Prophecy of Thieves [chapter 20.1]

Kai’s heart pounded. The sound of it filled his ears and pulsed at the base of his throat. It had yet to cease despite the dragon having fallen hours prior.

The moment they arrived at the cave, Kai had ordered Zain to rebuild the fire. He ripped off Rieka’s coats until he revealed the bloody tunic beneath. He wasted no time in gathering cloths to press into her wound to staunch the bleeding.

Amani had rushed to his side after depositing Ren on the ground. Together, they worked in silence, cleaning the wound and binding it. The process seemed to take hours—days. The blood continued to flow endlessly, no matter how much pressure they applied. It wasn’t deep, but the gash was long, starting from the center of her abdomen and stretching to the corner of her left hip bone. As more blood was wiped away to reveal the extent of the wound, other scars from wounds years past were revealed, too many to count. Her blood was hot and foreign on Kai’s hands, too viscous to pretend it was anything other than life leaking from its vessel.

After they managed to stop the bleeding and bandage the wound, Amani moved on to assist Ren, who was whining incessantly as he plucked rocks from the soles of his feet. The sound was muted in Kai’s ears as he leaned back, his eyes wide on the blood soaked cloths littered before him. Instead, all he heard was a steady drip. His eyes darted around for the source of the sound, his jaw tightening.

Drip, drip, drip...

A cool hand closed over his and the sound ceased. Kai glanced up to meet Shadya’s eyes. They looked almost scarlet in the firelight.

“The cloth is ruined,” she said.

Kai’s eyes turned down to his hand to find the source of the drip. A cloth soaked in Rieka’s blood. Shadya slowly drew it from Kai’s hand and backed away to place it in the corner of the cave, along with the other ruined ones.

When the sun began to rise, none of them bothered to leave the cave. Rieka remained unconscious, and Ren remained fretting over his feet. He had changed his coat and trousers, though he still itched at the brown dried blood of the goat on his skin and hair. Kai made sure to cover Rieka in most of the blankets, only leaving one extra for Shadya. The girl was already bundled up beside her sister, staring intently into the fire.

Soreness flooded Kai’s body, aching through each limb and bone. He could feel just where the dragon had struck him, the spot throbbing across his chest and ribs. Yet, once he looked at Rieka's pallid face and her dried blood on his palms, the pain abated.

Kai cleared his dry throat and looked to the others. “We have very few amenities left. Food, bandages, water… As soon as Rieka wakes, we should leave.”

Silence met his words. They all knew he was right. If they stayed any longer, they would die up on the mountain. And yet…

His eyes fell back on Rieka once more. She had never looked so weak.

“Are you okay?” Ambrose whispered on Kai’s left. Kai blinked before turning to him.

“Yeah, I’m fine. You?”

Ambrose’s eyes darted between Kai’s and he nodded. He reached beside him and grunted as he hefted the sword Ren had stolen. “I cleaned the blade.”

Kai grabbed the sword and lifted it into the firelight. It looked like a basic iron sword, yet it buzzed beneath his palms with power. He set it on his right and looked into his lap.

“We just won,” Kai muttered. “Why doesn’t it feel like it, though?”

Ambrose sighed, long and slow. “Sometimes I wonder if my father would be proud of what we have accomplished so far,” he murmured, his voice only loud enough for Kai to hear. “If… the gods would be proud.”

“Any answers to that in your books?” Kai joked.

Ambrose gave him a forced half-grin. “No. And judging by the amount of pride both the gods and my father convey, I guess I will never know.”

Kai nodded. “Who knows. Maybe when we arrive back in Reindale, your father will be gushing with pride.”

Ambrose lifted a brow. “Did the dragon hit your head?”

Kai chuckled, then squinted as a thrum of pain pulsed against his temples. “Maybe,” he muttered, reaching up to scrub his face, then stopping as he realized his hands were coated in Rieka’s dried blood. He began to scrape it off with his nails.

“Are you sure you are okay?” Ambrose repeated, his brows furrowed.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Look, who cares about whether or not your father is proud when we return. His parenting is not on his list of attributes. We’re doing this for Arlan and for the gods. We are doing this for the good of Arlan’s people.”

Ambrose’s lips pursed and he nodded. “You are right.”

Ambrose eased back into the horse resting behind them and closed his eyes. As his friend rested, Kai turned back to his hands. Almost half the blood was off.

Ambrose might have believed his words, but Kai wasn’t so sure anymore. That scared him more than any dragon or danger ahead.

…

“Sit down,” Amani said, placing her hand on Kai’s shoulder. “Rest.”

Kai nodded, though he did no such thing. The sun was setting, and he was getting restless. Rieka remained unconscious, no doubt due to her blood loss and the lump he found forming on the back of her head. The wind whistled just outside the cave, filling his ears with ominous warning. He couldn’t close his eyes. Not for too long. Whenever he did, he saw the dragon bursting from the ground. He saw Rieka striking a rock and falling limp. He saw blood and death.

So he took inventory of their remaining supplies. He brushed down their weak horses. He maintained the fire. He did everything he could to keep his hands busy. When he ran out of things to do, he drummed his fingers on his thighs and thought of their trek ahead.

The pain in his chest was more or less forgotten, though he knew it would undoubtedly be covered in bruises the next morning. His wounds held no importance. Not to the others in comparison to Rieka’s and Ren’s injuries, and certainly not to him.

Kai sat beside the fire to appease Amani. He was lodged between Ambrose’s drowsing form and Rieka’s limp one, and he glanced between the two. They were opposites, really. One, his best friend since childhood who would always lend him a hand if he needed. The other, a brat from Styrka who annoyed him incessantly and was more likely to shove him to the dirt than help him up from it. And yet, he worried for them both. Cared—though it was hard to admit—for them both. Shaking his head, he turned to the Sword of Strength. It emanated a dull, flickered reflection of the firelight, casting shadows from where he had propped it against the stone wall.

He reached out a sore arm and grabbed the hilt, drawing it to his lap. With the heavy blade braced on his knees, he glided a finger along the edge. Despite his gentle touch, his finger cut, blood welling on the pad.

“Is it magic?” Shadya asked from across the fire, her voice hushed.

Kai met her gaze. “I don’t know.”

“Can’t you feel it if it was?”

“Shadya—” Amani warned.

“I don’t know,” Kai repeated, his voice soft. “I don’t know what magic feels like.”

Though, the power that thrummed through his veins in response to the weapon had to be magic. It wasn’t a power that instilled strength like the name suggested. Rather, it was one that didn’t affect him at all. It merely hummed against his skin and sang through his blood. It felt like the weapon had been forged for his hand and his hand only. Which was foolish. The blade was stolen—and for the gods at that. It belonged to him no more than the earth and sky did.

Kai pushed the blade to the ground before him, and it clattered loudly in the resonant cave. Muted whispers followed between Amani and Shadya, and finally the young girl huffed and settled down to sleep.

“I’ll take watch,” Kai announced, glancing between the others. Ren and Ambrose were already asleep, which only left Amani and Zain. Having a watch guard likely wasn’t necessary, but with the dead dragon just beyond their cave, it seemed essential.

“You need rest,” Amani said, her voice soothing. “I will take watch. You haven’t slept in over a day.”

“I’m fine. I can’t sleep anyway,” Kai assured her, glancing towards the opening of the cave. The wind tousled the powdery snow, sending a few flakes into the sizzling fire.

“It is not wise for our guard to be delirious with exhaustion,” Zain said coolly, his eyes shadowed in the yellow light.

“I’m neither exhausted nor delirious,” Kai said. “If I come to be, I will wake one of you.”

Zain held his gaze for a few silent beats before nodding and settling on his bedroll. Amani, however, didn’t give in.

“Rieka will be fine. We all will. Our biggest threat is frozen just outside. If you want to be of any use when we set off, you need rest,” she said.

Kai’s jaw tightened and he looked down at his clasped hands in his lap. “I can’t sleep,” he repeated. “I just can’t. I will be fine.”

Amani nodded, her lips pursed. She looked from Kai’s hands to his face, her brows furrowing with concern as she did so. Despite the sincerity in the look, it irked Kai. He didn’t need nor deserve her concern. His plaguing thoughts were only filled with his actions, not with any future dangers. Any discomfort or pain thrown upon him was his own doing.

“Trust me, Kai, when I tell you I understand the torment of decisions. Of actions. I just have to remind myself that what I’ve done was in the favor of those I love. That without my actions, things would be worse off.”

Kai met her eyes. Their amber hue was like warm, melted caramel. Of course she knew that torment. She likely knew it far better than Kai. He didn’t know half of what she had done to protect her sister, but… some things could be worse than injuries and killing.

Guilt choked up Kai’s throat. His dreams were plagued by the man he had killed in Aryotsk. By Rieka’s injuries. By the dragon. But in comparison to the others he traveled with, his nightmares were likely little more than passing memories.

“Be grateful you mourn the losses and dangers that have passed,” Amani said with a sad smile, her skin gaunt and sallow from their malnutrition the past week. “It is when you begin to forget, that you should hold concern.”

With that, she turned on her side and settled beside her sister, eyes falling closed. Kai blinked, his gaze darting around before falling upon the fire. The flames danced lazily, the wood crackling.

Kai had never seen his life as a sheltered one. He had always been grateful for the chances he had been given within the palace, but he was also aware of his shortcomings. He had resentment for the restrictions set upon him for nothing other than his skin tone. He had envied the other guards for the easy freedoms and respect they had been granted. He had seen his life as a gift, yes, but also one full of trials.

Yet, embarking on this journey revealed his trials were mere stones upon a smooth path. There were never true mountains to cross or enemies to fight. His struggles were insignificant next to those beside him. He had carried so much judgment for Rieka. For her behavior and her decisions. Yet, what she had endured on the streets of Reindale was far worse than Kai.

He held concern for what he had done because what he had done was monumentous. He had never fathomed killing another person. He had never fathomed doing so without thinking once about the consequences. He had never sliced a blade through the neck of a beast and watched the blood rain down with fury. He had never been relieved as life had been drained away.

Yet the others had. They didn’t bat an eye at it because they had already endured much.

Kai glanced at Ambrose. His friend had never done such horrid things. Had still yet to do so. Kai pursed his lips. He hoped it remained that way. He didn’t wish such heinous crimes on anyone’s conscience.

Kai’s fingers began a new rhythm against his knees, a melody playing frantically in his mind as it often did when his thoughts were busy. His eyes watered as he continued to stare into the warm fire, but he didn’t bother blinking. Instead, he prayed silently to the gods.

He had no real words to deliver gratitude or requests, so he merely thought of the gods' existence. He thought of them and of what they were capable of. And he hoped that they would grant them all safety throughout the next part of their journey.

Something rustled by his foot, and Kai sat up, blinking. There was a soft groan accompanied by harsh words in Styrkish.