Changeling 15: Bloody Hands

Kama woke the next morning, an throbbing ache between her thighs and her slack stomach the only reminder of the blur of childbirth. She reached for her babe, smiling. Chandra no longer lay beside her. She relaxed when she heard a soft male voice cooing and the answering gurgle of an infant from nearby.

She smiled and sat up stiffly in the bed and turned toward the sound. "Andras..." She fell silent at the sight of Zagan sat in the chair across the room, Chandra in his arms. Adrenaline rushed through her body and she sprang from the bed, rushing toward him.

His hand closed gently around the babe's throat. "Babies are so delicate. With one squeeze I could snap its neck." He fixed Kama with a cold stare. "Sit down, girl, lest my hands... slip."

Kama moaned and sank back on the bed, wrapping her arms tightly around herself. She stared at Zagan, and felt despair seep into her bones. "What do you want,Zagan? What do you want in exchange for my little Chandra's life?"

"Chandra. What a beautiful name for such a sweet little thing." He smiled his false smile and stroked the infant's head. It was all Kama could do to keep from leaping up and snatching her babe from his arms.

"Stop! Stop toying with me and tell me what you want from me." Kama's eyes burnt with unshed tears. She would not be weak in front of the man. Not ever again.

"I am so glad you are choosing to be reasonable. This delightful little girl is in for a wonderful life. She will be pampered and cossetted and loved by the family I have chosen for her. A family indebted to me. Why, I could almost envy her." He stroked Chandra again. "And all you need do," his voice grew harsh, "is everything I tell you to do."

"I don't want to kill. Why can't I simply steal for you? I could make you rich that way. Why must it be death?"

"Because, my pet, you can look like the mark's mother, husband, child, even the mark, himself. A family member is welcomed with open arms, complete trust, and the mark dies. An unstoppable assassin. Only those in my highest trust will know of you and your skills. You will be my shadow assassin. Even the mightiest powers of the kingdoms will tremble and bow before the might of my guild, out of terror that I will have you strike them down in the very heart of their safest inner sanctum."

Kama closed her eyes. She was trapped. He held her whole world in his bloody hands. A tear escaped despite her best efforts.

"Tears? You will be my most valued protege. Many would envy you this opportunity. The lives you will take, believe me, will become as nothing to you over time. The power you amass will become everything. And when you have proven your loyalty, why, then you and your child shall have a teary reunion. It will be up to you, how soon that will occur." Again the smile, this time triumphant. He knew she could not refuse. "Do you agree to my terms?"

Kama sat, silent. Her mind raced, trying to think of a way to safety. There was none, at least not for herself, but maybe for her babe. Resignation flowed over her and she felt almost serene as she made her decision. She took a deep breath. "I refuse. I will kill myself first. You can't stop me from doing that. Then I will be free of you."

"Ah yes, you'll be free. But little Chandra, here will not." He casually stroked her head again and then gently captured one of the little hands that waved in the air. With a sharp twist, he wrenched one of the tiny fingers. The infant screamed as it was snapped in two.

Kama jerked to her feet and took a step forward, only to stop when the hand closed again over Chandra's throat, choking off the sound.

"If you die at your own hands, this is only a sample of the pain your child will suffer. If you try to defy me again, the next time you see this finger, it will be a bloody stump. With each successive rejection of my offer, another body part will join it. It is your choice. Will you obey my wishes?"

"Yes." Despair and misery washed over her. Andras had been right. What was to come now would make all before it seem an idyll. The bleakness of her future was almost more than she could bear.

"Wonderful! I must think on a good first assignment for you. One that will test your loyalty. Andras, of course, will oversee your first blooding. I trust it will go more smoothly than the last." He rose, Chandra wailing in his arms, and moved towards the door.

Kama reached out. "Please may I hold her one last time?"

"No, my dear, I think not. You have not earned that right yet."

More tears forced their way past her burning eyelids. A sob broke forth. He paused at the door and chuckled. "Mother's love is quite strong, is it not? Perhaps I should recruit more females into the guild. By the way, who does know of this ability of yours, besides that miserable little band of thieves?"

Kama blinked, startled by the sudden change of subject and the words slipped out before she could stop herself. "Only my babe's father, and the two who cursed me."

"And where can I find these people?"

Eyes on her baby, drinking in her last view of her, Kama murmurred, "Her father is dead. The other two vanished back to wherever they came from. A druidess and her lover, a beast of a man named Jacob."

Zagan frowned. "Hmmm... I shall do a little investigating." He opened the cell door. "Say goodbye to your daughter. If you are very obedient and please me well, you may see her again, perhaps in ten years or so."

His laughter echoed in the hall and rang in her ears as the door shut behind him. She collapsed on the bed and sobbed.

***************

Andras paced nervously in Zagan's office, the sour-faced middle-aged woman Zagan had sent him to procure as a wetnurse to the babe sat watching him, the pouch of silver clenched in her palm.

Zagan swept into the room, a tiny infant screaming lustily in his arms. His eyes alit on her. "Thank god. Take this creature and get it out of my sight before I wring its neck just to shut it up." He thrust the child at the nurse.

Andras hustled the woman out of the room, taking in Zagan's grim expression. "Take her to the room I showed you. You'll be our guest there for a few days."

"The girl is still quite stubborn. But I have her now. She will do anything to save that squalling brat." He gestured to the chair. "But sit, sit. We have a little problem to take care of. We need to eliminate that little band of theives that our new protege ran with. I can have no one know of her skills."

"All of them? But it was my understanding that only the old woman and one of the lads knows anything."

"Boys talk. What one knows, they likely all know. I have had our people descreetly picking them off in the market place. Good testing for our younger recruits. But now we need to take out the main lair."

Andras leaned back in the chair. "Fire, do you think? We could burn down the main house in the wee hours of the night and pick off the survivors as the flee."

"I had thought of that, but I think I shall use this as a test of young Kama."

Andras straightened a sick feeling in his stomach. "Sir that is hardly a good first blooding for the girl. She knows these boys, lived with them, befriended some of them."

"Not your typical first blooding, no. But an excellent test, nonetheless, to see just how strong this maternal bond is. Her babe or her friends? Which do you think she will choose, Andras?" He laughed. "You will enter the den with her. Kill as many as you can, silently and quickly, while they sleep. Set fire to the house as you leave. I will have a few senior assassins watch the perimeter for any who might slip through your fingers. I should hope there will not be many."

Andras nodded, unease twisting his gut. "I will go inform the girl of your commands and prepare her."

"Do so. Wait a moment though." Zagan rummaged in his desk and pulled out a small brass box and handed it to Andras. "If she balks, go cut off the index finger of that squalling demon child and take it to her in this box."

Andras took a step back. "Sir, as her trainer, perhaps I would not be the best choice for that task. If we are to work as a team later, I must be able to trust her to watch my back. She will hardly do that if I have harmed her child."

"No, as her trainer you are the perfect choice for this. She must be shown you are in control. The consequences of not bowing to your wishes." Andras nearly flinched when Zagan's hand shot out and grabbed his, pushing the box into his palm and wrapping his fingers around it. It sat on his palm, cold and heavy. "Surely you jest? The whole notion of trust is ridiculous. Fear is the only power here. Make her so afraid of you that she must obey." He shook his head and his laughter rang out. "Trust? Next you will be spouting of honor and chivalry. Now go!"

Andras walked out the door, head bowed. Trust? Had he actually mentioned trust in front of Zagan? What was wrong with him? And he had practically disobeyed an order. Defying Zagan was sheer insanity. The child would survive and so would Kama. She just had to be reasonable and accept her fate. Being an assassin was not without its rewards. She would come to see that, in time.

He moved quickly through the halls, eager to get this distasteful chore over with. Hopefully she would cooperate. After all, the boys had turned her in. She owed them no loyalty after that.

He swept past the guards and through the cells of the vault pausing outside of hers to unbolt the door. He entered and closed the door behind him. She sat in the center of her bed, eyes red, an untouched tray of food on the table beside her.

"Andras? Do you have Zagan's demands? What must I do to see my baby again?"

He shifted, uneasy. "You are to accompany me on a mission to silence those who know of your powers."

She sprang from the bed, her face flushed and eyes glowing. "They found Jacob and that druidess? I will kill them with pleasure!"

"No, the Wharf Rats." He tensed with worry, as he watched the color and animation drain from her face.

"I can't kill them. They took me in, befriended me."

"They used you, betrayed you, and sold you. They should be nothing to you, now. You will accompany me tonight to kill them. We are commanded by Zagan to slay them as they sleep and then set flame to the building."

"No. No, I can't." She reached for him, wrapping her arms around him. Her tears soaked his shirt. "Please, don't make me do this, Andras. Please."

He pushed her away roughly and she tumbled back to the bed. His voice was harsh with pent up anger and fear. "You have no choice. Zagan commands you obey. Or else your child will suffer."

She turned her back on him. "Kama, will you obey?"

She remained silent, shoulders hunched. Despair raced through him."You give me no choice, then." He spun on his heel and wrenched the door open, slamming it behind him, bolting it behind him and drowning out her startled cry.

He stormed through the hall to the makeshift nursery. Men scrambled from his path. He slammed into the room, and drew his knife. The nurse squawked and then turned her face away. She had been well paid for her silence.

She was so unreasonable. She forced him to do this! He let his fury rise up and grabbed the infants tiny hand, and with one swift slash, a finger lay in the palm of his hand. Blood ran from it, covering his palm. So much blood from such a tiny thing. All his anger drained away.

He was a monster, nothing but a monster. The babe screamed and screamed as Andras fled the room. She would hate him for this. Hate him forever. He stopped and fumbled with the lid of the brass box and dropped the bit of flesh inside. He scrubbed his palm against the leg of his pants but the blood stains remained.

He walked slowed back to her cell, the box heavy and evil in his hand. She looked up white-faced as he handed it to her. She opened it and looked inside once, then hugged it to her chest.

"You can tell your master, dog, that I will do as he commands." She turned her back on him once more.

A wrenching pain twisted his heart at her silence. Waves of hatred flowed from her. "Kama, I had to..."

"I don't want to hear your excuses. I will obey. Isn't that what you want to hear? Just go!"

"Zagan always gets what he wants. I-I am sorry." He left the room, shaking, and for the first time in years, he felt broken again. He barely made it back to his room before his stomach rebelled and he knelt over his chamber pot, wretching. "Zagan always gets what he wants," he whispered again.

He rose and wiped his face then sat at his desk and stared sightlessly at the papers there for hours while the sun sank and darkness fell. He carefully gathered up his gear. He looked in the mirror and death looked back at him.

He made up a bundle of gear for her and left the room. When he entered her cell, she spoke not a word, but dressed and belted on the tools of the trade. She followed him through the city streets, a silent shadow at his back. They walked through the gardens, just at the time when all would be sound asleep. Before the older boys woke up to go roll drunks in the gutters, after all were in bed and sound asleep.

The senior assassins stepped from the shadows and signalled that all was clear. Andras nodded back. They had silenced the lookouts and would catch any who fled.

They entered the eating area, the air still heavy with the smell of sausage and onions from the evenings dinner. They climbed the stairs, and he wedged the old witch's door shut with a small block of wood. She'd burn alive once the fire was set or else jump from the window and break her neck. Kama simply watched.

He entered the dorm room and drew his dagger and she echoed him, silver blade glinting in the moonlight from the window. He moved from bed to bed, swiftly and methodically slitting throats, cutting the vocal cords so they died silently, choking on their own blood. Kama strode down the other line of beds, doing the same. He bent over that last bed.

Suddenly she was behind him, the knife pricking at his neck. "Let that one go."

The boy woke with a start, eyes wide in his pale face. "Run, Flick and ware the ones outside who wait."

He jumped from the bed and ran silently from the room. Andras watched him go. "He won't get past the seniors, Kama. You haven't saved him. You will have caused your child pain for nothing."

The knife blade moved from his neck. "He is more resourceful than you can guess. He will survive."

He turned to her, "Perhaps, but Zagan commanded that we kill them all."

"How will he know they did not all perish? Will he count the bones in the ashes? Will you tell him, Andras?"

Irrational fear filled him. Zagan would be angry, yet her beautiful, haunted eyes stared up into his, pleading. He almost choked on the words. In the lowest whisper, they escaped. "No, I will not tell him."

"Thank you." She walked from the room. He stumbled after her, down the stairs. He could hear the old hag pounding on the door and shrieking curses in her room. They emptied vials of oil over the floor, and ducked out the door. Andras tossed the lantern into the room and it shattered. The flames flickered and greedily spread through the oil and old wood. The walked away, the thieves' den a raging inferno at their back. The senior assassins signalled the all clear.

"No survivors?" Andras called to them and they shook their heads and vanished into the night.

Kama turned and stared back at the burning building, the flames reflecting in her wild eyes. "Flick..."

Andras reached out and gently touched her neck, murmuring the release words. The golden torc fell into his hands. "You no longer need this. Welcome to the Assassin's Guild, Apprentice Kama."

She looked at him with blind, empty eyes. Misery filled him. Zagan had won again. She was broken.