Buried Truths

Chapter 6

The hand squeezed tighter, and I swallowed against the excruciating pain. Loud, heavy footsteps turned everybody's heads towards the door. Tanker - one of the lesser ranked assassins - walked inside with a bow clutched in his hands, and all our spectators turned towards us with gasps and murmurs. My eyes were focused on the relaxed grip of Tanker's hands, and his unhurried steps, Amable's grip was like an iron hot prod on my shoulder as everything clicked into place.

"You set me up," it wasn't a question but his silent smirk said enough about the answer,

"You set me up," I repeated, a bit louder with my fists tightening at my sides.

"Repeating it, won't change anythi - " I ripped myself from his hold with a scream, and stepped away from him,

"You set me fucking up! You had that little piece of shit shoot at you, knowing that I'll jump in front of it, and there was my consciousness thinking I had to save you. I bet you're laughing in that revolting head of yours." His silence was loud in my ears and I laughed humourlessly,

"You disgust me. Everything about you disgusts me. I am done here. I am done with your unchecked violence and your sickening attitude. I refuse to be associated with your name any longer. I have no idea why I had so much god-damned respect for you. Guess that was my fault for being too damn naive," I stepped back, ready to storm down the stairs and go...away. God knows where I'd go, but anywhere that wasn't next to him would be much preferred. Before I could turn around he stepped and reached through space between us, grasping the back of my throat forcefully enough to secure me before grabbing the arrow shaft and twisting it into my muscle with a bestial smile, blood sprouted out and he dodged it swiftly, re-closing the gap between us again. I closed my mouth tightly to muffle my scream,

"You are not trained to fail. I did not train you to fail. And you are not 'done' until you are a corpse rotting in the river Thames, or until I say so. Conciousness has no room in this guild and neither does retreat, so you are going to shut up about baseless threats such as these and acknowledge this as your punishment, I also expect a thank you considering I'm going easy on you even though you interrupted me earlier and had the audacity to swear at me." He frowned slightly and released my neck,

"You are a monster," I snarled at him and decided it would be smart to then spit at his face. He stared at me for a while, then before I could react he had the arrow in his grip again and rotated it slowly, seeming unsatisfied with my distress he kicked my knees down. I cried out in pain, snarling lines of vulgar words at him. My hands clutched at the arrow, bracing myself to split the shaft,

"Break that shaft and I'll break your legs three times over so you don't walk for a long long while, sweetie. I don't think you want that, being a shadow and all." He winked at me, then turned and waved a hand, four assassins stormed towards Cae and each held onto a leg or arm as he struggled and growled at them. Amable flipped a dagger into his hand and stalked towards him slowly, lifting Cae's chin with the tip he smirked and turned to me.

"Choose my canvas, or ill have to improvise on this beautiful face," I stared at him, my mouth open,

"You are not human," I whisper at him, and he laughed. laughed?!

"Oh the irony," he chuckled, I looked at him in disbelief,

"You really have cracked. You've gone crazy," I state in shock, he laughs again and says in a deep monotone voice,

"Three seconds Zornitsa before I start my art, with or without your choice," His eyes gleamed with challenge and he stroked Cae's cheek lovingly. A painter readying his tools.

"One," he drawled, I growled and reached back, under my cloak,

"Two," My hand grasped the hilt of my blade, bracing my legs and readying my self, but I had to wait, it wasn't time, he was too focused on me,

"Do you really want me to scar this beautiful face," Not yet

"Three it is then," Now! I flicked my wrist and threw the dagger right at Amable's face, forcing him to twist around to catch it.

"Come on, Cae!" I shout staggering to my feet and limping down the stairs, Amable snickered and with my blade in his hand, he came towards me. His gait was unhurried knowing I had nowhere to run to. The sword on my back was pretty useless on stairs with weak legs, and he'd probably use it to his advantage anyway. I needed something smaller, but still long enough and sharp,

"I don't think you'll be going anywhere, dear" He growled at me, jumping at me, blade drawn with a snarl that sent shivers down my spine. Slash after slash had me backing up the steps on unsteady legs,

"You can't take me on when you are healthy and uninjured, I wonder how long it would take to destroy you and teach you a few lessons about my 'unchecked violence' with that arrow skewered into you," the words knocked into me, of course! The arrow might just be long enough, but I'll have to snap it. I looked at the tip protruding from my shoulder, it wasn't enough, I would need to pull it through - I couldn't push it back out otherwise I might risk getting splinters inside my body. I had to pull it out of me then snap it, but then the tail feathers might get in the way.

He approached me with feline grace, face void of any emotion other than his horrendously fiendish grin, I didn't have long to make a decison.