by Lena August
Chapter 11
No one visits me for the rest of the day, but there are always guards standing outside my cell and I can hear them discussing me.
“The messenger just left for Domus territory, that girl better be worth the risk we took sending him.”
“What’s the ransom?” This voice belongs to a woman, the one who brought the food to me.
“I don’t know. Cadoc is hoping she might be worth some weapons, but he may have to settle for food.”
“I think Kovan is hoping she’s worthless to us. Cadoc’s ordered him not to touch her until we know her value for fear of angering Marek.”
The guard scoffs, “Well, Kovan isn’t used to being cut. It really pissed him off and he’s not the forgiving type.”
This is Kovan’s lucky day then, because Marek won’t be paying one cent for me, I can guarantee that. He may even pay these guys to kill me, slowly and painfully, for aiding in his precious prodigy’s escape plan. I wonder how Flynn felt when he discovered that we were gone. Angry? Betrayed? Would he simply replace us with the next group of Innocents that needed rescuing? The thought brings a bitter taste to my mouth. Great, am I really being possessive of someone I barely know? I admit that I feel terrible about betraying Flynn’s trust. Pretty stupid, being that I had every intention of coming back. But now, out of all the things I could be worrying about, I find myself wishing I could explain to Flynn that I hadn’t planned to run away. With these thoughts playing through my mind, I curl up in a ball and eventually drift off to sleep.
I don’t know what time it is when I wake up, but there are angry voices coming from outside my cell. The door flings open and a thin man with black hair and a heavily scared face comes storming in.
“So,” his voice is deathly calm, “Apparently you are worth absolutely nothing to the Domus. We just found the body of our messenger dumped on our border.”
I don’t say anything, holding my breath for what comes next.
He continues, “And this is rather…unfortunate... for you, because now I have a dilemma, and that dilemma is you. Vera tells me you might make a good fighter; I believe she was impressed with the way you slashed Kovan. She would have me offer you a place with us. But Kovan, he was a little less impressed, let me tell you, and seems to be looking forward to killing you. I believe I am going to oblige him. I just don’t trust having a Domus around, and if you aren’t valuable to Marek, I doubt you will be valuable to me. Kovan!” He shouts out the door and a minute later Kovan appears, a satisfied smirk on his face. “She’s all yours. Try not to make a mess, huh? You’ll be scrubbing out the blood stains.”
“Thank you, Sir,” Kovan bows his head respectfully at the man as he exits, leaving me alone with Kovan.
“I’ll bet you’re regretting attacking me now, aren’t you?” He spits at my face and I recoil in disgust.
“Not really,” I say coldly, “I was going to die either way, but now at least you have something to remember me by.” I nod at his bandaged shoulder.
Kovan’s lips curl, “Oh, but I think you fail to realize just how horrible of a death you’ve assured yourself.”
He tucks a loose strand of hair behind my ear and then punches me in the face. The force sends me spinning and my nose begins to bleed. I turn back to face him, spitting blood out of my mouth. Kovan has taken out a short knife, a three inch blade at the most. Not much good for fighting, but perfect for causing pain without risking killing me before he intends to.
“The problem is, I never know where to start.” He tells me as he points his knife at various parts of my body. I glare up into his eyes. My heart is pounding against my rib cage, but my eyes stay void of any emotion except hate, refusing to betray the fear coursing through me. I won’t give Kovan that satisfaction. “Any suggestions?” He asks. “None? Ah, come on, you have to have some preference. No? Fair enough. How about we start at the shoulder since that seems to be your favorite target. We’ll work our way from there, does that sound good?”
I want to reply scathingly, but my comment is drowned out by panicked yelling coming from outside.
Kovan curses, “We’ll have to continue this session another time. That okay with you, sweetheart?” He rushes toward the door, “Stay here,” he orders the guards outside, “I don’t care what the hell happens, you just make sure she doesn’t escape, alright?”
I attempt to stem the flow of blood coming from my nose, and scan the walls for a way out. Nothing. I’ve just made a mental plan to attack the next person who enters my cell and escape in the chaos when my cell door swings open. And then Flynn is standing in the doorway, a knife held in each hand, just like on the day I first saw him, his face distorted into a snarl as he takes down the guard who opened my door. In that moment, my only thought is how amazing he looks.
“Hurry Brie, we don’t have much time,” he says urgently, “we have to get out now.”
He grabs me by the arm and practically drags me down the hallway. “Here, take this,” he shoves one of his knifes into my hand and grabs a new one from his belt. I lose track of how many turns we take until he stops so suddenly, I run into him. “Why are we stopping?” I whisper, afraid of being overheard.
“This is where we are meeting Landon,” Flynn informs me, “He went off in a different direction to cause a diversion, but he should be here any minute.” He looks at me in concern, “Are you alright Brie? They didn’t hurt you too badly, did they?”
I manage a small smile, “Yes, I’m fine, but if you had been a few minutes later I don’t think there would have been much left to rescue. Why did you by the way? Rescue me, I mean. Not that I am complaining, but I am sure there will be plenty of other Innocents who would help you.”
Flynn looks like he is about to respond, but then Landon comes bursting through the door. He doesn’t look good, he’s limping badly and clutching at an open gash in his side. The cocky smile he had been wearing the last time I saw him is replaced by a worried frown.
“Flynn, we’ve got to hurry. I think we are about to have company. I tried to lead them away, but they’ll be here at any second.”
We sprint out the door and down a long hallway. I have no idea where we are headed, but Flynn and Landon seem to know their way back. Soon my injuries start to get the better of me and I begin to trail back. I stumble and Flynn grabs my arm again, helping me stay on my feet.
Finally I see the exit, a wide double door with light streaming in from underneath it. We are sixty yards away, fifty, forty. We’ve almost reached it when a door opens to our right and Murderers stream in. We turn to head back in the direction we came, but they are there too. We are surrounded. Flynn exchanges a look with Landon and raises his knives a fraction of an inch and I understand. They are going to try to fight their way out. They wait for another second, and then as if on cue, leap into action. Flynn fights with such ferocity, his opponents seem to cower before him. He strikes at his challengers, killing them before they even realize what hit them. It is frightening, it is amazing. I fight the best I can, but I mostly just succeed in defending myself, not willing to risk going on offense. Landon’s injuries also seem to be slowing him down, the cut in his side limiting his movement. That is when I notice Kovan heading towards him, Landon doesn’t see him and Flynn is distracted, fighting several guards at once. My cry of warning is lost in the noise of the fight as Kovan takes out a long knife and buries it hilt deep in Landon’s eye. Kovan pulls the knife free and pushes Landon away; he crumples in a heap on the ground as Kovan turns toward me, blood still dripping from the blade. I raise my knife, ready to defend myself, but Flynn has just kicked away his last opponent and his eyes are locked on Kovan, hatred etched in his face. Kovan is forced to turn away from me to face Flynn.
I have to admit that he is a good fighter, he manages to block one of Flynn’s thrusts and dodge the other, but Flynn is fueled by fury and has a lifetime of fighting experience. He easily knocks aside Kovan’s offense and sinks his knife deep into Kovan
’s chest. He wrenches it free and grabs me, pulling me toward the door. Together, we sprint away, running until we can no longer hear them behind us.