Everyone had heard the legends of creation. Of the goddess who cast away darkness and the demon lords who controlled it. The land was left dead from their rule and the tears of the devastated Goddess fell down onto the earth filling the rifts in the land and creating the seas and oceans. The stories went on into the revival of life and the growth and return of plants and animals alike. For each of the demons she banished she created a seal, five gates each one using a different of the five elements to lock away each of the demon lords. She chose five of her newly created animals to become the master races bestowing one person of each race the duty of being the key to a gate. A trait that would pass through the generations and the ability to bind a person to them. A guard who would give their life for the protection of the key to a gate.

The keys were hidden away and the demons searched. Thousands of years and many generations passed and the stories faded into fables. Society forgot about the honours bestowed on them and slowly failed to protect their treasure. Keys were slowly found until only one remained. One family that has always managed to protect the key to their gate and keep the bloodline alive. But the demons always close in, and the last key to the gate always has to learn to run.

*

Arc leaned against the side of the ship, watching as the land grew closer and closer. His long hair blew around in the wind. He had been offered a cord to tie it back early on in this journey. He hadn’t cared to accept. The man had taken it in stride though, and it took only a day before the crew realised Arc was going to avoid them. And so he had, acting as though they didn’t exist and eating alone in silence.

Behind him people ran back and forth shouting and hauling on lines. Feinlore lay ahead, a new life. Away from the duties he had always known. He sighed and stepped away from the rail. He had brought nothing with him and so had nothing to collect. His pants were tight and belted firmly around his hips. Around here the other men seemed to wear their pants to their waist, he had noted. This boat originated from Feinlore, a merchant ship. He would stick out in this city but he had used all his money to get here. A new start, and so be it if people stared.

They reached the dock and Arc leapt onto it before anyone could stop him. He nodded briefly to the captain who stared down at him before moving past those gathered waiting to buy new merchandise for their shops. He shrugged his shoulders and his claymore shifted as he moved into the bustling city. He passed a wanted board and noted a sketch of a woman posted. He tore this off and looked down, reading it as he went. There was a hefty reward for her capture. He needed money. Perhaps he would find this woman.

The demons were growing so close. Devin could feel them coming closer in her uneasy dreams whenever she slept. She awoke uneasily, as usual, sitting up in the alley she had chosen to rest in the previous night. This is what she had come to: sleeping in alleyways. She had been in Feinlore for a week by this point, using the dense crowd of the city to blend in. It also made her magic indistinguishable, mingled among so many other magical beings. She liked it there, but knew she could not stay much longer. Each night her dreams became more and more troubling. She had already ignored them for some time now.

Devin had been on the run for two years by this point. Her family had done all it could have to protect her by that point. They had lived in a forest far away from where she sat right now. For her protection, her family had lived only amongst itself, not in any village or city. They simply lived in a single home surrounded by forest. Their desolation had been for nothing. Her mother, father, and seven older brothers had all been slain when the demons found their location. Devin did not often dwell on the events of that day; they were painful to think about. However, whenever she did think about them the one thing she remembered was the urgency her father had as he helped her mount the only horse their family owned and sent her galloping into the woods to escape. During that time, her mother and brothers, all mages, were fighting to their deaths against the powerful troop of demons for something greater than them all. At first, life was difficult after she left. Devin did not know how to find civilization and once she finally did, she was terrified to speak with anyone. Living alone and in constant fear had also taken its toll on her. Devin's personality was always unfriendly and defensive to anyone who dared to speak with her. She knew little of how to talk to people without becoming angry with them. In reality, she felt much more anger with herself and her situation. Why did it have to be her? Why did she have to be a Keeper? In those first months, Devin had asked him again and again until she stopped caring what the answer was. It did not matter. There was nothing she could do about it. She had keep moving from place to place, keep hidden. Sometimes she wished herself dead, but her own stubbornness would then creep up on her: Devin refused to let her family's death be for nothing.

As she grew older, Devin became rather overly-confident of herself. She had outrun the demons for such a long time that it seemed as if they would never catch her. Even though she knew her dreams grew more and more dismal, Devin was confident in her powers as an ice mage and in her swordsmanship skills. However, this was merely a fancy. The powers of the demons surpassed any magic that Devin had. It had only taken three demons to destroy her family. She knew she had the power to name a Protector, to find someone powerful who would help her, but she had no such luck. If she told anyone her story, they would believe her insane. No one believed in such stories of Keepers anymore. Besides that, Devin rarely spoke to anyone. She had become so obstinate that she believed that she would be her own Protector, mainly through finding the next best hiding spot and keeping there.

Devin was also aware of the special importance of her Keeper status: she was the last of them who had not been found out. When she was born, there were three left. By the time she was old enough to form simple words, two were left. That was when her family retreated into the woods. When she turned ten summers she was old enough to sense, in the depths of her core, that she was the last Keeper to a Gate.

Today must be my last here, Devin thought as she exited the alley she slept in the previous night and melted into the crowd of busy people going about their day. She planned on having one last decent, warm meal before she did so though. Normally, Devin avoided places like taverns. But this, she reasoned, was a special occasion: it would be the last time she was in civilization for a long time. And certainly, as usual, she would not be found out.

As he moved through the city Arc was buffeted by the crowd. Some stared at him. He was tall; he got that from his father. His face was also hard, expressionless even when a man yanked on his long hair and sneered to get his filthy blood out of the city. No, to that Arc simply grabbed the man around the wrist. He twisted it and threw the man to the ground. He didn’t look back. He didn’t stop walking. He just continued to read the wanted poster.

He flipped the heavy paper over and examined the back. It was blank, nothing on it. He ran his callused fingers over the holes made by the pins. Freshly pierced, the wind hadn’t torn them larger. The paper was also clean, not yet dirty or ragged. That meant she was here, that whoever was searching for her was here too. He brought the paper closer to his face and sniffed it. Demons, he thought. They were tricky, if he caught this girl he would have to be careful. They would try and cheat him out of the large reward offered on this paper. He wouldn’t allow that.

They had spared no expense on this either, so she was an important find. There was colour on the portrait splashed in pale tones for her skin and inked black for her hair. Arc clucked his tongue slightly and looked at his tanned skin. She might as well be the moon and he a common stone for how much they contrasted. He had come deeper into the city now. The crowds had thinned enough for him to make out individuals as opposed to the faceless mass of before. His eyes followed someone leave an alley. A girl, judging by their frame.

How interesting. Arc looked down at the paper again. If this was the same person, how could he have come across her so quickly and one of them not yet taken her into their grasp? He stuck the paper between his teeth and casually checked the buckles on his worn leather bracers. He slid his hand up to rest on the cloth wrapped around his right bicep then took the paper out of his mouth. His eyes flitted to the crowd again, locking onto the girl’s back. She was just in sight. Arc started forward again.

Devin adjusted the pack on her back, slipping her thumbs through the straps as to pull it closer to her as she slid through all the people. She was unaware that she was being followed, a folly of her overconfidence. She was also unaware that the demons now looked to capture her in a different way. They no longer worked stealthy, hidden among all of the other humanoids, but openly enlisted the help of those that they blended in with, creating a wanted poster in her likeness.

She leaned forward, opening one of the pouches in her belt and examining the few coins that laid within. In her travels, Devin had acquired them a number of ways. She found some, stole some, even worked some odd jobs for them too. There was little remaining, but it would not matter if she spent it all, she reasoned to herself. She was going to be in the wilderness for some time after today and they would be useless to her there, weighing her down really. In reality, she was simply excusing herself for spending the little money she had. She should have been spending it on traveling food, dried meats and breads that would last her.

Devin made her way through the crowd. It had thickened, making it difficult not to bump into anyone as she moved past them. It was places like this that made her infinitely uncomfortable and that her guard sprung up. She made sure to keep her head down and push through the people, though not too hard that they may give her any more than an annoyed glance. Buildings sprung up on either side of her, all shops. There were also a variety of carts in the middle of the road with merchants trying to sell their goods.

It was the moment that Devin lifted her head that she saw it and scurried up to it. It was a sign on one of the wanted boards, not the same board Arc had visited earlier that day. She ripped off the thick paper and stared at it in disbelief. Her own face stared back at her. Devin did not even know that the demons knew her appearance. She always figured it was her scent or magic that they knew her by. But no, it was clearly obvious that she had been spotted. She stood there numbly for a moment. If she were being completely honest with herself, her first thought was not fear, as it should have been, but disappointment that she would not be able have a decent meal before she left. Then the fear kicked in. It had been a mistake to stay here for a whole week, Devin was aware of that now as she shoved her way back into the crowd. She had to leave now.

Arc kept her in sight, always far enough back to stay out of her senses. It was something he had done a lot of, following someone. He was quiet, treated the people in the street as if they did not exist. If a merchant called to him he ignored them. It was just like guarding a person. You had to keep them in sight, be invisible to them so as not to disturb them. If the people around weren’t a threat they were to be ignored. The difference was that instead of protecting he had to eventually corner her. For that he needed to know how to attack her, to see how she moved. Analyse her personality to predict her reaction to approach. The woman seemed normal. There was nothing special that he could see.

He brushed his hair over his shoulder and cracked his neck, weaving between two passing carts. He and another man barely missed being flicked by the whip of the driver as he urged his mule onwards. Arc had no idea how the thing could even move through the throng, let alone miss people. He sighed and pushed his way forward again. In the moments it had taken to dodge the bloody vehicle he had lost sight of the girl, the woman. She had gotten too far ahead. He needed to relocate her. If she had gone into a store it was over. He weaved past a few people, ignoring their angry curses. The girl was doing exactly what she shouldn’t. Head down, she stuck out against the cheerful shoppers. It was easy to catch up again.

Arc stopped dead when she ran over to a billboard. He moved over to stand by a building, folding his arms and looking around as if watching the shoppers. Out of the corner of his eye he watched her. She looked shocked, why? Those put on wanted posters should know what they did. Did she think she wouldn’t get caught?

In a flash she was moving again. Arc started and quickly moved back into the street. Where before she seemed to be searching for something she was now moving fast. There was nothing for it. He ran forward and whipped his hand in front of her face so that she was once more staring at the poster. At the same time his other hand found her shoulder. He held it tightly so that she could wiggle away.

“For demons to be after you, you must be important,” he said. His voice was dry. No curiosity, no malice. No nothing. Flat, like he was commenting on the colour of the sky.

Devin felt the world stop around her for the space of a few breaths when a hand caught her shoulder and the same poster she now held crumpled in her hand was flashed in her face anew. For that instant, all she could hear was the sound of her own breath and all she could feel was hear her heart thumping as if she had been running for a long time. In actuality, she had been running for a long time. Essentially, for Devin's entire life she had been running away from those who sought after her.

So it had come to this. For all her carelessness, someone had finally caught up with her. Devin's regrets for all the things she should have done up to this point did not matter. All she could do was deal with the task in front of her. She heard the man before she saw him. His words made it apparent that he did not know who she was, or more accurately, what she was. Thoughts traveled through her mind rapidly. Should she beg for mercy? Should she fight him? Should she try and explain the situation to him? What about her magery? Her mind responded to each question: begging is pathetic, there are too many people around to fight, he would not believe her, and what magery was she supposed to do? Make a snowstorm on a warm day? She jerked her body to try and shrug the hand off of her shoulder, but to no avail. All these things going on in Devin's mind, ending with her movement, nearly occurred at the very same instant in rapid succession.

Finally she looked into the face of the one who had caught her and was taken aback. Never in her life had Devin seen someone who looked like this man, so... unnatural. Her eyes lingered on him for a moment, then she snatched the poster from his hand and crumpled it along with the other identical one she held in her hand.

"You do not know what you are talking about," Devin finally said, staring at the man coldly. It was then that an idea struck her. Lie, said a voice in her head. And that is exactly what she did.

"And you'll unhand my shoulder right now unless you want one of the many daggers I have hidden through your gut." It was a bold lie, she knew this much, but it was all she had.

He had expected her to move. The reaction was a bit delayed, but it came as he knew it would. Few people stayed perfectly still when they were grabbed. He was used to more violent reflexes than the movement she made, though. Maybe that was because usually he was dealing with other men. As she jerked he tightened his grip ever so slightly, digging his fingers into her skin firmly. So she wasn’t dangerous, then. If she was dangerous he would be fighting this moment or dead. Instead she twisted her head around.
He looked back at her, blinking once calmly. His dark eyes were blank and locked firmly on her. His mouth was a line. He was giving nothing away. Like a rock. He was used to the look she gave him. It wasn’t his expression that made people stare at him like that. It was his mixed bloody, the odd blend of tan skin and pale hair; his dark eyes and height.

Before he could move his arm she had the poster. He looked at his hand, eyes widening slightly. She was faster than he gave her credit for, then. He watched in silence as she crumbled it. What good did that do? There had to be a hundred all over the city. She couldn’t get them all. Was it to prove a point, then? To show she wasn’t scared of him?
His lip twitched at the threat. Daggers? Before she could stop him he had his right hand resting below her neck he slid it down and quickly ran his fingers in a zigzag across her abdomen and down her sides and back. “What daggers?” he said quietly. People were staring now. He didn’t like it; he drew enough attention just walking. He dragged her over to stand in front of the nearest building.



OOC: … Shush, it’s only one word that I missed. An important one, yes, but still.

Devin tried to hit the man's hands away, but proved too slow at doing so because each time her hand moved to push his away he had already moved it. Then, before she realized it he was done. She realized why he had done that when he asked her about the daggers. At this point, she tried to jerk away once more, this time more violently, but to no avail. In fact, he was already steering her somewhere else. It was as he pushed Devin that she had the stroke of brilliance.

Devin had came into her powers as an ice mage when she was a young girl. She had been playing next to the river that ran by their woodland home. She lost her balance and was about to fall in. Though she could not recall what age she was, it was young enough that she did not know how to swim. Terror swept through her as she was surely about to be carried away by the current and meet her death. She put her hands out in front of her as if she was falling on hard ground to stop her fall. As it would turn out, that was what she hit: hard ground. Or rather, hard ice. The next thing Devin knew, she was staring at the rapid-moving water below and had frozen all the water within five feet of her. She had seen the rest of her family perform such tricks with ice and this was the first one she had done all by herself.

Her next tricks, once the young Devin was safely back on land, involved taking a bucket of water and making the ice in it form objects such as rabbits. Once, she even made figurines of her entire family. It took several years of practice and help from her family, but before long Devin no longer needed a bucket of water to create things. She could take the water that was in the air and make the same crystal-like figures.

Devin did not know why the idea had not occurred to her long before today. It was so simple. As the stranger dragged her, Devin formed an icicle in her hand, like the kind that grow off roofs during winter. It was sharp. By the time the man stopped, it had completely formed and she poked it into the man's gut. She did not push it hard enough for it to cut him, but enough so that he would know it was sharp.

"This dagger."

By now Arc was not paying much attention to her. His hand was still firmly on her shoulder, but he was watching the crowd, eyes searching. One of them was a demon, Arc new. He could smell them. That irritating scent that none of these people could smell because they were not races with keen noses. He moved her slightly, so that her face would not be easy to see from the rest of the street.

He felt something pressing against his shirt and looked down. Ice? Well, that didn’t count as a dagger in his mind. But still he knew it was lethal. He lowered his head slightly, rolling his shoulder casually so that his claymore shifted again. Eyes locked on hers once more he allowed the shadow of a smile to cross his cold face.

This was a situation he had never been in before. He had never dealt with much magic, not ice, anyways. They all had wind and fire in their veins in his home. Not ice, not ground. The ones that could make material weapons were new to him. But he was not scared. In a street full of people it was an idle threat. She couldn’t hope to get away from this if she stabbed him. She would be caught, by people or demons. So he smiled, the look vanishing again when he spoke.

“Do it,” he said calmly. He gestured out into the crowd and then grabbed her hand. “They’ll smell it.” Blood, he meant. But he wasn’t much of a talker, so he kept his words to small fragments. He wasn’t scared. If she kept it at this angle he wouldn’t die. There would be a lot of blood, but he would be able to patch it up. He had plenty of scars. What was one more?

At first, Devin had been confused at the man's smile. It was only when he spoke that she looked where he gestured, instantly aware of what he was thinking. It seemed there was no escape for her. Nevertheless, as she stood there with him she kept the icicle where it was; it was her only source of power in this situation. It was obvious that the man had the overwhelming advantage. His face was not on a wanted poster. There were many people around who would love to take the reward money for her capture. This sea of people would turn against her within the space of a heart's single beat.

Devin was unaware that the man sensed that there were demons among the crowd, nor that the way he shifted her was actually for her own benefit by shielding her from the crowd. Then again, it also may have been so that the demons would not take her away without giving him his reward money. That was probably more likely.

She found herself at a loss for words. She could have asked him what he wanted from her, but she already knew the answer to that. It would seem that Devin had no choice other than to reason with the man.

"You don't want to turn me in. Really, it's not in your best interest," she spoke with a sincerity in her voice, as it was true. The world was better off trying to help her, not turn her in. The idea to try and reason with the man seemed stupid, suddenly. No one believed in that tale any more, few people even knew of it. That was how the demons had been able to capture all of the other Keepers: ignorance.

Arc released her hand and tore a fragment of poster from her other, glancing at it. It bore no name, as these things often didn’t. But that was odd. Demons generally knew a lot. Any poster he’d ever come across from demons had had a name on it. There was more to this than he was seeing. He turned the fragment over once then shook his head. He stuffed it back into her fist, poking it back into the ball of paper with his finger.

“Be quiet,” he growled. “You cannot sway me.” He grabbed her hand again, pushing the icicle against his side to a painful level. Then he snapped the pointed end off of it. “Don’t. Make. Idle. Threats,” he paused after every word, giving each a sharp sound. He was really speaking more than he cared to. He drew in a deep breath and then a flicker of disgust crossed his face. The demon was close now. Where was it though? His eyes searched around and then locked onto a man across the street. Standing, watching them. Arc’s eyes travelled slowly from the man to the girl in front of him.

“I have a question before I hand you to the man over there. What did you do to anger a demon?”

Devin felt herself taken aback by the man's sudden ferocity. Reflexively, she tried to back away from up, but just as when she tried to jerk away from him this man held her in place. As he looked toward the demon, she looked down at the broken ice in her hand and let it fall to the ground. It was useless to her now.

It was at this moment that the stranger spoke to her again. This time, Devin's eyes shot to where the man was standing across the street. The man began to walk towards them. Devin felt the same thrill of panic she had felt the day the demons killed her family, when one of her brothers came in injured, alerting the rest of the family that they were under attack. Suddenly, her mouth was dry and there seemed to be a rock in her stomach. No. Her life could not come to this. It was as if suddenly her nightmares were real. It was one of those heart-breaking moments when and a person's entire world crashed down before them.

"I'm a Keeper," Devin's tone was barely over a whisper, she was still staring at the man walking towards them. She did not explain what it meant though was well aware that he probably would not know. That did not matter now. This was it. These were the last moments of her freedom.

Something within Devin stirred. It was a small voice that she did not know she had and it told her that this could not be that moment she had dreaded all her life. She could not give in so easily. In a swift motion, Devin smothered the posters in the stranger's face, beginning to form another ice dagger in her opposite hand as she pulled and pushed away from him harder than both of the previous times. If she were to be captured, she would do so fighting, with honor.

A keeper? No Arc had no idea what that was. It was probably something important, but it could easily be a lie. This girl looked nothing special. She was most likely just a thief and lying again. He allowed his eyes to move back to the approaching demon. That’s when it went wrong. Before he could stop it there was a great wad of paper in his face. His hands sprung away from her as he leapt back. He tore the paper away from his face with one hand and crouched down, whipping the knife buckled to his leg from its sheath.

He strode forward and seized her by the neck. The knife, however, he pointed at the demon. He made a motion with the knife and the demon stopped dead. “You don’t have the money so go,” Arc growled. He tapped a finger against the girl’s neck and gave it a soft push, trying to get her to step closer. “Go!” he spat again. His hair fell into his face as he jerked his head in the direction the demon had originally been going. He shifted his shoulders so that the demon could get a clear view of the claymore on his back.

The street was dead quite by now, arc realised suddenly. People had backed away from the three of them. That meant city guards would be here soon. How troublesome.

For just a moment Devin thought her impromptu plan had worked. She was about to make a run for it when the man now grabbed her neck, yanking her back. She felt the instant constriction on her throat and her vocal chords; she could breathe but his grasp was painful. It was even more painful when he pushed further against her vocal chords, despite the movement being rather gentle, his grasp was already painful enough. She did as he expected though, stepping nearer to him as to release the pain.

Devin had not given up in her fighting just yet. Since she stood with her back to the stranger, she could not use the newly-formed ice dagger against him this time. She saw the knife that he held and could not help but become even more fearful. It was not pointed at her, but Devin was well aware he could have it at her throat at any moment. Courage, Devin, the young woman told herself. She had a demon before her and a man with a knife behind her. Nevertheless, she would not allow herself to be handed over. She had to keep on battling. Devin clasped both of her hands together, intertwining her fingers. Using the force of both of her arms, she elbowed the stranger who held her by the neck.

“I’ll need a new knife,” Arc muttered irritably. He grunted as her elbow connected with his stomach. Fine she wanted him to let her go? He shoved her away from himself and strode to the demon. It raised a hand and Arc moved aside as it went to strike. The man twisted around at the same time as the demon, both with a hand raised ready. Arc stabbed downwards slamming his knife into its neck as it sliced him across the chest. A knife, claws, whatever it used the wound burned. Arc staggered back grimacing. A demon, he knew, would never leave without its prize. Arc looked at the blood on his hand.

His eyes flickered back to the girl. “You aren’t worth it,” he said. Holding his wound closed he began down the street again, leaving the demon with the knife sticking out of its throat. It wouldn’t die; oh no demons were far more resilient than that. But Arc wasn’t going to bother killing it or getting the reward. It was pointless to even dream a demon would follow through with a promise like that. How stupid could he be?

Devin's free hand covered her throat where the man had grabbed it once she regained her balance. She took a few deep, unrestrained breaths, watching the action fold out before her. Both the stranger and the demon ended up injured. She stood there dumbly when she should have been running for her life. It was when the stranger spoke to her that she was drawn out of her stupor. She dropped both the ice and the posters then began to sprint. The man had staggered off in the opposite direction. She did not dwell on his words to her. That man was a moronic brute. He knew nothing.

Devin ran unrestrained through the town. She did not check to see if she was being pursued by the demon. All she knew was that she had to get out of that village and into the cover of the forest as soon as she could.

Arc moved over a good five streets before leaning back against a wall. He lifted his shirt to get a better look at the wound. The cords and pendants draped all around his neck shifted as he lifted it up higher, examining the large cut. He licked his lips and then begun to unwind the bandages from his left arm. They came away, revealing the large scars that covered his upper arm. It was the same on his right. He wrapped the bandages around his abdomen and tied it as tight as he could stand. He never should have left for this place, he thought grimly. He straightened and started down the street again, slower than before.

The demon was too injured to pursue Devin, but her sighting would be reported. He would also have to find out about the man who stabbed him in the throat. He would be punished for his interference. The demon, in much pain, pulled the dagger from his throat, not content to let it stay there. Blood seeped out for an instant until the demon clasped his hand over the wound tightly and turned, disappearing within an alley.

Devin ran until she was on the outskirts of the city where there were no buildings of any type. Feinlore was surrounded by sea on once side and forest on the other. She stood in front of the trees, catching her breath. Devin had already ensured that there was no one behind her, no strange-looking man nor demon. Her mission suddenly felt so futile. How could one person stand up against so many? That man had given up on trying to get the demon's reward for her, but she knew there would be others. The bounty-hunters would now have a face to find from the poster and good reason for doing so: the sum of the reward was great, as the stranger had pointed out to her.

She had to be smart. Going in the direction that the demon had seen her go in? Not smart. They would find her within a day, coming up behind her on horses. Devin turned back to the large city with the Clear Sea behind it. Now that would be trickery, going in the exact opposite direction that she was expected. It was clear she could not go directly back the way she came, but Devin could go around it.

Her hope of safety was slightly renewed with this idea. It would make her much more difficult to find, perhaps she would escape them forever this way, she fancied. With that, Devin turned off of the path and began to climb the rocks that surrounded Feinlore; it was the only way around the city.

Arc rummaged in his pocket and pulled out a fistful of coin. He had many gold and silver and a few bronzes and coppers, too. He stuffed them back away. He would go home. Find another family to guard. Not all of them would be so critical of him and the mistake he had made. Some would still take him, had been willing to take him. But he had come here, and that was a mistake. No, he would go home to the wide spread plains over the forest and rock of Feinlore.

He made his way through the city, taking side streets as much as he could. He could have easily gotten lost if not for the gulls that hovered in one spot, over the docks. So Arc made for that and soon found himself back by the boats. He would take another merchant ship. There was one that looked ready to be departing, the men were running on deck checking all the lines and the captain was shouting. Arc walked up the gangplank and onto the deck. A couple of words, some passing of coin and Arc was led to a small room. There were two beds in the small space, but the man assured Arc he would be alone. He was the only one travelling with them.


When the man left Arc took his sword off his back and rested it on the floor by a bed. He sat on the bed and pulled his shirt off, tossing it on the floor. Then he dropped back, staring at the ceiling. One arm pillowed his head, the other he held close to the wound. After a few minutes he closed his eyes, waiting for the boat to lurch out to sea.

Devin made good time on her way around the city. The rocky terrain was not too difficult to get across and was flat in most places Before long, the docks where within her sights. There was one particular vessel that was that was beginning to cast off its lines. That was the one she had to be on. At that moment, Devin was a good hundred feet away from it, so she ran for it down the dock, nearly pushing a stander by into the waters. She could not wait for the next ship, she must get on that one. That was the only way for her to keep out of the demon's clutches. Just as some sailors were about to pull away the gangplank, she sprinted aboard the ship. The sailors were surprised by this type of action, especially from a woman.

She begged one of the sailors pulling up the plank for passage. He nodded to signify that he allowed it, giving her the oddest of looks as she dug through her pouches and gave him all the money she had. The man accepted it only because by this point because the ship was pulling away from the harbor and it would not be worth it to pull back up to it and to make her get off. Besides, coin was coin.

"There is already another man in this room, but it is all the space that we have," the sailor told her as he led her down a hatchway and then to a door.

"I don't mind," Devin replied. It was far more important that she had a place on the ship than that she had to share a room with a man. The sailor gestured to the door and she thanked him, pushing it open and entering. The door swung shut behind her. She first glanced at the empty bed then at the one with the a man lying in it. Devin's mouth hung open when she realized that she knew him. This could not be her reality. It was the stranger who had tried to turn her in just earlier.

When the door had opened Arc's eyes had opened again. What idiot was coming to harass him? He had paid the captain a good amount of money! he began to sit up and then froze. He looked blankly at the girl standing by the foot of his bed. How had she gotten here? Why was she on the boat? The answers clicked into place in his mind as soon as he had asked them, of course. She had run here when she bolted. She was here to escape, and what better place than the sea? His next question: what did it matter to him?

He looked away again, rubbing a hand across the bandages as he fell back again, letting his head fall on the pillow this time. He would have to see the captain about this. he did not want to share a room with this girl, with any woman for that matter. His mind shifted away from her. He was going to need to stitch his wound closed. It was something far more important than sparing thought for this girl. He had no worry about her attacking him in revenge. Not on a boat. Not where they could throw her in the sea. Even her ice could not save her then. Not with so much water, not with storms.

he shoved a hand in his pocket and pulled out a small leather pouch, opening it. There was needle and thread in it. Something he had learned to carry a long time ago, just for stupid things like this. He threaded the needle and then unwound the bandages. With all the blood coatng his abdomen it looked worse that it was. Still he attacked it grimly.

At that moment, Devin had every intention of turning around and going to find someone who could... what? She could not simply demand another room. They would want a reason why. How would she explain to some sailors that she was wanted and that the man she now shared a room with had tried to turn her in earlier because he found her face on a wanted poster with a hefty price? That would certainly go over well. They would turn right back around and collect their reward. Well what if-

It was then that the ship jolted as it exited the harbor and Devin stumbled further into the room, clutching to the wall for support momentarily until the ship righted itself and became smooth once more. She looked back at the man. He was examining the wound on his chest, paying no attention to her at all. Was he playing some sort of game? Had he known that she would come here? She stared as he fumbled with the needle. Unfamiliar with that kind of medicine, Devin had no idea what he was doing. There was so much blood on his chest.

It was then that Devin realized that his presence here had nothing to do with her. "You aren't worth it," he had said to her only hours before. He no longer had any interest in the reward for her capture. Slowly, Devin took off her pack and placed it on the empty bed. She did not take her eyes off of the man. What was he doing to himself? It was not until he stabbed himself with the needle that she cried out, "What are you doing?" before she could stop herself. What did she care if he was trying to kill himself right there?

"Stitches," he muttered. He wiped some of the blood away with his fingers. When this did nothing he grabbed the bandages in a wad and blotted at the blood. There, now he could see the cut better. It was pretty big and covered him from side to side. But it wasn't deep. Just a flesh wound. He had managed to move far enough back that his bowels hadn't been spilt on the ground. He continued to pierce the thread through his skin and little by little he moved across the inury sealing it closed. Finally he tied the thread off and broke it. he wiped the needle off examined it, and then put it back in its case. He shoved it back in his pocket.

He sat there for a moment surveying her. Then he stood. He had to hunch slightly to avoid hitting his head on the ceiling. "You sew large wounds so they heal properly." It had been at least ten minutes since he had last spoken. But he spoke as if there had never been any pause between the two statements. he stepped forward and squeezed past her pulling the door open and going out into the cramped hall. He would go talk to the captain now. He didn't want a room with the woman.

Devin watched him intently as he continued to stick the needle in and out of his skin, fascinated by it. During those moments, she shifted so that she sat on her own bed. She jumped slightly when he finally spoke to her, then she quickly stood up as well. He spoke to her in such a demeaning manner, like it was something matter-of-fact.

Just when Devin was about to lecture him on how she used her magery for healing, how she would slow the flow of the blood so it would clot easier at the necessary parts, how it was much less bloody than the method he used, how it did not scar as badly. She never did get the words out before he left room. After he left, Devin felt her face grow hot and her temper rise. The man irked her, regardless of the events that had happened earlier that day. Next time he spoke to her, she would not be so tongue-tied. She laid down on the bed, exhausted. It was at that moment Devin realized this had been her first night in a bed in over half a year. Her anger made it so that she couldn't even enjoy it.

Arc found the captain quickly enough. The man hadn't given his name before. He was squat and had strong arms from being on boats for so long. he stepped in front of the man, who looked up at Arc with a frown. arc stared at him stonily a moment until finally the captain got impatient and demanded what Arc wanted.

"I'm not sharing with that."
"She paid."
"Put her somewhere else."
"There is nowhere! This is not some grand ship, it is a trading vessel. We have only that one space for travelers to stay for cheaper travel than what they can get elsewhere. A small space afforded for some extra money to come in. There is no space in the crew quarters and I dare say you have it better in that room than with them. Just stay with the girl, you might even find you like her."

Arc's eyes flashed but he turned and disappeared below deck again. He walked into the cramped room and without looking at her unlaced his boots, pulling them off and shoving them under the bed. His bed rocked slightly in its bracket. It was made to rock with the ship, so that the waves did not disturb the guests while they slept. the crew, Arc knew, slept in hammocks. the captain would have a bed like this. The tall man laid down again, sighing softly.