House of Bleeding Swords

01

She kneeled on the rooftop, her body obscured in shadows, her hair neatly secured behind her ears. Her fingers thrumming on her knee, as her heartbeat grew steadier, her breaths calmer. Her small-upturned eyes were narrowed as she analyzed the grounds before her. As she watched the young girl scramble to her feet, her hands shaking as she wiped the blood from her mouth.

Behind her, a group of tall girls battled against armed men in the square adorned in yellow flowers. Metal clanging against metal, its vibrations filled with power and such intensity, that she could feel it in her bare toes. Their foreheads glistening with sweat as they jumped over bodies, knelt as their daggers and swords cut into skin, their bodies quick and precise with every move, every slash. They were goddesses amongst morals. They were glorious.

We're winning, she thought. Although, she had not once doubted her pupils, and their capabilities. From the moment the Grandmaster marched into her home, red-faced with anger, slamming the scroll with the Royal's insignia plastered proudly in the center, she had known that whatever the mission was, that they would emerge victorious. She had trained them to be victorious. Even before she opened the scroll, she knew that. Because she trusted them with her life.

She hadn't counted on the liability, however.

The young girl had been standing outside the house, her auburn hair tied in a tight bun above her head, her sword and a whip strapped on the side of her belt. She wore all black and smelled of rosemary and sunshine. With her lightness and bright smile, it was clear she didn't know what was going to happen. The importance of the mission, or what it was.

But the girls hadn't said anything. They couldn't have anyways. Not when the King demanded her to go along.

So, she perched herself on the rooftop, her raven hair neatly hidden behind her ear, waiting for the young girl to fail.

And slowly, one by one the girls began scouting for her, climbing ladders and walls to get to the rooftop. And one by one, they tried to jump to help the little girl. But the girl didn't need their help, she was holding her own. Or at least, she was trying to. Pretending that she couldn't see the five tall girls standing with their arms crossed over their chest, at the ready to jump in. The young girl didn't want to seem weak under their eyes, not when she was so desperately hoping to be their sister in the future. Not when her future would be in their hands. She wasn't going to be weak. So, she fought through the pain that cursed through her body, wiped the blood from her lips and ran towards the beast of a man that stood in front of her.

The girls flinched as they watched her body flow across the square, her body thumping to the ground as the man picked the sword up, laughing as his yellow teeth filled with white foam. His eyes turning red as his veins jumped out of his skin.

She really tried to not pity the young girl. But there it was in her heart. As her eyes scanned over the girl's blood, watching as she tried to get up but miserably failed to the ground in heaps. And she hated it. She shouldn't pity her, that's the last thing she should be doing.

Sighing deeply, she pushed herself off the ground and leaped from the roof in a way that frightened the other girls. She looked like she was lightless. Like she was one with the air and no one would bring her down. She was a work of art, leaving everyone with loud thunder in their chests and unable to breath. It was as if time itself had stopped. They watched with mouths gaping open, thundering hearts, as her body curled mid-air, as her hands reached for her weapons strapped to her back, and as her eyes closed before executing her move. Time had stopped, everything had quieted. And before they could catch their breath, the man's body laid on the ground, heaving as his hands wrapped around his neck, trying to stop the bleeding. Trying to stop himself from dying.