The crow and the beast - Kaz brekker

chapter 6 - do you trust me

The next day Cara woke up in a rather happy mood. She put on a typical black outfit to fit in with the dregs and ate a pastry in her room before heading downstairs. As she got to the bottom of the stairs kaz was overlooking the establishment from the side-lines.

Cara walked up to him. "good morning kaz" he looked at her and Cara saw a very small smirk form on his face while he nodded at her. Cara took her usual seat at the back of the establishment near a window as she sipped on a drink she made earlier.

A few moments later jesper and wylan joined her at the table. "good morning guys" she said as they both replied with their respective good mornings. The trio talked for a little while before kaz joined them at the table taking a seat next to Cara.

"how long do you need to pack for 2 days?" kaz asked while he turned to Cara. "why? Are we going on vacation?" Cara smiled knowing they weren't. "no, we are going to meet a merchant far out of town. We will go to an inn of a acquaintance today and meet the merchant tomorrow, then we will go back to the inn to sleep another night and get back to ketterdam."

"are we not invited?" Jesper asked pointing between wylan and himself. "no i need you guys to guard the crow club and keep everything in order here. I am only taking Cara so in case things go wrong i have some protection."

"since when does the great bastard of the barrel need protection?" jesper smirked. Kaz shot him a death glare. "pack your thing and meet me back here in 30 mins." Kaz said to Cara as he got up himself. "yes sir" she said.

Cara quickly went upstairs and packed an extra outfit in a little bag aswell as some bottled water and some snacks and supplies. Kaz was already waiting for her when she went downstairs. "ready to go?" Cara nodded as she held the door open for him. They started walking to the south end of the city.

"will we be walking there?" Cara asked. "yes" kaz grumbled. Cara knew that his limp would make the journey difficult but there was no way kaz would ever show any pain. "can you ride a horse kaz? With your leg?" Kaz looked at her and cocked an eyebrow.

"yes, i know how to ride a horse but I'd rather not ... they are too unpredictable for me." Cara smiled, exactly what she wanted to hear. "we won't be walking there then, i have just the horse for you." Cara smirked at him.

Kaz didn't respond so Cara continued "do you trust me." Kaz didn't look at her but after a few more steps he muttered a quite yes to Cara. "follow me." They made their way outside the city and walked at least 15 minutes into a forest seemingly taking random small roads.

"are you planning on murdering me? Because this would be your perfect opportunity." Cara laughed "was that an attempt at a joke?" she laughed more. "we're almost there hang on." After a few more minutes they entered a small clearing with a little wooden hut at the edge.

"Wait here" she said to kaz as she made her way into the clearing. She whistled loudly and after a few seconds 2 horses emerged from the forest. They trotted towards her and she greeted them as they approached her. She turned to kaz who was standing still stood at the edge of the forest and motioned for him to come over. As he approached Cara introduced him. She first motioned to the smaller horse.

"this is venus, he is 7 years old and a real pain in the butt. I started his training only a few years ago so he is pretty green." Kaz looked at venus, a small horse. Dark brown of colour but looking very fit. He could definitely see this horse was made for speed.

"and this is Elvis. He is the horse you will be riding today. He is a real sweetheart. He doesn't spook at anything and you can completely control him with your hands, he almost needs no leg support to keep him going. He's perfect." Cara stroked his nose and motioned kaz closer. Elvis was a big horse, jet black with a little marking on his forehead.

"i taught them both myself, they were both abandoned by merchants as they were deemed to weak, they were both very sick when i got them. I nursed them back t health and started training them."

As kaz was stroking elvis he thought to himself that Cara never stopped surprising him. He was lost in thought until Cara returned with 2 saddles with 2 sets of saddle bags. She quickly tacked up both horses before she went to stand next to kaz again. "kaz this is very important; my horses have passwords. They will only accept the rider who knows the password. This way they will never be stolen as they will simply kick the rider off."

kaz cocked an eyebrow "that is actually a very useful thing." He said. "indeed, you better understand how big of a deal this is mr brekker. These horses were the only thing i had for a long time. The password for Elvis is 'take me under your wing'. In a second here i will make him ready for you to get on, make sure you say the password to him before he gets up."

Kaz nodded and took a step back. Cara tapped the shoulder of elvis twice and the horse went down to the ground waiting for further commands. Cara turned to kaz "please give me your cane and bags." Kaz took a second but gave Cara his cane and bags and she immediately attached his cane to the saddle of the horse and put his bags into the saddle bags.

Cara stepped back motioning for kaz to get on. He limped towards the horse and swung his leg over taking a seat. He would never show it but he really appreciated everything Cara was doing for him. She didn't pity him and just wanted to help.

the horse turned his ear towards kaz and kaz leaned forward whispering the password in the ear of the horse. The horse immediately stood up but did not move forward. Kaz put some light pressure and the horse started walking, turning with the slightest movement of his hands.

he walked the horse over to Cara who was standing next to venus. "the merchant we are meeting thinks i will be coming alone." Cara quickly nodded. "i thought as much, looks like i am your perfect partner in crime then." She giggled at her own joke.

"i assume you don't travel on busy roads?" Kaz shook his head. "good that means i get to stretch my legs and run for a while." Cara looked at kaz and could see a glint of worry in his eyes. "don't worry the horses know my wolf is no danger to them, venus here will follow you wherever you go. I won't shift back until you give me permission to and if i hear other people i will shift to the dog instead of the big wolf"

"you already planned this all out didn't you." Cara smiled "i didn't know u were the only one allowed to make plans." Cara turned to venus and whispered something to the horse before taking a few steps back and shifting to the wolf.

Kaz hadn't seen the wolf many times yet, especially not in the daylight. She was beautiful and looked strong and healthy. A feeling began to rise in his chest when he looked into those green eyes. Before him stood the only person, who seemed to really understand him. The only person who he felt he could completely relax with as he knew she would never hurt him.

Cara let out a playful bark as she took off into the forest. Elvis patiently waiting for kaz to tell him where to go. Kaz took off in a trot, he could comfortable just sit i the saddle while trotting. This was an absolutely perfect horse he thought as he looked back and saw venus following behind them.

It only took another 30 minutes to leave the forest as they were traveling on a seemingly abandoned road, fields on the left and woods on the right side of the road. He was seemingly lost in thought when suddenly a massive black shadow jumped over him.

he gasped slightly but quickly regained himself as the wolf landed on his left side and started following next to him, looking at him with her green eyes he noticed a glistering in them. They came up to a pretty long straight piece of road and he he could feel Elvis wanted to gallop so he let him.

he gave Elvis free rein as the horse enjoyed his run. Next to him was Cara still running next to them. As he looked over to her he could swear he saw the wolf smirk as it took off, leaving him and the horses behind. He would never say it to anybody but for a first time ina long time he actually was having fun.

when they got close to the inn Kaz stopped Elvis and told Cara that they were nearing the inn and she shifted into the smaller wolf and kept close to the horses. They entered the stables and kaz got off the Elvis. A stable hand took over the horses as kaz took his cane and bags from Elvis, he then took Cara's bag from Venus and walked out of the stables where Cara was sitting, waiting for him.

They entered the inn and as Kaz approached the bar Cara listened for any interesting conversations picking up on something but before she could listen in too much she heard kaz's voice. "come on then." He was turned to her and motioned her.

they had a room on the main floor and kaz was grateful he did not need to go up any stairs. Once inside he locked the door behind them and turned to Cara who was already inspecting the room. It wasn't big but it had a little seating area and a big double bed. "you can shift." Kaz casually said as he turned towards the dresser to place down the bags.

in a heartbeat Cara shifted "so how was the ride on elvis?" Kaz turned to her. "he is a good horse." He answered. Kaz walked towards the door unlocking it and throwing the key to Cara who caught it with ease. "don't let anybody in, i will be back later." Cara nodded and as kaz closed the door behind him she locked it again.

Cara took a seat and pulled out her book and pencil and started drawing. It was dark getting dark when she heard a soft knock at the door. Kaz walked in and put down tray with 2 plates of food as well as 2 drinks. "had to convince the inn keeper that i had company tonight before he gave me 2 sets." He said on a weird tone .. almost playful.

"wel i couldn't think of better company than you." Cara said as she smiled. For a second Kaz eyes got soft but he quickly turned away to place his coat on a chair. They ate their food as kaz went over the plan for tomorrow.

"we are meeting a wealthy merchant who has promised me a nice sum of kruge for this" he placed a rather good-looking watch on the table. "he has promised me way too much to what it's worth, on top of that he is also giving me a key to a vault of a concurrent merchant of him in ketterdam. I expect that after we leave back for ketterdam we will be ambushed for the kruge."

Cara nodded. "while i talk with he merchant i want you to listen if you hear any other people in the house that might be planning the ambush. If you can find out when and where they will strike and who they are."

"this is also why i want to ask you to stay as a wolf during the night, in case they ambush us here during the night." Cara looked at kaz "i always wanted to be a guard dog" she said with a smirk. Kaz shot her a glare.

"we leave early tomorrow so its best to get some sleep while we can." Cara nodded. Standing up and walking to an open spot in the room when shifting to the small wolf. She sat down in front of the small window looking outside so she could give kaz privacy while he readied for bed.

When she heard the bed creak she turned around and saw kaz sitting on the edge looking at her. She walked over and sat in front of him looking at him while tilting her head slightly as to ask if he wanted anything.

Very slowly kaz moved his hand, she immediately noticed he had removed his gloves. She saw his hand tremble slightly and dared not to move. Very slowly he moved his hand over to her placing it on her shoulder.

She could feel the trembling slowly fade away as he stroked her fur. She moved slightly so his hand was on her cheek underneath her ear. She leaned in to the touch slightly as to telling him it was okay.

She saw something in the eyes of kaz that she couldn't place when he suddenly removed his hand and laid back on the bad. She went to the foot of the bed curling up next to it. She almost was dozing off when she heard a very silent "goodnight Cara" coming from the bed.