Page 5 of Shadows in Bloom

Kallistra groaned incoherently. As my eyes continued to adjust to the dark, her visage became clearer. She stood on shaky legs, with three men surrounding her, her eyes hazy and glossed over. There was a deathly pallor to her skin which hadn’t been there before I’d gone to sleep, leaving her in charge of the watch. Blood stained the front of her bodice, the wound oozing a purplish black substance.

Five men in total. The three surrounding Kallistra, one at my back, and another to our far left. All working with short-range weapons, except for the man on the left, who wielded a crossbow. Not the greatest odds. Not if Kallistra was poisoned, as I assumed her to be. If she was in perfect condition, the men would never have lived long enough for me to wake.

I had to think.Think. Think.

Should I risk using my magic?The most I’d done with it was conjure a tiny bird. I’d never had to defend myself before. I didn’t have the slightest clue how to use my magic to inflict pain. And if I failed... well, they would kill both Kallistra and me for the attempt.

“We don’t have much of anything. You picked a bad mark. Waste of a poison bolt,” Kallistra snorted, though the smart remark was layered with a wince of pain.

The men ignored her, digging through our packs, haphazardly tearing them open and emptying the contents out onto the ground. They swiftly pocketed what little coin we had left,along with our few remaining rations, tools, and healing supplies. For us, these few things were vital to our survival, but for the gang of bandits, it wouldn’t be enough to satisfy.

“That’s it?” one man barked.

“Bad mark,” Kallistra repeated with a smirk.

“I thought you’d been watching them?” the man sneered, shoving the man at his side. “You said she was a Saintess! What kind of Saintess travels like a peasant?”

“I overheard them, sir… That’s what the other one was calling her.”

“We could ransom her to the church,” another man piped up. “Or sell her. She’s a bit odd looking, but she’s not ugly. Someone will buy her for the novelty of owning,” he scrunched his nose at me, “whatever it is she is.”

Kallistra’s eyes met mine, steady and fierce as a predator waiting for the opportune time to strike at their prey. She dipped her chin ever so slightly, the only indication of what she intended to do next.Of what she expected me to do.

“Please,” I whispered to my captor, desperation thick in my tone. “Please spare us. We won’t fight back. We won’t do anything. Please let us go.”

His grip loosened, and he turned me around so that he could look into my eyes, where he found the tears I’d conjured, quite easily, given how legitimately frightened I was, for the sake of my survival. In that single moment of humanity, where the flicker of guilt sank deep into the pit of his stomach at the sight of a scared, fragile woman, he lost his upper hand. His handfaltered slightly, the knife pulling away from my throat barely. Barely, but enough.

I slammed my foot down onto his and butted my head into his face with as much strength as I could muster. There was a resulting crunch of bone, followed by an agonized scream, and a consequent groan of rage. By the time the man had steadied himself, blood pooling down from his nose, I was already halfway across the field, positioned cautiously behind the trunk of a large tree. It took me a moment to recover from the dizziness, and by the time I’d refocused my attention back on our camp, death had already begun her dance.

There was no better word for the way Kallistra weaved through our attackers, slicing and stabbing with an artful precision that put their brutish thrashing to shame. Bodies hit the ground, silenced, before they had the opportunity to cry out. It hadn’t been the poison; it had been the threat against my life that served as the only thing holding her back, and with my safety assured, they stood no chance.

A Keeper was a protector. A Keeper was also a killer.

It wasn’t the first time bandits on the road had attacked us, but it was the first time the outcome had been so unpredictable. One wrong move and my captor’s blade would’ve sliced my throat wide open. Kallistra never let it get so far in the past. She would blame herself for this. Poisoned or not, she would find herself at fault.

As the last body collapsed to the hard ground, I rushed to her, throwing my arms around her neck. “Kalli!”

She wrapped her arms around my waist, squeezing tightly. “You’re alright? Let me see your neck. Did he nick you?”

I pulled back enough to look her over and found her wound persistently oozing. “I’m fine. You aren’t.”

Kallistra waved dismissively. “I am. It looks worse than it is. I played it up so that they wouldn’t see me as a threat until it was too late.” She pressed her lips together. “It shouldn’t have happened to begin with. You never should have been put in that situation, but they caught me off guard with the bolt. Jumped me all at once.”

“I’m fine,” I assured her.

“It’s a problem.” She pulled her thumb between her teeth, biting down.

“Why don’t you train me how to wield a blade, then?” I suggested. “I’ll be better equipped to defend myself if something like this happens again.”

“Too dangerous.”

I refrained from rolling my eyes.As if getting attacked by bandits in my sleep wasn’t dangerous…“Then, magic. I’m supposed to strengthen my magic on our pilgrimage, anyway. Why don’t we focus on that?”

“I’ve been trying to teach you,” she said, folding her arms across her chest.

“Yes, but… you don’t have any magic, Kalli. I’ve suggested this before, but I think it’s time you consider it seriously. We need someone to teach me magic who knows how to use itthemselves. I’m getting nowhere, and I-I don’t want to fail our people.”

She nodded her head softly. “I will consider it if we find the right person. Someone I can trust.”

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