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A rustling sound from the bushes set Rayla on edge. She grabbed up one of her butterfly blades and stood, barely breathing, in a defensive stance.
A second. Then another.
No one was there.
Rayla let herself exhale, tucking the blade away and continuing on through the swamp. There wasn’t any danger for the moment.
But the moon only knew how long that moment would last.
Speaking of the moon, it was mercifully full that night. Or maybe that was less a mercy and more a curse. Sure, Rayla could see better, not to mention access her Moonshadow Form, with the extra light, but then, so could her pursuer.
She shivered as she walked, the coolness of the late autumn night seeping in through her layers. Her boots were wet too, which made her toes numb, which made it that much harder to maintain a decent pace.
Honestly, she hadn’t done much to prepare herself for the weather. Or for anything. She hadn’t had time, once she’d found out who was after her. She’d simply grabbed a few necessities, and set off toward Evenere, but not before taking a short detour to leave a few well-placed footprints near the newly rebuilt castle and throw Callum off her trail. He couldn’t be trusted not to follow her, idiot that he was.
As much as she hated having to do this, as furious as she was with herself for abandoning him again, she couldn’t let him come. Not when their baby girl was at home. Better for her to have at least one parent with her than to watch both of them leave to fulfil some grand duty and never come back.
Besides which, this wasn’t Callum’s fight.
Still, Rayla couldn’t run forever, and as the rain began to fall, she wished that she had written a note or just left behind something of hers so sweet Sarai wouldn’t feel abandoned. Actually, the thought of Sarai’s distress was bothering her even more than the constant wetness of the swamps right then, and that was saying something.
The numb feeling in her feet spread throughout her body when the drizzle turned to a downpour, and she didn’t have much choice but to find shelter. There was a hollowed-out log to the north that would at least be a wee bit insulated, so she decided to take a rest and huddle inside.
Keeping her eyes open was a struggle, since she hadn’t really shut them in a good forty hours. As an assassin, she was trained to handle some sleep deprivation, but it made her more vulnerable, and she could feel it. Every sudden noise was more jarring, every worry more intense. It didn’t help that it was nighttime, and her non-visual senses were on high alert, compensating for the darkness.
Rayla didn’t want to think. Thinking exhausted her. But she knew it wouldn’t do her any good to throw judgment out the window when she was in serious danger. The most important question on her mind was, of course, the topic of…well…killing.
She was going to have to do it. Either her or her pursuer was going to die. Neither were going to surrender. And Sarai needed a mother. That was the number one thing on her mind. For years, she’d been taught the ideal of self-sacrifice. And she hadn’t abandoned it. Far from it. But with a daughter in the mix, and a need to consider how losing a parent would affect said daughter…Rayla had to do it.
My heart for Xadia. My whole self for my child.
But how many times have I failed to kill before?
Thinking about the wee cutie curled up in a thick blanket somewhere in Katolis, with a fire burning in the hearth and her father nearby, made Rayla smile softly in the darkness.
________________
The sound of heavy breathing in the darkness jolted Rayla awake. She hadn’t even realized she’d been sleeping, but she was wide awake now that there was a blade at her throat.
She jerked away quick enough that the blade’s edge cut into the skin near her collarbone, rather than her neck. It stung worse than any time she’d been cut before, but she couldn’t let up. She writhed, throwing elbows at her attacker until she landed a hit on Kim’Dael’s ribs. The blood moon huntress’ grip loosened just enough for Rayla to wrench away the arm wrapped around her and escape from the log into the open air.
She was able to make some distance despite the numbness in her feet, and as soon as she could, she grabbed up Runaan’s bow. Kim’Dael was not deterred. She followed after, twirling her knife in her hand.
“Well, well, all grown up are we?” she hissed, and then disappeared in a puff of red smoke. When she spoke again, Rayla couldn’t see her. Clearly, she had slipped into her Moonshadow Form.“Oh, don’t look so upset,” she chided. “I did tell you I’d catch up with you again one day, didn’t I?”
Rayla didn’t have many clear memories of that part of her childhood, but she did remember that. From Kim’Dael’s first attack on the SilverGrove, to discovering Zym’s egg, to the whole business with Aaravos, she’d barely had a day of rest since. And still she remembered the huntress’ threat vividly.
“What do you want from me?” Rayla asked, pulling an arrow from her quiver and pulling back on the bow’s drawstring. In doing so she stretched the gash on her collarbone further open, which caused her to wince.
“Isn’t it obvious?” said the bloodmoon huntress, whose location had shifted again. “I want your blood, child.” The sound of her voice drew closer. “You owe it to me, after you stole those Skywing elves from me.”
She was close enough now that Rayla could just barely make out her silhouette. She took a chance and released the arrow, but it missed when Kim’Dael teleported away. Rayla gritted her teeth. To stand against this, she would need magic of her own.
Entering her own Moonshadow Form was no trouble at all when she had Sarai to think of. Along with the near-invisibility came heightened vision. She could make out the bloodmoon huntress’ outline more clearly now, and fired another shot, but the stinging in her wound was so intense she lost focus. The arrow hit the ground inches from Kim’Dael’s boot. In response, the huntress conjured a bow of her own and fired a shot while Rayla was still gasping from pain. She managed enough coherency to leap up into the trees before the huntress had finished. There, at least, she had some cover from projectiles.
It wasn’t much help, though, when Kim’Dael dematerialized again, and appeared right beside her, causing her to fall out of the tree onto her stomach. She dropped her bow on the way down, and it skidded across the dirt. The impact of the fall sent shockwaves through her body, and she figured she might have bruised a rib. Even worse, there was dust in her wound, and she was overcome with a searing pain.
Rayla nearly shrieked with the force of it, and her delay in getting up only made things worse. She felt a boot on her neck, and pebbles pressed against her wound. Tears welled in her eyes as she reached for her blade and lifted it to stab Kim’Dael’s ankle. The huntress simply disappeared and reappeared a moment later. She grabbed Rayla by the hood of her cloak and slammed her into the side of the hollow log. The wood scraped against Rayla’s cheek, drawing blood.
To Rayla’s horror, the huntress conjured up a glass vial. She gasped. She knew exactly what that vial was for. She unclasped her cloak and slipped out of Kim’Dael’s grasp. She ran to grab Runaan’s bow, but her attacker teleported and beat her to it.
Kim’Dael snatched it up with one hand and bared her eerie red claws. With one loud crunch she penetrated it, leaving Runaan’s precious weapon permanently broken.
Rayla stood frozen in horror for a second before letting out a scream of rage. She launched herself forward at her attacker, but Kim’Dael just laughed as she disappeared once again. This time, Kim’Dael assailed Rayla from behind, launching an arrow that Rayla couldn’t quite dodge in time. It grazed her arm, opening yet another bloody wound, and she fell to the ground, gasping. By the time she forced herself to roll over, Kim’Dael was standing above her.
Before the huntress could grab her again, Rayla shoved her heel into her stomach. The huntress flinched and was distracted just long enough for Rayla to pull herself up. She screamed again as she lunged forward, grabbing at whatever happened to be within her reach. In this case, that was the Mercy Debt collar’s chain.
She used her grip on it to drag Kim’Dael to the ground. The huntress grunted, trying to wrench away, but Rayla held on tightly. She wondered why Kim’Dael didn’t just disappear.
And then it hit her.
The collar.
It kept her bound to the sunfire elf rulers, didn’t it? Maybe it was some kind of failsafe. A way to keep her controlled.
Rayla held tight to the chain no matter how Kim’Dael struggled. It didn’t matter that Rayla was losing blood by the second, or that she was still desperately sleep-deprived. The cold night air meant nothing, when the rage inside her burned so hotly.
Her grip only loosened when the huntress jammed those horrible claws in her wound. She let out a piercing shriek but managed to grab the chain with her other hand, even as her vision threatened to black out.
She remembered what she learned from Runaan, long ago. To think of the ones she loved with every strike.
Mom
She knocked away Kim’Dael’s clawed hand.
Dad
She pinned said hand under her knee
Callum
She put her blade through the other hand.
Sarai
None of those other names mattered half so much as that one. Life and death. New life vs. a murderer’s death. For all the times she’d been in this position, Rayla had never felt so much like an assassin in all her life.
For my child.
She plunged the remaining butterfly blade through the charm in Kim’Dael’s collar.
The huntress sputtered, convulsing underneath her, but Rayla gripped her throat tightly, drawing as much blood as possible.
Kim’Dael was a fighter. It took nearly a minute for her eyes to roll back. Her chest went still.
Rayla had done it. She'd killed.
She threw up.
The force of it exhausted her, and she fell over sideways, sobbing. She couldn’t bring herself to dress her own wounds or get somewhere dry, let alone bury the body next to her.
She just lay there, shivering and whimpering, wishing for Callum to show up and wrap his arms around her and tell her that it was alright.
But he’s not here. I left him behind.
The last conscious thought Rayla had was of Sarai’s wee little face.
My whole self for my child.