Chapter 19 #2
Behind me, Ireas chuckled in amusement. I glared at him and motioned for him to leave because if he didn’t hurry up, he would surely be caught in the crossfire and then would be forced to join me. Since he wouldn’t like what I had planned for one bit, I hoped he’d make haste and just disappear.
Finally, he understood the message I’d been trying to convey, saluted, and left me alone with the farmers, his face contorted with discontent.
Was his aversion to bloodshed rooted in his personality, or did it have something to do with his vocation?
Deciding to ask him later, I turned my attention back to the villagers.
Lucky for them, no one tried any funny business with Ireas, and they just let him leave. With him and the horses out of the way, I grinned at the bunch of farmers. But my smirk froze on my face and turned to utter wrath when one of the vermin addressed me again.
“Maybe I’ll test her after we’re done with you and the rest of your men.
Where are they, by the way? Ahh, I bet pretty boy is racing to them for help?
They’ll never get here in time and will only find your cold, dead corpse before dying themselves.
Afterward, we’ll take turns with the bitch the merchant wants before collecting our bounty. ”
Fire was racing through my veins, igniting me in the process. Farmer Three obviously had the biggest death wish, and I had to rein myself in not to charge at him instantly.
Outwardly calm but burning on the inside, I watched him approach me, his hand finally on his weapon, or at least on the poor excuse for one.
“Let me inform you of something: she’s wanted because she defended herself against a man who tried to rape her.
And I’ve sworn to myself that she’ll never find herself in another situation where she has to make such a choice.
” I casually approached the men and stopped a few paces in front of them, staring intently at Farmer Three.
All of them looked unfazed, and I was sure that they still believed that I was unarmed and defenseless.
Cute. “She was devastated about taking a life. But, you know what? I don’t have such compunctions. ” It was time to play.
Giving in to the fury boiling inside of me, I allowed the monster to come to the surface, let the part of me out to play that was dark and twisted, and I could tell that the farmers felt the shift.
I relished the unease entering the eyes of my opponents as wisps of darkness caressed my skin with gentle motions. All the restraints I normally placed on myself fell away, and I basked in the sensations this freedom gave to me.
Feeling the power crackling under my skin, sensing it coursing through my veins, knowing that my eyes turned black as night—how I had missed it. Now that I wasn’t holding back, I could almost recognize myself again.
The man—no, the boy holding the horses—I internally dubbed him Farmhand—called over, “Hurry up and get it over with. He isn’t even armed.” He was playing brave, although the fear that had crept into his expression gave him away and was already morphing into horror.
A forced sigh escaped me as the farmers agreed with the youngling and drew their weapons, but I could tell that it cost them to keep up their bravado.
Farmer One shook and almost lost the sword he was wielding because of it, and I got the impression from Farmer Two that the greatest battle he had to fight was the one against his bladder.
One he’d already lost, judging by the fabric that darkened between his legs.
Well, it wouldn’t be the only fight he would lose today.
Both men jerked their heads around back to where they came from, and I was certain that at least one of them would try to run away. However, Farmer Three was the only one who still showed an ounce of determination. Not that it would help him.
“Any last wishes, Cantor?”
“Only one. I wish you were more of a challenge.” Urged on by some dark force in my mind, I pulled at my magic and materialized my favorite type of sword—and weapon of choice—and welcomed it like an old friend.
The blade was slightly larger than those typically wielded in one hand and darker than pitch.
It was made of the same material as the midnight dagger I’d crafted for Nayana, but since this one was only an extension of myself and not meant to last, I could summon it faster than others could draw their weapons.
Of course, none of those hinterland men had ever seen a magical blade of darkness that appeared out of nothing, and I made good use of the seconds they stared at it. Jumping in front of Farmhand, I severed his head from his neck with a single clean swipe as the horses recoiled and fled. Too simple.
Slowly turning around, I was greeted by shocked expressions I couldn’t help but savor.
My attention turned to Farmer Three—the most despicable of the remaining trio—and, coaxing some more magic free, I built a small bubble of impenetrable darkness around him.
This man had threatened Nayana with rape, and I was a spiteful asshole with too much power at my disposal—Fig’s words, not mine.
A quick death would be too generous to satisfy the hatred that poured into my body with every beat of my heart, and I planned to take my time with him later.
His pained cry told me he’d tried to escape his temporary prison and hurt himself in the process. Good.
Without hesitation, I whirled around my own axis, and in the blink of an eye, I was in front of Farmer One. My sword clashed against his poor excuse of a blade so hard I could hear his teeth clank and his bones rattle, and my opponent’s weapon snapped cleanly in half.
“Underworld spawn!” He barely dodged my next lazy swing—I’d wanted him to think he was fast enough, so I held back, and still, he almost ended up cut in two.
Amused, I flashed him my teeth in a grin and chuckled.
It was so predictable how people explained what they didn’t understand with religious allegories, no matter how wrong they were, and I couldn’t do anything but laugh every time it happened.
“Not quite. But feel free to call me a god. You wouldn’t be the first one. ”
I was done holding back, now allowing the inferno in my blood to fuel me, and with a clean strike, I drove my blade into Farmer Two’s chest, who thought he could not only sneak up on me but also stab me with the dagger he was wielding.
Even without taking my eyes off Farmer One, my blade hit true, and my attacker crumpled to the ground.
Bored already, I struck Farmer One in the same way, letting him fall to bleed out. So far, not even my breath had picked up. Pathetic.
But I’d saved the best for last: It was time for Farmer Three to pay the price for his earlier threats against Nayana and my comrades.
I willed the prison of darkness around him to disappear and savored the horror revealed in his eyes, which was soon joined by shock and panic as he spotted his fallen and dying companions.
He reacted exactly as I’d thought he would, which was no surprise: the likes of him were usually predictable.
His shoes kicked up loose dirt as he scrambled and ran away.
But I wasn’t having it. I considered myself a monster, but at least I was one with my own moral compass. And assaulting females, or even threatening to do so, made it to the top of my list of punishable crimes.
So I sent thin ribbons of shadows after him, which curled all around his body and solidified, stopping his escape attempt with ease. I sauntered toward him, still radiating the deadly air of danger I wasn’t bothering to smother.
“Tell me, farmer.” I stopped directly in front of him, basking in the music of his panicked breaths.
My shadows weren’t hurting him, merely holding his body in place, and if that was already too much for him, he wouldn’t like what his immediate future had in store for him.
Studying him like a strange insect on the wall, I canted my head.
“How often have you taken females against their will?”
“Ne…never.”
“Lie. Try that again, and I’ll show you what true suffering is.” Which was my plan anyway, but he didn’t have to know it just yet.
“It…it isn’t forcing be—because it’s my wife.”
Kill.
I took in a sharp breath. Narrowing my eyes, I manifested additional black cords around him, altering their surface until they were razor-sharp.
“Guess I’ll do your future widow a big favor.
” I couldn’t help but smile, the one that witnesses had called unhinged or deranged before.
They wouldn’t like to see me if I’d truly lose it—even I wasn’t sure that I wanted to.
Kill.
The man pleaded, but I slowly tightened the shadow cords around him with vengeance in my heart and wildness in my eyes.
Farmer Three screamed as soon as they worked their way through his threadbare clothes and pricked into his skin.
His pleading turned to painful whimpering as his prison of thin, cutting shadows slowly gradually contracted, becoming tighter and smaller, tearing through flesh and blood.
All the hatred threatening to bury my rational side urged me on to utter carnage—to rip, to tear, to destroy.
Kill.
Even though I was lost to the primal beast, I was careful not to damage any vital arteries, which would allow him to perish faster than I wanted.
There would be no mercy for this rapist, not even the one of a quick death.
His screams were a source of delight as one band cut off the first finger, and I couldn’t help but roar with manic laughter at his agony.
Kill. Kill. Kill!
Nothing could stop me, not until I’d cut this despicable male to pieces. Compared to him, I was a god, and he was the pest under my boot. And all the while, I’d imagine it was Thain I had at my mercy.