her. Asharlyn then whispered, “The consequence of unseen paths has been set in motion. He comes, trust him, he will not know why he cares, but he will help.” Asharlyn then fell back into an unconscious slumber.
The lady, someone with a mysterious past of her own had made her decision then. She picked up her bow, notched an arrow to it, leaned back to protect her newfound ward. She waited and listened to the world around her.