Chapter 25
W e head over to the door, Jasper grabs the handle preparing for what's on the other side. We all take a deep breath and then he swings the door open.
Two men leaning against the wall grab their swords as they rush over to us. Jasper bolts ahead and swings his sword with nothing but fierce strength at the men all while Avery spears his sword directly into the man who was furthest away. It pierced him directly through the eye, swinging his body back and pinning him dead to the wall. Jasper raises his sword over his head and quickly spikes it down in an angle between the other man's neck and collar bone. He then kicks the man back while holding his sword still to remove the sword from the corpse.
We move quietly past the bodies but as I pass the one stuck to the wall, I notice my dagger hooked to his pants. So I grab my dagger out and slide it into my boot, back in the built in holster I had created to keep it from cutting into me. We get a couple feet down the hall but hear men coming down the stairs, Likely to check on their prisoners. We slide up against the wall to the nearest room to the left.
I walk into the dark room and try to find my way to something to hide myself behind or at least hold myself steady. The ship continues to rock aggressively until a huge wave slams into the left of the ship slamming me up against the wall and tossing Jasper and Avery into the hallway wall.
“Ouch !”I whimper, I can feel my pulse through my right arm and I know I hit it good enough to have broken something. My heart is racing from pain but also fear that they got caught in the halls from the men coming down the stairs. I reach for my sword and realize I dropped it somewhere in the room when I was tossed. I quickly try to get back to the door for light to grab my sword and to find my friends but as I reach the entryway I see Jasper hiding in the shadows of the room diagonal of mine with his finger up against his mouth, shushing me.
Oh no , I think as I look over and Avery is on both knees with four men surrounding him. I see the one henchmen that dragged me down into the cell upfront, in the middle of swinging his sword. Panic takes over me as I try to jolt out of the door to distract them, to save Avery. I’m about to yell and run out but a sudden grasp around my mouth and a crossed my waist stops me and pulls me back.
My stomach clenches as I watch that man decapitate my friend. His head falling to the ground, his cold dark eyes landing right onto mine, blood scattering across the walls. My eyes pouring out tears as shock and adrenaline takes over me. I realize that someone is pulling me back into the dark room. Fuck ! I scream in my head.
“No, Jasper, help!” I try to shout out but the hand is still over my mouth. He's strong and is pulling me to the back of the room where it is completely dark. The adrenaline finally hits my mind completely and my thoughts sharpen. I remember I have my dagger in my boot, since my sword is lying on the ground from that wave hitting, this is my only hope. I kick up my leg to my hand where I am just able to grab the dagger and pull it out. I slam my elbow back into the man's rib cage and he lets go just enough for me to twist my body around and put the blade to his neck, shoving him up against the wall. But right before I shove the dagger across his neck the man shouts out,
“Abigail, it's me!”
I pause, I know this voice. “Caspian?” I burst out with my fear and tears.
“Love, I’m so sorry. I couldn’t save him but I had to pull you back. They would have killed you too.”
I drop my dagger and collapse into his arms. My chest is so tight, I am falling completely apart. He wraps his arms around my body pulling me into him. His hand holding my head up against his heart and his other hand gripping my back. My eyes storm out and flood his shirt and I am hyperventilating.
“Abigail, I was trying to get to you.. I wish I could have gotten there sooner. To help you, and to save your friends. I tried so hard to pull you back before you saw that, I wanted too much to protect you from it.” I can hear the pain in his voice matching the pain I feel in my heart.
“Listen, I know you’re upset and as much as you need to have this moment to feel it all through.. We really have to go. This ship is sinking and we need every minute if we are going to get off here alive.” He lifts my chin and wipes my tears off my cheek with his thumb. He’s right. I need to pull it together. I can grieve Avery and my father when we are safe. I take a deep breath and release.
“You’re right” I whisper as I bend down, grab my dagger off the ground and place it in my boot. We slowly start to make our way to the wall near the door, every step I am slowly sliding my feet, searching for where I dropped my sword. Caspian shuffles his foot and kicks just hard enough for my sword to go sliding into the wall.
“What was that?!” Says one of the men still pacing the hall. I bend down quickly and grab my sword. I press my back slowly against the wall and watch as Caspian peeks through the side of the doorway. I’m staring down at the light shining through from the hall.
The man walks close as his shadow cuts off some of the light, but instead of walking past the doorway he stopped in front of it. Caspian is silent, standing against the wall right beside the entrance. He hardly seems nervous or bothered at all. He looks over at me and does a slight nod at my sword and I know he's hinting to me to be ready.
I stand up against the wall on the other side of the entry, my back pressing the entirety of my weight up against it while I’m holding the handle of my sword. My hands grasp it so tightly that my palms are starting to sweat. I keep taking quiet deep breaths just hoping he walks past us instead. I will do anything to survive, though killing people is not how I want to go about it.
I’m frightened that he is going to come in here but even more for Jasper in the other room. Caspian was a bounty hunter, so I’m confident he can handle his own but with Jasper watching Avery die, I don’t know how he is managing. They were so close.I hear the sound of the man's boot squeaking as he takes a few more steps closer to the doorway.
“I know you’re in there” He says in a mocking devilish tone. My stomach grinds.
He starts to enter through the door just enough for Caspian to grab him by his arm and completely flip him onto the ground. Caspian lifts him up enough to angle himself behind him. The man tries to fight Caspian off of him, fear beaming from his eyes and I watch as Caspian eliminates the man that killed Avery. His legs kicking and hands grabbing, scratching, pulling, anything to get Caspian off of him. I don’t move my gaze, not even to flinch as Caspian grabs his head and twists it quickly until there is a large crack and his body flails while his nervous system dies.
Caspian looks at me and puts a finger up to his lips. Just because he killed this one, doesn’t mean there isn’t more out there. He glances out into the hall, then grabs my hand to guide me to the room across the way. We pass through all the puddles of blood and bodies.
I catch a glimpse of Avery’s corpse and am filled with sorrow but it’s quickly overshadowed by the building anger I have against Ace. So many innocent lives, friends, and family. People that took him in with welcoming arms and he betrayed them all.
He has single handedly destroyed everything and everyone I have ever known and loved. I can feel the rage start to fester and all I want is to face Ace myself, to look him in the eyes and watch as he draws in his last breath. All the love I have kept for him for so long has dissipated.