The Dragon's Kiss

Kel took a step back.

Come with him?

Out of all the faces around Mevani she recognized, this man's was definitely not one.

Besides, shouldn't he still be participating in that ridiculous performance? That is, unless the second act of the play was even shorter than the intermission.

"I just want to talk."

The man stepped closer, holding his hands in the air.

"Talk about what?" Kel inquired, continually inching away.

Something didn't feel right.

She couldn't put her finger on it, but every bone in her body was screaming not to let this man come too close.

Fortunately, she hadn't gotten very far from the crowd surrounding the fire dancers. If she ran, she could be by Lucy and Thane's side in no time.

"I.. am.." the man ducked his head, lowering his hands into tight fists at his sides.

Kel turned to flee.

"A HUGE FAN!!"

The words stopped her in her tracks.

What?

She looked back to see the man thundering toward her, his mouth frozen in a stupid grin and his eyes glazed.

"Excuse m-"

Kel hardly had time to utter a single word before the man was on top of her, grasping her hand in both of his and shaking vigorously.

"It's such a pleasure to meet you!" he gushed, tightening his grip. "I've always admired you! From street urchin to one of the palace's most capable guards!!"

Kel coughed at the unexpected praise.

Wait, how did this man know so much about her life, anyway?

"How-" Kel began only to be cut off again by the energetic man.

"There isn't a soul in the streets of the free kingdoms who doesn't know the epic rags to knighthood story of one of Mevani's finest!" he praised. "The character I wrote, Ozai, is the culmination of my dedication to studying your legacy. What do you think?!"

The large man gazed at her expectantly while Kel tried to process his enthusiastic babbling.

"I-Is that so?" she began, still dazed by the sudden attention. "I think.. Ozai is, uh, a very interesting character."

"Right?" The man's grin seemed to stretch even wider. "I used subtle facial expressions like this-"

He paused, his face falling to a blank stare.

"-to really add depth to the character."

".. I see," Kel replied hesitantly.

This guy couldn't be serious, could he?

"Oh, oh! And of course you probably noticed," he continued, "but when Ozai was in 'street urchin' mode, I moved my feet like this-"

He stopped once again to demonstrate.

"-to show the shift in personality."

"That's.. nice," Kel smiled blankly.

Now she understood why she'd felt such a keen sense of danger earlier.

This man was completely crazy!

And it was clear he had no intention of letting her get away any time soon.

"Shouldn't you be getting back to your performance now?" Kel asked, desperately scanning the nearby crowd for her companions.

They should have noticed she was gone by now, right?

She wasn't too sure about Thane, but she was confident Lucy would be able to read the situation and run in with an excuse to get away.

"Oh, don't worry about that," The man's voice sounded calmer than before. "The real show hasn't started yet."

"Uh huh. Well, good luck with that," Kel kept her eyes focused on the crowd, a chill running down her spine at the sudden shift in tone. "I'm going to-"

The man stepped in front of her, reaching for her hand again, but this time, with less excitement.

"I think you better come with me," he repeated.

This was bad.

Kel knew it was too weird to have a 'fan'. She should have turned and run when he first called out to her.

"Who do you think you're grabbing?" she snarled, slapping his hands away.

There was no time to depend on Lucy and Thane. She needed to get away, even if it meant fighting her way out.

The man smirked, undaunted by her feisty reaction.

He reached for her wrist while sending his foot sailing toward her shin.

Kel dodged the attack easily, landing a punch against the man's gut as she moved.

"Ha! Is that your great 'street urchin knowledge'?" she mocked. "You clearly have a lot to learn!"

"No," the man looked up at her, the sides of his lips twitching. "This is."

"Urk!"

Kel lurched forward as a heavy blow landed against her back.

How long had another person been behind her? And how had she not noticed?

"Looks like you're the one who's gotten a bit rusty, Keliyah," the man chuckled, knocking her to the ground with a punch of his own.

This couldn't be happening.

Was she really getting beat up in the streets right now?

Who were they? What did they want from her?

Throwing her weight to her hands, Kel kicked her legs out into the air, landing satisfying thuds against both her attackers.

With the two people stunned, she leapt to her feet and started running back toward the fire dancers.

Her escape ended abruptly, however, as two more people stepped in front of her.

She noticed the gleam of a knife in the hands of one of the newcomers.

Seriously, what was their deal?

With a scoff, Kel snatched her own knife, strapped to her thigh, and waved it threateningly.

"What do you want?!" she shouted.

Since these people had waited until she was alone to approach her, they probably wanted to avoid causing a scene at all costs.

So that was exactly what Kel would do.

"I asked what you want!!" she yelled again, turning to point the knife at the two men behind her, who had both recovered from the kicks.

The man who had pretended to be her fan laughed.

"We want-"

"An early grave, looks like."

Suddenly, the large man was on the ground with Thane on top of him.

Lucy jumped on the man next to Thane, while Kel whirled back around to face the other two attackers.

Instead of backing down, the appearance of the two knights seemed to make the thugs even more determined.

The one with the knife charged toward Kel while his friend trailed behind him.

Kel grunted as their weapons collided.

"What took you so long?" she complained over her shoulder as she shoved the man away.

"The fire dancers were really cool!" Thane whimpered. "Ack!"

He ducked as Lucy swung at him.

"A thousand apologies wouldn't be enough," the female knight asserted, lunging at the only opponent left on his feet.

When all four assailants were neutralized, Lucy and Thane both knelt in front of Kel.

"Eh?" Kel waved her hands. "What is this? Why are you-"

"We failed you," Lucy remarked. "It was our duty to stay by your side and protect you."

"Guys, come on, it's me," Kel laughed awkwardly. "I was the one who wandered off in the first place."

Plop!

She took a sharp breath in as something warm and wet landed against her neck.

"You!!"

Lucy was on her feet in an instant and shot past Kel, her sword unsheathed.

Even for one of the Emperor's best knights, however, it was too late.

Whoever had spit on Kel had already disappeared into the shadows of the street, leaving a single word echoing in their wake.

'Traitor.'

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