“My green flying monkey, I need you to stop eye fucking both your men and come over here to show this little lady that you are not some deity sent to kill the evils of men.” That snapped me out of my lustful haze as I pulled out of Ajax’s grip. He whined, but I still left, one, because I wanted to make sure the girl was okay and two, we were not going to have a four-way in the middle of the cannibal’s land. I had to draw a line somewhere.
“Don’t call me that.” I told Hemlock when I got closer and she smiled as she nodded.
“I regretted it as soon as I said it.” I smiled at her before I turned to the girl. Her eyes were wide and expressive. She was in awe and I felt bad that I was going to have to give her the filthy truth that I wasn’t a deity, that I was a grimy, dirty assassin who enjoyed what I just did more than saving her. It was a nice bonus to save her, but I really, really enjoyed making a man like that bleed and cry. Having him die knowing that the Maker God wasn’t going to help him.
“Are you ok?” I asked her, feeling awkward about having to talk to her. This was always my least favorite part of the job, talking to the clients, especially if they watched me work.
“Yes,” she cried and tumbled into my arms as she clung to my waist. “You saved me.” She had on another shirt, Zayden letting her have one of his extras. It filled me with gratitude for him and his caring nature. Even if he wanted to hide it away from the world, I knew it was there.
I patted her back stiffly, not knowing what else to say to her. I looked at Hemlock for guidance, eyeing her to help me, pleading with her to take her off me. It was getting weird for me. Hemlock smiled as she put her hands on her shoulders and pulled her off me gently. “Do you know about the mountain man?”
The girl turned to Hemlock with surprise. “You know the mountain man? I thought he was a myth. That’s what I was told by those that I lived with.”
Hemlock nodded. “Yes, he is very real and his stronghold is safe and warm, available to anyone who wants to live a normal life again. I can have one of my people take you there? He won’t even touch you once… or else he will die by my hand.” The girl looked at Hemlock with appreciation as she nodded and started to cry, which at this point, I knew I was out. Crying women was so not my thing.
I started to slowly back away, trying to not get Hemlock or the girl’s attention as I was leaving. Zayden followed me with a smile as he whispered. “Really, my gem? Crying girls is your undoing?” He was laughing at me as he backed up with me. Before we got to the spot I left Ajax and Rykon, he grabbed my hand to halt my path. I looked back at him with my eyebrow raised.
“Was it ok that I helped that girl?” When he saw my confused face he rushed to continue, “I didn’t rush to your side like the others and I… I don’t want to upset you unnecessarily, but I’ve had experience dealing with abused women and I thought she might feel a little safer if I helped her. Women think I’m not threatening because of my facial features and playful voice.” He sounded a little disappointed at that last part, so I gave him my truth.
“I find you very threatening.” He gave me a skeptical look. “No, really. Give me someone like Ajax to fight with, no problem. Give me someone like Rykon to outsmart any day of the week, but you, Zayden, you scare me.” I looked down at my hands, not liking the vulnerability in my voice, but I knew he needed to hear it. “You tempt me to give into you constantly, and I almost do every time. It takes such incredible control and strength to leave your lure, to not be caught up in your web of lust and playfulness. It’s your own type of threatening that I am growing more and more powerless to. You make me believe I can let down my guard and it will all be ok, and for an assassin, that goes against everything I have been taught.”
He took a surprising inhale of breath, grabbed both my hands into his as his eyes danced with joy. He opened his mouth to tell me something when the ground started to shake. I looked over at Hemlock, who immediately looked past me and over my head. I saw the saved girl off in the distance with one of Hemlock’s members, her eyes looking back at us in horror as she started to run. Then Hemlock yelled, “Cannibals! Run!” She, Talican and Rath took off, following the border trail we were originally on, running east as fast as they could.
The boys and I, of course, followed, running after Hemlock and her crew, but I was curious as to these fearful beasties and I looked behind us. Coming at the speed of lightning were these deformed, pale as the moon, human-like bodies that were running at us on all fours. Their eyes were sunken in, almost black, their hair was shaggy and oily, clothes hung off their rail thin bodies, but it was their faces that were the most deformed.
Their heads were almost in the shape of a cone, their mouths looked like they split on the sides and were now permanently wider, bigger. They snarled and chomped their mouths as well as ran, gaining ground fast. The hunger in their whole face spoke of the horror they would put us through if they caught us.
I pushed us to run faster, yelling at the guys, but the creatures were still gaining. We caught up to Hemlock who called out breathlessly between each word, “We need to get to high ground. It’s the only way.” She pointed forward to a stack of ruins that looked like it used to be a fort. It had a few pillars that we could climb to get to the high ground, and I nodded. We all ran up the stone steps and small groups formed around the pillars to climb as high as they could.
I barked at the guys to start climbing the closest pillar. They gave me a dirty look, but it was not up for discussion and they all relented. I looked off to see the creatures were almost here and only Rykon was up at the top. Zayden was currently half way and Ajax was just starting. I needed to hold them off. I needed to keep them away from my guys.
I walked down the steps, hearing the guys screaming my name. Hemlock was yelling at me too, but I didn’t have time for all that. With my swords still strapped to my back, I waited until the first few saw me and I yelled, “Come on!” They turned and went in my direction before I ran off to the side and led them away from the group, hoping I was giving everyone enough time to get to safety.
The creatures followed me at a fast clip, running as fast as I was, but I didn’t know this land as well as them and I ended up running into a dead end. I turned around, slowed my breathing and took both swords out of their sheaths. The steel glowed in excitement for a second before they settled, waiting for instructions from me. These swords were like long extensions of my arms, and I smiled as a group of the creatures came straight for me.
As soon as one got within swinging distance, I sliced off its head in one easy stroke and I spun my other blade into the next creature’s heart. Both bodies dropped as more came and I sliced and plunged my way through as many as I could. I kicked at the chomping faces and slipped out of grabbing hands. One fucker got lucky as I was busy with three others and it bit my arm, but I quickly elbowed its face and slammed the hilt of my blade into its eye.
They kept coming and coming, and even with me cutting each of them down. It was like they had an endless supply and were now circling me. That was not good. Even with as good as I was, I couldn’t take on an entire circle of them at once and live. I needed to get them to a bottleneck, find a spot where they could only get a few through at a time and I could pick them off one by one until they were all dead in a pile at my feet.
I found a break in their advance, and I took it. Running through it and back out the way I came in. My arms were pumping as I ran as fast as I could. I could feel my magic vibrating underneath my skin, fueling my aching muscles and tired body until I felt nothing, nothing other than to keep going.
I got to a fork in the pathway and I took the one to the left, running until I got to a smaller ruin, one that looked like it was originally a part of the bigger one but fell or slid down further from its original spot. I ran through, thinking I was going to lead them through this to the other side when I felt a set of arms grab me by the waist and pull me into a dark corner.
I lifted my sword, prepared to slice open my captor’s throat when I noticed a head full of dirty blonde hair and dark eyes that called me to them. Ajax.
“If you’re going to slice me open, you better do it fast.” He used a teasing tone before we both felt the ground shake, the warning that the cannibals were coming. I gripped his arm, ready to run, but his arms gripped me tighter as he shook me. “We don’t have time.” I pleaded with him to run with me, but all he said was, “Trust me.”
I gazed into his eyes as I stopped fighting to run. The ground was shaking and our impending doom was almost upon us, but I couldn’t look away from his eyes, like two dark pools that called me to fall in, to stay awhile, to bathe in their darkness and let my body be consumed by them.
I thought to myself, worst comes to worst, I can always kill us both before they touch us. I settled into his grip and he let out a pleased sigh. As soon as I could hear the creatures, he took an inhale of breath and closed his eyes. When he opened them again, both his eyes were pitch black, not even the white around his irises showed.
I gasped at the sight, but he put a finger to his lips to signal me to be quiet. I kept my mouth shut, but I couldn’t stop staring at his changed eyes. I could hear the creatures coming around the corner. I was sure they would see us when they came rushing through, but they didn’t. They kept running through the ruins, snarling, leaving us behind.
It took everything I had to look away from his eyes and this recent development, but I had to see what was going on behind me. I saw the last of the creatures turn around and gaze at the ruins, looking for any signs of life. I couldn’t believe it as he was staring right at us and didn’t see us, his eyes passing over us like we weren’t even there. Suddenly, he heard a call, and he turned to follow the others.
As soon as it was clear, Ajax let me go and blinked again, his eyes returning to the normal dark brown eyes I was used to. I couldn’t help as my question started to spill out, “What the-”
“When you left, I dropped off the pillar and was about to head after you when Zayden asked Rykon where I was. All I know is that I was so scared for you. I wanted to be there for you, shield you from them, and that feeling filled me. Consumed me. My whole body shook as a darkness, a shadow, came out of me.” He looked down at his hands before he continued. “Their questions broke me from my concentration and I let the darkness go. Hemlock quickly yelled at me I had the magic of shadows and I could conceal myself using the tricks shadows play with the eye. Then I took off after you, hoping that this new power could help you.”
