A Familiar Path

"I'm pretty sure that's considered cheating." Sitting up from his hammock, Kayn stretched his arms and yawned.

"How's that?" Ryze stood at the bow of the ship with closed eyes and open arms. His hands glowed with arcane energy as his fingers twitched.

"Real sailors and pirates put in blood sweat and tears to keep a boat like this gliding smoothly across the water. It takes effort and teamwork to do whatever it is they do." Kayn stood up from his bed.

"Whatever it is they do?"

"Yea, with the rigs and masts, the pulling and heaving and tieing and all that. I don't know any of that terminology."

Ryze chuckled, and a rope holding the main sail snapped. "Whoops." His fingers closed into a fist and the rope mended itself.

"How long have I been asleep for?"

"Seven hours." Ryze cracked an eye to look at the sun. "Maybe eight."

"Lovely ‒ what can I do?"

"Stop talking."

"I meant with manning the ship."

"Exactly."
"Huh?"

"I need my full concentration to keep us moving towards our destination. Your talking hinders that."

"I guess that makes sense." Kayn walked over to the helm and attempted to spin the wheel, but Ryze's magic controlled it. "You're no fun."

"Go to the crow's nest and keep a lookout." Ryze heaved in the air around him, and exhaled. A skin of arcane energy spread across the ship ‒ the wood absorbing it ‒ and a small pulse emitted itself, creating a faint wake in the water. "And shut up."

"I'd kill you if I didn't care about the world." The assassin melded into the shadows and glided up the wooden pole. Returning to human form at the top, he looked around the horizon. "Clear. I think."

"You think?" The boat rattled.

"Yea there's this really really tiny black dot to the Northwest." Kayn looked down at the compass he swiped from one of the customers at 'The Kraken's Feast" and pointed. "That is Northwest, right?"

"Yes ‒ that's where we're headed." A book appeared in front of Ryze, and runic engravings surrounded it in the wood. The mage opened his eyes, rested his arms, and stepped out of a similar circle. "That should do it."

"Is the ship being controlled by a book now?"

"Keen observation."

"Then why have you been pointlessly spending your energy this entire time if you could just do that?"

"I enjoy it." Ryze stepped up to the edge of the bow and looked where Kayn had pointed, shielding his eyes from the setting sun with his hand. "That's a Noxian ship."

"How did you come to that conclusion when all we can see is a dot?" Kayn squinted.

"All you can see is a dot." Ryze leaned over the edge. "There's a large statue of an axe guarding the bow of their ship, and its name is 'The Glorious Executioner' I think ‒ it's a little blurry for me."

"Executioner, huh?" Kayn scratched his head. "You said there was an axe statue?"

"Yup."

"That's gotta be Draven's."

"How do you know it's not Urgot? Isn't he Noxus' executioner?"

"As is Draven, at least in the gladiatorial games there." Kayn jumped from the crow's nest and landed next to Ryze. "Plus, the axe is his brother's weapon."

"I see."

"So what's the plan?"

"There is no plan ‒ we sail past it."

"You're kidding, right?"

"We haven't any time for skirmishes ‒ especially with Noxians. We need to get to Ionia."

"And if they want to board us?"

"Let's see if it comes to that first."

"Oh, you know it will." Kayn walked back to the helm. "Now let me steer the damn boat!"

"Play captain all you want." Ryze waved his hand and one of the runes in the circle surrounding the book disappeared. "But don't let your personal issues with Noxus get in the way of this."

Kayn kept a course Northwest. His gaze ‒ fixed on the enemy ship ahead ‒ never faltered. The water wafted the boat back and forth ‒ the mist sometimes spraying him ‒ yet the assassin remained transfixed on what lied ahead. As they neared the Noxian vessel, Kayn jumped at the caw of a raven who landed behind him.

"That better not be a harbinger of Swain." Lines wrinkled on Ryze's forehead.

"It just means he's in the area." Kayn shooed the raven off the red oak railing guarding the stern. "They might have more ships docked at Ionia ‒ can you see a seaport up ahead?"

"Not exactly." Ryze squinted, arcane fumes steaming from his eyes. "There's a whole bunch of Noxians there ‒ Ionian laborers too. Looks like they enslaved them to make a base of operations to import and export supplies. You don't suppose they are preparing for another invasion, do you?"

"I don't know." Their ship slowed, drifting towards the Noxian boat.

"Why is the ship slowing down?"

"Because…" Kayn grinned and melded into shadow. "I know how we can find out."

"Prepare to be boarded!" A Noxian soldier yelled.

"Great…" The two ships stopped parallel to each other, allowing planks to be lowered by the soldiers aboard 'The Glorious Executioner.'

"What is your business in Ionia?" The soldier scanned Ryze.

"I'd like to speak with your captain."

"My captain is indisposed."

"My request stands."

"We don't have time for this." The man drew his weapon. "Soldiers, search the ship."

"Ah…" A silver badge on the Noxian's chest glinted in the sun. "Admiral, I take it?"

"Indeed." The officer stepped towards Ryze. "This ship now belongs to Noxus."

"You really don't want to do that."

"And why's that?"

"Trust me." Ryze lifted his hands in surrender. "Diplomacy is a much better option here."

"Diplomacy?" The Noxian crew laughed in unison.

Shadow tendrils surged from beneath the ship and coiled around each Noxian soldier. The manifestations whispered in an ancient tongue, but one word could be heard through it all: vengeance.

"What is this sorcery?" The admiral asked. "What are you doing?"

"Oh, it's not me." Ryze folded his arms.

"Noxus knows nothing but strength…" A voice pierced the whispering. "So I will show you fools strength!"

The tendrils burst up into the noses, eyes, and ears of the soldiers. As the men clawed at their faces, the admiral remained unscathed. The tendrils surrounding him gripped his legs to the floor.

"Beg like the dog you are." Kayn revealed himself in front of the leader, his body oozing shadows. "Cry out for mercy."

"Release me at once, shadow assassin, or Noxus shall ‒"

"Do nothing to save you from me." The scythe materialized against the admiral's throat.

"Let's take him hostage." Ryze suggested.

"No hostages." Kayn thrust the blade forward, decapitating the Noxian. "No survivors."

"Well they're all dead." Ryze shrugged. "Now what?"

"Not all of them."

"What's all that noise going on?" The captain of 'The Glorious Executioner' stepped out of his quarters and onto the upper deck. "My crew…?"

"You want to kidnap Draven?" Ryze threw his arms in the air. "Are you mad?"

"Perhaps."

"That's not a comforting answer."

"No one." Draven hurled an axe at Kayn, but it passed through him. "Is abducting me."

"You're not winning this, Draven." Kayn crossed the planks connecting the ships, followed by Ryze.

"I, for one, have watched enough dark arts in the past two minutes to last me a lifetime." Ryze lowered his hands. "So please, let's all just put down our weapons ‒"

"Throw another one at me." Kayn slithered up the upper deck where Draven stood. "I dare you."

"That's enough." Ryze stomped the ground, causing a rune prison to form around the Noxian. "The crew was one thing, but we are not killing Draven. If Darius catches wind of this ‒"

"I'll tell you what." Kayn returned to a tangible form. "If Draven can say he remembers me, I'll let him live."

"That's not fair!" Draven looked at Kayn, then Ryze. "How is that fair?"

"Tell me, Noxian." Kayn stepped closer." Who am I?"

"You've gotta be kidding me."

"You have five seconds."

"We can talk about this."

"Four."

"Don't do this."

"Three."

"My brother will destroy you both!"

"Two."

"Wait…"

"Time's up." Kayn swung his scythe back.

"You were part of the enlisted kids, weren't you?"

"Close enough." Ryze tightened his fist as Kayn lurched forward with his weapon. The prison around Draven deflected the assassin's attack.

"Spare me your conscience, mage." Kayn continued to batter Ryze's cage. "This kill is mine, so don't bother wasting your energy on maintaining the barrier."

"My conscience has nothing to do with the consequences this murder will bring." Ryze flinched. "The entire Noxian army will be on our tail!"

"Murder?" Shadows cascaded from Kayn's body, saturating the area around him. "This is not murder ‒ this is justice."

"Sometimes justice must be neglected when trying to save the world." Ryze surrendered, the rune prison dissipating. "If you kill him, I will find my own path."

"Noxus took my childhood away." Kayn sidestepped a punch from Draven ‒ dropped his scythe ‒ and placed him in a chokehold. "The only thing this stain deserves is to be put down like the many he has executed."

"Is your vengeance more important to you than bringing Zed back from the nightmare that's taken hold of him?" Ryze sighed. "Or have you forgotten the purpose of this journey already?"

"Zed…" Kayn released Draven, and the executioner fell to his knees, hacking.

"Good choice." Ryze turned to Draven. "Get on our ship."

"How do I know the ship won't magically sail to Bilgewater?" Draven wiped his mouth and stood up.

"You don't." Ryze teleported the Noxian to the other ship and removed the planks. "You'll get to Noxus in roughly one week ‒ plenty of time for us to do what we need to do here in the magical land of Ionia."

"First he lets them run…" Kayn opened his hand and the scythe floated into it from the ship's floor.

"What?" Ryze raised an eyebrow.

"And then he cuts them down." The assassin threw his weapon. It spun until it lodged itself in Draven's skull. The Noxian's knees buckled, and his body thudded onto the deck.

"What have you done?" The mage's eyes widened.

"What so many others couldn't." Kayn looked at Ryze. "Or wouldn't."

Ravens flocked towards the Noxian vessel and cackled. The wind carried the sound of the birds towards the coastline of Ionia, and a few moments later: the sound of a horn. Noxian soldiers dressed for battle with their silver-plated armor and boarded the ships docked at their encampment.

"You've made your bed." Ryze spread his arms ‒ his pinky and ring finger folded down and the other three pointed up. "Now lie in it."

"Gladly." Kayn placed one hand on the helm of the 'The Glorious Executioner,' and set it on a collision course with the oncoming Noxian fleet.

The runes engraved on the ship's floor that encircled Ryze activated, and the mage dematerialized. Reappearing on the Ionian coast ‒ a few miles away from the enemy's base ‒ he glanced at the converging ships, and turned his back on Kayn.