Riders of Elysium

Chapter Eight

----Third Person----

Rayna really hated to do this. She hated the fact that Azariah was making her choose. She especially hated the fact that as soon as Kugen found out, he'd force her to kill Azariah.

So she'd snuck out of the camp in the middle of the night to go back to patrolling around the woods. Ellukah was the only one who noticed, but she was also an assassin. She understood the importance of secrets.

"Guys!" She heard shouting, "Guys!"

She followed the sound of the voice, please keep yelling, she thought to herself.

"Ajax! Ellukah! Rayna!" the voice yelled, "You guys left without me! Guys!"

If he wanted, he could've tracked them, couldn't he? Azariah was more than capable. But he probably also knew Rayna was looking for him. That she'd follow his voice until she found him.

She sat in the top of a tree near where Azariah was yelling, "Guys!"

He sighed and shook his head, "They're not coming. This isn't a good idea. I need to go find them."

"You need to get rid of that girl," said another voice, nothing more than a shadow, "I'll be back here tomorrow at midnight. She'd better be taken care of by then."

"Understood," Azariah said. The voice and the shadow dissipated.

Rayna would've followed him. But she knew if they didn't figure something out, one or both of them would be dead by midnight.

So she cautiously leapt down from the tree and aimed a precautionary arrow.

"Good to see you again," she growled.

Azariah raised his hands, "Please don't shoot. I need to tell you what happened."

"You did," Rayna said sarcastically, "Thank you very much."

"He was going to kill you and I didn't know what else to do," Azariah argued.

The girl pulled the arrow back further, "Dying would have been better than this life."

"If you aren't going to kill me and you aren't going to help me," Azariah asked, "What are you here for?"

Rayna took a deep breath, "I need your help."

"Okay," Azariah said, "Could you please put the bow down?"

Rayna sighed and lowered the bow, but kept it ready, "I'm gonna regret this."

"Regret what?"

"I'm going to free those girls," she said, "I'm not going to kill Kugen. I won't let him know it's me. I don't want the help of those other assassins. I just need to get them out."

Azariah frowned, "What's your plan?"

"I was going to set the barn on fire, get the girls out, and run," Rayna said.

"The thing is they'll be fine for a while," Azariah said.

Rayna frowned, "So you want me to free them and then the moment I agree, you say we don't need to?"

"We do," Azariah said, "But I found out that Storm's mission was in case we failed."

"She's going to kill that girl Eyre?" Rayna asked, "Why do we care?"

Azariah sighed, "Because they're not going to kill her."

"What are they planning?"

"They're going to brainwash her and her sisters," Azariah said.