Harumi's POV
The blade sunk into the woman's shoulder and I hid behind the monsters so that she wouldn't see me. I couldn't believe I'd missed and began to feel lightheaded. And in such a critical situation...
Now I really was weaponless. From the wound came some white translucent liquid.
"What is that?" Jay yelped in disgust.
"Eww! Is it her blood?" Kai cried, horrified.
"I think she's a vampire!" Cole blurted out.
She glared at us and used some sort of telekinesis to blast a hole in the wall behind her. We watched as even more zombies came clamoring through. But I didn't care. My sister was up there, and I needed to help her.
"Guys!" I shouted, "I need to get up there! I'll take Lloyd! My sister needs my help!"
"How?" Morro said, "You can't even get up there by yourself, let alone with some unconscious person." He was strangely calm, unlike everyone else.
"I can do it," I insisted, "And Ruby needs help!"
He sighed. "I'll take him up. You stay here." With that, he threw the limp Lloyd around his shoulder and motioned for Kai to melt the ice above. Morro flew out of the hole as Zane froze it again.
"Trouble ahead," Nya warned us.
I looked back. We were surrounded. And I was weaponless. But it looked like the mud monsters had melted into the ground.
They charged. Swords and powers flew everywhere. It was so chaotic that if you hurled a weapon, you had no idea whether you would strike a friend or foe. About every five seconds, a blade would almost hit me. Lucky for me, I was skinny and had enough room to duck or avoid. They ended up smashing and colliding into each other. I punched and kicked anything that came into contact. Tripping the zombies was especially fun. They'd crash into a jumble of dead skin and bones. Using the bodies as weapons was quite fun as well, albeit kinda gross. I grabbed one by the ankles and spun him around, knocking out others.
"The pendant!" Kai hollered, "She's getting away!"
"I'll go get her!" I called, "I'm the only person she isn't going to kill! You guys find a way to escape, and I'll meet you up there!"
Using the zombies' arms as a boost, I jumped on top of the crowd. It was really hard to keep my balance. Time and time again I would almost fall due to the zombies trying to bring me back down. Finally, I leaped down and chased after the woman. I figured she'd gone into the hole in the wall. There was a passageway behind it. I picked up my dagger from the ground, which had her milky blood all over it, and wiped it off on my sleeve as I ran down the dark corridor.
I halted at the end of the passageway. The woman was standing there, alone. I took the dagger from my belt and ran my finger against the blade. Sharp enough. It would have to do. I straightened up, rolled my shoulders back, and stepped forward the way I'd been instructed to back in the Palace.
"Hello," I said, flicking my hair off my shoulder.
She whirled around. "What are you doing here?! After you tried to kill me?!"
I put my hands on my hips and scoffed. "Listen, I missed on purpose. I have to make them think I'm on their side. Make them think they've won. Then lure them over, and destroy them all. Trust me. There's nothing I'd want more than to rule Jade City. With you by my side."
"How do I know you're not going to betray me? After you kept telling me to free your friends?"
I rolled my eyes, as if it was obvious. "What do you think they're gonna expect me to do? I need them to still trust me so that they could help in my mission to defeat the Shadow Knight. They'll assume I'm faking when we're working together. Once we secure the Crystal Blade we can destroy them. Call me the Quiet One. I know there's no reason for you to trust me, but those idiots back there got my birth parents killed. I've been plotting revenge for a while, and this is my chance. Our chance. Take it, unless you want the Shadow Knight ruling Jade City while you rot in this oversized coffin." I folded my arms across my chest with my lips pursed, waiting to see her reaction.
The woman frowned, pondering the situation for some time. Slowly, she nodded. I was surprised at how easy that was. Normally plans that took me only a few seconds to formulate wouldn't work so well.
"But first," I held out my hand, "Give me that pendant."
"Why?" she asked, her hand automatically reaching up to her neck.
"We're going back. I'll be holding it since they think it's the source of your power. You'll pretend to be captured."
Reluctantly, she handed me the pendant. I held it in my hand, making sure not to touch the jewel in case it corrupted me.
We made our way back through the corridor. When we arrived back at the room, I saw that the zombies were lying on the ground, clearly defeated. Good, I thought, this'll be even easier.
I rolled my eyes. "Your warriors are clearly not in the shape to capture Jade City if they can't even defeat those pesky teenagers. If we're going to take over, we need better forces. We need an army, not a bunch of pathetic losers."
I threw the pendant on the ground, and it shattered.
The woman gasped. "You—"
I didn't let her finish. "What? It was useless. I pride myself in having the best and only the best."
"My powers..." she knelt to the ground.
"I don't have powers," I snapped, "But I have a brain. There's no point in keeping them if your 'army' is only gonna slow us down. We should go up there."
She glared at me. "Without my powers, I can't!"
I faked a pitying expression. "Oh, that's too bad."
"Don't you make fun of me about it!" she fumed.
"Were your minions people you killed?" My voice was calmer now.
"Of course," she looked as if that was a no-brainer. "And the more I kill, the more powerful I get." Her tone was emotionless.
I knew what was going to happen next. "Oh? Are you going to try and kill me now? That's too bad, I thought we could be friends."
She pounced and pinned me to the ground with a blade at my throat. "Exactly. In you, I see power. With it, I can take on the Shadow Knight. You are so stupid, Quiet One. You actually thought I was going to reward you? If I take your life, who needs a stupid pendant?"
I jumped up and sent her flying, then landed in a fighting position.
"Too bad," I taunted, "I'm only two steps ahead." I recalled telling Lloyd the same thing two weeks ago in the Oni Temple. I touched my neck. There was a bit of blood. Oh well.
She held a sword. I drew my dagger. We circled each other for a while, until she struck. Our weapons clashed. I pushed with all my might, but she turned out to be quite strong, overpowering me. She attacked again and I slipped out of the way, sending her crashing down. The woman gave me a look of pure venom. We dueled some more. I noticed that some rocks were poking out from the roof. She hurtled the zombies' lifeless bodies at me. I took advantage of the rocks and sprung up to avoid getting hit. I swung from side to side as she threw more at me. Then I was struck. I fell to the ground, using one of the bodies as a cushion, and winced. That was cruel. But for now, fighting would be my first priority. I leaped up and did a triple front flip, landing behind her. I kicked her back, knocking her down. The sword flew out of her hand. She rolled over to face me. I stood over her, and pointed my dagger at her throat.
"Surrender," I said.
She raised her arms. "I... surrender."
I laughed coldly. "No. Anybody could say that. But not everybody means it."
"Are you... going to kill me?" she asked.
I hesitated. If it was the old me, I would. Instead, I shook my head and just stood there.
Then I saw her shoulder. The wound from my dagger was bigger than before. I gasped and looked around for anything to wrap it with, then after finding none, I tried to rip off a piece of my shirt. She laughed at my feeble attempts.
"No, Chosen One. That wouldn't work. After losing my power, I wasn't going to live long anyway. Unless I killed, of course. You know what, as insufferable as you are, I would rather side with you than the Shadow Knight. T-take my sword," she choked, and her eyes rolled back into her head. I almost threw up and raised my head to avoid looking.
After a few seconds, I looked back at her, only to see nothing, and stood there for several minutes, breathing hard. Did I just directly murder someone? My legs felt like rubber, shaking from exhaustion. All that hassle drained my energy. I saw her sword lying in the corner. My hand reached for my throat. The blood flow had stopped. Thankfully, the cut wasn't too deep. I crawled over to the sword and picked it up. It felt light and comfortable in my hand. The sword had a glow around the golden hilt and the blade was made from a golden metal as well. I wondered why she wanted me to keep it. But since my dagger was a bit short, I decided to accept the "gift", and tucked it in my belt. I got to my feet.
I looked up, and the ice was still there. The Ninja must've melted it to get out, then froze it again to prevent the zombies from going after them. I stood with my hands on my hips, looking for a way out. The pendant was on the ground, shattered and useless. I couldn't believe that I'd actually killed someone like that. Was I nothing but a murderer? If the Ninja asked, I had better find an excuse. Maybe I'd say that she ran away? That sounded pathetic. Just as I was brainstorming ideas, the ice above my head cracked and Morro was standing in front of me.
"Hey," he said. "I... didn't mean to..." I twisted my bottom lip, and I was so overcome with the guilt of directly murdering someone that I forgot about wanting to punch him.
"Where's the woman?" His eyes swept the room.
"I didn't mean to," I repeated.
"She's dead?" He furrowed his brow.
I nodded meekly, deciding that lying wasn't the best choice. My cheeks burned.
"She said... without her pendant..." I stuttered.
"How long are you two gonna take?" Jay called from above.
Morro looked at me and shrugged. Awkward. Reluctantly, I walked over to him, and wrapped my arms around his waist. Disgusting. He flew up the hole. That kid was lucky I wasn't in the mood to slap him right now.
As soon as we were above ground, I let go of him. Lloyd's face lit up and he welcomed me with a big bear hug.
"What happened to the lady?" Jay asked.
"Died," Morro said abruptly.
"I didn't kill her on purpose!" I exclaimed, "Just to make things clear."
Nya grinned. "That's nice. You should teach us to fight sometime."
I felt the corners of my mouth twitch upwards, having not received a compliment from her in what seemed like forever. Funny how Ninjago Nya and I were friends for a few fleeting days.
"Rumi!" Ruby laughed, "You're okay! I was so worried!"
I beamed. "I'm just glad that you are!"
"Shall we leave and find a decent camping spot?" Kai said.
I bent over and picked up my bag along with Lloyd's. He took it, and I intertwined my fingers in his. Lloyd's golden hair gleamed in the dim light of the graveyard lampposts. I reached up and ran a hand through it, and he brushed aside my bangs, which were blocking my sight. Smiling, I rested my head on his shoulder.
Our party began moving through the graveyard.
A/N: Oops only yesterday I realized that I uploaded on Saturday instead of Friday sorry guys... (Quarantine has gotten to me where I can't remember which day of the week it is anymore)
Also I just realized that this is a pretty short chapter... Normally I go for 2500+ words but I must've removed a ton of stuff while editing :/
Thank you guys soo much for getting The Jade City to almost 250 reads! I can't believe I've gotten this far ahhh
Anyway thanks for reading and I hope you have a wonderful day!