Opal forced the door they were braced against open and ordered Lorelei out into a wooden area.
“And where do you think you’re going?” A woman in black clothing hissed at her as she fell out.
Lorelei pointed the newly acquired pistol at her, but the woman only laughed.
Two of the others were kicking Kyrian, who was flailing on the ground in the blood of one of the horses that had been shot. It had collapsed in its harness, and the downed horse threatened to drag down the gelding attached to it.
From inside the carriage, Opal kicked one of his assailants in the head with the tall heels that had made him so uncomfortable for so long.
“Bastard! Grab him!”
Opal pulled the blunderbuss from under him and shot the angry man in the stomach. A spray of blood and gore exploded outside of the carriage and he slid out onto the ground lifeless.
The second man punched Opal in the face and came at him with a shining stiletto.
Opal deflected the blade with one hand and stabbed the man in the side with a dagger he pulled from under his coat.
The attacker curled up, and Opal threw the man off of him. Drawing his rapier, Opal leapt out the door of the carriage with a flourish, his bloodied dagger in his other hand.
“He’s still alive!” The woman yelled to the other three.
One slender assassin with a top knot sent two daggers at Opal.
The highwayman fell to his knees as one hit him in the leg.
“Shoot her!” he called to Lorelei.
The girl looked at the woman in front of her, frightened.
The woman casually drew her pistol on Lorelei. “Drop your weapon, Lady. I’m not afraid to actually use mine.”
The man with the top knot walked over to Opal, a blunderbuss in his hands. “What are you going to do?”
Opal staggered.
“Shoot him, Tomley!” One of the others called.
Tomley ignored his friend and pointed his gun at Kyrian instead, saying to Opal. “No, he’s not dead yet.” He looked over at the infamous highwayman as though studying him. “Drop your weapons and I won’t kill him.”
Now Black Opal recognized the Association clothing, the red badge. They were from the assassins guild out of Lockenwood that Cameo used to work for. There was no question that they wouldn’t hesitate to kill Kyrian or Lorelei, or him for that matter.
There was a sound of the horse’s harness falling to the ground, and one of the assassins was holding the gelding now that it had been freed from its harness.
Opal set his rapier and the dagger on the ground.
“Toss them gently over here.”
Opal glanced over at Lorelei, in her current predicament, with an assassin pointing a pistol at her, then up at Tomley, and did as he was asked.
“Any other weapons?”
He pulled a second dagger from his coat and tossed it to the grass near Tomley.
“Good, very good. My dagger as well, if you please.” He motioned to the handle sticking out of Opal’s thigh.
“Where is your partner?” the female assassin demanded.
“What partner?” Opal winced as he tugged the blade out and tried to staunch the blood with his hand.
“Cameo.”
He sat back a bit dazed. “Cameo? I thought she worked with you.”
“You work with Cameo?” The words came out of Lorelei’s mouth as a whisper.
“Ah, the things you find out about men like
him
, hmm, Lady?” The assassin sneered, “Can’t trust a man in a ruffled shirt.”
Lorelei’s dark eyes found him, horrified, “Is that the lady love?”
“Lady love?” Tomley laughed. “Well, you certainly have odd taste. I prefer my wenches a bit less reclusive and weird, but whatever.” He turned to look at Lorelei. “Honestly, Opal, that lass there’s very fetching. As a matter of fact, she is much more my taste.” He handed off his gun to one of the other assassins and sauntered over to the girl.
“I’m the one you want,” Opal called out.
Tomley laughed again. “You aren’t really my type.”
“Shoot him!” he yelled at Lorelei.
The girl turned her pistol on the man who was moving in on her fast.
“I’ll shoot you if you don’t shut up!” The woman growled at Opal.
A pistol blast filled the air with white gunpowder, and the female assassin collapsed.
At first, Tomley thought that Lorelei had pulled the trigger, but no, she was still standing there foolishly, with blood in her hair.
A second blast knocked down the man who was holding a pistol on Opal. He screamed as he tried to collect the dangling part of his arm.
A dark figure emerged from the woods.
“It’s Cameo! It’s really her!” Lorelei exclaimed as she fell to the ground, curling up into a ball.
Tomley raced over to Black Opal.
Cameo flung a dagger at one of the assassins.
The blade hit him in the shoulder, knocking him back, but tore it out and sent it back at her.
Cameo knocked it out of the air coming toward them at a supernatural speed.
Tomley grabbed Opal, “On the horse.” He demanded, holding a dagger to Opal’s throat.
“Ah, it’s a bit difficult when one can’t stand....”
“Stop stalling or I will slash your throat.”
The horse tore free of Tomley’s grasp as Cameo came nearer, and raced off into the woods.
Cameo walked over, took the pistol out of Lorelei’s shaking hands, and shot at the assassin she had just hit with a dagger, shooting him in the body.
Lorelei was frozen in place on the ground.
“I will kill him if you try anything, Cameo!” Tomley held a dagger to Opal’s throat.
She could see the panic in his face as she purposely lifted the rapier from the grass, then she rammed it through the back of one of the dying assassins. She took in the scene: Kyrian lying in a pool of horse blood, beaten half to death, and some tasty young woman whom Opal had apparently picked up sitting in the grass, terrified. Her eyes moved from the woman back to Black Opal, a look of displeasure on her face.
He positively brightened as their eyes met. “Hello, darling.”
“Shut up. This isn’t about you; this is about me killing you.” Tomley tightened his grasp on the dagger.
Cameo tilted her head to one side, as if estimating the distance between them.
Tomley’s eyes widened. “You’ll end up killing your little friend here, and won’t you feel stupid.”
She smiled thoughtfully.
“Maybe we could make a deal?” he said, extending one hand as if to stop her with it. “I know Wick’s plans—”
Opal grabbed the hand that held the stiletto and pushed it from his throat. Tomley grappled for the dagger, leaving his entire back exposed as they struggled.
The assassin walked over and drove her blade into his back twice before he swung at her weakly. She watched him slide to the ground, trying to use Opal’s body for support.
The highwayman took a step toward her, “You aren’t interested in Wick’s plans?”
But she was looking into Tomley’s eyes. His life was ebbing away, and she was watching it happen. Once they had been friends...now he was her victim.
“I doubt she told any of these assassins anything about her plans. But we do have a hostage, so we’ll see, I guess.”
She moved toward Kyrian, but Opal was at her heels.
“You were marvelous.”
Cameo stopped and turned around, astounded that he would find the killing of several people that marvelous.
He was a bit dirty and beat up from the fight. “I missed you,” he breathed.
She touched her wet hair for a moment. “I thought you were going to take Kyrian to his shrine.”
“I did. It was burned to the ground. So I was thinking we could take him to that that shrine in Lockenwood instead. Certainly the religious people there will take him in. They all like each other, those religious types.”
Cameo raised an eyebrow and went to Kyrian’s aid.
Lorelei staggered over to Black Opal. She was quite wretched now. “They killed my sister,” she cried, reaching for his neck, then tumbling to ground.
He caught her as she fell.
“Now, now, my dear. Everything is going to be all right.” He glanced over at Cameo, who was now attending to Kyrian.
“Are you well?” Lorelei asked.
“Just feeling a little faint,” he lied.
“Oh, you poor thing.”
“If you could just,” he moved her hand to the wound on his thigh, “try it keep it from bleeding?”
“Of course I could, Black Opal.”
“Thank you, my dear.” He laid down on the ground, staring venomously at Cameo who was at Kyrian’s side.
“Kyrian?” Cameo knelt over the boy who was covered in blood, some his own, and some that of the horse. She hesitated to touch the face of a lad who was about to enter the priesthood and much more pure than she would ever hope to be. It seemed to her,
a monster
, that her hands would only sully him.
She had assumed that Opal would’ve taken him to his shrine and left him there with the priests. Had she known that he was still with the scoundrel, she would never have brought Jules along with her as a hostage. He had her cape. The one she had left behind at the Temple of the Moon. How had he found that? And what had occurred when he met Kyrian’s grandfather, Cyrus? She didn’t want to know, and she certainly didn’t want Kyrian to know.
She glanced over at Black Opal maliciously. He was enjoying the attention of the young woman. He didn’t take Kyrian to the shrine. Instead, he hooked up with some tart. Now she would be stuck keeping Jules away from Kyrian.
Kyrian chuckled.
“Kyrian?”
His eyes fluttered open.
“Cameo,” he said in a relieved tone, almost cheery. “How did you find us?”
“Luck.”
He struggled to sit up.
“Maybe you should let me help you up.” She took him by the arm and lifted him to his feet.
“Do I look that bad?”
She nodded.
Kyrian glanced down at his body, covered in blood. He faltered, nearly falling.
“I think most of that is horse blood.”
He nodded weakly.
“You are lucky to be alive.”
“I’m fine,” he said through clenched teeth.
“Can you heal yourself?”
“No,” he lowered himself to the ground again. “I don’t have the strength.”
“All right, Kyrian. I have some food in my pack.” She stood and turned to Opal, “And no doubt Opal has something you can wear.”
“No way.”
“You should get out of those clothes.”
“I’m not wearing those girly get ups!” Kyrian said.
“Tsk, tsk, tsk. There is no accounting for taste,” Opal said, brushing mud from his expensive jacket.
“Fine. I’ll go get Bel.” Cameo ambled away from the gruesome scene and retraced her steps though Lockenwood forest.
* * * * *
As she approached, she expected to hear the sound of Bel’s voice chiding the miserable assassin they had captured, but she heard nothing. Cameo peered through the rain and made out the silhouette of Jules’ body dangling from the tree he’d been tied to.
“Bel?”
There was no reply.
She neared Jules and found him unconscious and limp. Panic welled up in her. She didn’t see the bag that she had left with them anywhere. “Bel?” She drew her dagger.
There was a soft sound as she tripped over his body and landed on the ground beside him in a heap.
He moaned.
“Bel?” She slapped his cheek, not so gently.
“What? Stop that.”
“Bellamy, wake up,” she demanded, grabbing him by the collar and shaking him.
Jules muttered something nonsensical in his sleep.
“Where are the bones?!”
“Bones? Bones? What bones?” Bel rubbed his face vigorously.
She glanced around nervously, deciding it was safe enough to put away her dagger. “What was the last thing you remember?”
“Um, eyes. A pair of silver eyes. I don’t know...I am so tired.”
“Was it Haffef?”
Bel cupped his head in his hands, starting to drift back off to sleep.
She leapt to her feet now.
Why would someone steal those bones?
“He was very supernatural,” Bel said.
“But you’re alive? I don’t get it.” She stomped around in circles, looking for the bag. “Gods, I’m screwed! Haffef is going to kill me!” She snapped a small tree in half. “Why did I leave this for a human to guard?!”
Bel could hear her screaming in the distance.
“I’m such an idiot!”
He crawled over to Jules’ body for comfort.
Jules moaned.
“Trust me, you don’t want to wake.” He held his head in his hands, still feeling a bit drowsy.
* * * * *
“How long are we going to stay in this horrid place?” Lorelei asked.
“Well, it isn’t up to me,” Black Opal said.
“I have to get back to my parents.”
“Do you hear something?”
Lorelei glanced over her shoulder, brushing tears from her eyes. “It’s that scary woman and two men.”
“One extremely attractive?”
She spied Bellamy, in black satin and ruffles. “Why, yes, yes. One of them is.”
Cameo dragged Jules over to a tree and tied him to it.
Lorelei looked quizzically back at Opal, “If it’s not up to you, who is it up to? I took you to be the head scoundrel around here.”
“Opal,” Cameo was suddenly on the ground in front of him. “I need a word with you.”
“Let’s see if my friend here has been kind enough to bring back some wine.” Opal smiled at the young woman thoughtfully as he removed her hand from his thigh.
Lorelei got to her feet uneasily, and moved away from the entire group of ruffians, sitting down on the muddy ground.
The assassin noticed the heavy flow of blood that gushed out as the girl removed her hand from Opal’s leg and he clamped down on the wound with his hand.
“Ruining those lovely gloves,” she said gently.
“Oh, these old things? I needed an excuse to buy a new pair anyhow.”
She handed him her flask. “Drink this.”
Opal took the flask and drank it down greedily.
“Careful, that’s not wine.”
Bel wandered over. “Hello, Opal. Get in a bit of a scrap?”
Black Opal wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, something Cameo had never seen him do. “It’s nothing,” he grinned.