Carrion Crow

by Talis Jones

  “I didn’t manage to get too far, just far enough away that I knew I’d die before they could find me. That’s when Titus showed up. He saved my life and brought me to Oneiroi. I murdered my brother and as payment I got not the death I deserved but a chance to be a Whisper and roam free and unbound from my past. I took the deal but I hated Titus. Even more so I hated myself.

  “I kept the name Jack Cromwell, I pushed the other Whispers away, and when I found out that lil Johnny Brekker had died and washed up in Oneiroi shortly after Lily’s death I made it my one purpose to rid him from this world too.

  “Sa would pop up uninvited and unwanted, but she refused to let me wander alone and angry. Titus convinced me to work on his ship from time to time, and the Whispers kept reaching out to me no matter how cruel I was. You remember that man I killed in Barnum, Adrianna? I finally killed lil Johnny just like I always promised except I didn’t kill him for me or for Lily. I killed him to protect you. Just like that my need for revenge was snatched away from me because I’d found something greater to hold onto.”

  Jack bowed his head in renewed shame. Not one day passed when he didn’t remember Lily’s smile or the fear in Les’ eyes, but he’d hoped to keep it from Adrianna because how on earth could someone forgive him for that? “I’m so sorry,” he murmured. “I should have told you but I just…couldn’t.”

  Silence filled the room as anguish wracked his heart and the Crown’s filled with delight.

  “I forgive you,” rasped Adrianna through dry lips and a chest held at knifepoint.

  Jack’s head snapped up and he looked at her in shock. He saw and felt the truth of her words and a sudden weight that had hunched his shoulders for so long lifted. If Adrianna could forgive him then perhaps he could start to forgive himself as well.

  Whether it was Adrianna’s willingness to forgive or Jack’s mention of the Whispers' unyielding loyalty despite his dark acts one can’t be sure but a cry of fury strangled Cassandra. Blind rage had surely seized her in body and mind. Its grasp so deep even she could not understand quite how or why. Tears slipped down Adrianna’s cheeks but her fear was drowned out by the hatred burning through the Crown.

  “NO!” Jack cried lunging for the knife but his steps faltered as all the air in his lungs dispersed. His eyes wide he fell to his knees. Cassandra had plunged the blade deep into Adrianna’s heart. She slumped forwards and with their eyes on each other they breathed their last breath.

  Jack collapsed upon the floor as Adrianna’s lifeless form tumbled off the chair and together they lay there, glassy-eyed, side-by-side, fingers nearly touching. Cassandra looked at them in genuine surprise. If the Whisper was foolish enough to tie his life to the girl’s then this was the sacrifice he had chosen.

  A breath. Another. But no remorse came. Without a backwards glance Cassandra left behind the bodies of a past she loathed, a present she did not understand, and a future of possibilities, hopes, and could-have-been’s all ripped to shreds and carried away on the wind that blew through the wall’s growing cracks.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

  Cassandra returned to her tower. Each step closer brought the cacophony of war louder to her ears. She walked with slow even steps. Unrushed. Eisen would find her when the time came. He would come. She need only wait.

  Resting her hands upon the cold stone of the balcony railing her eyes trailed over the large fires joining the setting sun in spreading light over the carnage. Battle in the dark was pure slaughter for all sides but the end would come soon. A chill tingled the back of her neck. Turning in unhurried grace her eyes narrowed shrewdly as Eisen uncloaked himself before her, stepping out from the shadows.

  “Have you been waiting long?” she inquired cordially.

  Eisen’s face twisted in a cold snarl. “Far too long.”

  She smiled.

  A sword appeared in Eisen’s hand just as one warmed in Cassandra’s grip. The orchestra’s music reached their ears as it drifted from far below and the two Whispers began their own quick dance. Light lunged at the dark. Gold pirouetted around Obsidian. An arm rose and another lifted to mirror it blocking strike after strike with equally strong thrusts. The footwork spun in tighter circles as the tempo increased and the pair danced in time, matching each other step for step.

  With a sharp uppercut of his sword hilt Eisen knocked Cassandra out of their careful tango. Leaving no time for recovery he swept his leg behind hers while twisting her sword arm wrenching the weapon from her grasp as she slammed into the ground. As she shifted to jump back onto her feet his sword met her gaze, steady and unwavering.

  She looked up at her long lost twin and saw her hatred mirrored in his gaze. “Do it,” she hissed.

  Eisen fought hard to keep his mind clear and focused but Adrianna’s warning crowded the space reminding him of the price that came with the Crown’s blood. His whole body ached with how desperately he longed to destroy the woman who took his sister and ruined everything. He argued fiercely with every wrong this disgusting creature had committed from the moment she stepped foot upon Oneiroi. He roared how she deserved to die after spending all these years getting fat on carrion feasts and blood wine. But no matter how stubborn his protests there remained one voice that would not give. Quiet, warm, and determined she stared him down. Adri would never forgive him for this.

  Slowly he lowered his sword. Tossing her weapon across the floor he reached out with his left hand binding Cassandra in place with his magic.

  “How did you do it?” she demanded.

  He smiled at the discomfort in her eyes. Casting his eyes about he dragged over a chair, straddling the seat he crossed his arms along its back comfortably. “Do what? Stay my hand? Raise an army? Topple your throne? Manage to be the lesser of two evils?” Something resembling pain flashed across his face.

  “I have a formal complaint, mi suverenya,” he piped up.

  Cassandra spat at him. “About what?”

  Eisen straightened himself and tapped his nose, winking. “You’ve a lot of blood on your hands.”

  “I believe that’s what they mean when they say ‘the pot calling the kettle black’ isn’t it?”

  Eisen frowned as if indulging a petulant child. “The pot never claimed to not be black but is merely commenting on the fact that the kettle most certainly is.” He leaned forwards. “You took my sister.”

  “Old news,” she grunted.

  He smiled icily. “Not to me.” He tapped his sword against his boot in thought. “All I wanted was to get my sister and myself someplace far away and safe. I wanted a chance to start over. But the moment our feet touched the shore you ruined any chance of that happening. You’ve rocked the boat, so to speak. And if we do not right it at once then we shall all end up dead in the black grasp of the ocean.” He frowned, his gaze suddenly far away. “Even now I feel it’s too late for us.”

  “You know nothing,” she hissed dangerously.

  “I know you tried to take what wasn’t yours and you’ve led hundreds, perhaps thousands over the years into slaughter to gain it. You promise your sheep new life only to secretly seek your old one.”

  “As if you care about Oneiroi! This has always been about your personal vendetta, regardless of what lies you spun to gain followers. We are one and the same, brother.”

  “Are we?” Eisen tilted his head fixing Cassandra with a steely stare. “I often miss being a boy watching Saturday morning cartoons whilst doing my homework. Do you ever miss being that girl who played in the snow and painted by the fire? Do you even remember her?”

  For a moment she slid off balance but she quickly regained her angry growl. “You’ve torn this island apart just as much as I have,” she accused. “But while you have what ghosts remain of your army I am still the Crown of this world.”

  “Only by title,” he smirked knowingly.

  Heat rose to her cheeks. “Then why don’t you just kill me and make yourself Crown. I know you want to spear that sword through my heart, Brother-Twin. Th
e need pulls within your very bones.”

  “I don’t want to be Crown,” he refuted shaking his head.

  “Then what do you want?” she roared fed up with this demon before her.

  “I DON’T KNOW,” he bellowed leaping to his feet. “You stole my family, my world, my dreams, and any chance I had at living innocent of life’s shadows. You stole everything from me and left me bathed in blood, empty-handed as I watch this world crumble before my eyes. I was ten!” Eisen staggered back to the chair. “And now look at me,” he muttered wearily.

  Cassandra spared him no pity. “That is your own fault. You made your choices.”

  “No,” Eisen raged, up on his feet once more. “No, it is your fault and the fault of everyone before us! I was brought up to love but this is a loveless world and I proved too weak to stand against it. I was too weak to be different. I was too weak to love. Pride and revenge and hatred are weakness for they do not build nor satisfy but destroy everything whilst keeping you blind and imprisoned. You tear apart this realm in your quest to rule it, but when all the blood is spilled what will be left to rule? No, it is not my fault.” He let out a heavy sigh. “Not all, anyway.”

  She watched him carefully from her trapped position on the floor. “I will not be your enemy anymore,” he promised suddenly. “Perhaps before you had no one to show you that the door of your jail cell was unlocked all the while, but I have. Adrianna kept trying to tell me. And if Jack speaks the truth then she tried to guide you out of the darkness as well. We were just too enraptured with our dance to see that the music had ended and should have never been.”

  The Crown watched him still. Emotions chased each other across his face but even lost in thought she felt no weakness in his magical hold to tear through. Suddenly she felt very much like she wanted to be anywhere else in the world. Anger still ruled her veins but exhaustion was quick on its heels along with some emotion she did not care to identify.

  “Adrianna’s life drove you this far,” she murmured dangerously. “What boundless reaches might her death bring you?”

  Eisen’s head snapped up at once, fear and disbelief in his eyes. “Leave her alone. She has no part in this.”

  “You’re right. She doesn’t. And that’s why I got her out of our way.” She needed him to feel alone. She needed him to feel the darkness like she did.

  “You’re lying,” he growled, seizing his sword and pointing it directly over her heart.

  “I’m not,” she smiled.

  Doubt hovered on his face for a moment longer but the truth in her eyes caused a roar of anguish to rip through him. Raising his arm with a horrible cry of heartbreak he swung down with fury.

  “Stop! Geoffrey!” Xià cried bursting through the doors. It had to be his choice but she could not stand by any longer.

  Abel dove into an expert slide blocking Eisen’s sword with his own keeping the blade from sinking into the Crown’s flesh. Eisen staggered back in surprise, fury still coiled in his veins and every intention of killing Cassandra fresh in his mind.

  “Please, Geoffrey,” Xià pleaded. “You have to let her go. Adrianna wanted you to let her go.”

  “Adrianna is dead,” he hissed, disbelief still desperate in his throat.

  Slowly Cassandra rose from the ground, her eyes fixed solely upon Eisen.

  “Then do not let her death be in vain,” Abel reasoned keeping his sword raised and ready in case Eisen made for another strike at Cassandra.

  “I plunged a knife deep into her heart,” Cassandra whispered. “I watched while her life drained from her body and felt nothing.”

  Geoffrey held his head tightly but her words slipped through. With a wild cry he struck her knee with the flat of his sword and all the weight he could muster causing it to crumple in a shattered heap as Cassandra wailed in pain.

  “You say revenge and hatred are weaknesses? Well, it looks like you’re as foolish as I,” she spat between gasps of pain, unable to even clutch her knee because of his magical hold seizing her once more.

  He shook his head, all rage channeled into that blow. “You are lost, Cassandra, and I will not join you in the isolated confinement of darkness.”

  “This is not over, Brother-Twin.”

  Fixing her to the floor with a gaze even Abel could not watch he made a promise. “The next time I see you, you will do anything I command. Pray you never see my face again because if you so much as breathe a whisper of hatred you will wish I had killed you tonight.” Without so much as a blink to undermine his words he vanished.

  Xià rushed over to Cassandra and gently pried her now freed hands away from the wreckage of her knee. As she used her gift to begin stitching the smashed mass back together Abel bent down beside them. Reaching out his hand he moved aside a ripped flap of her battle dress and placed his palm roughly against the exposed skin binding her loyalty to the Whispers. She could seethe as much as she liked but Abel’s gift would keep her from causing any harm to them again.

  “I will find a way,” Cassandra swore quietly.

  Abel looked into her eyes wearily. “No. You won’t.” He got up and waited at the door for Xià to finish her work.

  “I am sorry you felt so wronged, Cass,” she murmured quietly.

  “Keep your pity, Xià.” Cassandra followed her venomous words with a wad of spit into the young girl’s face.

  Xià wiped it away slowly, maintaining an impressive grip on her serenity. “I have healed your knee,” she offered in response. “But you will walk with a limp. It might twinge when the wind howls but perhaps that will serve as a reminder for you. To remind you of the family you cast aside. We forgive, but never forget.”

  Standing smoothly she met Abel by the door and they left Cassandra alone in her rage, returning to the battlefield.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

  Cassandra lay slumped in a bloody pool upon the floor, her face stained with angry tears. Calming her breath she used her arms to push herself back against the wall propping her body into a sitting position. Gingerly she inspected her injury. Xià had done a good job, as expected, but with her precision she’d left the injury only partially healed. Raising her body slightly to test putting weight on her leg she collapsed back down in pain. It would heal with a bit of time but she would be going nowhere on her own just yet.

  One of the doors suddenly creaked open and Cassandra tensed as a shadow slipped inside but as the man it belonged to followed she relaxed. “Christophe,” she called relieved.

  Christophe rushed to her side, his eyes widening as he took in the blood and state of the poor Crown. “Mi suverenya,” he breathed stunned.

  “It is just my knee,” she assured him. “Eisen paid me a visit but one of the Whispers saw fit to heal the wound at least partially.”

  “Can you not fix it with your own magic?” he asked worriedly.

  “No, I think not. I’m not as gifted in the healing arts as Xià. Even if I was I can’t get my thoughts to focus on the task just yet,” she admitted frustrated. A sudden smile alighted her face, a girlish smile that rarely won a place on her lips. “All I can feel is the pain, but now that you’re here, I find myself leaving the pain to feel only relief.”

  Christophe smiled in return. “That is funny. For I feel no relief at the sight of you.” Cassandra’s smile warmed at the evident distress and concern her gory state had put him in. He stood swiftly and looked down at her like a maid analyzing a scuff on the floor. “No. Relief would only come if I had found you dead on the floor, Cassandra.”

  Shock slapped Cassandra across the face. All the warmth and hope of escape that had embraced her with his arrival was ripped away leaving her shivering. “Christophe, please. Help me,” she cried as she reached out a desperate hand. He cocked his head to the side watching her. Another wave of pain from her knee strummed up her body and she gasped. “Help me.”

  Christophe sighed dully. “No. No I don’t think I will.” Raising his boot he slammed it down breaking the bone Xià had just mend
ed.

  Cassandra let out a wretched shriek of pain that pierced even the slowing sounds of battle still drifting up through the window. A crow fluttered away from the balcony rail in fright. Pain blinded her, roiling in her stomach threatening to vomit.

  In great gasping breaths she whimpered, “Why?”

  “Now that is a good question, isn’t it?” he grinned darkly. He moved to sit in the chair Eisen left by her crumpled figure. “During your first reign you took a fancy to a man named Gerard Thompson. Promising him power he soon fell in love with you. Maybe you fell in love with him, even. Although I’m not sure your heart is capable of such things.

  “You had a child, Clarissa. But you see, although you’d been with him for months you disowned him and left to give birth in secret. So he hunted you down and took his child to hide her until you agreed to put him into power like you had promised.

  “Ah, but he underestimated what you held precious. He thought like any other mother you would love your child above all else, but you couldn’t have cared less, could you?

  “You snuck into his room and killed him. Do you ever wonder about what happened to your child?” he asked coldly.

  Cassandra’s head was drenched in sweat and it took great effort to focus on him. “No,” she sneered.

  His eyes narrowed in disgust. “When Gerard never returned to the village where he hid his daughter the family decided to keep her, until eventually putting her out on the street. She married a soldier named Henrik Ammon and together they had a son, named Christophe. So you see, you slaughtered my grandfather, mi suverenya. You abandoned my mother and for that I’ve grown up hating you since the moment I overheard my mother confessing the truth to my father. She looked so much like you, you know.” He shook his head. “The moment you came to me hoping to gain my aid in overthrowing Dismas and I saw your face your fate was mine.”

  “It was a long time ago,” she moaned more from pain than guilt.