BLCK

VI

Kristophe Bluetooth, the King Of The North, stared us down.
"Why have you come?"
"For you." I replied simply.
"Fine."
"Just like that?" Lydia cut in, lowering her weapons.
"My people come for my head. They wish for my death, and I'm tired of killing to no end. I am finished. I will come with you, but if you order me to kill, I shall not."
"I thought this would happen, that, or you would resist us. I have studied your traditions, Bluetooth. I know of your honour duels. I especially know that you still hold to them to this day, so. I challenge you, Kristophe Grimmsbane Bluetooth, the  Warmaster and King Of The North, son of Harald Grimdark and Helga Runesbane. I challenge you to a duel for first blood, the winner becomes the losers Thane."
"Thane?" Queried Charles.
"Their word for lord," I replied, crouching low and raising Soul Reaper, "do you accept my terms?"
After a hesitation, "I do."
And then we were fighting, the fight was agreed upon, and that was enough. His ax clashed with my scythe, and I would have been thrown back, Had I not used the momentum to spin and crack the haft of my weapon against his back, whilst simultaneously tripping him over my outstretched leg. He stumbled but slammed the ax pole into the ground, using his momentum to throw himself back around leading with his foot. I blocked the kick and we locked weapons, his face inches from mine.
"You fight well." He grunted
"I give no quarter." And it was true, I had yet to move from the area that I had originally stood. He growled at my featureless faceplate as he attempted another swing, I blocked, realising I was evenly matched with this man, everything he tried, I blocked, but he wouldn't give up, and judging from his physique, he could well outlast me in a protracted duel. So it had to end. I threw Soul Reaper to the side, catching my opponent off-guard, I drew the Murder Twins, and slipped in under his guard, emerging behind him, as I did so, I drew my right across his ornate breastplate, the tip cutting across the small gap between the front of his breastplate and the back. I rose and put my weapons away, moving to pick up soul reaper. I turned and faced Kristophe, who was kneeling in the snow, his head bowed, his ax in the snow before him.
"What are your orders, my thane?"
"Follow me, and follow my orders, no more, no less."
He bowed his head lower, "your will be done, my Thane."
I turned and walked through the snow, I heard my team walking silently behind me. As I walked away, I sent the employer a text, taking a gander.
-Mission accomplished, Miss Fall
-You are well informed, advocate, I expect to see you in Vale soon.
-I shall arrive within a month
-see to it that you do, I look forward to seeing you there.
-And I you, Miss Fall
And just like that, my suspicions were confirmed, I was once again working for Cinder Fall. Despite myself, I felt a thin smile form, the bitch wouldn't know what hit her.

The next month was rather eventful, I got to know my team better, their quirks and their habits.. Lydia was deathly afraid of frogs, it turned out. She had gone to have a bath in a nearby pool, and had run out screaming, sopping wet and stark naked and draped herself over me, begging for my help, realising what she was doing, her body went white as a sheet as her face exploded into an inferno of colour. To preserve what little dignity she had remaining, I carried her back to the pool and sat her crying form on a rock as I found and removed all traces of frogs in front of her. I then lowered her sob-wracked body into the pool and turned to walk away. As I did so, I felt a gentle tug on the hem of my cloak.
"D-Death? Can you stay here? And make sure none of them come back?"
I sighed and sat on the rock I had sat her on and dutifully kept a lookout. I drew one of my hidden throwing knives from within my armour and spun it as fast as I could. Not stopping until she announced she was done. I then stood up and left with her trailing behind me, her holding my cape for comfort. As we passed, Charles opened his mouth to make what would undoubtedly be some lewd comment, so I silenced him before he began, my throwing knife embedded itself directly above him, and he shut his mouth as a few locks of hair fell past his face. I strolled over and plucked the knife from the tree and wordlessly jumped into another tree to sleep.
Kristophe would become very paranoid when it was sunny. The superstitions of his land believed the sun was a bad omen, there were many upsides to this, one being that he did positively ridiculous things, and another was that he became highly observant. He also took to following in my stead and sleeping in his armour-scale mail and plated pauldrons, greaves, gauntlets and a chestplate, alongside a horned helmet designed to strike fear into the enemy. Despite this, he was intensely loyal to me and highly obedient, plus, he was mine for life now, so I would never lose him. But I digress. I suppose his highlight was the time he convinced himself the fish of Vale were plotting against him. He had come running out of the undergrowth one day wearing full armour and calling us to arms, we followed him to the river, searching for signs of danger and were confronted with a pile of dead carnivorous fish. "Confound these fish! My Thane! They plot against us! I have already slain many of their soldiers, but they are endless! Come, my Thane! Help me stem the tide!"
Rolling my eyes, I waded into the river after him, signalling the other two to follow.
"You jokin' mate?"
"You're not joking Death?"
I glanced back to them and motioned once more, my decision was final. That day, we ate a lot of fish for dinner. And to this day that river no longer contains any carnivorous aquatic life forms-this includes Grimm.
Now Charles. He sunbathed. A lot. But that was not his quirk, that was a natural necessity. No, his quirk was that every night, he would slither, literally slither, across the floor, he was one of few Faunus who could literally become the animal they represented. So every night, a desert cobra the length of a lamppost would slither up my tree and for some reason would simply arrange itself on me like some macabre, highly deadly and very oversized, scarf or poncho, depending on his mood. When asked why, he would simply shrug and reply with, "ain' my faul' you're comfy."
Suffice to say, it was very weird the few times he changed back in my arms, or worse still, he changed back while we both slept, this only happened once, but it was unnerving nonetheless.
Alas, as all things must, the month was over, and beacon loomed into view. The others had all been accepted into beacon, and now I must find my own way in, how I would manage that, I did not know, only that I had to meet my employer first. As we all settled down in our newly-bought lodgings with Lady Raoulfs still-functioning card, I bade them farewell for the night and moved out to meet another object of my hatred.
Cinder Fall.