Empath Onboard

Save Me - I Can't Save Myself This Time

Ivan

It was now or never, the empath thought as his hand slipped free just as the door swung open to the two silhouettes. With one wrist free, he was able to swing up to grab the rope and kick out at the lantern the boy had left behind in his hurry. He sent it flying toward the door where it smashed and sprayed the whale oil toward the two. The flame caught it before the impact put it out and Ivan used the distraction to snag the knife and slash the rope still restraining his other wrist. But he hadn't calculated the weakness in his legs from being on his knees for two plus days and an attempt at standing sent him sprawling.

"It's just fucking fire, Darwid! Fuck." Lukai's dreaded voice shouted and a poof of some white powder smothered the flame just as Ivan managed to scramble up, forcing his legs to hold his weight. He didn't have a sword, but he brandished the knife like one would a precision dagger.

"Please calm down, Mr Kristaski. We're not going to hurt you like those men have." The boy, Darwid, tried to reason with him, pushed forward by Lukai as if Ivan would have more mercy. Ivan didn't have mercy for broken, brainwashed, brainslaves regardless of their age.

"I will not calm down! You assume I've been hurt and abused but I have seen more pain and abuse here. Come near me, I dare you! Because I will take your other eye and your life if I must. I will be leaving here today and you will not stop me! You're convinced these people are good for you, that this place they've put you in is where you belong but you do not belong here! I can't fix you, but I can kill you if you dare pose a threat to my freedom!" The empath snarled, taking the stance for a knife fight. He wasn't half as skilled with a knife as he was a sword, but his instructor had given him the baseline train before he gave up the trade altogether. It might just be enough to get him out of there. He hoped so at least.

"It's okay. You'll be able to think normally once we get rid of it." Darwid said, still slowly inching forward, his hands raised to show he was unarmed. He was a fool. Ivan darted forward and slashed out at Darwid without any hesitation. The boy leaped backward just fast enough that the blade caught the tip of his nose and slashed his cheek instead of the eye Ivan had been aiming for.

"I've warned you! I'm no gentleman. I'm not afraid to spill blood." Ivan snarled, catching movement out of the corner of his eye. A kick to Lukai's gut sent him stumbling backward as the impact knocked the breath from his lungs. Darwid tried to use Ivan's distraction against him, but Ivan had expected the underhanded attack and twisted the blade in his grip. Darwid's own momentum speared his throat on the knife. Hot blood spilled over Ivan's fingers and the boy gurgled, his eyes wide with fear and pain as he began to suffocate on his own blood. His teeth were red with it as his knees gave out and he fell. Ivan distantly felt the blood that covered his bare skin but it had been pushed to the back of his mind as he turned to fend off the other threat. Ivan had a moment to think, too slow, before Lukai's body collided with his own and they both went sprawling. A bruising grip on his left wrist, his knife hand, slammed his hand into the floor until Ivan cried out with no choice but to release his only weapon. He was pinned and no amount of struggling could break the larger man's grip on him.

"You killed him, you stupid fucker. He was trying to help you." Lukai hissed, purple eyes flaring in rage. Ivan laughed humorlessly in response, trying to get his legs under the man enough to kick him off of him. He was unsuccessful as Lukai transferred both his wrists into one of his large hands and retrieved a length of rope from his pocket.

"Killing him was mercy. He was brainwashed into thinking this is okay. You and I both know it's not. You can give up the charade. I won't break for you or any man." Ivan snarled, feigning bravado despite his helpless situation.