‘My god, you have a fever,’ he gasped. Retracting his hand the young man threw blankets over her and wrapped them around her. Then he picked her up on his back and began running away from the camp. She could feel her strength leaving her as the blurs of trees passed her by. Her tear stained face was too tired to voice the pain whatever this ‘fever’ brought her. ‘Navi…’

He spoke in that voice he reserved only for when he was really angry. She didn’t know what she did, but she must have angered somehow. They’d been travelling in the forests ever since they’d left Anna and the kids. Drac called it adventuring but she knew that it was anything but. There had been a lot of angry people yelling at them when they’d left, they called her names and even tried attacking her before he’d stepped in.

He always called her a genius, it seems Drac always forgot that part when he had to tell her something bad…Her eyelids were getting heavy and she could see the stars above…maybe it’s time to sleep.

‘You’re almost there, Navi. Wake up!’

“Ha,” Natravi gasped for air as she regained conscious. Her eyes instantely fell upon the shadowy figure crawling towards her in the darkness. She retracted her legs as her hand lunged for the sword lying nearby. Using newfound strength Natravi plunged the sword into the skull of the undead with her full weight behind it, stopping its movements completely.

When the threat had been dealt with she began to take in her surroundings. She found herself in a dark alleyway, leaning against a grimy wall and seemed in some questionable fluids. It seemed like she’d fought a few undead before falling unconscious in the middle of the battle grounds…alley with the way the body’s were pointing towards her.

After the waves of nausea passed her over Natravi began to walk towards the lighter areas of the darkness that was her surrounding. She felt her way out of the alley, but before she could take another step, a spike of pain stabbed her sides.

The pain spread deeper in and pushed to the middle. She clutched her mouth and stomach simultaneously and resisted the urge to puke. Slowly she began to stumble her way onto the street and looked for any signs of danger.

“Глупое telo,” she muttered to herself as she began inspecting the wounds. The bleeding had stopped and the flesh wounds had healed pretty quickly leaving not even a scar. However still, she could feel the burning and aching sensations of her broken ribs drive in deeper with each breath.

‘Like always, I’m damaged from inside,’ She thought.

“Фарфоровая кукла снаружи, но damaged goods,” Natravi scowled as she felt up the broken ribs. Gritting her teeth Natravi pushed forwards and forcing the pain and bile down wobbled her way onto the street. She half-stumbled her way to reach the cornershops before breathing a sigh in relief when she saw that most of them had been demolished like the rest of the city.

“No corpses,” she concluded.

Soon she found herself stumbling upon the familiar site of a large black building blending in with the surrounding darkness. A string of small squares lined atop the large gate from one end of the wall to the other. Light escaped from those windows and illuminated the small clearing in front, acting similarly to spotlights. She had found the prison.

She could make out some dark figures piled atop one another in those spotlights and before she knew it her body had drifted halfway towards the black building. She could now see several bodies litering the large clearing she traversed. Piles of charred corpses lay scattered around as well as some unburnt ones with arrows sticking out. What caught her attention the most was the small group of the burnt bodies that looked like the creatures that had attacked her and Lidia. They lay, cut up in a semi-circular shape, reaching for another charred corpse not too far.

Natravi’s attention was encaptured by the display so much that she almost missed the arrow flying towards her. The sounds of it cutting through the air, however, caught her attention and on instinct she twisted to the side narrowly missing the arrow. Natravi snapped her head back to the wall and squinted to see the shadowy aggressors atop it.

“I-I…” Natravi tried speaking but since her mouth was so dry from the lack of water that all she could do was huff in a cracked voice. She was sure that to any casual observer, like the archer that sent the arrow, it would look like an undead struggling to make its way. She was proven correct when it came as a matter of course that another arrow was knocked back at her in the following seconds. Natravi took out her sword as a meager shield as she dodged the arrow once more.

“What’s wrong with you Ginn?” a voice came from atop the wall. In the eery quite their voice could be clearly heard even from such a distance. “First ya shoot Miss Mina in the dark half the plaza away, now you can’t even shoot a lit up undead? Give me that!”

Another series of arrows were shot at her, she dodged as much as she could before her injuries began bearing down on her. She got ready for another arrow when pain suddenly spiked in her abdomen, causing her to freeze up and letting the arrow drive into the musculature cut between the bicep and deltoid.

She chocked on her cries and began to wheeze instead as the burning pain spread through her left arm and weighed it down. It was then that her strength failed her and she fell to her knees, cradling her injuries.

‘Why do I have to be so weak?’ Tears stung her eyes.

A cry from atop the wall came, loud enough to pierce through her pain filled thoughts.

“That’s not a corpse! Stop this, please!”

‘A woman?’

“YOU WHORESONS!!!” A gruff voice bellowed from behind the walls soon after. As Natravi awaited a verdict; an arrow, doused in fire and oil, landed beside her, clattering on the stones. She hesitated before she slowly picked herself up and held the arrow above her head, letting the light on her. It seemed her idea worked when the gates opened and a small group shadows came running out.

It looked like a group of angels, glinting in their armor under the rare moonlight passing through the passing clouds. Natravi let a sigh of release before her voice hitched in her throat and she violently coughed at their calloused touch. After the episode with her trying to control her adverse reactions to pain their touch began to soften and she was more carefully carried over to imitation of a castle.

Passing by the gates they brought her to a small room on the right side, just beneath the stairs leading up the wall. The room in which the men sat her resembled a pantry or a storage room before it had been filled with the injured. In her half consciousness her eyes drifted to the others who shivered in their sleep. Most of them were young men, not much older than her and some even younger. Seeing them wrapped up to such a degree brought some…unpleasant memories to resurface.

“Hope you’re doing better than I,” She mumbled, clutching a puppet in the pockets of her cloak.

“What’s that?” A voice came. A woman carrying a basket on her hips hurriedly entered. Squinting, Natravi noticed a large bald man wearing a gambeson follow shortly after, closing the door. The warden stood behind the lady, whom herself sported a bandaged injury and was currently placing all types of bandages, wrapping and ointments on the blanket she had spread before her.

“Nothing,” Natravi replied. The lady wore a tunic and pants too large for her size with a belt that unkemptly held everything together.

“I know what you must be thinking,” she smiled. “And yes these are a men’s clothes. The other ones were too ripped to be considered proper.”

“Hmm,” Natravi frowned. “Have we met before?”

“Ah well, I am the receptionist at the mercenary guild,” she said. “So perhaps we have if you are a mercenary? I’m Mina.”

“Natravi.”

“Oh, I know you,” Mina exclaimed. “You’re the one who started that large brawl about about a week ago.”

“Not-ugh…not my fault men have poor self control over their lust,” Natravi said, directing her pain of the alchohol at the large man. Mina followed her line of sight and frowned.

“Don’t you think that unfair to the rest?” Mina pushed the arrow through another point illiciting a cry from Natravi which she promptly ignored. “I mean, he’s better than most men. After all, I picked him.”

The man grumbled, clearly not happy with her revealing their relationship. After clipping the feathers behind the arrow Mina pushed the arrow completely through the new puncture wound and cleansed the wound with some alchohol. Natravi gritted her teeth and dug her nails into the pouch through the whole ordeal, welcoming the distraction over the burning sensations on her stomach. After Mina had finished applying the bandages and the wrappings on her arm she began inspecting Natravi for any other wounds before stopping at the cuts on her robes.

“Uh…,” Mina said lightly pushin against the fair skin. A look of bewilderment took over as she followed along the broken ribs, protruding here and there to see Natravi’s reactions. Finally she asked, “What, uh, *gulp* what happened?”

“Nothing much,” Natravi said guardedly. “A monster attacked me and broke my ribs.”

“Okay…then why isn’t your skin bruising?” Mina pointed out. “You’re supposed to show blue-black skin and itch that place. Instead your skin isn’t blue and there isn’t any sign of cuts or-or anything. Your ribs are broken and bent the wrong way underneath your skin. If you push yourself too much, it can cut your innards. How’s this possible?”

“Blue and black? My skin isn’t white enough like you coloured people and I’m strong enough to ignore the itch,” Natravi mused; she then mumbled something Mina could bearly make out.

“I-I need to cut your skin and align your ribs,” Mina said reluctantly.

“You can’t, the skin will heal faster than you can cut and fix the ribs,” Natravi said.

“Then I guess I’ll have to keep it open.” Mina replied. Turning towards the large man she said; “I’ll need Strompf’s help with this, he knows more about cuts than me.”

“I’m fine!*Cough*Cough*” Natravi doubled down and only Mina’s quick thinking kept her from puking overself.

“That’s enough,” The man spoke up, “I’ll send for Strompf after I get some answers...we may not get a chance after the surgery.”

“You-*Cough*,”

“I’m the warden; we met yesterday,” He explained. “Now I’m going to ask you some questions, alright?”

Natravi didn’t trust herself to speak yet so she nodded instead.

“Good. Now, what happened to you after the streets flooded with corpses?” And so began Natravi accounts of her perspective on the grim events. She paused many times and more than once broke into gut wrenching coughs, the receptionist lady tried help to help and stop her but the warden remained stoic and patient, asking her to continue every few seconds after her coughs had subsided. When she got to the part about the soon-to-be duchess’; she left her out of the story, calling her ‘mercenary’ instead. When she was done the warden gave her a waterskin to drink from before moving onto to the next question.

“Who did the duke bring with him?”

“He-ugh, he brought almost a dozen guards and 20 mercenaries, with about 10 being of Strike three positions.”

“Hmm, 10 three strikers?” The warden scratched his chin in thought. Before Natravi had a chance to ask anything he suddenly turned and left.

“We’re going to have to set them straight before we can let you be,” the receptionist said apologetically. Natravi closed her eyes and rested her head in wait for whoever ‘Strompf’ was.

“What’ve you got there?” Mina asked.

Natravi tilted her head in confusion before realizing that she still had that pouch in a death grip. She slowly loosened her grip and accepted the pain with gritted teeth. Her stomach still hurt.

“You know, if you talk about something-anything-you’ll soon forget about the pain.”

‘ ‘Why don’t you tell me about those blue flowers you found, maybe the pain will go away if you talk about them’…That was a nice memory,’Natravi thought.

“You thought of something pleasant?” Mina said, packing up the linen, scissors and alcohol. Seeing her frown, Mina elaborated; “You were smiling. Although, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a smile so small. So, what’s in the pouch?”

“Why this pouch?”

“Well, granted I haven’t been a receptionist for too long but I’ve never seen one so small. Usually those of this size are supposed to hold salt or coal dust but the way you’re holding it tells me it’s something different?”

“It’s nothing too special,” Natravi proceeded to loosen the knot. “See, just a toy.” She held up her hand to show Mina.

“A puppet?”

“Nothing special”

“You’ve kept it for a while considering it’s ‘nothing special’. Maybe it’s it from ‘someone special’?”

“It was given to me as a present when I was younger,” Natravi said. “We were growing up too fast for our liking, duties and the like were keeping us separated. Soon the friend I’d spend almost the whole day with became almost a stranger.”

Natravi closed her eyes resting her head back against the wall.

“We learned to savor the few minutes we got to play and for sometime, it was alright. It wasn’t perfect but we learned to live with it. But then one I day I didn’t see him the entire time the sun was up. I didn’t see him the next day, nor the next and like so two months passed by. His duties and my own would always interefere one from the other, more so for him than me.”

Natravi grinned as she held up the puppet to observe it in the lantern light.

“But it wasn’t him who was to blame for it. Unknowingly I had begun to avoid him, avoid a lot of people actually. I guess I was just acting childish at the time and everyone knew about it, except me. One night he asked me to join him for a walk, the way he asked that…I couldn’t say no to that. I…had some worries about what it would mean, growing up. He gave me this puppet to help. So that, if I ever grew into this person with so many worries and burdens that it could change who I am, I would have this puppet to remind of the childhood, of the simpler times to help make the decisions and give me strength to which wouldn’t-uh…”

She felt heat rise to her cheeks when she realized what she’d been sayin’ and that Mina was intently lisening to all of it. Mina fervously nodded for her to continue and Natravi was certain that she was blushing as she tried to hide her face under her hood.

“Continue,” Mina asked with baited breath.

“No, I think I’m alright now. The pain’s passed now,” She said embarrassingly.

‘What’s gotten into me? I haven’t spoken like that to some stranger since I was six. Is the pain making me lose control?’ She thought.

“I take it you haven’t talked like this someone for a while, huh?” Mina smiled seeing her expression. “I’m a receptionist; half of our job is noticing what people are thinking.”

“Not since I was a child.”

“Who have you been talking to recently? Gotta pass the time somehow if Strompf is gonna take some time, also I’m very curious about how you’ve never had a girl talk before.”

“…I’ve talked to girls before. But I usually talk to uncle or Vlad when they’re available.”

“But you didn’t-talk to them about this-I mean,” Mina smiled when she nodded hesitantly. “Well that explains it.”

“What does it tell you that I can’t figure out myself?” Natravi frowned she felt a sense of relief when her face returned to it impassiveness.

“You’ve probably have been raised by only men if you can’t. Since you’re just surrounded by men all the time you bottle up the things that you can’t talk with them and latch onto the next woman that comes along-”

“-So this happens,” She realized. Her frown deepened and she began to slip back into silence before Mina asked;

“Why childhood?”

“Why childhood what?”

“You said you used that to help remind you of childhood to make the decisions, why childhood?”

“All stories claim children to have the most innocent and pure souls, their judgements are simple. Sometimes I find falling back on the shadow of my younger self helpful to deal with certain judgements.”

“That’s a weird way of doing it, using a puppet I mean.” Mina smirked.

“This is the only method I know, it has helped before so I think I’ll be keeping to it.”

“Hehe, I had thought it was to help remind you of your friend,” Mina fixed with a look that Natravi found unsettling. “That friend you like.”

“It would be stupid if I didn’t, considering all that he’s done for me.” Natravi said, confused.

“Haahaha,” Mina’s giggles caused some stirring from the sleeping wounded and she fought with herself to control her laughs.

“Hmph, I never understood why everyone reacts like that,” Natravi muttered to herself.

“M-maybe because they don’t expect such an answer from someone like you. I mean, you look so calm and clever that no one would expect such a straightforward answer.”

*Knock*Knock*

“Miss Mina,” a child’s voice caught their attention. Natravi stared with narrowed eyes as the door creaked open to reveal a little girl of no more than 10 years. Mina had stood up and after embracing the girl in a awkwardly asked; “Did you have a nightmare Mina?” Mina moved cover the girl’s view of the injured.

The little girl nodded, drowsily leaning againt the older woman for support.

“You are married?” Natravi said, raising an eyebrow to the girl.

“Oh, no-no, she isn’t mine,” Mina said. “A mercenary brought us here and left the children under my-our protection.”

“Hmm, he was warm,” the girl smiled. “But he smelled like ash. Hey miss Mina, do’you think that maybe his armor was really silver but because of all the dirt and ash it looked*yawn*black?”

“C’mon Mina,” Mina patted the girl. “that’s your sleep talking. Let’s get you put to bed.”

“No!” the girl shouted, startling the women. Colorful shouts for them to ‘keep it quite’ came from down the back of the room to which Mina apologized with a bow. She knelt beside the little Mina and asked; “You have to keep it quite, Mina. Some of the brave men are resting back there. Now, tell me why don’t you want to sleep?”

“I-I had a nightmare,” Mina said with a shiver. “If I sleep I’ll meet them again, I don’t wanna meet them.”

“Who did you meet?”

“…them. The…uh,” the little girl looked over to Natravi and Mina’s gaze followed her but before any of them could say anything Natravi spoke up.

“It’s alright I don’t judge, nor do I snitch. You two can talk freely in my presence.”

“No that’s okay,” Mina said standing up. “Come on Mina.”

She left with the girl in hand, leaving Natravi in the symphony of snores and whisps of the sleeping. She waited one, three, five minutes before the two Minas returned looking defeated. The older one offered her an apologetic look and explained; “Everywhere is busy.”

She nodded and returned to looking at the opposite wall impassively.

“Alright, so tell me. Who did you see in your dreams?” the woman asked.

“I-uh,” Mina glanced at her way and hesitated.

“It’s alright, she not going to say anything,” Mina reassured.

“I*Sigh*see those Alexandrians.”

At the mention of that Natravi frowed but remained where she was, stealing a sideways glance to see Mina frowning at Mina.

“You mean those men you tortured in the dungeons or those men who you enjoyed hearing screams from?” Mina said with a scowl.

“Mi-” the little girl’s voice was lost in her throat as she took a step back.

*Sigh* “Wait, I’m sorry saying that,” Mina said. “I’m just, ugh, Mina you know what you did was wrong, right? You’re just a little child, you shouldn’t be doing that.”

“Bu-But sis and brother Zach did it too! They killed my parents!” When Natravi stole another glance she saw that tears threatened to fall.

“That doesn’t mean you should kill them too, and Rina and Zach weren’t the ones smiling after that,” Mina said coldly. “What you did was a sin; these nightmares are a sign from god that you should repent for what you did. Now, do you feel bad about what you did?”

“…yes” She said something inaudible.

“Mina?”

“Yes, I know I did bad. Waah!”

Natravi looked over and saw the little girl crying in Mina’s shoulder, her sobs wetting the woman’s garmet in a matter of seconds.

“Shh, shhh, this is good Mina, accepting is good.” After a minute the cries subsided but the girl didn’t let go. In a quivering voice she asked; “Wi-will they go away?”

“Yes, now that you have accepted your wrongdoings you won’t see those men in your dreams anymore.”

“Th-they aren’t the only ones I saw.”

“Who else did you see?” Mina said, caressing the girl’s face.

“I saw mum and dad. They were shouting at me.”

“Hmm, well the next time you see them apologize for what you’ve done. Say your sorry, accept and mean what you say. Then maybe they will leave you alone.” Mina nodded. “Now is there anyone else you see?”

“Yes, he didn’t say anything but I think he wasn’t happy with me.” Little Mina’s face crinkled. “I don’’t get it, he was mad at me but he told me I could do it, so why miss Mina why do I keep seeing him.”

‘She’s enjoying playing dreamreader…and now she feels guilty for it,’ Natravi assessed, observing the slight changes in the woman’s face.

“Uh, was this person Drac?”

The little girl nodded.

‘What?! Uncle Drac was here?’ Natravi’s mind raced to the beginning of their conversation as she carefully observed the clues that hinted this.

“He told you to do it...but then didn’t like you for doing it. It seems like he’s the devil in disguise.”

“That can’t be right.” she spoke up drawing both Mina’s attention. "I read that differently, I thought he was just angry at what you did. Tell me little Mina, did he really tell you do it or was it more like he didn’t say anything when you did it.”

When little Mina bowed her head, hiding her face behind her hair the older one asked;

“Mina? Is what she said true?”

“I-I told him to keep his promise and-and he just said if I was sure he won’t stop me. Isn’t it his fault as well, he didn’t stop me when he knew it was sin.”

“Little girl,” She said coldly. “You are blaming others for your own fault. You have nothing left to defend, only accept and even now you can’t accept when your wrong. Was it not you who forced him with a promise he made in different circumstances to suit yourself? Did you not force him to keep quite while you went about doing what you pleased? And now are you not blaming him for your mistakes!? It is you who is in the wrong-”

“Natravi!” Mina’s glare drew her attention and she saw the girl once again on the verge of tears. “I think she understands.”

“…Good” she said, returning back to staring at the wall.

“Come on Mina let’s get you to bed,” Mina picked up the girl and carried her out, closing the door behind her sharply.

“Hehe, damn wench,” someone spoke beside her. Glancing over to the bodies of men lying in rest she saw the eyes of one bearded guard glint in the firelight. Ignoring him she returned to stare at the wall in wait. “I promise ye me lady I’m a lot more interestin’ than that wall.”

“The wall is more accommodating than you, it does not speak,” She responded.

“Psshhh, I’ll show you what can’t speak-”

“Oi Marx, shut up some of are actually tryin’ ta sleep here. And leave that woman alone, she’s taken.”

“Hmph, she’s a bitch anyway,” Marx said before turning his back to her. Natravi’s attention now was on the man who had spoken up.

‘How did he know I’ve a fiancé?’ She thought. She revised what she’d said before but couldn’t come up with anything. Eventually curiosity got the better of her and she asked;

“Excuse me, how did you know I was ‘taken’?’”

“Ha, sweety you aint never gonna hide anything if your such a poor liar,” he laughed before curling up in pain and hugging his sides.

“So that was why?” Mina said from her left. She snapped her head to the side and saw a smirk playing on the woman’s lips, behind her stood a large man wearing a black plated armor. The most distinguishing feature about him was the curved mustache the semed to insinuate a contant smile. The man walked over to her and offered his hand.

“He’s Strompf, Karl’s second in command,” Mina explained as Natravi took his hand. He pulled her up and gave her face a long awkward look before smiling.

“That lucky bastard,” He said to himself, walking out the door. Mina motioned for her to follow but before she could say a word in edgewise Natravi walked forth and slapped the back of his head.

“He is not a bastard,” She said coldly. She heard a collective gasp from behind her as her audience waited, with baited breath, for his response. Strompf stared at her for a moment before suddenly back handing her across the face, she could’ve moved out of the way but took it with a defiant (hopefully) look. Backing down now would mean she couldn’t defend his honor infront of these scoundrels.

“You’re right, now follow me so I can fix ya up already and ye can get out of my hair.”

Without another word Natravi followed. She had to control herself as she walked past Mina’s open-mouthed stare and away from the ‘whoo’ and ‘whoops’ of her injured audience. The rain had stopped now, leaving everything smelling awfull. She rubbed her nose and caressed the spot where she was slapped, it hurt imensly but her skin showed no signs of it. She was led up the stairs to a small room at the end of the balcony.

The room had two other doors by the side and long table with a cushion over it. Another smaller was placed next to it with a few tools she vaguely recognized from when uncle Drac was injured back home. Strompf stood beside the little one and asked for her to remove her robes.

“Don’t tell me yer naked underneath,” he teased when she didn’t respond.

“Can you not do it through these cuts?” She guestured to the long cuts on her robes which showed off the skin.

“Can’t do that. Don’t ‘ave enough hands ta keep the robes open, now strip!” he smiled.

“Strompf!” Mina said, appaled at his wordings as she came in. “Decency. Come on, Natravi you can borrow some of the space clothes.”

*Sigh* “It will take too long,”Natravi began pulling up her robes. She stopped and glared at Strompf; “Don’t ask stupid questions.”

“What’s that supposed ta mean-oh shite.” Strompf stared with wide eyes as Natravi took off her robes in one full swing, depositing the garment off to the side. She immediately frowned at his words and looked down at herself to check her decency.

She still wore the doublet with forfitting sleeves and the hoes, without the attention to the middle piece. Other than the cuts showing her skin she wore it properly.

“Which noble did you steal those off of? Are you trying to get killed?” Strompf exclaimed. “Mina, I ain’t treating her if she’s gonna die of breaking the laws.”

“The sumptuary laws only affect those who are found incriminating it and for fortunately for you I am not violating the laws, only the social laws of a woman wearing a man’s cloth.”

“You, you can’t be…but you talk like that and dress like that! I…I slapped a noble,” Strompf paled, his voice barely a whisper. “I’m getting executed, ain’t no way around it.”

“Natravi is that true?” Mina asked hesitantly.

“I told you to not ask stupid questions, now will you help me or should I leave?” Natravi said, miffed.

“No, no my lady, please lay down. I’ll be sure ta-to, I’ll be sure to work on, I mean help you,” He stammered.

“I am no noble, I am merely a mercenary. Nothing more.”

“Yes, my lady. Of course, my lady,” Strompf licked his lips and wiped away some sweat as she began lying down. “Oh, wait my lady. Drink this, please.”

Natravi looked at the offered bottle and shook her head.

“Oh no, it’s alright, see” Strompf took a gulp from the bottle, cleaned it with a cloth and offered again. Seeing as it was not poisoned she took the bottle, it was never bad to be too cautious what did she have to lose. Taking a few mouthfuls of the thing she suspected was alchohol, she waited a few moments before lying down for the experiment.

Natravi knew it was a risk to trust these people, especially now that they knew of whom she was but her situation couldn’t be helped. If the wound was left unattended it could cause greater damage. She could feel herself slipping away as the lower part of her doublet was unbottuned. Before she could go though, Natravi sent a prayer to whoever listened to watch over her. She wanted to believe in the gods but since uncle Drac always argued it was only one who could create all she accepted it and prayed to it.

‘If God needed help from others like him to make us and everything we know around us, then he isn’t powerful enough for my worshipping. Do what you will, but I believe there is only one god, only one being powerful enough to make us all. I don’t need a river god or a land god or a sky god to worship separately; too weak on their own and in the face of a true god, my god.’

‘My god is great. He is true. I pray to him so he may watch over me in my time of weakness.’