Rae had since he took his first steps, known how to move without making unnecessary sounds. He stepped lightly, with most of the weight on his toes. He wore minimal, unadorned clothing, that didn’t restrict his movement. He took slow, measured breaths.

Rae was so talented in this regard that he hardly noticed he was doing it. He had often appeared at his cousin’s side without warning and caused him to startle. If this time, things hadn’t gone so awry, that is likely what would have happened in the bathing caves, and they would have had a good laugh about it.

As it goes, however, when Rae rounded the corner back into the main chamber, he was met by the sight of a black shadow, holding his cousin’s head under the water.

“Goari!”Rae cried, and the shadow looked up. A white, sharp face with framed with black hair. Piercing amber eyes.

“You-!” Rae gasped, his hand fumbling for his sword. The water around the beast churned but Gaori was firmly held under.

There wasn’t a moment to wait! Rae’s legs -which a moment ago had been reduced to jelly- moved on their own. He surged towards the assassin and aimed his sword at the shadow’s throat. A guttural sound Rae had only heard from beasts escaped his lips.

The shadow leapt away, silent, his eyes gleaming in the lantern light. He was as slender as a willow vine, and his water-logged clothes didn’t seem to hinder his movement at all.

When Gaori came up spluttering, the bestial part of Rae relaxed a little. He took on a defensive stance.
“Where is your sword?” he asked, without breaking the glare he had fixed on the shadow.

After less than a second, the amber eyes flitted to the ground, and Rae knew the sword was lying at the beast’s feet.

“Dammit,” Gaori said after he had coughed up all the water, “he came out of nowhere!”

He was up and talking, but he didn’t look like he could manage much more than that, even if he had his sword.

“What do you want?” Rae asked the beast, all his effort going to keep his sword arm from shaking, “Your master has scolded you once, did he not punish you properly?”

Rae puffed out his chest and tried to channel Ven Ashem. Before, this fiend had backed off as soon as the Ashem young master haughtily told him off, but something had changed in the beast since then.

“Don’t act ignorant,” the beast said, unsheathing his blade and rushing Rae.

Rae was prepared for the beast’s strength and was able to counter his attack without being knocked prone. The clang of the blades meeting rang in his ears for only a second, before Rae returned with a slash at the beast’s waist.

It never connected, and the force of the next attack forced Rae back a step. At least he wasn’t standing on a roof this time.

“They call me a beast, but you’re something-“

Rae felt smug when his next blow shut the bastard up but he was soon pushed back again.

Rae might have been well-trained and fitter than average, but his small size could only contain so much strength. With the ground slippery and the edge of the pool not far off, he had almost been backed into a corner, next he would be pressed up against the wall.

Gaori, naked and winded as he was, was still in no state to help out. Rae gave his cousin one last glance before he darted into the passage to the windowed chamber.

Rae was able to sprint through the forest undergrowth faster than anyone else in Camp Kaolin, but the shadow was faster.

Just as Rae pivoted to greet the beast with a fresh wave of attacks in the open chamber, a fist hit him in the face.

Rae stumbled back, assuming the defensive stance that had worked in the past. Instead of trying to knock him off his balance, the shadow focused all its ferocity on the arm which held his sword.

Disoriented from the punch and his wrist being painfully twisted Rae’s sword clattered to the cave floor.

“Rae!”

Gaori had finally gathered himself. He would be running down the passage, sword drawn. All Rae needed was a little time.

“Your master doesn’t want me dead,” Rae said, half to convince himself, as much as the beast.

“Neither do I, unless you refuse to cooperate,” the beast said, his amber eyes boring into Rae.

He used his free hand to pull what looked like a kind of acupuncture needle out of who-knows-where. There was a sharp pain in the side of Rae’s neck, and the cave began to swim.

If the punch had dazzled him, whatever the beast had given him burnt him to a crisp. He couldn’t tell which way was up. The opening in the cave shifted, grew and shrank, then all his vision was white.

He could feel the beast, his grip firm and his body close, and tried to kick his way to freedom. The beast continued to manhandle him but didn’t harm him any more.

Rae was dragged under.