Part 8
Cyeen stared at the dirty floors. Cleaning someone else's house was definitely not a fun action. She had decided on helping Súko with todays full house cleaning even though she was inexperienced at anything other than attending tea parties and looking pretty.
The noble soon picked the broom up and got to sweeping away. After about ten minutes, the sequence of brushing the dirt and dust out the door had become unbearable. Did she really have to do this? I was the one that offered. She was of noble origin, this was not a job meant for her. She would have been out there living her best life in a village only if those bandits hadn't showed up. It was going to be embarrassing going back home just to be scolded by her mother and made fun of by the other noble ladies. Her sweeping lost its pattern. Maybe I shouldn't go back after all.
Her horrible looking clothes would disrupt her sweeping as soon as they rustled. Cyeen looked down to look at them properly for once. Why do the commoners have such terrible taste? Can't they just buy better clothes?
Cleaning the house had made her realise something. Maybe this wasn't the life she wanted. Maybe all she wanted was a little break.
Thanks to the silence that was only briefly interrupted by a brushing sound or two, she realised the voice had been quite these days. Whenever it didn't come back it would make the noble anxious. She was still in denial about it being her own voice. I'd recognize my voice. Were her thoughts.
Cyeen kept sweeping the floors until a piece of the wall which was highly damaged took her attention. It was ridden with scratch marks, signs of a blaster hit and some dry blood. The attack happened in her home huh? Cyeen looked out the window next to that wall piece. There were two nicely decorated graves. One of them was smaller than the other one. Probably a child's grave. Far away from them, nearly inside the forest was a grave big enough to fit four people.
"Hey Chen! Can you come upstairs?"
The noble couldn't make out the words at first. She thought for a second before going towards the stairs. Though faint, a red stain that got thinner the more it descended was visible. Cyeen noted it down as she went upstairs.
In a room to the left, Súko was standing in front of a table full of needles and strings. It seemed like she had finally patched Cyeen's white dress with similar colors but couldn't really replicate the expensive designer clothing.
Cyeen picked it up, gave it a through search and nodded before speaking in a monotone tone.
"You actually did a great work considering what you were working with. I owe you once again."
"Sorry, I took me a while to fix it. I think a part of me didn't want to see you go." added Súko
Cyeen saw a warm smile appear on the woman's face.
Now that her clothes were restored, she'd be less embarrassed about going home. The noble left Súko's side with a slight hint of thankfulness.
The door to an empty room was opened as a girl entered it. She went to a corner to dress up. It was not the greatest but it would work as long as it made her look pretty as usual. She had taken a bath yesterday so she didn't have much to worry about before going back to her manor in Enidia. Now all she had to do was return to her old life. Old monotone life. Only a noble could afford to think about their lives like this as life hadn't teached them what people would do to live even a day in their life.
The door was closed as the girl left the room. Cyeen went back downstairs to get her cleaning equipment as she didn't want to go back on her promise to help clean the house.
It was time to dust the furnitures. She had gotten tired of sweeping the floors that occasionally had blood stains. Cyeen first started with upstairs, thinking of going from top to bottom. The first room she entered had a full body mirror — a rare sight for the average family.
As the noble cleaned the entire room, she felt a sudden urge to look at herself. Now there was some time to look at herself, she realised the cuts she got from the branches were sticking out like a sore thumb. Her hand gently caressed the mirror.
It's you
Cyeen didn't bother looking around. She was actually a bit relieved the voice came back. The way it mimicked a narrator creeped her quite a bit though.
In a better mood, she wiped her fingerprints off the mirror and left the room. Cyeen saw Súko sweeping the ground next to the staircase. She went towards her and hesitantly tapped her shoulder.
"I've cleaned the rooms you told me to which brought a question into my mind. Have you not been staying at this house for a while? I cannot fathom it getting this dirty."
Súko looked to her left and scratched her cheek with her index finger.
"Fine, I give in. You're one curious girl aren't you? I'll tell you if you do decide to visit me in the future."
Cyeen got a bit suspicious but decided it wasn't worth her time before shrugging. The woman had her secrets and Cyeen was not in the mood to listen to more of her stories. For some reason, it felt like nothing went going good in this woman's life. She descended down the stairs before heading into the living room. The noble lady sniffed the air.
"Ash? Is there a fire somewhere?"
She noticed a crack in the wall next to her. "GET BACK!" was what she heard as she was pulled back by Súko. The cracked wall crumbled onto the ground. Among the countless dust particals appeared a glowing set of eyes, shining purple like the night skies.
The eyes locked onto her as she heard the whirring sound of knives. They weren't the same color as the eyes, indicating there were more than one person. The knives barelly grazed the nobles cheeks, making her back away.
Cyeen looked at Súko.
"How many are there?"
Súko's hand was shaking really badly. It was clear she was angry.
"At least seven."
The dark purple eyes spoke out,
"A friend of mine told me you were the one who killed our comrades, is that right? "
Súko was looking at the figure with antipathy on her face,
"Yes."
"Such a fast answer. What a good girl." the eyes responded.
In the blink of an eye, the figure got out of the ddus, appearing near Súko's neck only to be parried by a pink sword. As Cyeen looked at the figure's horrifying speed, she was able to identify the person. It was a long black haired woman with a pretty long scar on her right arm. She had heard of someone like that before, that was Dog Tamer, the bandit leader who was giving Enidia countless amounts of troubles. Cyeen quickly summoned a blaster in her left hand and fired it, forcing the woman to back up. She put a hand on Súko's shoulder.
"Can we win?" she asked.
Súko looked at her,
"We? No, you run away. Let me deal with my mess alone."
"What sort of people did you mess with?"
"Sorry, we don't have enough time. But there is a short note I wrote in your pocket."
She checked her dress. There really was a pocket there. Súko had sewed a pocket into the dress just for the purpose of holding this note.
Dog Tamer quickly lunged towards Súko with her dark purple spear in hand. Cyeen summoned her scythe to try and counter it but the weapon was not targeted at her. Súko parried the weapon again but got pushed back by the force of the impact. Cyeen swung her scythe towards the bandit leader before finding herself slamming against the closest wall. Not only did she not care about Cyeen's attack, she was also able to knock her away with a single hand.
Cyeen told herself she wasn't going to run away. If she did, it was uncertain what would happen to Súko. Even she was not heartless enough to leave someone who selflessly helped her. Cyeen clenched her teeth.
Dog Tamer was throwing out constant attacks with her spear while also summoning knives mid air to barrage Súko. The woman was able to counter the air knives with her own even though summoning her own knives required too much focus. Because of that, the dark purple spear was stabbing her from time to time. Cyeen got back up to help Súko.
Run away, she doesn't need you.
She held her head in agonising pain. No! She can't win without my help! Cyeen summoned long strings from the tip of her fingers and used them to restrict Dog Tamer's right arm. The bandit leader glanced at her before summoning spikes below Cyeen, impaling her all throughout her body. After being stuck on them for a second, the spikes retrieved, making the noble fall on her face. The painful scream of Cyeen distracted Súko, resulting in a spear going through her stomach. She spit out blood before pushing Dog Tamer away with her sword.
"JUST LEAVE ME BEHIND!" screamed out the woman.
As Cyeen was about to shout "No" back at her, six more figures flooded inside the house. A piece of burning debris fell next to Cyeen just as they entered, diverting their attention to her. Four of the six bandits pointed their weapons towards Cyeen upon seeing it fall. Right, she said seven. Maybe I should have fled when I could.
Cyeen lifted her hands up in defeat. The bandits looked at her in surprise just enough for them to drop their guard. Cyeen closed her hands before opening them back again, summoning a blaster in each hand and firing them off before any of them could react. None of the bandits had enough time to react to this surprise attack. The noble quickly got up to help Súko after forcing the other bandits outside.
Crack! She had heard this sound before. It was that of a shield breaking. "Súko!" She screamed out but to no avail. Cyeen could only watch as Dog Tamer put her spear through Súko's throat, making her body lean onto the spear. A silent scream was heard, perhaps it was the last time Cyeen would hear that voice.
As she was choking on her own blood, Súko reached her hand out to the noble, moving her lips. Only air left through her mouth. Súko's hand slowly fell back down to not be lifted ever again.
Cyeen felt scared to death for the first time in her entire life. The bandit leader hadn't hesitated once throughout their fight even while taking a life.
Blood was gushing out of Súko's throat; spilling all over the wooden floors, dying them into a bone chilling red. The dark purple eyes turned towards her. Cyeen felt her soul leave her body. In the matter of a second, she had been stabbed on her back by countless amounts of knives. She wasn't even given a moment to process Súko's death. Cyeen summoned her scythe in hopes to parry the incoming lighting fast spear attack. The parry was successful but the impact had knocked her all the way back to the other wall. With a final purple spike coming out of the wall she just hit, her shield broke into hundreds of pieces. I'm dead.
Run.