A long tail of hair sprawled across the ground, dark as the blood mixing with the dirt. Glinting iron gave way to shiny red just a little away from her writhing body, and Xuan-mei hissed an expletive as the heels of her palms ground into the earth, pushing herself into a sitting position. Her next breath was shallow, reluctant to aggravate the wound next to her right shoulder blade. It was deep, but that wasn't the problem. Sweat beaded along her hairline at her temples and the nape of her neck. Poison. The blade had been dipped in poison. "What town keeps a pot of poison around, anyway?" she practically growled through grit teeth.
She shoved her heels against the ground, nudging herself against the wall, pressing her back tightly to it to try to stop the blood flow. Xuan-mei could hear her fellow bandits clearing out, overwhelmed at the unexpected presence of soldiers. She closed her eyes, letting out a soft huff of a bitter laugh. She'd known they were being cocky, pillaging at dusk. The sky was just starting to get dark now. She began to look around her in the little alley, noticing an open window on the ground floor. With a grunt, Xuan-mei crawled on her hands and knees to get to it, her hands clutching the edge of the sill to pull herself up enough to peek inside. She was checking for any people at home, and what room it was. Maybe she could rifle through their medicines and find something...
