To Suffer With

Chapter Eight - The Price of Freedom

The inside of the cabin is almost bare. Nothing more than a few stray chairs and a bed adorns it. Just a temporary stop along the way. Kaiser directs me to sit upon an old rickety armchair, the material covering it fraying and coming away. If Kaiser can sense the anger and distrust bubbling beneath the surface, he doesn't show it. He drags a small circular coffee table across the room to stand in front of me, before lifting an ancient wooden dining chair to place on the other side, so he can sit across from me. That done he shuffles over to the small kitchenette returning with an old, cracked mug that he holds out for me.

"My famous tea," he says when I make no move to grab it.

I snort because we all know that Kaiser's famous tea is just whiskey with a side of tea. I take the cup from him anyway deciding that if anybody deserved a drink it was me.

"Al it's good to see you safe," Kaiser says finally taking his seat. Like always Kaiser doesn't quite fit on the chair. His bear like figure making it seem as if he had stumbled into the wrong sized house.

I take a sip of my drink, savouring the warm burn as it travels down my throat.

"Good to see me safe, or good to see that your trading piece has arrived unharmed?" I reply, unwilling to pretend that I didn't know exactly why I was here.

Kaiser doesn't seem at all surprised by my words. "Connor, I assume," he guesses.

He runs his fingers through his beard studying me. His eyes search my own as if to uncover all those emotions churning beneath the surface.

I break away from his stare, eyes drifting down to stare into the liquid depths of the cup in my hands.

"Connor told me about your plan to trade me for Daeinera," I finally say as the silence lengthens.

"Part of the plan," Kaiser replies, causing me to look up again.

He reaches behind him to pull down a small rectangular box. Its unadorned, and unassuming. Kaiser opens it placing its contents down on the table between us.

"Connor only told you part of the plan," he reaffirms.

I stare down at the table, at the dagger sitting in its centre. The blade glistens in the sunlight that manages to sneak through the dirty glass window. I know without asking that the blade is made of pure sliver. Why else would it be in front of me? He wasn't returning me to Roman as some tool that had lost its usefulness, he was returning me to him so I could take on my new role in the resistance. That of an assassin.

"You want me to kill Roman," my words are not a question they are a statement of fact.

"You're the only one of us who can," Kaiser replies, "and think about what will happen after Roman dies."

If I managed to succeed at killing Roman, I doubt I'd be around to see what happens afterwards. Not that it matters it only takes me a few seconds to grasp what Kaiser is referring to.

"The rest of the High Alpha Council will have to come to the pack, to meet and decide on Roman's successor," I say and by the glint in Kaiser's eye I know what the resistance plans on doing when that happens. They wanted to kill them all in one fell swoop. It was brilliant if they could pull it off it would change everything.

Kaiser leans forward eager, "Think about it Al, all of them together, in a location we could scout out before they even knew they needed to gather. The entire High Alpha Council gone, the werewolves will be in chaos, confused with no central leadership. It could be enough of a blow to them for the rest of the humans to finally think we could win. To rise up in rebellion."