The ground was cold as Kira pushed her face against it, hoping to feel vibrations she knew had to be coming. They had followed her, something the girl thought all but impossible since her changing. She now hid in the under growth that screened the forest floor. She crouched low, her Ji'alantar uniform blending in with the greenery almost the way an Aiel's cadinsor blended with the sand of the Waste.
Soon, she felt what she had been searching for. Two distinct vibrations, then two more. Someone was moving while trying to keep hidden, Kira was sure of it. Why else would they move so erratically?
She hardly moved, breathing so softly as to make herself less noticeable. It must have worked, for she felt the vibrations pass her well to the right. I thought there were two.. she thought immediately. What she had learned of stalking had been learned on the hunt with wolves. That amount was enough to get around without being seen.
Kira stood slightly, keeping her back at level with the foliage as she raised her head. She saw one figure moving off to the right, the one she had heard, however muffled the sound. The other, she did not see.
"Come out, come out, wherever you are." There, somewhere on her opposite side was the other one. They had followed her the whole way from town, and she knew by the way they had tried to keep from being noticed by other people that they were up to something.
She flattened to the ground instantly, making sure not to rustle anything obvious to a tracker. She slithered a little ways forward, then stopped. What if he was doing the same thing as she had been, listening for vibrations? Kira froze immediately, contorting herself under a large bush to hide all of herself.
"Blood and ashes, she's gone again." It was the one on the right. Kira had forgotten him momentarily, and that's what it cost her. They were using her tricks against her. One would call out or move, she would move, and the other would track. Apparently they were switching off, otherwise, how would she hear either?
Light, I am in trouble now. She had left her ashanderei back with her horse, hoping to fool her trackers into thinking she'd stopped. They must be good if they'd followed her this far, with the little trail she'd left.
"Ji'alantar, we only want to talk," said the Left. "And maybe enjoy ourselves a little," he mumbled afterward. Kira was glad for her hearing at this point. If she had not had the senses of a wolf, she would not have heard either. But still, he must have been close in order for her to her such a muted whisper, however sha her hearing.
Wait a minute, did he say Ji'alantar? Light, I'm in a worse predicament than I thought! she thought to herself. How did they know her rank? She felt herself getting ready to start snarling. The hackles stood up on her neck as if the Dark One himself were after her.
Kira sniffed experimentally, softly so as not to get attention drawn to the noise. One was upwind, the Left. Close, as she had thought, and he smelled... twisted. The other was downwind of her. Neither had moved in some time, but Left soon made noise again. Light, but that one was stupid. They must not realize she was a Wolfkin, and close to them to boot. Otherwise, he would be silent while the other called. Why hadn't the other called in a while? Kira flinched momentarily, a thought coming to her mind. The other one must be even closer if he was not bothering to call out anymore.
Her breath expelled from her lungs as Kira slithered a few more feet forward. She could now see boots, dark as dark could be. A Neverborn, perhaps? the wolf in her thought, ready to attack. Wolves would do anything to kill a Neverborn, even if it meant losing half the pack. But no, the cloak behind it moved in the wind. Not a Neverborn then, nor a Twisted one. The voice was not right for a Twisted one.
Hamstring and throat came a thought, sudden and urgent. Kira slithered some more, this time around the bush, so that she was behind the Left. She got into a crouch silently, her mouth twisting to snarl at the shadow-hearted one. She kicked out, striking the Left on the back of his knee. He cried out, and Kira ran on all fours as she felt his comrade run towards the sound. She was Kira no longer, but Running Wind the wolf. And run like the wind she did.
She soon heard the two following her, so Running Wind knew she had not seriously injured the shadow-hearted one. She snarled in frustration. The human that was left in her was glad she had not hurt it, but Running Wind wanted blood, and the shadow-hearted one's blood would do. How blood tasted good rolling down Running Wind's throat, the meat going with it nice and tender in the time before it was cooked.
Running Wind ran to a tree, scrambling up it as she half remembered humans doing. She was in the lee of the tree now, so she was certain the shadow-hearted ones could not smell or see her. Smell? Why would they smell me?! she exclaimed in her mind, exalting in her prowess.
But she stayed silent, now hearing the groans of the hurt one and the curses of the other. The passed her tree, not even looking up at her. She smiled, her humanity coming back as the blood lust faded. She slithered down the trunk after they had passed, maintaining a certain distance between them that allowed her to smell them, see them, but not hear them.
She had followed them a long time now, her heart pounding every time they had glanced around. She moved softly from bush to bush, stalking her prey. Kira, yes, that was her name. Kira was closer now, sniffing and listening with a ferocity that surised her. Soon, she caught drifts of conversation.
"Maybe we should give up. The wench is no where to be seen. No doubt she has already hidden back to where the witches keep her."
"No, the Great Lord would be displeased with us if we failed to kill her. She is one like the three we hunt, and in my mind more dangerous. Why would we have to kill her if she wasn't? Plus, she is allied with the witches. Perhaps the Supreme Council has deemed her a necessary removal."
"My orders came from the mouth of Ba'alzamon himself, and it stated nothing about a time limit."
"Well Lanfear came to me, saying the girl must die before the Aes Sedai. Otherwise, the girl would hunt us down in revenge."
Kira understood. They were going to kill an Aes Sedai, one she was more than familiar with. Why else would she try to hunt the assassins down? Or maybe they had her confused with another...
She was closer now than before, slithering almost on their heels. And the horse was in sight, her ashanderei in sight. She abandoned the two and went for her weapon. She unstrapped it carefully, going back to her area on the ground and catching up quickly.
Now, she was no longer scared. After the long hunt, the kill always came. She stood, moving swiftly and silently along the path the two were following, her hands clenching and unclenching on the metal of the shaft as she moved closer, stalking her prey.
Her ashanderei moved into low reverse guard as she crept, moving closer still. Then, she put it into middle guard, remembering a move called Turning the Waterwheel. She spun, lifting the ashanderei over her head and bringing it down with a start. It flashed in front of her, taking the head off the nearest man as she continued her move to conclusion.
Kira was disgusted with herself. It was her first human kill, even if they were Darkfriends shadow-hearted ones! part of her cried. She stifled the voice, wanting nothing less at that moment than a bath, and a clean conscience.
She looked up, straight into the eyes of the other, watching as he came closer while hissing, "Here, kitty kitty kitty." She didn't move, as she had found that when someone else thought her defenseless, she often won a battle of some sort.
He was closer, and Kira lips pulled back into a sneer. He truly thinks me a fool, even after seeing me kill his partner. She felt balanced on a razor blade where one side meant death and the other meant insanity as a wolf. Never before had that edge felt so keen beneath her feet.
He was almost in striking distance of her ashanderei, and Kira felt it time to strike. "I'm a wolf, not a cat," she snarled, moving into a stance she had come up with on her own. She called it Path of the Sun.
It was time. Kira sprung from where she had begun, taking into account that at the height of this move, she would be vulnerable. Her ashanderei went up as she went up from reverse low guard to it's peak as she reached the climax of her jump. As she came down, the weapon completed it's circuit, dropping into low guard just as her right foot came out in a kick. If the weapon failed to contact, the kick always landed. If the kick contacted, the weapon probably wouldn't. It was a fifty fifty chance which would land home.
The man moved like greased lightning, swearing as her foot connected on his shoulder. Had he been any slower, she would have killed him easily. But she missed by enough that she lost her balance, and that edge she was walking grew just a bit steeper. She felt him fall as she did, rolling in an opposite direction.
"Well, Wolf, I guess you should have stayed hidden."
"I guess you're right," she said calmly, fingering a leg she knew was hurt in more ways than one. She was able to stand though, and the man, for some odd reason, held his ground.
He seemed to be debating something, and Kira wished she could read his thoughts as she could the wolves. Soon though, he spoke again. "We were not told you were like this," he said, pointing to her as she stood in an attack position. "My instruction made you out to be a girl very easy to kill."
Kira's head went up in defiance. "I guess your informant was wrong." Something clicked in her mind, and the girl realized why he had not attacked him while she was down. It was Left, the one she had attacked in her moment of Wolfishness. The one who's knee was most likely ready to give at any second, and he knew it.
A smile played onto her face, and Kira put weight onto her foot tentatively as she moved into a Low guard stance. Then, with a tightening of her eyes, she switched again to middle guard. "Fitting, don't you think, to be killed by the same attack that killed the other? After all, you were part of the prey, and the pack always gets the prey it's after." The wolves came, her pack, squeezing out of the foliage around them to ring the Shadow-hearted one. "Easy meat for the pack."
Fear widened the Left's eyes as the pack began to close in, and Kira forced herself to turn away as they attacked the injured prey. Easy meat indeed. She felt her lunch coming back up as she hear her sister ask why she didn't join in the feast.
She must go back to the Tower. No one could know she killed two men, even if they had been Darkfriends. No one could know, and no one would know, if she hid her trail well enough. No one could know.