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“Tha’ I took he inna back room of dat inn. She ‘anted to marry me, see. I ‘anted to promise her right.” One of the men said, hoisting the pack over his shoulder as the other two trudged alongside.
“An’ she let you?” Another one asked, clearly not believing him.
“Her Da was a walker. She knows us. She knows tha life. An’ now she know tha lovin’ she be wantin’ notin else.” They all laughed again, talking about the innkeeper's daughter and the backroom of some Qit as they passed.
I checked all their faces, looking for the man from before. He wasn’t there.
“Did ya hear ‘bot The Sway?” The third one asked as they passed where I was hiding in the brush. I didn’t dare move even as my ears perked up at the chorus of ‘no’s.
“Got burnt to a crisp. All inside ‘ta.”
“Burnt?” The other two gasped, confused as I was sure everyone was. My skin prickled as they passed, continuing to talk about the dead and the fight that surely happened.
I wasn’t even listening anymore, I was staring behind them, to the curve in the road and the source of the tingling warmth that was moving over my skin. It wasn’t the usual feeling I had when a Fae was near, nor a Requisite, it was muted. Almost as though it was smothered.
I gripped my sword as a man came into view, my eyes searching for which of the Fae had come to end me.
It was the same man from the wagon before. Theadore, I think they had called him. I was right, he had recognized me and known exactly where I went. I waited, expecting the other two to follow him over the dirt covered road, for them all to rush to Waide and for Vaelar to kill me and burn the Qit into the waves as he would the day he killed my sister.
It was only Theadore, that smothered rumble of magic pulling me to him. I had felt a bizarre mix of magic from him before, a pull I couldn’t place. Now, the faint swell of his magic was rattling my skin.
I didn’t have time to question, nor did I care enough to. I was ready to end him, and end this. I could practically hear the song of my blades in the air as I prepared to slice him apart.
With him gone I could get Jayse out, by the time anyone else found us we would be long gone.
That buzzing grew into a flurry of energy, my skin feeling as though it was being run over with needles as I kept my magic tuned, that time I had stolen buzzing right under my skin.
The voices of the others were drifting into nothing as I stepped out of the brush, my cloak uncoiling around me as I stood before him.
He stood there, staring. My hair was damp and limp from sweat, my blades gleaming as I held them out in warning; the glint a display of how quickly I would end him.
“We were wondering how far you moved,” Theadore looked me up and down pointedly, “clearly not far.”
“Why are you working for that monster,” I snarled, the words dripping from me of their own accord. I hadn’t meant to ask anything; I had planned to end him.
“Monster?” he laughed, the sound more of a mockery as he folded his arms. “Vaelar. A monster? I don’t know what filth the queen has fed you–”
“It is not what she has fed me. It is what I know!” I snarled, careful to keep my voice low lest the other Wave Walkers turn and come to his aide. I didn’t want innocent blood on my blades today, just his.
“It’s what I have seen,” that low snarl was a roar as I raised my blade. Still, he didn’t flinch. If anything, his eyes widened but only as he looked at me, not the blade.
“What have you seen?” Theadore took a step forward, almost as though he didn’t notice the sharp edge of steel that was glinting between us. “How far exactly have you traveled, time thief? How much time have you stolen?”
“Enough,” I snapped, ignoring the title and thrust the blade forward, right into his heart.
Blood did not spray as it had with the Fae, instead the deep red oozed down the front of his shirt, the color spreading over his tunic in the deepest red. He stared at the spot and then at me, eyes wide as though he had never seen blood before.
“I will kill every last one of you,” I snarled, leaning into him so that all I could see was that wide horrified look in his eyes before I slid the blade from him.
Gibberish gushed from his mouth as his teeth turned red, the blood that was filling his lungs and bowels gushing over. He was trying to say something, but I didn’t bother to wait. It was simply more lies.
It would all be lies.
I should have felt more remorse as I dragged the still bleeding and gurgling man into the foliage. I should have felt something other than the contentment of a job done, of saving Jayse, of saving Amari. Of saving them all. Soon, I would do that. Now that I had my true targets I could do that.
There should have been joy or pride or determination, but there was only a numbing I couldn’t explain as I raced to catch up to the other Wave Walkers, boarding the ferry with them as the small boat pulled away from the pier; Tayln’s son, Grynd, glaring as I did so.
The Wave Walkers still spoke of the fight and the fire on The Sway, of the wedding pilgrimage that was due to start in a few days, of a dozen other things I didn’t care about. Not then, not ever.
