The Varied Path (Akatsuki no Yona Fanfiction)

Chapter 15: Encountering the Fire Tribe

Calista nodded, satisfied with her answer. She was worried for a second that Yona was just doing it so she would be near Hak, knowing how far he would go for her. She just wanted to make sure the naive princess wasn't taking unintentional advantage of her brother's loyalty. 

But after their conversation, she was confident that the princess was making a step in the right direction. If anything, she seemed like she wanted to protect Hak instead of the other way around. 

The idea was absurd, he literally was in charge of protecting her. It was probably the only thing that kept him sane right now.

The assassin fell back behind them, as her brother started to pick on the princess, analyzing their surroundings with alert eyes.

Ever so often, Calista would look up from her scanning to make sure Hak and Yona were alright. She saw him teasing her, Yona falling victim to it every time. Despite how guarded she was initially, Calista was still glad the princess pushed to accompany him. And despite how fervently Hak denied it, she knew her brother was beyond happy to have Yona by him, even with how worried he was about it.

Her eyes narrowed as she felt the ground vibrate beneath her feet. 

It couldn't be. She sighed frustratingly, they just couldn't catch a break.

Damn it.

She leaped off from the branch she was sitting on, landing with a heavy thud several yards behind them. Calista sprinted to the princess' side, drawing her knives carefully, and hiding them in the sheaths concealed under her sleeves. 

Hak had Yona pinned up against the side of the cliff. If it wasn't under these pressing circumstances, Calista probably would've teased the two to some extent for being in that suggestive position.

She quickly secured black cloth around her face, gaze darting around warily.

"40... no... 50."

"Hak." Calista cut in, hands on the hilt of her daggers.

"The treeline. Can you kill him?" 

The confident sheen in her eyes tossed in his direction was all the answer that the ex-general needed. 

Hak grinned wickedly, cobalt eyes flashing dangerously as Fire Tribe soldiers converged at them from all sides. 

Calista casted him a deranged grin, steel eyes glinting in the sunlight as she sprang in front of them. 

Her gaze locked onto Hak's for a second and he inclined his head to the right. 

She ducked and whirled away from the oncoming soldiers, concentrating on avoiding the blows aimed for her head, and she made a break for the cliff side.

"Break off pursuit! Engage the general and the princess!" Calista grinned as she heard the order being given from behind her.

Jackpot.

She made her way up the steep side, scraping her hands as she scaled a tree. Flicking her wrist, three blades appeared from between her fingers as she readied her stance. Zeroing onto the noble who held no weapon, the assassin took aim. Calista recognized the Fire Tribe general's second son, Tae-jun.

Soft face, soft hands, never seen battle before.

She let out a gasp of alarm as she saw Yona trip, hesitating her attack. 

Calista faltered, mind calculating at a mile per second. 

She had the opportunity to kill Tae-jun, but there was a chance that it wouldn't stop the onslaught of soldiers, and by that time Yona would be dead. 

She already made her decision.

Calista zipped down to where the archers were, cutting them down one by one, but she wasn't fast enough. She watched in horror as an arrow was fired at Yona, but pierced Hak's back instead, blood spurting heavily from the wound as he yanked it out. 

Gritting her teeth, she ran towards the pair, deflecting the arrows meant for the injured Thunder Beast.

"Go!!" She yelled, steel becoming a blur in front of her face as she blocked all the projectiles. They fell harmlessly at her feet, but there was no time to rest.

Hak grabbed Yona and swung his glaive downwards forcefully, propelling the two upwards in the air, flying over all of the foot soldiers that had caught up to them. He landed with a grunt on the other side, running with Yona in his arms. He raced towards the line of trees up ahead, with the soldiers in pursuit.

They didn't get very far.

Calista swept at their feet, knocking several on their backs. Her eyes blazed with determination as she brought her arm up to block an incoming blow, using the blunt end of her dagger to knock the man unconscious. Sensing movement behind her, she spun on her heel, barely dodging his sword before kicking him hard in the chest. The handful of soldiers that surrounded her laid on the ground. 

Without missing a beat, she grabbed a discarded sword, bringing it up to challenge the oncoming ones. She started to run, picking up speed, she sliced at the stream of Fire Tribe soldiers sluggishly. Her arm strained with the effort to keep the weapon upright, but Calista gritted her teeth, willing her arm to stop shaking.

Suddenly, Hak was beside her, his back against hers. 

Calista risks a glance at him, noticing that his movements were slower than before.

He's losing a lot of blood. He can't keep going like this.

"Even the Thunder Beast is human. He looks rather fatigued." Calista's ears honed in on the sound. She noticed the man talking with Tae-jun a little ways up the cliff. "The arrow I shot earlier was poisoned."

Her eyes widened in shock.

She cried out as her moment of distraction left her right side unprotected. Metal collided with the flesh of her right shoulder, blood pouring from the wound. Calista switched her sword to her left hand and jabbed the offender clean through his shoulder. 

Payback.

Pulling the blade from his body, she raced to Hak, covering his blind side.

Then, she heard a shout of terror.

Her head snapped up towards the source of the sound and she saw the man who had readied an arrow go tumbling down the side of the cliff.

Red hair was sharp in contrast against the white of the mountain side.

Yona?!

"WHY DID YOU MOVE?!?!" Hak yelled from beside the bleeding assassin.

"Hak..." Calista whispered, silver eyes alight with fury, "Let's go."

With renewed determination, she slashed the three soldiers in front of her in one strike. Beside her, Hak was clearing a path, but he stumbled badly, taking a fall to the ground. Calista stepped back, covering the area in front of him as soldiers closed in on them from all sides. 

Bringing up her blade to parry his attack, she couldn't dodge the second one. Her cheek stung sharply at the abrasion, but all Calista could pay attention to was Hak getting forced to the edge of the cliff.

NO!!

With a burst of adrenaline, she pushed the men off of her and beelined towards her brother. He saw her charging towards him and his blue eyes widened in fear.

"The Princess!!" He yelled, "Protect the Princess!!"

Calista slipped as she tried to turn on her feet and a soldier behind her saw his opportunity. Grinning maniacally, he slashed her back wide open.

The world around her grew fuzzy, she blinked, staggering aimlessly. Calista wondered why Hak looked like he had seen Soo-won's betrayal all over again.

Ah... I've been hit.

Then, the ground from underneath her disappeared.