††† Haylee †††

When Haylee entered the sewers from the opposite side again, she quickly shifted to her fully feline form and sprinted through the tunnels. She was anxious and furious at the same time. It was her only job to keep Siegfried safe, and even if she did not yet dare to hope, Eurydike was convinced that the young guardsman could grow into a warrior and leader, capable of changing their cursed fate.

"Not even out of the city, and I've already ditched it, dammit!" She cursed to herself. Her claws bit deep into the stone as she turned from a sideway into the main tunnel, muscular hindlegs propelling her dark champagne coloured form forward without losing velocity.

When she reached the gate chamber, Haylee changed back into her human form near-instantly, crying out to the bloodied warrior, "Siegfried, you're alive!" Her genuine relief was distinctly hearable.

"Alive and hungry," his voice came ragged. "You got any meat in that bag?"

Haylee failed to stifle a laugh. "Yeah, you're definitely alive," she grinned. Her steps faltered for a spell when she saw the chest of his attacker rising. "What are you going to do about that guy? He's still alive," she brandished a single claw, throwing Sieg a questioning look.

"Let him live and bandage his wounds, please, but see if Eurydike added a rope to our supplies to restrain him. I need to talk to him." Sieg answered.

The cat-girl raised a delicate brow at him while moving over to the lever for the gate. It seemed Siegfried had stopped the bleeding and already healed part of the damage. But she still felt a pang of guilt. The wide gash covering his whole upper body must have been quite deep, and he was still lying in a puddle of his own blood.

Haylee opened the gate and retrieved the backpack she had dropped there. After handing Sieg a dozen stripes of dried meat, nuts and beans to help his body produce more blood, she took care of the still-unconscious young man in the black leather garb.

"No visible changes. That's rare," Haylee observed. "What's his ability?"

"He has none," Siegfried answered between two bites and grinning at her perplexed expression. "His name is Hall, newest recruit of our division and the youngest at sixteen years. He's a normal human."

"How in the underworld did that boy manage to mangle you like that?"

Siegfried chuckled, "He's easy to underestimate, isn't he?" His smile faltered when he started to explain. "Hall's family died a cruel way… it's a miracle he didn't break from it. But it did form him into a dangerous young man." He eyed the unusual outfit of Hall again. "That black leather garb isn't from the guard. Must be his own acquisition. I reckon that he only joined the guard to get intel on different changelings and then hunt them by himself afterwards."

Haylee noticed the change in posture as Siegfried stood up and walked towards their captive. His jaw was set with strain, but his eyes showed sympathy.

"He is a victim to the lies of Akali's servants, just like we are," Sieg continued. The damaged leather vest creaked as he knelt down in front of the boy. "And his talent, combined with his grim determination, turned Hall into a frightening individual, forged by the pain of loss. He just needs a different target for his vengeance. He needs to know the truth."

Haylee didn't interrupt Siegfried. The way he leaned towards his former companion, gaze fixed on the pale face, she knew that he wasn't talking to her anymore.

††† Siegfried †††

"I know you're already awake, Hall," Sieg intoned. "I can see your blood pumping faster through the vein on your neck."

Hall's eyes shot open wide, and pure hatred rolled off his gaze like a dark wave, causing Haylee to instinctively bare her claws. "If you thought of torturing me for information, you got the wrong man, filth," he spat, biting down a grunt of pain as his cracked ribs protested again.

Siegfried sighed, "No one's going to torture you, Hall. We bound you, so you would have to listen."

"I'll not believe a single word that comes out of your twisted mouth, changeling!"

"Use your head, Hall! There would be no merit in keeping you alive to a changeling. I know you don’t want to hear the truth, and by the gods, I know the truth will be harder for you to accept than for most. But you need to know."

Hall didn't respond. He held Siegfried's intense gaze with a look of depthless contempt.

And so, Siegfried started explaining everything he knew about the 'evolved people' and the process of changing. All the while observing Hall's reaction and composure. He let out the fact that servants of Akali must know of it to not overwhelm him.

There was only hate and defiance visible in the hard features of the boy's face in the beginning. But for a flash here and there, Sieg thought to catch a flicker of doubt as logic tried to pry open a hole into the thick walls that shielded Hall's mind.

"You think I would believe any of that shit?" Hall raised his voice, welcoming the pain in his chest that came with the deeper breath. "You think I would trust you more than the Red Brigade who has kept your kind from overrunning the city?" He almost shrieked now, and Sieg knew Hall already believed him. But the madness that now shone in the boy's eyes made him swallow. Of course, the honest look of compassion on Sieg's face only stimulated Hall's rage further.

"It cannot be true!" he shouted. His face was reddening already, and his gaze unfocused. "It cannot be!" Hall cried out again, causing a sharp pang of pain to pierce Siegfried's heart. "For what? What did my father and brother die for?" he screamed at the only man he could direct his hatred and pain at right now. "My father strangled a changeling to death to save me! He was a hero!" Tears flowed freely as he cried, and Haylee couldn't hold back either anymore. "My mother gave up on life because a changeling took her husband and son! A changeling!" Hall's voice broke.

He hardly registered the burning hot agony from his cracked ribs – it wasn't enough to distract him as he cried. Siegfried let him and just asked Haylee with a glance to look out for any unwanted company as there was surely someone coming down to investigate the noise.

When Hall had no strength left to cry, his eyes seemed lifeless and hollow. Siegfried already feared the worst. It would be no surprise if this was just too much for a sixteen-year old's mind to bear. Guilt gnawed at his conscience as the silence stretched on.

And then, suddenly, the fate-stricken young man refocused his gaze and a fire, hot-burning like molten metal replaced the emptiness. He shook again now but not out of grief. His body shook from barely contain rage like Sieg had not seen it in all his life. He brought out only two words, his voice dripping like acid, carrying the promise of vengeance.

"They knew."

Losing the target of his hatred — the goal of vengeance — had nearly broken Hall. But understanding that it had been the lies that caused his father to think of his son as a changeling provided him with a new enemy. Something he could cling to.

"I will slay them all," he promised.

At first, Sieg didn't know what to say. After this scene, all he wanted to do was hug the brave young man, but he knew that compassion was not what Hall needed now. So instead, he cut the ropes that held him and offered a hand to help him up. Hall accepted with a grunt, and their eyes met. An apology was neither needed nor wanted— their wordless exchange was enough.

"Thank you, Siegfried," was all Hall said, and it was all Sieg wanted to hear.

"That's what friends are there for, Hall." He looked again at the dark attire and made up his mind. There was no way to keep the boy from fighting the Red Brigade, but he didn't need to do it alone. "Get in contact with Bolverk. He knows everything and will start building up a resistance in the city. You can't beat an enforcer in a straight-up fight, but with your cunning and athletic training, you can let them bleed, nonetheless. The resistance can supply you with information, and if you have the location, you can use the cover of the night to assassinate them," Siegfried suggested.

The tall warriors gaze softened as he thought of one last piece of advice. "Stay in the shadows and never let anyone see your face. During the day you can keep living your life, make some friends, take whatever you can get. Only hunt at night and don’t let anyone but Bolverk know, not even Svana!"

They grasped each other's forearm, and Siegfried nodded a farewell. "Live in the light, kill in the shadows."

Hall left, wordlessly but with new purpose and confidence. Siegfried's last words echoed through the boy's mind as he smiled darkly, groggily making his way back to the western districts.

††† Haylee †††

After evading a group of guardsmen, which had been sent to investigate the noise in the sewers, Haylee and Siegfried made for the grand gate at the northern part of the wall. As planned, it was already late into the evening as they climbed out through a drain cover behind a tall stone-built warehouse. The looming outer wall cast a giant shadow, obscuring them even from the faint moonlight, but Siegfried's thick, torn leather vest creaked with every movement.

Haylee grimaced. "You have to get rid of that thing if we are to move stealthily. It's hardly holding together anyway, and you should also clean up the blood— you reek like a butcher."

"Alright, alright," Siegfried chuckled. "But there is no aqueduct near, and we can neither break a supply pipe nor sneak in a random house for access to water."

"I know the area, and there's an old well not far from here. Follow me."

Siegfried complied, and Haylee navigated through the empty alleys in the dark with decisive strides until they reached an old, overgrown stone well amid an untended garden. It belonged to an abandoned, bedraggled house, and Haylee watched, amused as Sieg carefully felt his way forward. No street lantern or torchlight would reach there.

"How are you able to walk so surefooted through the dark? I can barely see my hands in front of my eyes," the warrior inquired. When Haylee turned around to face him, two faintly glowing yellow eyes with vertically slit pupils stared back at him. The shift of height and position told Siegfried that she just cocked her head in a 'is that explanation enough?' gesture. "Okay, never mind," he snickered, shaking his head.

"The well is just behind me," Haylee answered in an amused, self-satisfied tone. "Let me fetch you a bucket of water." She operated the derelict drawing well as silently as possible and guided Sieg to sit on the broad edge, next to the big, wooden bucket she brought up. When he worked himself out of the damaged, stiff leather, Haylee was glad he could see her face flush in the dark.

Though she couldn't see colours at this level of darkness, the cat-girl could perfectly discern the muscles' contours on the chiselled body with her enhanced eyesight— a grey sculpture of physical perfection, almost inhuman in its composition. When the rigged, tall warrior started to wash away the blood and grime, Haylee bit back a purr of delight at the sight of his muscles working.

"There, all done," Sieg stated confidently. "The hot season of the year has already started, but the nights can still be quite chill," he hinted.

It took Haylee a second to react. "Oh, sorry—" she rummaged through the contents of her backpack. "Here, we have one blanked for the nights. You can use that to dry yourself." She was glad to have managed to keep her voice on a conversational level so quickly. "There is also a black raincoat for you. It's thin but should keep your body temperature and match better with the shadows."

After drying up, Sieg held his leather vest for a moment in front of him before tossing it into the well. "Seems like this was my last day as a guardsman, huh?"

"The guard meant much to you?" Haylee asked. She couldn't quite discern his tone, but it sounded melancholic to her.

"The day Bolverk brought me into the guard was the day my life changed for the better," he answered. "I was living as an orphan in the slums before that. Anyway, that’s in the past, and we have to make use of the nighttime. Lead on, Haylee." He donned the wide raincoat, and they made their way to the front gate.

††† Siegfried †††

It was the first time Siegfried saw it from a close distance, and his spirit dropped a bit when he studied the enormous steel gates that were the only entrance to Nemeah. According to their information, there should be at least fifteen third-class enforcers manning the inside of the walls, led by a single second-class enforcer. And he honestly hoped that Haylee was as dangerous as they made him believe.