Eight Intertwined

21 - Helgenish

The sun was sinking over the edge of the horizon by the time that Primrose and the rest of the group managed to escape the Sunshade tunnels. She hadn't seen a trace of the man with the crow tattoo since they started their expedition, and she was starting to fear that she had lost him. She knew where he was going at the very least, but Primrose was so fired up with adrenaline and rage that she wanted to take care of him then and there. Her dagger had seen enough monsters; it craved the blood of a monstrous crow. 

Primrose was so distracted with looking around the area that she didn't even realize there was a person standing on top of the outcropping of rock that shielded Sunshade from the light of day on a regular basis. Her shoes were sinking into the sand as she made to escape when she heard a voice she wished that she could forget. 

"And where might you be off to, kitten?"

Primrose froze. The rest of the group behind her gasped and shifted their vision up to Helgenish where he was standing alongside four of his underlings. They were all surrounding a figure that was impossible to make out from such a distance, but the silhouette of their leader was unmistakable. "Master... Helgenish..." Primrose whispered, trying to ignore her own breathless panting as she tried to calm her adrenaline from the thrill of an upcoming murder. "Whatever are you doing here at this hour?"

"Funny you should ask," Helgenish said, his voice lacking any of the twisted kindness that he had shown Primrose earlier that night as he cupped her cheek and thought of the disgusting things he was capable of doing to her. He tilted his head in the direction of the collapsed figure on the ground. "A worthless little stray, this one, but she was kind enough to help me catch a rat."

One of the lackeys kicked the figure forward, and a clipped groan was released into the dusk sky. Yusufa came into view, her blue top and skirt covered with blotchy stains of crimson. Her face was bruised, and her hair appeared as if it was on the verge of being torn out in a gruesome chunk. Her skin was littered with cuts and bruises from the beating that she had received at the hands of the men, and her eyes were barely able to open under the influence of her own terror and pain. 

"Yusufa!" Primrose shouted, surprised by the emotion that had sunk its teeth into her voice. Ophilia gasped and reached for her staff, ready to use it at a moment's notice to ensure that Yusufa would survive. Primrose's stomach sank, and she wished for a brief moment that she never had to see that disgusting combination of blue and red ever again. 

"Prim... I'm... I'm sorry..." Yusufa managed to choke out, her voice barely audible above the gentle yet ominous whisper of the desert winds. She tried to push herself off the ground, but her arms gave way beneath her a moment later, and she let out another breathless moan as her cheek made contact with the sand, exacerbating an injury on the side of her face. 

"She was quite intent on keeping her mouth shut, but my boys helped her get it open," Helgenish explained, his voice painfully casual when he spoke of something as gruesome as beating Yusufa within an inch of her life. He hadn't been able to let her die before then, after all; if Yusufa died, there would be no explanation as to what happened with Primrose. 

Primrose's mind flashed with past images of gruesome attacks at the hands of those that Helgenish referred to as his underlings. They were the ones who kept the dancers and the rest of Sunshade's occupants in line, ruling over the town with an iron fist and daggers in the shadows. She remembered past dancers who had been killed or left to bleed out on the streets as uncaring eyes shifted away, understanding that help would only lead to a slit throat or a stab to the chest. Such was the way of Sunshade, brutal and cruel in the face of atrocities that would make one's stomach churn to dust. 

"It seems I was too lenient with the girl. I won't make that mistake again," Helgenish continued, his voice a cavalier drawl that made Primrose so angry she could spit. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Cyrus preparing a spell even though they both knew that they wouldn't be able to reach Helgenish with any type of magic because of how far away he was.