Crap.

         Emi thought, biting on her lip, taking step back. The guard in disguise got into an attacking stance, his hand lingering on the sword that was kept at his his hip.

          “Shadow Rogue, I must say, I am not surprised to see you here.” The guard in disguise said to her, taking a step forward, the unique earring on his ear shaking along with the movement.

          Emi eyed the earring, her heart skipping a beat as she took another step back, gulping.

          “What are you?” Sergi finally spoke, his eyes narrowing at Kris, who still had a smirk on his face.

          “Well…” Kris trailed off, unsheathing his sword and the rest of his comrades did the same, blocking the bandits from the hostages, who were scampering away in fright.

          “I’m a mercenary.” Kris continued, charging towards them and Emi got into a defensive stance.

          Just then, Sergi stepped in front of her quickly, withdrawing his sword too and their swords clashed against one another, the sound was however, drowned out by the fire crackling in the background, as well as the servants around the mansion, shouting out orders to get more water to put out the fire.

          “Go with the others.” Serig commanded Emi, to which she frowned.

          “What about the money?” Emi questioned and Kris narrowed his eyes at their relaxed conversation, leaping back and landing another hit on Sergi, who blocked it again.

          “Leave it, it isn’t worth sacrificing our lives over it.” Sergi said, keeping his eyes on his opponent, not turning around to face Emi.

          Emi nodded, hollering at the others to follow her and they complied, dashing past the mercenaries blocking their way. They didn’t give chase though, since Kris told them not to chase after them; their job instructions were to protect the mansion after all.

          Meanwhile, no one noticed the quick discreet glance that Kris gave to Emi, whose figure disappeared past the curtains.

          One of the bandits that followed after Emi suddenly jumped to Sergi’s side, joining him in the fight, making Sergi furrow his eyebrows.

          “What are you doing?”

          “Can’t let you hog all the fun.” The bandit grinned cheekily and Sergi just let out a small smirk, blocking another attack from Kris.

          “Is this the time to be talking?” Kris asked, the fire still engulfing the curtains, smoke rising rapidly despite the servants’ efforts to put the fire with buckets of water. Yet again, Kris gave him a quick slash and Sergi was caught off guard for a moment, due to the slight distraction, barely managing to avoid it.

          Sergi grunted, jumping backwards in alarm and bumping against the back of the other bandit, who also took a step back from the relentless assaults he was facing.

          Standing back to back with each other, they were soon surrounded by the mercenaries.

          Sergi’s eyes glanced to the left, seeing an opening to the ballroom floor. He didn’t want to risk inhaling anymore smoke and he blindly swung his swords, creating an opening for the both of them to bolt to the ballroom floor. They chased after him, startling the servants who were frantically putting out the fire.

          “Get them out of here.” Kris took advantage of the momentary chaos, patting his comrade on his shoulder.

          His comrade grinned, nodding at him.

          “Careful, they aren’t your average ruffians that you see on the streets everyday.” Kris warned his comrades before dashing off, chasing after Emi.

          She has something I want, and I’m not letting her escape from me that easily.

          Emi mounted her horse, Luna neighing and she quickly urged Luna to run. The other bandits were behind her, riding on their horses too, a few of them stayed behind to assist Sergi, their leader.

          “We have to split up to confuse them.” Emi ordered.

          They will definitely chase after me, since I have something they need.

          I can’t let Sergi find out about the necklace, no matter what.

          They all went their separate ways, some by the hidden path, some down the streets and others heading into the forest.

          Emi went into the forest, splitting up from everyone, slowing down her pace as Luna trudged past the forest, her hoofs silent against the ground.

          “Easy girl, easy.” Emi smoothed her beloved horse, petting her soft silver mane and letting out a sigh.

          “We have to escape, Luna. I can’t let them catch me.” She told her horse, knowing that the horse could understand her anxiety, one way or another.

          Luna snorted, pushing herself closer to her master’s hands, telling her master that she’s there for her.

          “Thank you.” A small smile tugged at Emi’s lips and she continued on in the forest, treading carefully.

          Suddenly, Emi heard an arrow whizzing by her, slightly grazing her cheek and she winced, immediately jumping down from her horse. Luna knew what to do, quickly running away from the area to not interfere with her master and for both of their safety.

          Another arrowing came zooming at Emi and she avoided it swiftly, though, she realised something as she looked at the arrow, landing pathetically on the ground. The one shooting the arrow doesn’t have any intent of killing her, it seems like the enemy wants to keep her here, rather than killing her.

          She glared at the trees, frustrated that it was nighttime, making it hard for her to spot the person. Clicking her tongue, she withdrew her dagger from the sides of her belt and twirled them skillfully in her hands.

          “Come out here, you coward.” She growled out, avoiding yet another arrow, but her keen eye managed to spot where it was shot from.

          There.

          She spun it around once more, shooting it at the tree and a loud thud was heard, followed by noisy rustling. The noisy rustling went from tree to tree and she guessed that the person was probably changing his location.

          Taking advantage of the situation, Emi ran to Luna, only to have an arrow immediately stabbing into the soil in front of her. She let out an annoyed growl, turning around to eye the trees, the moonlight the only source of light in this forest.

          The person was obviously not allowing her to escape or neither was the person allowing her to take another step closer to her horse.

          Why isn’t he letting me go?

         

         

          ******************************************************************************

         

         

          A while ago, before the auction started, Kris allocated scouts around the mansion, telling them to report to him for any suspicious activity and also, to stop them from going any further.

          They had to either stop them by incapacitating them or interfering in their way, but they were ordered not to kill them.

          The person in the tree had one arm wrapping around the thick tree branch as his other hand dug into his pocket. The moonlight provided some light, shining onto him as he moved slightly, the feather earring on his ear swaying slightly.

          Finally, he dug the object out from his pocket, bringing it closer to his mouth, the moonlight revealing that there was a red-coloured tattoo on his arm. He placed the object between his mouth, and the object was made out of wood, probably crafted by their group.

          Suddenly, Emi heard a piercing sound throughout the forest, the sound resembling a whistle and she blanched, a hint of what it was for and who blew it.

          I have to get out of here, quickly!

          On the other hand, Kris who was riding his horse towards the gravel path heard the whistle, instantly turning around and hurriedly urging his horse to the forest.

          Emi didn’t bother about her safety anymore, throwing it aside as she sprinted to her horse. Arrows were continuously shot at her and she dodged them by hiding in between trees, running from side to side.

          She found Luna, starting straight at her from a distance as she neighed, imploring her master to hurry up. Emi ran towards her but an arrow whizzed by her again, this time, grazing her on the leg. She let out a yelp, stumbling to the ground as she winced.

          Come on, Emi Winters.

          You can do this.

          She pushed herself up to her feet, ignoring the throbbing pain in her leg and she pushed herself towards Luna, finally reaching her as she mounted her.

          “Go, Luna!”

          Sadly, she couldn’t go fast, since it was risky and Luna might hit into the trees if she went too fast.

          “Crap, choosing the forest was a horrible idea.” Emi muttered to herself, trying to stay calm.

          Another arrow was shot, stabbing into the ground next to her, startling the horse for a moment. Luna stopped, afraid to take another step forward and Emi let out a frustrated sigh, taking the smoke bomb out from one of her pockets on her belt.

          I have to make them again.

          Emi quickly tossed it onto the ground, the impact causing it to explode and smoke started rising rapidly. The person in the tree clicked his tongue, unable to see clearly now due to the smoke. She quickly headed out of the forest, finally finding a path which Luna could properly gallop on.

          “Let’s go, Luna!”

          Luna started galloping on the path, adrenaline pumping throughout Emi’s body, the painful feeling on her cheek and leg slowly becoming dull. Unfortunately, unbeknownst to her, the blood from her leg was dripping onto the ground, showing a path straight to her.

          Emi’s mind was only focused on the thoughts of escaping before anyone found her, making her oblivious to her surroundings and her hidden pocket still felt as heavy as ever.

          Eventually, Kris reached the scout in the forest, and the scout pointed him towards the direction where Emi disappeared off to. Kris followed his directions, arriving at the gravel path Emi was at moments ago.

          He gritted his teeth, upset at the fact that she escaped, since there was no way of finding her now, until he looked at the ground. The moonlight enabled him to notice the blood trail on the gravel path and he raised an eyebrow.

          How careless of her.

         

         

          ******************************************************************************

         

         

          After her adrenaline slowly dissipated, the pain in her leg started throbbing painfully but Emi couldn’t be bothered, still galloping across the gravel path.

          You can’t let them catch you, Emi.

          Kris smirked, taking a shortcut to cut her off. It always usual for him to scour the area of his job was at, since he was always well prepared, ensuring that he needed know everything well enough to prevent any mistakes.

          The map was imprinted in his mind as he went to a separate gravel path, urging his horse to go even faster.

          Of course, he didn’t find out about the hidden path that Sergi and the others made.

          You won’t get away that easily, Shadow Rogue.

          Emi turned around from time to time, her heart always skipping a beat when she did that, only to feel utterly relieved when she found no one trailing behind her.

          “Whoa whoa.” She brought her horse to a stop, deciding to climb down slowly to tend to her wound on her leg. She pouted when she realised there was a tear in her outfit, reminding herself to sew it later.

          She dug inside another pouch of her belt, taking out a sterilized bandage, a sterilized cloth and a small bottle of water.

          She never lacked of any emergency resources, since she had to always depend on herself for survival, so she definitely knew what to bring along, especially when she had limited pouches on her belt.

          She grimaced when she felt the tinge of pain as she washed the wound with some water, cleaning the water away with the cloth and proceeding to wrap the bandage around her leg. She tightened the bandage around her wound, to prevent it from dropping, wincing when she felt an intense pain shoot through her leg.

          Her head shot up when she noticed something, the blood trail she left on the ground and her face instantly went pale.       

          Oh no, this bad.

          Very bad.

          Frantically packing everything up, Emi climbed onto Luna, begging her to go as fast as she could. After a minute of galloping, she noticed something in the distance, her heart skipping a beat.

          It was someone sitting on a horse, blocking her path.

          Emi bit on her lip, not stopping as she ignored the person until she saw him taking out his sword, the sword glinting dangerously under them moonlight.

          “Whoa there!” Emi exclaimed, stopping her horse and she felt her body shiver as noticed the person.

          It was the same guard that stood in front of the entrance of the mansion, now that he has removed his helmet and she could see him more clearly, she realised how attractive the man was.

          Nevertheless, she wasn’t shivering in delight, she was shivering in fear, due to the tattoo on his arm and the special earring on his ear.

          The Dragoons.

          Not wanting to hurt Luna, she got down from her horse, taking her daggers out and whirling them around in her hands before gripping onto them tightly.

          “I guess I have no choice.” Emi sighed to herself, appearing composed but her hands were trembling slightly.

          Kris did the same, jumping down from his horse and smirking at her.

          “I believe you have something that I want, Shadow Rogue.” He said to her, approaching her and they circled around each other cautiously.

          “I’m afraid that I have no idea what you are talking about, mercenary.” Emi replied, narrowing her eyes at him.

          “The Timeless Necklace, you have it, don’t you?” He raised an eyebrow at her.

          Emi did not show any visible reaction, since she was trained harshly by Sergi to remain composed in any circumstance.

          “No, I’m afraid not.”

          Kris’ smirk just widened, a hint of annoyance appearing on his face as he swung his sword at Emi.

          She blocked it with both of her daggers, sliding back a little at his sheer strength.

          What incredible strength!

          Emi always hated the fact that men was born to be physically stronger than women.

          “Lying is a bad habit.” Kris tutted at her, pushing her backwards with his word. She gritted her teeth unable to fight back against his powerful strength.

          “Not to me.” She retorted, leaping away from his sword, her arms feeling tense.

          “Oh, of course, to people like you, this kind of values don’t apply.”

          They circled around each other again.

          “People like me?”

          “Rotten people who would do anything for the sake of money.”

          “Aren’t you one of them?” Emi frowned, he was a mercenary after all and mercenaries are always working for money.

          Kris guffawed, but it lacked of any humour.

          “That’s where you are wrong, thief.” Kris’ eyes gleamed dangerously as he dashed towards Emi, persistently slashing swiftly at her.

          Emi dodged the slashes adeptly one by one, each slash making her take a step back. Sometimes she dodged by blocking his assaults using her daggers, others were just pure dodging.

          Unfortunately, it came to a point where her back bumped against a tree and she had nowhere to go.

          “More than anything, I hate people like you.” Kris hissed out venomously, his eyes lighting up in hatred as he did another slash.

          She panted, immediately ducking when the sword swung at her and she rammed her head into his chin. He groaned in pain, stumbling backwards and rubbing at his chin, glaring hatefully at her.

          Emi took this opportunity to run back into the forest, to stand a better chance against him. Anyhow, before she could do that, Kris took out a small knife that slotted into a pocket at his thigh, aiming the knife towards her direction.

          Emi managed to hear him withdrawing his knife, instantly spinning around to avoid. Despite that, the knife managed to tear a part of her mask which helped her to hold it up.

          That’s right.

          More than anything, I hate…

          Kris thought spitefully as she spun around to avoid his knife.

          The moment she faced him, her mask dropped down from her face, landing on the ground, exposing her whole face. Emi’s eyes widened considerably at the empty feeling around her face as she stared at Kris in the eyes.

          Her straight, gorgeous black hair glowed under the serene moonlight and her freckles was visible now, along with the attractive features on her face. Her succulent lips dropping open a little and her mesmerizing hazel eyes illuminating brighter under the moonlight.

          My god.

          Kris’ breathing hitched, his mind completely empty of any thoughts except one.

          She’s one of the most beautiful woman that I’ve ever laid my eyes on.

 

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Sorry for the super late update guys! Hope you liked it :D