To Love, Once Again

Crick-Crack.

The bones in Lucien's thick, corded neck pop as he twists, rolling his shoulders back after creating as much distance from Sera's hiding spot; at the same time not too far that the assassins find it suspicious.

It was time.

Lucien takes the lid off of one of the wooden wine barrels he'd passed along the way, no longer bothering to hide his presence. The lid would suffice as his shield. His footsteps, strong and sure, echo out in the alleyway as he walks.

The dagger twirling in his palm was the only indication of his eagerness to get back to Sera. He wanted to end this quick. Clean.

There's a slight limp in his walk as blood trails down the back of one calf.

Bang.

Bang.

Bang.

The hilt of his dagger hits the thick wooden oak, creates a noise that echoes and reverberates off the brick walls. Like the tolling of a church bell, it felt heavy, final.

Death was coming. Only time would tell for whom.

As if they'd been summoned by the sound, black shadows appear out of the night mists.

Soon, they would descend upon him; like a swarm of locusts ready to devour their prey.

One dagger hilt in his hand, the other holding a thick wood barrel lid, Lucien crouches, ready for them.

--------

The slight sound of breath, shuddering in and out. Her own pulse, whooshing in her ears.

It was the only thing she could hear. Everything else was silent around Sera.

Sera waited obediently, too scared to move though the hay scratched at her. Her heart was torn. She didn't want to stay here hiding in the dark. She wanted to go help Lucien.

But he'd told her to stay put. The logical part of her mind was telling her that doing otherwise would cause more harm than good. Didn't they say that when you get lost it was better for you to stay put? Either way, her mind would tell her, Sera should know who she was. She was no warrior. What was she going to do once she found Lucien in the midst of a fight. Throw rocks at the attackers?

'But!' Her heart would scream in response. 'Lucien was powerful, but no man was an immortal!' She would know. The area around her home was supposed to be safe, yet she had died once. Watching the truck come at you while the world slows down.. She'd experienced firsthand what it felt like to have death come at you while you were unable to respond.

...her heart kept screaming at her to go after Lucien, get out of there, go look for some knights or something. There must be some sort of order to keep the peace here, something like the police??

Wasn't there anything, anything at all she could do to help Lucien???

Her heart and mind kept up the battle against each other. The hands at her sides formed tight fist, the hilt of the sword in one hand sticky with the dried blood that covered it.

Tap.

What was that?

Tap.

Faintly, there was the sound of someone's presence nearby.

She bites her lips.

Who was it!?

Sera huddles in the hay, willing herself not to move, to even breathe.

It couldn't be Lucien. He would say something if it were him.

Just that innocuous sound, but her heart was on edge.

Something clatters. A round object of some sort, probably the large wooden bucket that was next to the haystack she hid in, knocked over.

It kept making the same noise as it rolled around, circling around and around, slowing down, bit by bit..

....and eventually stopping again.

That definitely wasn't him.

A small creature crawls over her foot, but Sera ignores it.

The furry thing, whatever it was, pauses, and something wet touches her bare toe. The wrinkles around Sera's eyes deepen as she closes her eyes tightly.

She hadn't realized that she'd lost her left shoe in the turmoil somewhere. 'Slow, deep breaths' Sera reminds herself. Ignore whatever it is that's tasting your foot.

Slow, deep breaths.

Just breathe. Focus.

Fo-

Her concentration gets interrupted when the thing takes a sharp bite out of her big toe. Sera couldn't hold back the muffled squeak of pain that escapes her tightly knitted lips.

Oh no.

Please, don't let whoever was out there hear that, she prays.

Luckily, after one bite, the creature doesn't seem interested in her foot anymore, and scampers off, pushing its way through the rustling hay.

Whoever was out there might think that the sound came from whatever creature just crawled out.

Silence.

Sera starts counting in her head.

One. Two. Three. Four.....

Her breathing gets faster. Stay calm. She needed to keep counting.

...Thirty.

It was dead silent. It was scarier when you couldn't hear the footsteps of the unknown assailant, all alone by yourself. But you knew, you just knew, that someone else was out there, too.

Sera wasn't sure if she was counting the time properly anymore.

All at once, something grabs her by the hair, hard.

She screams with all the force she can muster as she's dragged out of the hay by the roots of her hair.

"No!!!"

It was one of the masked attackers that had chased them, dressed all in black. With a giant gash on his hip and clothes in disarray, it was obvious that he'd met Lucien somewhere along the way.

Moving on instinct, she swings out the heavy sword using two sweaty hands.

"Don't touch me!!!"

The sword hits!

It cut a deep slice into the arm that pulls at her hair, while the man (it was a man, the body outlined was too large and built to be anything but) grunts in pain.

A loud smack. The man had slapped her in the face, hard. "You!"

While the man hadn't used any weapons against her, the open handed crack across her face was enough to leave a red welt. Black dots hovered in Sera's vision. Clutching her face, she scrambles backwards on her hands and knees, away from him.

It didn't matter where she went. The only thing behind her was a brick wall.

"No! Lucien!" Sera screams as the man grip her hair again and puts her in a chokehold. The blood makes her fingers slip as she claws at the man's arm wrapped around her throat.

Her fingers scratch at the assailant's arm tightening around her throat. Tears well up in her eyes. "Please, I can't breathe."

The man doesn't budge, gradually increasing the pressure around her throat. Legs and arms flail around as Sera does everything she can to make him release her.

It was getting harder to breathe. The man breathes roughly in her ear, hissing out a breath when her fingers find the wound on his arm and dig into it with sharp nails.

"I can't breathe!"

Her throat felt constricted.

"I-"

The black dots were increasing, dancing around as Sera's eyes unfocus.

And then the world goes blank.