His grey eyes started into hers as if he could not see her eyes enough. Ptolema dropped the guard, she had strangled in her arms, to the ground. Droian walks to her side to give her a nudge to the side. Irik automatically jumps from the carriage and grabs Droian by the neck.

"Please, can we stop this fighting!" A girl says from inside the carriage. Ptolema has not seen her before and she definitely hopes not to see her after today.

"Listen here, girly, my middle name it bloody fighting. So, if you're about to come with us, make sure you can stomach more blood that comes out of your body, okay!?" Ptolema spat at her. The girl's eyes widened in fear and surprise.

The girl is far more beautiful than she is. Her hair is as black as a raven, her eyes as golden as a sunset, her skin as dark as the woods. She was probably thrown into the carriage for Irik's pleasure whenever he might have gotten bored along the way here.

"I'm sorry, assassin, I will commend as you please," The girl said. Ptolema almost laughed at the response.

"What's your name, girl?" She asks, noticing that the beautiful creature was now bowing in the carriage.

"Alina."

"Alina The Healing-Witch."

"Pardon me, I'm a well trained nurse."

"Okay." Ptolema eyed over the healing-witch with a smirk. Irik looks between the two girls before running his hand through his hair in a tensed up emotion.

Irik jumped out of the carriage and smiled at Ptolema before helping Alina out of the carriage. Prolema thought it best if she just turns away and walks over to where Asher sits alone, roasting a bird over a small fire. The meat on the dead burned is starting to turn black as Asher flips it over and over on the stick he had found on the ground when they set up camp yesterday.

"You havin' fun with that bird?" Ptolema laughed. She doesn't dare look over at Irik and Adina and what they might be doing.

"Oh yes," sarcasm lurked in his voice, "very much so."

They both laughed at eachother as he pulled the sick away from the fire to examine the bird. Maybe it was a duck, but now, it's their food. Ptolema almost drooled at the sight of the perfectly cooked food before her. She couldn't stop herself from grabbing the bird from Asher's hand and ripping a leg off to eat after she gave the body back to him.

She gobbled down the meat as if it was air. Her stomach had been growling for hours before they laid camp last night. As the hot meat hit her stomach, she moaned. The taste of the bird filled her mouth with a festival of flavors. This could be the best meal she has had all week. Home style cooking had always been her favorite.

"Seems you like that bird, don't you," Irik started from behind Ptolema. She glared at him over her shoulder after giving him a vulgar gesture with the hand she was not holding her meal with.

"So, Irik, there are some ground rules we need to establish before you come with us," Ptolema ate softly, so she could hear Droian talk. She wants as much information as possible, does not matter what information. Just any would do well for her.

"You stay with. You do not kill or harm anyone here. You do as you're told. You kill what we tell you to, no matter what. You will not destroy anything while we are with you. And especially," he looked at Ptolema, her eyes curiously exploring his face, "you keep your hands off of Ptolema."

She choked on the meat she had just swallowed when Droian's words hit her ears.

"I get to decide that!" She protested, "Not you!"

"Sweetheart," Droian purred, "while you're on my dad's missions, you belong to us. I don't want to share yet." He gave her a beastly smile while walking over to stroke her cheek gently with his thumb.

Ptolema restrains herself from punching him then and there, but she can't, knowing it would make her lose her freedom. Her knuckles turned white at her restraint tightened in her gut. Her eyes drifted to Irik, who's knuckles had also turned pale white. She had only met him, and now he feels like more than an acquaintance. It feels like a brotherhood. Ptolema's gut twists at the thought that she might have a friend. An actual friend! She pushes the thought away, knowing that if he became her friend, she'd have to kill him.

He is not your friend. She repeats over in her head while finishing her bird leg.

As they all sat down to eat the bird and what the carriage had brought it became silent. For after the carriage dropped off Irik, Adina, and the extra food, the horsemen drove off quickly.

"I'm going to get some water," Alina breaks the silence that lingered between all five of them. We all nodded as she left to venture into the woods alone. Only Irik watches her as she leaves us. Good, he likes another girl. Ptolema does not need a friend. She will kill whoever she needs to, as long as she gets her freedom.

The wind sang in our ears as we sat there, watching light turn to dark above us. Stars appeared atop our heads. Animals started to talk to eachother as the darkness became darker, as the stars became brighter. Never had Ptolema seen such beautiful stars in all her life. The trees added a border around them as they twinkled in the black of the night. Calming. This is calming.

Someone's scream breaks the calmness and ripples through the forest. It bounces into all of their ears as they soon realize Alina had never returned from getting herself water. She's been gone for hours, and the watering hole is only a five minute walk from camp.

The four of them all stand at attention as they look around for any close signs of danger. Blood dropped onto Ptolema's nose from the air. She wipe it off before looking up into the sky again.

Clouds now covered the stars.

Clouds that were not there ten seconds ago.

Clouds that were red.