“They’re here looking for someone.” One of the men behind me said.
“You particularly.” The other added.
“I see. You know it’s not safe for three women such as yourselves to be traveling in these parts alone. There’s danger lurking all around you.”
I was still standing closest to him and saw a gentle smirk form on the right side of his face. It was sweeter than the face I always remembered but I knew what he was insinuating and forced myself to speak to him for the first time, trying to show that I would not let him get to me. “I assume the danger you mean being you?”
“Maybe.” He took a step forward and I took a step back, putting my hand on my sword under my cloak. I was ready for anything at this point but he saw it as something else. “Are you afraid of me?”
“Fate favors the prepared but I’m more than that.”
“I know you are, Adele.”
I paused where I stood. His words alone made me freeze again. I wanted to shed a tear because I was now certain that if he knew of my name that meant he knew why I came. The answer trembled inside me like an earthquake strong enough to shake the very rock of the mountains and I held back any signs of emotion, remembering what I told Ruby and Jaylyn. We had to finish this mission no matter what. They had to pay for what they did to my father and that meant I had to brave against myself and throw away my childish obsession with the past by killing him. Only then may it truly be over.
“Good. Now that we know each other, Zayden, you know why we’ve come.”
“I have an idea as the Kalu Assassins are surely standing before us. So, what is it Fate has you planned to do next?”
“What we do best.”
I took my cloak off, letting it flow to the ground and revealed my black leather coat that lied beneath.
“You mean kill us?” Zayden let out a laugh that echoed around us, acting as if not to take notice to my dramatic move to unveil myself but he did notice. I watched his eyes shift.
The men behind me laughed as well but I found nothing to be funny.
“You’re no match for us. Clearly you should already know that.”
It was only intensifying my mood, helping rid me of the past once and for all. I pulled out my sword and held it out to him. How could I have ever thought that the Senian I was hung over for so long would be kind to me, the enemy?
“So, are you sure you still want to go through with this? I hear losing is bad to come by.”
“Then you better be ready for it.”
I stepped toward him and swung my sword but he kicked it away without blinking. I was amazed by his speed but it was only making me angrier. I lifted my sword to him once more, drowning out the sounds of fighting behind me but he blocked it again. I looked up as he pulled out one of his short staffs that was in resemblance to a set I’ve seen and he swung toward me. I bent over backwards, dodging the attack as it extended inches from hitting me and flipped back to my feet.
We just stared at each other when I landed. We were getting nowhere with this. It seemed we were equally great.
“It looks like it’s over for you and your friends.” Zayden said.
I looked back toward Ruby and saw she was being held by the one that saved her, her twin blades on the ground at her feet.
“It wasn’t my fault. Take it up with Muscles over here.” She shifted in his arms to show there was no way out while he shown his smile for it.
I then looked behind me on the other side and saw Jaylyn on the ground with Troy holding his sword over her. “Sorry, Adele.”
I admit I was mad at them. I knew they didn’t try their absolute hardest and I turned back to Zayden with my anger visible. “Let’s leave them out of this. This is about you and me.”
“About what exactly? It seems you’re turning this mission personal.”
“Because it is. The General wishes you dead.”
“Ah, yes. General Balwin. I remember as it wasn’t really that long ago. Such an irritating fool.” He fought from laughing.
“That irritating fool is my father!” I took another step forward to show my defense for him.
“I knew that.” He smiled that charming smile but I glared passed it. “He did say you’d come. Of course, he wasn’t capable of doing that for very long.”
My eyes narrowed even more but I never strayed them from his. “Let them go.”
“You see I’d love to but I’m afraid I just can’t do that.” Zayden was acting as casual as ever like he was already in control. “We’ve been waiting out here for days for someone to come and answer to our win. I won’t take this capture away from my men. They’ve been, how should I say, detached.”
“Capture? You’re not known for taking prisoners.”
“I’m willing to make an exception for you. After all, my people will be pleased to get to witness the fall of the Kalu Assassins in person. It’s not every day that we get to put an end to a legend.”
“And what is it you plan to do then? Claim victory and become the hero that put an end to the war?”
Zayden laughed like what I said had amused him in some way. “No. War is our life. To end it would be to end us and I can assure you that’s never going to happen.”
“So you’ll just force the world to suffer through so you can live out your glory days?”
“You forget you’ll have nothing to worry about because you’ll be dead. The course of the world will no longer be your concern.”
“But they still are until then and if you think that I’m going to just let you take us out of here then you’re wrong.”
“Well, I would have hoped it didn’t have to come to this.” Zayden made a single hand signal to those behind me. “But you left me no choice.”
I looked and the one holding Ruby pulled her arms together behind her back and tied her hands. She didn’t even bother to struggle, maybe already knowing there was no way out of it and Jaylyn was brought to her feet by Troy, her hands being tied as well.
“No. Let them go.” I demanded.
“You know I won’t do that.”
“Then let me fight for them.”
Zayden paused. I couldn’t have been sure what he was thinking but hopefully he was at least considering it. “You want to fight me for their freedom? You are brave but we already know how that will end.”
“Just one hit is all I need. If I can hit you where you stand, you let them go and we all walk out of here our separate ways.”
Zayden gained that smile on his face. “Is this a joke? You’re serious?”
“Just one.”
“And what’s in it for me if you can’t?”
“What do you want?”
His brow lifted with his smile and he shifted his eyes down the front of me.
It made me sick rather than interested and I held closed the front of my coat tighter. “Not that.”
“Isn’t that my choice?”
“Under the circumstances, I think we both know it would be inappropriate. I’ll choose.”
“Well, all right. Your loss.”
“Hardly.”
“So, what will it be?”
“If I can’t—” I had to think of something quick and looked back at Ruby and Jaylyn. All the different outcomes were tracing through my mind and I turned back to Zayden with the answer. “We’ll go without a fight.”
I heard my girls take breaths in behind me but I kept my eyes on Zayden. He seemed like he was interested in it while looking back but I was getting tired of waiting.
“Well?”
“All right but let’s get more detailed about that since it will probably happen.” He was overly confident. I hated seeing that trait in someone else. “If there’s no fight, I will remove the restraints but there will be no weapons and no problems. If at any point an escape attempt is made, you will be killed ahead of schedule.”
“Agreed but I want assurance that your men will be on a short leash around us.”
He paused for just a moment and
looked back at them. “You seem to be planning for your failure as well.”
“And that includes you.”
“Then of course. The subject of rape will not be something you’ll have to worry about.”
Breaths were taken in strongly again from behind me but it was not from my team. The men seemed to disagree with the terms which probably meant they were expecting to have us however they wished. If only for a moment, I was thankful Zayden agreed to my way.
“Good. Shall we get this over with then?”
Zayden smiled and he put his hands behind his back, waiting for my move. “Take your best shot. I’ll even make it easier for you.”
He turned his back to me and I smiled as I brought my sword up behind mine. This was perfect. He wouldn’t have even seen it coming and we’ll be on our way home to fight another day.
I pushed the button on my sword handle and let it fall into pieces. I then quickly whipped it out from behind me toward Zayden to end this but something went very wrong. He didn’t even flinch before he spun around, putting his arm up and the whip wrapped around the end of one of his staffs. He quickly took a step forward with it and whipped it back toward me, extending his staff which caused more momentum. My own weapon wrapped around me and I tried pulling it back.
Zayden was still holding it and began pulling me closer to him. The blades were cutting into my coat while I was being forced right to him and he grabbed me by the arms just below them. “That’s a nice toy you have there but playtime is over. You and your friends are coming with us.”
I was heated. How did that even happen? It was too late now. I shamefully lost my own challenge and admitted it. “So be it but this is not over.”
“Oh, I think it is.” Zayden let me go and I tried to pull my sword away from him so I’d have it back. “Ah ah. No weapons, remember? What was agreed will be taken seriously. I’ll be taking that.” He unwrapped me and took it out of my hands. “Any others?”
“No.”
“Somehow I couldn’t believe that an Assassin would just carry one weapon. I want them all. Now.” Did he already seem to know everything about me? Annoying. I sighed and started taking out all the daggers I was carrying, handing them to him one by one while he put them away into a bag. “Missed some.”
“Didn’t.” I argued. Zayden glanced up to my head where I remembered the two metal rods stuck in my hair. “Those aren’t weapons. They’re an accessory, not even sharp.”
“Show me.”
I sighed and reached up to one, pulling it out while the other still held my hair. I showed him that the tip was blunt and watched him give in.
“All right but don’t make me regret it. Darius. Troy. Search the others. Take whatever they’re concealing.”
Ruby and Jaylyn were untied and stood in front of them with smiles. They seemed all too happy about this. Troy held his hand out, waving Jaylyn to start taking them out. She never took her eyes off his and took out three daggers, delivering them to his open hand while Ruby stood in front of Darius. “This might take a while.”
My eyes rolled to her tone and she opened up the front of her coat under her cloak. I watched Darius hold his breath with his eyes down. He was seeing the daggers attached to her or maybe it was just the red velvet corset that was wrapped around her. It was almost like she was teasing him while she took out all of the daggers, handing them to him one by one slowly until he had six in his hand.
“Is that all?”
Ruby put her hand on his metal chest and leaned towards him for balance while she was reaching behind her. “Wait. There’s one more.” She pulled out a dagger from her back that had a solid ruby gemstone handle. “This is my favorite one. Don’t lose it. It’s worth more than your life.”
Darius took the dagger from her hand and they were looking into each other’s eyes while Ruby still had her hand resting on his metal chest.
I was not impressed with their behavior towards the men at all and I took each of them by the wrist and pulled them away. “That is quite enough of that.”
They put their eyes towards the ground, knowing I was disappointed but I wasn’t the only one that didn’t like it. Zayden stood looking at his men with a more angered expression.
“What?” They chorused.
He didn’t say a single thing about it and looked to me. “Before we get on with leaving, I have to ask.”
“What?”
“What’s with your masked friend? Is she horribly disfigured or something?”
I looked over at Jaylyn with her leather mask just up over her nose and gave a quick answer. “Yes.”
“Adele! I am not!”
“Shush!”
“Well, I’m not.”
“So, she’s wearing a mask. What’s the big deal?”
“I’d like to know who I’m taking prisoner.”
“Well, that’s too bad because removing it was never part of the deal.”
“Then there is a reason she’s wearing it.”
I wish he would just let this go but we probably would have stood out here for days arguing about it. I didn’t want to tell everyone why and signaled him to get closer so I could whisper it to him.
He seemed to go with it and I told him but he backed away to reveal it anyway which completely defeated the purpose of me having to get that close to him in the first place. “Wait. I’m confused. She’s so pretty that she needs to wear a mask but the two of you aren’t wearing one? Does that mean you’re considered not pretty because, if so, I must have been out here for way too long.”
“Awe, thanks, Zayden.” Ruby smiled.
My eyes rolled. “Ruby, please don’t and that’s not what I meant. It’s her smile. She can convince anyone of anything. It’s a weapon we can’t take so we hide it.”
Zayden seemed unsure and looked at Jaylyn again. I wasn’t sure what he was going to do but he didn’t really do anything. Instead, he turned away and started walking east, farther into Seni. “Okay. Let’s go.”
Darius and Troy stepped up behind us and started herding us to follow. I almost can’t believe what I did next but I did turn and I did follow. This mission would be seen as a complete failure but we were days away from reaching the White City and I had no intentions on seeing it again.
Chapter 8
Darius
We walked silently till dawn, making our way out of the mountains. The sun just rose over the hills and woke my eyes from the dark. Spring was arriving in Seni and the sun started to warm everything up. The trees dripped with water from the morning dew almost like it was raining and became the overall sound being heard besides our own footsteps.
This is normally when we would sleep but I guess this little endeavor means we’ll be switching our routine back to nights so trying to stay awake was a chore.
It was a long road ahead and I was already feeling tired of it with no sleep. Plans so far haven’t worked out the way I had hoped and the whole way I’ve been looking at Ruby walking several paces in front of me.
Something was different about her, not just her beautiful crimson red hair or sparkling golden eyes but something else. It just made me want to have her more but I knew I couldn’t—yet. For now I needed to get my mind straight and focus on getting them to the city.
I looked at her swords as I walked with them and barely even noticed the weight. I was use to my large sword that was in no way made to be light but took an interested liking to the ones at my side.
I took them in my hands and started swinging them around to distract my mind from the journey. They were easy to move and cut through the wind.
It only lasted a minute before her voice caught me. “Hey! Watch it, Muscles! You’re going to break them if you keep doing that. They obviously weren’t made for you.”
I immediately stopped and she just gave me a smile, turning back around. Great. That didn’t work. My mind went right back to focusing on her again which was something I was trying not to do. Now I was daydreaming about what it would sound
like to hear her call me Muscles while I was ramming her from the angle I’ve been watching her at.
“Wow, Darius. You never do anything for anyone.” Troy’s voice helped with the vision but we still talked about her.
“I’d do anything for her.”
She must have heard what I said for speaking it just a little louder than Troy had because she looked back with a wanting facial expression like she was interested in testing my statement. I was more than interested to let her but it was broken. The blonde one Troy so early claimed pulled her back so she was walking forward again and whispered so we couldn’t hear.
Ruby looked back one more time though and it was that same look. It made me smile and there was no way to hide it. “She wants me.”
“I’m sure the feeling’s mutual.” Troy sighed, rolling his eyes. “But you better watch it, that’s not part of the agenda anymore.”
I sighed too but in a manner of disappointment rather than Troy’s annoyance. “I know. Thanks to Zayden and his noble intentions but I think I could get her to willingly.”
Troy laughed, trying to hold it in so the sound of it wouldn’t carry. “Really? But you know he wouldn’t approve. She seems like a handful anyway.”
“You know how badly we’ve been waiting for a chance like this and I know I could handle it easily when I want it bad enough. Could you handle yours?”
“First of all, she’s not mine.”
“Please. You were the one demanding the blonde one before we even saw her. What does that mean?”
“Not what you think. I was merely looking forward to our original plans.”
“Ha! I knew it. We’re on the same page. So, here’s what we do—”
“No. Stop. That’s over. Get used to it. It’s been six months already. You can wait a little longer.”
“No I can’t!”
Troy’s eyes rolled again and he just stopped talking completely. I couldn’t let that happen. I needed him with me on this. With the two of us fighting it, Zayden may at some point give in.
“Troy? Troy?!” I tried to get his attention but he never said a word. “Come on, Troy. Don’t you want to remember what a woman feels like pressed up tight against your body, her breathing heavily in the nook of your neck, crying your name, nails in your back?”
Aligning Stars (Fate's Intent Book 1) Page 4
