Chapter 32: Kill Or Be Killed

Evanna stared wide-eyed at Cilv, who sat on top of her, her hand angled at her throat with claws extended out, used as a weapon, and her eyes shining brightly, reflecting back golden cat eyes. She smirked at the astonishment on the princess’s face.

"Cilv.. your eyes-"

"NEVER turn your back on an enemy and ALWAYS put 100% into your kill. You never know what lies up their sleeves, what secrets they may be holding. For instance, you left me because my weapons were out of reach.. yet here we are, my claws against your neck."

"Cilv, we weren’t fighting to the death.."

"No, but if we were, you would be dead. The difference between you and me is that unlike you, I do not hesitate to strike my opponent." Cilv deadpanned. She then tilted her head to the side as she assessed the princess’s face. "Do you see what I mean?"

The guys were by the side of the two women on the wet earth, their faces stunned by Cilv’s hands and eyes. Snapping out of his trance, Axel grabbed Cilv and pulled her off Evanna, who immediately stood up, her eyes not leaving Cilv’s. Cilv did not struggle in Axel’s hold, neither did she show any signs of worry as they continued to look at the red-haired, cat-eyed woman.

"Let her go. She has not harmed me," Evanna said,

Axel released his hold on Cilv, who relaxed her hands in front of her, her nails going back to their original size. Ger looked at Evanna in disbelief by her comment, but he kept his mouth shut as Ronan held onto his shoulder tightly. Nesrin sat quietly on Ronan’s shoulder as she looked at each of their faces.

Evanna walked towards Cilv, who, with one blink of her eyes, changed them back to her normal hazel coloured ones.

"There is much for us to discuss," Evanna said as her hand gestured for Cilv to sit back down at the campfire.

The men were gobsmacked at the turn of events, one moment, they were fighting, and Cilv appeared to be some form of cat type woman, and then the next moment, they were sitting at the fire as though nothing happened. Women. Axel thought. He sat back down in his original spot, across from Evanna and Cilv. The pair sat down with Ger on the opposite side to the princess.

"Continue," Evanna smiled gently at Cilv. There was no fear on her face as she sat facing her, even after Cilv revealed such a secret about herself.

"I watched you today. You can fight. We can all see that. You are probably better than these three-"

"Hey!" Ronan interjected but closed his mouth obediently at Cilv’s sharp look.

"But you hesitated on every opponent you faced. Yes, you killed them. But you had so many openings where you could have ended them quicker. And I know that you know this. You should not be wasting your energy on decisions. They decided their fate the moment they attacked us." Cilv looked at Evanna intently, searching her eyes, waiting for her to argue with her.

When she saw admission, she continued, "Training only gets you so far. Training is nothing, will is everything. The will to make that final blow, to end a life- that is what will keep you and your friends alive. Your enemy will not stop until they get what they want from you. Whether that is your body or your life."

Evanna frowned back at her words as the shadows from the fire danced across her face, "I am not a killer Cilv, I defend-"

"There will be times when you will have to strike first. To kill. That is what you chose when you took on this quest. You asked me to come with you on this, as none of you has the skills and powers that I have. This is me now, telling you what you need to survive."

Ger frowned at the conversation between the two women, he wanted to be against everything Cilv said, but she was right. He knew the kind heart that Evanna has, but her stunt today with the kid could have cost her her own life, and if she was hesitating to take life’s, then she would not last much longer. He felt torn between her staying innocent and who she needed to be.

"Who we need to be to survive is a completely different thing than who we are," Ger spoke softly. Evanna turned her head; her eyes flickered between his before she looked back down in thought.

"You have already shown your alter ego in Kuramji; it shouldn’t be too hard," Cilv said, amused; Evanna looked back at her, confused.

"My alter ego?" She asked,

"You know.. Raven. The dual wielder who nearly stabs a man for trying to take her horse," Cilv smirked. The men chuckled at her comment. Evanna’s eyes widened as she glanced from face to face before blushing and biting her lip.

"Hesitation is fatal, Evanna. It is kill or be killed." Cilv concluded.

Evanna sat quietly as she processed what Cilv said. While Evanna was deep in thought, Axel was the first to speak up about the elephant in the room, or in this case, the cat.

"So, are we going to talk about your little trick?" He asked. Cilv looked his way casually before sighing.

"What do you want to know?" Cilv questioned nonchalantly.

"Everything!" Ronan exclaimed excitedly; Cilv smirked at his outburst.

"It’s not very interesting, " she replied as she brushed some invisible dirt off her knee.

"I bet it is", Axel said; Cilv glanced back up after feeling the groups curious eyes on her.

"I am a shapeshifter. Although I am different to other shifters. I am only able to change my hands and my eyes. I have all the abilities of a cat, but I cannot transform into one," Her answer caused a lot of confused faces to stare back at her.

Ronan opened his mouth to speak, then closed it. He opened his mouth again as a question started to form on his tongue, but he closed his mouth again. Nesrin giggled at the stunned state he was in, then flew down to sit on his knee.

"Spit it out, Roach." Cilv rolled her eyes at him.

"Um, so, if you were a normal ’shifter’, you would be able to transform into a cat?" He finally asked what was on his mind. Although he had many questions, he could only ask one at a time before his mind would explode with the new knowledge of another creature.

"Indeed", Cilv replied, her voice seemingly monotone at her own explanation about her species.

"Do all shapeshifters transform into cats?" Axel queried next; he had no problem speaking what was on his mind.

"No."

Cilv sighed again after seeing the group looking at her expectantly, waiting for her to expand on her answer,

"No, each shapeshifter is born differently. Some can shift into birds, others, wolves, but don’t go getting wolf shifters mixed up with werewolves. They hate it. There are also some who do not stick to just one animal, but they are rare."

"Werewolves?" Evanna spoke up; she looked at Cilv curiously as she soaked up the given information. She loved learning new things about the world and its creatures. Like the fairy, she thought werewolves were just myths or found in horror stories. She did not expect to learn that they were, in fact, real, "What is the difference between a werewolf and a wolf shifter?"

Cilv sighed, then laid down on her back, staring at the stars; she knew they would continue to ask questions. In revealing her true self to Evanna in the fight, she hoped to teach her a lesson, and she did, but now she had to deal with the consequences. And that was dealing with an interrogation and answering personal questions.

She never told anyone about herself before. The only people that knew about her were other shifters who came in contact with her from time to time. There was a distinctive smell about shifters. Other shifters were a lot friendlier than her and tended to introduce themselves and ask if they wanted to shift together. But she preferred being alone, she put it down to her personality and her animal side being one of a cat.

"Cilv?" Evanna called her name out. She could see Cilv was lost in thought as she looked up at the night sky.

"Like in the books you have most likely read.. Werewolves are cursed to shift every full moon; I do not know much about them as I keep myself away from that kind. From the only one I have come in contact with, it was more animal than man."

"Is that what happened to your back?" Evanna whispered; Cilv tensed at her question but relaxed immediately when she saw the men straining to hear what she asked.

"No. Well yes. Partly. I defended myself against one, but it did not cause all of my scars," Cilv responded in a low voice; she kept it only high enough so that Evanna could hear it. She regretted answering her question immediately. When she looked at the princess’s face, she saw pity flash across her eyes. But she composed herself quickly after receiving a glare back from the woman lying on the cold ground.

Cilv continued louder, with her original answer for the rest of the group "Shifters can shift whenever they want. Werewolves are forced to shift at a full moon. I hear it is excruciating for them."

"You said you are not a normal shifter.. Why is that? Why can you not transform fully?" Ger was the next to ask; Cilv glanced his way coldly.

"That. You do not need to know." Her answer silenced them, indicating that she would not be answering any more questions.

Silence ascended the group, each lost in their thoughts. Cilv welcomed it. She hated being in the spotlight, act a deranged, psychotic bitch, that was easy, reveal her secret, that was different. She would have no problem killing them all if they ever told anyone else.

She was not ashamed of what she was, but the humans in Dunhurst were frightful little things that jumped at the gust of wind against a windowpane and call it a ghost. No, the humans would just cause her issues, and she preferred her work to be easy.

"This makes so much more sense now," Ronan said, breaking the silence. Everyone glanced in his direction, except Cilv, who continued to stare at the stars.

"It really does. You are quite the little huntress, Cilv," Axel said as he eyed the petite woman on the ground.

"Little!?" Cilv brought herself up high enough to lean on her elbows, glaring back at Axel. "You find my hunting skills to be little!?"

Axel waved his hands in front of him, "No, no, lass. You have it wrong. I meant you are a very skilled huntress."

Cilv narrowed her eyes at him before lying back down, "You’re dammed straight I am."

Evanna smiled as the group seemed more in sync than before, their moods lighter after the day’s events. She lowered her gaze again to the flames, lost in thought about what Cilv said before explaining what she was. Cilv was utterly right. Earlier, while she fought, she did hesitate and lengthen their fight longer than necessary, unaware that she was doing it.

And as Cilv pointed out, it was indeed a ’kill or be killed’ world, she showed someone mercy, and they stabbed her in the back.

Literally.

She would not make that mistake again.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by Aunomay Read