TRC - Lord of the Glass Desert Ch. 06

"No," said the mage, shaking his head, "She tried to kill me three times and nearly succeeded on two of those. It may be possible in the future, but that's going to take some time to forgive."

"She was working under orders," growled Ria.

"She stuck a knife in my throat," he shot back. "I can still remember the feeling of pulling it free and the blood running into my lungs and stomach. Those memories won't fade quickly."

"I'm sorry," apologized Kashka, her voice quiet as she stared at the floor.

"If I died that day and we never had this conversation, would you still be sorry?" asked Kal, his tone icy.

The cat-girl was silent for a long time, "No."

"I didn't think so," said the mage as he sat down and picked up his plate again. "Finish your food but go slower this time. No need to choke yourself by eating so fast."

------

Later in the evening, Ria and Kashka chatted by the fire pit as Kal sat in his library reading when the sound of wind rustling through the trees filled the tent.

"What's that?" asked the cat-girl looking around for the source of the noise.

"The elven version of an intruder alarm," said Ria, rolling her eyes.

Kal stepped out of the library and looked toward the tent's exit. The canvas had changed color to show a fuzzy image of the area outside, but only revealed was the door to his room. Their guest must be on the other side.

Using the telekinesis cantrip, Kal summoned his vambraces from where they sat on the library's table and met Ria at the exit. Kashka trotted up behind the sprite. The cat-girl wasn't willing to find out how far away she could get before the collar activated.

Stepping outside, Kal opened the room's door to find Shakri standing there with a serving tray containing a bowl with a domed lid, slices of the white, slightly-tangy cheese the mage was quickly becoming fond of, and a small loaf of bread. He waited a moment for her to greet him, but the server kept her mouth firmly shut.

"This is new," he said finally, ending the uncomfortable silence. Tilting his head forward as though inspecting the tray's contents, he instead looked into the woman's eyes. Shakri was on the verge of tears, and it was clear to Kal she was terrified of something.

"Y-You missed supper," the brown-skinned woman finally stammered. "S-So they told me to b-bring it up for you s-since you paid for it,"

Kal leaned forward and lifted the lid off the bowl. Shakri shrieked when she saw the steam rolling out from beneath the dome and flung the tray and its contents to the side.

The mage heard a man down the hall mutter, "Idiot," just before a tiny dart appeared in the side of the server's neck. Kal's speed rune flared as he reached up to grab the small projectile, but his fingers closed on empty air as Kashka's black skinned-hand swiped it first.

Though only able to see Bozun's scarred face out the corner of her eye, she whipped the tiny dart in his direction. With the dart's speed and Kashka's unerring aim, there was no way the assassin could dodge in time. Mage and cat -girl both watched in surprise as the air around the man fold in on itself before snapping back into place with the assassin appearing a full pace to the side. The dart sailed through the space his head was a moment earlier and struck one of the inn's support posts. Bozun's shift put him closer to the stairs, and he used the opportunity to leap down to the first floor and run out the inn's front entrance.

Kal's attention returned to Shakri. He already had the cure poison rune primed before he lifted the lid on the bowl, and the projectile's toxin was nullified before the dart left Kashka's hand. Seemingly oblivious to how close she was to dying a moment ago, the server sobbed as she clutched at his clothing, "My boy. Please. He said he would kill my boy," she cried, then hurriedly explained she lived with her sister and brother-in-law. Her sister looked after her son when Shakri was at work.

The mage now understood why the waitress insisted on running home to get her own gondas weed when they spent the day together. "Tell me where you live," Kal demanded, but her answer meant nothing to him. He hadn't been in Fazal long enough to know the names of the city streets.

"I know where that is," said Kashka. "Give me my things, and I will take you there."

"Why should I give you your equipment?" growled Kal. He knew he couldn't reach Shakri's son and sister in time to rescue them without the cat-girl's help. But he was having a hard time trusting a woman who had tried to kill him.

"Because this time I can be the hero," said Kashka, her pleading eyes shimmering in the low light of the hallway.

Picking up Shakri, Kal gently tossed her into the tent, where she stumbled and fell onto the green carpet. "You'll be safe in there if he doubles back to finish you off," he told her as she scrambled to her feet. Ignoring her crying pleas to bring her along, he sealed the tent as she dashed back toward the door. Turning to the cat-girl, he gritted his teeth and growled, "Ria, give the woman her equipment."

When Kashka's belt appeared in her hands, Kal had a few choice words for the sprite over the two daggers that appeared in their sheaths.

"You told me to store her stuff!" Ria snapped back.

Unable to retort since he said precisely that, he walked to the window of his room and threw it open before holding out a hand to the cat-girl. "You just need to point me in the right direction."

Her eyes widened in surprise as he pulled her out of the window, and they began rising into the air, her body becoming extremely light as the white rune she saw last night began glowing once again.

A little higher than the roof of the inn, Kal stopped. "Where to?"

Kashka scanned the rooftops for a moment before pointing the way.

The mage shifted his hold from Kashka's hand to under her arms and took off in the direction indicated. A few seconds later, he cut the featherfall rune he was using on her and poured more magic into the flight rune before pushing the excess into Kashka. They immediately sped up now that she was flying with him instead of being carried along.

It wasn't long before she pointed again, this time at a house. "There's the place, but he's going to beat us there," she said, pointing lower and bringing his attention to a shadow darting along the side of the street.

"Can you stop him?" Kal asked.

Reaching into a pouch, she pulled out a set of throwing knives and loosed one at the assassin. As it was about to strike, Bozun once again shifted to one side. The man looked around in surprise as he continued running toward Shakri's home. Spotting them dropping out of the sky as he came up to the house's door, he hesitated for a moment, as though considering coming back some other time. Looking up, he flashed them a malicious grin before slipping inside.

A woman's choked scream was closely followed by the terrified shriek of a young boy as Kal and Kashka's feet touched the ground. The mage charged through the door with his magic shield up, ripping it off its hinges. One of Bozun's daggers bounced off it before his leading foot touched the floor inside.

The cat-girl followed him in, stepping out to Kal's left side as soon as she had room. On his right, the woman Kal assumed was Shakri's sister was holding her stomach and kneeling in a growing puddle of blood.

"Ria, give her a healing potion," said the mage.

"Do it, and I'll cut the boy," said Bozun.

Peeking over his shield, the mage saw the assassin holding the Shakri's son in place by the hair as a dagger rested against his throat. The boy looked to be five or six summers and had a slightly lighter skin tone than his mother. Despite the look of fear on his face, the young man was surprisingly calm.

"That boy is currently keeping you alive," snarled Kal. "Slit his throat, and we have no reason to let you live. Give her the potion, Ria."

"Tough words," spat the assassin. "You can't even touch me."

"I wouldn't count on that," said Kashka, the calmness in her voice sending a shiver down Kal's spine.

Kashka's unexpected accolade turned Bozun's attention back to Kal. The mage had survived three attempts by his best assassin, defeated the cat-girl, saved her from his anti-capture measures, and somehow turned her over to his side. Though the slave collar around her neck could explain some of that, Bozun was worldly enough to see she wasn't there just because the mage ordered her to be.

Shakri's sister dragged herself up onto a bed and promptly passed out after drinking the potion. A smaller bed lay against the wall on the other side of the cat-girl, lit up by the fireplace's glow in the middle of the house. Bozun and Shakri's son stood to the right of the fireplace near a steep set of stairs leading to a sleeping loft. An open doorway beneath the stairs disappeared into the back of the house. The Left side of the room was mostly taken up by a large but short table where the family took their meals. On either side of the room were windows the assassin appeared to be eyeing as possible escape routes.

"Get ready to grab the boy," said Kashka.

Kal looked over and saw the same calmness from before. "The boy?" he asked

"He'll be fine," the cat-girl assured him. Fighting back feelings of distrust, Kal did as she suggested and primed the speed, strength, and healing runes while hoping whatever the cat-girl had in mind didn't hurt the child.

"Try it, and he's dead," threatened Bozun.

"You can't kill him if you aren't there," she replied. Kal moved when he saw the feline's hand move, following closely behind the spinning blade as it streaked toward the assassin's head.

Bozun shifted to the side, then shifted again, and then a third time as the cat-girl's knives passed through where his head would have been. Meanwhile, Kal grabbed Shakri's son and clamped a hand over a nick on the boy's neck before picking the child up and dashing out the door. With help from his flight rune, he bounded up to the roof of a nearby house and checked the boy for any other injuries. The nick was minor but proved the assassin hadn't been bluffing. Thankfully, Kal's spell healed it long before he got a chance to check it. Telling the child to hide there and wait for them, he leapt from the roof to rejoin Kashka.

When Kal disappeared, Bozun dashed for the window only to shift backward repeatedly as he avoided the twirling blades flying toward him. He tried three more times before snarling in anger and reaching into one of his pouches to produce his own set of throwing knives. Bozun was just as deadly accurate as the cat-girl, but Kashka was more nimble and dodged the first two throws. The collar jolted her, allowing the third blade to bite into her shoulder not far from her neck.

"Sprite! I need you next to me!" she called out, wincing as she took taking another knife in the leg. The blade came frighteningly close to piercing the large artery in her thigh. As Ria rushed over from checking on Shakri's sister, Bozun sent two blades spinning at Kashka, then flung a third toward the little avatar a split second later. The first bit into the cat-girl's other shoulder, her quick reflexes making it a flesh wound, instead of something far worse. A finger-width to the side, and it would have sliced open one of the large blood vessels there. Focusing her abilities on the second knife, she plucked the spinning blade out of the air by the handle and flung it toward Ria. Her knife hit the assassin's and knocked it away, but not before Bozun's knife struck the avatar's glowing form. With a shriek of indignation, the sprite faded away.

Sensing victory and seeing the blood running down the cat-girl's shoulders and leg, Bozun sent another three blades spinning towards her. All three were batted upward by the knives she just pulled from her wounds, ringing as she knocked them into the air before deftly catching them by the handle.

Another mild jolt let her know the sprite had gotten close enough to reset the collar's punishment, but without Kal nearby, she would soon be in trouble. Noticing she was distracted, Bozun tried for the window again, only to be shifted back by a line of flickering, spinning blades. The cat-girl figured out early on that whatever allowed caused him to shift wouldn't let him appear inside a solid structure. She also noticed that where he appeared was dependent upon his attacker's position as he always moved to the right or left relative to her. When a well-placed knife gave him the option of appearing in the middle of the window or moving backward, it always chose backward. The stairs were the same story and the few seconds it took for him to run across the room allowed her to gather a few more of the blades stuck in the walls behind her.

"I guess I trained you up right, didn't I?" said the assassin after another failed attempt to escape. "You know what will happen to the others once I'm dead, and you don't give a damn if it kills them too."

She gritted her teeth as pain lanced through her body again. That hurt a lot more than the last time. "Being bought by you is a death sentence anyway," she snarled when she could speak again. "In the two years you've been my Master, only the Bull and I are still alive. This saves them the false hope they will someday be free."

Bozun chuckled, "Caught on to that, did you? All the rest just assumed those who came before had earned their freedom. I should have known you would figure it out when you didn't die like a good kitty." The man's eyes darted to Kal as he came rushing through the door. The assassin frowned, "I guess I talked too long."

Kal reached out and placed a hand on Kashka's shoulder, healing her wounds. After re-summoning Ria, he looked around at the throwing knives peppering the room. A few of them were dangerously close to Shakri's sister.

Bozun pulled a handful of darts from a pocket in his vest. They looked identical to the one he used on Shakri, but it was hard to tell with the firelight coming from behind him.

Kal's mouth opened but snapped shut before any words came out. No sense in telling him poisons wouldn't work on him.

The assassin flicked his wrist, and a second bundle of darts appeared in his other hand. Flinging his arms wide, he sent the darts at them in two broad arcs, one at chest level and one directed at their legs. Kal's shield sprung into place, and two of the darts bounced off, but one in the lower arc caught him in the thigh. Searing pain blossomed in his leg, dropping him to his knees with a gasp as he tried to keep from screaming. The pain began fading as soon as he yanked out the dart, but it was still bad enough to keep him from getting back to his feet.

Kashka adjusted her legs' position, and one dart passed between them while the other two whipped by on either side. One bounced off her thigh, but the sharpened tip never touched her. Angling her upper body similarly, two of the small projectiles passed by on either side of her. She held a hand up in front of the center dart. The dart's needle-like tip slipped between her fingers and came to a sudden stop as the thicker body couldn't pass through the gap.

The assassin stared at the cat-girl, surprised she wasn't on the ground in extreme pain like the mage. Kashka used the Bozun's hesitation to flip the dart in her hand and send it speeding back at him. As soon as the tiny missile left her fingers, both hands went to her daggers. In a single motion, she drew them from their sheaths and sent them spinning at the assassin as well.

Bozun saw his dart coming back at him but was unconcerned. He felt the compression of space around him before popping back into place out of the projectile's path. The compression immediately started again but stopped as something impacted his chest. Looking down, he saw Kashka's dagger sticking out like a macabre vest ornament. Reaching up, he gripped the handle, his eyes widening in disbelief as he stumbled backward. His back bumped the wall next to the fireplace just before he dropped to his knees.

Stepping up to the dying man, Kashka put a foot on his shoulder and pushed him back. Slapping his hands away from the dagger's hilt, she snarled in his face, "That's mine," before pulling her weapon free.

Bozun winced and pressed his hand against the wound as though trying to stop the blood draining from it. Smirking, Bozun smiled up at her, " Just remember, they're all dead because of you."

Kal limped up behind the cat-girl. The pain in his thigh hadn't faded entirely yet. "Who's dead? What does he mean?"

Kashka sighed, "When he dies, so will all the other people who have one of those teeth. We probably need to get out of here. I'm guessing he has one as well."

Kal's eyes glowed blue as he inspected the assassin, "You're right. Something in his mouth checks his heart every few seconds." There was something bright near the man's belly button, but it looked embedded into his skin. "Ria..."

"Fuck you, Kal."

"Sorry, dear, but it's the only way I can think of to save the others."

"I didn't say no, but I'm not fucking happy about it. That woman's legs were bad enough."

He looked over at Kashka, "He's bleeding out fast. Let's get Shakri's sister and leave in case something goes wrong."

The cat-girl nodded and trotted after Kal as he picked up the unconscious woman and left.

Ria floated down in front of the assassin's face after the others were gone, "Did you hear that? They're all going to be saved. Your last little victory, stolen by me."

Bozun spit on the little avatar in a final act of defiance, the blood filling one of his lungs turning the glowing sprite red. The last sound he heard was Ria's mocking laughter.

A few seconds later, the sprite flew out the front door, closely chasing a speck of light. Kashka and Kal stood across the street, the mage holding Shakri's sister while watching the area around the house for any sign the assassin's trap went off. The mage held back a moment of nausea as the speck approached him and disappeared into Ria's bag.

"Kal, call me back in a moment. I got some of his blood on me," said the avatar, fading out halfway across the street. He was curious why she was glowing pink. Now he was curious what happened after they left to end up with so much blood on her. Laying the woman down next to a building, Kal called Ria back then leapt into the air to retrieve Shakri's son.

"How do you feel?" the sprite asked once Kal was gone.

Looking up into the night sky where Kal had disappeared, Kashka sighed, "Numb, hopeful, confused, relieved, proud—"

"Proud?"

"I got to kill the villain. All the other times, I was the villain." She smiled at the sprite, "It feels good to be the hero for once."

When Kal returned with the boy, they made their way on foot back to the inn. After a teary reunion between Shakri and her son, the server slapped across Kal's face for imprisoning her before kissing him soundly in thanks. The innkeeper offered a room for her sister until she was back on her feet, which looked like it might be a few days with how much blood she lost. The man then took down a quick note for Shakri's brother-in-law, who worked as a night guard at a nearby business, to tell him what happened and where his wife was.

"Should we rest for the night and go take care of Bozun's other girls tomorrow?" asked Kasha once the waitress and her son left, but the mage was already shaking his head.

Kal sighed tiredly, "We are setting out across the desert in a caravan tomorrow. We have to do it tonight."

------

Kashka's tan cloak billowed out behind her as her feline arms and legs let her spring effortlessly from rooftop to rooftop. Kal and Ria flew just above her, making sure to stay in range of the woman so as not to trigger the collar. The cat-girl's more direct route had them passing just outside the palace walls and approaching the slums surrounding the aqueduct far sooner than Kal expected.