When the carriage finally broke, the crew had to travel by foot, hoof, or wing. Thea’s Emberaegis, Dasha, carried: Thea, Covy, and Sadhil; Aspen’s Emberaegis, Vixen, carried: Aspen, Kenji, and Magnus. Sienna led in the middle with her chesnut-colored horse, Felicie. After dark, they settled somewhere in east Phillipi or south Latta. Either way, they are in the middle of nowhere with forsests and rivers. The woods was cold with cracking leaves as they sat on their bedrolls and Aspen’s feet crunch as she left to find firewood. “Who has the best kill story?” Every one turned to look at Kenji as he laid down his lion skin cloak. “What? It’s an interesting question! You know, you can learn a lot about a person from how the kill people”, he shruggs. Laughing and sighing, they showed the worst of themselves to eachother. They could finally see eachother for what they actually were: killers. Although, for murderers, the amount of giggling seemed accessive.

“You WHAT?”

“I didn’t fully understand, I was pressing my lips to a bottle all night!”

Covy told the story of how a woman had fallen for him when he was trying to kill her. It was quite new to hear about Covy having a love life; it seemed pretty inaccurate with the way he swings.

“Maggie, go”, Covy pointed as he shook his head. “It’s not a story you really want to hear”, he claimed, his face going solemn. “Oh, come on you stick-in-the-mud”, Kenji started ,” you gotta share SOMETHING.” The group demanded his words like gold. “Alright, fine”, he said, pressing a glass bottle of rum to his lips, “I was paid by a man to kill his sister.” He stopped and looked at each of their faces, puzzled. “They were competing for a position, being similar in age”, he continued, ears filling with anxiety, not hearing the crunch of leaves behind him. “I killed her the night she was supposed to be incudcted and I lost my other dagger”, he hushed as he unsheathed his single dagger, his second one missing. He peered at their faces again, seeing Thea’s eyes light up in understanding and Sienna’s lips pressed together as she realized what he had done. Magnus killed Aspen’s sister.

“What?” Magnus turned to see Aspen holding a dozen logs, face disbelieving what she had overheard.