Carrion Crow

by Talis Jones

  Suddenly Johnny appeared beside Xià. “Abel needs you. Meet him inside the castle doors.” Xià nodded and took off.

  Ping’s eyes followed his sister until the swarm swallowed her, then his eyes flickered over to where Johnny had departed and followed his path as soldiers fell left and right by no visible hand. He sent a prayer after them then flung his arms wide sending inundating darkness into the minds of ravens that had set their cruel eyes upon him daring to raise their swords against a little boy. Granted, he wasn’t an innocent little boy. He was the web spinner of their worst nightmares.

  Xià burst inside the castle, the raging sounds of war hardly muffled by the distance. Spotting Abel she raced to him at once. “What is it?”

  Abel shook his head, fingers tapping nervously against his leg. “Eisen is here. We must find him quickly. If he kills her…”

  She didn’t need any more explanation. She knew perfectly well what the prophecy promised. How they would end this war she did not know, but Eisen could not be allowed to kill Cassandra, no matter her sins. Following Abel they took off into the castle’s depths. Because Abel had bound Eisen, he could use that little string to sense his whereabouts. It would take time and time they did not have.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

  Shadows scattered like a gust of wind kicking up a plume of dust as two figures appeared in the heart of the castle. Footsteps hurried towards them revealing Aleksander and Xiomara, blood dripping from their blades.

  “This hall is clear,” Aleksander informed them with a quick swipe across his stained brow.

  Eisen nodded then turned to the man beside him. “Jack, find Adrianna and meet in the gardens. I will find you there when I’ve knocked a head from beneath a crown.” Jack nodded and left at once. Fire sparked within the coals of his eyes. “Let’s go.” With that Eisen stormed down the halls with Aleksander and Xiomara following swiftly behind. They’d seen Cassandra standing in her tower watching the chaos below.

  Jack stopped once out of sight and closed his eyes as he tried to concentrate. He knew Adrianna suffered but he was unsure if Cassandra kept her imprisoned in her room or in the dungeons. Shaking his head he decided the dungeons were his best bet. Setting off with a jolt he wove through halls, using the servants’ hidden passageways to take shortcuts through the simple maze.

  Heavy boots caught his attention and he hid quickly around a corner, just feet away from the door to the dungeons. Silencing his breath he peered cautiously around the wall and spotted Sam Melanthios. He watched as Sam stopped before the locked door and fumbled for the key. As the lock clicked open Jack slid out of hiding with soundless footsteps. Hands by the daggers sheathed at his sides he smiled grimly at the man’s broad back.

  “Hello there, Sam,” he smiled but there was no friendliness in his voice.

  Sam whipped around drawing his sword as he did so. “What are you doing here, boy?” he growled raising his sword just a fraction.

  “I’m here for Adrianna.” Jack’s golden eyes darkened as they submitted to his growing pupils in the dim light. As his irises shrunk back a cold darkness filled the void.

  If Sam felt threatened he gave no indication of such. A dirty chuckle rolled out of his throat. “She’s the Crown’s prisoner. But maybe I’ll let you have a turn after I’ve had my fill, eh?”

  Jack’s face did not so much as flinch, a perfect mask of an assassin with its quarry in their sights, and but for the barest pause no emotion slid through. “Irrumabotu, little nothus. There is no life beyond the dark for you.”

  Sam’s eyes bulged wide and his sword clattered to the pristine stone floor.

  Drip.

  Drop.

  Blood oozed and gurgled from his neck where Jack’s dagger lodged itself square in the windpipe.

  Jack took another step.

  Sam fell to his knees. A dagger rammed straight into his worthless heart.

  The Whisper was already on the move before Sam’s body hit the floor with a silent squish of slippery blood. A single agonized twitch, then stillness.

  Taking the spiraling steps two at a time, Jack practically flew down the halls quickly searching every movement for a sign of Adrianna. At last he reached a cell that was not empty but in the poor lighting all he could see were two small hands limp upon the dirt and bound by rope. Picking the lock open with ease he stepped cautiously inside, bending to investigate the girl within. Carefully he brushed the filthy strands of hair that hid her face, they were a dark copper color but he’d still know her anywhere.

  “Adri,” he breathed softly. Checking her pulse he sighed with relief at the rhythm it still beat. Drawing a small knife he carefully cut her bindings. “Adri,” he called a bit louder giving her a gentle but sharp pat on her cheek. “You’ve got to wake up, Adri.”

  At last she let slip a small moan and her muscles curled at the sudden awareness that she was not alone. Jack tried to fill their bond with comfort.

  “Please…” her voice drifted as her mind warred with itself whether or not to plunge itself back into unconsciousness.

  “Adri, it’s me. Fenwick. Please wake up. I’m so sorry, Adrianna. I’m so sorry, but please wake up,” he begged her gently. Adrianna murmured something but it was too mixed together to understand. “I can’t hear you,” he replied softly, holding his breath to make sure he could hear any word she said. Worried he might miss something important.

  “What about…your bonnie lass…eh?” Adrianna muttered weakly as she finally opened her heavy eyes.

  Jack smiled at her old joke but he was too scared to laugh. “That’s not funny,” he muttered.

  “It is,” she smiled.

  Jack helped her sit up and handed her a flask of water from his hip. She leaned against him and drank heavily. “Your hair is different,” he mused.

  She shrugged. “Something Cassandra did. Sorry.”

  He frowned. “What do you mean ‘sorry’? What the hell do you have to be sorry for?” Anger burned in his chest but he did his best to dampen it. “I think it’s beautiful. Is this what your hair used to look like?” She nodded. “I love it. The silver was nice but this suits you perfectly.”

  The girl in his arms smiled sadly but still said nothing. Jack bowed his head and scooted his body so he could look into her eyes. She kept them firmly downcast but he placed a hand upon her face and gently tilted it up so she could look at him and see the agony on his own. He wanted to scoop her up and run before someone found them but his muscles were frozen to the spot.

  “Adrianna, I am so sorry I left you here. I can never forgive myself for allowing you to stay here, unprotected. That’s my job, to protect you. I failed utterly and completely and I cannot even begin to bring myself to ask for your forgiveness. This is my fault. I love you, Adrianna, but I let her hurt you.”

  A quizzical look flickered in her eyes. “I’m not mad at you, Fenwick,” she whispered. “I’m ashamed of how stupid I was to stay. I was so stubborn and desperate to be useful.” She spat the word like it belonged to a cockroach. “Titus told me to stay by the Crown’s side…but I should have left when you asked me to. I’ve spent far too much time thinking about it and a part of me doesn’t understand why I didn’t. A part of me did want to be useful but…” she bent down, hiding her face in her hands. “Why did I listen to Titus?”

  “You stayed because he promised it would save your brother,” Jack reasoned.

  “Yes…” she agreed. After a moment she nodded into her hands and slowly looked back at Jack who hadn’t moved an inch, patiently waiting. “But I think a part of me wanted to stay. Sometimes being near Cassandra felt like a high and I didn’t want to let it go. I kept convincing myself that the dangers were less than what they were. She made me feel like I was a part of some grand game and I was glimpsing all the cards.”

  Jack nodded solemnly. “Cassandra can make you feel that way. You’re not the only one she’s enticed into staying past due.”

  “We can’t just blame her for everything,”
she scowled.

  “I’m not,” he said calmly. “I’m only pointing out that Cassandra doesn’t always play by the rules.”

  “I’m still an idiot,” she sighed.

  “Only a little bit.” Adrianna punched his arm but not nearly hard enough to hurt. She’d meant it in jest but even if she’d wanted to hit him harder her body was so weak from hunger and exhaustion and pain that she doubted she could’ve. Jack sensed her fading energy and gently picked up her small frame, holding her easily in his arms. “Right, let’s get us out of here. We’re meeting your brother—”

  “How wonderful! A reunion!” Cassandra strode into the small room with joy in her smile and daggers in her eyes.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

  Jack froze.

  “Place her back in the chair,” she ordered.

  With icy fury in his veins Jack flipped the fallen chair back onto its feet with his boot then carefully sat Adrianna on its rickety frame. Swift as a viper he whirled around, dagger in hand, but Cassandra was gone.

  Twisting around he saw her standing behind Adri and his eyes zeroed in on the knife held steady at her heart while the Crown’s other hand fisted tightly in her hair pulling her head back and keeping the girl anchored to her seat. Adrianna’s heart pounded furiously but she tried desperately not to breathe too hard lest the knife’s tip pierce her.

  “What are you doing, Cassandra?” he asked in a careful tone, like a hunter faced down by a rabid dog and his gun just out of reach.

  “I think it’s rather obvious,” she tutted.

  “Please don’t.” His voice came out thick.

  She grinned. “But I really want to.”

  Death shone in his eyes but he remained composed and very, very still. “What do you want, Cassandra?”

  “I want you to tell her exactly how you came to Oneiroi, Jack Cromwell,” she hissed coyly. Jack’s face blanched slightly. Turning her gaze to look into Adrianna’s panic-filled eyes she asked, “Did you know that’s not even his real name?”

  “She knows my name, Cassandra. She knows Jack Cromwell isn’t someone I’m proud of.”

  “And yet you never gave him up,” she accused lightly. “Tell her.”

  “Why?” he pressed. “How would you even know my story? You weren’t there when I shared it to the Whispers.”

  “Darling Medusa told me,” she admitted. “She was practically overflowing with secrets, that girl.” The murder in his eyes grew hotter. “As for why I want you to kick open your closet of skeletons, well, I’ll simply take pleasure in watching her face as she discovers her prince charming is actually the lowlife he tries so desperately to leave behind. And I’m sure the agony this will put you through will warm my heart as well.” Dropping her smile she repositioned the knife pushing just hard enough to make a dimple in Adrianna’s shirt above her heart. “Now, tell her.”

  Agony gripped Jack deep down, along with fear and guilt aplenty. But he’d rather Adrianna hate him and live than to turn his back and watch her die. With his eyes locked onto Adri’s he opened his reluctant jaw and a story he told but once a very long time ago surfaced from a plume of dust and dried blood.

  “I was born Fenwick James in Yorkshire, England, 1901. I had a twin brother named Leslie. We had two older brothers, Thomas and Rogerson, and a little sister, Lily. When we were ten years old our family moved to London, my dad left the mines for work in the factories. Turns out it wasn’t much better, honestly. More than that the city courted my older brothers for a time before dropping them with the gangs.

  “I was only thirteen when Lily died. She was caught in the crossfire of a shootout between lil Johnny Brekker with some of his gang and my brothers. Lily was shot but she didn’t die until a few days later. Infection of the wound or some such. I became angry, distant, and withdrawn. Les, on the other hand, became an endless parade of smiles, jokes, and selfish desires. While I grew more cautious and clever, my brother became louder and more ambitious.

  “Les put people at ease. It was like a gift and the complete opposite of me, I put people on edge. He made everyone who met him feel special while I did nothing but carry Lily’s death in my shadow. They loved my brother. Everyone loved my brother…he couldn’t fool me though. Leslie James was a selfish bastard who didn’t know how to grieve and I hated him for it.

  “My mum, Rose, died four months after Lily. Then when I turned fifteen my dad, Colin, died in a factory fire. He died going back inside when he saw that one of the kids hadn’t made it out. They both died. London had had enough of the James family so my brothers and I sailed to Boston. We were determined to get what life owed us.

  “Thomas brought together a few smaller gangs and led them with us by his side. I wanted no part of it, it’s the exact life that killed Lily, but I had nowhere else to go. So I changed my name. New city. New name. I left my pain behind and became Jack Cromwell. Very few outside of my brothers knew of my relation to them. Turns out I had found my calling. Surviving, that is. I found myself tested near every day but when others left bits or whole bodies behind I always managed to crawl back home in one piece.

  “I became their gunman. I showed up when least expected and took care of their problems. As good as I was at ending problems, Les was equally adept at creating them. I fixed many a mess caused by his hand.”

  Jack paused as memories surfaced faster and faster. Held at bay for so many years they surged eager to get out. A small hiss of pain from Adrianna spurred him back into the present and he hurried to continue his story. He could see no way to get Cassandra away from Adrianna other than to stall through obeying her request. He hoped Eisen would find them quickly.

  “One night I happened to be strolling the city and saw Les making a deal with Tyler O’Malley. He was going to betray the family to pay off his gambling debts to the O’Malley family. The O’Malleys usually kept to themselves and their gambling dens but the one thing they protected above all else was their money, and as I said, Les had gotten himself into a spot of trouble.

  “I stormed up to my brother, grabbing a fistful of his shirt and gave him a shake. I was furious but he just laughed. He laughed in my face and suddenly Tyler’s shadow rose before me and I turned in time to avoid a blow to the back of my head. Knives drawn we circled each other but Tyler was a hotheaded fighter. I had him pinned within the minute.

  “Les told me to kill him. He didn’t even sound upset by any of it. I was fed up. I was done with it all. I decided right there and then to leave the city behind so I let Tyler go. The man had hardly made it back onto his feet when Les shot him dead. “Clean it up,” he said. As if he’d spilled a glass of milk and I was his maid.

  “The gunshot had alerted Tyler’s lookout. He came running around the corner and stopped dead at the sight of Tyler lying in a pool of filth and blood with me standing over him, blood splattered all down my front. Even I wouldn’t have believed I was innocent. So I ran.”

  Jack threw a glance in Cassandra’s direction but curiously she seemed to hang onto his every word. His eyes rested back upon Adrianna’s.

  “The O’Malley family demanded retribution. They might not be one of the more ambitious players in the game but they were still one of the more powerful teams. Thom and Roger decided it best to just pay the debt rather than risk a war against them. They didn’t want to lose all their hard work, you see. But the price was a life for a life. Tyler's life had been taken and they called out for mine. Les said nothing.

  “That night I asked Les if he’d tell them the truth to save me and he just laughed. That same laugh that made everyone love him but it always sounded cold to me. He said, Why on earth would I do that? Your job is to get rid of complications, not become one. In fact, you’ve never been any more than a thorn in my side since the day we lost Lily. No one will miss you, Fen. You’ll be gone and no one will care.

  “I wasn’t about to die for something I didn’t do, Adrianna,” he confessed in a voice torn with confidence and guilt. “I wasn’t going to die for h
im.” Nodding to himself as though trying to urge the rest of the truth out into the open he continued.

  “I knocked him out with the toughest punch I’d ever thrown. I dragged him into my room then I changed his more dapper clothes for my simple attire and locked him inside. Just as dawn began to arrive Thom and Rogerson broke down my door and dragged Les outside. I’d never heard Les so scared. He kicked and screamed and begged the whole way to the meeting point by the docks. He kept trying to tell them he was Les and not me but of course they didn’t believe him. Being an identical twin can come in handy sometimes…but not usually, as that’s what got us into trouble to begin with.

  “I only wanted to scare Les and expose his dark side to everyone. At least that’s what I told myself. I followed them to the docks and hid in the shadows. He’d grown silent by then but I could see where terror lurked in his eyes. I thought I only wanted to hurt him a little bit but when Tyler’s big brother raised his gun I didn’t move. I didn’t even flinch. I just stood there, hiding like a coward and watched a bullet rip through Les’ chest. As he fell Thom ran to his body and when Les had fallen his sleeve caught on bit of wood raising it, exposing the tattoo above his right wrist.

  “Mine said Lily while his said Never forget. I heard Thom shout out Les’ name in disbelief and agony.

  “That’s when I panicked. I ran but I wasn’t thinking straight and I ran into one of O’Malley’s men. He must have heard Thom’s shout because he stopped me with a gun held ready. I twisted it from his grip but he managed to take out a hidden knife and stab me in my middle. I clocked him with a broken hunk of brick on the sidewalk and ran.