The Girl in the Cloak

At the Door

The hairs on the girl's neck stood up on end. She never broke eye contact with the Horric man dangling over the rail as he continued to laugh to himself.

"My mother?" Suddenly the man was gone. The girl never saw him even twitch. He was just gone. The girl looked around trying to spot the man but there was not even a trace. She jumped when a hand touched her shoulder.

"Did I hear him correctly?" Fa was standing next to the girl with her hand on her shoulder.

"I. I think he did." The girl was shaking like a leaf. She felt the gore swish around her ankles. She flipped around to see the woman in glinting armor floating as her wings flapped just above the gore.

"A friend of yours? Maybe he should be uninvited to the next event." The woman laughed as she looked down at Fa and the girl. "You are right where you deserve to be, in the filth. If you show up again you will be part of the filth instead. You haven't helped. We still have thousands of these, stinky beasts. My pockets will not suffer. Will yours?" Turning away the winged woman flew off and out of sight.

"We have to find that man." The girl unknowingly said out loud.

"We will." The girl spun around to find Fa still there. The surprise lightened her doubts. "We should get out of here." Fa started to guide the girl towards a door. The girl let Fa help direct her as her thoughts ran rampant. The only thing she did was talk with the cloak.

"I agree with you little one. We need to find out where this man went. Then we will finally be on to something."

"But onto what?"

"At a minimum, it will be your origins, but I will not lie to you. I think we will be able to learn about mine as well." The girl didn't respond for a moment she only walked while thinking. A surprising voice came to her.

"I was thinking," it was Fa, "If we continue the job we can find the winged woman. Maybe, just maybe she will know where he is." This didn't even cross the girl's mind. The woman was talking to the Horric man before the event.

"Do we know when the next event will be held or even where?" The continued toward their camp only thinking.

"I wasn't going to say anything little kitten but I think I need to know, is your cloak just a cloak?" The question caught the girl off guard. "I have seen multiple times it just suddenly change I to a weapon for you. I have never asked because I figured someday if you wanted me to know you would tell me, but I wonder now. If your cloak has special skills maybe just maybe it could track the curator of the event." Fa had a point.

"I mean we have done that vibration thing before. Do you think we can do it again?" The girl had a sense of excitement in her thoughts.

"Well, of course, we could little one. But think of this little one. It's just like a ripple in a pond, there is a maximum range. So unless the woman is close by I can't single her out, at the most, it's a fifty-yard radius, I'm sorry little one." The cloak had a point that the girl missed in her excitement.

"What if we happen across her would that work?"

"Only if I focus hard little one, but I could for you." The rush flooded her body. She knew she was still far off but it was another clue.

"We might be able to do something." She spoke aloud to Fa-Lees.

"To be safe we will have another plan. I learned long ago having three at lease is the best bet." The girl in the cloak nodded to Fa in agreement. She would trust Fa with this. She knew she had too much on her mind. She felt a little angry with herself. The idea that someone else knew who her mother was and she didn't was ridiculous but true.

A few days passed before they finally got word of another auction. To their pleasant surprise, the auction was not far away, but to their worry, it was actually harder to get into. They couldn't believe it but it was actually being held in the castle of the mayor of the city. The woman discussed how they should handle it this time.

"We can't have you losing it like you did before. We need you to be in control the entire time. Can you handle that." Fa was truly concerned

"I will Fa. I promise." The girl felt embarrassed. Fa could tell she did and walked over and hugged her tightly. It was the first time since Torikk that she had been hugged. It somehow felt right. She hugged Fa-Lees back.

"We got this don't we little kitten?"

"Yeah." the girl smiled at Fa and felt completely ready to go.

The two approached the tall castle. Upon seeing it the castle the two knew things would not be as simple. The woman from before was standing on the fifth-floor balcony looking down at the both of them. She had a large smile on her face seeing the two standing there. At the front entrance of the gate stood four-winged guards. Each one wore large pieces of plate armor as they watched Fa and the girl look back.

"You know they probably have more than these four inside right?" Fa said as she reached to her back grabbing at something. For the first time, the girl saw Fa-Lees holding a Sword in her hand. The straight double-sided blade emerged from a V-shaped guard attached to an Ebony hilt wrapped in red leather. The blade itself was somehow shimmering like a rainbow. On her other arm, Fa had a buckler style shield. It was small but also shimmered like a rainbow. The two made a pair that bewildered the girl. With her shielded hand, she tossed the girl a rod. The rod was rectangular and had one end of it wrapped in a black fabric. It had a small edge placed just at the edge of the fabric.

"Protect yourself little kitten, but hey you can get creative too." Fa gave the girl a wink and started full speed at the guards.

As Fa was running the girl noticed the edge of Fa's blade was blurring. Fa rolled under the first heavy slow swing of the first guard's greatsword. She landed on her knees and pierced her sword straight through his chest plate. The sword went through it like water. Moving her buckler quickly it caught the next axe swinging in after her. The head caught her buckler square and melted on contact. Before the man could reset his stance Fa slammed the sword through the bottom of his jaw. A loud pop sounded as blood started pouring out the bottom of his helmet. The third man was already swinging at Fa but the girl blocked it with her bar. She tried to catch the man with her cloak claw but the man moved just out of the way. The girl realized he was the best-trained man she had ever faced. The fourth man changed his fighting style to avoid any contact with either Fa's shield or sword. Because of the girl, the fight was a one on one. She quickly lost track of Fa's fight and focused hard on her target. The man was using a sword and shield combo. It was the first time the girl had ever fought with two weapons at once. She felt off balance and it showed. She felt two steps behind every time the man swung at him. She didn't know how to fix it.

"Relax!" for the first time in the middle of a fight the cloak started to talk to her. "You are too focused on not losing your control. You are going to get yourself killed." Another swing came in. She barely blocked it with the bar.

"Follow my lead." The girl rolled and as she did the cloak went limp. She made a grand flourish with the cloak blinding the man in front of her. As she did she slammed the bar into the man's foot. As she started to stand after the roll she slammed the bar into the back of the man's knee. As he started to fall to her she swung the bar up and caught his jaw square. The body went limp. Just as it did the cloak formed the claws once again and she slammed it through his helmet. She looked to Fa just as she decapitated the winged man she faced. His body collapsed with a loud thud.

From above them, they heard the women shout, "Are you ready for round two?" her laugh faded as the doors slammed behind her.