Zhira

After a short while, a head of blonde hair could be seen emerging from the undergrowth, and soon Zhira stood in full view.

She was still dressed in the tight brown leather outfit, and her sword was now placed in her right hand. She was looking straight at Lillian’s nude shape, a smiling wickedly without showing her teeth.

“What do you want?” Lillian asked after a few seconds of silent stares, her fingers clinched harder around the crossbow’s wooden frame.

“Trying to escape, eh?” Zhira asked in response, her tone a mixture of arrogance and mocking.

“No! I just needed to clean up! It’s not my fucking fault that you’re too fucking lazy to stand guard!”

“Yeah… right. That’s not what Biggs and Farkas is going to hear.” Now, Zhira’s tone voice had become downright terrifying.

“What the hell do you mean by that!?” Lillian replied, becoming more distressed by the situation with every passing second.

“Oh, just that they’ll be told that you tried to escape, and that I had to kill you!”

With that, Zhira leapt towards Lillian, her sword in the air.

Firing the crossbow on instinct, Lillian saw how the bolt flew past Zhira without hitting the crazy blonde, and so she fell to her right, avoiding the downward thrush of Zhira’s blade.

The blonde landed on her feet a few inches from Lillian, who saw her chance.
Before Zhira had time to turn round and dish out the killing blow, Lillian swung the crossbow at her.

The wood of the weapon gave way with a loud “crack” as Lillian hit Zhira over the left knee, knocking the blonde down on her knees.

Throwing herself on top of Zhira, Lillian was fully aware of the fact that the blonde still had her sword in her hand, and therefore grabbed her right arm, pressing it
down into the water.

While Lillian tried to slam the sword out of Zhira’s hand against a rock, Zhira’s left hand came up and grabbed Lillian’s throat in a vice.

Lillian could soon feel how her body was getting weaker from lack of air, and realized that Zhira would soon be able to overpower and then kill her.

Grasping blindly with her right hand after something with which to strike Zhira, Lillian screamed of joy inwardly as she felt her fingers brush against a large stone.

Grabbing the stone, Lillian lifted it up and slammed it against Zhira before the blonde could react. Missing her head, Lillian instead hit Zhira’s left shoulder, making her let go of Lillian’s throat as she screamed out in pain.

Feeling air rushing down into her lungs, Lillian struck again, this time hitting Zhira over the head.

At this, the murderous blonde let go of Lillian, her body lying still in the shallow water.

Clasping Zhira’s sword and staggering up on her feet, Lillian took a moment to inhale a deep breath of air, and then waded across the stream.

Not caring to stop and find out if Zhira was dead, Lillian rushed out of the water on the other side and set of into the forest.

On the run through the woods for the second time in less than 24 hours, this time she was armed at least.

Now the question was how much of a head-start she could get before Farkas and Biggs found Zhira.