Chapter 52 The Silver Captain pt3
“Come out, come out, wherever you are! Daughter of Hellbane, fodder to my blade,” Steel says, his sing-song tone mocking me. He’s making no effort to hide the sound of his movements, and maybe that’s because he doesn’t have Bane’s training. But I do. I know how to listen when I can’t see, and I know how to move without being heard.
I slink around in the shadows, staying low, keeping my ears peeled. The crowd has gone deathly quiet. Only a few annoyed moans that they can’t see anything can be heard over the breathing of the two men trying to kill me.
“I can handle this, Steel,” Zaries barks in frustration.
“I’m sure you can, fodder, but it did look like you were having fun. You said you’d be the one to kill her, right? What if I get to her first? She’s not learning my magic. She deserves to be punished!”
“You promised not to intervene!”
“Obviously I fucking lied, fodder. I want to cut this traitor open and see if she bleeds as black as her heart is!”
I swallow hard, trying to put as much space between me and the men as possible. Steel sounds like he has a personal vendetta, but why would he?
“On my father’s name, Steel, if you interfere I will end you myself!” Zaries threatens. I can hear him try to move between me and his captain again, but Steel’s too fast.
“You will call upon the name of my nephew to spite me, fodder?” Steel hisses, swinging his swords blindly through the air.
I scream as the tip of one blade slices my shoulder, severing the leather strap holding the shoulder pieces on. They fall with a clatter, revealing my position more than my scream.
Both men lunge.
I duck and weave, kicking out my right leg and sweeping one of them off their feet. I hear a male grunt and the clank of armor, but there’s no time to stop and see who I’ve hit. I jump to my feet, intending to run, but hit a chest with the force of my speed and collapse backward.
“Do you have any idea, little slave, how it feels to watch the dragon whose power you’ve harnessed eat your kin alive?” Steel asks, his voice cold as ice. “To watch the boy who grew up and took your place as next in line fall? And to know it’s all because a little slave bitch taunted the dragon?”
“No, I—” His swords slice through the air again, hitting me in the other shoulder. My shadows flicker as my chest plate falls off, my shock stronger than the hold on my newly acquired powers.
“You what? You didn’t piss off a dragon and lead him back to the castle?” Steel roars, stabbing downward with his sword.
I’m barely fast enough as I spread my legs and he strikes the stones, the sword jamming between them. My shadows drop, and I shudder in shame. Everyone can see the tears on my face now. Tears of fear, anguish, and guilt.
“There she is.” Steel frowns down at me, laying his sword over his shoulder as he glowers. “Tell me, little slave girl, how did it feel when you caused the death of two monarchs in one day?”
Don’t listen to him, it wasn’t your fault.
But it was, wasn’t it? I brought Zaries back to the castle, he needed medical attention. I knew the dragon would likely follow, but I did it anyway.
I scream in pain as Steel’s sword slashes my chest, cutting me shallowly from my right shoulder to my left hip. My leathers split, the bottom portion falling off and pouring blood down my exposed chest.
“You don’t deserve to be a slayer!” Steel roars, raising his sword to cut off my head.
He’s right, I don’t.
I close my eyes, bending my head back. I never knew the king had a surviving family member other than Zaries, but if I go out like this, it’s redemption all the same. I only wish it had happened long ago.
The whistle of his blade makes me wince, but the clang of metal against metal has my eyes flying open.
Zaries kneels in front of me, his dual blades crossed and stopping his great uncle's sword in its path. “Enough,” he growls. “If revenge is to be taken, it will be by me. Not by a man who hadn’t seen his nephew since he was fucking born!”
“Ungrateful whelp!” Steel snarls, raising his sword again and slapping the broad side against Zaries’ face.
I can't help the scream that comes out of my throat, nor can I stop my body from lunging forward and catching Zaries before he falls.
He grunts, his hands covering mine on his chest for a moment. My head is over his shoulder and I can see the thin line of blood slipping from the split in his cheek.
“You never even tried to teach her, and you never intended to, did you?” Zaries asks, slowly standing. He pulls me up behind him, never letting go of my hand. “Was it your plan to kill her the moment you got the chance?”
“Bloodlust runs in the family, wouldn’t you say?”
The crowd around us boos in distaste, stepping closer and shouting at Steel. Servants and captains both approach Steel with disdain, making him back up from where Zaries and I stand.
“Killing her while we train has no honor, uncle,” Zaries snarls, his voice barely audible over the roar of the crowd. “I will kill her on the battlefield, like a soldier. Like a slayer! Not like a coward who’s boasting his power over someone weaker than he is.”
“Letting him kill me would have been justified,” I whisper.
“How many times do I have to say I will be the one to kill you?” Zaries growls, turning toward me and wrapping his hand around the back of my neck. “That wasn’t just, that was an execution. If you deserved that, you would have died the day my father did. Come, you’re not decent.”
I look down, mostly in shame, but when I see my exposed chest, I yelp and cover myself as best as I can.
“Your wounds need tending as well,” Zaries groans.
Before I know it, Zaries bends and sweeps my legs out from underneath me. One moment I’m standing on my own two feet and the next he’s cradling me in his arms like some damsel in distress.
“Give me that!” he barks at a servant, nodding at her threadbare shawl. She hands it over instantly, fear in her eyes, and I use it to cover myself quickly.
“I’ll return this,” I tell her, but the woman shakes her head and turns away from us without another word. “Zaries, you can’t just take whatever you want,” I chide.
“Shut up, Anara.” He sighs heavily, turning toward Thorne’s tower.
“Where do you think you’re going, fodder?” Steel roars.
Zaries stops, turning to face his uncle with a face harder than solid rock. “This training session is over. Unless you want to disobey the future king?”
I watch Steel's face darken to murderous, but he doesn’t come for us. He turns away angrily and storms back toward his barracks.
Satisfied, Zaries begins to walk again.
“Zaries, why don’t you just kill her?” Malachi shouts from behind a line of spectators. “Everyone knows how badly you want to. Just do it. Or let me? I can do it right here and now!”
“You lay one finger on her and I’ll take the hand,” Zaries threatens and walks on.
For long moments, he carries me soundlessly through the courtyard. The storm billows above us, rain pelting our skin, but his eyes stay focused on the fortress and not me.
“I can walk, you know. It’s just a flesh wound.”
“Shut up, Anara,” he says again as he rolls his eyes, his teeth clenched so hard I can see the muscles in his jaws flex under the shadow of a beard.
“If you let Steel kill me, I couldn’t talk back.”
Zaries’ hands stiffen, his fingers digging into my shoulder where my armor has fallen.
“There would be no honor in allowing your slaughter,” he says simply, refusing to look at me.
“So where are you taking me, then? To kill me in private? Put me down!” I thrash in his arms like a child, kicking and flailing as he pushes the door to the fortress open and steps into the much darker room.
The door slams behind us, and he turns to slam my body into it. I screech in surprise as he uses the door to support my weight and frees one hand to stuff the end of the shawl in my mouth and uses the other end to bind my hands.