Why?
You expect me to know? Auwei was just as dumbfounded as I was.
No, but I can’t help but ask.
Fair.
Then… I heard the very faint squelch, then a clipped cry and the sound of someone falling hard.
There were murmurs for a moment, then a clipped curse. “The bitch killed Farin!”
Ha! Take that!
Another voice… the female one from earlier, said: “First Arick, now this. She’s a clever little bitch, resourceful. Watch out for the last step and the area beyond, it’s covered in something slick.”
There were more murmurings for a moment, then finally a strong call: “Come out, girl! We know you’re in here. Come on out and I promise to make it a quick death, painless. But make this any more difficult for us and I’ll skin you alive!” This from that female voice. She must be in charge.
What have I ever done? Why do they want to kill me?
Again, I’m not the one to ask.
Spirits of the Mists, save us.
There is a way, Birch.
Bonding, I know.
Now’s as good a time as any.
Auwei wasn’t wrong about that. Yet what could I do? There were many tales of Bonding happening during times of heightened emotional state: Love, fear, joy, and so on. And I was certainly as heightened as I was likely ever going to be.
Focus on how much you want to live. Let that be your guide.
I did. But it was really hard with the sounds of those two sets of footfalls stepping closer and closer. The sounds of the shower-stall doors being slammed shut after they checked each.
Then…
They were right around the corner. I’d watched the light from the lantern one of them must be carrying getting closer and closer. Making the room around me brighter and brighter.
Then a foot appeared from the hall of showers about the same time as two hands, one with a lantern, the other with a knife.
The foot hit the floor and, as hoped, slid out from under the person. They slid forward just enough that when they placed their other foot down to steady themselves it was also in the shower hair-soap I’d put down. At the same time, I reached out and smacked the face I saw coming into view with the body-scrubber I’d acquired. The person fell back while sliding forward, crying out as they went over the edge into the large pool as hoped. The lantern fell from their hands and hit the floor to one side, rolling away, casting wild shadows around the room, but remaining lit.
“Bloody Pits!” the female voice cried out. She leaped around the corner, over the soapy floor and landed right in front of me, murder in her eyes. She had a long knife, held in a reversed grip, in one hand and her free hand open in front of her. I expected an attack from the knife, but it was her open hand that snapped out. The base of her palm caught me in the nose. My head snapped back, then bounced off the stone wall behind me, and suddenly I had explosions of pain in the front and back of my head. I raised my towel-wrapped left arm to block the knife attack I expected as a follow up, but instead the knife slid over my belly, cutting deep.
I didn’t want to die. I wanted to live and I’d been focusing on that as much as I could until now, but it’s amazing how clear and powerful that need becomes once you’re actually dying. And in that moment…
I Bonded with Auwei
Oh! Birch, yes! The voice inside my mind had always sounded a bit distant, but in that instant, it became clear and close. I felt a powerful shudder of my body, a thrill running up my spine and a warmth filling me; even as a little too much of my inner warmth was spilling out of my stomach.
But even with that, I was dying and I knew if I didn’t do something right now, I’d be dead very soon.
I kicked up hard, hoping I’d hit between the woman’s legs… and felt my foot hit home. She grunted. Even with my eyes clamped shut and my head aching, my body knew where she was and I lashed out. My body was moving on its own… No, Auwei had control. My left arm swept down and hit the woman’s arm. I heard a knife clatter to the floor. That same hand of mine then surged up with a punch to the woman’s face, my towel-wrapped fist barely hurting at all as it landed. At the same time my right hand was moving over my stomach. I didn’t know what it was doing, but… I could feel my body producing great quantities of that same spider-silk… from… my belly-button? The hand was gathering it quickly and using it to patch the wound on my stomach, helping to stop the blood from flowing out.
I stepped forward, throwing myself bodily into the woman and knocking us both into the pool.
Warm water surged around me and far too much went in my mouth. I found the bottom of the pool with one foot and surged up, coughing out water, seeking air. One eye opened partially to see the woman righting herself in front of me, and the other man — who’d gone into the pool a moment ago — now righted and wading over to me.
