Chapter 25: Maimed

"Kill the boy first. I want Ignacia's precious chief to know what it's like to watch his son bleed to death right in front of him."

Kai couldn't breathe. Not when he had a sword against his throat.

Not when his blood still splattered out onto the snow.

Not when both of his parents were screaming his name.

Not when he knew his death was inevitable.

He took in one final breath…

"Wait!"

Kai glanced up, only to see Priscilla reaching towards her son, tears escaping her eyes. "Don't do it! He's just a boy!" She allowed herself a quivering breath. "Please. Just leave him be."

Thunder grinned and stroked his chin in mock thought. "Hmm, let me think about it… nah! I still wanna kill him."

"No!" Sky tried to stand, but was immediately kicked to a kneeling position once more. "Don't you even touch my son!"

The Thunderian leader's sneer dropped. "What did you just say?"

Despite the massive leader standing over him, he allowed his lips to curl into a growl that erupted deep from his throat. "Don't. Touch. My. Son."

"Very brave of you." Scorned Thunder. "You're what I like about people, you know? People like you who make daring comments in hopes of saving their families that only ever get themselves and their entire families killed." Thunder frowned once more. "Well, I'm not too pragmatic… but I think I'll just follow the system this time."

The Thunderian leader glanced back to a few of his men and nodded. They nodded back, and with the swiftness of an alley cat, pinned the blacksmith's son to the ground.

"Get away from him!"

Shaking his head shamefully, Thunder marched to Kai's side and raised his sword once more.

But just as the sword descended and Kai thought all was lost…

It wasn't.

Far from it, actually.

Well, for him, anyway.

Priscilla lay motionless in the snow, pure crimson gore leaking out onto the frosty flooring from the rather large slice across her throat.

Sky swallowed the lump in his throat as he held back the inevitable tears.

Just like that… she was gone.

He had just gotten her back a few weeks ago. They had barely spent any time together before her eyes clouded with emptiness and death was all that surrounded them.

Kai had been immobile and blind due to the fact that Gus was holding him in the snow, the bitterness of the morning's snow shower stinging his skin. But he knew from the moment that he caught wind of his father's strained cries, his mother had been killed.

Struggling more than he ever had, the blacksmith's son fought to loosen Gus's grip on him. He kicked and elbowed and shoved, but to no avail.

He had to fight him off… he just had to. If Priscilla was killed, than that meant it was either him or Sky, and Kai what the choice would be.

Priscilla was just a thrill kill.

Kai would be the main act.

"Pull him up!" Thunder growled to Gus.

"What?" Fire burning in his eyes, Gus grasped Kai's collar and yanked him up, both the force and shock of it causing Kai to gag. "Why can't we just kill him right here?"

Thunder shook his head shamefully. "Poor, young Gus. Tunnel vision is a difficult thing to overcome, I know. But we must stay on track, here." The massive leader reached to his belt and pulled out a handgun.

Kai had only seen a few guns in his life, mostly being neighbors recommending that he buy one in order to defend himself. But he never liked firearms. They were always too easy for him. They could end a life within seconds of firing them. With swords, while it was completely possible, it was also extremely difficult to destroy a human being in a heartbeat, unless you stroke in just the right place.

If he ever was to kill, he wanted it to be for a good reason… a reason in which he could spill so much blood, he could taste his own.

Well, he had killed, and it definitely was for good reason. And he had spilled a lot of blood. He did taste blood, though he was unsure whether or not it was his. And it felt virtuous for a heartbeat, just a heartbeat.

But that was all.

"A gun?" sky exclaimed through his tears. "Where in Ninjago did you get one of those?"

The massive leader shrugged casually. "My son and I made it… before you killed him!"

"I had to!" Sky snarled, his eyes never leaving his son. "He murdered my sister-in-law and was about to kill the rest of my family!"

"Well, it was no use, was it?" Thunder slid the blade of his sword across Sky's cheek, creating a gash that matched Kairhee's perfectly. "What do you say we finish off this execution, my way?"

Dropping his gun, the Thunderian leader moved back about three steps as he raised his gun, aiming it for Sky's head…

That's when she drove her katana through him; clean from behind his shoulder, severing his subclavian vein until a gleaming lance protruded forth in Thunder's left periphery. A swift, efficient move to stop him cold in his tracks. His left hand fell away from the gun, losing its original target. But his last motion, as he crumpled to the ground, swiftly dying, was the involuntary twitch of the fingers on his right hand.

Ash took no delight in felling the man. But he threaten her beloved, even as the greater enemy stood in shock around them. Thunder wasn't designed for this new world; honestly, none of the Thunderians were. She had hoped that he would find his son in the next.

She turned to Sky, and his curt nod of approval told everything he could not at the time: Thank you, and I'm sorry you had to do that… you're still one of us, don't you worry.

But then his face crumpled, as Kairhee turned to them, pure distress highlighting his bloodied features.

Something heavy and leaden dragged at the fringes of time… as she caught sight of blood where there should have not been any, and a missing something jarring otherwise completeness.

Then Sky's boy collapsed.

As Sky collected a maimed Kai, the only thought – uncommunicated but tactically understood – was that he had to be saved. So Ash cut a path to the clinic, not seeing any of the Thunderians she was slicing the throats of. Anyone, anything that stepped in her way, she cut down without hesitation.

There was the substance of noise and commotion around here, but it was preemptively disregarded and outside of her. There was only Sky, carrying Kai, a mere step behind her… and she had to get to the infirmary. There was no question of any healers being there. There was only Sky, carrying her beloved, and they needed only to make it to that door.

Welcome, children, to the long-anticipated 25th chapter of THE BLACKSMITH'S SON! Whew, I haven't updated anything since January. Wow, I am SO sorry, guys! I just recently got super addicted to a game series call "Five Nights At Freddy's" (it's AWESOME, you should totally check it out... or just watch Markiplier play it... that's pretty cool too), and I have been so busy (or lazy... either one) trying to beat ALL FOUR of the games that I was dumb and forgot about FanFiction for a while! :(

But don't you worry! I am back! YAY! XD Oh, THANK GOD FOR SPRING BREAK! I am only one day into my Stay-cation and I am loving it!

Again, I apologize for such the long wait, and then giving you such a frustrating cliffhanger, but I just had to end it there! It was the perfect place!

So... what happened to Kai? Why did Ash suddenly decide that Thunder needed to die? Is Priscilla really dead?

You will find out in the final few chapters (if all goes according to plan, three more, I think, plus an epilogue) of THE BLACKSMITH'S SON! :D

-HKM