Bandits.
Coming from every corner of the carriage.
How were there bandits? I thought that the Hollow King couldn't control anyone here unless they were actually bad people.
I was going to take my chances on the latter.
"Do not move from this place." Kairos sprung up and went out of the carriage, and then locked the doors of it.
So I was supposed to be on the floor of the carriage then?
I know that's not what he meant, but I'm trying not to panic here.
Wait.
Why was I panicking? I am a wanted bandit. I am the rebel.
He should be the one staying in the carriage. He doesn't know how they think, how they move or how they escape.
What was I? A damsel in distress?
I opened the door of the carriage.
He didn't even lock it. I thought he did. Did he really expect me to sit back and do nothing?
Nuh fucking uh
I opened the door to find Kairos had created a bloodbath.
The grass had long since surrendered its green, drowned beneath shades of crimson. Bodies lay scattered across the field, still and silent. Yet he remained standing among them, rigid as a monument. His eyes, sharp and glacial, held no trace of grief. Only a chilling indifference that seemed more terrifying than the slaughter itself.
A shiver went down my spine. He actually killed them.
Ruthlessly.
I don't think that they intended to harm, maybe the worse that they could've done was steal from us or graze us a bit. I don't think that anyone knows that 'Princess Lira' was back yet.
Kairos spotted me. His cold eyes laid on my petrified ones.
"I told you to stay in the carriage." He sighed, irritated.
"You... killed them." He didn't kill them. Within seconds. 10 bodies. That's what I could count. Not even a single stab in the heart. Their limbs dangling from the torso, their entire body, was as red as a scarlet gemstone.
My heart starting beating faster. "You could've scared them off." My breath was shaky.
He stepped forward, and I stepped back into the carriage. I closed the door of it and hid in a corner.
I don't why I did that. Was he now a threat to me? I was a bandit. If I wasn't the reincarnation of The Princess, would he have killed me as well? Killed me, till my body was covered in my own blood?
He opened the door, his shadow covering the floor of the carriage, his body looming over mine as he got closer with each second.
"Lira..."
"Stop." I took a deep breath. Maybe he was ordered to kill instantly. It wasn't like all of them were like me. However, a single stab in the heart would've done it. "Did you have to torture them like that?"
"People like that don't deserve to be spared." His face still cold.
"I'm people like that."
He went silent
The silence was enough to figure out the answer.
The rest of the trip to the city was quiet. He didn't say a word, and neither did I. I didn't want to say a word.
He was trained to do this type of thing, but I didn't expect it to be so... brutal? Maybe I'm overreacting? I've seen a lot of deaths as The Princess, but not as The Rebel.
Was The Princess used to this type of thing?
No.
Kairos never killed like this before. He never tore them limb to limb. He never turned the ground red.
When we finally arrived the city, it was night. So Kairos went to find a place to stay for the night. After 10 minutes the coach told me that he found a motel to stay at. Two separate rooms that are no where near each other even though the booking offered it.
I didn't care.
I went to my room and he went to his.
The room was big though and could easily be enough for 4 people to stay in. He didn't have to waste that much money.
After dinner I got a knock on my door.
It was Kairos.
"Can we talk?" His eyes not cold. More like... guilty? Apologetic?
I let him in and waited for him to talk.
He cleared his throat. "About earlier, yes I did kill them. I was trained to do that."
"I know." I spoke a bit to quick. "I assumed you were. Did you have to be so brutal?"
"I was taught brutal."
"No you weren't. I remember that you weren't. You didn't leave the limbs almost detached from the body. You didn't torture them and bathe them in their own blood. So why did you do that now?"
"The Princess and The Rebel are different people. The Knight and The Outlaw are different people as well. I never wanted to be one, and I hate them. Brigands, outlaws, marauders, bandits. Whatever. They're disgusting to live with."
An outlaw? He hated them? Was he raised by them? That's what's different. He was more ruthless this time, more merciless with the blade.
"You don't have to kill them so cruelly. You hate them, yet you kill like them. You have all the memories of you as a Knight. Why can't you just use that instead?"
"It's not so simple."
A pause.
"You said you hated those type of people, correct? That's means you would kill me if you got the chance? I am a rebel. And outlaw. I had to survive on the streets by doing the exact same things. I'm wanted."
"You're different. You did it to survive-"
"And they didn't?"
"How would you know what they were thinking?" He scoffed.
"How would you know what I was thinking if you have never met me? That I'm just a filthy person? That I deserved to die?" I almost yelled at him.
He hesitated before he spoke. "I would've killed you."
I knew it.
"I knew it." I chuckled half-heartedly. "Of course you would. Kill me just as ruthless. You know what? Kill me as well. I'm an outlaw. I bet that angers you. Kill me as well like you did to them. No exceptions right? You didn't know if they needed to survive like I did. If you did, yo'd probably still kill them. Kill me as well, like you did to them. I'm not The Princess. I'm The Rebel."
He unsheathed his sword, and the entire place went cold. His eyes narrowed and he pointed the the sword to me.
No exceptions.