Prologue

Bowdre watches as her men tie the idiot children roaming her territory and start taking every possession available. They all holler and laugh as they do, but Bowdre just smiles sharply and keeps an eye on the four idiots, two soft-touch girls, a nicely dressed Ifran and a passed out Yaonite. Three of them with their hands tied at their backs and put in a line, all glaring like they're hot shit, the last one is still laying where they were, but Arango is crouched besides them, taking the leather pouch at their waist and making sure they don't wake up.

The lizard, Bowdre takes for herself, pats the animal and scratches with her sharp nails, making the crowned lizard let out little sounds that would make a young Bowdre giggle and smile. But the Bowdre of now just keeps her too sharp smile, eyes on her prey and waits as her men finish their task.

"Please" is saying the teal soft-touch, the youngest in the group, baby fat still clinging to her cheeks and tears leaving tracks on her dusty face "Please, just let us go"

The men laugh and Bowdre shows her teeth, locking eyes with the quietest of the bunch, the Ifran doesn't talk or beg, he just glares directly at Bowdre as Coe takes his fancy sword and swings it with a laugh, the other men joining to awe at the jeweled pommel and perfect craftsmanship that can only mean noble blood.

"Of course I'll let you go" croons Bowdre, scratching under the lizard's enormous chin "When I get everything of value that you carry"

That makes the teal soft-touch pale, and Bowdre hums in interest, they must have quite the treasure for such a reaction, the prey the catch is usually relieved when Bowdre informs them her gang won't kill them.

"You won't get away with this!" Shouts pink soft-touch in a shrill tone that hurts Bowdre's ears "You don't know who you're dealing with!"

More laughter at that statement, then, her men start to leave everything at her feet, three leather pouches, the fancy sword, silver throwing knives, a bone dagger and a small Yaonite knife. Bowdre crouches and starts looking through the stuff, only raising her eyes to look at Arango, that is still pulling weapons from the Yaonite, then he takes the leather pouch they carry and just empties its contents on the ground.

Bowdre takes the sword first, it's clearly the most valuable thing, the pouches have at most some gold and silver, but this…. This is a true treasure and if Bowdre is correct in her assumption this sword is the Ifran's Qalb Blade, he would probably pay her a fortune to get it back. Silly Ifrans and their silly traditions.

"Fuck!"

That makes Bowdre stop admiring the sword, her eyes shifting to Arango that has fallen on his ass and is scrambling away from the pile of coins on the ground. Bowdre raises an eyebrow at him and Arango shakes his head.

"Not good, boss!" He shouts finally standing, fist clenched, he practically runs towards her and opens his fist when he reaches her, as close as he can get without Bowdre kicking his ass.

And he's holding an oniyuri. The silver coin and hexagonal hole as clear as day.

Fuck indeed.

She turns her head towards the Yaonite with more interest, not just a Yaonite, an assassin.

The teal soft-touch is getting fidgety, eyes worried and shifting her attention between Bowdre and the assassin. Oh, so they know. Interesting.

She wonders why these idiots were traveling away from Olympea, so close to the Athos and carrying a passed out assassin. It must be quite the story.

"Put it back, Arango" orders Bowdre and trembling, her man nods. He, of course, is remembering as vividly as Bowdre how much was found of the body of old Kidd. Having an assassin coin in one's possession never ends well, the only thing left of Kidd was a single finger.

Bowdre struts towards her awake prey, her feet taking her to the Ifran, quiet and angry, handsome and with a cute scar on his face.

"And where all you all headed?" She asks sweetly, crouching in front of him, taking a curl of hair and caressing it with intimate carefulness, the Ifran leans away as much as his body allows, disgust expressed clearly with a raised lip and dangerous glinting eyes.

The Ifran says nothing and instead spits at Bowdre's feet, Bowdre smirks at him, she's sure he'll be talking by the end of it. She moves to her next prey, the pink soft-touch "And you? Do you have answers?"

"Why do you care?" Asks the girl coldly, nose raised like she's smarter than Bowdre. Big mistake.

"I'm invested, you see?" Chuckles Bowdre, taking the soft-touch's chin in her hand and moving her head so she looks at Bowdre in the eye "It's not every day that I see an assassin traveling with non-Yaonite companions, they're lone creatures, you know?"

Pink soft-touch moves her head to try and look at the assassin, but Bowdre doesn't allow it. No, if you talk to Bowdre, you look at her in the eye.

"We're going to Yaon!"

Bowdre turns, her last prey spoke up, giving her an answer, not a very informative one, but an answer nonetheless. Bowdre stands and approaches, standing above the teal soft-touch with a raised eyebrow.

"To Yaon?" Chuckles Bowdre, she kicks lightly at the soft-touch, more of a tap on her leg than anything. "Why? You enter carrying that one like that and I don't think you'll cross the border alive!"

Her men laugh, some more nervously than others. Bowdre clicks her tongue at the expression on the soft-touch's face. Not scared. Huh. Defiant almost.

"What's in Yaon, soft-touch?" Asks Bowdre, no longer amused "No one enters Yaon without permission, you know? Is that why you three got that assassin?"

The soft-touch looks confused but Bowdre is not sure at what exactly.

"What's in Yaon?" Repeats Bowdre. There, a simple question.

Nothing. The soft-touch bites her lip and the Ifran fidgets, the pink soft-touch looks bored and Bowdre is losing whatever patience she had left.

"Arango" She calls out, making the three idiots snap their eyes to her, her man nods, awaiting orders and Bowdre smirks "Bring me that assassin"

Arango freezes, but doesn't dare to question the order out loud, he does look at her with a worried expression and walks slower towards the assassin. As this happens, the teal soft-touch straightens, and finally, she looks scared. Does she care for the assassin? Is this actually a traveling party and not a kidnapping?

Her men allow Arango to pass as he drags the assassin by the hair, the long single braid making it easier. Now even the Ifran looks worried, Bowdre can even see some anger there. Good.

The assassin is dropped face down next to Bowdre, at the feet of the teal soft-touch that flinches back in fright. Bowdre crouches next to the assassin and uses the braid to raise their head. Male, head wound at least a day old, young, but older than the teal soft-touch. Delicate features, like most Yaonites, pale but not abnormally.

"This your friend?" Asks Bowdre mockingly to the soft-touch, the girl says nothing, but Bowdre can see she is causing some emotional pain just by holding the Yaonite, tear-filled eyes give her more information than words would.

Wishing to cause more panic in the soft-touch, Bowdre pokes at the wound and, surprisingly, the soft-touch is not the one that reacts at that.

"Don't touch him!" It's the Ifran, as he tries to kick himself upward without much luck, falling to the ground instead and laying on his side as he glares at Bowdre with scarlet eyes.

"Is he yours then? Your very own Shadow? " Purrs Bowdre, the men around them holler about crazy Ifrans and Bowdre hums in agreement "Crazy indeed, don't you know what these do? What they have inside?"

The Ifran is getting more incensed by the second and Bowdre is enjoying it immensely. So immensely in fact, that she misses a very important detail.

The assassin's breathing has changed.

No one expects the knife, it's what assassins are trained for, to not be expected, to wait until the perfect moment and strike like a hungry hunstman. The knife ends up just slashing Bowdre's forearm, not causing any damage at all, but warning her of what to expect. She drops the assassin and jumps back, lifting her axe-pistol and pointing it at the Yaonite with the handle that also works as the barrel of the pistol, that now crouches ready for the next attack.

The men have stopped the joking around and now either point the pistols at the assassin or ready their knives to throw or slash. Bowdre breathes heavily, filled with adrenaline, and laughs loudly.

The assassin is awake, but not entirely functional, half-lidded eyes and a grimace to show off in how much pain he must be, but the arm that holds the knife doesn't tremble, even in his state he could take out many of her men with no problem. Not ideal, but she has dealt with worse odds and come out on top.

"Finally!" Shouts Bowdre, smiling wide "Some excitement!"

The Yaonite offers no comment to that, but Bowdre is not surprised, it's common knowledge that all Yaonites have a stick up their ass about everything.

"Nue!" Exclaims the teal soft-touch overjoyed, the other two say nothing but does tension leaves the body of the Ifran and the anger fades into a trembling smile.

"Venerable Coyote" murmurs Arango at Bowdre's back "How many knives did he have on him? I thought I got all of them"

"Its this the first time you fight a Nashoban, Shadow?" Bellows Bowdre at the assassin, amused, showing off her unarmed forearm. The Yaonite frowns in confusion and Bowdre wonders if he is truly awake. The assassin stands, swaying slightly even as his dark eyes never leave Bowdre.

Oh this….this is going to be good.