Chapter 2 – Page 3: “Ghosts in the Fog”

The entrance to the smugglers’ cave lay buried beneath a thicket of thorns and loose earth at the foot of a weathered cliff. Kuro dropped to one knee, brushed away the moss, and ran his fingers along the ridge of a half-rotted plank.

“There,” he said, pulling it aside to reveal a jagged stone tunnel that dropped into blackness.

Elenia peered down into the pit. “You’re sure this is it?”

“Yes,” he said. “It’ll lead under the town. Through the back trails. If we make it through, we’ll be two valleys ahead of their patrols by morning.”

Yumi leaned against a tree behind them, pale and sweating. The descent would not be kind to her.

Elenia looked from Kuro to Yumi, then back. “If she collapses in there—”

“I’ll carry her,” Kuro said simply.

Without another word, he ducked into the dark.

The tunnel was narrow, damp, and alive with echoes.

Their footsteps bounced off the stone in uneven rhythms. Water dripped from the jagged ceiling above, each drop a tiny reminder of how far beneath the surface they were.

Kuro led, torchless, using instinct and memory to navigate the sharp turns. Elenia followed, her hand lightly supporting Yumi, who struggled to stay upright.

“This place feels like it’s watching us,” Yumi whispered.

“It’s not,” Kuro said. “But people have died in here.”

“Comforting,” she muttered.

After an hour, they reached a small cavern where the tunnel widened. A collapsed cart lay rusted near one wall, broken crates and a pile of scorched bones beside it. Elenia stepped carefully around the remains.

“Smugglers?” she asked.

“Or thieves,” Kuro replied. “Or someone who got caught in the middle,” she added softly.

Kuro didn’t respond. He just kept moving.

The cavern narrowed again, and the air grew colder, damper, heavier—like breathing through soaked linen. Yumi coughed behind them, her steps faltering.

Kuro turned around. “We stop here.”

“I can keep going,” Yumi muttered.

“No, you can’t,” he said, lowering her gently to the ground beside an old crate. “You’re burning up.”

Elenia knelt beside her, brushing wet strands of hair from Yumi’s forehead. Her brow was hot to the touch.

“She's worse than I thought,” Elenia said. “The wound must have gone deeper.”

Kuro’s voice was low. “Can you fix it?”

“I can try,” she said, pulling out her remaining herbs. “But I’ll need time.”

Kuro nodded and stood, stepping back into the shadows of the tunnel mouth they had just passed.

He didn’t go far—just far enough to be alone. Or what passed for alone these days.

He leaned against the wall, listening to the way the stone spoke. Echoes. Movement. The dripping water from above. But something else, too.

Something wrong.

The sound of breathing. Close. Controlled. Not theirs.

Kuro didn’t draw his weapon. He didn’t need to. His hands lowered, relaxed, and he stepped forward into the darkness.

The royal scout hiding in the alcove didn’t expect him.

Their eyes locked for less than a heartbeat before Kuro’s hand shot forward—grabbing the man by the throat and slamming him into the stone with silent force.

The scout struggled, gurgled.

Kuro whispered, “How many?”

The scout’s hands clawed at Kuro’s wrists. He spat blood.

“How many,” Kuro repeated.

“Two squads… above… watching…”

Kuro’s grip tightened. “Are they following?”

“Not… yet…”

“You’re the only one in here?”

The scout’s head nodded faintly.

Kuro’s fingers tightened further, then slowly relaxed. The man slumped unconscious.

He didn’t kill him.

But he didn't leave him breathing comfortably either.

He returned to the others.

“She’s stable for now,” Elenia said, glancing up. “Barely.”

“We keep moving,” Kuro replied.

“She’ll collapse,” Elenia said.

“I know.”

“You’re not going to slow down, are you?”

He met her eyes. “Every second we sit still is a second closer to being hunted.”

Elenia’s shoulders tensed. “She’s not a soldier, Kuro.”

“I’m not, either,” he said. “But it doesn’t matter.”

“Then why did you bring us?” she snapped, standing suddenly. “If you’re just going to treat us like burdens, why did you come back for her? Why did you let me follow?”

His voice was low. Steady. But not cold.

“Because I knew what would happen if I didn’t.”

“And what’s happening now?” she asked, eyes shining.

Kuro didn’t speak.

He turned back toward the tunnel.

“I’ll carry her,” he said again.

And he did.

The next leg of the cave was harder. Narrower. Kuro carried Yumi like weightless cargo, her head resting against his shoulder, her breath hot on his neck. Her fevered murmurs were soft, broken.

Elenia walked behind them, quiet, her staff held tight.

They moved for hours without speaking.

Until, finally, a faint glow broke through the black.

Kuro turned a final corner and found the exit—a wide crack in the rock, where the sunlight poured in like salvation. Green trees. Fresh air. Life.

He stepped out, boots crunching onto wet grass. Elenia followed.

They were free.

For now.

They laid Yumi down beneath a tree, where Elenia began mixing a stronger poultice from her dwindling herbs. Kuro walked a short distance away, watching the road beyond the hills.

The road that would eventually lead to Drelis, a trade city ruled by neutrality and gold. A place where names could be lost and identities bought.

He heard Elenia approach behind him.

“You didn’t kill him,” she said.

Kuro nodded. “Didn’t have to.”

“Would you have… if he hadn’t told you?”

“Yes.”

She looked up at him. “Do you regret it? Any of it?”

He didn’t answer right away.

“I regret trusting the wrong people.”

She stepped closer. “Do you trust me?”

He looked at her.

“I don’t know yet.”

She smiled sadly. “I’ll wait.”

Back beneath the tree, Yumi opened her eyes again.

“Kuro?” she called weakly.

He knelt beside her.

“You’re safe,” he said.

“I dreamed you left me again,” she whispered.

“I didn’t.”

She reached out, hand shaking, and touched his sleeve. “I didn’t deserve it… but thank you.”

Kuro stared at her small, frail hand against his.

And for a moment, the assassin said nothing.

Only sat there, in the quiet, while the fog behind them faded… and the path ahead remained uncertain.

[End of Chapter 2 – Page 3]