ASLEEP
Chapter Thirty-Six – Knife Edge
WARNING: Okay, seriously, this chapter is kind of twisted in places. It's from Lucien's POV, and he does some pretty horrible things, and has a tendency to linger on violence much more than the other POV characters, leading to the combat being much more detailed.
Good news: There is a comic relief character. Bad news: ...the comic relief character is also dark.
Some things require surgical precision.
"Pay close attention, now. See this vein?" I traced my fingers along the quivering woman's neck, tapping the bulge to the side. "While skinning someone, you have to avoid cutting it, as it may end their life faster than intended."
Well, I'll be fair, ending their life quickly is all you need to do, but a slow death is like a work of art, and performing one – simultaneously creating something beautiful and ridding the world of such an ugly concept as life – may be the most exquisite joy I will ever experience. Well, other than the feelings I'll get when I finally prove that Cammie's a useless piece of trash compared to me. A normal human life is ugly, but his...his is hideous.
A slow death would be justice, but I suppose ending his life is sufficient. Ah, I can't wait for the day. No matter his efforts, no matter his allies, no matter his stupid magical gear...I can one-up him in every area. My speed, my strength, my sword, my...protege.
Ah, she is so promising.
"Now, pay attention." I said to the redheaded girl, who stared intently at the tied woman. "First, I'm going to remove skin from an arm. Less chance of damaging something vital, and sensative enough to cause excruciating pain."
"Why the arm?" She asked curiously, grey eyes stabbing into the woman's wide open eyes. "Was it important to her job?"
"Oh, who cares." I snorted. "I don't even remember where I picked this one up, it was either the marketplace or her house...We've gone through so many in our lessons together."
"Thirty-three." The girl said quietly. "We have killed thirty-three."
I grinned at her. "Thirty three...yes, I suppose we might need to move villages soon." I sighed. "Maybe even continents. Such a shame, Plegia was proving so lucrative." Well, it was, but to be honest we'd probably have to move again sooner than I think. That blasted Dark Mage might have my trail again – he's like a rabid dog. Honestly, you kill one little pack of wolves – in self-defense, mind you! Not even for fun, although it was admittedly, but not as much fun as people that can think – and he just flips out. It's annoying.
The woman started thrashing about some more as I lowered the knife to her arm. She began to make panicked whines through the gag, but do you really think that's going to stop me?
"You want to make a shallow cut to begin with..." I began, when someone knocked at the trapdoor leading into my dank basement. I frowned, put down the knife, and closed my eyes. Let's see...who's behind door number one?
Keh, army. Military types have such distinctive minds. Glancing at the woman, I sighed and handed my protege the skinning knife. "I'll have to teach you that later. Just kill her."
The young girl nodded and stood over the woman, glancing down at her, as I walked over to the trapdoor and flung it open, hands away from my visible knives. Not that I'd even need them, I'm not in the mood for actual fighting today.
Three men in plegian outfits glared at me, hoisting axes. Oh, wonderful, dumb meat. Probably with an overdeveloped moral complex, as well. "Gentlemen. What seems to be the problem-"
Hrm, jumping straight to the attack, huh? Oh, very well...twist the wrist three-hundred and sixty degrees to shatter bone and cause him to drop his axe. Then, apply pressure at high velocity to the diaphragm, disabling him.
In layman's terms, snap his wrist and kick him in the gut. Naturally, that only took about half a second. The other two lunged towards me, but a leg sweep dealt with the one coming from the front, while jumping backwards and elbowing the other in the face provided me with a satisfying crunch as his head was mashed against the wall.
Hm, where'd the leg-sweeped one go? Ah, there he is, down the stairs. Head is pointing over his back, so it looks like he's dead as well. The one I'd kicked slowly staggers to his feet, fumbling for a knife, as I turn around and grab his throat.
"How many people know I'm here?" I snarled, slamming him against the walls. The soldier let out a piteous whine, and clawed at my face with his good hand.
Ah, too much pressure, I'm crushing the windpipe. Sighing, I let go and let the soldier collapse to the ground, gasping.
Then I stepped down on his broken hand, feeling the bones crunch underneath and bringing a howl of pain from the very center of the man's soul. "ALL OF US! THE ENTIRE BARRACKS KNOWS! OH, GRIMA, PLEASE STOP!"
I tilted my head, scowled, and kicked him in the throat, caving in the windpipe and leaving him to choke to death. Sighing, I turned and walked down the stairs.
"Girl. We're leaving."
The girl nodded slightly and left, wiping the woman's blood off of her knife and pausing to collect her bow and quiver. I spent one second to snatch my sword from the rack, as well as a spare bag of throwing knives, before we took the back entrance and after about ten minutes of silent walking in darkness we emerged outside the town to a...curious sight.
"Crows." The girl said quietly. "Afful lot o them."
"My dear..." I said through gritted teeth. "What did I say about speaking like that?"
"Tae not ta." She said, bowing her head. "Sorry, sah."
"I'll allow it this one time." I grunted, glancing around. Why so many crows flying around here, though?
"Nya-hah!"
Oh. That's why.
"...you found us, didn't you?" I said to the cloud of birds, catching glimpses of the dark mage's robe in the middle. "You helped them find us."
"Well, I'm all for blood." Henry said cheerfully, as the crows rose up and began to leave. "But too much of a good thing is a CAWse for concern, isn't it? Sooner or later, we'll run out faster than we can get more, right?"
That man is starting to become quite vexing.
"Girl? Shoot the voice." I said sharply. The girl drew her bow and rapidly sent three white-fletched arrows into the cloud, downing three crows and causing the rest to scatter, leaving...nothing.
"How does he dae tha?" The girl asked in shock, lowering her bow. I scowled again – I hate this expression, makes my face hurt – and shook my head.
"If I knew, I'd have killed him, wouldn't I?" I said sharply. Bastard's been hounding me since I blew up part of the capital to help out Cameron and make sure he got a chance to experience sweet victory before I annihilated him.
"Sorry, master." The girl said quietly. Groaning, I waved her off.
"Don't bother apologizing. Come, let's get moving." I scowled. "If they send out their fliers, we'll be cut down like dogs. Cameron in depression or not."
The girl silently nodded and followed me as I headed into the forest. There's an old wood cabin nearby, with a nice old retired couple living there.
We'll ask for shelter, eat what they cook us, kill them, stay the night, and then leave for the next town over. I do believe its Jelbegi.
"Permission to speak, master?" The girl asked quietly. Grunting, I nodded, scooping out the last dregs of my stew.
"Go ahead."
"...did we have to kill them?" She whispered, tears in her eyes. "There were so...nice."
Well, looks like it's time to rip a quote from a book. Say what you like about Cameron, the scumbag, he's got good taste in dark fantasy.
"Life is empty. Life is meaningless. When we take a life, we take nothing of value." I snarled. "We are killers. That's all we do, that's all we are. There are no poets in the bitter buisness."
The girl lasped into silence for a few seconds, quivering. "But why them? What did they do wrong?"
"They would have told the authorities, when they came searching. We would have been unable to remain in Jelbegi for long enough for you to practice." I said bitterly. "It's a waste that we killed them the way we did, but the poetry of the knife takes time."
"I thought there were no poets in the bitter buisness-" The girl started, before I slapped her.
"No. Snarking." I hissed. The girl blinked away tears, nodded, and kept her mouth shut. Hrm, I forget how old she is sometimes. What is it, 16? 17?
Time travel makes age so unreliable. I do appreciate the gift, however. What a great prize I gave myself.
Wait, what's that noise?
"Wings." The girl said quietly, standing up and grabbing her bow. "He's found us."
How irritating.
"Oh, big deal." I snorted. "It's not like he's powerful enough to blow up the house-"
Everything went this peculiar combination of purple, black and red for a second. Huh, I didn't know it was possible to feel hot and cold at the same time.
I hate dark magic. The girl scrambled over to me, climbing over rubble, apparently unharmed. "Master!"
"I'm fine." I hissed, pulling myself up. "Where's that blasted mage-"
"Kya-hah!"
Oh, words cannot express my hate for you right now you son of a-
"That was quite the CAWtastrophic explosion, wasn't it?" Henry laughed from a tree branch, swinging upside down with a tome in one hand. "It's almost CAWse for celebration!"
"The first one didn't even make sense!" I growled, pulling out a knife. I'll save the sword for later, there's no way he'll be able to force me to use a regalia on him – Is that a fucking Fenrir tome?
Ow. Ow.
Oh, I hate this guy.
"JUST SHOOT HIM ALREADY!" I yelled, crawling back up as the black flames finally dissipated. Well, there goes my shirt. Doesn't he know how hard it is to force a tailor to make a red-and-white trickster outfit?
"Ah'm trying!" The girl yelled, her bow twanging. "But crows keep flying in front of him an' they won' stop!"
Clever bastard... I staggered to my feet, stuffed my hand into the bag of throwing knives, and – wait.
...the damn darkfire burned away the bag. They're scattered all over the floor. Oh, for cock's sake. I kneeled down, grabbed a fistful, and started tossing them at Henry – holy shit, the birds really are getting in the way.
Henry's laugh filled the little, scorched clearing, spells flying out of his tome as he danced around in the middle of his little crow-shield. The girl and I ducked and weaved, not letting him get the drop on us again, and eventually I managed to close the distance and – there we go! Boot to your face, you asshole!
Ah, finally the spells stop. Know, I just have to stab him in the eye and – FUCK! Fucking birds! Fuck!
Henry crawled to his feet, grinning, and raised his hands, dark fire scattering among his fingers. Oh, fuck no, I am not dying to some two-bit minor playable character before I can even kill Cameron.
There was a white flash, and an arrow buried itself in his chest. Frowning, he glanced down, put his finger next to it, and licked it. "...hey. My blood. Cool!"
"GET AWAY FROM HIM!" The girl shrieked from somewhere behind me, before her bow twang'ed again and another arrow slammed into Henry's shoulder. Somewhat panicked, he clapped his hands. The crows flew away from me, carrying scraps of skin in their beaks, and he vanished in the sudden flurry of feathers as they flew into the sky.
How does he do that. Groaning, I pulled an elixir from my boot and downed it, grimacing a the taste. Seriously, apple spice? How unexpected is that? Still, at least all those bite marks are fading away already. The girl limped over – limped? Huh, I guess the explosion must have hurt her after all – and lowered her bow.
"Are you alright, master?" She asked quietly, wincing as she accidentally stood on her right foot. Well, that's an impressively sized shred of wood sticking out of her thigh. I'll just pull that out, shall I?
"Bite into this." I instructed, shoving a knife hilt into her mouth. She sucked in a breath and closed her eyes, biting down, before I yanked the shrapnel out. She moaned breifly, before I removed the knife, pinched her nose, and poured the remaining elixir down her neck. I turned away with a frown, glancing at the trees.
How does he keep finding me? How can he do that?
And more importantly, how is he doing things that a level ten Dark Mage definetly shouldn't be able to do? Still, the important questions can come later. Appreciation happens now, because without her...I'd be dead. It's kind of impossible to imagine, actually – Cameron's convinced I'm invincible, and I suppose with my recent track record maybe I'd begun to think that as well. What a wake-up call, needing a little prize from the future to save me. Where was I? Oh, right, appreciation.
"Fire." I whispered. The girl came to attention, startled. Her leg had already seemed to heal up. Elixirs are useful like that. "Thank you for helping me."
Fire smiled shakily back at me. "You're welcome."
"You're welcome...?" I raised an eyebrow.
"You're welcome, Uncle Lucien." She smiled, rubbing her right arm bashfully.
"That's my girl." I chuckled. "That's my girl."
A/N: Blame college, and specifically my French class, which felt the need to dump about two orals on me in the span of two weeks. Still, it's here. It's short, but it's here.