Adventure of Ash 2

Night settles over the forest road. Beneath black pines, Ash crouches alone, tears cooling on her baby-faced cheeks as she works a rough stone against a haft-blade.

Each scrape rasps softly through the dark. Her left forearm still bleeds beneath its binding, and the blood-marked tally cord lies far behind, in the headwoman’s keeping.

Cold gathers in Ash’s shoulders and along the wet ground. She keeps grinding, shaping the crude blade by touch while pine needles cling to her knees.

Beyond the trees, a guarded fire moves slowly along the road. Searchers from the stronghold pass at a distance, their voices reduced to indistinct murmurs by the wind.

The fire glides between trunks, then dims behind a rise. Ash remains hidden beneath the black branches, alone with the stone, the wound, and the patient rasp of sharpening.

A small night bird calls once from the darkness. Afterward, somewhere near Ash’s shelter, a pinecone drops into the needles with a soft, waiting thud.

The guarded fire returns between the pines. Ash stills beneath the branches, blade hidden against her thigh, while two searchers pass within arm’s reach.

When the nearer searcher, a young adult woman with a lean build, dark skin, tightly braided black hair, and a weathered brown cloak over leather armor, turns toward the faint rasp of stone, Ash surges from cover. Her sharpened haft-blade catches his weapon aside and drives him into the needles.

The second searcher, a young adult man with a rangy build, tawny skin, cropped brown hair, and a charcoal wool cloak over padded armor, lunges through the dark. Ash pivots and strikes his wrist, sending his torch tumbling into wet moss before she forces him to his knees.

The ambush succeeds, but the fallen torch cracks against a root and flares brightly. Ash’s wounded forearm tears beneath its binding, and fresh blood runs to her fingers.

Both searchers lie disarmed and stunned at her feet, their fire guttering beside them. The shout carries through the pines, warning the stronghold that Ash has been found.

Ash strips the fallen torch from the moss and kicks it dark. She takes both weapons, dragging them beyond the searchers’ reach before returning to the kneeling pair.

The woman’s spear lies across Ash’s thigh, while the man’s short sword rests in the needles beside her. Their hands remain visible beneath the cold branches.

The woman shifts against the roots, testing neither her bruises nor Ash’s grip. Firelight fades from her weathered cloak as the distant search calls multiply.

Ash moves before either searcher can shout again. She catches the young adult man by his cloak, wrenches him backward, and drives the stolen sword through his chest.

The young adult woman reaches for the spear across Ash’s thigh. Ash turns the shaft aside, closes the distance, and brings the haft-blade down across her throat, ending the struggle.

Both searchers lie still beneath the pines. Ash retrieves the spear and sword, then drags the bodies into a hollow behind the roots before the approaching voices can locate them.

The cost comes immediately: the torn binding slips from Ash’s forearm, and blood runs freely down her wrist. Her grip weakens around the stolen weapons.

Searchers call from the road, closer now, but find only a darkened patch of moss and the abandoned tracks. Ash presses herself beneath the branches, breathing through the pain.

Kill the approaching reinforcements