SPIRIT ANIMALS FANS MUST READ!!! I created a idea for Spirit Animals series #3

Chapter Nineteen: Saulren and the Mysterious Woman

WARNING!!!!! This chapter includes a graphic murder scene that may be disturbing for younger audiences. Be warned. 

THE MYSTERIOUS WOMAN

 The young woman sat on top of a throne. At first glance, Saulren mistook her for a child, due to her unusually small frame and delicate features. She couldn't be more than 15 years old, but upon closer inspection, he saw the maturity in her gaze, aged not with experience but pain. He could see that this woman was born through a daunting past, one that spoke through a ghost that sat over her shoulder and cursed her flesh. Something had happened, and that very instant ruined her life. Her scarred flesh was deathly, a hollow shell of her once beautiful self. Covered in crudely drawn tattoos as if she was trying to cover herself, Saulren thought it possible that she had a spirit animal marking, but the mess of ink was impossible to pick through even up close. Her slate skin was albicant, toning into darker shades as it sulked under her eyes. And her once full lips were now pulled tight and wore a stain of scarlet blood that never ceased to leak from her mouth.

The woman wore a long red drape that hung long on her sleeves and nearly reached the floor. It was covered with black layered armor and silver ribbons tied around her waist and arms. A couple chains rested on her hips, holding a tattered flag in place, with some beast-like creature painted into the fabric and the words: Survival Demands Sacrifice.

"Pardon, Madam." Saulren uttered, feeling his breath catch in his throat, a blend of terror and pity twisted into a sharp knot in his stomach. A sense of dread clung to the woman like a shadow, impossible to expel. It wasn't just her appearance, rather like a ghoul from a wife's tale, with a darker and more sinister aura that made him sure she would snatch his soul out of his very chest.

"Speak up, I can barely hear you." She commanded.

Saulren was confused for a few moments, his head trying to comprehend what she had asked. As he struggled to find his voice as she watched him, his legs began to shake and he was afraid he would collapse. But through the dread, he managed to speak.

"Forgive me, I'm just... uncertain of how to proceed."

"Uncertain?" she murmured, "You called for my attention, and I accepted, So speak."

"Of course. Ummm.... Madam, I was hired to smuggle you the needed medication." The man spoke, "But as you can tell, the doses are getting weaker and-?" He paused, choosing his words carefully. "The price is increasing."

The woman flexed her tattooed fingers and peered at him, sunlight hitting her pale corpse-like face.

"And why is that concerning? I have plenty of money to spare, or do you play me as a weak, broke girl?"

"NO! I would never think you were." He hurrided his relay. "It's just... I didn't think the price was acceptable for what you were receiving. That medication has become rare and the only man who still made it died, passing the knowledge to his grandson, who doesn't put in the required effort to make it... um... worth it.''

"Why would you care what I get, I'm paying you the same each time regardless of if I get five vials or twenty."

"You are... However, I don't want to keep risking my neck if we could simply find a new supply. Perhaps steal an existing stock in a Noble's house? Or I bet those Greencloaks have a stash inside their walls."

"Yes, of course. Wouldn't want me dying, at least not yet." Her blood-shot eyes narrowed and he had a feeling that he should run, get as far from here as he can.