The Knight

The Past

The Knights retired to their ship and Vydia set her helmet on her nightstand. She sighed as she tugged her bloody gloves off her hands and she sat down to remove her boots. She huffed in annoyance when she assessed her dirty clothes. Those would have to be washed another night. She was too tired to get them cleaned at the moment.

She padded into her washroom and quickly shed the rest of her clothing. She bathed quickly, for the heat never seemed to last long on the ragtag ship. She slipped on a simple black sheath and when she stood in the doorway to her room she sighed again.

It seemed like it was only yesterday when she joined the Knights. She remembered first waking up on the ship. It was actually in the same room as the one she was currently occupying.

She awoke with a start and then clutched her head and grimaced. Her eyes widened when she realized half of her head was shaved and a gnarly fresh scar ran across the side of her scalp. She jumped in surprise when something moved beside her.

"Hey, easy kid," it was Ren. "You're okay."

She glared at him and he offered her a glass of water. She eyed the glass suspiciously and refused to take it.

Ren sighed and he took a long gulp from the glass before he offered it to her again. "Believe me, if we wanted you dead, you'd be dead and poison is not how we'd do it."'

She took the glass quickly and chugged the water. He reached out for the empty glass and she handed it to him. He filled it up with a pitcher he had beside him and handed it back to her. Her head ached with pulsing pain and she pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Why am I here?" She croaked.

"Because you're special, Vydia."

She snorted.

"Is that why you attacked me?"

"If we're getting technical, I think you started that fight," he chuckled. "Which was very brave of you. Stupid, but brave."

Vydia said nothing. She glared at her glass of water and wondered if she broke the glass and jammed it into his throat, how much time would she have to try and escape.

"But I will admit, our approach wasn't as. . . Subtle as I would've liked, but it was the first time we had ever found someone like you." He said.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well, for one," he sat back on his stool. "You're young and two, you're a woman."

"What the fuck has that got to do with anything?" She snapped.

"Our technique for recruitment usually involves a fair amount of intimidation," he said. "Intimidate a man, he'll more than likely fight to prove himself. Intimidate a young woman and she'll run."

He was right, she did run, but she wasn't going to run ever again. She moved like lightning as she slammed her glass into the wall beside her and she launched herself at Ren. He fell onto his back and she straddled him quickly as pressed a sharp shard of glass against his throat.

"How's that for running?" She arched an eyebrow.

"Oh, I like you." Ren grinned.

Vydia frowned and she was thrown back onto her cot by an invisible force, but a cushion of that force kept her head from smacking onto the wall behind her. She tried to move, but it had her pinned in place. Ren dusted himself off as he stood up and sat back down on his stool.

"Look kid, I'll cut to the chase," he said. "We want you on our team."

"And if I decline?"

"Then we'll let you go," he said. "But you'll come back. They always do."