The Death of a Dream [hiatus]

Chapter 10

Another

"You idiot!" Jhilza hissed as she sent a hand flying across the man's face. "You brought them in the city? I only wanted her, not the entire Caledonian army. Especially that blasted captain."

To say that I was relieved that Jhilza's blade wasn't at my throat would be innacurate. I was ecstatic. I exhaled slowly and shakily, my eyes darting between her and the door.

Jhilza's panic was a strange reaction to Innes' name. Does she know him? If so, why did I hear a tinge of fear peppered with panic?

A familiar scene flashed across the back of my mind in a swift blur. The taste of that heavenly milk cake as we journeyed through the back alleys of the city came slithering back to the top of my tongue, as if it had somehow materialized from my memory. The sweetness was accompanied by the salty taste of the tears that slid down my face just as those men—those monsters—sauntered towards me in a hungered fury.

I remembered Jhilza. I remembered the way her braid whipped out from under her cloak I remembered the way her body slid around Innes' as her eyes locked onto me.

"You fear him." I picked my chin up, confident in my accusation. "You're frightened Innes will take care of you just as he did those corrupted soldiers."

The room silenced and the assassin slowly twisted her head around to glare at me.

"It was you all along. In the market. Y-you used your magic on those guards and-" I quickly pressed my lips together as Jhilza began a slow walk towards me, knife glimmering in her hand. "-you tried to kill me."

I don't care what she's said to me. She was Ulrich's killer. The true assassin that stalked the streets of Luster City.

The corner of Jhilza's lips curled into a grin colder than the blade of her knife. "How precious. You remembered. I'd slit your throat right here, but circumstances being what they are, you're of more use to me alive."

She reached behind and cut the ropes that bound me. I pulled my arms forward, massaging my shoulders as I stood. I winced when I pressed a finger too harshly against a tense area close to my neck.

I was suddenly launched forward towards the door by what felt like a punch against my lower back from Jhilza. She snorted when I slammed a hip against the corner of the nearby table and collapsed on the floor. The weapons from the table scattered around me, some even kissing my fingers as well as the edges of my feet.

A light clinking cut the silence when a small glass vial of strange purple liquid rolled to my knuckle. Pulling my shoulders tightly into my chest, I quickly grabbed the vial and slid it into the cups of my dress. I hid my movements beneath my hair which formed a dark curtain around my shrunken figure.

"Get up," Jhilza roared, pulling my hair like some noose.

I gripped the portion of my hair just beneath her fist, trying to soften the pain her iron grip was causing. I lurched forward as she forced my head towards the door. The familiar ringing echoed in my head as I was reminded of the very first time I'd been slammed against a door.

Heat prickled my skin and raced from the back of my ears and down my shoulders. I immediately fished for the vial that was between my breasts and spun around, looking Jhilza in the darks of her eyes.

"You have some fight in you," Jhilza said before clicking her tongue and wagging a finger at me. "But I don't think you even know how to use that."

I glanced at the glowing vial that was raised above my head. The sharp sound of glass cracking resounded at the back of my head just as the memory of those two crystalline guards came stalking back.