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Chapter Forty-Nine
"You look so different," Kian said, placing the silver dragon egg in his backpack. At the bottom, he'd carefully stuffed his Timeron knight armor and hard-earned spurs. Dressed once more in his killsuit (repaired thanks to Alexi), he tested out the twin blades on his arm.
"But do I look handsome?" Alexi asked, gazing in the mirror.
He'd cut his black hair short and now wore a deerstalker cap on his head. He had on a vest and dress shirt, black brushed cotton trousers, a silk puff tie with black elastic Y-back braces, and a gray frock coat. On his feet he wore a pair of men's lace up boots made of black leather. He had a gold timepiece that he slipped into a pocket on his right. Kian actually thought Alexi looked quite dashing, but he did miss the stiletto heels.
"I've no makeup on," Alexi remarked. "It feels...weird."
"I accept you for whomever you want to be," Kian said, eyes smiling. "Flaws and all." Kian stood and slipped up behind Alexi and put his metal-clad arms around his vertically-challenged paramour. Alexi turned into him and placed his head sideways on the hard metal of Kian's chest. Kian popped the visor so that it slid out of place, bent his knees so that he was at eye-level with Alexi, and kissed him on the lips. "Yes, you look handsome. And very manly."
Alexi stared at Kian with brown eyes brimming with tears, "Thanks."
"What?" Kian asked.
"It's nice being told that by someone that's so...alpha," Alexi said, sniffing.
"Alpha? Is that what I am? And is that really all that's bothering you?" Kian asked with his wonderful Atlantean accent.
"It's nothing," Alexi said, wiping his tears. Then he paused as if in thought. "Actually there is something...Kian, h-how many people have you killed?" Alexi asked.
"I'm not sure. More than a hundred," he said. "But why does that matter. I'm trained to kill. I'll be killing more very soon."
"Would you ever kill me?" Alexi asked.
"That's an odd question," Kian said, taking a step back and leaning against the tub where he'd washed only an hour before.
"It's a legitimate question," Alexi said. "And will you answer it, please?"
"No matter what I said, would you believe me?" Kian asked. "I'm a contract killer, Alexi."
"So answer the question," Alexi said. "I have to know if I can trust you. Trust is really important. The absence of trust makes people do bad things...things they can live to regret."
Kian grinned. "I think we know the answer to that, don't we?" Kian stepped over to him, put index finger to Alexi's chin and raised it so he could kiss Alexi's lips again. "I was once told that regret is stupid, so never regret anything. Now stop with the interrogation. I give you my word that you can trust me completely." He put his hand over his heart. "Cross my heart and hope to die."
"Whoever told you that sounds stupid," Alexi said. "Regret is a perfectly legitimate emotion and has its value."
Kian clamped his mouth shut and thought about what Alexi just said, eyes peering across the bridge of his nose at the shadow drake. "Can I process that for a while?" Kian asked.
"I don't care. Kian, you're very young. It's possible a lot of stuff people told you was just bullshit intended to manipulate you into doing things. You should question what people tell you. It's the basis of critical thinking," Alexi said.
Kian blinked and replied, "But everything happens for a reason, right?"
"No," Alexi said. "That's another stupid saying. There are lots of things that happen for no reason at all. You and I didn't meet because it was god's plan."
"But maybe it was Tethyr's plan," Kian said with a smirk.
"I doubt it. My god's Milbar, god of magic and time," Alexi said.
"Well, you're worshiping the wrong god, obviously," Kian said. "I could tell you about Tethyr if you—"
Alexi sighed and it made Kian stop with what he was saying.
His friend swallowed hard, but Kian could tell that something bothered the boy. "Is this about the trust thing? Is that what's got you gutted? Alexi, you can trust me."
Or maybe it was that he just danced around the question intentionally. Kian knew in his heart that he'd never go against the orders of Tethyr's church. Not for anyone. That's how strong his faith was in the god of thieves. For Alexi to question that put Kian a little on edge, and more than once his eyes fell across a strange little case that Alexi kept close to him. It was made of black leather and had gold locks on it. The handle was oak and exquisitely wrought, and Alexi gripped it like his life depended on it, white knuckles and all.
What's inside that thing? Kian thought. Do I even want to know?
As he stared at it, another wave of nausea hit. "I feel sick," he said.
It gripped his innards and tied them into knots, made him light-headed, and ultimately inflicted him with dizziness. That made the tenth time today. Kian turned to a bucket he'd filled to the halfway mark with vomit, and threw up in it. It was hard keeping anything down, and his throat burned from the stomach acid. After a few minutes, he wiped his mouth with a cloth towel and drank some water. As he stood, he came face-to-face with Ziggy perched on a shelf.
"Perhaps you should keep your visor down so that the Master doesn't get whatever it is that you've caught," Ziggy said.
Kian nodded and then turned back to Alexi. "You don't feel anythin'? I mean...we shared fluids...lots of fluids. I never get sick, and here I am feeling like I'm a dog's dinner, and you're just fine."
"I'm fine, but maybe Paul's feeling a little under the weather," Alexi said.
Just then Paul walked in carrying his bag and whistling a tune. His rosy cheeks and makeup looked great. Dressed in a gown with rich brocades, lavish trims, and rounded shoulders, Kian definitely admired the elegant lace up back that added to the overall beauty of the piece. The predominant color was gold, and it matched a killer set of high heels.
Did these boys come into some money recently? All this shite looks new, Kian thought.
Kian coughed into his fist for almost half a minute. Then he said, "Why am I the only one that's sick?" he asked.
Paul stared at Alexi for a moment and the uncomfortable silence filled the air like doom.
"Maybe it's allergies," Alexi offered.
"You think?" Kian asked. I wish I knew more about things like allergies. Anything beyond first aid might be useful, he thought. Aren't rashes caused by allergies? I don't have a rash.
"It could be that you're allergic to something...could be anything," Paul said. He put on a non-descript brown cloak and said, "Or maybe you're just tired from working out. It's not healthy to have all those muscles. Shit, while you waited for your bath to get hot you did what? Fifty pull-ups?"
"A hundred," Kian corrected, flexing his bicep to look at it. It formed a sphere on his upper arm, all veined and sinewy. "And says who? Exercise is good for you."
Paul shrugged his shoulders. "I profess I'm not up to date on Atlantean male physiology but do you eat broccoli? What about kale? My mom always told me that those were essential."
"W-What?" Kian asked, perplexed. "No, I haven't had kale or spinach in a while."
"How about beets?" Alexi asked.
"I hate the taste of beets," Kian replied, staring at his feet somewhat morosely. "Please don't say I have to start eating beets. I'm a meat eater."
"Well that might be it," Paul said. "You should listen to necromancers, we study biology."
"And before I forget," Alexi said, and then handed him a pouch with money in it, "there's two thousand gold crowns inside. Like I said at the Ball of Moon's Blood, you can count on me to pay you back."
Kian hefted it in his hand, gave Alexi a questioning look, and then put it in his backpack which he then donned, snapping the belt tight over his waist. Then he put on his sword.
"Where did you get it?" Kian asked.
"Get what?" Alexi responded.
"The quid. I'm not blind. Where did you get it?" Kian asked.
"I found some art in one of the rooms and sold it to an art collector," Alexi said. "Anyway, I think we're ready. Let's go and meet your friends."
Kian took another drink of water and decided not to press the issue. He'd seen a couple of Alexi's picks for art hanging on the walls. Some looked great, but Kian couldn't imagine them being worth all that much. But what the fuck do I know about art? Kian thought. And, they'd just got done talking about trust. So Kian resolved to trust that Alexi had just told him the truth, however unlikely it seemed. He just nodded, and resealed his visor.
Alexi scooped up Ziggy. Then they followed Kian out of the academy and into the foggy night. Alexi and Ziggy hailed a carriage, and Kian took to the road to make sure they weren't followed. Twice he signaled to Alexi to change carriages and circle through Slippery Squib before hopping another to get to Sooty Shingle and the Spendthrift Mistress. However, once they got into Sooty Shingle, the carriage had to stop as the road into the quarter where the Spendthrift Mistress was located had been blocked off.
Kian smelt smoke thick in the air and saw a ruddy glow over the four story rooftops in the distance. "No," he said, under his breath, fearing the worst.
Alexi and Paul got out of the carriage and wandered over to the side of the road now choked with fleeing crowds.
Soldiers from the Blades Acuaruum called out for onlookers to stay behind the barricade. "There's a bad fire!" Dudley yelled, appearing out of the smoke and gloom. "For your safety, go and stay with a friend or relative tonight. There's four buildings on fire in Penny Square. We're trying to put them out, but the whole quarter is in danger!"
Kian slipped next to Alexi, giving him a good startle. "I have to go." He looked around and spotted a sign that displayed a woman standing next to a tree. Its roots formed a roof over a bed. It was in the next street over, but Kian could see the door through the alleyway behind him. Of course, he saw letters but couldn't form them into words. "There...that's an inn, right?"
Alexi rolled his eyes, "You want us to stay at `The Silly Dryad?'"
"Is that the name? Look...it's only temporary, and I'll come back for you once it's safe."
Alexi shook his head and muttered something under his breath. "Go, we'll wait for you." Before Kian took off, Alexi grabbed his hand and said, "Be careful."
Kian raised his visor, kissed Alexi, and then closed it once more. Then he took off through the streets, teleporting from shadow to shadow, and disappearing into darkness, smoke, and fog. Above, the night sky glowed brighter and brighter with flame as he approached the Spendthrift Mistress.
When he arrived, he came across an inferno. Firefighters with buckets had backed away from the central building which crackled as if hell itself had unleashed upon it. Kian heard cries from inside and wasted no time, teleporting through the walls, trusting in his recollection of the layout to carry him to the main room.
He arrived in a smoke-filled haze, disoriented but otherwise in one piece.
The heat was stifling, but his killsuit filtered out much of the smoke from getting into his lungs. There were six children in the main room, huddled under wet sheets. One of them, Renfro, had passed out from the smoke. Next to him, his dog barked loudly.
He knelt and grabbed Renfro, a boy, and a girl in his arms, the boy climbed on his back, burns covering his forearms. "Hold on!" Kian shouted over the crackle of fire. The boy nodded. Then Kian turned to the others. "I'll be back in just a few seconds."
He flashed outside, deposited the kids in the snow of an alleyway he'd spotted that was half a block away, and teleported inside again. He grabbed the other kids, having two hold onto his back this time so that he could scoop the dog under his arm. Then he teleported outside into the alleyway again and dropped them off near a set of garbage cans overflowing with trash. Sparks and glowing ashes fell about them like snow, but at least they were safe here.
"How many more are inside?" Kian asked, gray stuff sloughing from his spaulders.
The dog licked Renfro's face, and Kian saw the boy start to cough and blink. Tethyr's teeth, Kian thought. Thank you, my lord, for sparing his life.
A girl (with a face smudged in soot) said, "There's more in the chapel. The fire spread so quickly."
Kian frowned, teleported inside, saw two bodies lying on the ground and checked their pulse. Surprisingly, he found he could feel a weak heartbeat in one even without taking off his gloves. It was like his nerves had gained sensitivity. The other was verifiably dead.
Kian scooped this girl of sixteen up, teleported outside with her, and left her with the children. Then he flashed inside once more and continued down to the chapel of Tethyr. When he got there, he found the door barricaded. There were two dead men lying in pools of blood, their throats slit, and their arms cut off.
What the fuck? Kian thought. Then he kicked the door in.
Smoke and a couple of fires burned in the room. He saw Annie, checked for a pulse, and saw she was alive. He picked up Fiver who was unconscious under a pew and then teleported them out. When he translocated back into the room, the heat was almost unbearable. Kian held up his gauntleted hand and looked about the room. That's when he saw Ephram nailed to the wall with his own sword, his throat cut, but at least he wasn't on fire. At his feet lay Shae and Brunhilda, cut into three pieces, their bodies smoldering. Kian walked over, pulled Ephram down and slung the knight's body over his shoulder.
"Help!" someone called out.
Kian flashed out of the room back into the alley, dropped Ephram's corpse on the ground and then went back inside the chapel, all in about a second's time. He glanced toward the altar where the pleas of help had come. Behind it was Akagi and an unconscious Henna and Markain Kragar. Kian leapt over some four-foot flames and grabbed the three of them, instructing Akagi to hold onto his neck, and then teleported them outside to join the others.
The kids in the alley immediately started attending to Henna and the old priest. Renfro, fully conscious now, just sat with his back against the wall coughing. Over Kian's shoulder, the glow from the Spendthrift Mistress grew as the fire raged.
"Is there anyone else inside?" Kian asked a boy, who looked up at him with the softest green eyes.
"Most got out Mr. Hunter. But if there were any left, they'd be in the boy's sleeping porch. It doesn't have a fire exit," the child said.
Kian grimaced. "What floor is that on?"
"The third floor sir," the boy replied.
Kian looked at the building, fire streaming from walls on the second and third floor. "Tell me what side it's on? East, west, north, or south?"
"It's the south corner, Mr. Hunter."
Kian clenched his teeth and teleported blind. He hurtled into the void, the distance greater than five-hundred feet, and once more (like he had felt on the Bone Wall) Kian felt the brush of something powerful and evil slide over him. He saw a goat-headed human turn upon him, a violet nimbus flaring in the darkness as its eyes opened to gaze upon this intruder into the nether umbral plane.
Then he popped out of the umbra into a room with several teenaged boys hiding under beds, smoke circled the ceiling, and stifling heat filled the room. There were four of them, and Kian had never made a jump with so much weight. Adding to the complication was the fact that two of them were unconscious.
He ran over to them, tears streaked their muddy faces. But when they saw him, their eyes opened wide in recognition. Kian told the conscious boys to grab him about the back and the neck. Then he scooped the unconscious lads into his arms, bearing the weight of both bodies on his strong forearms.
He sidestepped into the umbral plane again, dodged the grasping hand of the goat-headed god, and landed in the snow and ice, falling and cracking his knees on the ground with the four teenagers he'd rescued from the building. Breathing heavily, Kian pushed himself up on all fours, popped his visor, and asked, "Is there anyone else you can think of that's in there?"
"No, Mr. Hunter," one of the teenaged boys said, coughing. "We helped all the girls evacuate and got cut off by the flames. We'd be on fire right now if it wasn't for you. Thank you."
Kian nodded and hacked up some spit. Even with the protection of the killsuit helmet, his lungs burned a little.
The kids who were conscious collapsed around him, hugging him, and crying. Kian never felt anything like this, and his own emotions ran amok. At this moment, he'd never been more proud to have his abilities, because he was able to make a difference to those whom he called family.
After all the feels, he helped get the others awake, administering to some mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. Many of them spent long minutes coughing. However, Kian noticed Markain Kragar had blood soaking through his robes, and the color looked black. Henna was trying to get Annie awake and had the girl on her side, slapping her back. So Kian went to the old man's side, and started looking for the source of all that blood so that he could either staunch it or cauterize it somehow. When he discovered the wound, it drained the color from Kian's face.
The old man opened his eyes and motioned for Kian to lean in close to him.
"You must get bandages," Henna said. "We were attacked by something terrible...out of this world. A warrior in skin-tight black metal armor even more alien than that thing you wear. His head looked like it belonged to a mantis, and he was much larger than you and stronger."
"But not faster," Markain Kragar whispered, voice weak. "No one is faster. Bandages are useless for me. Hunter. I'm not long for this world, but a name appeared in my prayer this morning. The church wants you to kill Headmaster Ivan Boritsi of the Academy of Necromancy before the light of dawn crests in the East."
"Before dawn? That's impossible. I have to help these children and find the Nightmaster, Brusenna. I have to find Dallin Christopher. He wasn't in the chapel," Kian said. "An assassination can wait."
"I order you by the Church of Tethyr to obey!" Markain Kragar said, body stiffening. "You will drop everything by my command as Tethyr's vicar on earth!"
Kian sat back on his haunches. He couldn't get out of this. An order from a priest of the cloth was undeniable. So, Kian nodded his head and sealed his helmet. "As you command, my priest," Kian said reluctantly.
"Hunter," Markain Kragar said, as Kian stood. "The man that did this was Watcher."
"Who is Watcher?" Kian asked.
"The first Black Dragon Assassin," Markain Kragar said.
Kian popped his visor open and stared at the cleric with incredulity. "T-That's impossible. I was the first Black Dragon Assassin."
Markain Kragar shook his head. "There was another. Tethyr tried to start this order a thousand years ago and chose a man whom history now knows only as Watcher. His betrayal of the church is one of our best kept secrets, but I think you need to know about it now. He cannot harm you as long as you don't attack him. He burned our home to anger you...to drive you into action. But you are protected because your soul is whole and pure and devoted to Tethyr. As long as that condition doesn't change, he cannot attack you or use his powers against you."
Kian shook his head, wanting very much not to believe what he was being told. "Why was I not informed about this?"
"The church is ashamed, Hunter. Tethyr is ashamed. Once a gift is given it cannot be revoked. Watcher turned on Tethyr's blessings and embraced the teachings of the goddess of death. Tethyr's only option was to limit the damage Watcher could do to his church. And out of pride, he struck the memory of Watcher from all the literature within the religion. It took a thousand years before he decided to try and restart the Black Dragon Assassin order, this time with you. However, priests know of Watcher, for we are taught in our schools about his abilities, and how he is never to be crossed. Hunter, Watcher has command over time itself, he can freeze it, create a duplicate of himself, and even travel through time although the last has been hampered quite a bit by Milbar, god of magic and time, who (with Tethyr's blessing) sicked the royal time elementals after Watcher once when he abused this power."
Kian stood there, perplexed with what the dying priest was telling him. "What exactly are you saying?" Kian asked.
"Hunter...you cannot beat Watcher, as much as you'd like to I know," Markain Kragar said.
Kian stood there in silence, the crackle of flame punctuated by the occasional fall of timber logs. Then it all became clear. "You know where Watcher is, don't you? He's waiting for me. You have to tell me!"
Markain Kragar raised his hand. "I do. He told me he would wait for you until dawn. He wants you to challenge him in a place I shall not name. If you don't show up, he'll leave. But he said not facing him now will only mean that you must face him in the future. That and he will hurt the ones you love until you either seek him out, or he kills everyone you care about."
"You have to tell me where to find him!" Kian yelled.
But Markain Kragar dropped his hand, his eyes glazed over, and a moment later Kian realized he was gone.
"No! You can't leave me like this!" Kian screamed.
Then Henna said, "Hunter! We need your help. Please! We've got to get these children someplace out of the cold. They need medicine, some are having trouble breathing. And some are still unconscious."
Exasperated, Kian blinked, looked around him at the frightened faces and then said, "There's an inn...uhm...it's called the Silly Dryad. My friends Alexi and Paulina are there. Tell them I sent you, and they'll help. I'll meet you there...I just have to go and do something."
"What he ordered you to do," Henna said. "It can't wait?"
Kian stared at the elven druidess in frustration and gestured helplessly. "No, it can't," he said softly. "I'm sworn to the church of Tethyr. I must do as my priest commands. Please...just go there...the Silly Dryad. It's a terrible name I know, but you'll be safe. If you find Dallin Christopher, tell him as well. I'll be along soon, I promise." Then he pointed in the direction they needed to go in order to reach the inn.
And then Hunter took off into the night to perform the last command of Markain Kragar, priest of Tethyr.
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