Cael let out a long, deliberate sigh. "All this… for a horse?" His hands swept toward the corpses M had dispatched, their bodies all broken. Cael's voice carried no fear or exhaustion.
Leo slowly opened his eyes, stomach twisting and turning as he glanced at the bodies in front of him, at Bram, Wilas and Edric. Edric, who was still trying to crawl away, he had reached the bushes now.
"I won't kill you… yet," M snarled. "I'll make you suffer, just like you made me suffer." M looked at the dagger lodged in his left arm. Even in his blind rage, he knew taking it out would only speed up the bleeding. "You hurt my horse with a single stab wound. I'll put ten in your face."
"You think… you think witnessing a horse get wounded is… suffering?" Cael looked at M with complete disgust. "You think…" His jaw tightened. "Oh… you haven't seen suffering, boy. You haven't seen what I've seen. You are but a child." His eyes widened, frozen in place. His sharp features seemed to sharpen even more, carved by grief. "Helplessly WATCHING MEN, WOMEN, CHILDREN… BURN at the STAKE is SUFFERING. Where SNOW should have fallen, ASH drifted down instead." Something heavy moved behind his muddy eyes; for a moment the mask slipped but he caught himself, forcing the words back down before they could betray him further. The tension in his jaw eased. "While you think watching a horse getting wounded is suffering?" He chuckled silently. "A fucking horse getting hurt?"
A memory pierced through Sera's thoughts. She remembered a forbidden word from one of her history lessons. Her breath caught in her throat for just a moment. No. It can't be. Her eyes widened, locked onto Cael's. Could he… have witnessed the Snow-Scorchedmassacre?
Blood poured freely from M's chest and arm, soaking through black and green fabric, dripping onto the dirt like red ink. Each heartbeat was like a hammer.
Cael's lips curved into a faint frown. "You can't beat me. Even if you weren't wounded, I'd have bested you. So kneel, and I'll make your death a swift one. Refuse, and your squire will learn what true suffering is. He'll scream whilst I peel your Sorharian skin off your face after I kill you."
"He isn't from Sorhara." Sera said. "He was born here. It's obvious from… Hadrian's accent." She quickly pointed out, still calling M by the name she had made up earlier, she had to keep up the façade, if she wanted her fake guard to live.
M's rage wouldn't allow surrender. He staggered forward, sword in hand, left arm hanging uselessly. He swung wildly at Cael's head, desperation driving the swing. It was fast but unsteady. His precision all gone.
Cael didn't even flinch. He stepped aside with calm, terrifying patience. Mockery curled across his scarred lip. "You started off strong. Now look at you, poor bastard."
With a motion that was almost playful, Cael moved beside M and kicked him in the side of the chest. Air escaped M in a wet, ragged gasp. He fell back, clutching at nothing.
M tried again. He forced himself forward, a broken surge more than a charge, dragging what little strength he had left through his limbs. His blade rose for Cael's leather chest, but the movement was slow and trembling.
Cael intercepted it without effort. The two swords met for the briefest moment before Cael stepped inside. He twisted M's wrist sharply with his left hand. Pain shot up M's arm. Pike's sword slipped from his right hand.
Cael's boot drove into M's chest again, this time, aimed straight at the chest wound. The pain was immediate and overwhelming, tearing the air from his lungs in a broken gasp.
M fell hard. The ground hitting him, the force of it rattling throughout his spine. For a moment, everything blurred. He tried to move. His arm twitched weakly against the dirt. But that was all his body would give him.
Cael tilted his head. "Tsk tsk tsk… all that energy wasted when you slaughtered them. I thought this would be an interesting duel…" His voice suddenly became softer, whispering to the grass beneath him. "Not even Arles could beat me."
M lay on the dirt, blood slick and ragged, his chest rising shallowly, arms useless, sword gone. Rage burned out of him. Even though his thoughts screamed fury, it meant nothing then and there. Cael was now the hunter, and M, the helpless prey.
Cael loomed like a shadow of inevitability over M, a grim reaper. "I was going to kill these lot myself," he said as he glanced at the corpse of Bram. "Thank you… for doing it for me."
Sera breathed sharply through her nose. So he was going to kill his own friends, to have all that coin for himself once he sold me.
Sera had to try and save M. She didn't know anything about him or who he was, but she did know M meant well, and for that she had to try. He would make an excellent King's Shield, she thought, or even my personal guard. There was something different to him, but she could not pinpoint what exactly it was. "Don't kill him." Sera struggled against her bonds, staring right at Cael.
Cael shifted his head to the right, his sharp gaze falling on her.
"I… I don't know the things you've seen, or what you've gone through. But if you kill Hadrian, my... my personal guard. I'll tell my father to never stop hunting you down… Cael." She put her chin up. Forcing on a brave smile. "I know your name and what you look like. But if you spare him, I won't tell my father anything about you, I promise you that." She said with courage.
Cael let out a wicked smile, then laughed for a second. "No."
Leo's eyes widened and he shook his head in fear.
"You think—" He cackled hysterically, pressing his right boot against M's throat. "You think I'm scared of your father? Tell your father," he said. "Tell him my name. Tell him what I look like. Tell him everything about me. I'll be long gone once I ransom you." Cael shook his head mockingly. "Tell him... how I'm about to kill your precious, brown, guard dog."
Leo's mouth slowly opened wide in horror. No… He said he would find my father's killer. He promised me. Please don't die. Please… not you too, Leo thought. First his mother, then his father and now this man. "NO— PLEASE!!" Leo shouted, trying to break free from the ropes wrapped around his wrists. Tears came not as a gentle flow, but as a flood, hot and fat, blurring his world into a nightmarish colour. They were tears of defeat. The frantic energy bled out of him, leaving his limbs heavy and useless. He went limp, a small, broken thing dangling against a tree, his sobbing quieting to a hollow, hitching breath. The fight was over. Why does everyone around me die… Leo thought.
K turned barely, his big eyes fixed on M, who was battered and down. K was still bound to the tree. With a desperate surge, he tried one last gallop, straining against the ropes, to be free of it, so he could protect his rider. But it was useless, his wound, though small, throbbed sharply, sapping his strength.
M lay broken, wheezing. I'm sorry K… I couldn't kill him, the thought piercing him with guilt.
"I'll send a King's Sword after you!" Sera desperately exclaimed.
Cael rolled his eyes, paying no attention to the desperate shout of the princess. I could kill any one of the King's Sword, Cael thought, the boast feeling like truth in his mind. Even with just the leather jerkin and his mediocre sword. A flicker of doubt crossed his mind for just a second: Could I... really though? He shook his head. It was a pointless thought. A King's Sword wouldn't travel all the way to where he was going to go after the ransom.
"You abducted me… the princess of Kalrevon." Sera announced. "You think you'll find peace? Sorhara? Azoria? Lastfall Isles? No matter where you run to, I'll make sure bounty posters are put up everywhere of your face. Martin, my court artist will draw you perfectly, I've memorized your face, and I'll be sure to describe you to him perfectly. You'll be hunted down for the rest of your life. Unless… you leave him be."
Cael could not kill Sera and she knew it. She could say anything she wanted to and get away with it.
Her heart clenched. She looked at M, ragged, bloodied, barely awake. She understood what M had done. He tried saving me. Most men would not have dared bursting into the camp like that.
Edric was still dragging himself forward, fingers clawing at the dirt, nails splitting as he pulled his ruined leg inch by inch further away. Each movement left a darker smear behind him. A weak, broken sound tore from his throat, not quite a scream anymore. Twigs snapped softly, branches swallowing him piece by piece. The noise slowly faded away into something small and distant.
Think, think, think, threatening him won't work. Sera's mind raced, a frantic scramble for any lever, any key. Money, he'll want more money. "Spare him and I'll double your ransom."
M could not hear anything at all. His ears rang, swallowing the world around him, leaving only muffled voices he couldn't make out.
She thinks I'm a greedy bastard. Cael looked at Sera, the disappointment on his face was more chilling than anger would have been. "You'll be enough."
Failure. The word was a stone in her gut. She was lost. She was completely and utterly lost. Then it came. Where SNOW should have fallen, ASH drifted down instead. What Cael had said earlier. He was a witness to the massacre. If I can just tug on those heartstrings.
Her voice was softer now, not a command, as if she was sharing a hidden secret. "They say a mere guard ended the mad noble who caused the snow scorched massacre… You were once a guard weren't you?"
Cael's face went blank. The mockery, the cruelty, it all drained away in an instant from his face, leaving behind a hollow emptiness. It wasn't the face of a man remembering heroism. It was the placid mask of a predator that has just been touched in a very old, very sensitive place.
Sera, misreading the silence, pressed on, her voice gaining a desperate confidence. "You were the true heroes, you really were. All of you had to watch, unaware of what was about to happen. Please, spare my guard. He's just like you; he did not know what he was getting himself into. Hadrian tried to save me, just as you and the other good men tried saving so many on that cursed day."
Why is she so keen on saving him?Love? Cael shook his head, trying to push away the memories of that day which were crashing over him from all sides. "You have a sharp mind," he said, his voice low and hollow, the mockery finally gone, replaced by a terrible certainty. "But you mistake the man I was for the man I am. The only true kindness is a clean death away from the fire. Which I shall grant your guard, so be grateful."
Leo went deathly still. As if he had given up on life entirely. It was obvious, just by looking at his pale face. His whole mind blank. In just a day, the child had witnessed five men die.
Sera's head shook in a slow defeat. Cael made up his mind the second M had started the fight. Cael could not be swayed, it was already too late.
M tried getting up, one last push, but it was worthless. Cael's boot stomped on M's throat, bringing his whole body back to the ground. M had nothing left in him, nothing except guilt. Cael's dagger was still lodged in M's left arm, blood seeping steadily from the wound. Each wheezing breath set his chest ablaze, the pain clawing up his throat like fire. He tried opening his lips, tried talking, but he couldn't even manage to spit out a single word. The only thing he could do, was think as his vision blurred.
K… I'm sorry, I couldn't protect you. A flicker of the horse straining against the rope burned behind his eyes. Loyal. Still fighting the rope. Still trying.
Leo… Silas… I gave you my word I'd find your father's killer.... but I can't, not anymore. I wish you well… you remind me of myself when I was a child, I hope life is kinder to you. He could almost hear Leo's voice, feel that blind trust he never deserved.
Maria… I promised you I'd return this cloak back to you… It's too late for that now. I lost your damn ring as well, I'm a fucking liar.
Women… Lady… Princess… whatever the fuck your name is, he'll ransom you back to your father. You'll… you'll be fine. As all royals and nobles are. Eating, drinking, sleeping, while the rest of us suffer. His head tilted left, M's eyes found Sera's, her stunning purple eyes radiant and bright even then. She looked like an angel with brown hair. Maybe… this is… mercy. Maybe… I'll see her. My mother. After death… I wonder what my mother looked like. Maybe she looked like you…
They both stared at each other. Sera found herself drowning in his eyes. His eyes are so beautiful. The thought ached in her heart. Most people found M's eyes wicked, a warning sign to stay away. But Sera saw something different there: a dark beauty to them. She couldn't look away, even then, even knowing how it would end.
Cael's boot still pressed down on M's throat. You would have made a great sparring partner back in the day. He thought. A faint, trembling smile escaped from his lips, only for it to vanish in an instant. He met M's gaze directly, a flicker of genuine respect in his eyes, he looked at him not as an enemy, but at a reflection of his past self. A capable, violent man who dared to care about something. "You fought well… you really did, boy. Killing four souls, by yourself, at your age is impressive." The instant Cael had glanced M's face, he knew, he was young. "Your throwing was decent," Cael began. "Fast. Accurate. A dagger to the eye, was the wrong choice. Should've aimed straight for Bram's brain. But it still wouldn't have mattered… You lost the moment you got angry. You could've walked out of this untouched… if you knew how to control yourself." Cael lifted his sword, both hands gripped his sword's hilt, the tip hovering straight down at M's tired face. "Be glad your end is cold steel… I've seen men burning in fire… I'm giving you the silence I heard them beg for…"