For cluudle‘s prompt.

They were sleeping when the attack came.

They were halfway up the mountain, the tent pitched half into a cave and the goats tethered just outside. It was a clear night and cold; Rin had fallen asleep just a hands-breath apart from Girey to take advantage of his body heat.

That saved their lives.

She didn’t snore. Girey would have loved to blame it on that. The truth was, she was closer to him than she had been ever before for longer, and he found that it made his sleep uneasy.

So he was asleep, but lightly, uncomfortably, when they were attacked.

The first man in tripped over him. He’d placed himself there, much to her amusement. He was chained, anyway, so she let him do the little things to protect her. He knew she was doing it to humour him – and didn’t argue the point.

Today, an assassin tripped over Girey and woke him up before they got to Rin. He woke with a grunt and lashed out, kicking, flailing against his chains. “Blast it, flaming whirlpools!”

The noise woke Rin, who grabbed a knife and dove into the assassin, blade out. She shoved the gut-cut man down to Girey’s feet, dropped her blade by his hand, and tumbled over both of them and out the tent flap.

Girey kicked the assassin, bunny-kicks, tangled in the blankets. What good did she think the knife would do? He only had a couple feet of play.

But she’d given him a knife. He kicked the attacker in the neck, and then in the jaw, hearing bone crunch.

“‘Ware!” She shouted it out in Bitrani seconds before another assassin came flying through the tent flap. It was just long enough for him to get the knife and his feet pointed in the right direction.

It was enough for him to figure out how to use a knife while chained, too.

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