CHAPTER 103: DAWN OF CARNAGE

Rhane and Nikolai stood face to face, glaring at each other. Their gaze burned with hate, shame, and fading hope, a silence more violent than words.

"Gerald wants you hanged," Nikolai broke the silence, shifting his eyes from Rhane’s face to look behind him. His lips curled, but he didn’t smile.

Rhane parted his lips and sighed, hitting his boots on the ground. He glanced around his estate. "It baffles me that you bring war to a man’s house and expect him to sit back," he began walking casually with his hand dipped into his trouser pocket.

Nikolai hesitated at first, but then followed. "I did think of it, but on reaching here...the things you’ve built son..." his voice trailed, his neck turning to count the houses inside the estate.

"You won’t want to soil it with blood."

Rhane smirked, but he didn’t say a word. Getting to one of the rooms he’d seen Kali get dragged in, he tried to open the door but was stopped by the guards Nikolai came with. Rhane’s gaze slowly dropped on the first person’s hand.

"Step aside," Nikolai said from behind Rhane as if sensing what Rhane had in mind.

Rhane opened the door once the guard stepped out. He found his sister tying up her wound, her teeth clenched. When their eyes met, Kali grinned at him. Rhane tapped on the door knob four times before leaving the room.

Rhane continued strolling around the hallway with his father walking behind him, his eyes scanning the place as if searching for something. "The letter Jenna sent to me...I’ve been wondering how she knew I was in the sea."

"Sea?" Nikolai paused, but quickly caught himself and nodded. "Oh yes, yes, she asked around for you and wrote the letter."

"While with her first love or during her marriage with Gerald?" Rhane stopped, making a turn to the next path.

Nikolai darted his eyes around. He didn’t answer immediately. Instead he said, "Does it matter when a love letter was written? What matters now is how are you to escape this time? Even the sea won’t save you."

At the dead-end, Rhane turned. The candles flared, stretching Nikolai’s shadow across the wall, while Rhane waited in darkness.

"You can have her..." Rhane began.

Nikolai moved one brow up, a questioning gaze shrouding his expression.

"No need to hide in water or stables anymore. Make a name for yourself Rhane..."

Nikolai’s lips parted slightly at the realization of whose words Rhane was repeating. He felt the hair at the nape of his skin rise, making him feel uneasy. Something just didn’t feel right.

"Oh, you’re still stuck in the past, boy." Nikolai cleared his throat, trying to sound confident. "A name you didn’t get yet, so how can you protect her?"

Rhane smirked, stepping into the light. "Do you know what it does to a boy, growing up starving for a father’s hand..." He let out a dry, humorless chuckle.

"You taught me that love was weakness. I bled myself dry trying to earn yours...." he dropped his gaze to the ground, his smile fading like it was never there.

"Soil what I’ve built with blood?" Rhane tied the band around his wrist tighter. "The truth is...I’m not afraid to paint the walls of this place with the brain of your men. Its foundation saw more heads roll than the revolution of any kingdom."

Nikolai felt something in his throat, an unsettling feeling that caused his stomach to jolt. "You don’t want to hurt Jenna or your sister, I’m sure you’re wise enough to know better."

Rhane nodded. "I held my hand, Nikolai — not from fear, but for Jenna’s sake. She is no stranger to courage, but blood on the ground would have broken her spirit. Unlike you, I do not throw away what is mine—"

"Argh!!!!"

Before his father could shape an answer, a shriek split the night, the kind that tore from a man’s lungs only once. A kind that announced the raise of hell and dawn of carnage.

"What are you doing?!" Nikolai clasped his hands to his ears, his eyes scanning the place, wondering where the screams were coming from. "You have a lot to lose, your sister is—"

"There you are, brother," Kali appeared from behind, pushing her sword into a soldier’s chest and forcefully letting it out for blood to splash on her face. When her first victim fell, her crazy eyes dropped on Nikolai’s face.

Nikolai’s hands turned cold. He looked from Kali to Rhane, then began to back away. "You’ll rue this night, Rhane. This choice will be your damnation!"

"You should have thought it longer when you planned to come here," Rhane replied. "Stepping into a man’s home and ordering him?"

Nikolai scoffed, still trying to hold his shaking ground. "If you go against the council, you’ll be hanged along with your family. This isn’t wise." He got to where Kali was, and she stepped forward blocking his path.

"Y-you two plan to kill your father now?"

Rhane gave his sister a dismissive shake of the head that meant to let the man go.

The first breath of space Nikolai got, he was out in the dark, running out for shield.

Now alone in the hallway, Kali cocked her head to the side. She didn’t know what happened or why her brother had decided to fight, but she was ready for the moment.

"I’ve been waiting for this, brother." Kali beamed, using her teeth to rip off the half part of her shirt. "Let these men bleed!" She twirled her sword in the air, throwing the one clutched to her waist over to Rhane.

Rhane caught it in the air, stepping out into the dark night. He found his men had higher chances of surviving the night, there wasn’t any need for him to be involved.

"Choke on your own blood!"

Another soldier dropped by Kali’s sword. Rhane nodded, grimly glad to have her at his side.

"Don’t push too hard," Rhane said, walking towards the carriage he sighted from a while earlier. "How’s your wound?"

"As though no blade had touched me," Kali bragged playfully, "Once I’ve bathed in men’s blood. I should be healed," she grunted, stretching her body to the side.

Rhane paused, he grabbed Kali’s shoulder. "Be careful."

"Go bring back your woman, Rhane." Kali replied with a smile, "I’ll send their entrails to the dirt." She cackled, dashing into the night with a fierce scream as her blade cut through the calm wind and soldiers’ guts.

Rhane turned around, his steps marching towards Jenna. He had to feign calm when she walked away, though all he wanted was to give Jenna her last moment with her father, and himself with Nikolai.

After tonight, Rhane wasn’t sure they’d ever meet again.

"He is here!" The first soldier to see Rhane raised an alarm, but the latter words he was about to say were slashed from his throat.

Master Brown stepped forward. "Put Jenna into the carriage," he ordered, then to Rhane. "Don’t come—"

The soldier that held Jenna screamed in pain, seeing his two hands drop to the ground, blood gushing from his shoulder.

Rhane pulled Jenna to his chest, using his hand to cover her sleeping face. He split the soldier clean, sparing him further misery, his eyes never leaving Jenna’s father.

"I warned you, didn’t I? No hand should claim her, if not mine."