Chapter 7: The End to the Pain
A/N: Sorry once more for the long, long, long delay. I had lost my muse and finally found it again. So, if you are still with me, here's the next chapter. It contains a bit of swear, and some violence, but don't worry, more violence to come! Lol, just kidding...maybe...for those who have read my Scarlet Eyes story, you know that I do love action scenes. This one was kept tone down a bit, but it won't be this toned down later.
The morning found Caynna sleeping against Tilian's side. She didn't remember moving back toward the horse or even away from the two brothers. She must have moved after she explained her scars on her forearms, but she couldn't remember for sure. She sat up slowly and looked around. The camp was beginning to wake from the smell of food. Bofur and Bombur were already handing out food to those who were awake. Caynna stood as did Tilian. "I'll brush you down, boy," she said to the horse with a pat on his neck.
She grabbed Tilian's brush from a saddle pack and began to brush the horse down. She was just finishing combing through the last of knots in his tail when Fili and Kili came back from getting food. Tilian walked away from the trio to get his own breakfast by the stream as Caynna placed the brush back in the saddle bag. "Uncle wants to talk with you," Fili said as he handed Caynna a bowl of stew.
"Thanks, Fili," she said and turned to find Thorin next to Dwalin.
Fili watched the lass move through the company as if she were trying to blend in, something not uncommon about Caynna. As soon as she was out of earshot, he turned to his younger brother as he had begun packing. "What do you think about the tale she told us?" he asked quietly.
Kili didn't look up as he continued to pack his bag. "It had to take a bit of courage to tell us that," he started as he slowly pieced together what he wanted to say, and paused in his packing to give his brother a sidelong look. "No one should be put through something like that. Ever."
Fili gave a nod in agreement as he began to pack his own bags. "I agree."
On her way over, she ate half of the stew, the portion much too large for her, and stopped by Bombur. "This is really good, but I seem to have too large a portion," she smiled at the fat dwarf as he got the hint.
"Why, thank you, Caynna," he said.
Caynna gave a small bow of her head before making her way over to Thorin. "Good mornin', lass," Dwalin said as he stretched and made his way over to Bombur.
"Good morning, Mister Dwalin," Caynna said as the dwarf passed her. "Fili said you wanted to talk with me, sir?"
"No more of this 'sir' and 'mister' business," Thorin said as he began to strap on his own weapons.
"May I ask why?" Caynna said as she picked up Thorin's sword and handed it to him.
"You are a part of this company, are you not?" he asked as he took his sword.
"Yes, but-"
"That should be an answer enough. You are not on a contract as an assassin, but here on a request from an old friend," Thorin stated bluntly, if not rather harshly, as he strapped his sword on. "And it makes me feel old," he said as an afterthought, though Caynna didn't get the hint to their past conversation.
"Now that that is out of the way," Dwalin said as he brought two bowls of stew back, one for him and one for Thorin, "we also wanted to tell you that we overheard your conversation with the two trouble makers last night."
Caynna froze, tensing up at his words. "Calm down," Dwalin said in a hurry as Caynna looked like she was about to bolt. "We were just curious as to why you were so…I don't know…nervous to tell them about your other scars."
Caynna still look like she was ready to bolt, something that seemed out of place for the lass. She took a deep breath and the two warriors in front of her watched as her calm walls were built back up. "I…" she took in another deep breath and look straight at Thorin, "I didn't want this company to think I was weak, sir," she said as she stood straight and proud once more.
Dwalin nearly spewed his stew at her words. "Weak?" he asked. "Lass, you are an assassin. Not just any, but the Amarië. Why would we think you are weak?"
Caynna shrugged. "I don't know," she said honestly and a little sheepishly as she gave a small smile. "It's not every day that you find people that willingly place their trust in a stranger or, in Dwalin's case, a legend. Not even those I take up contracts from trust me."
"You are, after all, an assassin," Dwalin mumbled.
Caynna just gave a nod as took her sheathed short swords that she had been holding and strapped them to her back. "I will earn your trust in the end," she said to Thorin more so than Dwalin. "If you will excuse me, I must finish tacking up Tilian."
She gave a small bow though her eyes never leaving Thorin as she did so, before she turned and left the two warriors. "Do you trust her?" Thorin asked Dwalin.
"Your nephews do," he said. "They may place their trust in others a little too quickly, but the rest of this company seems to have warmed up to her in the past weeks. Seeing as everyone is still alive, I think we can trust her."
Thorin just gave a nod, his mind still at war with itself on whether or not to trust the assassin. He watched Caynna move throughout the camp, her steps fluid and silent as if she was moving in for the kill. The way she held herself with pride and confidence contrasted with the air of calm about her. She was a confusing specimen for the would be king Under the Mountain, the tiny little detail she didn't know about yet. One moment she looked as if she were sneaking into position to kill and the next she was just calmly walking through the camp, confident in her steps and proud about what she was. What drove her to have that silly notion in her head that the company might she was weak if she told them about her scars? What really made her doubt her skills as a trained assassin and ranger? Thorin shook his head and chose to instead dwell on the road ahead rather than the odd assassin in his company. He would sort his thoughts out later at night when he had nothing left to do.
Caynna gave a small whistle and Tilian came trotting up to her ready to get back on the road. She hefted the saddle onto the horse's back, checking every strap, hidden weapon, and the saddle in general for anything that may have been out of place, or rigged by two troublemakers, before she hooked up the breast collar and then the girth. She placed the bit-less bridle on after checking for defects, and then hooked the two saddle bags on each side of the back of the saddle before placing the third pack on the back of the saddle in between the two. Last, she checked her bow and quiver before hooking it on the back of the saddle over the flat saddle bag.
Tilian stretched out in an odd way before turning back to Caynna. He found the lass had disappeared to help get the other ponies ready for traveling, and his ears went back at the sight of Kili placing a saddle on the pony next to Caynna, but then his ears moved forward when he saw Caynna purposefully move the pony she was holding right into Kili who became squished between the two ponies for a moment until Caynna moved her pony away, a mock "sorry" coming from her as she turned the pony around to tether it to the fallen tree.
The company finally got the camp packed away, and they set off, following the ever wider growing stream.
"Kili, Fili, Caynna, go scout ahead," Thorin called back as he checked the position of the sun. It would turn into evening soon. "See if you can find a decent spot to stop for the night."
"Yes, Uncle," the two brothers said.
They urged their horses into a canter and broke away from the group to follow the small river. They were in a slight woodsy area where the trees would be thick and wide in clumps here and there, and then there would be grass and boulders only to have more clumps of trees on the sides. "There has to be a lake ahead," Caynna said.
"How would you know?" Fili asked.
"We can only see the river," added Kili.
"Can't you hear the rapids?" Caynna asked.
Sure enough, they could hear a small set of rapids, and when they broke cover of the sparse, oak tree forest they found a small sized lake just several hundred feet in front of them. "We will have to cross it if we are to keep going along this path," Caynna said.
"That means the ponies will have to swim," Kili said.
"And it is almost evening," Fili added.
"We'll have to cross it tomorrow," Caynna said as she turned Tilian back the way they came. "We can stop here for the night. We have decent enough cover and whatnot."
"Come on, let's go tell Uncle," Kili said and the trio made their way back to the company.
"Is there no other way to cross?" Thorin said with his brow furrowed as he examined the lake while the rest of the company set up camp.
"We only came this far," Fili said.
"We can look further downstream after camp is set up," his brother added.
Caynna finished unsaddling Tilian and placed the saddle on a low hanging tree limb in front of her. She placed the saddle bags underneath the branch as well as she looked out across the lake. Several spots looked shallow enough, but she wondered if they could cross the lake without forcing the ponies to swim too much. With a shrug, she removed all her weapons, even the daggers in her boots, before she undid her gauntlets, and placed each item against the tree. She then removed her leather jerkin and boots before she removed her gloves. "How far down river do you think we would have to go before we can find a place to cross?" Kili was asking Thorin.
Tilian looked at Caynna and gave a nicker in agreement as the lass smiled at him. No one seemed to notice her removing her weapons and such. She took a deep breath before removing her long sleeved shirt, a thin, dull grey, formfitting sleeveless undershirt underneath. She placed the long sleeved shirt on the branch over the saddle before she also removed her pants, grey leggings that had been cut, and hemmed to cover her butt and about two inches of her thighs, underneath them. The thin, short coverage clothing over her undergarments made it less awkward for both Caynna and those she traveled with if she was injured in places that required her to take her clothes off to patch up the wound. She placed her pants over the saddle, and looked at Tilian. The horse gave a snort in amusement at Caynna. She shrugged as she climbed on his back. "We may have to go back upriver–" Fili's reply died on his lips as Tilian cantered past him, his brother, and Thorin, running straight to the river.
The whole camp stopped to watch the horse with Caynna on his back race right into the cold water. The horse skid to a stop in the knee high water and backed up, tossing his head as he did so. "Tilian, it's not that cold," Caynna scolded the horse as he trotted in a circle around the bank once. "Now get your ass in there."
The horse gave an offended whinny before he snorted and dove straight into the water, rider and all. They popped back up, Caynna holding onto Tilian's mane while she stretched out across the swimming horse's back. "Caynna, what are you doing?" Kili called in fright as they moved further away from the bank.
"And where are the rest of her clothes?" Fili asked his brother.
They both looked at the lass in her less than proper clothes over her undergarments. "I'm finding a way across the river," she called back and Tilian gave a snort and promptly splashed water with his head. "We are finding a way across the river," Caynna corrected herself.
Tilian's hooves found a shallower area toward the middle of the lake, the water only reaching just barely past his knees. The horse walked on the sand bar all the way to the other side of the lake and back, exiting the lake a few meters away from the camp. The two were soaking wet as Tilian made his way along the shoreline at a trot back to Thorin and his nephews. "We found a way across the lake," Caynna said as she wiped the water off her forehead and into her hairline. "It's a sand bar that goes to the other side. It curves a bit here and there, but it can be crossed without too much difficulty especially with the weight some of the ponies carry. The footing is sure, though we will have to go slow just in case."
"That problem has been solved," Kili said with his usual smile.
Tilian gave a snort and looked back at Caynna, his eyes giving her a sly look. He turned and took off at a full gallop toward the water, diving head first into it with Caynna on his back. Caynna's head broke the surface along with Tilian's. She sputtered for a second as the horse stood in the water up past his chest. "Really?!" Caynna yelled at the horse who just dove back down in the water, enjoying himself too much.
Tilian came back up and gave a whinny as Caynna splashed the horse. In turn the horse made his way over to the lass as quick as he could in the water, maneuvered himself to place Caynna back on his back, and then waded deeper into the water, swimming out into the water before making his way to the sandbar in the middle of the lake. "Is it just me," Fili said to his brother, "or does that horse like water a little too much?"
"No, he likes water," Kili confirmed.
Tilian gave a snort as Caynna urged him back to shore. The horse walked over to the tree with Caynna's items so that she could get her bow and quiver, which was saying something considering she was on the back of a soaking wet horse making it a slippery and tricky movement. She strapped her quiver on her back and slung her bow over her shoulder. "I'll see if I can find anything for supper. I'll take a good while doing so," she said to Thorin hinting to them if that she would not intrude on the company in the time she would be gone.
Tilian began to set off at a trot, and then broke into a canter, the two heading upstream. Dwalin noticed the way the two trouble makers of the company watched the lass and her horse disappear back into the forest the way they came. Immediately, they turned to Thorin. "Did you-" Fili started.
Thorin gave a nod. "Yes," he answered in a heavy voice. "I saw."
The two brothers looked at the rest of the company, each face, including Gandalf, held the same shocked and confused face as they looked to where the lass and her horse had disappeared. Fili and Kili exchanged a look. They knew right then and there that they weren't the only two that had seen them.
They all saw the scars that were visible on the lass's back and upper arms.
Caynna returned a long while later when the sun had just finished setting. Both Caynna and Tilian were dry, though the lass was freezing cold with the lack of clothes save but what she had worn when she decided to go swimming. Caynna managed to shoot a six-point deer and it was currently sitting in front of her, the antlers holding a stringed catch of four large trout as long as Caynna's forearm. Tilian stopped and gave a whinny, warning the camp of their approach. When they didn't hear anything being shouted about covering up, the two walked in. Caynna was, more or less, as close as possible to the still warm deer, somewhat hiding behind it as well. "Dinner," she said as Tilian stopped by the fire so that Bofur could take the fish.
"I knew you got that deer the other night!" Bofur said as he handed the fish to Bombur.
"No, I got this one," Caynna replied as Dwalin and Fili took the deer off of Tilian's back (the horse had been glaring at Kili who had been too intimidated by the horse to get any closer).
Caynna slid off of Tilian's back, stumbling slightly as she did so but played it off as a sharp rock in her foot. Gandalf noticed the way the lass hid behind the horse, and narrowed his eyes in an almost knowing look. Carefully, hidden from sight by Tilian, she made her way over to the tree holding her items and her cleaned clothes, cutesy of Ori as the dwarf thought the lass would like a helping hand for once. She pulled on her clean clothes from behind Tilian as Bombur and Bofur prepared supper. When she finally reemerged, Gandalf was standing glaring at her. "Yes, Gandalf?" she asked in an innocent voice as Tilian moved closer to the tree away from Caynna.
The wizard said nothing as he glared at her while leaning on his staff. Caynna turned away, a slightly confused look on her face as she got Tilian's brush. The wizard noticed the slight limp in her step, and his brow furrowed deeper, and, as Caynna turned back to Tilian, Gandalf also noticed the way the lass seemed to move with slight, almost completely concealed, stiffness. She began to brush Tilian, the horse "innocently" beginning to doze off though his ears were perked and flickering a little too much.
The company watched with baited breath as the wizard approach Caynna. In a quick movement, he brought his staff around and whacked Caynna on her arms. She cried out in shock as she jumped back only to be hit once more in the stomach and then have her legs collapse from under her in a third blow. Tilian placed himself in between the two, pulling his head high and his ears back as he snorted at Gandalf in agitation and aggression. Caynna laid on the ground for a second before her horse turned and helped her up. "That hurt," she mumbled as she resumed brushing the horse.
Gandalf glared at her over Tilian's back. "It was supposed to," he replied in a stern voice. "Look at me."
Caynna's eyes shifted from Tilian's back to Gandalf's eyes. As usual, the lass gave nothing away in her look of impassive calm. Gandalf continued to frown, his glare deepening. "You're hurt," he said eventually.
"I was ambushed by a few bandits," Caynna replied easily, nothing seeming out of place with her as she resumed brushing her horse down. "Four of them to be exact. All four are dead hanging in a tree for the scavengers to eat at their pleasure."
The way she told the wizard about the dead men in an almost uncaring tone caused the skin to crawl on a few of the still wary members of the company, namely Dori, Ori, Balin, and Bofur. Dwalin and Thorin examined Caynna's relaxed, carefree stance that clearly said she didn't care if she just killed four men, and that seemed to put them on the edge slightly. Gandalf was less than pleased still, even though he had one of his questions answered. "What happened to you that gave you all those scars?" he asked suddenly causing Caynna's eyes to narrow in warning.
"I'm an assassin, Gandalf," she said with slight anger in her voice. "It's what-"
"Do not try to lie to me, Caynna."
Caynna gave a sigh and turned to face Gandalf, the wizard still furious for some unknown reason. The company watched as Caynna's calm, unfazed appearance melted into irritation. Bilbo, who had become less and less surprised by the dwarves as he traveled with them, was shocked at the sudden change in the lass, and even Dwalin, who was hardly ever surprised, did a double take. "Why are you pushing this, Gandalf?" she asked fiercely.
Gandalf stood and stared down at the short lass. "What happened to you, Caynna?" he repeated again in a more severe tone as the lass turned back to Tilian.
Caynna whipped around to face Gandalf once more, throwing the brush into the bags against the tree as she did so. "What happened to me?" she repeated in irritation.
Tilian backed away from Caynna slowly, only ever once seeing her that pissed off before and that was at Brogan when he captured her, the outcome had not been pretty for either of them. He continued to back away until he was a safe distance away from Caynna and the wizard, "Yes," Gandalf said. "And I want to know right now."
Caynna's irritation grew into anger, her calm appearance shifting into something short of rage, a look so foreign that it didn't appear right on the lass. "What happened to me?" she repeated in an angry manner that made Gandalf actually regret pushing her so far. "You want to know what happened to me?! I've been hunted down by the asshole I used to call my friend, my god damn brother! I've been captured and tortured to the point I almost begged for fucking death! I barely escaped with my god damn life nearly three fucking times now! I watched my closest and oldest friend die before my fucking eyes and I couldn't do a single damn thing about it!" she yelled, the rage in her voice making several of the dwarves, even tough Dwalin, wince. "Every scar you see on me is from nearly dying! Each god damn fucking scar! They remind me of the pain I had to fucking bear! They remind me that the only god damn family I had are all fucking dead! They remind me of the bastard that I can't kill because he's still my fucking brother!"
Kili and Fili exchanged a look, the amount of profanities coming from the lass's mouth had surprised them and the anger in her voice scared them slightly. Caynna's fists had turned white as they were clenched in anger. She closed her eyes as she took a deep breath in and let it out, opening her eyes once more, but the rage and pain was still there in the stormy grey color. The way it gleamed in her eyes showed that the rage and pain went far deeper than what those around her had previously thought. "I've lost everything I've cared about," she said started again though she had lowered her voice from yelling. "I lost it all only to have more shit happen to me than any fucking one of you can imagine. You wanted to know what happened to me, Gandalf? Well, there you fucking go!"
With that said she grabbed her weapons, and began to walk away, strapping them on as she did so. "Where are you going?" Gandalf called after her.
"To go fucking calm down!" she yelled and a long string of profanities in a different language unknown to the company, save a certain flustered wizard, escaped the lass's mouth.
Gandalf gave a sigh as he turned back to the company. He caught sight of Tilian trying to hide behind Kili, ironically enough. The horse seemed to be more scared than anything and wanted a barrier between the pissed off assassin and himself. "I did not think, in an Age," Dwalin started, "that the lass would ever lose her temper like that."
"She sent her own horse hiding behind Kili," Bofur added. "And he doesn't even like the lad."
Tilian gave a pathetic whinny in agreement from behind Kili. "She's been this angry before," Thorin commented as he looked at the horse. "Hasn't she?"
Tilian gave a nod, his eyes wide in fright. "She actually curses," Fili spoke up.
"And gets angry," Kili added.
"Caynna was bound to snap one of these days," Gandalf said matter-of-factly. "And I have grown tired of her avoiding talk of her past."
"So you pushed her," Balin said.
"More or less," Gandalf gave a nod as he took his pipe out and sat down nonchalantly. "She needed to get it out."
"What makes you think she wanted to let out what she felt that way?" Kili asked appalled.
"She may have needed to let out what she felt, but to push her the way you did," added Fili.
"It wasn't right."
"You should not have forced it out of her the way you did, Gandalf," Thorin added in his usual severe, hard tone. "In the amount of time you have known Caynna, have you ever seen the way she talks and hides behind her barriers? She keeps everything to herself to save others the trouble of having to know what she has been through. Caynna thinks others will find her weak if they know of what happened to her in the past. Do you not see that?"
"Have you ever seen the way she looks at those who follow this single person she has been after for years on end?" Gandalf countered leaning forward. "She has more emotions bottled up inside of her than even you, Thorin. She is only strong because of what she has gone through, and if you think it was an easy road for her to take, it was not."
Unbeknownst to them, Caynna hadn't gone far after her outbreak. She was actually coming back to apologize as soon as she disappeared, but when Dwalin had spoken up, she stopped and climbed the large oak tree to get a view of the camp. She listened in on the conversation, wondering just why Thorin had actually stood up for her. With the way he carried himself like a warrior with bigger problems than a simple assassin's past, she never thought that he would understand her or even figure her out. It was as if he had been studying her every move to make sure she didn't try to kill anyone, and in the process figured her out faster.
It was true that Caynna held her emotions in check so well that she came across as a calm, almost uncaring individual. She had built her walls to keep herself strong, and with every life she took, be it an enemy or a contract, she let some of her own emotions out in the process. That was how she kept a level head, or so she thought. She didn't even understand her own self much less others. She could pick out the qualities of a person, discern their strengths and weaknesses, figure their personality out, but that was where she was stopped. She couldn't ever figure out what may be underneath the shell of a person. She could use logic and tactical planning to unearth motives and plans, but to figure out a person's past and what they actually feel? That was something she could not do.
Was that why she so easily held her walls in place, because she could not figure her own person out? She grew stronger through all the torment she had been through, all the pain and all that she had lost. Through her past, she grew strong and capable, able to fight on. After Devyn died, I didn't think I could go on, Caynna thought to herself. But knowing I needed to avenge his death and the rest of his family made me stronger. Knowing Devyn wouldn't want me to give up so easily on a life that I could continue to live is what kept me going.
"Despite her being a scarred assassin, she is far stronger than any of you can imagine," Gandalf was saying. "Caynna has been through the very depths of hell and back. The very reason why I asked her to come along this journey was not to make her stronger, but to make her leave behind a past that has held her back for so long."
Leave behind my past? Caynna asked herself as she laid on the thick oak branch like a panther high off the ground, concealed in the leaves.
"What good will that do her if that is what made her stronger?" Dori asked confused.
"She needs to let go of everything that is dead," Gandalf said gently, and Caynna had the feeling that the wizard knew she was above them.
He's talking about my family, Caynna thought as her adopted family flashed into her mind. He's telling me to let go of Devyn. But, can I?
"By holding onto things that are dead, she will not be able to bring it upon herself to destroy the very person that resembles her whole past. She said so herself that she cannot end him."
Caynna suddenly understood. By holding onto everything I held dear to me, that is now gone from me, I am not destroy Brogan, the one person that ties it all together…just like I said…
With Brogan being Devyn's very blood brother, and Caynna having that conscious thought in the back of her mind and heart each time she saw his face, she was never able to actually kill Brogan. It would be like killing Devyn, Caynna thought. They are so different, but still related by blood. I have had this thought buried in my mind and heart each time I went for the kill, haven't I?
It was in that thought that Caynna came to the realization that each time she did come close to killing Brogan, she also thought of Devyn. His face and Brogan's face together, smiling happily as they had been before Brogan changed. She was still holding onto the thought that Brogan could, in fact, change and come back around. She was holding onto a dead hope that maybe, just maybe, Brogan could be the same person she once knew, the same person she had grown up with.
And with that, she also realized that the old Brogan was dead just like his brother and the rest of his family. What she had been hunting in her past years was a killer, someone alien to the person she truly knew, something she hadn't known till now.
All this time I thought maybe, just maybe, Brogan would change back. Things could return to normal, that maybe none of this was real, Caynna thought. But, it is real, and nothing is going to change that now. The next time I see you, Brogan, I swear by everything I held dear in the past and hold dear to me now, that I will kill you without mercy and without another thought. I never go back on my word.
Caynna stood up on the tree branch as she decided she really did need a few moments alone and away from the company. She jumped from her perch to the next tree, quiet in doing so as she descended the tree and landed on the ground. She continued to walk, not going anywhere in particular. She didn't know how far she walked, but when she did notice the way the moon had risen into the sky much higher than she had liked, she knew it was time to turn. That was when she noticed a particular movement to her side, concealed by the brush. She half wondered if it was possibly the two brothers, but then the thought died when the person hidden in the brush moved forward, not exactly trying to conceal themselves.
She knew it was him before she came face to face with him.
"Brogan," Caynna said with her usual impassiveness. "So you were the fifth member that was missing from that scouting party."
Brogan smiled and lifted his hands in the air in defense. "You caught me, sweetheart," he sneered. "I was wondering how long I would have to wait till I saw your pretty face."
Caynna just looked at Brogan, all feeling and emotion drained from her person except for the impassive calm she always wore. This seemed to piss Brogan off even more so as his sneering face turned into a glare. "If you are going to kill me," Caynna started as she unsheathed her short sword, "come and get me."
"We can't talk first?"
Caynna shrugged. "I see no difference," she said in a slightly bored tone.
"I've nearly killed you four times now," Brogan growled, "how the hell do you stay like that?"
"Why don't you try to actually make sense for once?"
"Sorry, sweetheart, but you're little show you are putting on won't fool me. Not again."
Caynna fixed Brogan with a look of utter boredom which really pissed the man off. "After I'm through with you, I'll track that company of your so called 'friends' and eliminate them all as well," Brogan taunted.
The lass wanted so bad to just rip Brogan's head off, to scream and shout at him as she killed him, but she fought every fiber of her being to stay calm and collective until the man in front of her snapped. She stood there unfazed by Brogan's taunts, even though deep down she was greatly worried that she would, once again, fail and may end up dying this time around.
But, on the other hand, Caynna accepted that fact and was prepared to do whatever it took to take down the bastard in front of her. She twirled her short sword dangerously and expertly before giving Brogan a glare. "Well," she said, "are you coming to get me or not?"
Brogan tsked. "So forward, aren't we?" he asked as his own furious glare darkened. "What makes you think I'm going to kill you now?"
"Because I'm either going to live," Caynna said as she prepared herself to attack, "or I'm going to die. Plain and simple as that."
Brogan chuckled, and went to give another retort but Caynna was already upon him. He pulled his sword out just in time to block and attempt a kick at Caynna. The lass danced back and attacked again, an onslaught of strokes with such speed and ferocity that Brogan actually had to do a double take. "Since when have you been so intent on killing me, sweetheart?" Brogan asked as they locked blades.
"I always have," Caynna growled before taking her knee and jamming it into Brogan's stomach, making the man hunch over as his breath was knocked out of him before Caynna followed suit with a jam into Brogan's face from the pommel of her sword.
Brogan fell backwards into a roll before he stood up once more, blood pouring from his broken nose. "You bitch," he snapped.
Caynna had her impassive expression on her face once more. "Why, thank you very much, kind sir," she said with a mock bow, eyes never leaving Brogan.
Caynna should have seen it coming, knowing Brogan always had a trick of some sort up his sleeve, but she didn't. With a quick flick of his wrist Brogan threw three throwing knives, the same kind Caynna carried, and followed their path. Caynna was too slow to block them, so she attempted a dodge, two large gashes opening up on her right leg, and one knife embedding itself in her flesh. She stifled a cry of pain before she brought her own sword up to block Brogan's. They locked blades again, and this time they were fighting each other to slice the other's neck. "How does it feel, Brogan, to kill your own family?" Caynna asked in anger. "Does it make you feel good about yourself knowing that they are all dead by your hand?"
"You know nothing of me!" Brogan yelled, his anger getting the better of him.
"Why did you do it?" Caynna asked in a dangerously low, calm tone. "Why did you kill them?"
"You wouldn't understand! You are not me!"
"Tell me!"
Brogan's grip on his sword tightened and he fought harder. The swords slipped, and Caynna barely managed to pull herself away before she was killed, but the blade still caught her left forearm, another gash opening on it. Caynna's own blade slashed through Brogan's right forearm before both jumped away. "Father always did favor you over his own sons," Brogan sneered as he looked at his arm. "Now I can see why."
Caynna gave him a glare before attacking once more, her leg barely slowing her down as she ignored it completely. Brogan blocked, and counter attacked, the two falling into a deadly dance of attacks and blocks. Caynna couldn't remember the last time she had fought against Brogan in a fair fight. She had always been injured. They were evenly matched with the few exceptions such as Brogan having more strength and height than the half-dwarven lass in front of him. Caynna was quicker on her feet and had a higher pain tolerance than Brogan, though she tended to forget about her larger wounds often enough to weaken her. Brogan was far more cocky and tended to take risks.
Brogan broke through Caynna's parry and went in for a kill, one of the riskier moves he had pulled twice now. Caynna saw it coming and through her stumbling she was able to avoid the blow to her neck, but just barely. She fell backward, hitting the ground into a backward roll before getting up on one knee and blocking a down stroke from Brogan, the impact jarring Caynna's arm almost to the point where she dropped her blade. She held back, one hand on her sword hilt, the other on the middle of the short blade. She strained against Brogan, his blade inching closer and closer to Caynna's forehead. "You won't be able to beat me, sweetheart," Brogan sneered. "I've already had you in a tight spot before."
"What makes you think I'm in a tight spot?" Caynna asked Brogan slyly before shoving his blade to the side slightly and diving off to the left, Brogan's blade cutting down on her uninjured leg.
Caynna stumbled and rolled just in time to avoid getting slashed. She rolled again and hit a tree before she quickly used it as a barrier between her and Brogan. "Come out and fight, bitch!" Brogan yelled as Caynna disappeared up the tree and into the darkening shadows that shrouded her, concealing her from the eyes of her opponent.
Shit, he'll alert the others! Caynna thought as she climbed higher and jumped into the next without so much as rustling the leaves. Brogan was glaring at the trees, sword raised and ready to kill as he searched for Caynna, however he grew frustrated when he couldn't even spot the place Caynna might have been at.
"What are you scared of, huh?!" Brogan yelled. "You were never the one to show fear! You were always the one to come out on top! Always sure of yourself!"
What the hell is he talking about?
"Look at me now, Caynna!" Brogan yelled again as he turned trying to pinpoint Caynna's location but continuously failed. "I'm stronger than you! I'm better than you! And, by hell, I am better than my brothers!"
What is he talking about? He's always been better than his brothers, with the exception of Devyn. He excelled in things I could not. Yet, he never did pass his father like I did. Is that what this is all about?
"I killed my brothers in proof that I am not weak!" Brogan yelled now desperately trying to pinpoint the lass. "I surpassed father when I killed him as well!"
Suspicions confirmed.
"And Devyn," Brogan sneered knowing that he was about to hit a soft spot in Caynna at the mention of her adoptive brother, "he was too much of a coward to even face me! He was too much of a coward to kill me, his 'brother'."
He's gone mad…yep, definitely mad.
"Guess they never told you either," Brogan sneered again as he found Caynna's spot in the tree and glared at it with a large smirk on his face.
Told me what? That I'm adopted? I knew that, dumbass.
"Technically, I'm your cousin."
Well…shit…I didn't see that coming.
"You and I are not so different."
You got that entirely wrong.
"At least I know who my parents were."
He's got that mad look in his eyes.
"Where you, on the other hand-"
Just a bit closer…
"-are a bastard child! You're family kicked you out because they couldn't bear the burden of killing you themselves."
Would you move two feet to the…almost there…one foot back…
Brogan raised his hands as he turned away from the tree Caynna was in, looking in the opposite direction as a glint of metal in his dominant hand showed a throwing knife. "Looks like you're still without a family, bitch!" he said as he took one step back and prepared to throw the knife at the tree he thought Caynna was in.
Caynna jumped, long dagger facing her injured forearm. She descended upon Brogan in a swift movement, taking her dagger and stabbing it in his back as she collided with him. Caynna jumped into a roll away from Brogan's falling body, and popped up onto her feet, a surprised look on Brogan's face. "I have a family," Caynna said in a calm tone as Brogan sank to his knees, "and they are dead. You killed them. Now, I'm just repaying the favor."
Brogan was lost for words as Caynna took one of her daggers out and stalked up to Brogan. "How…I could…always…spot you…" he started as he realized he had never once spotted Caynna, only thought he did.
"Go to hell you piece of shit," Caynna snarled as she grasped Brogan's hair and viciously slashed his neck without a second thought or even a hint of remorse as she did so.
The man she once called a brother fell to the ground, blood pooling from his open neck. Caynna retrieved her dagger from Brogan's back before checking to see if he was really dead.
And he was.
She took Brogan's hand and pulled off the silver ring on his ring finger. She examined it for a moment as she recognized the intricate banding pattern as Brogan's Mark and the guild's entwined around the ring. All assassins got one once they rose to their full rank. It was their symbol, and when they died it was buried with them. However, Brogan was no longer one of them, and this was proof he was dead.
Caynna stood and pocketed the ring, not an ounce of sorrow in her eyes or heart as she looked at Brogan's lifeless body. "You are nothing more to me. You became that the day you started to kill my brothers," she said as she turned and left.
As she made her way through the forest, she felt the odd sense of life slowly but surely leaving her. Caynna stopped and checked herself quickly. She was sure she had a few gashes and nothing more besides the knife in her leg. But she was wrong.
Sheathing her cleaned dagger and short sword, she let out a high pitched whistle before she stopped and leaned against the tree, praying her horse would find her in time.