“This mark… it controls me. Eryx controls me through it, and everyone else at The Guild. He inflicts pain if we don’t comply, physically and emotionally. He can splinter the minds of anyone who swore the Oathmark to him.”
Airess’ stomach twisted at the words. She recalledTaryn tellingherhe didn’t have a choicewhenever he had abducted her after the engagement ball. She had thought it was a matter of social coercion, notthis.
“He uses it to control hundreds of members. Some of them are so loyal to Mrkynia that theywantedthe Oathmark. Others who started young were unaware such a thing even existed.” Taryn’s head dipped low.
“I’ve only made it this far without him killing me because Raiden is steering him the other direction.”
Airess' mouth parted. How long had she sat next to him in oblivion of his impending death sentence? How many times had she doubted him, thought he would betray her, when he was literally refusing to capture her despite the Oathmark?
“We can fix this. I don’t know how, but my Magick subsided the pain. We can make it to Rune, and I can learn to control my power. I can help you.” She reasoned, her voice appearing cool and confident.
Inside, she was trying her best to keep it together.
Taryn gave her a sad smile. “I’m open to anything at this point.”
“Just… try to get some rest,” Airess said wearily, eyes scanning over his brow beaded with sweat. His shaky breath was alarming. Airess had never seen him so vulnerable before, and it shook her to her very core.
Taryn wore a pained expression, eyes wide and mouth parting as if he was going to say more. He swallowed.
“Okay,” he whispered back, his voice faint.
She thought about his Oathmark over and over again until she fell asleep, making a promise to herself that she would save him.
Airess stood at the back of two males clad in onyx cloaks, their boots thumping the puddle-ridden cobblestone street from the rainfall overhead. They swiftly turned around the corner to a street lined with run down wooden apartments and stopped before a door. Airess followed behind as she heard a dagger being unsheathed. The figures turned to face each other.
Her breath hitched at the sight of those familiar steel eyes. “Taryn.” She whispered as recognition hit her. It was him–but he had to be in his early teenage years. His curly hair was cropped short, there was no scar running down on the side of his temple and cheek. The plumpness of youth filled his face as his head snapped in Airess’ direction, looking directly at her. Her eyes widened–could he really see her?
He looked through her and beyond before turning his attention to his accomplice–who she now recognized to be a younger version of his friend, Raiden, from the tavern in the waking world. Gods, they looked young. Airess never asked Taryn the extent of their friendship, but from the looks of it, they had been friends far longer than Airess had envisioned.
“I can’t do this,” young Taryn said, his voice slightly lighter than she was used to at this moment. Taryn looked down at the blade in his hand with uncertainty, his hand slightly trembling.
“You have to or Eryx will kill you, remember? To join the Guild you must kill, or be killed. You will be initiated as soon as we return,” Raiden stated. “Be quick. I’ll be right outside.” His friend assured him quietly. Taryn gripped the blade, turned to face the door, and knelt to pick the lock quietly.
The lock clicked. Taryn slipped through the door. Airess walked through it and entered a barren room. There was only a bed in the corner, and a fireplace. A man and woman swayed together in front of the fire, the man holding her hand up with the other on her hip. They startled as soon as Taryn burst into the space.
“Arther Crux,” Taryn’s voice wavered as he held up the blade. “Eryx Mrkynia, the rightful ruler of this continent, hereby sentences you to death.”
Arther grabbed a knife sitting nearby and pushed the woman to the side, “Go!” Arther told her. “Go get help!” The woman ran out of the room without Taryn sparing her a second glance.
“I told Eryx of the shortage, the gate is closed!” Arthur exclaimed.
“I have no choice but to kill you,” Taryn said as his voice broke and lunged for the man. The man was quick enough to block Taryn’s strike with his knife, using his fully grown height over Taryn’s adolescence to sideswipe and cut his abdomen. It wasn’t a fatal cut, but enough to make Taryn groan in pain.
Taryn gritted his teeth and struck again, missing, his move falling too short. His mistake cost him as the man swiped his knife on the side of Taryn’s face, the skin from his temple splitting all the way down his cheek and jaw. Blood rushed out of the wound like a river as Taryn screamed out. The man lunged for him, the pair tumbling to the ground.
This wasn’t the Taryn she knew, the male who had refined his skills so perfectly he had the reflexes of lightning. No, this was an untrained boy who had barely begun growing up, and had fallen into the wrong path in life. Pain unexpectedly welled in her chest. For him. For the boy who was forced to be a male too quickly.
Arther plunged his knife down in self-defense, one hand pinning Taryn’s shoulder. Taryn blocked his blade with his dagger, the point of the knife so close to Taryn’s eye.
“You’re weak,” Arthur said. “Not cut out for this kind of work.”
Airess’ heart pounded wildly at the violent display. Taryn bared his teeth, exposing his Fae canines, and bit down on the arm that pinned his shoulder down. The canines sank in deep. The man cried out, retracting his arm on instinct and losing focus of the hand holding the knife momentarily, giving Taryn a split moment to flip their positions.
Blood ran down Taryn’s face and mouth, his teeth stained in the red substance. A tear had begun to roll down Taryn’s cheek as he didn't waste another moment to plunge his knife into the man’s heart, the fight coming to an abrupt, and brutal end.
Arthur had ceased fighting, his arms falling to his sides. Metal clanged against the floor as Arther dropped his knife and looked Taryn in the eyes.
“Look at me,” Arthur said. Taryn stared, mortification overcoming his features as he dropped his dagger.
