A Song of Silence

Chapter 24: A Fight in the Dark

The High King approached me, menace in every step. Karasi and the High Queen watched us from the far end of the room. Shadows flowed around him as he stalked towards me, a beast seeking his prey. Unfortunately for him, I was as much of prey as he was. I tightened my hands into fists and yanked on the shadow bonds that held me in place. The cast iron pan was still in my hand, so I readjusted my grip on it as well. The High King noticed all these movements, of course, in his eyes, I was now a threat, while previously I had been an annoyance. "I will only ask this one more time, Lady Aerilynn. What the fuck did you do?" I yanked on the shadow bonds and gave him a look that conveyed my lack of free hands. He couldn't get his answers if I couldn't talk. Reluctantly he gestured a hand and my hand that did not hold the cast iron pan was freed.

Quicker than he could blink, I socked him in the jaw. His face flew back at the force of my punch and that gave me enough of a distraction to free myself from the bonds with sparks of lightning. To the watching High Queen and Karasi, it would look as if I had conjured some fire to break the bonds and then extinguished the fire. With my now freed limbs, I launched myself at the High King. If he wanted a fight, oh I sure as hell would give him one. The High King dodged my second swinging fist, as he had now recovered from my first punch. I could already see the bruise that would form on his smug face. The High King summoned his shadows at first, but saw me not summoning my ability so he put his shadows away. I continued to attempt to rain blows upon him, most missed, the few that landed were soft and off-kilter. I wasn't actually using the full extent of my ability though, the High King had to prove to me that he was a good enough fighter for the full extent of my abilities.

His first swing was east to guess. I let it hit me to see how heavy his punches would be. That was my first mistake. The punch knocked the breath out of me, even though it only hit my shoulder. A smirk played out on the High Kings face as he saw how much that punch affected me. Oh, I was going to go east on him. Now I'm going to kick his ass for the fun of it. My next punch lands squarely in the middle of his chest. He isn't expecting the full force of my strength, so he staggers back at first. He measures the challenging smile on my face and matches my feral smile with one of his own. We start to fight this time. For real.

He punches at my stomach. I stop his wrist and twist his arm so he grimaces in pain and kick out at his leg. It buckles, but not before he catches himself. He then uses his momentum to grab my waist and throw me to the floor. I bounce up quickly. Catching myself from hitting the floor would be less of a problem if I didn't have this dress, but beggars couldn't be choosers. On second thought... I dive towards the table and grab a discarded knife from the night before. I jump over the table and while the High King is distracted, I cut a king slit from the top of my leg to the hem of the skirt. My leg now freed, I discard the knife and launch myself at the High King once more.

He is expecting me thus time, so I don't make it far before he grabs my arm and twists it behind my back. He leans over so his mouth is level with my ear, "You should just give up darling, your trapped now."

I smile at him over my twisted shoulder and sign with my mom-trapped hand. Am I?

Before he can react I wrench my shoulder out of the socket to free my arm and hook my leg around the back of one of his. I then grab his hand with my working arm and throw him to the ground. The Grand Assassin taught me this particular move. The motion makes the High King slam to the ground and slide across the polished tiles. It gives me enough time to wrench my arm back into its socket and put up my fighting stance once more. I don't miss my advantage while the High King is trying to get off the ground. Without mercy I descend on him, pummeling whatever I can find without care. His stupid, handsome face won't be so handsome any more after I'm done with him.

Before I can blink, the High King surges off the ground and his weight pushes me to the ground as he attempts to pin me down. My training kicks in once more. I quickly place my hands on his shoulders and feet in his gut and lever him over my head and onto the tile floor once more. We both recover about the same time. At this point, we're more likely wild animals that civilized fae. He tries a cheap shot at my gut. I bite his arm when he tries to subdue me. I try to hit his head on my knee. He flips me on my back. Back and forth, back and forth we go. Neither can beat the other. We both wear out at the same times and have enough training that we can't be best by the other. Begrudging admiration arises in me. Not many have the training and sheer will to resist the training of one of the best assassins in the world.

Finally, we face apart as we catch our breaths, neither willing to surrender. With just a look, we both charge at each other, ready to punch the other over and over again until a winner can be decided. It had been quite a while since I'd had such a bare-fisted brawl like this with someone. As much as I hated to admit it, I was having quite a bit of fun and from the look on the High Kings face, so was he. "Alright, that's enough!" A voice rings out on the other side of the room. Metal forms shackles around both of our wrists and ankles and drags us to opposite sides of the room. The manacles then proceed to cement themselves to the decorated walls. No matter our training or strength, no fae would be able to yank those restraints out of the wall. The High King and I look to the speaker, mirror emotions of outrage on our faces. As it turns out, the High Queen had been the speaker. "You've had your cat fight, so now both of you need to calm the fuck down! Azazel, you should be ashamed of yourself! What kind of High King acts in such a manner!" The High Queen turns to me, "And Aerilynn! As the personal healer of a seer, you should have the will to set aside your pride and not brawl with the High King!"

The High King and I hand our heads, the epitome of chastisement. The High Queen was right, of course, but we were seldom to admit it to ourselves, let alone the High Queen. The High Queen huffs and attempts to continue her scolding. Before she can continue, Karasi steps in and says, "I think they understand it now, Sylvia, but it is no use continuing to chastising them when they are chained to a wall." The High Queen huffs, knowing that Karasi is right. She gestures her hand and the metal wrenches itself and us out of the wall and forms itself back into it original shape. Knives and forks and such. Karasi continues before she can be interrupted, "Furthermore, their brawl was their way of testing each other to make sure they were worthy of trust. If you look at their body language, you will see that they now hold a modicum of respect for each other that lacked before." Her words were true. I begrudgingly held a slight ember of respect for the High King for his ability to match my fighting skills. As far as I knew, nobody but the Grsnd Assassin could boast if such a skill. The same respect I held was echoed in the High Kings eyes, as we glanced at each other, before he covered it with his usual indifferent expression.

The High Queen saw that we echoed the truths that Karasi spoke and chose to chastise us no more. Karasi then clapped her hands in excitement and then said, "Now then, Aerilynn, what became of the soldiers that you cornered in the kitchen. If they're dead, we must deal with them at once."

Come see for yourself. I gestured for them to follow and led them to the back of the kitchen where the males had been tied up. The servants had made themselves scarce after I had freed them. Bruised and battered, the soldiers had yet to wake up from the cast-iron-pan-coma I had put them in. Karasi let out a low whistle.

"Well, I'll be darned! You really took them for a spin didn't you?"

I thought they might be useful to interrogate.

"A good idea at that. Somebody killed all our soldiers before we could interrogate them." Karasi glared at the High King that had followed us. He only shrugged and continued to scrutinize the three prisoners. Judging by the blood splatters and dismembered bodies, the High King hadn't left much of the soldiers to interrogate. Ruthless indeed.

Well would you like to take them to the dungeons or shall I?

"We can get the soldiers to do it." With a snap of her fingers, soldiers file in and take the three prr try one bodies out of the kitchen. Thinking our business is done, I go to follow them. A hard gripped hand stops me as it grips my upper arm. The owner of said hand, the High King merely meets my eyes, as I look at him, and says, "We need to talk."