19. Caspyn
Chapter 19
The horse I had stolen used the last of its strength to bolt away from me. He had no loyalty to me, especially since I had sent him running since the moment I stole him from a merchant near Seetin. He was the second horse, the first having come from a vendor in Turin who was more than happy to take extra gold for the old beast.
I had left gold for both, probably more than what the beasts were worth in my haste to reach the Qit before Vaelar’s man. The horse from Seetin was a bag of bones, near starving and possibly not fast enough, but between the two I reached the port of Waide in four days.
I had barely stopped, and now as the sun crested over the far mountains behind me and sent the surface of the water dancing with gold, I could only pray I had been fast enough.
The waves were gentle in the low tide as I approached the Ferry that bobbed beside the dock, the old man half asleep on his seat at the end, his head resting on the loose ropes that tied him there.
“Tayln,” I hissed, my steps against the dock waking him up more than my voice. For one frightening second I had thought him dead, his body so limp and pale, but he sat up with a jerk, his eyes blinking furiously as he tried to focus on me.
“Caspyn!” He called in greeting, the joy on his face fading as I stepped closer and he caught sight of me. Or rather, he saw the blood and ash I was sure I was still covered in, the deep purple blending in with the soot. I doubted he could tell the difference between the two. Or, at least, I hoped he couldn’t.
“Where ya been, Caspyn?” His voice was markedly lower, more questioning. No, he was more accusing. I ignored him.
“Tayln, has anyone come by overnight? Or perhaps last evening? Two men, one blonde, one brunette?” He didn’t respond, he stood there, hand on the anchor rope as he stared me down with eyes I knew had seen too much.
Had always seen too much.
“What have you gone and done now, Caspyn?” His tone was near a snarl, an anger I had never seen in him beaming through those wisened eyes.
“Has anyone come by?” I repeated the question in a panic now, once again ignoring him. My heart was pounding in my chest so loud it was all I could hear over the gentle lap of the waves. As that panic grew, so did the heat from my magic. I had kept full control over it for decades, but standing so close to Tayln I was sure he could feel the heat.
“Nothing but the usual Walkers.” He was glaring now, his jaw tight as a muscle in his neck feathered. My magic sparked as my heart skipped a beat.
“Jayse. Do you know if Jayse is–”
“What have you gone and done now, Caspyn?” Tayln was off the boat in a thud of foot against the pier, his legs shaking on the dock as he stood toe to toe with me.
I had only ever seen him on the skiff, his body hunched as he pulled the rope. Facing him now, the old man at his full height with the barrel of a chest and arms that were pure muscle thanks to decades of pulling people over rough waves, I saw the man he really was; a powerful force that if I hadn’t been trained in death and felt the heat of my fire beneath my veins I might have actually been scared of him.
By the Goddess, if I wasn’t panicked I would have been impressed.
Instead, I tightened my jaw, facing him as he faced me.
“Nothing I cannot fix,” I snarled, my shoulders straightening even as my hands flexed and itched to feel my blades hot and cold against my palms.
“Are you quite sure about that, because if you ask me all of this seems to have slipped out of what you can ‘fix’.” His eyes narrowed and I was sure I saw the muscles in his shoulders feather, but I remained still, willing myself not to move a muscle, no matter how correct he was.
Because he was right, after all.
I had felt that control slipping away for days, but I still had a chance to stop it.
“Is Jayse–”
“She be fine,” he cut me off again, his voice still a bark of distrust. “No one has come across since before the sun set las’ night.”
I didn’t dare move. I stared at him, his jaw still set, those hard eyes digging into mine as I tried to run through the possibility of my actually having beat them there.
I had no idea how long I had transported myself, perhaps only a day forward, but the fire had been cold and they were long gone.
They had mentioned that they couldn’t get out of the city, the gates of Turin were notoriously hard to traverse if you didn’t have papers, possibly harder if your ears revealed you for the monster you were. I had taken an exit I had found decades before, perhaps they had the same connections.
But he was the King of the Fae–
“Caspyn!” Tayln snapped, pulling me out of my panic. “Tell me one thing, have you brought danger to our Qit? I warned you–”
“I have not.” I replied impatiently, flexing my hands as I once again itched to hold my blades, my skin prickling as though it was begging.
I wasn’t exactly sure if my statement was true, and Tayln seemed to sense that, his hand tightening around the anchor rope as though he would throw it and pull himself away, leaving me stranded on the beach.
“Whatever I have done, I will take care of it.” That time I couldn’t stop my hand from drifting to my blade, even as the sound of horses echoed from the road. We both turned, Tayln already pulling the anchor rope into the ferry.
“Go to the Qit. Tell Jayse I am coming and to pack what she can,” I hissed at the old man, my eyes focused on the distant road and the sound of voices that were now drifting toward us. By the grace of The Goddess, I truly had beat them there.
“That girl deserves better,” he mumbled as he jumped back into the ferry, the look of disappointment near identical to the one Da had given me as a boy. It was more than a lifetime ago, but it still pulled at me the same.
“You fix this, Caspyn, or I’ll be the one to end you if you brought danger to my home.” His warning was clear as he flashed his lantern toward his son and pulled away. I had no doubt he would try, but I would be long gone before it came to that.
The sound of the ropes creaking and the waves crashing against the ferry whispered alongside the voices that were coming closer, and my boots as they slammed against the pier.
If this was them, I didn’t have much time to prepare. I needed to end them before they caught sight of me if I was to have a chance, especially against Vaelar.
Racing into the small copse of trees off from the trail that led to the peer, I ducked into the underbrush, my palm pressing against every bush and branch I could reach. My skin went cold as my eyes slipped to that silvery blue, my magic flaring as I drained time and life from the plants around me. Each one only gave me small chutes of time with my brief touch, not enough to do more than jump a few steps forward and perhaps stab someone in the back. It would have to be enough.
The voices were getting closer.
My skin was chilled with the stolen time, the air smudged with the ash of the dead foliage as I gripped my knives and the source of those voices came around the bend.
Three Wave Walkers. Their faces were covered in grimy beards, their sun tanned skin wrinkled and weathered making them look old even as their bodies were young.
“Tha’ I took he inna back room of dat inn. She ‘anted to marry me, see. I ‘anted to promise her right.” One of the men said, hoisting the pack over his shoulder as the other two trudged alongside.
“An’ she let you?” Another one asked, clearly not believing him.
“Her Da was a walker. She knows us. She knows tha life. An’ now she know tha lovin’ she be wantin’ notin else.” They all laughed again, talking about the innkeeper's daughter and the backroom of some Qit as they passed.
I checked all their faces, looking for the man from before. He wasn’t there.
“Did ya hear ‘bot The Sway?” The third one asked as they passed where I was hiding in the brush. I didn’t dare move even as my ears perked up at the chorus of ‘no’s.
“Got burnt to a crisp. All inside ‘ta.”
“Burnt?” The other two gasped, confused as I was sure everyone was. My skin prickled as they passed, continuing to talk about the dead and the fight that surely happened.
I wasn’t even listening anymore, I was staring behind them, to the curve in the road and the source of the tingling warmth that was moving over my skin. It wasn’t the usual feeling I had when a Fae was near, nor a Requisite, it was muted. Almost as though it was smothered.
I gripped my sword as a man came into view, my eyes searching for which of the Fae had come to end me.
It was the same man from the wagon before. Theadore, I think they had called him. I was right, he had recognized me and known exactly where I went. I waited, expecting the other two to follow him over the dirt covered road, for them all to rush to Waide and for Vaelar to kill me and burn the Qit into the waves as he would the day he killed my sister.
It was only Theadore, that smothered rumble of magic pulling me to him. I had felt a bizarre mix of magic from him before, a pull I couldn’t place. Now, the faint swell of his magic was rattling my skin.
I didn’t have time to question, nor did I care enough to. I was ready to end him, and end this. I could practically hear the song of my blades in the air as I prepared to slice him apart.
With him gone I could get Jayse out, by the time anyone else found us we would be long gone.
That buzzing grew into a flurry of energy, my skin feeling as though it was being run over with needles as I kept my magic tuned, that time I had stolen buzzing right under my skin.
The voices of the others were drifting into nothing as I stepped out of the brush, my cloak uncoiling around me as I stood before him.
He stood there, staring. My hair was damp and limp from sweat, my blades gleaming as I held them out in warning; the glint a display of how quickly I would end him.
“We were wondering how far you moved,” Theadore looked me up and down pointedly, “clearly not far.”
“Why are you working for that monster,” I snarled, the words dripping from me of their own accord. I hadn’t meant to ask anything; I had planned to end him.
“Monster?” he laughed, the sound more of a mockery as he folded his arms. “Vaelar. A monster? I don’t know what filth the queen has fed you–”
“It is not what she has fed me. It is what I know!” I snarled, careful to keep my voice low lest the other Wave Walkers turn and come to his aide. I didn’t want innocent blood on my blades today, just his.
“It’s what I have seen,” that low snarl was a roar as I raised my blade. Still, he didn’t flinch. If anything, his eyes widened but only as he looked at me, not the blade.
“What have you seen?” Theadore took a step forward, almost as though he didn’t notice the sharp edge of steel that was glinting between us. “How far exactly have you traveled, time thief? How much time have you stolen?”
“Enough,” I snapped, ignoring the title and thrust the blade forward, right into his heart.
Blood did not spray as it had with the Fae, instead the deep red oozed down the front of his shirt, the color spreading over his tunic in the deepest red. He stared at the spot and then at me, eyes wide as though he had never seen blood before.
“I will kill every last one of you,” I snarled, leaning into him so that all I could see was that wide horrified look in his eyes before I slid the blade from him.
Gibberish gushed from his mouth as his teeth turned red, the blood that was filling his lungs and bowels gushing over. He was trying to say something, but I didn’t bother to wait. It was simply more lies.
It would all be lies.
I should have felt more remorse as I dragged the still bleeding and gurgling man into the foliage. I should have felt something other than the contentment of a job done, of saving Jayse, of saving Amari. Of saving them all. Soon, I would do that. Now that I had my true targets I could do that.
There should have been joy or pride or determination, but there was only a numbing I couldn’t explain as I raced to catch up to the other Wave Walkers, boarding the ferry with them as the small boat pulled away from the pier; Tayln’s son, Grynd, glaring as I did so.
The Wave Walkers still spoke of the fight and the fire on The Sway, of the wedding pilgrimage that was due to start in a few days, of a dozen other things I didn’t care about. Not then, not ever.
It was all noise that mixed with the waves as we crossed the break, our ferry rocking and swaying in the cresting waves. I could just make out Tayln on his journey back to the shore, a few cloaked figures masked against the fog. Whoever he traveled with was swallowed in the morning mist long before we docked against the Qit and I stepped onto the floating city that was my home. It always had been, it had always been the only consistent thing. I suppose this would be the last time.
Still, there was nothing but that buzzing numbing that had begun to slide into a panic.
“Caspyn!” Amari’s joyful cry pulled me from my haze and I turned to the girl who sat on the edge of the Qit, her bare toes dangling in the ocean waves.
“Ri, isn’t it early in the day for you to be out here?” I tried to push joy into my voice, but I was not sure she would have noticed. She jumped to her feet, practically dancing around me.
“Did you see another walker over there?” she asked, pausing her dancing to look across the waves as though she could see the shore from there. “Pa sent a note, said he was coming in on the next wagon. That would be this one. Did you see him?”
“Pa?” That numbing was getting worse, it was turning into a roar that was infesting my mind, that was sitting heavy against my skin and making everything crawl.
“Yes, silly. My Father! Theadore! He’s coming home today. You can’t miss him, he’s the only walker without a beard!” She put her hands up and laughed and danced, still looking across the waves for a man that wasn’t there.
A man I had put my blade through only minutes before.
By the Goddess. What had I done?
The ferry was already pulling away, Grynd snarling as he moved back into the waves. I took a flying leap through the air and only barely landed on the edge of the ferry. The motion sent everything rocking and Grynd swearing but I ignored it all, grabbing the rope to pull us across faster as I yelled back to Amari.
“I’ll find your Pa! Go get Jayse, tell her to meet me on the dock!”
Amari stood on the dock, staring with a confusion that slowly turned to worry as I turned away, heaving the rope with a strength I didn’t think I possessed.
Grynd only scowled, as if he already knew what I had done.