10. Caspyn
Chapter 10
My feet went out from underneath me as the Qit swayed, sending the three of us, and I assume everyone who was hiding in the hall, into the wall.
Wet wood creaked as I collided with a loud smack, everything in the Qit groaning as Jarrurd swore and pulled to his feet. His face was wrapped in fury as he gripped the rusted and stained dagger and lunged.
He was used to the Sway, his feet steady underneath him as the floor heaved and sent him directly into me. With another great lurch he stepped to the side and I stumbled forward, grabbing his legs as I went down and rolled him with me, throwing him back into the wall as Yersua drew his own blade, the small throwing dagger barely visible before he unfurled it.
The cold metal hilts of my blades bit against my hands as I drew them, finding my feet as quickly as I could. Lifting my glittering daggers, I easily deflected the two dirt and blood streaked shards of metal Yersua had sent hurtling through the air in my direction.
“You fucking ass! I’ll make sure you die for what you’ve done!” Yersua screamed as his blades fell uselessly to the rocking floor. The poor man was red faced and raging. Clearly, he hadn’t expected this to be so hard. I had no idea how he could underestimate me when I had brought him so many Fae heads over the years, but it was an error he would die with.
Yersua reached for another of his hidden weapons as Jarrurd raced to his feet once more, the stained and rusted blade still held out as he slashed the air. One quick swipe of my own glinting golden blades and his confident swing was thrown into the wall with a thud, his eyes widening as I swiped up, the sharpened metal of my own knife clanging loudly against the thrown blade which now clattered lifelessly to the floor.
“Do you really want to attempt this?” I growled, my focus darting between Yersua who glowered as though he could end me with his eyes, to Jarrurd who was already reaching for a second blade, the poor thing even more rusted than the first. “Fine. If this is how you wish to meet your end.”
The words were a snarl through the clench in my teeth as I stepped back, swinging one blade up against Jarrurd’s arm. It sliced through leathers and flesh without so much of a pinpoint of pressure until the sharp edge ground against bone. His rusted blade clattered to the ground as I ran my second knife over the salt covered neck of my attacker, the deep motion familiar and deadly.
With no time reserves, the warm droplets of his blood went everywhere. The bright red spots rained over my face, over my heavy black leathers.
Jarrurd’s scream reduced to gurgles and the slosh of blood before he had been able to let out more than a gasp. The sound of his body falling to the floor, his head barely hanging on, was louder, however. The hollow thud of impact echoed over the creaking of the Qit as the waves sent us in another direction, his body sliding over the wet floor and spreading swirls of red over everything. I barely saw anything other than the red faced Yersua, his eyes wide as the smell of blood mixed with the salt.
“How–?” So he had underestimated me then.
The fool.
The wicked smirk twisted my features as the door I had been led through moments before swung open and all those knives and swords I had heard being drawn raced in. Everyone from the bar entered with a howl, including the young couple, who now looked ravenous with rage and blood lust. That look deepened as they saw the nearly decapitated body of the man who up until a few moments ago had been Yersua’s right hand man.
“Last chance Yersua. Let me walk out of here and you won’t lose any more of your men.” I didn’t even look at him as I faced the six swords now pointed at me.
“You won’t walk away from this, Caspyn. You will face what you did to my brother.” I didn’t miss the slight warble of fear and panic lining his voice, not that anyone else did. They thought they had the upper hand.
It was time to show them how outnumbered they were. I needed time, and the smallest of them was the most scared. Normally it would make him an easy target, and it did, but not in the way I was sure he thought judging by the absolute panic in his eyes.
“I have no regrets.” A twist of a grin slipped over my features as I stepped forward, flipping my now blood covered knives and sending more red through the air. The woman flinched as the cold blood splattered on her face, but I was still looking at the panicked man before me as everyone lunged.
I kicked first, sending one of the men back into the wall with a wet slap and a creak of wood that sounded far too ominous, even for this place. Another furious looking male stumbled back as I sliced him with my knife, the blade continuing forward to cut into the forearm of a man so covered in tattoos I couldn’t see his face. The tattooed man screamed, his sword falling to the ground with a tattooed arm still attached.
Smiling, I slashed with my other hand, sending the other half of the couple to the floor as he lost his balance. Both knives came back in a fluid motion, the cross-cut what I had used to remove the head of hundreds of Fae. This time, however, I stopped my knives as they hit against the skin of the scared man, his blood trickling over his neck as the sharpened blades cut into him.
His eyes were wide, the blackened fear drifting to panic as the scent of urine mixed with the blood and salt.
“Don’t worry, I have big plans for you.” I pressed my thumb to his neck, sure my eyes were already drifting to the stark ice color as I began to steal his time; steal his life.
“Tell me,” I mused as he gasped, shaking under the pressure of his life leaving him. “What color are my eyes?”
“Ice.” The single word shook as his skin sunk to the color of ash and lye. I didn’t even turn at Yersua’s panicked inhale behind me.
With the icy chill of my thumb against the hot skin on his neck, I pulled his life and time into me as though I was inhaling the bouquet from a wine I had in Turin once. The warmth of him smothered every inch of skin and bone as all of that delicious life filled me. The ice of my magic bathed in the warmth, it pulled and lapped in the wondrous taste of it, the darkness in me rejoicing in the beauty of it.
I didn’t steal life from people often, if only because this desperate blood lust to take it all, to take them all, felt dangerous, even to me. But right then I savored it.
Right then, I wanted more.
His gasps turned to screams of pain as my magic pulled and tugged, his ashen skin beginning to whither and crack as I pulled. The woman stepped back, watching with wide eyes until the Qit swayed to the side again, a large wave sending everyone into the same wall as before. The man slipped from my grasp, his pained scream still echoing over everything as he hobbled from the room, his withered body barely clinging to the life he had left.
I fought to keep my footing, scowling at the loss of the delectable power, the time throbbing within me, waiting for me to use it.
“Delicious,” I snarled, the single word lost in the laughter of the man who pushed against the wall to tower over me, his sword and knife moving fast in an attempt to disarm me.
His sword went up, my dagger went down, but not against his sword arm, against his shoulder and right into his heart. The echo of his scream was loud in my ear as I withdrew my knife, his blood spraying over my hand as he fell to the floor and I turned, parrying the sword and knife from both woman and man.
They moved in a flutter of leather and skin, the glint of their knives bright in the dark every time my blades hit against theirs. One after another they attacked, the large tattooed man racing from where he had now recovered, his sword held limp in a hand that was clearly not used to fighting.
Perfect. He should be easy.
I turned, grabbing the small knife I kept hidden in my belt, and threw it at him. I aimed for the neck, but the throw went high as the Qit shifted, the blade embedding itself right between his eyes. He didn’t even scream as scarlet blood trickled over his face and he collapsed, leaving me with only the couple from before, the woman looking even more rage filled.
The man however, was clearly second guessing. His attacks were strong lunges, the motions matched with the woman’s as they flanked me, pushing me back toward the wall.
No, they weren’t pushing. They were herding me.
I almost laughed outright at not having realized it before. They were not fighting me with the intention of killing me. They were fighting me with the intention of capturing me. It was the greedy man behind the desk who had been watching all of this and was now eagerly licking his lips as I allowed the pair to move closer that gave it away.
Yersua wanted to torture me. He wanted to bring me pain the same as I had to his brother.
Poor man.
He truly had no idea the dangers he had unleashed on himself. Well, I did try to tell him.
Wiping the smile from my face, I slowed my movements. I would not let these two get the upper hand on me, but perhaps I could force Yersua to show his. Perhaps I could trigger whatever else he had planned.
Sure enough, two more steps back and the hidden door I was sure he thought I was oblivious to opened, six more men racing through. They screamed as though they were going up against an army and I turned, cape whipping around me as my knives did, the motion quick and so unexpected that the couple didn’t even have a chance to block as my blades cut them both from shoulder to shoulder. Blood sprayed alongside the water that jetted through the walls and covered the floor with another inch of icy waves as everything heaved again. This time I was ready, I moved with the Qit, running along the sudden slide in the floor and jumping into the wall as everything heaved back and I went flying right into the cluster of swords and panicked men.
Swords clashed, the sound of metal mixing with yells of determination and failure as at least one of them went down. I didn’t count, I didn’t care. I knew what happened next.
Water sprayed over everything as I skid to a stop, smiling at Yersua as the others rushed me, all of them circling around me with knives and batons and a coil of rope that twisted around my wrists.
It would have been nothing to uncoil it, to spin it around to entrap the neck of my attacker, to take my blade and slice it over two more. I could see the motions in my mind, the techniques had been drilled into me for twenty years as I trained in Dám. It would have been simple.
Instead, I let my blades hit uselessly against the swords. I let the ropes wind around my wrists as hands tugged and clawed at my shoulders and hair, forcing me to face the man who a moment ago had looked horrified, but now only looked victorious as he came around the desk to face me, ankle high water sloshing around him with each step.
The poor man, he really did think he had won. I watched his face, forcing my own into something I hoped looked like defeat, not that I had ever experienced it before.
Not as though I was experiencing it now.
I feigned a struggle against the men who now restrained me, their victorious chuckles ringing in my ears as I slowly pulled up my magic.
The burn of it started at my toes, it ran over my skin and through my bones as it filled every inch of me. I had to be so careful to let the flame rise slowly so as not attract any attention. Too fast and the water that covered the room would boil, it would steam and smoke and everyone would feel the inferno I was about to release upon all of them.
“Caspyn, Caspyn, Caspyn,” Yersua said in half a laugh as he stepped closer, the sound of my name more of a disgruntled parent on his lips. One of the men who restrained me stepped to the side, handing him a long bullwhip with jagged pieces of metal stitched on to the end.
I fought again, feigning yet another attempt to free myself from my restraints. After all, it is what one would do in this situation.
“You don’t know what you're doing.” I ground the words through clenched teeth as I once again pressed against hands and fists.
“Don’t I? I believe I do. Just as you knew what you were doing when you fileted my brother. When you removed his arms and then stood there, watching him bleed.” The words actually looked like they were hard for him to say, and for a moment I forgot the little game of cat and mouse we had been playing.
I tried to wipe the expression from my face, but too late, he saw and with a roar he smacked the whip to the side, the tips exploding against the water and sending the blood and salt mixture everywhere.
“You don’t even deny it!”
“I don’t.” Screw it. I let my smile return. I had never been great at games anyway. “But he deserved what came for him.”
Yersua roared, water splashing everywhere as he closed the last few feet between us, the whip held high over his head. Still, I let that slow boil of my magic grow.
“I will do to you what you did to him!” His fingers flexed against the handle of the whip, his blood shot eyes still screaming even as he froze, his eyes widening.
I knew exactly what he was seeing.
“First, a question,” I snarled low as I leaned in, the motion slow enough that my captors didn’t fight me. I wasn’t even playing anymore. “What color are my eyes?”
Yersua looked between them, confusion deepening as he stepped back, his grip on the whip returning.
“No games!” He was clearly ready to bring the whip down, the momentary confusion gone.
“Fine. I’ll answer for you.” I was still grinning as he yelled, swinging the whip around ready to bring it down atop me. “They’re dark blue.”
The whip didn’t even make contact before everything caught fire.
My magic exploded in long tongues of fame that raced over the surface of the water. They snaked up the walls, they twisted around the men that had been holding me. Their screams crackled alongside the flames as I stepped forward, my hands erupting with red tongues of flame as I faced Yersua. His hand still hovered above his head, even as the whip fell and splashed and burned.
Screams and flames were everywhere, everywhere but in the perfect circle around Yersua and I, the man frozen as I walked right up to him.
“Come on, Yersua. Make me pay! Make me hurt as I did to your brother after I found all those kids. After I found their bodies used, beaten, and broken.”
“Kids?” Yersua stammered, the flames moving closer as he tried to back away from my slow advance.
“The kids you stole for him. The children he sold.” His eyes widened as I hissed each word. I had known for years he had no idea what his brother had been doing. Yersua had thought he had been helping people from Urd find sanctuary. It was enough then to save his life, but he had been just as nasty since.
No more.
Each word burned my tongue and ground against my soul the same as it had when I had first discovered them. When I had found Jack after he had been taken.
“I didn’t know! I didn’t!”
“Being oblivious does not make one innocent. You want me to pay for what I did to your brother?” I laughed with a sound as cold as the ice that was beginning to ripple over my skin. “What about what your brother did to mine? To Jack. Trust me when I say I’ve been waiting a long time for this.”
His eyes widened as everything clicked together, the last piece of who I was falling into place. Not the wanderer, not the Fae killer, but the boy who had come into his office so long ago looking for his brother, looking for Jack. He had lied to me that he hadn’t seen him, it was that moment that led us there.
Now he would die because of it.
“No! Don’t!” Yersua screamed, his wide eyes looking at each of the twisted flames that curled through the air around him. His were the only screams left now.
“Oh, I have something much more fun planned for you.” The fire burned even as I released my magic from it, the flames devouring everything of their own accord as I let the heat of my fire burn away, and brought forth my true power.
“Wh–what?” He was still trying to escape as I wrapped my hands around his arms. He flinched at the chill of them.
At the cold that covered me.
“Tell me. What color are my eyes?” He looked from the flames to me, clearly expecting the deep blue of before. His eyes shook with fear as I saw my pale eyes of death reflected in his wide gaze of horror.
“Ice.” He stammered, clearly connecting the color to the feel of my hands against his arms.
“Death.” I corrected, and let my magic flare as I pulled his life from him, pull every scrap of his time. I wasn’t slow like before, I sucked it from him greedily, I pulled at every piece of the wicked life that would have been lived and took it into me.
His scream rattled as I drew him away, the pain of my magic more than a deep stab as it severed his life from him. A scream akin to pure agony ripped from him as his skin began to wilt, his joints cracking and breaking, his body beginning to rot and shrivel into a dried husk of nothing.
I released him, savoring the taste and feel of him and leaving what remained of the man to drop to the ground with a thud. I didn’t even turn to watch what was left of him float amongst the blood and char as I retrieved my knives, wiping them on the damp fabric of my cloak before I sheathed them.
Fire rippled everywhere, the sound of wood snapping and breaking mixing with the crackle of the flames as The Sway broke apart. If I was anyone else I would have to bail and swim to shore, but the fire would certainly be pulling people’s attention by now and I couldn’t be seen.
Good thing I had more than enough time to remedy that.
My magic hummed with life as I pulled at the time I had stolen, my mind pulling right back to the moment before I entered The Sway, the small touch of my fingers against the wooden pier that led to the old Qit.
A single motion I could use to pull myself back through time.
I made the same motion before I entered any building, before any job. It was nothing more than an ‘x’ traced on the doorframe. If I ever needed to move backward through time it always helped to have a mark so as not to get lost.
I had gotten lost before. First, when I had watched Lily slip away and her life sent me back, and again after my first kill when the sudden influx of life had thrust me back even further with nothing to anchor me to.
This time, I pulled at that mark as I let the magic flare. Time sped around me, flames sucking into nothing, water drifting from red to the inky black of the sea.
I knew what I would see if I lingered. See the fight, see the death, and I was sure I would hear Yersua talk about his plans to end me. I cared about none of it.
The world felt heavy and thick as I walked out of the door, everything and everyone moving in reverse as I walked forward, through the hall, and the bar where the sounds of drinks and conversations panged in slow, hollow tones.
Mylly poured drinks, the others looking eagerly at the door as the shadowed figure of myself reversed from the bar to the door.
The two parts of me walked through together, the shadow of myself turning as he reached the end of the pier, staring over waves and into the forest and toward the Runturin beyond before he turned and traced the ‘x’ on the wood of the frame. My own fingers traced the small shape right alongside that shadow before time reversed and I shifted it forward, letting the shadow of myself look again toward the horizon and then slide through the door and into the bar. My own inky cloak vanished through the door as I stood there, watching the door swing, listening to the voices on the other side before I released my hold on time and all of those shadows I moved through unseen became real.
My fingers lingered on the wood even as I released my hold, listening to the voices and knowing what would come.
I stood there, knowing I was also on the other side of the door.
Time would continue on. Nothing would change.
Turning from the door, I began the long walk down the plank bridge that connected The Sway to the shore, the heavy realization I had been avoiding since that moment Yersua called me The Wanderer setting in. The same truth I had felt prickle when speaking to Tayln. The same one when I had heard those Walkers talk about the wedding, about the ever approaching deadline.
Everything had intersected, all of the lives I had been juggling unraveling. The Wanderer would not get to the queen, not in the way I had planned.
No matter how much time I stole, everything had caught up to me. I let my magic burn away, keeping enough time for later, with everything that happened, with everything I was sure was about to come for me; I would need it. There was no more time for excuses. It was time to go to Turin.
It was time to end the queen.
I just had some loose ends to tie up first.