Curse Breaker (2)

14

Pride.

The deserters are going to battle for my village. My friends. My home.

"Let's go," Elex says.

Casimir doesn't let go of my hand as he pulls me forward, creating a path through the thickening crowd. I glance over my shoulder, back to Trina standing atop a boulder. Her arms are straight down her sides, lips in a firm line, but her eyes are on me--cold and harsh and sharp.

I turn back around as we funnel into the narrow passage. Anxious energy thrums through the air. Clanging metal weapons and heavy footsteps fills the space. The night air meets us with a crisp bite, a low fog hanging in the trees, seeming to part as the army of deserters intrude on it.

Casimir and I enter the trees, part of the line. The forest swallows us whole, the thick canopy of leaves blocking out any moonlight. It's in the darkness of the bush where Casimir tugs me sideways off the trodden path, both of us falling into the shrubs.

"What're you--"

"Wait for me here," he whispers, pulling my wrist so we're further of the path. "I'll come back and find you before dawn breaks."

"Are you serious?"

"I don't want you anywhere near Ereon." His eyes search my face desperately, grip on my wrist tightening. "He's there for you."

"Exactly. He's there for me. He's killing people because of me. Didn't you hear what Trina said? They're executing anyone who doesn't hand over information. Information about me."

"Nobody knows the truth about you! No one knows where you are."

"Do you think they'll care?" I grab his wrist, digging my nails in. "Cas, who do you think they're going to punish?"

His jaw clenches. "They have no way of knowing who your friends were."

"They'll find out."

"You don't know that--"

"Casimir." I shake his shoulders, my breath coming out in desparate gasps. "I won't stay and hide. Not this time."

We stare at one another in the darkness. I can see his mind ticking over, wars waging in his head as he remembers the hundreds of nightmares that plagued me after the shifters murdered my father.

"It's Cadence," I whisper, softening my voice. "Cadence."

The memory of her fills my mind. The long golden hair, wide blue eyes, soft skin, and reddened cheeks. Casimir releases his grip on my shoulder. "Stay by my side the entire time."

I nod. "Always."

"I mean it. We get Cadence and we get out. Go straight for Samu."

Taking a shaky breath, he steps aside to let me past. I slide back onto the path, rejoining the crowd of deserters filing through the trees. The cheers have died down, giving way to a silent anticipation as weapons glint beneath slithers of moonlight and the earth clears our path.

And as we move forward, and I think of everything that's happened the past few months, the anticipation twists into something different, something hotter.

Anger.

If Ereon even touches a golden hair on Cadence's head, I don't care about Trina's wishes, or the cloud, or the Torinnian shifters. I'll be the one to kill him.

***

From the outskirts, Veymaw is the sleepy village it always was at night. The uneven, cobblestoned streets are deserted. Washing lines have been brought inside, safe from the crisp winds and low fog. The streets remind unchanged. I could almost believe I'm sneaking back from an outing to the forge, keeping to the shadows of the treeline to remain undetected.

But this is not a normal, sleepy night in Veymaw.

There are no azu nesting in the nearby trees, and no lights in the windows of the cabins lining the narrow street.

The silence, the absence of life, the still air--they only serve to heighten the tension in the air.

Something is wrong. And I'm not the only one to detect it.

The deserters crawl through the trees surrounding the village with such grace they make nearly no sound at all. Each step is calculated, like they're able to predict every crunch of a level or snap of a stick. I try to mimic Casimir's footsteps, keeping a steady hand on the hilt of my dagger and trying to calm my racing heart.

A scream.

High-pitched. Ear piercing. It echoes off the tops of the trees, causing every single one of us to pause. Casimir's hand reaches out to find mine as if afraid I'm going to bolt.

I couldn't even move if I wanted to, my heart thumping.

That was the scream of a child.

We slow to a crawl as we round the bend, approaching the marketplace, keeping several metres away from the immediate treeline. But it doesn't matter, the light bleeds through the gaps in the trees, casting a spotlight on the cobblestoned clearing. My heart drops to the pit of my stomach as the deserters perch low, scoping the area.

The villagers stand huddled in the centre, barely clothed, like they'd been torn from their beds in the middle of the night. They're surrounded on all sides by guards. Their red and blue uniforms pressed and proper as they were in the palace, their backs straight, belts filled with a variety of weapons. I scan the crowd desperately, searching for any sight of Cadence, but come up empty.

One of the guards facing the crowd speaks, but I can't make out the words. As he does so, a woman falls to her knees at the front of the crowd, a wail escaping her lips. When I notice what lies at her feed, bile rises in my throat.

A head. The head of a child.

None of the deserters around me reacts. Not even Casimir as the guards start to push and shove at the crowd, inciting terror and cries amongst them as children hide between their parents' legs. Two of the guards start pulling people from the crowd, throwing them onto their knees onto the cobblestones. Some beg, some seem to be in shock, and others fall to their knees almost immediately.

My heart picks up as Jakob is plucked from the crowd, shouting something as the guard throws him down. Next, Cadence. My heart swells at the sight of her, hair billowing around her shoulders like a golden halo. She cries out as her knees scrape the harsh ground.

My body jolts. I'm so distracted staring at Cadence I don't notice Elex kneeling down on my other side, grabbing my arm.

"Ready?" he whispers, nudging my ribs.

I turn to look at him, noting the silent determination in his eyes, and fight the urge to reply 'no'. "We just attack?"

"At the signal," he confirms.

I take a shaky breath, looking back at the crowd. "What's the--"

A gunshot goes off and before I even have a chance to blink, a collective, tree-shaking roar vibrates through my body as the deserters break into a full sprint towards the marketplace.