The Crows Next Mission - Wesper

Chapter Nine

The water was calm with only the ripples from the paddles breaking the surface. The light of the waning crescent moon reflected off the dark sea with the fading lights of Ketterdam behind them. It was a quiet night and Nina would be lying if she said she liked the silence.

Nina sat comfortably with her legs crossed under her red dress as she stared at the sea. She reached over the side of the rowboat to run her hand through the cold water. Her mind had drifted off to the memory of when the Fjerdan and her first met. It wasn't a pleasant meeting but a smile crept up on Nina at the memory. Oh, what she would do to be stranded in the middle of a freezing cold ocean on a floating piece of debris with Matthias again.

The walls and tall black towers of Hellgate were no longer just in the distance when the nose of the rowboat beached itself. Inej was the first out of the boat, making barely a splash as she stepped out. Kaz was the next out of the boat followed by Nina. Jesper was the last when he stretched and muttered a complaint about his arms being sore from paddling.

Jesper then pulled the boat up onto the land and followed the others to stand in front of the tall walls. They were on the opposite side of the main entrance to avoid being spotted and running into other ships.

"How are we getting in?" Nina asked looking over at the boy who had a permanent scowl on his face.

"The flash bombs aren't blowing that up," Jesper said in his sarcastic tone which didn't receive a reaction from the others, but Jeaper was still proud of his terrible joke. "But really, how are we getting in?"

Kaz stood with both his hands on the cane in front of him, he didn't seem to want to give up the answer. Or any answer at all. He seemed to just be waiting for something to happen.

"Would be nice to know the plan since it's my boyfriend we're rescuing," Nina said.

"Your boyfriend?" Jesper asked surprised.

"Well, not yet. He does kind of hate me at the moment..." Nina said sucking in a breath and sending an awkward smile through her teeth, "It was kind of my fault he's in there."

"Oh, do tell. What did you do?" Jesper asked with curiosity taking over.

"There's an unguarded entrance on the west, it's locked but that's not a problem," Inej said appearing next to Kaz. 

"Saints!" Jesper yelled jumping out of his boots (not literally), "You've go to stop doing that." He said not even realizing she had left in the first place.

"Let's go," Kaz said following Inej's lead to the west entrance she found.

"Tell me later," Jesper whispered to Nina before following the others.

They came across the unguarded door Inej told them and Kaz was the first to pull something out of his pocket and get to work unlocking the door. With the lockpick the door was open in seconds and Inej pulled a knife from under her sleeve to make sure the coast was clear.

"For a place said to be the most impossible to break into, it sure was easy to break into," Jesper whispered.

"Wait until we have to break out," Kaz said entering the halls of Hellgate. It was a long narrow hallway with darkness at the end leading to who knows where. But apparently, Kaz knew where when he led them through the maze of the halls. He held up his hand to halt the ones following him when they came to a corner where around it there was a crowd of noise, "Try and blend in." Kaz said before turning the corner.

Around the corner, they were met with people who clearly had money. They were all standing around like they were waiting for something in fancy tailored clothing. They talk and laughed like this was the after-party of a show. All they were missing was the champagne. 

"What are they doing in Hellgate?" Jesper asked Kaz while keeping his voice low. The people looked out of place here with their polished shoes on the dirty floors.

Before Kaz could answer a door was opened and people flooded into another room, "What the hell is this place?" Nina asked entering the room that surrounded what looked like a cage you keep a wild animal in. The floor was made of stone with dried blood between the cracks that was failed to be picked up by a mop. The cage was dented in spots as if something had thrown itself against it and it smelled like a sweaty gym.

The crowd cheered when someone was thrown to their knees in the middle of the caged ring. A prisoner. The prisoner kept their head down with the dirty hair that fell into their face. There was no shirt on his body to hide the mussels that lined his arms, chest and back. His breathing could be seen as his chest rose and fell like he was preparing for something. The man stood up but kept his head down, he didn't look up until the gate across from his was opened.

"Matthias!" Nina yelled in shock, though he didn't seem to hear her went the wolf jumped at him. She watched in absolute horror as the wolf tried to kill her future boyfriend. She watched as the wolf throw itself at him over and over again not shying away from using its teeth. She watched as it planted its teeth into his arms, but he never screamed or showed any sign of pain. She barely even recognized him anymore, this wasn't the Matthias she knew previously.

Nina watched as the wolf launched itself again at Matthias but instead of dodging the wolf he took it by the fur and slammed it to the floor. The wolf let out a whimper of pain that was cut off by Matthias' knee on its neck.  

"No!" Nina screamed as the wolf's neck was snapped. Her hands flew to cover her mouth while emotions flew around inside her, she wasn't sure which one to choose to feel. On one hand, she was saddened by the fact he killed an animal while on the other if he hadn't he would have been killed.

 Blood never bothered Nina before but when Matthias smeared it across his face with the back of his hand it sickened her but her eyes couldn't leave his when they met. If she could read lips she swore he said her name. 

"We need to get him out," Nina said as she watched a few guards drag Matthias out of the cage.

"How good are you at tailoring?" Kaz asked.

Chapter Nine - May 16, 2023

Word Count - 1155 Words

Before Wesper, Helnik. Also, is 9 really spelt like that? It looks weird. Nine.

Anyways, the next update won't be till June, hope you stick around till then!

- Flyon