Chapter 19 #2
Bound weapons were highly coveted and near impossible to destroy; thus, it was more likely that a weapon survived to be handed from wielder to wielder.
This one had seen hard, prolonged use, with the irreparable mark of something more sinister.
Ksenia moved in front of Rinna, shielding her with her own body.
“Let her go.” Her voice was clipped, transactional.
The man let out a snorting laugh, like a boar. “I’d be happy to, if you pay triple what the king would pay.”
He lunged forward. Ksenia sidestepped.
TSCHINGGG!
Caromir met his chipped blade in a parry that threw sparks. The contact left a resounding ache in her forearm.
His broad yellow teeth gleamed in the light as she hurled herself back at him, the close distance limiting his range of movement with the heavier blade.
She spun around and drove her foot down against the back of his knee.
He keeled to the floor, slamming the pommel of the scimitar into the ground before Ksenia kicked it from his hand.
He swiped at her legs with thick arms, and she leaped away with a shudder.
“What’s one more in the king’s collection?” He panted, his stringy hair falling forward. “I’ll tell you what—lay down your weapon and I’ll cut you a bit of the pay if you leave us be.”
Ksenia saw red.
She crushed his hand underfoot, bones breaking beneath her heel.
He howled, clutching his hand to him.
“You little bitch! You’re all dead—” He flung himself toward the scimitar.
She snatched it from him and staked his hand to the ground with it.
Blood spurted from the wound, dribbling onto the dirt.
He began to blubber and bargain, but his pleas were soft waves lapping at the edges of Ksenia’s mind as she brought Caromir to his rapidly pulsing jugular.
A heady hit of satisfaction zipped through her nerves as the first drop of blood hit Caromir’s edge. The hunger had receded, but only partially. Only making room for something far more ravenous.
She couldn’t control her body as she wrenched his head back with one hand and slashed his throat, painting the walls a brutal blood-red.
Every hair stood on end, and a pleasant warmth thrummed through her veins.
She shuddered, then opened her eyes. Her mind was clear and sharp for the first time that week. She could hear the man’s blood dripping into the drain, the hiss of the flames in the lanterns. And sadly, Rinna’s fearful gasps.
Rinna had fallen back in her chair, her face blood-flecked from the man’s murder. She let out a choked sob, feebly fighting her binds as Ksenia approached.
Ksenia stopped, breathing ragged. Her thoughts fragmented, scattered, and she found herself unable to explain.
Rinna flinched as Ksenia righted her with ease, her strength triplefold now.
“I’m sorry you saw that.” The words sounded hollow to her own ears as she sliced through Rinna’s bindings and pulled the gag from her trembling mouth.
Rinna bolted from her chair, clutching at her chest as if Ksenia might rip her heart out.
She crumpled to the floor, clutching the sides of her head. “He…he was keeping us safe.”
The words pelted Ksenia like stones, and she jerked back. “…No, he was holding you and your child hostage.”
Rinna shook like a leaf, her arms clasped around herself.
“We should find your child.” Ksenia found it difficult to swallow. Rinna’s words replayed in her head, lionizing the man who’d been manipulating her.
She rolled the corpse over, blood glistening on his face and his front. Ksenia was numb as she probed his body in search of any item that could help.
Her fingers closed around a few wayfinder coins in his pocket, and she blanched. How many families had he successfully indebted and then turned in anyway for the bounty? She shook her head as she continued to search.
She gave a rough tug, breaking the metal chain around his neck from which an iron skeleton key hung. She wordlessly presented it to Rinna in her outstretched hand.
Rinna’s fingers carefully avoided touching Ksenia’s bloody palm as she collected the key. Ksenia sheathed the man’s hellbound scimitar across her back before following Rinna out of the room.
Her steps were jerky as they walked the empty stone-hewn halls, twisting and turning until they reached a locked cell with a thin, dirt-streaked girl inside. She had nothing in her possession but the clothes on her back and a threadbare blanket in the corner.
Ksenia bit her tongue as she rationalized what had happened: Rinna was traumatized. She had been forced to rely on that monster for who knew how long and had begun to see him as a source of light.
The girl perked up at the sight of her mother and reached through the iron bars for her. The skeleton key scraped and bit through the rusty lock.
A blur of brown and beige collided with Rinna as her daughter flew to her with a whimper. She smoothed the girl’s tangled hair and murmured into her ear.
Ksenia stood in the silence of their reunion until she had to interrupt.
Rinna flinched when Ksenia tried to press the wayfinder coin into her palm. “No—no, he told me this is how the king would find us.”
A bitter tang coated her tongue. She wanted to deny it, but after she had seen Bohdan with one in his possession, she wasn’t so sure of the truth.
Still, it was their best chance at freedom.
“This is from the Bound Eye. And there is a safe house not too far from here, but I cannot go with you, nor can I force you to follow its path.”
Rinna rubbed the little girl’s shoulders with a shake of her head.
Ksenia paused and chose her next words carefully. “Listen, I know you don’t know me, but I knew of your family through the Drazan sisters.”
At the mention of her last name, Rinna perked up. “How?”
“They were my friends…and we were close. They spoke fondly of you and your husband, teaching them when no one else would.” Ksenia’s hands rubbed together, dried blood crumbling and flaking off. “And I know how they used these coins to get people to safety. Please, take it.”
“It’s been years since I’ve heard from those girls. But they were good people.” She gulped before accepting the coin.
Ksenia emerged from the hidden cellar, her black clothes wet with blood. The hour was late, and the rats scurried openly.
Motion in the distance caught her periphery: two darkened figures were stalking around the corner, their beady eyes upon her profile.
She hoisted her rucksack higher on her shoulder, feigning nonchalance and languidly striding away. Anyone who had the guts to chase her right now was in for a surprise.
A smile tugged at the corner of her lips, eyes glinting as a frenzied feeling she couldn’t suppress spread.
In front of her, another figure joined the fray. This one, Ksenia easily identified from his silhouette.
His sloped, lazy shoulder line and lean, sinewy build were unmistakable.
“Give me the clue, Kitten, and you won’t be hurt.”
Her blood simmered at the pet name. She ghosted her fingers against Caromir’s hilt, and it sent a steady thrum through her nerves, making her itch for another fight.
“Go fuck yourself, Tivan.” She spat onto the ground.
He drew near, faltering for a moment at the blood spattering the bare skin of her neck and face.
His compatriots closed the distance behind Ksenia, and a flush crept into his face. The pride of performing for his cronies was more important than assessing the danger Ksenia posed.
A mistake she promised he would someday rue.
“Like—like I said. Give me the clue, and we won’t hurt you.”
Ksenia felt the man’s arms behind her before they encircled her upper torso, squeezing tight.
She screamed, thrashed, and kicked, stomping on the man’s foot and causing him to crush her tighter.
Tivan leered as he came closer, pleased with her incapacitated state, and in a sickening move, brushed her hair behind her ear. She spat in his face, and he wiped it with his sleeve, gripping her cheeks in response.
Her senses were doused like a cold bucket of water. Try as she might, she could not prevent herself from being transported to the night of her murder and the way Karsan’s hands held her body down as he stole her very soul.
Her muscles locked up and sweat dotted her upper lip.
Tivan’s grin widened to reveal chipped and crooked teeth as he cast his hand lower.
“Tivan—Enough. You pervert. That’s not what we’re here for, and I’ll gut ya like a fish if you keep going,” the man behind Ksenia growled.
His words snapped her out of her nightmare, and she coiled both legs up against her chest in an instant, kicking Tivan in the sternum. A thin line of drool escaped his wheezing mouth as he keeled over, dropping onto the floor a pace away.
The last goon sliced the bottom of Ksenia’s rucksack, searching for the clue. He spotted the bundle of white linen, and his face brightened.
“You pieces of shit!” she screeched as the man dropped her. That same shoulder of hers kept taking the brunt lately, and she let out a genuine cry of pain.
The three men sprinted away, Tivan slower than the rest, to Ksenia’s satisfaction.
After the streets fell quiet, Ksenia pushed herself up to stand and retrieved her scattered belongings, turning for the manor with a twisted smile.
The next trial was a few days off, and she had her own work to see to first.