Dreams of Blood and Stardust

Chapter One, part 1

Now there were three of them.

       When the first man had appeared at Vivian Lahey’s side in the square, it had only been him. He’d come up at her elbow as she inspected the bolts of fabric at the vendor’s stall. He’d asked in a quiet, terse voice for her to come with him, please, saying that his master had requested her presence. When she pressed him, he wouldn’t tell her who his master was, but by then they’d created a bit of a scene in the crowded city square, and he’d leaned in, hand tight on her upper arm, to say, “Miss Lahey, please, before this gets any worse.” It was when he said her name that she realized just how much trouble she was in. But by then she was curious, and she couldn’t make this escalate any more if she wanted to maintain her anonymity in this city of hers, so she went with him, smiling pleasantly at anyone who dared to make eye contact with the lady in green and the scowling man who dragged her along.

       Once they’d left the square, and she could drop the pretense, she’d wrenched her arm free of his hold and turned to face him, blocking their path forward. The alley they were in was narrow and dim, the buildings on either side of them crowding the street. Clothing hung to dry between the two buildings, casting odd shadows on each of them. The streets were uneven, putting her on higher ground as Vivian glared at him. Thinking it was just him she was up against, she’d growled that unless he told her who he was working for, she wouldn’t go with him.

       Of course, it was then that the two other men stepped out of the alleyway. So here she was, in a dress in a crowded alley, facing three hulking men who advanced on her as she drew her knife from the sleeve of her dress.

       “Now, this is hardly fair,” she drawled as she backed away from them. For every step she took away from them, they took one forward. They didn’t look intimidated by her knife, though objectively speaking, it was a very nice knife. She supposed it was more that she was a small girl in comparison to them, and she was in a very nice dress and impractical shoes, her dark hair done up, her earrings small but clearly of very fine make. She didn’t look like much of a threat, so she couldn’t blame them for not looking threatened. However, it was going to make this so much more satisfying.

       It wasn’t long before Vivian reached the end of the alley, trapped between the walls around her and the men in front of her. She squinted; the sun was setting behind them, bringing the light into her face now that the buildings weren’t blocking it so much. Still, she could see past enough to know when they came at her.

       The thing about fighting in alleys, especially in this city, especially in this part of this city, was that they were too narrow to allow for much maneuverability. And here, at the end of this alley, with empty crates and broken furniture lining it’s edges, there was really only enough room for one man at a time to reach her. If more than one of them tried to get to her at one time, they would just end up getting in each other’s way, effectively neutralizing their threat.

       These men, whoever they were, were not intelligent enough to realize this, so of course that was what they did. The three of them rushed her at once, knocking shoulders as they did. There wasn’t enough space for one of them to reach out and hit her or even touch her. There was, however, enough room for her to duck underneath their outstretched arms and jam her knife in the middle one’s ribs. Vivian pulled her knife out as he fell forward, and she darted through and ended up behind the two remaining. Wasting no time, she kicked the right one behind his knees so that he fell as well, screaming as his knee popped out of place. The left one had turned faster than the other, and he was advancing on her even as the other one fell.

       He had a knife now, too, and he swung it downwards at her, towards her face. She blocked, her forearm crashing against his wrist, and she ignored the pain as she snatched his knife from his hand. He released a growl as she backed away from him, lumbering over her like a bear. Vivian didn’t look at his face as she whirled behind him, and even as he turned, she was thrusting her knives in his rib cage on either side. He crumpled slowly to the dirty street as she pulled her knives out.