The former assassin was shoved into a large cage in the back of a cart. They flashed an awkward, sad smile. It was a failed attempt at their usual cocky grin.
“C’mon Kae’ I’ve gotten out of worse!” She called back, trying to hide how terribly they were shaking.
Kaemon shook off the guards who were trying to drag her to the cage, and she ran up to the bars.
“I’m going to get you out of here.” She looked around widely, desperately.
“Kaemon.” Rehks grabbed her hand from outside the bars, looking into her eyes, “I’m going to get out of here. I’m not going down that easily, trust me.”
“I’ll try.” She replied before bolting from the scene, running in the direction the rest of the rebels had already fled.
Then she was gone, and Rehks was alone again.
“Well,” they thought, “Time to keep that promise.”
They let themselves be whisked away by the rickety cart, but as it stumbled across the road she got to work. She finagled a small pocket dagger from her back pocket and marched to the metal door. It was chained shut.
“Easy.” She murmured as she absentmindedly looked around to assure herself that she wasn’t being watched.
They quickly fidgeted with the lock, suddenly succeeding, forcing the cage open. She tumbled out onto the dusty wooden road, cursing at the clumsiness. The cage slammed.
Dammit. They’d know now.
Sure enough, the cart slowed. Rehks watched in anxious anticipation as she attempted to get up from the ground that they had fallen so heavily upon. It felt like their ankle was sprained or something.
“You rebel bastards don’t know how to just stay put do ya?” The guard’s hood had fallen from their head in frustration.
They marched towards the struggling icari, infuriated and steaming. The soldier was short, strong, and their scraggly beard accentuated their apparent constant anger. The guard threw themselves atop Rehks, pressing a dagger to their neck.
“Now, are you gonna cooperate with me, or are you gonna make me do this the hard way?” They growled.
Rehks smiled, the cockiness began to show, they had a plan, “Aren’t you on strict orders to bring me in alive?”
“Yes, but they said nothing about how alive you needed to be-!”
They were quickly cut off by Rehks’ spitting into their face, some getting into their mouth. The soldier sputtered, enraged, but it gave Rehks enough time to stab into the thigh of the guard, hopefully immobilizing them. As they cried out, Rehks weaseled away from their grasp, kicking as they went.
Unfortunately, they hadn’t had their wing-extenders on her, so they had no choice but to limp away a s fast as they could. Luckily, although they were out of practice, they were still a grade a (former) assassin. She could get out of tough scrapes.
As she jogged away, the best she could given her injury, they remarked to herself how oddly much more nerve racking this capture was. Usually it was no big deal. They had truly been in worse predicaments, she had stared death in the eyes and challenged them to take their best shot. This was an easy win, yet why was her heart pounding so fast? Why were they so shaky?
As she remembered the distress on Kaemon’s face, they realized what it was. It’s a lot easier to have no fear towards death when you don’t have anyone to live for but yourself. Now that Rehks had others who cared about their well-being, and she cared about theirs, it wasn’t as easy to look death in the eyes.
(Sorry I’m late yesterday was homecoming so I was mega busy.)
Kaemon and Rehks had been gone for over a week now, all that was left in the house was Suehm and the baby. It was normally pretty quiet when it was just Kaemon, but she had gotten used to the energy that Rehks had brought. She missed it.
Suehm spent her days now sweeping the floors, sewing, and tending the garden. Sure, everything felt less anxious with less icaranians in the house (and less children to harbor from soldiers), but it also felt less exciting.
Suehmleu had no desire to witness the horrors of the battlefront, but she always felt as though that was selfish. The rebellion was a righteous cause, and she knew it and she wanted to help in any way she could. She offered her house as a sanctuary to the rebellion, fed everyone who needed it, and did everything she could… from the comfort of her own home.
“Hm.” She sighed.
She found that she was incredibly unhappy with the placement of the flora in the vase that she had been adjusting for over five minutes. She moved a flower, frowned, and moved it back. She growled under her breath, annoyed, and left it be.
Hopefully both Kaemon and Rehks would be back soon. They had estimated that their mission would only take about a week, Suehm didn’t like it when they were out longer than estimated, though it happened often. Maybe she would write a letter.
“Yes.” She thought, “That’ll keep my worries at bay.”
Perhaps she thought this in an attempt to convince herself of that fact.
She typically wrote with a charcoal pencil she had crafted herself, though on occasions she would use ink. Given that in this case Kaemon nor Rehkslayask would ever read the letter, charcoal seemed like the best medium.
“Dearests.” She started, “I hope and pray that you are doing well and that you are safe.”
She wouldn’t have had to worry if she had simply joined them.
What else was there to say?
Frustrated and at an utter loss with herself Suehm ripped the page and shoved it into the hearth. She decided that she would feed the baby and go to bed early, all the stress and worry was getting to her head. She could feel her stomach churn with the headache.
“Pathetic.” She mourned to herself, “Look what you did, you went and made yourself sick.”
She shook her head in shame.
………..
Suehmleu suddenly bolted upright. There was a sound, she swore that there had been a horrible sound. It sounded like a wagon full of soldiers grinding along the road and it sounded like swords.
She immediately rushed to the cradle to make sure the baby was alright. They were, but was she? Suehm quickly tip-toed to the hearth and grabbed the fire stick, just in case there was danger lurking at the door. Then, she backed slowly into her room again with the poking stick.
Another sound.
It was glass shattering on the ground, tiny pieces of it littering the floor.
Suehmleu let out a quick yelp of strangled fear. She could hear her shaky breathing, the glass still twinkled on the floor, and ever so slowly, she could hear the beginning of a cry for the baby.
“I’ve killed us all.” She thought in a blurry panic, “They’ve heard all of it. They’ll knock down the door any minute now.”
Tears streamed down her face, and she was plastered to the ground. She couldn’t move, she had too many things that she needed to do. The baby still wailed, so her panic had to scream louder to get through. Glass pieces dug into her bare feet, and the metal of the fire stick grew warm under her ever-tightening grip.
Everything was happening at once, nothing would stop for her. Her stomach felt achy and she was dizzy with fear. The baby continued to sob from their room.
Suddenly the door burst open and Suehm held her ground, refusing to budge, either from fear or forced bravery she did not know.
“Careful dumbass! Not so loud!” A voice hissed under their breath.
“Sorry!” Another voice replied in a hushed voice, “It was jammed.”
There was blood on the floor, her feet hurt, but she did not move.
Suddenly the cloaked figures emerged.
“Suehm?”
It was Kaemon. Rehks stood behind her, fiddling with the door in an attempt to keep it from jamming up again, but she stopped for a moment when she saw what was going on.
“Did we wake you?” Rehks couldn’t see the glass or the poking stick.
Kaemon walked forward, hurriedly, quickly blubbering out a sting of questions “Are you alright? What’s wrong? Why’s the baby crying? Are they alright? What’s going on?”
Rehks cursed violently, “-——Did we scare you? Dammit, I knew I was being too loud.”
Kaemon got closer, but Suehm backed up further, nearly slipping on the glass.
“Hey,” Kaemon murmured, “Hey, it’s just us. You’re safe.”
Kaemon shot Rehks a worried glance.
“I’ll take care of the baby.” They mouthed in return.
Kaemon nodded, and Rehks left without a sound.
“Just breathe, Suehm.” She touched her cheek, hesitantly, “Everything’s ok.”
The baby began to calm down, they could hear traces of Rehks’ voice humming a lullaby.
“We hadn’t meant to scare you.”
“I- know.” She choked between sobs.
“You’re safe.” Kaemon held her face in her hands, “We’re home, we’re safe. Just breathe. Everything will be alright.”
“I- … I- bro- broke the…. Broke the v- vase. It woke- … woke up- the baby. Th- thought we were-… Thought I had-.” She explained between gasps.
“No. None of this was your fault.” Kaemon explained seriously, “You are one of the bravest icari I have ever met.”
“No- no I’m not.” She protested.
“Yes, yes you are.” She insisted, “You have persevered through heartache and death. You have conquered your fears time and again. You harbor the most wanted criminals in your own home because you know it is right. Just now you were prepared to defend our baby with whatever it took.”
“I- I’m too afraid to fight.”
“But you already are! You’re fighting with us everyday. Haven’t you been listening?”
Kaemon finally looked down at the glass.
“By the spirits, Suehm have you been standing in broken glass this entire time? You’re bleeding!”
She quickly scooped her up in her arms and brought her to the couch.
“Here.” She set her down, “Stay here. I’m gonna go clean all this up.”
Suehmleu watched as her fiancé rounded the corner into the other room, presumably conversed with Rehks, and came back with a broom. Now that the adrenaline had stopped coursing violently through her, she felt the pain in her feet and cringed. Everything hurt.
She was still scared, and she still felt sick, but she was left unbroken.
“If I wake up in a house that’s full of smoke I’ll panic so call me up and tell me a joke, when I’m fully irrelevant and totally broken dammit,call me up and tell me a joke.” -goodbye (Bo Burnham)
There was no response, the recovering assassin was laying face down on the couch, likely asleep.
“I made you something.”
They were not asleep.
Rehks perked up, “Why?” She scoffed.
“Uh, well I had extra, so I figured I’d offer.” Suehm explained, slightly embarrassed, “Not to mention, you’re a guest, so it’s only kind.”
They raised an eyebrow, obviously not understanding, “Why?”
Suehm sighed, “Do you want it, or not?”
“No.” She replied immediately but then held up a finger, “Wait no. I’m-… I’m thinking.”
Suehm rolled her eyes, setting the treat down on a small table nearby.
“Yes.” They finally concluded, “I do want it.”
“Great. Well, it’s right there.”
Rehks reached for it, but faltered. Deciding that she didn’t want to seem desperate she didn’t take it and instead crossed her arms, and laid her head on the couch’s arm rest. She laid her head back, closed her eyes, … but then thrust them open and tilted her head far back. She was now face to face with the baked good.
It smelled warm. They weren’t sure how that was possible. They turned over to grab it and test if it was as warm as it smelled. It was.
Would it taste as warm as it smelled?
Rehks decided that the only way to test that theory would be to consume it. So, they did.
It was warm.
As they continued to eat it, their eyes narrowed, brushing against the bandage that was wrapped around her head.
………
“What’s your favorite food, Rehksie?”
“I dunno, I don’t think I have one.”
“Oh c’mon, of course you do! Like, what’s your favorite thing that your parents have ever made?”
“They don’t… the cook makes some good stuff I guess, but food is just food, ya know?”
They stopped smiling.
“Your parents don’t cook? You’ve never had any freshly baked stuff?”
“No-… no- not really… Why is this so important to you?”
“It’s not… I just… that sucks.”
“It’s fine.”
……….
“What do ya think?” Suehmleu called from the kitchen where she was cleaning up, “I think I might have added more sugar than you would like, but-!”
“It’s fine.” Rehks cut her off, “I- I mean it’s good. I mean-…”
They didn’t look to the kitchen, but they heard that Suehm had stopped cleaning for a moment.
“Tha- thank you. Thank you is what I mean.”
The thing was far too sweet for her taste, and the texture was slightly off putting. Yet, it was the best thing she had ever tasted. They had listened to Suehm prepare the whole thing, and had even heard it as it was being baked in the hearth. She knew every bit of love that had been put into it.
“You’re welcome.”
A tear fell down her face. They were crying over a stupid dessert, and it was pathetic, but really they were crying over a love they had never tasted before.
The pub was not exactly Kaemon’s scene, but Rehks dragged her there with them to get the latest scoop about what had been happening within the city. Neither had been there in a month, and they each wanted to learn what they had missed for themselves.
It had only been ten minutes and…
“Rehks stop singing.” She hissed, pushing her back into her seat.
“Ah c’mon lighten up.” They laughed, “You really think we’ll get caught by just singin’ along?”
“Y’know what-.” There was a glint in Rehks’ eye.
“-don’t…” she whispered to herself, knowing Rehks’ had no desire to listen.
“Let’s take it one step further.”
She got up, pushed her chair near to the ground, and held out her hand.
“Dance with me.” They smirked, challenging Kaemon, daring her to.
“C’mon Kaemon, we won’t get any intel if we don’t even manage to make any friends.” She added under her breath.
By now the majority of the bar had turned their attention to the pair, and deciding that it would give them something to cheer for they began to do just that. The group began to chant a song, and pound their fists on the table or bang their steins against the wood, spilling alcohol all over.
“Fine.” Kaemon growled, half-smiling, unable to help it.
Rehks’ energy was simply contagious.
The two began to dance as the pub cheered, but a pair near the back did not appear amused.
Kaemon spun Rehks’.
The pair whispered to each other.
They grabbed each other’s hands and tapped back and forth, grinning.
One appeared as though they were about to leave but the other stopped them.
Rehks’ dipped Kaemon.
They appeared to be staring, but it was different from the rest of the bar’s occupants.
Kaemon, still mid-dance, noticed.
Her heart dropped, and she stopped smiling.
Rehks frowned, suspicious, “What’s wrong?” She said it just loud enough for Kaemon to hear.
“I-… don’t think this was a good idea.” She replied, “I think we’ve been recognized.”
Kaemon threw her head, as subtle as she was able, towards the pair at the back. Rehks glanced back and met Kaemon’s eyes. Her eyes seem to read “I’m sorry.”
“We should get out of here.” Kaemon whispered.
“What way should we go home?”
“Not sure, but we need to shake these guys.”
“We might just have ta’-….”
Kaemon’s eyes lowered in dread, “I know… I would prefer it if we didn’t have to.”
“Trust me, it’s not exactly my idea of a good time.” The two walked back to the table and gathered their satchels.
“You treat it like a theater production.”
“Ah, shut up.”
The two lifted their hoods and paced outside of the pub, occasionally looking over their shoulders for the guests they knew they’d have. They decided that the best way to lose the presumed bounty hunters was to walk through the synthetic lake on their way home.
The lake was a part of the overall synthetic field project, but was never completed given that there was never enough water to spare on a fake lake. It was a fairly deep hole, now all grasses and small flora. They figured if they went through the lake, they could at least fight the hunters without an audience and could retreat back to the cottage without much hindrance. If it even came to fighting. The lake had a fairly steep hill that was hard to get down and up, but both Kaemon and Rehks were used to the work and figured it would give them an advantage.
As they slid down the hill, not making a sound. They became aware that they had been followed. Their little stunt at the bar was enough to trigger the bounty hunters. Great.
“Kaemon I presume?” The two were calm, and positioned at the top of the hill.
“Ask again and we’ll find out.” She didn’t turn around.
“Gladly.” The other smirked, “I’d turn around now, Kaemon, we’re quite adept at throwing daggers.”
Rehklayask removed her hood, dagger in hand, “Hm. Well so am I!”
She threw the dagger and pinned the taller one’s boot to the hill. They shrieked in pain, Rehks had grazed their foot.
The shorter one took a look at their partner, frowned, and wound up to throw a dagger in return. It grazed Rehks’ hair, lightly knicking her ear. They cursed.
“Hey Kaemon, now’s probably a bad time, but I’m outta daggers.”
“Of course, you are.” She sighed.
“What’re we gonna do?” They dodged another knife.
“Well, what else can we do?” Kaemon masked the light panic in her voice, “We’ll wait it out until they have to face us down here.”
“They better only have five daggers.” They grumbled as the fifth one narrowly missed her shoulder.
Each ducked and dodged, but refused to leave. They wouldn’t let the hunters follow them home. After about what felt like an hour, but was probably only five minutes, they were still dodging. The other who had been pinned to the ground had finally dislodged their foot from the ground and was wincing with pain, but was also throwing daggers.
“Oh, c’mon!” Rehks shouted, “How many could you possibly have?!”
Kaemon pushed them to the ground, narrowly avoiding a knife to the head.
“Hey!” She saw the weapon, “Oh. Thanks.”
“Uh huh.” It appeared as though the hunters were out of ammo, “In coming.”
Kaemon helped them to her feet, and shoved a sword into their hand. Though, it appeared as though both hunters were rather apprehensive about close combat. Maybe they would finally have the upper hand.
The two rushed to meet the pair as they slid down the hill, swords in hand.
“Finally gonna face us, huh?” Rehks taunted, “Grew a spine perhaps?”
The uninjured hunter narrowed their brow, obviously angered, and swung their sword. Rehks dodged.
“You forget how good I’ve gotten at dodging.” They smirked, “Thanks for the practice earlier!”
The injured one collapsed at the bottom of the hill. Kaemon, who was not currently the target (Thank the spirits Rehks was the perfect distraction), helped the hunter to their feet.
“Thank you.” They mumbled, dazed.
“You’re welcome.” Kaemon grimaced.
They looked up, only to see Kaemon bringing the butt of her sword down upon their head. The hunter collapsed again in a heap, out cold.
With one taken care of, Kaemon joined the fight that was raging between Rehks and the other. The clanging of swords was barely heard, Rehks simply continued to dodge and taunt the hunter. They were so angry that they were making silly mistakes.
“Missed again!” They laughed, “This is too easy!”
The sword was swung heavily into the grass, the hunter struggled to pull it out.
“Are you drunk?” They continued to mock, “C’mon give me a challenge!”
Eyes practically red with rage, the bounty hunter ran forward, sword poised over to strike down with all the might they could muster. Rehks didn’t budge, they still grinned happily, knowing that the hunter made one final error: they paid no attention to their surroundings.
CLANG!
The butt of Kaemon’s sword came down in a whir on the hunter’s helmet. They fell to the ground in a heap, defeated.
“Well, that coulda been worse.” Rehks huffed, “Thanks for the save, K.”
“Uh huh.” Kaemon knelt by the hunter, “Wanna help me get these two back to the pub, or are you gonna dodge that too?”
“Ah, quit your complaining , I got it.” They lifted the hunter with ease and began to scale the hill.
Kaemon grabbed the other and hoisted them to the top. They dropped them both in a pile close to the pub entrance. Then, they ran back to the hill and back to the cottage. Nobody followed them this time.
