Kiara was in the middle of dodging yet another stab from the man on top of her. It was getting more difficult. With each blow that he landed, she was hurting more and more. She barely even heard the archer when he spoke to her, "He's going to die, just like you." He was laughing, but she was just trying to figure out what he meant by this. He? Who was going to die? It wasn't until Ostus was calling her name that she understood. She could not help but take her eyes off the archer for a second, to make sure he was safe. It took a moment to find him in the forest, but when she did, her breath stopped again. He wasn't paying attention, and the man behind him was getting closer. Yes, now she knew what her attacker had meant. Now she knew who was going to die too. "No! Ostus!"

She kicked and pushed as hard as she could, but the archer wouldn't budge from his position, and she was having trouble figuring out what to do. Something glinted in the corner of her eye and she reached for it, barely even thinking. It was the dagger she'd dropped when he'd knocked her onto her back. Before, she had hesitated, but now Kiara was running out of time. Before she could blink, the blade had sliced across her attackers throat. 

It took too long to push the dead man off of her. Far too long. If she was not quick enough to save Ostus... No. She couldn't think about that. Kiara lunged for the archer's bow, taking aim and letting an arrow fly before she could even consider things like wind and distance. Like her knife, her arrow found its mark: the swordman's neck. In a similar manner to his partner, he fell to the ground, blood streaming from the hole in his throat. 

As she watched him die, everything was numb. She fell to her knees, covered in her attacker's blood. Never before had she taken a life, not once, and now she had taken two. Perhaps they had been trying to kill her, but they were people. Everyone deserved to live, she truly believed that. This truce was as much for the people of Berinike as it was for her own. Why? Why had she felt such a need to keep Ostus from harm? He was supposed to be protecting her, not the other way around, so why had she been so scared for him? To help him, to save him, she'd watched these men die by her own hand. Her eyes filled with tears as she searched for the man she had done this for, desperate for some sort of comfort, though she expected none.