Chapter 9, YAY! Thanks for the reviews guys, keep them coming please. I like to know if people are still interested in this or not. =)
Halt stirred in the dark, trying to remember what had happened. Pain lanced and spider webbed through his left shoulder, an unpleasant greeting of reality. He rubbed at his shoulder, feeling for the damp patch of blood that would accompany a wound. He found none, but winced as another little twinge of agony wriggled up his arm.
"It's dislocated," Dane said from where he sat in the dank cell. "You were absolutely mauled by the guards."
Halt sat up, careful not to bump his shoulder on anything stone like. He felt a brief bout of dizziness overcome him, and he took a moment to let it pass. When it did he looked towards Dane, hardly able to distinguish the thief from the shadows of their cell.
Around them three solid stone walls were built, no doubt part of the foundation of Murdock's Tower. There wasn't a window, and the air was stale and unpleasant, reminding Halt oddly of a tomb. The flickering firelight of the torchlight placed outside the cell was dim, creating a realm of shadows.
"I think you're unhurt otherwise," Dane murmured quietly. He was leaning against the wall parallel to Halt, and they faced each other with even looks of distrust. Halt thought back, trying to recall the events of the evening a bit more clearly. He could remember being cornered by Marwick's men, and then their was a struggle when he ordered them to be taken damaged but alive. They'd certainly done that Halt noted sourly as he massaged his aching shoulder. The Ranger recalled Dane being slammed a bit brutally against one wall and taking a lethal strike of a flat sided sword to the temple.
"What about you?"
"I'm fine."
The cautious care the two were taking was beginning to seem a bit ridiculous to Dane. Just about everything seemed halfway ludicrous to him now. Like Halt and Dane, Peronel had been taken captive once more, but she hadn't been imprisoned in the cellar like them. As far as Dane could tell Marwick clearly had something else in mind for her, and that alone was enough to worry him out of his mind. He was sure he was losing his sanity, and the words that flowed from his mouth seemingly of their own accord were a stark reminder.
"I'm not sure exactly how to say this right, but thank you, for not gutting me like a fish earlier, I hadn't expected that from a Ranger."
Halt leaned back against the wall behind him, trying to find a comfortable position that was easy on his left side.
"I owe you thanks as well," Halt began, "I may never have found out about this conspiracy if you hadn't led me right into the thick of it."
For a moment Dane thought he was hearing things, but he quickly scratched that as a possibility. The Ranger's eyes held a bit of amusement to them as far as he could tell. It was faint, but it was there.
"Now I'm really confused."
Halt grunted, "That's something I hadn't quite expected out of you. Your Marwick is actually Lord Marwick of Caraway Fief. It's not surprising you didn't know the nobleman, just intriguing that you didn't have any idea that you played a more than vital role in his plan."
Dane ducked his head, now he understood. "So he's after the throne?"
"I'd like to think so," Halt pointed out, "but I can't say I have enough proof to convict him completely."
"But he tried to have you killed, that was clear enough."
Halt shrugged, "He did, but what proof do we have of that if we never leave this tower?"
Dane felt a little stab of curiosity, "You just said 'we'."
"I did, after all, we are in the same boat at the moment."
Interested, Dane nodded for Halt to go one. "We are, but that doesn't mean that we're on the same side."
"We're not exactly on what I'd call opposing sides at the moment. The way I see it, we both need to get out of here before they decide they don't need us anymore."
Dane was shaking his head already, "I don't think that 'we' can do anything more than wait right now."
Halt took Dane's words as a clear denial of a possible alliance between the two. As absurd as the idea of a Ranger and the King's Killer working together was, it might have been promising. Halt disliked the idea with a passion, but what else could they do? Marwick could be planning so much more for the Kingdom, and time and time again Dane had showed how far he was willing to go to keep his Peronel safe. Maybe Halt's idea of using Dane was a wrongly founded one, but wouldn't it do good for the both of them?
Halt put his thoughts aside as footsteps rang out on the cracked stone floor of the makeshift dungeon. A blazing torch led the way of Marwick and another knight. The knight was a burly man, with the typical build of one in his line of work. He looked a little younger than Marwick himself, with similar features that marked them distinctly as brothers. The arrogance was clear in his eyes, which were just a shade lighter than Marwick's own.
"These are the two?" The knight asked, stopping outside the cell to peer in at the occupants. He eyed them critically for a moment, then shook his head ever so slightly.
"A thief and a Ranger sharing the same cell, I truly have missed something astonishing in my absence."
Marwick stood beside his brother, smiling faintly in the firelight. The Baron of Caraway looked triumphant, to a degree. Halt could guess that if the Lord of Caraway had come to see them it was because he had unfinished business for Halt and Dane. Anything that Marwick might have in store for the two was more than likely unpleasant.
"Well, what shall we do with them then, brother?" the younger brother asked, eyeing them like a lion inspecting a mouse.
Marwick shrugged, "Which form of knightly torture would be most fitting, Kern?"
The brother, who Halt now assumed was Kern, the second oldest brother of the Baron of Caraway, stood nonchalantly. For a moment it seemed as if he drifted away into thought, the gruesome ways of death flickering before his very eyes.
"We could always flog the thief until he screams of course."
Dane's eyes flicked coldly to Kern's, "I'd never give you the satisfaction."
Kern's gaze danced with a malicious spark, "And what if we lashed the girl instead? From what I've heard that would be more than enough to set both you and her screaming."
Dane's face simply fell into a deeper shadow, a dark cloud covering his face. His eyes, ghostly grey and glowing palely in the shadows that cloaked him burned with something worse than hate. Even with the fiery emotion freezing in Dane's eyes, he still seemed oddly calm. It only added to the unsettling effect of his murderous gaze.
"Touch her and I swear to God I'll spill your blood across four walls and the ceiling."
Dane's sharp words only seemed to please Kern, and again the Knight smiled darkly.
"I'd definitely like to see you try, but seeing that you're locked inside a cell with no means of escape, I highly doubt you'll get that chance."
A cold little trickle of amusement escaped Dane's lips. "Don't you have any idea who I am?"
Halt watched the exchange with subdued interest, trying to gauge whether or not Dane's sanity was still stable. The wicked tone of voice sounded quite mad, but the ice in his eyes was steady.
Without waiting for Kern's reply Dane went on, "I'm many people. I'm Skart, the city street thief and noble cutthroat. I'm Dane, the brother who pales in comparison to Tawny and the man who fell in love with the most beautiful seamstress that ever lived."
A little shift of movement caused Dane's eyes to flash and dance wickedly in the dim light.
"And I'm the King's Killer, the thief who broke into the King's own Castle and murdered the beloved monarch during dinner. The same Killer who broke out of the Castle's dungeon and traveled half way across the continent just to watch you take your last breath to avenge Peronel. But she's been alive all this time, and she still is."
Kern looked like a bear caught in a trap, with his gaze locked unmoving on Dane. Halt thought he felt the temperature drop, for suddenly it was a lot colder. It had to be the way Dane spoke, his voice a barely audible whisper. Maybe it was his ghostly grey eyes themselves, or possibly even the look in them. Either way, Dane set Kern on edge.
"Now do you honestly thin I'm going to let a few rusted iron bars keep me from killing you?"
Kern scoffed at him, but it was half hearted. "You're bluffing. The next time you leave this cell it'll be for your death."
Dane smiled coldly, "That might be so, but I'll be sure to take you with me to hell if it's the last thing I do."
Kern didn't say anymore, only gave Dane a narrow eyed look of anger before her turned on his heel and walked away, his boot heels ringing loudly on the stone. Marwick followed after him, leaving Halt and Dane alone in their cell once more.
Dane ducked his head and sighed once he was sure they were gone. His eyes lost their cold malevolence when he looked at Halt, and he seemed suddenly almost ashamed.
"Well, I don't suppose you have any idea as to what we should do now, do you?"
Halt gave Dane a measuring look, "You just said 'we'."
Dane sighed again, "I did. Listen, I'm starting to feel a bit unsteady, but I can't give up this fight, not after what I just said to them. They'll kill her for my mistake, and I can't let that happen," Dane's words died off into silence and he looked away before he finished. "And well, I don't think that I can get out of here alive on my own."
Much to Dane's surprise Halt held out a hand to him, "You have my word that until Marwick and Kern are dead and we're free of this place, we're partners."
Dane clasped Halt's hand, "And you have my word, for whatever it's worth, that I won't attempt to run from you until Peronel's safe and Marwick and Kern are dead."
"Then it's settled," Halt said as they shook hands. His words held a note of finality than Dane excepted and even welcomed. He remembered a time when he and Crowley had worked together. That time seemed so far away from where he was now. He promised himself idly that this partnership would not end with that kind of betrayal, as absurd an idea as it was. There wasn't a way that the alliance would end happily, or at least not one that Dane could think of.
The King's Killer and a Ranger working together, how sick is that? Dane wondered to himself.
Sick indeed, but who's to say that it wasn't meant to be brilliant as well?
Chapter 9... So what d'you think of it? Still interested?
