I was about to chase down Little Brother. He had been pestering me all day, but this was the first time he had done anything like ripping my disguise off.

I felt uncomfortable standing in the open with my hair and skin exposed but the fiend had run towards a busy street and there was no way I could catch him before he hid in the crowds.

Suddenly I heard what sounded like someone close running at me but just as I turned to look I heard a familiar voice.

"Salis!"

It was Ferret! Why was she here!?

"Don't touch me!" I commanded as I turned to her and began to step back.

It was too late. Ferret reached me and began hugging me tightly. She even kissed me on the cheeks several times.

"No! Don't touch me!" I yelled at her frantically.

"Salis…" Ferra said to me, her voice sounding hurt.

I pushed at her. I could already feel her emotions seeping into me. Happiness. Joy. Excitement. Sadness at my rejection of her.

"Stop! I don't want to kill you!" I said, pushing on her harder. It was almost as if she were glued to me.

"Why would you kill her!?" Pali said, coming to a stop beside me. He looked worried and confused.

I then noticed that Medic, Caldren, and Dorito, of all people, were there as well.

I began to feel Ferret's grip on me weaken. I tried to push her away again, but it was too late. Ferret slumped to the ground.

"Ferra!" Pali said and ran to her.

"What happened!" Medic cried, rushing to Ferret as well.

I glanced at Dorito and Caldren. Caldren was watching Ferra, he looked extremely worried. Dorito was staring at me. He looked angry and confused.

"Well, well." I heard an unfamiliar voice coming from the direction the others had come from.

I looked and saw several soldiers standing not far off.

"I was hoping I would see something interesting if I followed you." One soldier said. He was speaking to Medic. "I was thinking it would be the Night Trickster you found, but it was the Terran girl. Not only that, but you seem to know her."

I groaned. I had been doing so well keeping these idiot soldiers from finding me, but thanks to Pali and the others they had found me out. I also knew that their finding me was the fault of those two brothers. I hadn't seen Big Brother, but Little Brother had certainly been here.

"Who is this?" Pali asked Medic.

"Major Grthan. He was the one I spoke to yesterday about the bounties." Medic replied.

I noticed several more soldiers appear in the opposite direction the first had come. The only ways out now were two narrow alleys that ran perpendicular to the one I was on.

"Tell me," Major Pain, the name being what I had chosen for the soldier that had spoken, said, "Are you agents from Flaern? If you are, I imagine the crystal weapons you stole have already made their way back to your countrymen."

I looked at Medic and the others in disbelief. They had stolen crystal forged weapons from the Toa Mirr military? Hadn't they merely come here looking for me?

"What makes you think we would do something so reckless?" Medic replied.

Medic's face was emotionless as usual so I couldn't tell what to make of Major Pain's accusation. Pali, on the other hand, was looking very nervous. Dorito looked like he would wet himself at any moment.

"Aside from the fact that a group of people fitting your description turned up in a village not far from the attack a few days later with injuries?" Major Pain said with a shrug.

"That proves nothing." Medic replied.

"Which is why you were not arrested on the spot. Even still, we have every right to take you in for some "questioning." That is after we take in the Terran girl."

Major Pain turned to me as soon as he finished speaking.

"For such a small creature you have certainly proven hard to capture. You should thank your friends for helping us find you." He said.

I looked from him to the other soldiers. Several of them were armed with short bows. I was confident I could run into one of the alleys before they shot at me, but that would mean leaving the others behind. Could I live with myself if I let them be captured or killed? I had already killed Ferret… No, Ferra.

I looked at them. I knew all of them well, even if I didn't care for most of them.

"Well?" I said.

Medic and Pali looked at me with uncertainty. They then looked at each other before looking at the two idiots and finally at Ferra.

"I will not give myself up to them." Medic said with determination.

Pali and Dario looked at her with pained expressions but did not object.

"I might be able to deflect some arrows with my wind," Caldren said as he looked at the bowmen.

I looked at Caldren. He was pretty good with magic. I had never cared much to find out how good he was exactly, but the fact that he was not Melche born meant that no matter how good he would be able to only do so much.

As for the others… None of them were carrying any weapons that I could see so unless I killed some soldiers for them and they took their weapons they could not do much even if they had daggers hidden on them.

I looked back at the soldiers. They had closed much of the gap and were nearly on top of us. I also saw several soldiers in the alleys now. There was no way this was ending without a fight.

"You are surrounded and outnumbered. If you do not want to die, I suggest you drop any weapons you have hidden and kneel on the ground." Major Pain said when he came to a stop a few meters away.

I grabbed the hilt of my sword.

All the soldiers tensed when I did so and held their blades out just in case I attacked.

I was thankful for the moment that my disguise was gone. The extra clothing made fighting much more awkward.

"Make no sudden moves." Major Pain said, his voice deadly.

I pulled out my sword and held it out in front of me with one hand. Several of the soldiers fidgeted.

"Why do you fight for this trash heap?" I asked the soldiers, motioning around me.

As expected, none of the soldiers replied.

"Dying for a garbage country such as this is one of the stupidest deaths I can think of," I said.

"Enough!" Major Pain said angrily. "Stop your petty insults and drop the sword!"

I took the glove off of my left hand with my mouth and stuffed it into one of my pockets. I loathed using my curse, especially after what I had done to Ferra, but I was going to need to use everything I had if I was to get out of this.

Instead of attacking, I turned to Ferret's body, knelt and hoisted her body over my left shoulder. I knew I was stupid for trying to take her body with me and would be at a disadvantage fighting but there was no way I was going to leave her to these soldiers.

When I stood up I saw everyone was looking at me with amazement, even some soldiers.

"Salis?" Pali said.

"I heard Terran's were stronger than usual but to pick up someone nearly twice your size so easily…" I heard Major Pain say with a bit of awe. "A shame we will put you to death."

I hopped up and down. Ferra was surprisingly light.

"Salis, what are you doing!?" Medic said.

I imagined the woman knew I could not fight as well carrying Ferra.

"Now!" I shouted.

I did not wait to see what anyone else did and rushed to the alley to my left as quickly as I could.

The soldiers were surprised but held up their swords to meet me. Thankfully, they had not yet entered the main street so I would have walls on both sides.

Just before I reached them I dropped to the ground and then jumped at the nearest soldier's legs with all my strength.

Several swords rushed at me.

I easily deflected one with my sword and broke another before slamming into the same two soldiers, sending them sprawling backward into several of the other soldiers. Neither would get up thanks to my ability.

Not losing any momentum, I swung my sword hard and wide, slicing through the armor and flesh of several soldiers before dodging to the side to avoid the counter-attack of the soldiers I had missed.

A knife pierced the neck of the soldier nearest to me and moments later I saw Medic rush next to me and scoop up a sword her victim had dropped.

I wasted no time watching Medic and turned to my next victim. The soldier had stepped back and was watching me, glancing behind me occasionally.

I had no desire to let him wait for reinforcements and jumped forward. He did not last long.

The fight was going much more easily than I had expected. The soldiers seemed to only have basic training with the sword and could not keep up with me. It also surprised me at how slowly they moved.

There were only three soldiers left between me and freedom. To my surprise, the soldiers turned and ran.

I ran and I could hear the shouting and grunting of fighting behind me.

I glanced over my shoulder. Caldren had kept the remaining soldiers from entering the narrow street by filling the entrance with large pieces of debris and assaulting the men with fireballs as they tried to clear the way.

"Calren!" I heard Pali yell. "We need to go! Now!"

Caldren turned around. I saw he had an arrow in his shoulder and his clothes were soaked with his blood.

"Calren!" Pali shouted in horror and ran to the boy.

"Fire!" I heard Major Pain shout from the other side of the debris.

Arrows soon began to rain down in the narrow street.

Caldren turned around and I saw his clothes rustle as he summoned wind. It worked, and the arrows were blown harmlessly onto the roofs of nearby buildings or into the walls.

Pali took the opportunity and picked up Caldren while saying something to him I couldn't make out.

"Go!" Medic shouted. "Before they circle around and cut us off!"

I began running again and soon exited the alley and entering another, bigger street.

I saw that most of the people were already scrambling to get out of the street as fast as they could thanks to several soldiers that had come around using connecting streets farther down.

I ignored them and continued to run across the street until I entered another alley opposite of the one I had exited.

I did this two more times before I finally entered another crowded street. I was not too keen on being seen exposed like this to so many people, but getting lost in the crowd would be the best way to lose Major Pain.

I quickly glanced behind me and saw that the others had kept up with me. Pali and Dorito were breathing heavily and looked like they would collapse if they had to do much more running. Medic, who was now carrying Caldren, looked winded.

I still felt like I could run for hours but was uncertain if I should leave them behind. I knew they had risked everything to come here and find me and the thought of abandoning them made me feel ashamed.

"How far are they behind us?" I asked Medic.

"Not far. We should keep moving." Medic replied without slowing.

She glanced at Pali and Dorito and I saw a worried expression appear on her face.

I turned away from the others and looked around the street, hoping to find anything that would give me an idea.

It was then that I noticed the people staring at me. Several had even stopped and were whispering to each other. I stared back at them for a moment before turning back to Medic.

"We should split up," I said. "If we are lucky, they will ignore those two and follow us. They might even only go after me."

Medic nodded immediately. "I thought that too."

"Where can we find you?" Pali asked between labored breaths.

I told him the name of my inn and about where it was.

"I can hear the soldiers!" Dorito said between breaths.

"You two go that way!" Medic told Pali and Dorito, pointing down the road to her right. "I will go to the left."

I nodded. That meant I was going down another alleyway.

The others wasted no time and took off. I did not budge. I was going to make sure they saw me.

The soldiers appeared before I could even finish the thought. I could not tell how many there were yet, but I saw at least five.

The soldiers had paused immediately after leaving the alley and looked around. I was the first thing they noticed, and they soon began charging at me.

I finally turned around and ran towards my destination, ignoring the people fleeing from the soldiers behind me.

Within moments I had reached the alley and entered it but instead of running as hard as I could I stopped and set Ferra's body on the ground. I then turned towards the soldiers.

No sooner had they entered the alley then I flung a dagger at the lead soldier, piercing his throat. The soldiers behind him crashed into his body as it jerked to a stop and the man grabbed at the dagger.

I charged. Now that I was not carrying Ferra's body, I could use both of my hands with the sword.

The results were messy thanks to the added strength.

The first soldier I struck at tried to block my strike but was too slow and my sword slashed him across his right shoulder to just below his ribs.

I then swung at the next soldier. This one was ready to meet me but his iron sword broke in two and my sword found his flesh.

The next two soldiers fell just as easily.

The rest ran. I imagined seeing your comrades' swords and armor break so easily had gotten to them.

I noticed a movement to my left.

I looked and saw that several more soldiers had arrived, including Major Pain. None of them were moving towards me and the Major watched me for a moment. His face showed admiration rather than anger.

"If only you had not angered the wrong people." He said to me before raising his arm.

It was then that I noticed the soldiers spread out on each side of him were bowmen. All of them raised their bows in unison and aimed them at me.

A dagger hit Major Pain in the neck. His eyes grew wide, and he felt at the dagger for a moment before collapsing.

The bowmen turned from me and began looking around frantically.

I charged the men.

Two more fell to daggers by the time I reached them and had soon been hit.

Three more fell to my sword and another to a dagger before they fled.

"Have they have harmed you, Salis?" Medic said, coming out from behind a stall about ten meters down the street. She was still holding Caldren, who looked to be unconscious now, his blood staining her hands, arms, and chest.

"No," I said and began heading towards where I had left Ferra's body.

"We need to move out before the fleeing soldiers bring reinforcements." She said, catching up to me.

I said nothing. Medic was wrong, the soldiers would flee the city because they would get executed for cowardice if they were found out. Even so, there could still be others left from the group Major Pain had brought.

"That was amazing Salis!" Pali said, he and Dorito catching up to me and Medic just before I entered the alley. "I have never seen anyone move that fast."

I ignored Pali's compliment. I had expected Dorito to say something stupid as well, but he merely stared at me accusingly.

"How is Calren?" Pali asked when he saw I would not say anything.

"I slowed the bleeding but he will not last long if I do not give him better treatment." She replied.

I looked at Caldren's wound. They had broken the shaft of the arrow off and I saw some cloth that looked like it had been hastily wrapped around the wound.

"We should find a healer," Pali said, looking at me. "Do you know of any healers in the area Salis?"

"No," I said answering honestly.

With all the exploring I had been doing the last few days I had yet to see any place that looked like a healer's shop and since I talked as little as possible to the inhabitants of the city I had never asked, not that it had ever crossed my mind.

"I will ask around," Pali said. "The rest of you go back to the inn and stay out of sight. When I find a healer, I will bring them there."

Meric and Dorito nodded.

"You should join them, Salis," Pali added when he noticed I showed no signs of agreement.

I looked at Pali. I had no reason not to go with them. They just might be my ticket out of this abominable country.

"Fine," I said.

"Good!" Pali smiled slightly.

I finished walking to Ferra's body and picked it up.

Pali left after giving a sad look at Ferra. Medic and Dorito followed me.

I looked around the street as I walked to the alley. Most of the people had fled and I could see only a few poking their heads out of various places to see what was going on.

Just outside of the alley, Dorito caught up to me.

"What did you do to her?" He asked me angrily.

"Not now," I replied. "But all you need to know is that you will die too if you touch me."

"How would touching you kill someone?" Medic asked.

"Later," I said. "When Pali gets back, I will tell you everything. For now, I want to get out of here."

Medic and Dorito said nothing more.