Ryan kept vigil over Bell; he didn't know where the intruder was hiding.
He knew he had to get her out of there as soon as possible.
Waking her was also out of the question.
As all the thoughts of what must be done were running through his mind, he felt a hand on his shoulder.
"Good morning, Ryan."
Bell had a groggy smile on her face as she greeted him.
In that moment, his nerves were steeled for what was to come.
He stood up and held out his hand.
"Good morning, Isabelle. Let me help you to your bed."
She kept smiling as he helped her to her feet.
They walked to her room in silence.
At the door, she turned and hugged him.
To his surprise, he spoke.
"What was that for?"
"I just felt like it."
She entered her room, and Ryan stood there for a few moments before he left.
He made his way back to the clearing.
He needed to put his past behind him.
As he entered the clearing, he saw the sun rising.
After what felt like a second, he heard a familiar voice.
"For a second, I thought you would run. Pity."
He turned and saw a hooded figure leaning against a tree.
"Why are you here, Angelica?"
He tried his best to keep the fear out of his voice.
She pulled out a parchment and threw it into his hand.
It was his picture, accompanied by a sentence at the bottom.
"Kill by any means."
Ryan threw it back.
"You are a Jester. Why are you here?"
She pulled off her cloak.
She wore a skin-tight black suit with thick-soled black boots.
She had short, slicked-back hair, black lipstick and the palest blue eyes.
If she weren't a killer, she could have been a model, but her beauty hid an ugliness Ryan knew well.
Ryan noted the lack of weapons as she walked closer.
"I had to call in some favours and owe some new ones. I couldn't let you die without saying goodbye."
Ryan stood his ground as she approached.
"I wanted to come for you sooner, but those damned Harlequins and their damned rules."
She was directly in his face, with a smile, when she spoke again.
"Did you miss me?"
Ryan kept quiet and his face neutral, then her smile turned into a scowl.
She turned around and walked away.
"I guess not. You have a big blue friend and a pretty little girlfriend. You see yourself as a kind of hero."
As she walked, she would grab onto low-hanging branches and swing on them.
She was a killer, but she acted like a bored child.
When she spoke, her voice was indifferent.
"You fought to protect the greenskins, and you helped your opponent escape. It is no wonder that the Amazons want you dead."
Ryan realised at that moment that he was clenching his teeth.
He had to fight to force out the question.
"The Amazons sent you?"
She stopped dead in her tracks.
"Exactly. You were a busy boy. Why weren't you like this with me? We were a team!"
At the last words, her scowl revealed small fangs.
Ryan spoke.
"Why are you telling me this? That is not very professional."
She rolled her eyes.
"Please. Why does it matter?"
She kept pacing and swinging in silence for a moment.
She stopped suddenly and looked at him with a smile.
"How about we make a deal? You come at me without your knife, and if you hit me once, I will let you go."
Ryan knew she was lying, but he hoped that his death would satisfy her enough to let Bell go.
"What are you waiting for, defect, an invitation?"
She started laughing.
He took a deep breath and initiated the attack.
She dodged each punch or casually slapped them aside.
Every kick he made connected with nothing.
An observer would see the spectacle as a perverted dance.
A young man was fighting for his life, and a young woman was enjoying every second.
What she didn't know was that Ryan had a plan.
He manoeuvred her in such a way that the rising sun was at his back.
And there was a second that she squinted from the rays.
That was the moment he needed.
He feinted with a left straight but changed it to a right body blow.
She was just too slow with her parry, and his knuckle managed to graze her side.
Ryan stopped with a half smile and spoke.
"I hit you, Angel-"
His words were cut short when an enraged woman gave him a straight kick to the chest.
The force was enough to knock him back; he even rolled a few times.
The wind had been knocked from his body.
She knelt above him and grabbed him by the hair.
She held eye contact as she spoke.
"The game is just beginning. I will make you pay for every step you took away from me."
She smiled and gave him a tender kiss on the lips.
As she let go, she sighed.
"I wish I could have given you your first kiss. Oh, well, I might have to settle for your life."
She waited for Ryan to get up and gave him an order.
"Take off your shirt."
The smile on her face became more unhinged.
"I need to see it. Let me gaze upon my art one last time."
To her surprise, Ryan started laughing.
"As you wish."
He took off his shirt to reveal that the scars were faded to the point where they were difficult to see.
"How dare you? You are mine!"
She walked toward Ryan and pulled a very short push dagger from her belt.
"What have they done to you?"
Her walk turned into a run, and Ryan pulled his dagger and tried to attack.
His strike for her throat missed when she barely dodged to the side.
She grabbed his wrist and wrenched it down so she could hit his hand on her knee.
When he dropped his weapon, she got close and stabbed him in the shoulder.
The shallow stab was extremely painful.
She licked the blade; the smile on her face was proof that she enjoyed the taste.
She was looking at him with wild eyes.
"If you had just stayed, we could have been the best hunters. We could have been…"
Her voice trailed for a moment, but she regained focus.
The pain was almost more than he could handle, but his thoughts kept going back to the crew.
They would fight without hesitation, and that is what Ryan knew he had to do.
He kept trying to fight back, but each strike was either dodged or parried.
Each parried attack earned him a slash from Angelica.
When his attacks became slower, her smile grew wider.
"Is this all you have? Did you think bonds like those make you stronger?"
She laughed as she dodged and gave him another slash on his back.
Ryan fell after that strike.
He tried to get up, but his legs were too weak.
She started pacing.
"Get up. Get up. Get up, defect!"
It was finally the moment he had been waiting for.
As she screamed the word 'defect', he recalled the dagger.
It flew fast, and it flew true.
Angelica spun and caught the magic dagger with little effort.
Her scowl deepened, and she spoke in a low tone.
"Did you just try to kill me?"
Before Ryan could react, she threw the dagger into his leg.
He let out a scream for the first time.
This made Angelica close her eyes and smile, as if she were hearing beautiful music.
"That's good. Scream for me."
She took a step closer.
"Cry for me."
She took another step closer, brandishing her small dagger.
"Die for-"
Her words were cut short by a blue blur.
Eragon leapt over Ryan and grabbed Angelica.
He spun and threw her with enough force to break a small tree in half.
He looked down at the wounded Ryan and slowly walked to Angelica.
She was groaning on the ground.
Eragon held her down by the neck and took a deep breath.
She turned her gaze to Ryan and held out her hand.
The tears in her eyes almost made Ryan feel bad for what was to come.
Eragon pulled his head and opened his maw.
Ryan could see a blue glow form in his throat.
He saw Aleksandar walk past him to Eragon.
"Eragon! Stop."
Eragon closed his mouth and looked up.
As the world dimmed around Ryan, Aleksandar walked over to Angelica.
"Help Ryan, I shall handle the Dhampir."
As Ryan passed out, he felt his body pulling itself back together.