The crow and the beast - Kaz brekker

chapter 28 - not so bad after all

Kaz did in fact not come to his room that night as when Cara woke up she was still alone. She let out a deep sign before readying herself for the day to come.

she greeted the dregs as she went outside, she stopped by a local shop to buy some food there. She knew she could get food at the slat but she wanted something different for once. She walked to the crow club to see if she could find kaz there but when she asked around nobody had seen him there either.

so she went to the harbor. No kaz there either. She noticed she also hadn't spotted any of the crows either. Maybe they had a meeting somewhere without her she thought. She huffed at the thought and made her way back to the slat.

when she entered her room her eyes fell on painted crow on her armor that was still on the table. It had dried by now so she could put her armor on again.

she shifted to her monstrous wolf form and picked up the armor, lifting it above her head and fitting it right. She easily clasped the top straps shut but her body made it hard to reach the lower ones.

she turned and stretched but couldn't reach it. She let out a quite growl out of frustration as she turned and turned to reach it. She was sure she looked like a lost puppy chasing its tail but she needed to get these damn clasps closed and she was not about to go ask a dreg for help.

she heard a chuckle from behind her and saw kaz standing in the doorway.

"the dregs downstairs told me a beast might have gotten into your room but as I told them nobody is allowed in here under any circumstances they didn't check. What are you even doing?"

Cara growled at him out of frustration. Great she couldn't find him for hours and of course he pops up when he really shouldn't.

She ceremonially turned her head away from him with a huff. She heard him close the door behind him as he stepped further inside. "oh come on love, don't be angry with me. I had to prepare everything for our trip to fjerda.

Cara growled again and spoke. "I did not even want to go." Kaz tilted his head as if he did not understand why she would not want to go. Cara heard the rhythmic ticking of his cane as he approached her.

she turned to him as he was standing right in front of her, she slightly lowered her head to look at him as she was slightly bigger than him in this form. "we are doing this for you love, so you can get closure about what happened." He slowly took off his gloves and put them on the dresser.

He took one of the still open clasps in his hand and closed it, making sure it was secure. "I never really knew my father" she said. He closed the last clasp on the other side as well. "but he was family, don't you want revenge on the people that killed him?"

Cara thought about his words, she had asked herself the same question for days now. Did she want revenge? She never knew her father that well. Revenge wouldn't bring him back anyway. Her mother had always taught her that revenge was never a good way to solve something, however she knew that kaz had way different morals and different ideas on these topics.

but maybe it would give her closure, if she did take revenge the whole chapter in her past would be solved and dealt with, no more nightmares and no more what ifs. She did see his point. But then ...

"why do you not kill pekka rollins?" kaz tensed. He shifted his weight for a moment thinking of a good answer. "I could, but I want him to suffer for what he did. Break him down brick by brick until he begs me to stop."

Cara had not expected that answer at all. "that is grim kaz" Kaz did not respond but simply shrugged his shoulders.

Cara shifted back to her human form now that her armor was secure once again. Kaz spoke up once again. "we will leave tomorrow, please pack enough supplies for at least a month, oh and its at least a week by boat."

Cara thew her head in her neck. "uurg not sea travel again." Kaz playfully ticked his cane to her shoulder. "come on its not that bad."

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it was a sunny day when they got to the harbor. Kaz was walking next to Cara. When they arrived at the ship the other crows were already on board.

they all greeted each other as kaz went to speak to the captain. Inej went back to the crows nest while Matthias helped with the ropes and sail, nina by his side.

jesper and wylan were next to Cara looking over the ocean. Jesper spoke up. " he is really trying his best for you, you know" Cara looked at him and tilted her head.

"he told us why we are going to fjerda and the plans he had made. I know that you don't fully agree with this Cara but he just wants to make sure you have no regrets of not doing it. I mean look at this ship, it is the fastest ship available in ketterdam that is getting us to fjerda as he knows you don't like sea travel." Cara looked around for a moment and indeed this ship was build for speed.

She smiled at jesper as he continued. "he might not admit it to you but you mean the world to him and he just wants to help you in every way he can. Even if he is a stubborn bastard sometimes." Cara nodded.

"I know, he doesn't tell me particularly but he doesn't have to, I can see it in the way he acts." As if on queue she heard the ticking of a cane behind her. "we are leaving in a few minutes." Kaz announced to the group.

Cara nodded at him and reached into her bag, taking out a little bottle with green liquid inside. She opened it and poured the liquid into the cap, then drank it in 1 go. It tasted bad, really bad. but she hoped it would do what she thought it would do.

Kaz was looking at her with a raised eyebrow. So she answered the unspoken question. "its against seasickness." Jesper chuckled.

"Cara you really are a genius if that works. You could make a LOT of money with those medicines of yours. I used one of your salves for wounds once and it healed like 5 times faster than it normally would." Cara smiled. "thanks for the kind words jesper, I am glad it helped."

Kaz tapped her shoulder. "lets go put your stuff in our cabin." She followed him below deck and tried not to chuckle when she saw him lose his balance when the boat started to move. He opened the cabin door and motioned for her to go inside first.

"never knew you would be such a gentleman kaz, who knows maybe you will even get on one knee for me in the future instead of throwing a ring at my head." He glared at her as she chuckled at her own joke, the tips of his ears turning red.

they both put their bags away as Cara spoke again. "so what is the plan exactly kaz?" he turned to her for a moment before reaching for a map he had in his coat and opened it on the table. He pointed to the coastline.

"we will get off the ship here" he then pointed to a place a few centimeters land inwards from the coastline "this is where the people that we are after live, they all live in a remote area away from any towns or villages. We will travel by foot. This will take us at least 3 days so we will bring enough supplies to make a camp for the night."

Cara nodded in understanding, she trusted kaz had everything figured out. "oh and there is one more thing, if you don't mind I would like you to be In your wolf form for the trip." Cara raised an eyebrow. "in fjerda they worship the wolf, it would mean that if we do come across people they will be a little less hostile towards us, they don't like strangers there. Also it means you will hear and see better than we do and since we are in the wilderness it would be a great help .." Cara knew kaz was just rambling at this point so she placed a hand on his arm.

"it's alright kaz, I will be the wolf." Kaz smirked and nodded. "so how are you feeling? The boat has been moving for a little while now."

Cara straightened her back. "I think we might be alright, it seems to be working. Maybe it is not so bad after all then eh" she patted his shoulder as she left the cabin to go look at the ocean.

the days flew by, Cara was not sick as long as she drank the mixture she made at least 2 times a day. She had completely forgiven kaz for basically forcing this trip, she knew he had the best intentions with it.

Soon the world got colder around her, she hated the cold. And she knew kaz did to, she had taken quite a few containers of the 'warmth' salve for him and would treat him with it in the morning and early afternoon. This would earn her a smile and a kiss to her forehead every time.

Her wrist was healed as much as it was going to heal by now, she still felt the bone and muscle was weaker than it was before but she knew she could build the muscle up more over time.

finally the day arrived where they reached their destination. Kaz had chosen the perfect place. The boat could sail right next to the land, since it was a smaller boat the sea level was deep enough to allow this.

On top of that the surrounding cliffs would shield the ship from view. Once the anchor was secure the captain gave the order to lower the boarding plank so the crows could get off.

Cara was standing next to kaz. without a word he took the strap of her shoulder bag off and put it on his own, knowing they might need the medicine that was in her bag. Then he suddenly placed his hand on her cheek and kissed her.

Cara was a little surprised at this action as they had never kissed in public before but she slowly melted into the kiss. When he pulled back eh smirked at her surprise.

Cara shifted into her bigger wolf form and licked his cheek causing his smirk to disappear from his face. She then turned towards the land, she didn't need the boarding plank and jumped right off the boat.

What she did not expect was that she would disappear into the snow almost completely as she stumbled face first into the snow. The snow here was build up quite a bit and reached up to her shoulders. She heard all the crows laugh in the distance and she was glad that they could not see her embarrassment.

She quickly jumped her way out of the snow up the small hill and she was glad the snow wasn't as high there anymore, only reaching halfway up her legs now. The snow felt cold on her paws but she wasn't complaining as it was bearable.

On top of that she wasn't cold anymore, her thick coat of fur protecting her from the harsh cold. She looked around and when the coast was clear she signaled to the crows that it was safe to come over. She waited until all the crows were next to her before she started walking together with them.

luckily for them they were wearing snow shoes so they wouldn't sink as deep into the snow. She looked over in the distance, this was going to be one interesting adventure she thought.