We will not die

Ten kilometers away from the city Haley and Doreen were tending to the wounds of Edward. He had been slashed deeply in the middle of his torso. Rufus was unconscious still but was not in any other way hurt. They had taken refuge in the forest.

"What the hell happened. I don't understand any of this," Haley pondered anxiously.

"It seems we were outed. Someone had talked about the connection with the black rat gang and the prince to Duke Mihalh. The king then summoned the knights of the back sun to deal with us. To wipe us all once and for all," said Doreen.

"No, no it can't be. No one would have betrayed us. I don't believe that."

"It doesn't matter anymore. We now are hunted. We have to keep moving. Go into hiding and wait for the prince's orders," said Doreen.

"NO. WE WON'T BE WAITING FOR ANYTHING ANYMORE! The prince is the reason we are in this mess," yelled Haley.

"You knew what was at stake and what was our goals. You also knew the risks," said Doreen back.

"We lost everything because of them. I am not even sure if old man Haufen and Mrs. Jean are even alive anymore," argued Haley.

"It is not his fault!" argued Doreen back.

"We will not do anything for him anymore!" Haley yelled.

"No. We have to finish this now," said Rufus who just had woken up.

The two of them looked at Rufus and they weren't sure was it good to let him get up. He was still stumbling a bit and had a hard time standing up.

"They gave their lives for us. They all believed that we wanted to help the people, even though that wasn't our goal. Doing nothing will just make their sacrifice in vain. Also, this proves that we must do something. We can not let them hurt more people as they did to us and all of the members," said Rufus who started to stand up laboriously.

Haley didn't want to argue with Rufus anymore. They all were broken. They all had lost a lot that day. They still were worried mainly for Edward. They realized that his wounds were not only physical but mental too.

Edward was squirming in the ground. His wounds were hurting, but it looked like he was having terrors also in his head. He then woke up opening all his wounds all over again. Haley, Doreen, and Rufus went to restrain him.

"I will kill you, FATHER!" Edward yelled.

~ ~

Rufus had completely healed, but Edward was still badly wounded. He needed some medical care urgently. They didn't know where to head to, so they decided to head north away from the capital.

A few days had passed, and they were able to hide from the search parties. They decided to avoid every people since wanted posters of them had been distributed all around the kingdom. They were the most wanted people in the kingdom now.

They thought of asking for count Vlad Hunyadi for help and heading south, but it was too risky. They could run into soldiers who were looking for them. The north was a vast frontier area with not that many people living there.

"Edwards's condition is getting worse day by day. He needs medical attention. His fever is rising. He will live for maybe two more days," Doreen said with a concerned voice.

"We can't go to any town or village. The garrison will alarm the knights and the nobles of our location," Haley said.

Rufus was sitting on a rock. Their situation was extremely bad. They had been able to scavenge some food here and there, by stealing it from farms. They were in no condition to fight anyone especially the knights of the black sun.

They again started to move. They had no destination, but they knew they had to keep moving. If they stayed in one place for too long it would increase the risk of them being found. They didn't use roads and the closer they headed to the grey mountains fewer villages they saw.

One night Rufus came to Haley to change guard duty shifts.

"You think we will make it?" asked a melancholic Haley.

"We will. We always have," said Rufus back trying to sheer up Haley.

"Harley must be yelling to us right now seeing her two siblings in such a mess," said Haley with a small smile.

"She'd hit us on the back of our head if she'd see us yelling 'you damn brats, why do you keep giving me headaches' or something in the lines of that," Rufus said trying to lighten the mood.

Haley laughed.

"Hey, Rufus. Have you ever thought about having a family name?" asked Haley.

"Family name?"

"Yeah. Doreen's family name is Lykaios. Leif is Rot. Maybe we should give ourselves a family name also. What do you think? Would be nice before we die. Something to put on our graves," said Haley.

"Hah. We won't die, but it would be nice to have a last name though," said Rufus.

"So what last name should we get? I guess we can name ourselves to whatever we want," Haley pondered.

Rufus was thinking. He thought it should be for something that holds great meaning for both him and Haley.

"How about Fairfax?"

"Harley's favorite flower?"

"Yeah. What do you think?"

"Hmmm...Haley and Rufus Fairfax. Sounds good. I like it," said Haley with a smile.

Rufus heard a noise coming nearby. He woke Doreen up.

"What is going on?" Doreen asked still sleepy.

"Shh,"

It sounded like there was someone nearby from the rustling of the leaves. Doreen readied her weapons. Haley also was ready. hushed steps were heard like someone was sneaking closer to them.

Out of nowhere many grey skins emerged from the woods. They pointed their arrows at them and were ready to throw spears. Many were also riding black yaks. Rufus and the other were in no shape to fight back. It seemed like they were ready to face their maker.