The Long Road to Ruin Ch. 22

Yet I also see mystery. Changeability. Unseen and unknown forces of the night, and unpredictable transformations from the mutable moon. Young womanhood. Feminine beauty. And friendship, a true heart.

There is balance. Security. The cycle of nature. The protection of family. But not without tyranny, pomposity and self-indulgence." Sannah glanced up at Nicca. "But nothing is set in stone. Destiny is shaped by our choices."

"Thank you so much, but what does it all mean?" Nicca asked.

"You shall have many moons to mull it over on your own, my dear child." Sannah accepted a vial from her assistant and drank it down. "A word to the wise, your fortune was for you and you alone. I will not be able to give you another."

Nicca nodded. "Now for Shiloh."

Shiloh beamed at Nicca before giving her a hug. "Yes, my turn," she said as she handed Sannah 10 gold coins.

Sannah eyed her thoroughly before turning back to her crystal ball. She made several noises with her throat before looking up at her newest client. "Your path is twisted, child. Your future is not clear. There are many possibilities yet.

I see a dark path... It's a foreign land you walk in, knowing no happiness, just sorrow and fear... and blood. I see your hands, your arms, your face, stained with the blood of your enemies...

Side by side you walk with the dark one. You lead him, but he holds the chain around your neck...

There is more. I see icy cold. Stars shining from a moonlit sky. Mists of air gathering around you as you stumble through the snow to find the one who is so much like you...

You killed the king! But you need him to return home...

Together you stand on the island, but there's only death around you... You walk the land of the dead, not knowing whether you are a part of it yet...

I see a temple. It's evil. It draws you near. It swallows you...

There's blood on your hands. You've killed your comrades so you may live!

You lie with the black knight. He makes you scream out in ecstasy! Your bodies are entangled, your skin is covered with sweat...

In the end, you are betrayed."

Shiloh sprang up from the chair, glaring down at the gypsy with wide eyes. Some of what Sannah had to say she clearly understood. The black knight...That was Vico. It could only be him that fit that description. That had already come to pass. Absorbed in her thoughts, she stood quietly for a few long moments while the gypsy woman cleared her crystal ball. It was only when Nicca shook her quite forcefully that she snapped out of her reverie.

"Let's go, Shiloh!"

Shiloh smiled at her and followed her out the door. "And where you are in an all fire hurry to get to, sugar dumpling?"

"Nowhere really. I just needed some fresh air," Nicca smiled. "Where do you want to go?"

"Well, Master Nathan gave me an apartment of my own. Would you like to go with me to see it? I think it's the perfect thing to share with you, my little sweetling." Shiloh asked her.

"Does that mean you won't be sharing a room with me anymore?" The expression on Nicca's face turned sad.

"Yes, it means that, but I'm just right around the corner from the Bear Pit and you can come over anytime you would like to. How about that?"

"I would very much like that. Will I be able to sleepover sometimes, too?"

"Yes, you will sweetie. I promise."

Nicca let out a squeal of joy. "Let's go then. I want to see your apartment."

The two girls took off at run passed the fountain and the Bear Pit, stopping when they reached 2 Acorn Street. Shiloh opened the door to the building and entered it. She noticed a door on the ground floor and one at the top of a few stairs. That one must be hers, the one on the first floor. She pulled out her key and giggled happily to herself as she unlocked the door. After all this time, she finally had a place to call her own.

She opened the door and stepped through, climbing the few stairs. In awe she looked around. It was small but very tidy, and everything in it seemed to be new. Could it be that Master Nathan had everything made especially for her?

Nicca exclaimed as she ran into the small bedroom and then into the small kitchen area and bath area. "Shiloh, it's wonderful. You have your own little tub, as well."

She followed Nicca, gazing upon the small porcelain hip tub. She could hardly begin to imagine the expense of this, but she greatly appreciated it. She could easily see Chella's fine hand in all of this. Chella knew how much Shiloh enjoyed taking a bath after a day of long hard work. Words escaped her as a lump formed in her throat. She was happy to share this moment with Nicca, but what she really longed for was Vico. She could only imagine the kind of housewarming she'd have if he were here.

And Caron... She recalled the very moment he had told her of the task Master Nathan had given him and if he succeeded in finding the culprits, he could earn his own apartment and how he'd love to have her over for an intimate housewarming just for the two of them. Shiloh knew what Caron had in mind. It seemed to be the only thing on his mind after their rendezvous in the sewers, the one that Vico interrupted. She couldn't blame him. It had felt so good.

She let out a sigh and turned her gaze back to Nicca.

The perceptive young girl gave her an odd look. "What is troubling, Shiloh? You don't seem very happy."

"In truth, I'm not. I don't know what has become of Caron and I think I am responsible." A tear flowed down her face. She wiped it away and dashed out of the small room. She headed into the bedroom with Nicca following close behind. Shiloh crawled onto the soft feather bed and buried her face in her hands.

"Shiloh? Do you want me to get someone for you? Chella, maybe?"

"No, Nicca. Chella can't help me. I need Vico," her tears continued to fall. She snuggled her head into her pillow and cried in earnest.

Nicca positioned herself beside Shiloh on the bed and hugged her. "Vico scares me," the young girl admitted. "The way he looks at me sometimes... It sends chills down my spine."

The glare Shiloh shot Nicca was enough to make the girl scramble off the bed. "You are only 13 years old, Nicca. He shouldn't be looking at you in any way. I will kill that son of a bitch. I'll take you back to The Bear Pit. I need to have a word with that damned scoundrel."

"Do I have to go back so soon? Can I stay here? The bed is very soft and I'd like to take a nap. Please, Shiloh! If you lock the door, no one will bother me and no one will know I'm here."

"But Chella will worry about you," Shiloh added tersely.

"You can tell her that I'm here. She let me have the day off. Please Shiloh!" Nicca pleaded, flashing big puppy dog eyes at her.

"Alright, you can stay. The bookshelves seem to be full of books. Perhaps you'll find one that you will like to read." Shiloh busied herself with emptying the contents of her haversack into the chest of drawers and the armoire. She changed into her black catsuit and made sure she put on her cloak. Nicca had settled down on the couch with a large book titled "The Mysterious Tower."

All became quiet in the cozy little apartment except for the crackle of the fire burning in the stove and the sound of pages turning as Nicca read. It had been so long since she had known such absolute peace. It was soothing. She sighed softly. So much so that she wasn't sure she wanted to leave in order to find Vico. He would probably just throw her out.

Shiloh didn't want that. She wanted to make peace with him. She missed his presence in her life on so many levels. Not only because of the incredible passion they shared, but because he made her feel safe. She had naught too worry about when she was with Vico.

"Shiloh, are you going to take a bath?" Nicca piped up, interrupting her thoughts. "I hear running water."

"It's not me, dumpling. I'm right here." Shiloh replied as she stopped to listen carefully. Her ears picked up the hushed sound of water somewhere not far away. It was barely audible, reminded her of her room in the castle where she would often listen to the rain running down the roof. How very relaxing. Yet the sound puzzled her. Water? Running? This wasn't the sound of rain on the roof. That sound was definitely not coming from above but from down below! She pressed her ear to the wall. "Hmmm..... It sounds to me like there's water running through under the house," Shiloh told Nicca. "One of the adjacent buildings must have a cellar. It has to be because I don't think this one does."

Nicca nodded. "Are you still going out to find Vico?"

"Yes, I am, sweetkins. I'll try not to take too long and I will let Chella know where you are."

"Thank you for letting me stay here, Shiloh. I really appreciate it. I like it here. I wish I could live here with you. I wouldn't take up much space." Nicca pleaded with big sad eyes.

"I'll see what I can do, sweetie. I cannot promise anything, though." Shiloh smiled as she headed for the door. She needed to check out the source of the running water. She had her suspicions, but she hoped that's all they turned out to be.

She pulled her cloak fully up around herself and sneaked out of her building to the door of the one next to hers. It was 1 Acorn Street. She tried to door and found it to be locked. Whipping out her picks, she made short work of the lock and stealthily let herself in. The house she stepped into was neat and clean. She noticed a dwarf sitting at a table, eating. She tiptoed her way over to him and knelt behind his chair. Quickly and as cautiously as she could she slid her hands into his pockets, pulling out a key. She crawled away, making her way over to a chest of drawers. After dispatching a crude poison needle trap, she picked the lock on the drawers, pulling out a large bag of coins, which jingled as she slipped them into her haversack.

The dwarf looked up and scooted back his chair. Wisely she closed the dresser drawer at the same time and squeezed herself under his bed as he came over to investigate the source of the noise. He huffed and growled as he opened the unlocked drawer. "Where are you, thief?"

Shiloh scooted to the opposite side of the bed and made a tapping noise that sounded like footsteps heading for the door. The dwarf let out a curse and charged in that direction. She wiggled back out, heading for the cellar door while the dwarf dashed out his own front door. His cries of "Thief" could still be heard.

Shiloh thanked her lucky stars as the key she had palmed from the dwarf's pocket opened the heavy cellar door. She stepped through and pulled it shut behind her, walking further into the small cellar. The sound of water was louder here, nearly drowning out the sounds of the varied squeaks and hisses of the rats she could see hiding in the shadows.

She headed to another door and opened it. It opened up to hallway and a set of stairs that descended through a dark archway. She knew she was close to the sewers now. Her heart pounded as she didn't know what she would find. She sucked in a deep breath.

Heavy footsteps boomed above her head and she knew that meant the dwarf had returned. She would deal with him later, though.

Instantly she recognized the spot she entered. It was the very same part of the sewers she had overheard the Dhorn soldier and his mysterious companion speaking about finding the leaders of the organization who was behind all the crime in the city. Hmmm... she wondered how much the dwarf upstairs knew. She knew he could shed some light on who the Dhorn collaborators were, and if he wouldn't talk to her, she vowed to track Vico down and have him make the dwarf talk. She figured Vico would enjoy that.

As she turned to leave she heard harsh barking laughter in the distance and out of the corner of her eye caught the hint of movement. Hmmm... who was out there? She turned back, coming face to face with the one person she had not wanted to find here.

Caron approached her slowly. She wondered what he was doing here, but deep down she knew why. She took note of the very odd expression that graced his face. He clumsily reached out to her, his movements seemed rather slow and encumbered. What had happened to him? Had he been here all this time? Shiloh backed off somewhat, eyeing him warily.

"Caron, what are you doing here?"

He opened his mouth, but only a gurgling sound escaped from his lips. In place of his tongue and teeth, only a bloody pulp could be seen. Shiloh rushed over to him, fighting back the nausea. He clutched her shoulder and tried to speak but only that terrible gurgling sound slipped from his lips. Trembling mightily, his legs buckled beneath him and he collapsed to the floor. As he fell, Shiloh took note of the huge, dark stain covering the front of his armor.

Panic gripped her. She knelt by his side. He had to be badly hurt. It was as if he had no more strength left in him. It made her wonder how he managed to walk that far. She wondered where he had come from. But most of all she knew she had to get him out of here. It was imperative that she save him. This was all her fault. She had to know what she was dealing with though.

Steeling her resolve, she opened the front of his armor in order to inspect his wounds. Blood immediately soaked her fingers. She barely managed to suppress a scream as she noticed he was completely naked underneath his black armor.

His wounds were worse than anything she had ever seen. Somebody had slit his belly, starting at his genitals, almost all the way up to his neck. And worse yet, it looked like his bowels had been removed. Bloody ragged parts of them were still hanging out. It took every shred of discipline she possessed not to throw up. Caron gazed into her eyes quite pleadingly for a moment, then he sighed as the light faded from his eyes. A sob slipped from her lips as she embraced him. He sighed one last time and breathed his last.

Caron... Dead.

"No, Caron! Don't die on me! Please, no!" A sob slipped from Shiloh's lips as he pulled him into her lap. She cradled him for a few minutes, letting the tears flow freely. This was all her fault. Guilt plagued her something fiercely. If she hadn't been so rude to him, he may not have ended up like this.

Shiloh sucked in a deep breath. She had to know who was responsible for this. And she vowed to make them pay. She pressed her hands against his ragged, ruined flesh just enough to coat them with his blood. Smearing it all over her face, she silently called for Bastian. She needed his strength to punish whoever did this to Caron. "Bastian, come to me and lend me your strength," she called out as she pulled her blades.

She felt power zing through every fiber of her being. It filled her with heat and desire. For vengeance. For blood. For the kill. Rising to her feet, she followed the trail of blood to a room full of implements of torture. And two Dhorn. She pressed herself against one of the walls, hiding in the shadows as they talked between themselves.

"I wonder how far our brave little fellow's gonna get," the blond Dhorn soldier commented as he wiped a blood stained blade off on an already bloodied towel.

How they would pay.

The dark haired one chuckled in response. "Do you think we should have killed him?"

An eye for an eye.

The blond one shrugged his shoulders. "Nah, the fool probably won't even reach the stairs. And if he does, it's not likely he'll be able to talk. We can just toss his body in the sewers and let the nasties have at it. And no one will be the wiser. I doubt anyone will miss the miserable sod."

Vengeance.

Barking laughter escaped the dark one. "I think we let him off too easy. We could have learned more if we had applied a tad bit more pressure. He would've talked."

It shall be mine.

"True, but that was fun anyway," The blond one quipped. "We'll catch another one. You'll see that I'm right. Sooner or later, someone will come snooping and we'll be ready. And we will make them tell us everything."

You will pay in blood.

Shiloh felt more power swelling within her.

Invincible.

Pumping strong in her veins.

Caron.... I shall avenge thee.

O.O

Silent as a mouse, Shiloh crept up to the dark haired Dhorn soldier. She came within a hair's breadth of him before she slammed the hilt of her poisonous sword against his temple. Her blow was not meant to kill, but to incapacitate. She wanted to be able to take her time with them. She felt the overwhelming need to extract as much pain and information from him as they had done to Caron.

An eye for an eye.

The dark one let out a noise as he crumbled at her feet. The blond one let out a shout of rage and immediately pressed his attack, but Shiloh was quick to evade him. She knew she could not go toe to toe with this man. It would mean her failure, her death. And failure definitely wasn't an option.

She felt Bastian's power swell within her anew. Her moves became lighting quick as she twirled her deadly blades around the blond soldier. It turned into a show of style, grace and deadly accuracy. Shiloh whirled, wounding the soldier in the shoulder. He snarled in pain, turned sideways, dodged a swipe of her off-hand short sword. The blond spun and there was the whoosh sound as his sword barely cleared Shiloh's neck. She leaped back, avoided a thrust of the sword, then he blocked a downward strike, and that's when Shiloh's one poison sword connected with a slice in the side of the soldier as she penetrated a weak point in his red and black mail.

The Dhorn hissed as the poison seeped into his system. He brought up his longsword to meet the short sword, his wicked sickle slashing at Shiloh's side only to be met by her other blade. Stone eyes flashed, the blond advanced on her with a flurry of chops that would have seen most mere mortals in pieces, but she met each strike with a parry of her own, proving to be more than a match for the soldier.

Without the slightest forewarning Shiloh shifted smoothly into a tumble that had her evading his deadly thrust, landing easily behind him, only to be met by a renewed onslaught of blows.

Burning red orbs met steely grey ones as each party searched for an opening that would end the match, neither gaining nor yielding ground. Their blades met with a clang and sparks flew. Shiloh came with her poison blade leading, aimed low. The blond jumped over it and parried the other short sword, which had come at his left. She twirled and struck at his chest, but blinked when the soldier was no longer standing in front of her. She immediately ducked as a blade swished overhead. She made, what she thought was a fierce growl, which to the Dhorn sounded like a squeal. He gave a great metallic laugh, but stopped abruptly when he found her sword flying in, aimed for his head. She bashed both his temples with the hilt of her short swords.

He staggered and swayed, dizzy from her attack. As he stumbled, she spun around, bringing up her foot. She kicked at him, connecting with his armored backside. She shoved with all her might, and fell to his hands and knees. It was then that Shiloh pounced on him, landing on his back. Screaming like a banshee, she brought her blades to his neck, slamming them in deep until the points exited the other side.

A sick gurgling noise came from his mouth as blood erupted from his throat, staining the floor ever more. The Dhorn slumped to the stone floor as Shiloh removed her blades from him.

She brought herself to her feet and stared down at him through cold eyes, watching as he succumbed to death. She spat upon him before she turned to the dark haired one she had knocked out. She would make sure he begged for death long before she granted it to him. Hot blood coursed through her veins. It cried out for revenge.