Broken Fangs

Sirks waited in the room for Wompa to return with the water. Truth be told, he still didn't feel safe about going downstairs. Heck, he didn't feel safe even stepping foot outside the room. After Kies, left he slammed the window shut again. He couldn't help but feel like they were being watched.

It could nothing and that he was only feeling this way because of the current state of the city. "Ugh... Are my senses acting up again?" It's been so long since he left the army, but the fleeting memories of his battles never left him. Once a soldier, always a soldier, and his intuition was telling him that something was wrong.

Sirks walked over and picked up his sword, feeling the smooth cold steel of it. It wasn't his. He picked it up from another soldier. Holding the weapon in his hand, he felt a lot safer with it. However, the uneasiness in his chest wasn't going away. Sirks tiptoed over to the window and peeked outside the curtains. The streets were quiet and empty.

He slowly backed away from the window and turned to the door. Sirks pressed his ears against the door. Nothing either. He turned open the door and stepped out. The halls were also clear with no one in sight. Not daring to get too far away from the room, Sirks stood right outside and called for Wompa. "Wompa? You there?"

*Thud* *Thud* *Thud*

Sirks heard footsteps coming up the stairs and raised his sword. "Wompa, is that you?" he asked. Stopping for a second, Sirks slapped himself, remembering that she couldn't speak. The only way for him to know is to wait for the person to come up the stairs. Holding on tightly to his sword still, Sirks got ready for a surprise attack should it be someone else other than her.

Wompa's face appeared at the top of the stairs and Sirks lowered his weapon, sighing in relief. The princess gave him a questioning look, wondering why he standing outside of the door with his weapon. Was there an intruder? She glanced behind her. No, there wasn't anyone. It was only them in here.

"What took you so long?" Sirks asked her, scratching his head. He felt like he grew a few more gray hairs just from staring at the stairs for a bit. Wompa handed SIrks the bucket of water and made some gestures with her hand, trying to explain to him what took her so long. As it turned out, the water strangely wasn't stored in the kitchen, but somewhere else. She had to walk around the entire first floor to find it, only to find out that it was in the basement. Without a light source, she had to find the water in the dark, which wasn't a fun experience, to say the least.

"...I have no idea what you're trying to tell me," Sirks said, doing his best to interpret her gestures. "Are you trying to tell me that you fell down the stairs? Are you alright?"

"..."

Wompa shook her head. Giving up, she took the water back from Sirks and squeezed past him and into the room where her two sisters were. She brought the bucket to Iris first since she looked the worst out of the two. She grabbed the towel and got ready to dunk it into the bucket when Sirks stopped her.

"Hey, aren't we going to drink some of that first? You know, since we haven't had anything to drink in a while?" He didn't know about her, but his throat was parched from staying in the room all day without any water. They also didn't have the chance to eat anything yet, but he wasn't all that hungry.

Wompa responded to Sirks by pointing out the door, telling him to go get his own water if he wanted something to drink. "Well, okay then..." Sirks was surprised by this as it wasn't exactly in her personality to tell him off like this. "Getting bolder, aren't you. You're starting to become like your bratty sister..." he mumbled.

One Iris was enough. He wasn't sure if he wanted to have to take care of a second one. But when that time comes, hopefully, they will hire another person to take care of her. It wasn't like he could protect the both of them alone.

Sirks closed the door and put his sword down, seeing that there was no threat and it was only him being overly cautious. He sat down on the stool opposite of the bed, giving the chair to Wompa so that she could sit down while she took care of her sisters.

All they could do now was to wait for Kies to come back with the herbalist. He said he had a way, and hopefully, he did.

Wompa soaked the towel and did her best to clean the dried blood off of Iris. That girl... She was always getting into danger to the point that Sirks wasn't sure if she was trying to get herself killed. Under her mischievous exterior, she was kind and caring, probably even more so than Wompa.

Losing her father was a heavy blow to her and she never felt the affection of her mother. It wasn't like Wompa felt it either, but she was too young at the time to understand what happened. Iris was not. She was at the age when parents meant a lot to a child, and she lost them both...

The water went from being clear to turning red with all the blood that Wompa wiped off from Iris. She then put the towel aside and picked the bucket back up and headed out the door again to empty it and refill it.

"It's heavy. Are you sure you don't want me to do it?" Sirks offered to take her place. He had nothing to do here other than guard the two who were unconscious. Furthermore, he didn't feel good about letting the youngest person in the group do all the physical labor.

Wompa shook her head and walked out of the room. Sirks heard her walk down the hallway and then down the stairs. There was a clunk followed by the sound of water spilling down the stairs. "How clumsy can you be?" Sirks got up and exited the room, not grabbing his weapon since he thought that Wompa had an accident. "Are you okay? I told to let me-"

Upon taking a look down the stairs, Sirks saw that Wompa wasn't alone. A man with a piece of cloth hiding his face had his arm around her neck and a blade pressed against her too.

Struggle as she might, Wompa tried to push the man's arm off and break free but she was too weak to do so.

"Don't move or she dies."

Sirks mouthed a curse. He should've trusted his instincts. They were never wrong. When he felt that they were being watched, they were being watched. This person had been waiting for the perfect time to make a move.

Sirks didn't his sword which he stupidly left in the room. He should be carrying that thing on him at all times. Because of his carelessness, they were in a bad situation right now.

Sirks looked around, trying to see if there were any more people if this man was the only one.

"Looking for me?"

Sirks heard a voice directly behind him and spun around. He threw his leg out, almost kicking the second man in the face but he backed off just in time. "Woo, that was close!"

Further behind the second man, there was a third one entering the room where the unconscious queen and princess were. This wasn't good.

The man in front of him didn't have a weapon in hand, but he was no doubt armed. There were many bulges in his clothes, likely hidden weapons, and other dangerous tools.

Why did he have to leave his sword inside the room? He was at a massive disadvantage because of one foolish decision.

"I advise you to stay still," the first man said. Sirks didn't turn around. He knew that Wompa was in his hands and that if he tried to pull any moves, she might get hurt or killed.

"How nice. Who would've thought that he would take us to the two princesses?" the man in front of him laughed.

"He?"

"Yes, your idiot of a companion. Did he really think that we wouldn't see him jumping from rooftop to rooftop? He might as well be shooting fireworks into the sky, guiding us to this place."

So this was Kies' fault that their location was discovered? Well, he couldn't blame him entirely since he was doing everything by himself. He didn't have the time to check his surroundings as he was always in a hurry.

D*mn... It was all over now. Unless...

"Who are you lot?" Sirks asked them.

"Us? You don't need to know as you'll be dead soon."

"Then what's the harm in telling me?"

"...If you want to know so badly, we're the Black Fang."

"Black Fang? Never heard of you."

"Of course not."

"So, what do you do?"

"..."

Sirks needed to drag this out as long as possible. Helpfully, Kies managed to convince the herbalist and was on his way back now or he sensed something was wrong and was heading back regardless. If he could buy time for him to arrive, they could turn this situation around.

But unluckily for him, the two criminals didn't look like they wanted to go along with his plan. "You're annoying," the man said, brandishing a knife from his sleeves.

This wasn't looking too good. Come on, come on. Where was he? Why was he taking so long as well? Was today a holiday? Take-your-sweet-time-doing-things day? Where the heck was he!?

*Crash!*

Right in cue, the sound of glass shattering echoed the narrow hallway, causing both men to turn their attention to the room. Their buddy who had entered the room flew out the door and smashed into the wall, tearing a hole through it.

Wompa and Sirks didn't waste a moment and acted too. Wompa elbowed the man who was holding her captive in the face, smashing his nose. "Ah, you-" She shoved the man down the stairs which was wet from all of the water, causing him to slip and fall down.

Sirks pulled the knife out of the second man's hand and slashed at him, forcing him to move back, and the timing could not have been better.

The moment he stepped foot in front of the door of their room, Kies appeared and grabbed him by the neck. "You! How did you escape- Urk!" Kies squeezed the thief's neck tightly. His face turned red, then black, not being able to breathe.

Saliva dropped out of the man's mouth and he stopped struggling. His body went limp and Kies tossed him onto the ground. He then pointed his finger at Sirks and Wompa, turning on them.

"What!? What are you-"

*Fwoosh!*

A single jet of wind, faster than their eyes can see, flew past Sirks and Wompa. "Gah!" It hit the man behind Wompa who had climbed back up the stairs without any of them noticing, and it was a good thing that Kies saw him.

"Oh..."

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