26. Cain
26
CAIN
A lantern with a shade. Sight blurry. Spectacles in the pocket. The floor shaking. Two people in front. He could just about make out their outline against the light of the lantern. One of them was rowing. His body would not move. The cold air was mixed with the stench of dirty seawater around the docks. His thoughts refused to cohere. Safani’s poison burned in his veins. The poison, or his helplessness, pressed down on his chest.
“Cain.” It was Fienna, standing in front of his weak, unmoving body. She was dead. She couldn’t be here, however desperately Cain wanted her to be real. Everything was dim, except for Fienna. As if the moon shone only on her.
“Fienna.” His mouth didn’t move but the name came out regardless.
“You’re dying.”
“I know.”
“Do you know where you are?”
“The sea. Near the docks. A fishing wharf, from the smell. On a small boat.”
Fienna gestured to the side with her chin. “And you know who those two are?”
“Gladdis. I don’t know the name of the other one. The ex-legionary bodyguard.”
Fienna nodded.
“Good. Keep thinking. Don’t let your mind slip away.”
“I had to know who killed you. I… needed to.”
Fienna nodded and stroked his hair. He wanted to cry but the tears wouldn’t come.
“I know. You did well. So, did you find out?”
It took great effort to weave his thoughts to words.
“You were receiving money from Gladdis to help the Arlanders living in the Capital.”
Fienna nodded.
“You may have gone to her, or Gladdis may have had her own plans and come to you, but that was the gist of it. She probably wanted to create an Arlander dissident group in the Capital. So that they could have an ally. But Gladdis came up with a plan to destroy the Capital. With the Circuit of Destiny.”
“Yes.” Fienna’s voice was calm.
“I don’t know why she wants to do that. Or how you found out about her plan. But she does and you did, and you tried to convince her otherwise. Because it would mean the Arlanders here would suffer.”
“Not only Arlanders,” said Fienna.
“You were so against it that Gladdis was afraid you would leak her plan, so she silenced you. That’s what you wanted to talk to me about that night, right? And she thought you were going to report her to the Ministry of Intelligence or whoever else.”
“But you could’ve reported the plan yourself,” said Fienna. “Why didn’t you? When you were introduced to not only one or two, but three Ministry agents. Why didn’t you tell them what you knew?”
“I don’t care about independence or freedom, but I don’t want to get in the way of those who do… I wanted to know for sure before acting.”
Fienna smiled. “Did you, really?”
At her smile, heat rose in his eyes. Somewhere, tears were rolling down.
“… No.”
“Then why?”
“I wanted to avenge you by my own hand.”
“Yes. That’s my Cain.”
Fienna leaned forward and kissed him on the forehead. He trembled. Gladdis glanced his way and said in a low voice, “Did he just move?”
The ex-legionary woman stopped rowing and looked in his direction and shrugged. “Impossible. That man uses no ordinary poison. If he’s not dead by now, he must be very near it.”
“Is it so?”
“I brought you here because you insisted, my lady, but is it wise? Should you be seen—”
“No,” said Gladdis firmly, “this young man is not a lackey of the Empire, and he came to me only because he was angry for his friend and wanted answers. He does not deserve to be thrown into the sea like this, and I will not ask someone else to do the deed for me. I regret not being there when Fienna had to be dealt with. At the very least, I can see this man off.”
Fienna stared at Gladdis. “Despicable” was all she said.
“It is rich coming from someone who’s about to kill hundreds of thousands of people,” agreed Cain.
Fienna turned back to him.
“No, she’s not.”
“She’s not what?”
“She’s not going to kill hundreds of thousands of people. You’re going to stop her.” Fienna’s face was gentle as ever.
“Fienna, I am hallucinating right now from a poison so strong that I can’t even lift a finger. I’m tied up in something, a rope or a chain, I can’t even tell. How do you expect me to stop her?”
Fienna leaned so close their noses almost touched.
“Do you remember when I first found you on the streets? When the fruit seller caught you stealing an orange and I begged and begged him to let you go if I paid him? You were shouting in Arlandais.”
Cain nodded. His neck moved.
“Why would I save a twelve-year-old child like that? Was I made of money then?”
“No.”
“That girl you helped… What was her name?”
“Arienne.”
“When you gave Arienne your bread, did you expect something in return? Did you help her run away because she would do something for you?”
“No. Not any of that.”
“Do you think I gave that woman’s money to Arlanders because I wanted something in return?”
“No.”
“Then why did you do it? And why did I do it?”
“Because we could.”
He could now feel the tear rolling down his face.
Fienna smiled.
“Since you’ve found out what I tried to do, you’ll do it for me, right? You’ll take over where I couldn’t finish? Because you’d done everything I asked for. My clever and kind Cain.”
Fienna stroked his cheek. His eyelids fluttered on their own. The night breeze brushed the back of his hand.
The rocking of the boat lessened. The ex-legionary had stopped rowing.
“This looks like a good spot, my lady.”
“Is that so?”
The two were rising, but Cain was not paying attention to them. He was gazing at Fienna. Her braided hair glowed as if she were wearing a crown of light. Cain looked up at the night sky. The overcast sky was dark as ink, with no moon shining down.
“The Capital may look shiny and bright, but the people there live a hard life. When this is all over, I want you to take care of them.”
“The Arlanders?”
“Everyone. Everyone you can help.”
His body felt warmer. A headache pulsed in his temples. The cold from the chains bit his flesh where they connected. But they had been fastened with sinking in mind, not restraint. There was no lock he could discern, and while his arms were fastened tight to his sides, the chain was looser below his elbows.
“What about me? Who will take care of me ?”
His vision was blurry, but from tears, not poison. And perhaps his lack of spectacles.
“You’re clever and kind. You’ll be all right.” Fienna caressed his face once more. “So get up. Avenge me. Vanquish the villains and save the world. If not the world, then at least the people I once looked after.”
“Like a hero?” Cain smiled for the first time. Fienna smiled back.
“Like a king.”
Gladdis was looking down at him. Cain had never actually gotten a good look at her face before. Her white-streaked hair framed her small and wrinkled face. She wore padded clothes made from red Cassian velvet. Her expression was quizzical.
“Why is his face wet?” She touched his cheek. “Are these tears?”
“Still alive, I see. Move aside, my lady, I shall take care of this.”
The ex-legionary let go of the oars and stood up.
Fienna held out her hand. Cain gripped it, and got to his feet. But that was only a hallucination of the poison-addled head. What actually happened was that, all of a sudden, Cain sprang to his feet of his own accord and slammed his head directly into Gladdis’s face.
Gladdis screamed. The ex-legionary woman, with surprising calmness, drew her sword and swiftly sliced at Cain, but the blade merely scraped against the chains wrapped around him, causing sparks.
Cain stretched out his hand through the loosely tied chains and grabbed Gladdis’s side, feeling a handful of soft Cassian velvet. With a strength that would have torn any other fabric, Cain pulled at her as if bringing her into an embrace.
He spun, his legs wrapped in chains, Gladdis’s body helpless against the weight of Cain’s and the heavy chain. The ex-legionary took a step back to avoid colliding with the two of them, and Cain, still grabbing the older woman’s clothes, threw himself overboard.
Just before his body hit the water, the ex-legionary shouted something. He did not understand Kamori.
The sea engulfed them, and Cain was chilled to the bone within seconds. The weight of the chains dragged him and Gladdis down, pulling them toward the inky depths. Gladdis clawed at the water as if it could give her purchase, but soon she stopped moving. Cain released his grip and watched as the woman who had killed Fienna and planned next to take the lives of a hundred thousand more sank to the bottom of the ocean, her once-struggling hands and feet motionless.
His own air ran out. He tried to loosen the chain around him, but he didn’t think he could make it to the surface even if he did. He’d been too optimistic about his chances of survival.
But this was enough. He had avenged Fienna. Without Gladdis, the plot to use the Circuit of Destiny was over. The pressure that had been gripping his heart since Fienna’s death finally lifted. He hoped death would come before this feeling of freedom left him.
The last breath from Cain’s lungs became a bubble in the water and floated up to the surface.