Part One
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Silence followed his words.
Castian curled forward again, sucking in a long breath. The pain was slowly beginning to ease, and it no longer felt like his stomach was squeezing inward on itself.
"Someone get the lantern oil and canvas," the captain snapped. Castian's head jerked up and he met the man's gaze. "Best way to kill a witch is burn it."
Wonderful.
His heart beat faster. "No, it's not."
"Naturally, a witch would say so."
Someone appeared with a small barrel of something. It sloshed as he set it on the deck. The oil.
"If you burn me," Castian said, barely keeping the panic from his voice. "Your entire ship will be cursed for all time."
The captain met his eyes for a long moment. Then he shook his head, Castian felt the last pieces of his calm crack. "No, I think not. Whatever you did to him hurt you, and a ship is much, much larger than a man."
He struggled with the bonds, trying to worm a hand free. If he could just get a hand free, he could fight. His fingers brushed the knot. It was large and complicated by the feel of it. There was no way he could untie it without getting a good look at it, maybe not even then. He glared at the captain, forcing down the panic.
Another man appeared with some tattered canvas.
"Bind them."
The men hesitated, looking from Castian, to their crewmate who was still clutching at his bleeding face.
"If you're worried about being cursed," the captain said in an even tone, "I'd worry more about being thrown into the waves for disobeying an order."
Immediately two men began to pour oil on the canvas, making sure it was soaked on the inside too. That would keep it burning better after they threw them over--No. Don't think about that. Castian squeezed his eyes shut, sides heaving a single time as he pressed down an overwhelming wave of nausea.
His fingers fumbled with the knot again. He pulled at it uselessly with his nails. If he hadn't blacked out he could have done something to prevent this. He shouldn't have let himself black out. This should have never happened.
The pinching in his stomach was back. His breath hitched as it went tighter and tighter till it felt like something inside him was breaking. Panting, he shut his eyes.
"Going to be sick, boy?" The captain asked in a voice filled with disdain. "Someone grab a bucket, I don't need a coward's guts all over my freshly swabbed deck." Castian heard someone pad away at a trot. His breath caught hard inside him, and a low groan came out. Something was wrong. Very wrong. Something inside him must have ruptured. His appendix? He curled as far as the bonds would let him, gagging.
The captain made a disgusted sound, probably because the boy hadn't returned with a bucket yet.
"Hang him over the side till he's done," he snapped.
Someone grabbed Castian by the arm and jerked him up. His feet dragged against the deck. He couldn't move through the dizzying pain.
The railing was jammed against his stomach. A scream broke free before he could stop it, and his eyes flew open.
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I'll probably post the second half of this Wednesday, since I have several buffer chapters again, and I really want to post the good stufffff, ughghghgh, I'm so excited about my plot twists, okay? XD
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...
