Chapter 9 #3
The look of surprise on his face turned to a mocking sneer as he got up and I raised my fists in preparation, my heart singing with the thrill of the brawl.
This was one of the only times I felt alive, free.
There was beauty in every blow, the pain, the blood and sweat.
It was my purpose in life to fight like this and it made every year of near insufferable training worth it to do what I was born to do.
More muttering broke out and I wondered if I should just abandon my honour and fight like these lowlifes. But who even was I without that part of me intact? Surely no better than them. And I’d die before I gave up my integrity.
A bone-crushing punch came from the giant and I stumbled back from the impact of his knuckles to my chest. I almost lost my footing, but Drake suddenly braced me, having left Balthazar struggling to get up in a pool of blood on the ground.
I planted a hit to the giant’s temple that wiped the smug look from his face at last, then followed it up with a kick to the stomach that forced the breath from his lungs in a wheeze.
One final, knuckle-splitting punch to the giant’s face toppled him and he crashed to the ground on his back, making my heart pound with my triumph. The adrenaline had made me numb to my injuries, but they were stinging now and the burn on my side screamed for attention I couldn’t give it.
I raised my chin, looking to Egos to announce us the winners, but Drake pounced on the giant, continuing to pound his face as if the fight wasn't already won. He was an animal, smashing his fists into every inch of flesh he could find while his lips pulled back in a snarl, and his eyes seemed to darken to pitch. That wasn’t the carefree man I’d met in that jail cell; this was a creature who was a part of the most nefarious gang in the whole of Osaria, and he was making one hundred percent sure this fight was finished.
I caught his arm, dragging him upright when he didn’t seem inclined to stop. It wasn't that I gave a fuck about the beastly man left to waste on the floor, it just wasn’t right to beat a man when he clearly wasn’t about to rise again.
Drake wiped a line of blood from his brow then turned to me with a victorious smile. “They always get up again, Cassius.”
“He was practically unconscious,” I said with a tut.
“Key word practically , mate. I once got a knife in my arse from an almost-dead bastard, so I don’t ever leave room for uncertainty when they go down anymore.”
“Fair point,” I murmured as we turned to face Egos.
I wasn’t sure what I expected exactly. A smile? A raised eyebrow of intrigue? But The Den leader wasn't smiling and his eyebrows were dangerously low. He was staring at me with a knowing glint in his eyes too and my throat thickened, my muscles bunching as I saw my fate all too clearly in his eyes.
“Seize him,” he snarled.
My pulse rioted and I backed up as five men came at me together.
“Hey – wait a second!” Drake called, trying to get near me as the men closed ranks and shoved him aside. He had a look of desperation in his eyes as he reached for me, but I had the feeling that had far more to do with the treasure I’d promised him than any fear for my life.
I raised my bloody knuckles, ready to take on everyone I had to to get out of here, even if it ended in my death. I’d rather die fighting anyway.
I am made of steel.
“He's no blacksmith. That man has training which reeks of the law,” Egos spat. “Care to explain yourself, Drake?”
The men fell on me, but I wasn't going out that easy. Not when my life had been handed back to me along with my purpose to protect the kingdom.
I headbutted one of the arseholes and he stumbled to the floor as pain flared in my skull. The next one met the wrath of my fists but the final three were joined by more. A whole group wrestled me to the floor, wrenching my hands behind my back before forcing me to kneel at Egos’s feet.
A tremor of rage rolled down my spine as I stared up at my maker, feeling just as I had a thousand times before on my knees in front of Captain Marik. Worthless. Just an inconvenience to be dealt with.
Egos held a knife to Drake's throat as he moved to stand at my side and the thief's jaw ticked with anger.
“He knows where a huge haul is, Egos. He’s trading the secret of its location for his freedom from the royal dungeon. Don't be a fool. It doesn't matter who he is,” Drake implored.
“Wrong...very wrong,” Egos growled, lowering the knife from Drake’s throat and hounding forward to gaze down his nose at me. “Who are you? Or should I say, what are you?”
I pursed my lips, figuring I could either lie now or tell the truth.
Lies had placed Fae at the wrath of the gods before though, and though this man was no deity, he was certainly the ruler of my death in this moment.
So I settled on the truth, my shoulders pressing back as I prepared to face the wrath my words would bring.
But I was caught out and I wasn't going to spend my final moments as a coward lying like the Fallen had so many years ago.
“I am Cassius Lazar. Royal Guard of the seventh division. Number two hundred and eighty-seven in the legion.” Silence reigned in the wake of my words and all that could be heard was the howling wind which battered the shuttered windows and a roaring noise that came with all the sand crashing over the city.
“I am your only hope at finding a treasure hoard so large that you would never have to thieve again. And if you don't accept this one time offer, then I’m taking it off the table.”
Egos stared at me for several long seconds before releasing a booming laugh. Others in The Forty joined in and I ran my tongue across my teeth as I glared up at their leader.
“You are in no position to bargain,” Egos said eventually.
“I am the only one here who knows the way to the treasure. So go ahead and kill me, you lawless piece of shit, but your chance at getting your hands on it will die with me.” I held my chin high and let him see in my gaze that I meant that with every ounce of my being.
I would not cower to anyone. I was made to look death in the eye and walk willingly into its arms if I had to.
Egos regarded me with a thoughtful look, not seeming affected by my goading.
“You'll take him,” he announced at last, his gaze on Drake. “Pick a crew and get the fuck out of my sight as soon as this storm clears. If you don't return with that treasure, I'll put a price on your head so high the crows themselves will be vowing to peck your eyes out for it.”
At a nod from Egos, the men released me and I rose to my feet, fighting a wince from the wound on my side.
I tried to shift into the mental state that would help me cope with pain easier, but three days of solid torture, little sleep and a fist fight with a bunch of thugs was starting to take its toll on me.
I drew in a deep breath, forcing my mind to the most detached place I could reach. I am made of steel.
Egos strode towards me, gripping the back of my neck and resting his forehead to mine.
“You're mine. You're not two hundred and eighty whatever anymore.
You're number forty-one. And if you fuck with me, I'll spill your high-born guts all over the precious walls of that palace your kind love so dearly. But not before I find each and every member of your family, every one of your little lawmen friends, any dog that gave you so much as a friendly lick and kill the lot of them before your very eyes first. You hear that?”
“I hear you,” I said through my teeth, fear and rage crackling in my chest at the thought of him laying a hand on anyone I loved.
I’d do anything to protect my sisters, my mother, and though they were safe enough from most thugs where they lived in the fourth ring of the city, I knew this man before me was capable of reaching them if he discovered where they were.
So I wouldn’t do anything that put them in the firing line of this vicious arsehole.
He released me, turning to the room with a sadistic look on his face. “Teach him a lesson, boys.”
So many men fell on me, I didn't have a moment to fight back as boots, knuckles and elbows slammed into my skin. I took every punch and kick with as much dignity as I could, my mind echoing with the punishments of my past. Captain Marik had had a fondness for getting the other guards to turn on one another whenever someone broke the rules. Spilling each other’s blood at the order of our captain kept us from forming tight bonds between one another, and I guessed that made trusting other Fae far harder too.
There had been one boy I’d joked with back in the early days of my training called Sampson.
We’d bunked side by side and urged each other on in training.
Then one day Marik had ordered us to fight each other with our hands clad in chainmail gauntlets, the winner would be given longer rests and better meals for a week, while the loser would not eat during that time.
The worst part was that he’d not fed us for two days prior to begin with, so over and over and over we pounded each other’s flesh, fuelled by nothing but adrenaline and the primal need for food.
That fight had changed everything, drawn lines between us and Sampson hadn’t spoken with me at all that week.
Sometimes I wished I’d lost that fight, because one morning I stepped out of the barracks and found Sampson hanging from the flagpole with Captain Marik waiting there to give us a speech on willpower.
It turned out, after a week of being starved, Sampson had stolen food from the palace kitchens and he’d been strung up for his crime.
I remembered the sickness in my gut, and the silent vow I’d made not to get close to the other men again.
Marik had spoken words that day I’d never forgotten, and still haunted me now.
“If I order you to bleed, you will bleed. If I order you to kill, you will kill. If I order you to starve, you will starve. You are nothing but flesh and bone ruled by the law of the emperor, and if you thwart that law, I will order you to place a noose around your own neck, and I will order you to die.”
When the thieves had had their fill of bruising my body, I rose to my knees and glared at Egos with blood dripping from my mouth and the taste of hate on my tongue.
The one thing their fists had served to do though was remind me I wasn’t at Marik’s command anymore.
I had cheated death and was living on as a ghost in the underworld.
I didn’t have to do as I was told, I didn’t have to lay down and accept a noose around my throat.
“What?” he growled at my expression.
“More please, arsehole.” I tasted the metallic tang on my lips, revelling in the confusion on his face as I forced my mouth to bend into a smile.
It felt good pretending I enjoyed the bullshit people had put on me during the past few days, and I was rather liking my newfound freedom now that I didn't have to harness my tongue every five seconds. Marik would have whipped me raw for that, but this man didn’t seem like the whipping type.
His brows lifted and a devilish grin hooked up his lips. “You want more, lawman?”
I nodded, sucking the blood from my teeth.
I knew Fae like Egos. I'd been trained by one of them. And the only way to win was to never give them the satisfaction of letting them know you were beat. With Marik, that had meant biting my tongue and gritting my teeth through every ounce of pain he delivered me, but I didn’t have to do that with Egos.
I could look him in the eye and show him what a royal guard was made of. And it was cold, hard steel.
Egos strode towards me at a fierce pace, booting me in the jaw with a savage kick which made bone crunch. I hit the floor and stars burst before my eyes as agony crashed through my skull.
The gang leader leaned over me with a sneer on his face, the white of his blind eye glaringly bright. “Last warning. I always make good on my threats, Cassius Lazar. Are you willing to risk the lives of everyone you care about in your worthless life for the sake of defying me?”
By the Fallen, why the fuck had I given him my full name? Maybe there really was merit to lying in this world.
I sucked on the inside of my cheek, a large welt growing there from the battering I'd received.
“I'll behave,” I growled, accepting my place in this transaction despite the bitter taste it left in my mouth. Until I get out of your lunatic funhouse.
Egos nodded stiffly before marching away and his voice called back to the gang as he stepped through a door. “You've placed your life in that dog's hands, Drake. I do hope it pays off for you.”