New Friends

  Chapter Two

  Part One

  Line was alone. The only person she could even consider her friend was Arasha, but she already had an investigation partner, and he did not like her. So Line was forced to work alone, after five years she had gotten quite used to it. Her current case she was working on was given to her by Arasha, she and her partner already had their hands full with a few other cases they were working on. So to lighten their load she had given Line a case.

  This case was proving difficult as Line ended up running into dead end after dead end. Since she getting nowhere, she decided to look through where the victim was killed again. The body was found by an innkeeper in room five, Line and asked the owners not to move or touch anything and to not let anybody else into this room until Line was finished with this case. So that’s where she was. This room was very basic, there was a decent wooden bed in the corner and some storage space pushed against the wall. The only problem was that Line had thoroughly checked this room and nothing was amiss before.

  In the corner of the room was a pool of dried red, the body had long been taken to the morgue. The only fresh wound on the body was a single stab wound to the neck, the stab was clean and precise, almost professional. But no matter how she looked at it stayed the exact same way as she had first saw it.

  As she stood in the centre of this room, she truly did not know what to do now. She has nowhere else to look, but still couldn’t help feeling like there was still a way to push through this case. Arasha had already told her that maybe there was nothing else she could do and that she should give this case up, but Line couldn’t do that. Giving up was not something she did easily. Line looked across the room yet again, still hopeful, but still finding nothing.

  The door to the room opened. Opening the door was a young woman, she had blonde almost white hair. Big brown eyes and cute freckles, she wore thick black leather armour with multiple buckles and pointless black leather straps. When the young woman saw Line she blinked a few times, before pulling a dagger out from nowhere and with quick speed was already closing the distance between them.

  Line dodged to the side and met them young woman head on. The young woman lunged towards Line’s neck, but Line was faster. Line twisted around the lunge and palmed the woman’s inner elbow causing her arm to fly out. The woman spun, swinging around to make another attack with her dagger. Instead of backing away, Line took a step closer. Making the dagger go wide, and as retaliation, Line raised her leg and kneed the woman in the side of her waist.

  The woman grunted and took a step back. but Line closed the distance again and swung out her other leg, giving the woman another kick on the other side of her body. The woman stumbled, hitting one of the corner bed posts. Line might have put too much force into that one. The woman moved again, this time it looked like she was going to flee. She knew she was no match for Line.

  Line reached over towards the bed and pulled the woollen blanket off. She then turned and threw it at the fleeing woman. The woman pulled a second dagger from nowhere, and with a flick of her wrists, cut the blanket into three. While the woman’s hands were in the air, Line grabbed one of the still falling pieces of fabric and one of the woman’s hands at the same time. Line twisted around the woman and locked the hand she had grabbed behind her back.

  Line then took the woman’s other hand and forced it behind her back too, before swiftly tying them together. The woman’s eyes widened, she was not expecting Line to move so fast, but Line didn’t stop. Line swept her leg low to the ground, kicking the woman’s legs from underneath her. As soon as the woman fell, Line tied another piece of fabric around her ankles.

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  The woman gasped “the hell are you!?”

  “I’m the one who will be asking questions”

  “Fuck off!”

  “I’m sorry?”

  The woman immediately burst into tears “wait, wait... I’ll tell you everything, please don’t kill me!”

  Confused by the sudden shift in expressions Line could only say “I’m sorry?” again

  “Just kill me!” the woman shouted “I’d rather die now that later!”

  “a-are you alright?”

  “No!” the woman continued to cry

  Suddenly speechless, Line genuinely didn’t know what to say.

  “Help me, you’ve got to help me, please!” the woman spoke up again “please!” more crying

  “What do you need help with?”

  “the-they’re going to kill me!”

  “who is?”

  “The Sect!”

  The Sect's name sounded slightly familiar to Line “what is The Sect?”

  “They’re assassins”

  “Assassins?”

  “yes, you know, the type that kill people”

  “I know what assassins are”

  “You’ve got to help me!”

  “wait, calm down-“

  “how can I be calm!? They’re going to kill me!”

  Line ignored her shouting “what is your name?”

  “Ali”

  “Alright Ali, why are you here?”

  “To pick something up”

  “What?”

  “over there” Ali gestured towards the corner of the room

  “what am I looking for?”

  “There’s a loose floorboard, there should be a small box in there”

  Line knelt down in the corner, and true to Ali’s word, there was indeed a loose floorboard. Line lifted it up to find a small compartment, hidden within was a small wooden box “what is it?”

  “I don’t know, all I know is that The Sect wants it”

  Line pulled the lid off to find inside was a fine light green scentless powder, this powder looked very familiar to her. She put the lid back on “so why were you after this?”

  Ali sighed “I-I... I’m a member of The Sect”

  Line stared

  “But! But, me and my friend wanted out. So we were going to steal the box and sell it somewhere. But-but they ended up dead. So I came back to see if the box was still here, I just wasn’t expecting you to be in here”

  “I see”

  “Help me please, please”

  “why would you think stealing this was a good idea? You knew they wanted this”

  “well, I didn’t think it through. That’s all”

  “I see”

  “So? Are you going to help?”

  “why?”

  Tears began running down Ali’s face again

  Line didn’t see the benefit of helping Ali, so of course she would be hesitant to help. But now, seeing Ali in such distress made her change her mind slightly “I am Line, spelt line but the e is silent”

  Ali smiled, a gleam of hope now spread across her face “Line? You’re going to help?”

  “I will” Line didn’t know how though, but she still untied Ali anyway “do you know who killed this person?” she gestured to the dried blood

  Ali nodded “I do, I can take you to him, if you want?”

  Line thought it through, knowing that person was the one who killed her victim, she should arrest them. But in doing so would awaken the hornets’ nest that is The Sect. But Line had to know who wanted this green powder “take me”