Part Two
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Castian came to on the deck of the ship, eyes cracking open. The sunlight made him squeeze them shut for a moment, it was blinding after the darkness below. His hands were bound behind his back. He tried to shift them and his arm throbbed painfully. Turning his head, he looked up as far as he could.
All he could really see from the position was the boots and bare feet of the pirates as they moved quickly around the deck. Already it seemed cleaner and more repaired. He turned his head as far as he could manage to the right, and found Vellis, sitting gagged and bound on the deck. The expression on his face promised murder.
A pair of boots headed towards Castian, and someone grabbed him from behind, hauling him up to his knees. The captain stopped in front of him.
"Make sure his bindings are secure," he said, eyes moving over Castian, "And take anything useful off him." Someone pulled at his wrist, fumbling with something.
His watched. Castian laughed.
"Good luck with that," he muttered. They growled in frustration.
"It doesn't have a buckle," they said.
The captain rolled his eyes. "Then slice it off, or move on," he said in a tone that said this is obvious and you're a moron. Castian tried to glance around as the man set the edge of his knife to the dark strap.
"Good luck," he said again, catching a glimpse of the man struggling to cut it free. He nicked Castian and he hissed, flinching in pain.
"The hell is wrong with this?" he demanded, still trying to cut it.
"It doesn't come off," he said in a low voice. "It never comes off."
"Bloody witchcraft." The man muttered. Another of them reached into his pocket. He drew out a small black bag. Castian looked at it in confusion, then it clicked.
Oh God, the weird crystal. That's why he kept hopping wildly about. Was that why they were alive at all?
The man opened the pouch and poured the contents into his palm. A necklace. The crystal was on a broken necklace. The beads spilled out after it, tinkling musically. The crystal flashed in the light.
"If you don't give that back," Castian said in an even tone, "You will be cursed."
His head snapped up, contents of the pouch momentarily forgotten. He glanced at the captain.
"You idiot, if he could curse you, he already would have."
Castian smiled. "Maybe. Maybe I was waiting till you touched my magic stone." He stared at it, reached for the connection to the Warp hole, and the Field beyond. Then past it, to the rushing current on the other side. It flowed over and past him, unbroken by his presence. Come on, come on, you have to be able to do something impressive, right?. Come on. He looked at the man holding Deric's things again. A long scar cut over his cheek, pulling his mouth into a perpetual smirk. How old was it? Two, three years. Green strands swam in front of him as he focused, dancing across his vision. Four. He pushed at something, moved something backwards. A wrenching pain filled his gut and he gasped, curling forward.
The man staggered back, everything falling to the deck. Several of the beads bounced, and rolled to stops in cracks along the deck. Castian made himself look up through the pain.
Everyone was staring at the man, eyes widened with shock, even the captain.
The scar had turned into a long gash. Blood poured from it down his face and neck. He was panting, standing frozen in place. Castian made himself smile, even through the pain inside him had turned hard and cold.
"I told you I would curse you."
Dun, dun, dunnnnn. Castian is getting up to all sorts of things! Again. But, when isn't he?
YOU ARE READING
An Assassin In Time
Science Fiction(ON HOLD) If time couldn't hold you, what would you do? Castian was born inside a Field, outside of time. He has no timeline. He belongs nowhere, and anywhere. The Field he was in was destroyed when he was young, and he and four other children...
