Journey Into the Knight

Chapter Thirty-Six

The dawn of a new day. The dawn of the end. HyeJin lays with her arms around WheeIn in their tent, the firelight of the morning seeped through the light canvas that housed them. Today people were going to die. HyeJin had been terrified for so long that she was going to kill someone, with her power, she always feared it being in WheeIn's clan, that one day she was going to be the monster her mother always thought she was.

She was trying hard to make herself see these people as monsters. Stealing people, stealing children, and doing goddess knows what to them, they deserved it... or did they? Were they not just soldiers, were they not just like the Clan, doing what they are told? HyeJin ran a hand over her face, letting the rough surface of her palm rubbing the thoughts from her mind.

WheeIn stirred, shifting so she was facing HyeJin. Her brown eyes looked into HyeJin's, she felt like they were reaching her soul. WheeIn blinked a few times, her eyes closing once again as she moved in closer to HyeJin. "War is messy." She mumbled against HyeJin's chest. "There is no murder in war but that doesn't mean it doesn't make us feel like murders." HyeJin let out a shuddering breath. "We are in this together HyeJin, just like always, I won't let you lose yourself to this, just as you won't let me lose myself." She pushed back so she was looking HyeJin in the eye. "Can I trust you will hold my life as I hold yours?"

HyeJin smoothed her hair. "Always."

WheeIn put a strong hand against HyeJin's chest. "This does not make us monsters." She said it with such certainty, it made HyeJin envious of her. "You will never be a monster, I will not let you so trust me to hold your life."

HyeJin nodded. "I love you." She whispered, this was the only person in her life that ever understood her mind and her heart.

WheeIn smiled. "I love you too." She pressed her lips to HyeJin's, a promise on them. "Let's go get our people." She rolled away from HyeJin, grabbing her hand with impressive strength, pulling them both to their feet. HyeJin followed the woman she loved into uncertainty.

Luna watched as the camp got itself running for the morning. Her muscles tensed when the first wave of prisoners went into the mountain. Every second she waited for them to start screaming, the other clan found out and their plan was ruined. But it did not come. SolBi must have hidden herself and her second well.

From her spot, she could see Mina. Her fire-red hair was visible from here. It was taking a lot of her willpower not to rush in there right now and take her little sister back. But a lot has changed in the last few months, for one, more than just Mina's life depended on this, even if she was the only child Luna cared about, there was no way she would return home and tell those other families she lost their kids to save her sister. Then there was TaeOh. If she ruined this mission it was likely he and YongSun would die before they could even get a message to the castle. She knew Byul would execute her, herself if Luna was responsible for either of their deaths. But she would be kidding herself if she thought for a second she would ever put TaeOh at risk.

After all of these months, she had changed, and she wasn't sure if she liked it. The waiting was killing her but she knew even if she marched in there now, she would not be making out alive and neither would her sister. So she waited and she watched, counting the hours until they struck. This was the end of it, the end of a lot of things, and that was both exciting and unsettling.

WheeIn sharpened her blade. It was pointless, it was sharp enough to cut a feather in mid-air with little effort but she needed something to do with her hands. There was the urge to spar, to practice, to do something but sit and wait, but wasting energy was not going to help them in the long run. She and HyeJin already burned off some extra energy last night, loud enough for the whole camp to hear them, she hardly cared. So she sat and did the one thing that felt like preparing.