The Blood of Renatus
an excerpt

The fog was thicker here than she expected. For some reason she always imagined the fog to be the thickest in the Docks District but here directly to the south of the river the fog was rolling in thick sheets. She liked it better this way; it would be much easier to hide should there be need. She had walked these exact streets once before that day but was surprised at how different they looked at night. The tight rows of shops seemed taller and more ominous to her even though they had been bright and colorful that morning. She didn’t speak to Rafe; she didn’t even dare look at him. She couldn’t believe how in such a short time that she had known him that she couldn’t stop thinking about him. But that wasn’t right, she hadn’t known him a short time-she’d known him all her life. She came to the part of the street where it met at a T with the main boulevard of the Merchant District and stopped. They had to turn right here, the statue was up this street where it widened into a plaza that became the Palace District. Ansgar had erected the statue of himself in the direct center of the plaza; he cut down a tree that had been planted when her grandfather was a child to do so.

The boulevard was dangerously open, very wide with little cover unless they stuck to the storefronts. She chewed on her bottom lip and stuck her head around the corner to see if the way was clear. She couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary but there was a growing urgency in her that bordered on panic. She turned to Rafe and whispered to him.

“We have to go down this street to get to the plaza; it’s open and we’ll be exposed. We can’t afford to be caught and we can’t let a fight break out if we see any soldiers so be prepared to hide if we see anyone.” He nodded, his deep brown eyes were serious and she felt a sudden urge to hug him.

“Don’t worry Katze.” He put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed, she blinked at him in surprise. “We’ll win.”

She stepped back away from him feeling an alarm in her at his touch “Of course we will oaf now don’t go getting us killed.” She heard him sigh and she looked around the corner to double check and proceeded out into the boulevard. They walked slowly towards the left side of the wide street but not so far left that they would run into the empty carts of the street vendors. Her gaze darted around taking in everything; those carts would be the perfect place to hide if they needed too. She was too preoccupied with the sides of the streets that she wasn’t paying as much attention to what was ahead of her until she felt Rafe nudge her back slightly.

“What’s that?” he whispered in her ear, his breath was warm and sent a slight shiver down her spine.

She looked ahead and squinted, a faint light was swinging in the fog. No it was three lights; she felt the color drain from her face. The outlines of three men appeared at the end of the street walking towards them slowly on patrol. She couldn’t see them clearly from this distance but she could tell by their walk exactly who they were.

“Enth’delo” she whispered. She looked at Rafe panic stricken; his hand flew to his sword and he began to draw it; she put a hand on his arm to stop him. “No, we won’t win against them.” She looked around quickly and saw the entrance of an ally nearby. “With luck they haven’t seen us yet.” She grabbed his arm and half-dragged him to the ally; she took a glance at the slowly approaching assassin priests and back at Rafe. She swallowed hard and felt the ever present fear rising in her. She took a deep breath, “Forgive me, we can’t let them think us suspicious”

Rafe looked at her questioningly and opened his mouth too speak but she cut him off by grabbing a hold of his shirt and pulling him towards her. His eyes went wide as their lips met but he regained his composure quickly and seemed to grasp the idea. Katze wrapped her arms around him and kissed him forcefully; she felt him relax slightly and he kissed her back pulling her closer to him. His hands immediately went to her hair; his fingers were soon tangled in her curls pulling them from the ribbon she had used to tie her hair back. She felt a fire run through her entire body as he took their kiss further gently pushing his tongue into her mouth. She latched onto him desperately feeding off the thousands of emotions she felt running through her in the moment. There was a change in light behind her closed eyes and somewhere in the back of her mind she knew the Enth’delo were passing the mouth of the ally but at this moment she didn’t care. She wrapped her leg Rafe’s and poured all of her mixed up feelings into her kiss; she heard a low rumble come from his throat. For a moment she felt weightless, like she was floating on the fog surrounding their legs. She was roughly jolted out of her dreamlike state by the feeling of brick pressed against her back; Rafe had picked her up and pushed her up against the ally wall pressing his body hard against hers. She ran her hands over his shoulders and down his arms and back up again to touch his hair. He broke their kiss and panted slightly for air, his fingers caressing the back of her head. His eyes sparkled with awe and she wondered if her own expression mirrored his. She was thankful once again for the dark but this time she was glad that he could not see the blush on her face.

“I” he shook his head not knowing what to say.

She pushed at him gently and he let go stepping away from her. She frowned at the cold rush of air that entered the space between them; she found herself wishing for the warmth that he had just given her. “I think they’ve gone now.” He nodded at her, still unable to speak. She walked to the front of the ally and looked out. She was surprised to see how far away the Enth’delo had gone; she could barely see their lights at all towards the far end of the street. She turned back to Rafe and jerked her head towards the boulevard. “Let’s go”

They walked in silence the rest of the way up the street which wasn’t any different than before except now the silence felt awkward. She had never been kissed like that before; she brought a hand to her lips in amazement. She didn’t know if she liked it or not, he made her forget everything. He made her lose control in that moment; she knew it was as much her fault as his but she didn’t like not being in control, especially of herself. They came upon the plaza and she sighed to herself in relief. She needed to focus on the mission and not on a stupid kiss-a stupid kiss that shook her to the core. She looked around but saw no sign of anyone else; she hoped that the rest were okay. The statue was still intact so she knew they were the first to make it to the plaza; this didn’t surprise her, she and Rafe had taken by far the shortest distance to the statue. The other routes were however safer. She motioned to Rafe to come closer and she tried to ignore the warmth that radiated off of him. She pulled out a heavy, thick leather bag from a hidden pocket inside her cloak and opened it carefully. She looked up at the likeness of Ansgar carved into stone; he was a tall man but the statue depicted him much more muscular than he really was. The face however was right now, a strong angular jaw that came to a rounded point of a chin; he had high cheek bones and prominent, large eyes. She spit on the statue’s feet in disgust.

“Keep watch, warn me if you see any movement at all.” He nodded and drew his sword. He walked in slow circles around the statue guarding her. She climbed onto the base of the statue; Ansgar’s likeness was holding out his arm in a sign of peace. She smirked and grabbed onto the stone arm and pulled herself up so she was standing heel to toe on his arm. She stood up slowly, balancing precariously she inched herself closer to the stone head of the Emperor. She poured black powder from the bag directly onto the head and shoulders of the statue grinning mirthlessly as she did so. She pulled a thin, long wax coated piece of twine from inside her cloak and stuck it into the pile of coarse black powder and carefully ran it down the shoulder of the statue. She used a smaller piece of twine to tie the fuse around the upper arm of the statue. She closed the bag and tucked it back into her cloak letting the twine drop. Katze crouched on the arm of the statue and put her weight on her hands letting her feet drop down she slowly lowered herself back down to the thick base. She stood up and glanced at Rafe quickly to reassure herself that he was still there. He must have felt her gaze on him as he turned and gave her a quick nod as if to say that he wasn’t going to leave her. She turned back to the statue, her job only partially complete and took out the bag of powder again. She poured another large pile of powder in the statue’s upturned hand and picked up the twine laying it down the arm and through the powder. She crouched down and emptied the rest of the bag between the stone Ansgar’s feet; she pulled the fuse through the last pile of powder and eased off of the base bringing the last of the twine out a few feet on the ground. She kept her foot on the end of the fuse so she wouldn’t lose track of it in the fog.

“I’m finished Rafe, we just have to light the bastard and leave and we’re done.” She grinned at him, feeling a triumphant rush that made her lightheaded. “Be ready to run when I light this, it’s fast burning and we have to get away from here when it blows.” He nodded and sheathed his sword, keeping a hand tight on the hilt. She crouched down and drew a sulfur stick from her pocket and struck it against the ground; it burst into flame and she smiled at the halo the fog created around the bright light. She was poised on the balls of her feet ready to sprint away; she dropped the stick on the fuse and saw it catch. She jumped up and grabbed Rafe’s arm running quickly away as the flame spread up fuse; there was one deafening boom as the fire hit the first pile of black powder. Katze felt her feet lift off the ground with the force of the explosion and she was thrown forward several feet forcing her away from Rafe.

She fell flat on the ground with the wind knocked out of her; there were several flashes of light in quick succession but she didn’t hear the boom that accompanied the subsequent explosions. She was dazed and disoriented; panic swelled up in her as the fog rolled over her. She was lost, her hands felt around mindlessly on the cold, wet cobblestones of the plaza but nothing registered. She couldn’t tell up from down, all she saw in every direction was gray mist. She thought she was going to die until strong hands appeared in front of her and grabbed her by the shoulders pulling her up out of her miasma. Rafe was rough with her but she hardly felt it as he pulled her to her feet. She looked around in confusion; the dust had settled around the statue which was now little more than rubble. Ansgar had been blasted from his perch and was now laying in parts strewn about. Somewhere in the back of her mind she heard someone calling her name; she looked dazedly at Rafe and saw concern all over his face. He was shaking her and calling to her but she couldn’t understand him.

“Rafe?” was that her voice? She couldn’t tell if it was or not she put her fingers to her lips and felt them moving, “Do you remember when you taught me to climb trees?” He stopped moving, his grip tightened on her shoulders, “What’s wrong? Don’t you remember showing me which branches were safe?” She looked at him in bewilderment and put her fingers on his lips; his face was a mask of shock. Realization slowly came to her and she blinked away the cloud that had overtaken her momentarily and jerked her hand away as if it has been burned. She took several steps back and squeezed her eyes shut, shaking her head violently. She looked back at Rafe who was staring at her as if he’d never seen her before; she didn’t know what to say so she turned away.

She squinted and made out four figures running towards her with several more chasing them. She gasped and quickly drew the twin long-bladed daggers that Benry made for her. She heard the sound of steel on leather and knew Rafe had drawn his sword; she glanced at him and saw him standing ready with his feet planted firmly on the ground and two hands on his sword. She held her daggers in one hand and took out two of her throwing knives holding them by the blade ready to aim as soon as the others were safely out of range. Her family of thieves halted as they came to where she and Rafe were standing, she quickly surveyed them and noticed that Fuchs had a wicked looking gash on his arm and Spinne had a cut above her head. Mouse and Benry looked unharmed. She looked at their pursuers and saw they were closing in; she breathed in and gave an inward cry of joy when she realized they were ordinary soldiers. As soon as they were in range she threw a knife at the one leading the pack bringing him down.

Fighting erupted among them and she threw her second knife in the back of someone attacking Mouse. She tossed one of her daggers to her right hand and ran at a soldier quickly thrusting both of her blades into his chest. She spun around with a kick at the head of an attacker pulling her blades from the soldier’s body she slashed out with her left hand at the man’s exposed neck. She looked around as the man fell dead at her feet ready for another attack. She saw Benry shove his sword through a man’s belly but it seemed like the rest were dead. She looked around and saw her friends recovering from their own fights. She felt a sharp pain in her right arm and looked down to see a long gash down her forearm. She hadn’t even noticed when it happened; she looked at the now empty base of the statue the top of which was black with soot and broken. She walked over to it with a determined stride, rage building within her and kneeled down to the front where a gold plaque was bolted proclaiming the Emperor’s name. With her bloody fingers she wrote in thick jagged letters Long Live the Blood of Renatus over the gilded lettering. She stood up and looked at her friends feeling triumphant and bold; the rage that had been inside her for a decade had finally been given an outlet. She exhaled and held her head high as she walked towards her group.

“Let’s get out of…” a sharp pain ripped through her body and she felt all her breath leave. She heard the screams of the others, she clearly heard Rafe screaming her name. Her vision clouded over and she looked down and saw a thin, curved blade protruding from just below her shoulder. “the Enth’delo” she whispered and fell to her knees as the blade was jerked out of her body. Fire ran through her and pain unlike any she had felt entered her viens. She felt the presence of someone at her side, protecting her. She heard the sounds of metal on metal and the sounds of metal on flesh before sinking again into the fog and the darkness.