The Blighter

Watching Lee dress was a sorry sight, but a good one in the aftermath of their union. He buckled up his breeches feeling fresh from the bath although the rumbling fury inside had yet to subside... troubling.

"Argh." He growled lightly as his arm ached in protest of entering his sleeve. His Mentor noticed this and quickly moved to assist him, buttoning up his shirt and slapping the dust from his shoulders.

Her emerald eyes traced him and Arthur frowned sadly, he opened his mouth with the promise of telling her that He loved her and that He didn't want to abandon her, that a thousand years of training couldn't repay the debt he owed her, but that promise was left unspoken, with a silencing finger on his lips.

She smiled softly and shook her head "Don't say a thing, I know."

"How can you know if I cannot say it?" He asked sorrowfully.

He saw it then, the river of green behind her eyes that lasted an eternity, and shone with the light of spring "I can see it in your eyes, I can read them like summer stars. You must go without me. I am old, Arthur, I don't look it but I feel it, my heart is tired and held together by strings, stitched far too many times for far too many years. You have reminded me what it means to be human, I cannot go back to that place where I was nothing but a monster."

"I cannot let go of you, not in my heart." He whispered.

"Then in your heart, I will remain." She spoke, planting one last kiss on his cheek.

The moment was disturbed by the subtlest of sounds that made Arthur's ears prick up. His head snapped to the door and his softness and calm quickly faded, replaced by cold spite.

"What is it, Boy?" his mentor asked sharply.

Arthur moved to the corner and took up his sword by the leather sheath, He went for the door and Lee followed.

The morning had passed and the afternoon snows of the Nornish spring began to fall from the now overcast sky. Arthur and Lee left the lodge, the Dragonslayer looked out to the treeline and saw a shadow strolling out... with a screaming body in tow.

Black-Crow dragged the Smith, Markin through the grass by a rope attached to a kunai, sunk deep into his thigh. He was bloody and dirty from where she had likely dragged him for miles.

"What is this?" Lee asked as the Slayer, but He said nothing merely seething as He marched towards the two.

"Arthur?" Kara's voice lept from the woods, as the Redhead came tumbling out of the trees with a doe slung over her shoulders. Her eyes widened as she saw Black-crow, dropping the doe and sprinting over to the duo who approached Crow and her catch.

"What the Hel is going on? That's Markin, why in the name of the gods have you got him strung up like a rabbit!?" Kara questioned.

Arthur had little to say, but it would be said at the right time.

Crow approached and knelt low, still gripping the leash that held Markin in place "Master, as ordered." She spoke impartially.

Markin felt the pause and struggled to sit up as He peered out of one swollen eye "A-Aerti, me'boy, thank the Goddess call this freak off will'ye, she appeared from nowhere while I was hunting, beat me blue and dragged me'ere,"

Arthur's nose twitched and Markin caught only a slither of the infinite hatred that whirled behind his sunlit eyes.

"Y-You are angry with me are'ye? I-I cannae think what I coulda done? Aye I-I... I left before thee battle with the Britons, but you know just as well as I that a smiths job is done when steel is put in hands, d-didn't I make ye Grimstorm for ya? D-Didn't I do my part?" His voice was high and quivering.

Kara moved in, clutching at Arthur's sword arm "What is going on?" she pleaded.

He peered at her and the darkness in his eyes made her step back. "Markin..." Arthur spoke in a venomous tone as He strolled, "Yes, you did your part... I have been a fool, Markin, blind and deaf in my thinking. I believed that I was safe here, that the ones I grew to trust and love were safe when one of those that I trusted and loved betrayed me."

Lee raised an eyebrow, Kara looked back and forth, unable to immediately understand.

Markin held up his calloused hands "But there is no Betrayal A-Aetri, for goddess sake. I've known ye since you were a boy, we are kinsman of Brittania, I have sabotaged the Skjal-steel for ye, given you and the Uld only the best I could fit in me forge, by the saints is it not so!?" He cried his terror echoing through the woods.

Arthur's face twisted, the shadow of his wrath growing evermore steadily as he marched back and forth, unable to contain the ruin that clawed within "You fucking rat, You forged the Briton's weapons, You armed the Skjal with untainted steel, I saw your mark on the Queensman's blades, did you think that I would be killed or captured by your little friends before I would see it, that you could run before I sent my Crow to catch you?"

Dread crept across Markins's face, although quiet finally found him and his panic vanished, replaced by a sinister gaze "What insane accusation is this, Aetri."

"You've been selling information to the Crown, haven't you? Edwyn looks in all directions, but never to the snow, never North, You told her that you suspected I was here. This is no accusation, this is truth."

He frowned deeply "Aetri..."

"That is not my name, You know my name." Arthur pressed.

Kara and Lee both seemed lost, angry, a mix of all, but it was nothing compared to what Arthur felt. The only true Briton he had known during these years in the cold, it was nothing but a farce.

The Smith's breaths were hard and fast, as he scoffed and shook his head, grimacing and scowling, there was no escape now, that was clear, even to him "Yes, Your Majesty. I do."

The Slayers muscles tensed tightly, his fingers gripping the body of his blade. "Why?" Arthur growled

"Why? Why!? do you think yourself the only one who has been ripped from your home, boy? I have been banished from the Stonelands for three decades, for a mistake--A MISTAKE, I... I didn't mean to kill the girl, she just came into the forge she'd-she'd been coming for weeks, I thought it meant something, of course the little cunt was just a tease, she deserved to meet the flames... even if I didn't mean to push her, she tripped into the forge herself."

"Girl?" Arthur wondered, killing a woman even by accident wouldn't warrant banishment from the entire Nation... but then again. That is when he understood, it was not a woman He killed... it was a Girl, a child, and there was little room for speculation on what warranted Capital Banishment "You're a blighter, a serial child-killer, aren't you? You must have 'accidentally' pushed a lot of little girls into your forge for my Uncle to have commanded Capital banishment. You sick little ingrate."

Markin reddened with wrath "Your 'lord uncle' damned me, they were filthy little urchins, ain't my fault what happened to them, I just-"

Arthur unsheathed his sword and glowered at Markin who immediately began to stumble back "I will take you from this world with pleasure." He growled monstrously.

Markin stumbled and sobbed tearlessly and breathlessly "NO! NO! STOP! Y-YE CAN'T KILL ME, YOU'RE NOTHING, THE DREAD QUEEN PROMISED ME FREEDOM!!"

The Slayer loomed closer, only for bracing hands to try and stop him "Arthur, Arthur wait, you don't need to kill him, hasn't there been enough death?"

But he was far too gone, He shrugged her off and marched on, Grimstorms ivory blade glowed lowly with the eldritch brand that send small spirals into the air with each flake of snow that touched it.

The Smith's eye bulged with fear and desperation as Arthur loomed closer like a shadow "G-Get away, s-stop--Don't come any closer! By the saints you bastard royal, Y-You're nothing but a gold-touched silver fed cunt like the rest of them!"

Arthur's eyes were positively blazing, bearing his teeth in a snarl "You think I'm like them? I've never been like them! I will never be like them! You see this?" Arthur reached up as the rage overcame him, grasping at the long waves of hair and raising his blade. Quickly he cut away the golden ends, shredding each lock with the edge of his blade so that only the dark and brown remained, tossing them aside in his haze.

"T-The Dread Queen knows of you now, she suspects that you are northward, You cannot escape, her agents fill the shadows, they will fill your mind, take you in even when you dream!" He sobbed desperately.

Arthur exploded, his wrath growing larger as his growling voice rumbled like thunder in the silent breeze "DREAM!? I NEVER DREAM, THERE ARE ONLY NIGHTMARES, AND IN EVERY ONE I FAIL TO SLIT THE THROATS AND TEAR THE SPINES FROM EVERY MAN, WOMAN AND CHILD WHO EVER IMAGINED OF WALKING UNDER MORDRED'S BANNER THAT DAY IN CAMELOT!!!"

Closing the space between them in a haze of bloody red, Arthur stomped a boot on Markin's wound, making him scream. He absorbed the horror in his final gaze as he sheathed Grimstorm in the space between Markin's collar bone and neck, watching him begin to drown in his own blood. The slayer pushed the blade deeper and deeper when the moment came where he felt the squish; the tip of his sword just piercing one of the chambers of his heart, He wretched the entirety of the silver length out through Markin's spine, painting himself and the barely settled snow with blighters gore.

Kara reeled back, clutching her mouth as she saw her lover peel the blade from the decimated corpse, roaring as he swung the flat of his blade like a club, bashing the traitorous cadaver into oblivion; marooned on an island of rage.

Arthur was lost, his heart thumped and his skin flushing with gooseflesh, a numbness overcame him, growing with each swing until dual hands, one powerful the other tactful, laid themselves on his shoulder.

The Slayer froze as he trembled, looking at the figures who held him back with bloodshot eyes.

"Enough, Boy." Lee spoke softly.

"What is dead may not die again," Black-Crow whispered in agreement.

Arthur stood back, eyes wide, chest throbbing, leaning down only to spit at the mash that he had left behind, before marching away; a splattering of crimson dripping from every inch of his body.

Kara stood staring at the frayed Corpse that was once Markin the Smith.

Her lover; the lost prince of Britannia, Arthur "Young-Drake" Regis, had marched off, crimson as the Black sky encircled with a blood moon... she was shaking she realised, for many years she had toiled in the shadowed woods surrounding the Southern Nornes, but that display of strength, ferocity and pure savagery destroyed any feelings of confidence she had in the safety of her innocence, even among the chaos of nature where she had been raised. Kara did not want to become accustomed to murder.

Aunt Crow had chased after her master as always, but Lee remained malignantly, walking close to Kara with a critical eye. "You look awfully afraid, girl."

Kara said nothing, but continued to stare half-in shock at Her lover's victim.

"It takes a monster to kill a monster... do you know what happens when you break a monster's heart?" Lee whispered.

The Outcast shook her redhead, unable to turn her eyes away.

Lee moved in close and spoke in a soft, small voice "The same thing that happens to everything else." and with that, she made tracks towards the lodge, without another word. Although not to her lodge.

Striding onward, Arthur shook unpleasantly, He had become horribly aware of what he had done, it was unlike anything he had ever felt, anger beyond measure or restraint.

The Young-Drake marched across the ice, his hand still clutched in a tight white fist around the Dark grip of his sword, redder than a butchers cleaver.

Black-Crow appeared once again like a ghost at his side, but as He made his march towards the Lodge, the spymaster grasped at his arm and held him tightly by the bicep.

Arthur stopped and stare into her, with his eyes of crackling gold, like bolts of lightning dashed underneath his brows. The Wind gusted almost as if to his silent wrath, and his Hair, waves of Mahogany brown sailing, tipped with small dashes of Gold that writhed in the wind.

"We will go to the Hotsprings and prepare for your final task. Lee-fu is still your master and the old ways demand that you prove yourself worthy to Hunt the monsters you seek."

The Young-Drake said nothing but allowed Black-Crow to pull him along the icy field, eastward towards her Black-Cabin.

He felt a sense of numbness wash over him as Crow lead him through the forest across the Valleys that dipped into the snowy underways, beneath icy grass and frozen rock, the sun hung low in the pale sky and Arthur wanted the day to bleed away, like a forgotten memory.

Black-Crow pulled Arthur through the door to her black cabin hidden below ground level, the house was built small, with little space, although encapsulated within, past the empty living space; a single room with a bedroom, an incense burner and a hatch leading to a cave, which she opened allowing him to step through.

A thickness came about the air, a mist-filled his nostrils with the sharp scents of Lavender and sweet gooseberries, within was a circular florescent pool, tucked into a tiny space with a crack in its ceiling, releasing the fumes of the warm hot spring out into the sky above.

Arthur knelt by the entrance of the pool, as Black-Crow knelt beside him and with her empty abyssal eyes, stared at him deeply, before reaching over to undress him.

Her fingers encircled his body and began to strip away his top, the pain screamed under his arms, in between his stitches and his tender flesh, where the Ignix had hit him so hard, it had cracked bone. Arthur endured and laid back as Black-Crow ensnared her soft talons on the bare skin of his back.

He did not know what to say, but for once, Crow spoke first "You walk a dangerous path, this one wonders if you will survive long enough to achieve your goals."

Arthur found the words, hiding under his tongue "Do you remember when I was a boy? when we first met in Black alley? the real first time?" He asked softly.

Crow nodded adamantly "You were diligent for a boy, we spoke on the Nature of the world..."

"I followed you in the streets for months, but I finally caught you." He remembered as if it were yesterday, a memory that he had stowed away a long time ago.

"Do you, regret it?"

Arthur paused, she sounded... odd, it was not in Crow's nature to think about regrets, her own or otherwise. "Are you well, your fingers... they're warm."

Crow said nothing but guided him into the warm waters, the sweet scents of myre and lavender filled Arthur's lungs and relaxed his throbbing muscles. Black-Crow began to remove her feathered mantle, slipping away her tight robes, leaving her only in her bodysuit.

The Dragonslayer averted his eyes "A warning next time before you-"

The Spymaster unzipped her back and peeled away the leather suit, her bare body exposed to the thick air. His lips tightened, as he focused on the steam in the air, avoiding Crow's nudity as she stepped into the bath with him.

Her midnight eyes looked upon him from the otherside of the Hotspring "You seem, uneasy at the sight of me."

"You are like a mother to me, I have known you since I was a child." The words slipped out, and He knew that they made little sense, Lee too was like a mother to him, but the things he had done... no, no this was different, Crow had always been there for him, some temperance was needed in the chaos he now felt.

"As has Lee-fu and yet, you have made little effort to sustain temperance in regards to her." Crow pointed out.

"Even as boy, I hated how you read my thoughts." He chuckled.

"This one cannot read minds, Master. But it can see the movements of the muscles, the discomfort in the heart, the conflict of actions. I merely-"

"Assessed, yes I know." He spoke before silence fell over them both.

Crow dipped her head under the water, her perfectly trimmed jaw-length hair now frazzled across her pale face. "You are still damaged from that day, with Mordred and the Dragons?" She asked coldly, disconectedly.

He trusted Crow, she was dear to him, all that he had left, a fragment of a broken world long lost to him "I know." he said honestly.

Black-Crow ran her fingers across her arms, sprinkling droplest of water on her biceps before massaging them in gently "I cannot understand it." Crow admitted plainly "Many years have past, you have survived, Your sisters have also likely survived, The Knight of Dawn was fond of them in her own way, this one watched her closely under your Father's command."

Arthur slipped sighletnyl under the water, which bubbled to thickly to allow him the image of Crow's nude body, when He came up again He took in the deep air and sighed with releaif, scrubbing the blood from his face, removing his Father's dark hair-rings from his Mousey hair, and placed them aside so that he could pull the blood from the wavy locks.

"You look much like him." She spoke, her voice echoing around you, sticks of eastern incense filling the air with a soft smoke that unwound the tightness of his quiet anger,

"How so?" He asked, the image of his father in his mind had become blurry after these years.

"You have his eyes: focused, piercing. His frown in your lips and his smile in your cheeks. You are roseir from your mother's blood, the mahogany of her hair is rooted in your scalp, but the blonde of your Father stubbornly flairs at it's ends. You, like he, are unlike any man, nor woman have ever met, You are easy to please, and to anger, You are hurt and so you are quiet, but your friends feel your warmth and your foes feel terror at your wrath."

His face became sad, but hopefully sad. "I have no idea what I am, everything I thought we were scattered to the wind after that day. I'm so afraid, I try to remember what I am, but I cannot face it, I twitch at the sight of embers, and everything is alfame. What can I do?" He asked softly.

The Spymaster, Black-crow, glided through the water, the tip of her pert breasts, rounder but much hunbler, droplets of waters speeding down the curve of her hard nipple.

He saw the circular shadow of her mark, Black and ominous... although, more faded then when he had seen it last.

Her hand, warm an wet took his chin gently and looked him in the eyes.

"The Darkness swells where light resides.

The Silence fills the Midnight Sky

The Bright Survives.."

"...But Shadows never die." He finished and nodded.

She was not far from him, her face was close, He had seen Black-Crow's face seldom times, but he had not gazed into her eyes, black as pitch, since that day in the Dungeons of Drakenhald. They had been empty before, blacker than a starless night and blank, but it was different this time, their was a mild agency in that darkness now, and a slight unease.

"You're Different, I can see it, it's like you're softer, before you were deadly certain, but now you seem slightly concerned." He asked.

Crow blinked, she allowed the pause to pass "This one does not feel concern." She said, although there was a hint of what could have been a smile, hidden in her red lips. "And You should not either, I will remain at your side."

"I know you will but... tell me what are you thinking? at this moment what's going through your mind?" now this really was a privilege that he had never utilized, in fact it was so much so, that He thought it an impossible thing to ask of Black-Crow, to get into the thoughts of the Most Dangerous Spymaster in the Ninefold was a colossal feat. And yet...

Crow glided again, closer.

"This one is thinking of how I never kissed a man, I have had intercorse where nessersary, but I have never kissed anyone, not even your Father." She whispered.

He paused, she was so cold but... he could see the adoration in her eyes, it pointed at you like a spear, held his words hostage.

"I beg to differ." He eventually said.

She tilted her head "You know something that I do not?"

He smiled in full now "I do. That day in the Dungeons, when you were out cold after losing Uncle... I revived you-"

Her eyes became wide and innocent "-The... Dragon's kiss?"

"I suppose that makes me your first kiss." He chuckled a little nervously.

Crow, moved closer. Their noses touched.

"This one will remember this time." Crow was gentle and feather-light, her lips were softer then any He had felt before, and her arms touched at him uncertainly, unsure of where to put themselves but Arthur showed her. He pulled her delicate fingers around his neck as she pressed deeper into the kiss.

Arthur felt her unease grow however, and so gently pulled back, the Vatan Spymaster twitched as a trickle of dark red rippled from her nostrils.

"Are you alright?" He asked as She looked down to her chest and touched her chest.

"What is this... tingling, my heart is... racing?" She asked softly.

The Dragon-slayer touched her soft hair and pulled her close, embracing her as her nipples pressed into his slick chest, she felt so small, so gentle as she placed her ear on his own thumping chest. and for the next hour, there they stayed.