Part Two
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The railing was jammed against his stomach. A scream broke free before he could stop it, and his eyes flew open.
Instinct made his hand snap out and grab the man by the shirtfront. He thrust the shocked pirate backwards, shoving him over the railing. He struck the water headfirst, and didn't come up.
Castian spun, looking down at his freed hands. Something green lay at his feet. The rope, coated in a green sheath. It slowly dissolved into nothing. The broken feeling inside him eased off the moment it was gone.
Stunned eyes were focused on him all across the ship.
Castian slowly moved forward, kneeling behind Vellis without taking his eyes off the captain. No one moved as he undid the knots holding Vellis' hands. The other boy reached up and jerked the gag from his mouth with a snarl. He shot to his feet, stalking towards the captain.
Then he was on him, moving almost too fast for Castian's eyes to follow. A sharp snap rang through the silence, and the captain fell limply to the deck, neck crooked at a wrong angle. The man nearest to Vellis leapt back, nearly falling down a ladder to the lower part of the deck.
Vellis snarled. "No one try to touch me again. Castian, grab your shit and take us somewhere else."
He moved quickly, a hand still pressed tightly to his stomach. Castian scooped up the pile of beads and the crystal, dumping them into the bag and pocketing it. He walked over to the stray beads, men backing away from him as he strode over their deck. No one said anything. No one moved to draw weapons. They just stood their, watching him like a dozen trapped rats watching a cat and wondering which it would eat first.
He returned to Vellis' side. "I don't know where we'll end up from here," he whispered, "Or how we'll ever get home without a Warp hole into the Field."
"Try to go somewhere you've been," he hissed back. "Maybe an old hole will work, no one ever said they closed."
He swallowed. No, they hadn't said they closed. What they'd said was not to go backwards after going somewhere in a Warp hole. Every Warp hole split the timeline, and you weren't supposed to return to a date before the split. Or go to the same day.
"Okay," he muttered, casting his mind back to all the places he'd been. They could go back to DC. An image of a field of tall, golden grass flashed in his mind.
He grabbed Vellis' arm as the world spun around him, sky and sea turning into a seamless smear of blue all around. The space behind his eyes throbbed, a pain that cut straight through his skull. Vellis caught him as he sagged towards the deck.
I'm tearing myself up, he thought, panic beating in time with his still raging heart. This is why I need my suit. I'm tearing myself up. It's tearing me up.
Vellis knelt beside him, lowering him to the deck. Castian blearily saw him look up, and heard the low growl he sent out at one of the men. He could barely feel the deck under his back though. His gaze flickered, and went black. He wasn't sure if he'd shut his eyes though.
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There was something soft under him. He registered it slowly, vision still blank. A soft hissing filled the air. He could smell woodsmoke in the distance.
Castian forced his eyes open, staring at the wide expanse of purple-blue sky above him. The grass stretched in every direction, hissing in another soft breeze. It ruffled the sweat damp hair clinging to his face, making the white tips dance in his vision.
Safe from the pirates, at least. He shut his eyes again.
Castian dropped like a stone into sleep.
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Safe from the pirates, but at what cost, Castian? At what cost?
YOU ARE READING
An Assassin In Time
Ciencia Ficción(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...
