Shadows: A Six of Crows Fan fic

Chapter 8: Jesper pt. 2

Jesper's head hurt. The pain was pulsing behind his eyes and every time he tried to move it, another stab of pain shocked through him. He took a deep breath as he muscled his body to look up and he let out an involuntary groan. The unfortunate part of the effort was that it amounted to nothing. When he opened his eyes, he saw only darkness. For a split second he panicked thinking that he had gone blind, but then slowly his muddled mind began to recognize the coarse fabric that was rubbing against his face and neck. As if wading through molasses, more details started to surface. The feel of rope around his wrists and ankles, the bite of an ocean wind passing over his shirtless body, and the feel of wood grating his bare back and feet. On the bright side, it seemed like he still had his pants even if everything else was gone. And then it hit him. His holsters were gone too. The familiar weight of his beautiful, beautiful guns was not there. The thought nearly crippled him before anger flooded through his veins for whoever the dirty worm was that decided to take them from him.

Someone was getting a bullet to the skull.

Jesper tried twisting and pulling his hands trying to get them free, but the rope was tied so tight that they wouldn't budge. He needed to get out of wherever he was, find his guns, and then go make sure Wylan and the others were okay. Because if they weren't, multiple people were getting a bullet to the head.

How had things gone so wrong? They hadn't had too much time to scheme but their plan was still solid. The backups, contingencies, multiple escape routes. How had everything gotten blown up before they'd even been able to use them? Why? Had the people they were meeting figured out about us not having Inej? How had they known about me on the roof, or Pim by the pillar? Had Anika and Wylan been taken too? Was that why he lost sight of them? Was Kaz alright? Had anyone gotten away? What the hell happened?

He gave a few violent shakes to try and break free again as the questions and frustrations built up pressure, but the ropes didn't budge. His breathing labored as he continued to struggle when a voice cut through his adrenaline filled wiggling.

"Would you cut it out?" The gruff voice said sharply. Kaz.

"Kaz? What happened? Where are we?"

Kaz shushed me. "Would you keep it down?"

"Sorry," Jesper mumbled.

"I don't know where we are exactly, I've got some bag over my head same as you. But if you stopped struggling for one blasted minute you might be able to figure out a few details all on your own." The condescending tone of Kaz's voice cut through Jesper like a knife. Saints forbid he be worked into a bit of a frenzy over worry for his friends, it wasn't like Kaz had been in the same mind set for days over Inej or something, Jesper thought bitterly.

Begrudgingly, he took Kaz's advice though. He tried to steady his breathing and clam the loud rushing that was in his ears. He closed his eyes and focused on using his other senses to get a reading on the area around him, his mind focusing like it would when he was about to take a shot. The first thing he noticed was that they were swaying. Then that the air smelled like salt and dead fish, that sounds of the docks could be heard in the distance, and that with the wind blowing on him, they were outside.

"We're on a boat." Jesper finally said.

"Finally, the man learns to think," Jesper flinched as Kaz spit out the words. Kaz could be cruel with both his actions and his words, but it was starting to get worse than usual. "I've also counted about three people at most on said boat guarding us while you were off in dream land."

"I get it," Jesper snapped, getting fed up with Kaz's attitude. "You're a freaking genius. Now, has that fantastic mind of yours found us some miraculous way out of here?"