The crow and the beast - Kaz brekker

chapter 15 - the fortress

Kaz had been pacing around his room for hours. He and his crows had spread out around the city to find any information on Hannah, the person they came to get. But when they all went back to the inn they would gather at nobody had seen Cara.

however inej was nowhere to be found either, he knew that If somebody knew what had happened it was inej. So he waited, stayed awake long after everybody had gone to bed. what if something had happened to her, what if she was hurt somewhere. He would never forgive himself for letting her get hurt.

he was so lost in thought that he did not even notice inej coming into his room. "kaz" he turned around and walked right to her. "where is Cara?" Inej took a step back from him. she saw he was worried sick.

"she had been taken." Kaz did not let her finish. "taken where? Who had taken her? How many guards?" inej waited for him to stop rambling before she answered his questions.

"they knocked her out and put her in a cage, then on a carriage that was headed for a fortress near town. She might have been taken by the same person Hannah was taken. There were some guards at the door with no other entrances, I did not see a way in kaz."

kaz looked like a mad man, murder in his eyes. His mind was racing with possibilities until he settled on one. "then we blow a hole in it to get in."

meanwhile Cara was waking up. she was still in her small wolf form. "finally waking up?" a woman's voice that seemed very close to her. She quickly stood up and looked around. It was fairly dark but she could see she was in a cage.

the room was barely lit with some torches but she finally found where the voice came from. In a cage next to her was a girl around her age she guessed. Once they locked eyes the girl spoke again.

"they know what you are already, might as well shift back." Cara knew this already, why would she be kidnapped otherwise. So she shifted back to human hoping to get some information from the woman next to her.

once she shifted back the woman spoke again. "so how much are you worth? Apparently I am worth 1.5 million kruge." Wait a second, that is the exact same amount as... "are you Hannah?" The woman smiled when she heard the name.

"seems like you know me already. So what is your name?" Cara thought for a moment but saw no harm in telling the woman her name. "Cara" Hannah nodded.

"so you must have come to save me then, I must hope you didn't come alone." Cara shook her head. "we came with a crew to save you." Suddenly the door to the room slammed open.

"to bad there is no crew left anymore" a man came in and walked to the cage Cara was in. he held something but Cara couldn't quite see what.

"don't worry, they put up a good fight but they were no match for us." He threw the item he was holding in Cara's cage. Cara kept her eyes on the man not paying attention to the item he threw.

"don't worry you will fetch a pretty price at the black market little shifter." The man turned around and left.

Cara finally looked at the item that was thrown at her, it was a hat. But not just any hat. It was kaz's hat. She picked the item up, it was bloody. It smelled like him. oh no.

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back in the town the crows were recovering from the ambush that was set for them. they had no real damage except for scratches and bruises. They did not even win the fight really, the men just retreated at some point.

Kaz hadn't slept at all and as soon as the morning came he had ordered wylan gather as many explosives as he could. But as soon as the crows left the inn they were ambushed by people on the street.

after they made their way out of town and to a nearby forest they camped there while taking care of their wounds. Wylan and jesper went back to the town to get the supplies they needed, inej went to the fortress to investigate.

He hates himself for not rushing to the fortress and saving Cara but they needed to be prepared, if it was really that well protected they needed supplies and a good plan.

it was late in the evening when wylan and jesper returned, they immediately started making the explosives. Wel more like wylan was making it and telling jesper not to touch anything. Nina kept telling kaz he should get some sleep and after midnight he told nina to wake up up when inej returned as he got some sleep.

It was dawn when nina woke kaz up. inej was standing at the camp looking out of breath. "kaz, we need to go there now." Kaz felt like he had never been so fast at standing up and getting ready to go as inej continued. "the ambush, it was to make Cara believe we are dead. They are planning to sell her, the slavers arrived just now."

all the crows were on their feet now. Jesper spoke "what about Hannah?" inej turned to him. "I believe she is in there to but I don't know what they are planning with her" kaz did not care.

"lets go" he simply said as he made his way to his destination, he was going to get Cara back. He couldn't loose her to.

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Cara was curled up in a corner of her cell, holding the only thing that kept her sane, the hat. She didn't sleep instead she silently cried. She blamed herself, if only she kept by his side this would have never happened.

Hannah had been talking to her all night but she had not responded to her at all. Suddenly the door flew open again. The man from yesterday stepped inside again. "the buyers will be here in a few moments, Hannah did you get any information out of her?" Cara heard Hannah get up and move around in her cage.

"no you broke her." The man walked over to her cell and opened the door. "pity" he said. Cara lifted her head as it all clicked, Hannah wasn't kidnapped. She willingly went with these men. She stood op and turned to Hannah who was walking over to the cage Cara was in.

"don't look at me that way, I love this man. My father would never let us be together so we decided to run away. I knew he would hire people to get me back and sure enough we heard about the bounty for me. We have been keeping an eye on you and your crew ever since you landed here in ravka. That's how we knew you are a shifter, and they go for a pretty penny here in ravka. No hard feelings right?"

Cara did not respond and instead watched as Hannah and her partner left the room. Not even a few minutes later another group of men entered the room.

"they told us she is a wolf but I want to see it with my own eyes before I pay you at all." A wealthy looking man said as they approached her cage. "we thought you would say that." Another man replied.

he took something out of its holster and when Cara took one look at it she got goosebumps all over her body as she watched in horror as the man cracked his whip. No, this could not be happening. She pressed herself as far back in her cage as she could.

"don't be shy now" the man holding the whip said. "shift!" he spoke loudly as he cracked the whip inside her cage. The sound alone making bad memories surface for Cara. But she refused to shift, she knew if she did she would be sold and her life would be over.

so she endured, the whip hitting her over and over, her arms, legs and even on her face. The man mocking her. She felt anger boiling up. she had been betrayed, hurt, starved ... she was not having this.

"are you sure she even is a shifter?" the wealthy man said. The man with the whip turned to him rather angry. "yes of course we know she is, a wolf as black as night." while the man said this the face of the wealthy man turned to one of horror.

A blood curdling growl came from in the cage. The man turned to the cage "you see I told you she was ... " the man shut up as he saw the monstrous wolf in the cage. Standing on 2 feet with claws as long as his hands and teeth glistering in the light of the torches.

the man looked I the eyes of the wolf who were filled with murder before it charged at the cate of the cage. Breaking it in the process. It immediately jumped on the man throwing him to the ground under the weight of the wolf digging its teeth in the arm that held the whip and ripping it clean of the mans body.

the wealthy man screamed and turned around to run but before he took 2 steps the wolf had thrown him against the wall so hard every bone in his body seemed to break.

the wolf charged through the door of the room and looked around as it was now in a long hallway. It was people at the end of the hallway and in the blink of an eye it was next to them, before they could even take out their guns they were dead on the ground.

An alarm sounded, it was deafening. More guards rushed into the hallway with guns, some managed to shoot before they got killed but none of the shots connected as the wolf was to fast.

it charged through another door making it to a big hall. All that could be heard was the alarm, growling and screams of people as they either died or ran.

then the wolf saw its target, the man that had thrown the hat in the cage. He was standing next to Hannah as they watched in horror.

the wolf jumped towards the man and picked him up by the collar of his shirt. He pulled a gun but before he managed to aim and shoot the wolf grabbed his hand breaking it, making the gun fall out of his hand.

the wolf brought him up to its face so their faces were only inches away from each other. Once the man saw the green eyes of the wolf recognition was in his face but before he could say anything the wolf bit his neck and ripped his head clean off.

A scream was heard as the wolf threw down the headless body of the man. Once it turned to her an explosion was heard nearby. Making the wolf pause and look towards the direction of the sound. All it saw was dust so it turned back to its next target but she was gone.

More guards ran to the room. Some of them holding whips. They started cracking their whips making the wolf take a few steps back until they had cornered it. The wolf roared loudly at the guards but they had the upper hand, having found the weakness of the beast.

gunshots were heard in the distance making the guards loose their focus. The wolf jumped forwards into the crowd of people as it seemingly went on a rampage. Not holding back anymore, slashing at anything within reach.

blood pooled at its feet. Mixing with its own blood that dripped down from the gashes and wounds caused by whips and guns. Once the last man laid dead at its feet it looked around for tis next target.

another explosion rang out and the wolf turned its head towards the sound again, this time it broke down one of the walls to the room it was in. it was the silhouette of people through the smoke and dust and made its way towards it, slower than before as the beast was wounded and used up most of its energy.

"Cara!" somebody called out. The wolf focused its hearing, it came from the man in front of it. Once the smoke and dust settled a bit it saw that the man was holding its guns aimed at the ground. They stood face to face. The wolf was conflicted as it let out a frustrating growl at the man.

"kaz!! A little help here?" a second man came from behind the first but stayed behind the man with the guns. The wolf growled again but did not move. "jesper she has lost control, take a step back, slowly." The man took a step back until he was behind the man with the cane.

the man with the cane took a step forward standing right in front of the wolf. "you won't hurt me." He said. The wolf lowered its head until it was face to face with the man. The man slowly removed his leather glove from one hand.

slowly he reached out his hand, the wolf showing its teeth with an almost silent growl. He placed his hand on the side of the wolfs head. "come back to me Cara, I need you." At the touch of the man the wolf felt the anger melt away.

its heart rate slowed down and recognition flashed in its eyes as it made eye contact with the man's blue eyes. As the adrenaline ebbed away the pain got though and the wolf let out a whimper. A female voice rang out. "kaz she is hurt. The heart is slowing down" The man with the cane looked from the woman back to the wolf.

"you are save now, you can rest."