The point of the blade pricked the smooth skin of Kai Low's neck.
Yuze had to blink several times to clear his vision enough to see it in detail and to recognize the figure standing behind Kai Low.
The white and red porcelain of the mask managed to shine even in the darkness of the tent, and Yuze felt a crushing wave of relief, followed immediately by a crushing feeling of terror. He had no doubt Fox had come alone; the man was far too stubborn to change his ways now, which meant that unless they could sneak out without alerting anyone, they'd never get out of the camp alive.
And Fox had just alerted Kai Low to his presence.
And the tribesman looked furious in that way that some people looked utterly calm, but you could feel the rage radiating off them, and that made it so much worse.
Kai Low's eyes flicked to something behind Yuze and then back to his face. "You have some nerve. Do you think you'll get out of here alive?"
Fox didn't respond, didn't move at all, and Yuze realized there must have been something reflective behind him that let Kai Low see who was behind him.
A drop of blood dripped down Kai Low's neck from the point of Fox's knife. "You have a blade to my throat and won't show me the respect of a word?"
Again, Yuze was struck by the eloquence of the young tribesman. Especially in contrast to the silence of Fox. They were both elegant men in their own way, in the way they moved, the way they carried themselves, even in the way they thought. Kai Low was just much louder, which made Yuze less comfortable because Yuze was a quiet man himself.
They even had the same build now that he could see them next to each other, nearly the same height, and the same shoulders, and oddly, the same hands?
The tent flap shifted again, and for a second, Yuze was scared Fox was going to be caught, but the voice that came out of the darkness was terrifying for an entirely different reason.
"Hurry up. The camp won't be asleep forever." Snake hissed. Delicate hands started working the ropes around Yuze's wrists, as he desperately tried to warn Fox with his eyes, but that damn mask was in the way.
Kai Low picked up on it, though, lips twisting into a sneer. "You brought a friend. Do the great warriors of Sorrow never stand on their own?"
Snake got one of Yuze's hands free and went to work on the other. "The warriors of Sorrow are not stupid enough to fight alone." She snapped. She was right, of course. The Crimson Army didn't allow its soldiers to fight alone, and those who tried to didn't rise very far, but it was ironic to hear it from one of Yuze's spies, who were the only exception to that rule in the Camelia.
Kai Low sneered, shifted, and Fox's blade dug deeper into his neck. The spy had placed himself out of reach of the warrior, preventing Kai Low from being able to grab him before Fox could cut his throat.
Snake got Yuze's other hand free, and he toppled forward. She lunged to catch him, and Kai Low moved at the same time, dragging Fox's blade against his neck and leaving a shallow cut.
The young warrior was skilled enough to shove Snake into Yuze and to use the momentum to duck away from Fox, freeing himself from the threat of the blade.
Fox was on him instantly, the two of them fighting for the upper hand as Snake cut away at the ropes around Yuze's ankles, and he weakly tried to push himself up. The cuts on his back and legs burned as he moved and then throbbed when Kai Low managed to throw Fox off himself and into Yuze.
"Watch it!" Snake snapped, pulled Yuze out from under the other spy. She even tried to straighten his shredded clothing, which Yuze would appreciate later, when the night chill started to sink in. Right now, he was still in enough pain that everything felt too hot.
Snake hauled Yuze to his feet as Kai Low went for Fox's throat; his inexperience showed in his focus in defeating Fox and not calling for reinforcements, but he was clearly a skilled warrior, able to handle his own against one of Yuze's best. "Be quiet." Snake hissed at the two fighting and started half-dragging, half-carrying Yuze across the tent.
She was going to leave Fox behind, Yuze realized, and a flare of panic rose in him.
"F- Fox." It hurt his strained throat to speak, and Snake wasn't happy that he was worried about Fox.
"He'll be fine." She insisted, but she didn't make much of an effort to hide how little she cared. They'd clearly only teamed up to help Yuze, which would have been flattering in a less threatening time.
Fox kicked Kai Low into the stand of whips, and it collapsed on top of him.
The little bastard was fast, though, already back on his feet as Fox crossed the tent to join Snake and Yuze. He threw a punch that caught Fox's square on the right cheek of his mask, and Yuze let out a wounded sound as the spy stumbled, his mask cracked almost all the way across.
Pieces of the mask fell away, there was a flash of golden eyes behind porcelain, and Kao Low let out a shriek of rage so loud there was no doubt it had woken the surrounding tents.
"Would you just kill him already!" Snake snapped, though it was impossible to tell who she was yelling at as Kai Low launched himself at Fox with a level of killing intent Yuze had never seen before.
Fox barely managed to hold him off.
"You bastard!" Kai Low had lost himself in his anger. "How dare you. Did you come to spit on her grave?"
Fox didn't respond, but his strikes grew stronger and his anger became more evident.
The sound of the rest of the camp waking up was nearly drowned out by Kai Low's screaming. Snake dragged Yuze over to the wall of the tent, his legs barely holding him up, and cut a hole through the animal skin.
She pulled Yuze through without bothering to look back or wait for Fox. Even Yuze's weak pawing didn't change her course.
Yuze heard a final bellow from Kai Low as Snake hauled him over her shoulder and darted past the last few tents.
Tears welled in his eyes from the pain and the fear for Fox, left behind to perish as soon as the other tribesmen found him.
~ tbc