“Valdemarr?” Ismay asked it had been three days since they left the village and the silence was starting to get to her. Etienne hadn’t said a word to her, even when they took a break for the night and it felt like her sides were in stitches.

Emilek had just been as silent, even as he ran them through chakra exercises before they each took a guard shift. Which were also silent, it was starting to drive her nuts and she was seconds away from pulling her own hair out.

She and Viktorija swapped places sitting next to Valdemarr on his wagon. Etienne was walking to the right, and Viktorija was walking on the left. Emilek was walking behind the wagon, bottles of liquor was behind her.

So, he sold alcohol.

“What?” Valdemarr asked looking at the blonde-haired girl, he could tell that she was the slowest in the group. Even if she was the second tallest of Emilek’s students, even the girl the size of an eight-year-old walked faster than she did.

He didn’t know if he wanted to know what she wanted, nor did he know if he wanted to answer any questions that she might have for him. She was sixteen for heaven’s sake and yet, his eight-year-old niece acted with more maturity than she did.

“You’re from Geocguk?” Ismay asked.

“No, he’s from Al Qa. He wants an escort to Geocguk because he’s been invited to a friend’s tea part with pretty cup cakes and a new trading deal,” Viktorija calmly told her, while rolling her eyes and shaking her head. Top female of her class, that title belonged to Antoinette who would have read the mission report and known not to ask something so stupid. “Of course, he’s from Geocguk, it was in the mission outline. I’d suggest reading it, but then again, maybe your ears and eyes are merely painted on.”

“What was that?” Ismay asked putting her hand next to her ear. Viktorija was dead last, and Ismay would treat her as such. After all, she and Etienne were the ones who at the top of their class and were better than her in more ways then one. “Did you say something dead last.”

Viktorija only looked at her, a small smile on her face as she looked behind her. They had just entered Labia and two people had started following them as they slowly made their way down the trade route.

Looking back at Ismay, she traced her finger along one of her seals, one that was on her leather band on her right upper arm. She wasn’t going to take that from anyone, if she wouldn’t take at the tender age of three or five, she wasn’t going to take it at fifteen.

Ismay froze when she felt something go past her check, she looked behind her and didn’t see anyone but her team. None of them were looking at her, instead they were looking into the thick forest around the trade route.

Moving her hand to her face, she almost screamed in terror. Blood, there was a thin trail of blood on her face and she didn’t know when it would stop bleeding. Nor did she know what had caused it, a dagger hadn’t gone past her head and no one was standing near them with a sword at the ready.

“Did you say something?” Viktorija innocently asked as she looked at her check, Emilek appearing behind her as Ismay just started muttering to herself and putting her hand to her check. Viktorija just rolled her eyes, before unsealing a piece of cloth, a seal in the corner that would heal the cut.

At least she knew she wasn’t out of practice with her throwing needles, cheap things made from glass. She knew that Xavierra would be pissed at her if she lost her near-perfect aim with the things, since Xavierra had been the one who taught her to use them in the first place.

Along with a few other things she thought that Viktorija needed to know to protect herself from those who had a height advantage.

“You… you…” Ismay stuttered, Emilek handed her the piece of cloth that she placed against her check.

“That scared you? Really, why don’t you go home,” Viktorija told her, putting her hands behind her back as she continued walking. Emilek just looked at her, before she shrugged and continued. “Your mummies calling for her pretty princess.”

“Viktorija, you can leave it alone,” Emilek told her patting Viktorija on the head, before going back to his position.

Emilek looked up and spotted a small glass needle, something that Xavierra had told him was used in Ahnia in their medical practices. Last time he checked, Xavierra hadn’t taught anyone how to use them and he couldn’t see anyone from Ahnia’s village.

Xavierra had a mission somewhere in Laiba, so maybe one of hers just went off course. It was the only thing that made sense to Emilek. Bandits didn’t have that much accuracy to be able to hit a target with something that small.

He knew that Ismay wasn’t the strongest in her class, but her teachers had told him that she was as smart as some from the D’Lune Clan.

“I’m going to check ahead,” Viktorija told them, after all her prey had been following them for about two hours. She wasn’t going to let anyone get in her way of a good hunt, not even Emilek would stop her.

It didn’t help that she needed to get away from the Blonde Banshee and Muttering Murderer, along with not wanting them to know her full skill set.

“Litt-”

“And don’t try to catch up,” Viktorija said cutting Ismay from whatever it was she was going to say, if she had to listen to her talk. Then Viktorija was just going to put needles in her shoulders, to the point that she’d never be able to use that arm.

--

Viktorija only sighed as they walked past the tree she was sitting in; she was getting of wearing her seal. The one that Mama suggested she wear when in the village, or around anyone from the village; the older Kazlauskas woman no longer cared for the village that had abused her daughter. She knew where her Mama had been coming from, after, she had given up her life to make sure they were safe from the Snake of Envy.

And in the end, they couldn’t even treat a little girl correctly.

“Come on, petits rats, the snake only wants to play,” she said carefully placing a seal on the ground, this would make sure they couldn’t follow her so-called team. She only laughed as a chained appeared around her upper torso, they were used to taller targets it would seem and she just used the replacement technique on a nearby falling leaf.

“Should we kill her?” asked the taller female, the smaller male looking at Viktorija like she wasn’t any better than dirt under his shoes.

“I was right! You are petits rats! Dirty petits rats!” she cheerfully told them, as another seal wrapped around them. One that would slowly steal their energy to keep itself up, it would only disappear the moment its prey wasn’t living.

“She’s part of its protection,” the woman told her brother, their faces were covered, but their clothing had seen better days. They had most likely had left their village at some point, but Viktorija didn’t know why they would wear white. “We’re only to kill the Merchant.”

It showed too much and was harder to keep decent.

Viktorija smiled as she lowered herself to the ground, her hands hovering inches from the dirt, she was ready to attack them. The glowing black ink pulled their attention to the trap that they had stood in.

“I can kill you then,” Viktorija sang as she dropped to her knees, her eyes glowing a bright blue as she looked at them. She had been training since she was four years old. She had killed people stronger than the Twins du désert with a few cheap tricks and she would continue to do so until she was killed in turn. “What’s better, is that you both have decent bounties over your heads. This mission might not be a waste of time then.”

“You little brat,” the male hissed at her, water soon trapping them up to their torso’s. Some might call her evil, but she was just treating like this her whole life. How could she show kindness, when any kindness was soon lost to her like sand running through her fingers.

“I always love the smell of fear in the afternoon,” Viktorija told them, hands going behind her back as she looked at the sky.

“You’re not normal brat,” the woman growled at her.

“No, I am not,” Viktorija agreed. She blinked as the water finally pulled into large balls, large enough that they couldn’t touch the edges even if they tried. She would have to return the water into the air when she was done. “I prefer the term Sociopath, but you know. Each to their own, not that it matters. Since your going to die either way.”

Neither sibling could ask what she was talking about, she didn’t want them to talk. Her prey never spoke to her, it was better to forget they were human at time, for her sanity. The pressure was greatest around their necks and head.

Both knew had learnt their mistake, Viktorija knew that they did. They thought she was weak because she was from Nestanha, that she was small and they had most likely thought she was a child, thanks to her height.

Viktorija wouldn’t be surprised if those were the reasons, they thought that she wouldn’t do in for the kill, but she was stronger then they thought she was. And that was their mistake; that was many of her target’s mistakes.

“I can kill you slowly or quickly,” Viktorija admitted tightening her hands behind her back, a smile growing on her face. She couldn’t kill Ismay, but she could get rid of these child predators. “But unfortunately for you, my teammate has put me into a very sour mood, so slowly it is.”

--

Viktorija just looked at her victims’ bodies, their faces were blue, and their necks were broken, when she sensed something coming up behind her and someone quickly following. When the creature broke out of the tree line, Viktorija was staring a thin creature that was flying above the ground and she couldn’t see their wings.

“What are you?” she asked it, their scales were white and black.

“A dragon, you’ve never seen now before now, huh?” a male asked her, dark blond hair and dark green eyes. He was taller than Etienne was, by about a head and he looked to be only a year older than she was. “This is Hyacintha, put your hand out.”

Viktorija looked at him, before offering Hyacintha her hand. Hyacintha sniffed it, before wrapping her body around her arm.

“You’re from Sashan,” Viktorija told him, before slapping her hand on her forehead. That sounded like something that Ismay would tell him.

“And you’re from Nestanha,” he told her.

“I’m Viktorija Kazlauskas,” she told him giving him her hand, he looked at her before taking her hand into his own.

“Azuloas Vitkus,” Azuloas told her.

“Someone else is coming,” Viktorija told him.

“That would be my twin,” Azuloas told her.

“They also have something like Hyacintha,” she admitted.

“That would be Melanthe.” Azuloas grinned her, before turning around her and waved a light blonde hair female over. “We found her Dona.”

“Viktorija Kazlauskas?” Dona asked looking at her, Viktorija looked at Hyacintha who was still wrapped around her arm. Bleed going down her arm as her claws starched her skin and Viktorija just watched the blood go down her skin. “Azu.”

“Hyacintha,” Azuloas said putting his arm in front of Hyacintha, she looked at him before going up his arm and away from hers. “Sorry about that.”

“No harm done,” Viktorija told him, it wasn’t like Hyacintha would know that she didn’t have a lot of scar tissue on her arm. Or that her skin was on the thin side, which she found strange since her arms were usually the first thing that was hit.

“I’m Aldona Vitkus,” Aldona told her, before taking her arm into her hands and her hands glowed a dark blue and her skin was healed.

“You know Launcelot Atspoguļo?” Azuloas asked her as Hyacintha wrapped herself around his torso.

“Why?” Viktorija asked him. She knew Launcelot, she hadn’t seen him since she was five years old and he had treated her like a little sister. He had cared for her when he had caught her going through someone trash can for lunch.

He was the reason she wouldn’t kill Etienne Atspoguļo.

“He mentioned that you were his little sister, adopted little sister,” Azuloas told her, putting his hand around Aldona’s shoulders. “When he and Page attacked the Atspoguļo Clan in Sashan.”

Viktorija just looked at them, she knew that there had been something behind Launcelot’s attack on his family. She had caught crying over his cousin’s body a month before he ‘snapped’, so she had a feeling that two were connected.

Not that it mattered, Etienne would never want him back into the village. So, the council would never let Launcelot back into the village because of that, like she had said before, the council would break their backs for Etienne.

“I’m on a mission,” she told them.

“Escort,” Aldona and Azuloas said.

Viktorija just looked at them, she didn’t know if she felt sorry for them or not, it depended on if they were forced to talk to Ismay. Then she pitied them, Ismay was trying on a good day.

“We ran into your team a few minutes ago,” Azuloas told her.

“We should thank you,” Aldona told her as she looked at the two she had killed. “You took out two of their guards, Launcelot had warned us about them.”

“Their? They had started following my client since we entered Labia,” Viktorija told them, looking at their bodies. “If you want to see if they have anything on them, go for it.”

“Thank you,” Aldona told her, before going through their bags.

“Do you think you can help is then?” Azuloas asked her, as Aldona pulled out a few things and quickly scanned over the writing. “The Vitkus had a bit of information about your bloodline.”

“And I’m sure Launcelot would like to see you again,” Aldona chimed in.

“Why are you going after Launcelot?” Viktorija asked them.

“The Paslėpta liepsna is offering him a spot on our Sekti Unit,” Azuloas admitted.

“I’ve got the bloodline,” she told them, it had scared her the first time she had used it, since no one had told her about it. Viktorija had burnt down her kidnappers hiding spot, with them inside and no one knew how she had been the only one to survive it.

“Come with us then and we’ll debrief you on the way,” Aldona promised as she sealed something in a leather bracelet and handed it to her. It wasn’t something she would wear, since her bracelets were made of dull metal. “Just follow us, I don’t think your teams going to miss you much.”

“No,” Viktorija agreed. “They’re not.”