In the little fishing town of Myrna, in an ally way next to the bakery and the smiths shop shadows corrupt the road, curling every which way.
But if you look close enough, closer still- one single shadow breaks away and runs down the ally with light, quick steps.
Her name is Syria.
She can kill with a single blow; she can kill a horse with her fist, and her next target-
A farm boy.
Across the way another shadow steps out of the darkness and opens his arms wide, inviting Syria into his arms.
willing her into them.
Syria stops in her tracks and pulls out two daggers made of the strongest metal anyone can afford.
She holds them with sturdy accuracy.

She holds them like a person who knows how to use her weapon.

“I don’t have time for this.” She whispers these words yet the dark figure just smiles wide, half of his face obscured by shadows, and his white pearly teeth gleam in the obscured light. Sweat drips into her eyes from the humid air. She shakes her short hair and blinks away the sweat. What Syria can see of him are his green eyes, sharp and intelligent, much like a cats.
His skin is white and pale.
“Syria, long time no see, love.”
Syria freezes, her blood running cold in her veins. Love, love, love….. The only man who ever dared to call her that-
“Jioni.” Syria’s voice is hard. She trembles and the knife in her hands shakes with hard tremors.
“Hello, love. I heard you’ve gotten better with that there knife. Shall we test your skill’s, now?”
“What do you want, Jioni?” Syria’s words betray her exhaustion.
“Why, Love, do I have to want something?” His voice holds mock innocence with a hint of hurt. He spreads his long fingered hands wide showing her he has no weapons, yet.
Syria laughs a fake hard laugh.
“I don’t have time for this, Jioni.” Her brows raise with her shoulders in a defeated shrug.
But Jioni won’t fall for her tricks.
She dodges left as he deftly deflects her movements. To an outsiders eye these two would be moving in a deadly dance, like two serpents fighting over their territory.
Two serpents indeed.



Syria ducks and thrusts. Jioni stumbles back, a smile on his usual placid face.
“Good, good. You never use to be so good. You have definitely gotten better. Tell me, Syria; How are the old scholars treating you, now that I left?”
Syria shakes with anger and rage- pure and hot.
Syria, now angrier gets more so and clumsier with her usually deft and careful movements. She thrusts, parry, strikes. But she strikes too high. Jioni cuts in and with a spark of steel he meets her dagger with a sword the color of crimson that he named, Cobra.
“Jioni.” Syria grits through her teeth. “Why are you doing this?”
Jioni straitens keeping his knife on hers.
“This?” His voice rises and he leans forward getting angry and pushing into her.
“You mean living in secret? Living without fear? THIS! THIS IS FEAR, Syria!” Syria’s ears ring with the yell and her muscles tremble with the weight of Jioni’s body.
He leans in some more, "Leaving in secret, Always having to be careful." These words are whispers and they scare her more than his yelling.
"We could run away, Syria. We could live together and not be outcasts. We could show our power-"
Sweat drips into her eyes and mouth and her feet slide backwards on the black pavement.
Her wide baby blue eyes are brimming with tears from the strength of the man she’s fighting and the fact that her pride is cracked, yet again. The only person who has ever been able to beat her is, Jioni... her once lover.
He leans in now with a wicked grin on his face.
“Come with me, Syria. Please, come with me. I still love you. I still long for you.”
His eyes are glassy and so very green and iridescent. His wind wiped short black hair hangs low in his lashes, and his lips, -his handsome lips- are pulled back into a pleading smile. He has mismatched features that fit together on his face perfectly, a strong jaw line and deep set eyes that match his beautiful face. His dimple flashes in the pale moonlit night- the dimple that she used to trace under her fingers whenever she was in his arms, laying at his side. He would give her a grin only known to them- a secret smile full of drunken lust and pride.
The dimple lies under his lips, on the left side and deepens whenever he smiles.
Right now that smile; the smile that brings back so many hidden memories is at the surface on his handsome face.
His eyes are soft and warm. Not hard and cold like he is with so many other women.
“Jioni.” He silences her with a thrust of their blade, grabs her waist and spins her around until they both fall on the ground in a tangle of limbs.
“Syria. Please.” His weight is on her and she cant think of anything besides his hard packed chest pressing into hers.
Memories flood to her consciousness and play behind her eyes as she looks into his green ones, the whites of his eyes glitter and hold secrets as he looks into not only her eyes but her very being; her soul.
His lips find hers and she doesn't resist. But this goes against who she is. Who she will ever be.
The goal that she has strived to reach for many years.

To destroy Jioni like he destroyed her.

His fingers slide under her cloak and find the edges of her pale green tunic.
His fingertips slide along the hemline of her trousers playfully.
“Still wearing men’s clothing, I see.” His voice drifts over her neck with a soft whisper. She shivers as he hands slide to her bare skin, touching- touch-touching.
And Syria cant handle it anymore.
Jioni kisses her neck and her fingers dig in the soft earth for something, anything. Her fingers come up and find a stone.
“Jioni.” Syria’s voice cracks as he kisses her collar bone.
“Syria.” Jioni’s voice is full of lust.
And she hates him for it.
“I’m sorry.” Syria’s whisper is heartfelt. She’s not sorry for hurting him –oh no- She’s sorry she didn’t stop loving him after he hurt her so many times.
She grips the rock and brings it down on his head.
His body goes limp and she wiggles out from under his still form.
Only not quick enough.
"Syria." Jioni's voice is now angrier than ever.
"You'll regret this." his growl gets louder as his hands grip her thighs.
She kicks and she hears something snap. She kicks again and Jioni goes limp. As she runs she looks back at the bloody lump on the ground.
She shouldn't have.
She runs into something solid and arms wrap around her.
"What do you want done, boss?" A deep voice vibrates through the muscled chest.
I see Jioni stand up and calmly wipe the blood from his face.
"Detain her." He says evenly.
"And then we shall see."
Cuffs are latched onto my arms and legs.
I fight and kick and scream until finally Jioni comes over to me and grips my face in his hand.
His long fingers brush my face tenderly.
"Drug her."
A new hand with a tattoo of a snake comes onto my view holding a cloth. I open my mouth the scream but instead get a mouth full of bay leaf.
I close my yes and everything goes black.