A dull thump of pain, beating in time with his heart, was slowly bringing Kaz back to the waking world, beat by beat. His body was cold and stiff, a hard surface underneath his body, but at the same time there was a softness and warmth cradling his head. He felt something akin to a summer breeze brushing through his hair. The two opposites did not merge in his mind. His curiosity awakened, he opened his eyes. Two, upside down, brown and soft eyes met his, worry spelled out in them. Inej.
He was prone on the floor, head resting in her lap. She was leaning over him, a few fingers tenderly brushing through his hair. He liked the feeling, a way of contact that allowed closeness, yet didn't involve skin-to-skin contact. This was probably the closest they had been to each other while they were both awake. His eyes locked with Inej's, happy to just rest there, forgetting the cold, hard floor and aches of his body.
"Hi," Inej said softly, a small smile playing on her lips.
Kaz let his eyes drift to the small nick on Inej's neck. It had stopped bleeding, but a smear of blood still stained her skin. He lifted his hand towards her neck, but paused midway, letting it fall, not wanting to encroach on her space. Kaz's thoughts strayed towards Keller, and what he might have done to Inej. "Are you hurt?" he asked carefully, afraid of the answer.
Inej rolled her eyes at him while smiling. "No, that would be you, silly. You ordered me to stand down, remember?"
He ignored her teasing, needing to be sure. "He didn't lay a hand on you?". He searched her face for any signs of hurt, fearing what she might have been forced to endure because of him.
Seeing Kaz being hurt in the church because of her had made her furious. She had wanted to fight, despite the knife at her throat, but Kaz's order to stay still had kept her unharmed, but cost him. She wanted to yell at him for risking himself, and for now wasting time worrying about her when it was clearly him who needed tending to. But she knew she would get nowhere until she had given him his answers, so she relented.
"No, he did not hurt or touch me in any way. After capturing me he kept me tied up in here, except for the little excursion to the church, and you were there for most of that. I'm fine, I promise. It's you that I'm worried about. Are you okay?" she asked while tenderly brushing away a strand of hair from his forehead.
"I'm fine," he replied, not wanting to focus on himself, his thoughts already working towards finding an escape before Keller returned. Despite his wish to remain in the comfort of her warmth, he started to rise. The movement caused his previously dormant injures to come to life, making him grimace in pain. He could feel the blunt trauma to his torso and back. From experience he could tell it was mainly bruises, most likely a cracked rib or two. It would hurt and leave him sore and stiff, but it was bearable and would heal with time. He felt Inej's small hands on his upper back, steadying him as he rose the last part into a seated position.
He let his eyes roam the room as his head and body got accustomed to his new seated position. They were in a rather large cell. It was placed in a corner of a larger room, where the cement walls of the building made up the back and side wall of the cell. The other two walls were made up of solid iron bars that looked to have been newly installed. It was rectangular with a cell door at the end, a cot at the other end. The cell door had no lock, and was controlled by an outside mechanism. The cot itself looked plain, but the bedding looked to be a surprisingly high-quality. Other then that the cell was bare.
The room outside the cell was sparsely illuminated from a rooflight outside the cell. The room had no windows. The roof was covered in thick wooden beams that together with several standing beams was holding up what he guessed was a sizable and heavy building. A standard staircase led down from what probably was an upper floor. It was placed on the opposite side of the cell. That meant that they were probably in a basement below ground level, naturally soundproofed, and perfect for hiding victims. There looked to once have been an opening of some sort in the wall next to their cell, but it had been bricked and cemented shut, almost blending in with the cement wall. The room itself had no furniture apart from a single expensive looking chair that was haphazardly placed near the middle of the room. There was nothing special about the cellar, and no apparent escape route at first look.
Having gathered himself, he made to rise. He put his weight on his good leg, and started to do the same on his hurt leg, only for a surprised yelp of pain to escape him. He more crashed than settled back onto the floor, face going ashen as the pain shot through him.
Inej wanted to run to his aid, but restrained herself, knowing he wouldn't accept it yet. She had seen the beating, and how they had targeted his right leg, and suspected it was in a poor condition. She had considered inspecting his injuries while he was still unconscious, but had decided against it as she knew he would consider it a break of trust. She had to wait till he was ready to ask for help, then she would be there for him. It was always a difficult line to walk when it came to Kaz. She couldn't be too close, or he would spook and push her away, and yet not too far away, or he would try to carry on alone. She'd had years of practice, and had mastered the art of the tight line that was Kaz to some degree, but not enough to do it without a safety net. "Your hurt," she stated plainly, working to keep her emotion out of her voice.
He sat on the ground, starring at his busted leg. Attacking his weak leg had been a successful tactic by the thugs, easily taking him out, but it had at least shortened the beating. He was pretty sure he knew what was wrong with it, but he needed to be sure before he tried mending it. And if he was right, and wanted to sort it quickly, he would need help. Inej's help. He wasn't quite ready to go there yet. To buy himself some time, and to distract himself from the pain pulsating from his leg he let his focus shift. The imbeciles that had beat him hadn't taken the time to search him properly. From what he could tell he still had his lock picks, and also Inej's slim knife. He pulled it out from inside his vest, holding it out for Inej. "I believe this belongs to you".
Inej looked from him to the knife and back before carefully picking it out of his hands. "Where did you get this? Was this how he tricked you into going to the church?" she asked while studying her knife.
"They didn't trick me. I came because one of my crows were in trouble, and it was the best plan at the time. I didn't have much information to go on and little time to plan, but we are currently on plan E".
"Plan E? And what's that?" Inej asked, cocking her head slightly, always fascinated by how Kaz's mind worked.
"Fighting our way out, and for that, you need your knife," Kaz said while pointing at her knife, as if all had gone according to his plan. She felt stronger knowing he was by her side along with one of her trusted saints, but her smile slipped as her eyes slid down to his leg. "But can you fight like that?"
His frowned as he stared at his own leg. "It's messed up," he admitted, "and I think I might need help fixing it," he shared, clearly irritated at himself.
"That's what friends are for," she said warmly, glad he was willing to let her aid him. "Can I touch it?"
He nodded.
She could feel how he stiffened at her touch, but he didn't pull away. Inej let her fingers explore. She felt something shift in his knee, eliciting a small moan from Kaz. She paused, glancing up at him. His eyes where shut, hands curled into fists and his breath was coming in short, controlled breaths. "Kaz, I think I need to roll up your trouser leg to inspect it properly, and I might need to touch your skin to help. What do you want to do?"
She could see his mind working for a few seconds before he removed his left glove and threw it at her. "Use this".
She caught it easily. It was still warm and smelled of leather and Kaz. The sight reminded her of the first time she had seen him without his gloves.
Kaz rarely parted with his gloves, using them as a layer of protection against the world and its people, and most importantly, their touch. His aversion to skin was a secret he hid from everyone, including his crows. People told horror stories of his hands, how his fingers were talons of death or stained red from all the blood they had spilled. He played up the stories, even encouraging them, knowing it built up his reputation as Dirtyhands. He only ever took off his gloves when he was alone.
The first time she had seen him without gloves was during a late-night visit for a report. He had been sitting in his armchair, his thoughts lost in scheming, hands and fingers absentmindedly playing with a coin, making it appear and disappear without even needing to pay attention. She had been lost in the magic and deftness of his movements. She remembered thinking they looked like gentle, clever hands, scarred and pale, but still innocent, not the hands of the monster from the stories she had heard. It was one of the small things that made her realize that there was more to him then what the rumours said.
His reason for using the gloves, and his aversion to touch had taken her longer to uncover, and it had happened by accident.
On a late and rainy night, they had been ambushed in the street by two thugs. They both attacked Kaz. He had quickly taken out one thug with his cane, but the second one had attacked him from behind, managing to get his hands around Kaz's exposed neck. Kaz's expression had been sheer panic, yet at the same time, distant, as if he were a million miles away. Instead of utilizing his usual cleverness to escape, he thrashed in the man's grip.
She had leapt to his rescue, knocking the thug unconscious, causing him to release Kaz. Even tough the grip was broken Kaz had crashed to his hands and knees. His eyes were glassy, lost somewhere in his own nightmare, and he was struggling to breath. Unsure of the reason behind his troubles she had touched his neck, wanting to check if the chokehold had damaged his airwaves or if he had an injury. His eyes had widened at her touch, before rolling back, his body collapsing on the ground and starting to shake violently, his breathing non-existent.
She had jumped back, scared. She didn't dare reach for him again, instead calling his name, talking to him in desperation. Her traumatized voice had somehow cut through his haze of panic, his shaking ceasing, eyes clearing, the Kaz she knew returning. He was shaken and pale, but once more himself. Once he had gathered himself, he had fixed her with a deadly gaze, telling her to never touch him again, and to never reveal to anyone what she had seen here this evening. If she did, she knew it would be her one and only betrayal. She then watched him coldly kill the unconscious man, the only other witness to what had transpired there tonight, before disappearing, leaving her alone in the rain, unsure of what had just happened.
She had been scared that night. It was the only time Kaz had ever threatened her. But she had kept his secret, and after the event he had started relying more on her, making her one of his trusted Crows along with Jesper. She had proven to him that she could be trusted.
Ever since that day she had paid attention to how much effort Kaz put into avoiding even the minimum of touch from another human being. Suffering through it on his clothes when he had to, but avoiding it whenever possible, and never skin-to-skin contact. She had put the pieces together, and realized that skin-to-skin touch had caused his reaction, and she knew she had to do what she could to keep that panicked, out of control, violent man she had met that dark night from returning.
At first it had been out of fear for him, but it had evolved to be out of care, wanting to protect him from the one thing that made him vulnerable. In addition to her ordinary protection duty, she had started to make sure people like Jesper and the Dregs kept the necessary distance to him, standing innocently in their way, or occupying the place next to him herself, making sure he had plenty of space. Sometimes she would even utilize her knives if she needed to make sure they didn't crowd him. Kaz had never commented on it, but she had observed that he seemed to be more at ease in crowds whenever she was there to have his back, and had thus never stopped. And now he needed her help again, and she was not backing down.
She slid the glove on, and moved the fabric of his trouser leg upwards, still careful to not touch his skin more then necessary. Once she revealed the knee, she could see it was swollen, and more purple than skin coloured. It also looked askew, like something was out of place. Kaz barely glanced at it before giving his verdict. "The kneecap is out of place. You need to reset it."
"What? How do you know? And what if I make it worse?" She asked, fear sliding into her voice at the thought of failing.
"It has happened before. There is really no magic to it. You just push it into position while pushing down with your weight. Either you do it, or I can try to do it myself, but I would need to be sitting higher for that. In this position I can't put enough force and weight behind it to set it," he explained, his tone flat as if he was talking about an everyday thing.
It sometimes scared her how normal Kaz found pain and injuries, making her wonder how his life had been as he fought his way up the ranks of the Dregs.
She took a deep breath to prepare herself. She could do this. She could help Kaz. She moved into position, poised a few inches over his knee. "Will it hurt?" she asked nervously, seeking out his face.
"Yes, but you can't stop. No matter what happens you need to ignore me, and just keep going till you hear the pop of the bone sliding back into place. Can you do that?" Kaz looked sternly at her, needing to know she wouldn't hold back.
She looked at his determination, trying to borrow some of it as she swallowed down her own fear "Yes, I think so".
Satisfied, Kaz let his head fall forward, closing his eyes. His hands gripped his own coat, letting the material bunch in his hand, needing something to hold onto when the familiar pain came.
She hated this, and hated Mr. Keller for putting them through this. "I'm sorry," she said just at she brought her hands and weight down on his knee.
Kaz head flew up as he let out a guttural roar through clenched teeth, face scrunched up in pain. The pain shot out like a million lighting bolts from his knee. His whole body going rigid, every muscle in fight mode. Sweat beaded on his face, and he could feel his stomach roil with nausea. His mind was starting to black out, but he fought to hang on, for Inej's sake.
Following Kaz's instruction it only took Inej a few seconds to get the knee realigned. As soon as she heard the sickening noise of the bone sliding back into place she jumped away, giving Kaz space to collect himself.
When his knee settled back in place, the intense pain abated, and was replaced by a more muted thud. His body went slack, head falling forward again, fighting to get enough breath into his lungs to not faint. Slowly, but surely, he was winning the battle against his body. When he was once more in control, he tipped his head up again to find Inej. She looked frightened and heartbroken. He didn't like seeing that look on her.
"It's okay… you fixed it. This time was much easier then the previous two times, and I didn't even black out once this time," he joked with a lopsided grin, trying to put her at ease again.
"Did you really fix this on your own, twice?" Inej asked incredulously, her hands still feeling wrong from her actions.
He thought for a second before replying. "I kind of had to. There wasn't anyone I trusted to help me. And those times it took several tries before I got it right, and that hurt way more. The second time I also left it too long, making it harder to fix. So I mean it, thank you for your help".
Inej's heart sank as she thought of a younger Kaz forced to tend to his own injures and heal on his own, no one to keep him safe. She wondered if his leg would have healed better if he'd had someone who cared for him back then, but they would never know.
Kaz had already started to move his leg and knee, bending and rotating it. Hissing every now and again at a particularly painful twinge.
"Shouldn't you rest it?" Inej asked with concern.
"Probably, but there is no time for that," Kaz responded. "If I don't move it now it will be completely stiff and useless by tomorrow, and I need to be able to put weight on it and move it if we are to get out of here." He started to push himself up into a standing position, this time succeeding.
Inej fetched his cane from the cell floor, offering it to him.
He took it gratefully, leaning on it heavily as he kept experimenting with his leg. Both he and Inej needed a distraction, and he decided it was time he learned how this had all come about. "Tell me, how did that old, fat man manage to trap the Wraith? There are few to none who can claim that honour," he asked, genuinely curious.
Inej huffed in anger. "He used a friend at the Menagerie to get to me. He had befriended Ursa a few months ago. Buying her flowers, little trinkets, earrings and such, offering her sweet promises of taking her away from the Menagerie, and into a life of love and marriage. She had told me about him, but made me promise to keep him a secret from everyone, arguing that Tante Heleen couldn't find out they were in love because she would raise the price on her so that he could never afford to buy her out of her indenture. The girls knew how you had saved me from the Menagerie by buying my indenture, and knew that it was one of the few ways out of that hell hole. I thought he was leading her on, that he would not have the money to buy her out, but I didn't have the heart to tell her as she was truly in love with the man. As long as she was happy, I didn't see the harm in it, but I was so wrong," she said, voice growing cold.
"Ursa had asked me to meet her by the Glimmer Hall this morning, telling me she had some important information for me. I scouted from the roof and saw no apparent danger, so I joined her on the street. She once more told me that this man, Keller, would save her, but that Tante Heleen had found out, and was now threating to kill both of them. In my side view I spotted a man running towards us, his hand hiding something under his jacket. I thought he was coming for Ursa, so I launched myself at him, easily knocking him to the ground where he cowered in fear. Ursa came running, yelling at me to get off her love. I was confused, but started to move away, but then I felt a prick in my leg. The man was smiling, showing off the small syringe he had injected me with. The effects took hold immediately. I tried to walk away, but my mind was spinning, body refusing to listen, and I fell to the ground. Just before I fell unconsious, I saw Ursa fall to the ground in front of me, her lifeless eyes staring back at me. He had used and killed her, luring her in with false promises, just to get to me. She died because of me…" she said sadly, voice breaking slightly as she hugged herself with her arms, eyes downcast to the floor.
Kaz could see the pain the death of her friend had caused her, and the blame she put on herself. "It's not your fault, it's mine. She was used to get to you, and you were used to get to me, so blame me if you need to, but I would rather you focus your anger toward Keller. We'll make him pay for what he did, I promise," he said sternly, needing his Wraith for what was to come.
She wiped a tear from the corner of her eye, taking his words to heart, letting her defiance and determination replace her previous heartache.
"Now, tell me what happened after he had you," Kaz prompted.
"As I said, he didn't hurt or touch me, but he kept studying me. Asking me to move for him, and to answer his questions about you. What your name was, where you were from, how I met you, what I was to you and lots of other trivial questions. I refused to do either, just waited for him to give up and leave. Not long after he sent his men to grab me and move me to the church by the trunk of a carriage."
Kaz let the information sink in. This Mr. Keller had been in town for a while, and had gone through a lot of trouble and a long con to get to him, but he still had no clue as to why, or how far Keller was willing to take this. From the sound of it, he was a dangerous new player that knew how to get what he wanted, and liked to utilize manipulation and violence when needed. They needed to escape, and fast.
He started going along the edges of the cage, prodding the floor, walls, bars and doors for any weaknesses, but none materialized.
They were securely locked in, and there was no escape except by the door mechanism that was out of reach. He stared at the mechanism in frustration, trying to figure out a way to reach it with their limited resources. If it had just been a button or lever, they might have made it work, but the mechanism looked to require several steps to activate, and would not be easily circumvented.
He sighed. "I'm sorry, but we are not getting out of here tonight. There is nothing more for us to do then wait till morning, and hopefully fight our way out when they open this door," he said while nodding at the cell door. "Might as well get some sleep before that," he suggested before starting to ease his way down to the ground near the cell door.
"Stop, what are you doing?" Inej interjected.
Kaz paused. "I thought I would sleep on this side, and I can't very well sleep standing," Kaz answered, uncertain what Inej was getting at.
"Your hurt, you should take the cot," Inej insisted.
"No, that's yours. I'm good on the floor," Kaz answered firmly.
Inej stared at Kaz, but soon realised she was never going to win this battle. For a man who prided himself on being ruthless, he sure made enough sacrifices when it came to her, but she wasn't giving up the fight entirely. She quickly gathered the thick blanket from the bed.
"Use this at least. The floor is cold and hard, and the mattress and sheets are more then enough for me," she said while trusting the blanked towards him.
Kaz stared at the blanket for a moment. He wanted to refuse, but if he were to be any use tomorrow, he needed his body to work, and she was right in that the cold cement floor wouldn't do him any favours. He begrudgingly accepted the blanket and started to spread it out near the cell door.
The placement meant he blocked the only route to Inej, and offered her what distance and privacy he could. He knew she had trouble sharing her space with others after the horrors of the Menagerie, and he didn't want to add to her trouble. He paused as she called his name softly, turning towards her again.
"Kaz, if you don't mind, would you stay close tonight, beside the bed?"
He turned, puzzled at her request, "Are you sure? I don't mind giving you your space."
"I appreciate that, I truly do, but tonight I think I will feel safer with you close by. Safety in numbers, right?" she offered, her voice shacking slightly.
Kaz could see she was nervous, and he figured being locked up was making Inej uneasy. He wouldn't refuse her.
He limped closer to the cot she was sitting on, spreading the blanked on the ground, around a meter from her, still blocking anyone from reaching her. "Is this ok?" he asked cautiously, studying her to make sure this was what she wanted.
"Yes, that's better. Thank you," she whispered before laying down on the bed, face turned towards him.
He carefully lowered himself to the floor till he lay on his back, using his own jacked to cover himself. He looked at her. She gave him a soft smile before securing her sheets close around herself and letting her eyes close, hands clutching at her knife for safety.
Kaz stared at her till she fell asleep. He needed to get her out, no matter what it cost him. He took in her soft features once more before closing his eyes, drifting off to the thought of caving in Keller's skull with his cane.