Chapter Thirteen

“You-!” Ven said, taking a step backwards.

“Me!” Kassadin Krin said, taking a step towards her. There was a look in his eye that made something deep and instinctive in her want to run as far away from him as physically possible. Ven raised her dagger up, keeping it between her and him. The effect of her having a weapon was diminished more than a little, however, by the fact that her hand was shaking.

Kassadin glanced at the blade and snorted.

“Put the blade away. You’re gonna hurt yourself.” He said.

“What do you want?” Ven asked, keeping the dagger right where it was.

Kassadin held his hands out in front of him, much the same way as he had in the clearing the night before.

“Relax, kid. You’ve got me all wrong.” He said. “I don’t want anything from you.”

“Then why are you-” Ven started, before something large and heavy clapped over her mouth. She went to jerk out of the grip of the hand on her face, only to find her arms pinned to her sides and her body pinned to the one behind her with another arm that looked thick as a tree trunk.

“My son, on the other hand....” The old man said. He took a step forward and lightly pulled the dagger from Ven’s hand, before tossing it a dozen feet behind him. “Now, you won’t be needing that any longer.”

Ven looked at him, eyes wide as she struggled against the immovable grip holding her pinned and screamed impotently against the hand clapped over her face.

“Oh, don’t be like that. You’ll only make this take longer than it needs to, and there is not a chance in your escort hearing you from here. Why bother?” Kassadin said.

Ven glowered at him, her eyes wide with fear and rage, but stopped.

“That’s better.” Kassadin said, dropping his hands. “Now, there are two ways this can be handled. You can either give us the Words freely, or my boy here can tear your head off that thin little neck of yours and take them by force. But either way, you are giving them to us. Do you understand?”

Ven’s eyebrows furrowed, and she shook her head that no, she had no damn idea what he was on about.

Kassadin’s gaze went violent for half a moment before cooling back into the same flat look as before. He reached into his belt and pulled a knife free, then closed the space between them and pressed the blade to her throat.

“Now is not the time for games, girl. And yes, we know you’re a girl. The boy can read far more than most Seers in the Vitae of others. He also knows exactly what you are, so playing coy will not help you here.” He said.

Ven’s eyes widened further, and she shouted loud enough for him to understand her.

“I have no idea what the hell you mean by Words!” She said.

Kassadin locked eyes with her for a long moment, his gaze seeming to drill straight into her soul. Finally, he rocked back on his heels and pulled the knife from her neck, seeming amused about something.

“I see. So you truly don’t.” He said “Well, that makes this all the more interesting, because that means you can’t freely give us what we want then.”

Kassadin looked past Ven.

“Can you still take their Words if they haven’t Awoken yet?” He asked.

The man behind her seemed to ponder for a moment, then made an affirmative whistle in Cant.

“Well there you have it.” Kassadin said, giving Ven another vicious grin. “By force it is, then.”

He lifted the blade up towards her again, pointed directly at her heart. She felt the world growing light as time seemed to slow, and her pulse and breath roared inside her head.

I’m going to die. I survived being attacked by wights, and now I’m going to die outside a latrine in the middle of nowhere so some psychopath can take something from me. Of course.

Ven struggled against the man’s arms, jerking and twisting and shouting and screaming, but to no avail. Kassadin pressed the point of the blade against her chest.

No. I will not accept this. I am not going to die here. I am NOT. No. No. NO. NO NO NO NO!

“Sorry, kid. Nothing personal.”

The point of the blade bit into her left breast.

NO!

Time jerked to a halt, and reality around her twisted and distorted with a blinding flash as the white hot burning of Kassidin’s dagger searched for her heart. Then, as if she had been blindfolded this entire time and only now could see, she saw them.

There, floating in elegant golden text above the blade pressing into her chest, was a word. No. It was a Name. She did not know the language it was written in, did not recognize its symbols or forms. But she knew what it meant by heart. She knew how to speak it. And it knew how to listen.

Help me. Kill them. Save me. She said to it.

And what do I get in return? The knife seemed to ask.

You will become a favored tool, we shall see the world, and I shall feed you the flesh and souls of any living thing deserving of death, starting with these two. Ven said.

The weapon seemed to ponder for a long moment.

Agreed.

Time snapped back to movement, but the blade locked in place as Kassadin pushed. His eyes tightened in confusion, and Ven could sense him pushing harder. He then looked up at her, and his eyes went wide in terror.

“Oh SHI-!”

The knife deftly twisted out of his hands, spinning and slashing the back of his hand. Kassadin jerked back and howled in pain. The knife rotated in the air and surged at lightning speed towards the man holding her. He threw her to the side and moved to get out of its way, but too slowly. It grazed the side of his neck, tearing open a gash that erupted in a fountain of blood.

Ven tumbled to the ground and scrambled to her feet. Kassadin dashed for her, his eyes wild with fury as drew his sword with his unwounded hand.

“You lying brat!”

Ven read the golden script above the weapon’s hilt, and issued another command. The sword flew from his hand and went sailing through the air a hundred feet distant before burying itself into the side of the inn. She then turned her attention to Kassadin who had stumbled to a stop and was glaring at her with a confused mixture of rage and terror. He opened his mouth again to speak, but nothing came out but a muffled “grrrk” as the flying knife circled back and buried itself in the side of his head. Kassadin’s eyes widened, and he stumbled towards her, his hands outstretched. The knife pulled free and buried itself again in his temple, and the light from his eyes faded as he crumpled to the ground in a bloody heap.

The other man shrieked something, and Ven turned to find a massive body rocketing through the air towards her. He tackled her to the ground, pinning her arms beneath her before drawing back a giant meaty hand and slamming it into her face. Ven’s world exploded in a flash of white hot pain, and she screamed as she struggled impotently against the giant man’s crushing weight. He drew back to punch again, then jerked back, howling in pain as the flying knife stabbed straight through the palm of his hand. Seizing the moment, Ven jerked herself out from under him and scrambled away. Through bleary eyes she could see her dagger resting on the ground a few paces away, its Name shimmering above it in gold filigree. She called to it, and it leapt from the ground and flew to her hand.

Ven turned her attention back to the man, who was dancing around and swatting at the knife like it was a wasp, steady runnels of blood pouring from his neck and hand, as well as a dozen smaller cuts on his arms and face. Between the fury in her chest and the nausea and the searing pain and the feeling that she was about to blackout, she did not allow herself time to hesitate. She strode forward and buried the dagger hilt-deep in the giant man’s stomach. His eyes bulged at her, and he lunged to grab her, but it was too late. She pulled the blade free and slammed it into his throat, then his gut, then his chest, until he was on the ground, his breath long since vanished, her atop him, her arms too heavy to make another strike after the dozens that now perforated him from throat to crotch.

She stood uneasily, tottering a few steps towards the inn before her legs gave out and she was forced to sit in the midst of the blood-soaked grass, too shocked and horrified to do more than wrap her arms around herself and cry.