Carl could not believe what was happening in front of him. Coming here, he kind of expected all the blame to be put to Cormac and he even believed that that might have been true.
But not anymore. Seeing the princess gagged and stripped of all means of communication and her mother so baselessly making a judgement with utmost certainty, it was safe to say that his outlook changed drastically. They wanted to brush this off. They wanted to do it so much, that they pulled all the usual stops. The queen put her own daughter into solitary confinement in the castle for at least a year!
Something was going on and Carl was involved into that something. He might not have wanted to, but he was dragged into it the moment the fight went down. Whoever that might have happened.
He tried to remember what really happened, harder than he did before and he did remember one thing. He saw Aviana, bloodied. He feared for her well-being for her safety. Then something moved at the end of the hall and…blank.
That is precisely where his mind stopped working. Almost as if…he was enchanted himself. The though seemed just a distant possibility, but the more he thought about it, the more sense it made.
It would explain why he remembered nothing. It would fit perfectly into Aviana's testimony. The only one that it disproved was Gavin.
But he would not be the first guy a royal bought for fake testimony, things like that were the butter and bread of high class trial dealings.
Carl's swirl of thoughts was suddenly cut short, when he noticed someone watching Gavin with almost as much interest as he did. The person was hidden in a black hood, but he was fairly short. He moved quickly once he noticed Gavin walking up the stairs and then out of the courthouse. He was following him.
Carl decided to do the same.
It was difficult to follow through the crowds on the main roads, through which the mysterious person trailed Gavin. Sometimes Carl would lose his target in the flow of people, but he could always find him again, since a crow flew over the person wherever he walked.
Carl got so used to it, that he started following the crow alone, sure that he would find the person wherever the bird stopped.
The whole chase was so intriguing, that Carl forgot about his father and the concert completely.
Aviana was safe and alive. That was the most important part. Cormac himself could not find a better place to hide her and protect her than her families citadel. He was sure that she would not like it, but there was nothing for him to do for now.
He felt warmth grow in his heart, when he watched Aviana defend his honor in front of and against all the important royalty of the kingdom. If he could have, he would have screamed at Aviana there and then. Screamed that he was alive and well.
But he did expect Aviana to watch his back after all, what he did not expect however, was Gavin's testimony.
Cormac did not remember his only friend at the incident and the testimony was all so wrong, that it must have been on purpose.
Why was he lying like that? Cormac thought that he finally found a friend in someone, but it seemed that Gavin most definitely did not see it the same way.
Gavin was walking through very suspicious parts of the city with ease. Cormac could swear that he saw Gavin walk with closed eyes a few times. Meanwhile Cormac walked with the hood deep over his face, unwilling to take a risk. They walked through merchant's tents, small streets that were only for people to piss in and similarly outlandish places. Until Gavin stopped.
They were both in a dead end, though this one was large, big enough to be a small arena. The walls were smooth and they connected at the top, creating a half-sphere over them. Though somehow, the day light was still pouring in.
Cormac felt the ping of danger flare inside of him and quickly turned around, only to see an identical wall behind him as well.
"Who are you and why are you following me?" asked Gavin nonchalantly.
Cormac breathed in deeply and turned around, then he dropped his hood.
Gavin's face turned from confident and smirky, to confused, then to angered and hateful.
"Gavin, I…" Cormac wanted to speak, but a fireball was hurtling at his face.
Cormac quickly dropped to the ground and twisted into a run. He did not want his face smeared today and Gavin seemed eager to throw more fireballs.
Cormac stepped to the side of another magic missile, then he pushed off the side of the wall and narrowly slid under a different ball of fire. Then he jumped at Gavin, who dodged to the side and sprayed at his back with a small cone of fire.
Cormac yelped in pain, but managed to run around the worst of it.
Encircling Gavin, Cormac sprinted at him. A ball of fire burned a part of his shirt as he came close, his belly screaming at the hot pain, but finally Cormac managed to close the distance. He twisted into a punch and connected with Gavin's belly.
Gavin couched out, but managed to hold onto Cormac's arm. Before he could produce any more spells however, Cormac kicked into his chest, sending him sprawling to the ground.
"What are you doing Gavin?" Cormac screamed at his friend. "Why? What did I do to you?"
"You…you!" Gavin shouted in between his ragged breaths. "You ask what you did to me?" he laughed.
"You have done nothing!" He punched with his right arm.
Cormac slid from the swing. While he was dropping from the ground, Cormac twisted his legs, kicking
Gavin's underneath him. His former fried did not fall however, turning in the air, he produced a slight gust of wind that propelled him back on his feet. Quick enough to drive a knee to Cormac's head.
He connected with the ground with an audible "oomph!", as the air was forced out of his lungs.
Gavin pressed with his full body weight at his chest, with an elbow driving to his throat.
"You and your folk are just nothing but thieving, lying rats!" shouted Gavin as he put more pressure into the hold. "You take and you take, but the moment you get something taken from you, you act so surprised? Why? Do I need a reason? Because you deserve this! That is why!"
Cormac's sense of danger overpowered even the pain of empty lungs, even the pressing weight on his chest. Even the fear that was building up in his heart. Instead, his instincts took over.
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Cormac felt his hand grab the dagger by his waist as if on instinct. He felt his hand move from underneath his body, felt it move to Gavin's face in a flash. He felt the slight resistance of Gavin's throat give into the blade as he slid it deeper inside.
Gavin erupted into screams and jumped up from Cormac. He took out the dagger, dropping it to the ground with a loud scream. Then he immediately started chanting something, while moving his hands in a pattern. Cormac quickly slid over to the dagger and picked it up, ready to attack again if necessary.
He could see Gavin's neck start to patch itself together. It was as if skin placed itself over where his normal neck used to be, patching the bloody hole so the insides would
not spill.
Though he lost quite a bit of blood in the altercation, he let out a berserker's roar, as he ran at Cormac again.
Carl stood before a half-sphere of what looked like stone polished to perfection. A crow was obsessively crowing at the dome, taking breaks only to peck at it with its beak. It was obviously useless. The dome, even if clearly magical by nature, took the form of sturdy stone, the bird had no chance to…
Suddenly, the dome started slowly disappearing, revealing the rough shapes of two fighters, trading blows against one another. Carl quickly recognized Gavin, who was bleeding profusely from his neck, similarly to how Carl himself bled once. Then he took notice of Cormac, who was scratching and stabbing at Gavin.
The crow flew into the fray, pecking at Gavin in his blind spots. At his ear, his back.
Then Gavin looked at Carl. His face was that of a scared puppy fighting for its life. The scene reminded Carl of what he saw in the trial.
"Help!" shouted Gavin desperately. Cormac looked at Carl for but a second. His face that of focus and
indifference.
What if the testimony from before was actually all true?
Here he would be, watching a murderer who failed to end him, try to kill another. That would not stand.
Carl ran into the battle right as Gavin received a slash across his forearm, spraying blood. Gavin fell to the ground, right the moment Carl arrived. He sent Cormac flying with a punch, summoning all the little strength that he was able to muster.
Cormac connected with one of the real walls of the houses, then he fell to the ground, limp.
"Thank you…so much…" Gavin spoke weakly from where he was lying. The bleeding had stopped and his neck seemed fine, but there was still a pool of his blood underneath him.
"What is…happening?" asked Carl Gavin with difficulty, still confused about the situation.
"He-he must have heard me," Gavin tried to stand, but he fell back with a grunt. "Heard my testimony. Learned that I knew about the incident."
That felt…wrong. Carl could not pinpoint why he had trouble believing the words of someone who was this hurt, but even from Gavin's testimony, he had been lucky to be at a few too many places at the right time.
"He tried to kill you too you know, at the Academy. It's good that you had your revenge." Gavin continued, but his words fell on deaf ears. Carl was deep in thought, because Gavin's face reminded him of something. They were talking, the night it all happened. He was complaining about his food intake, that he was hungry and Gavin gave him something. Than he told him to go meet…someone. Go somewhere, but these memories were too unclear, too blurry. As if they did not want to be remembered.
Carl walked over to Cormac and watched his face. He was still alive, even conscious, though he must have been in pain considering his breathing. The crow was standing on one of his knees. Its eyes peering at Gavin aggressively.
"You did what you should have." said Gavin as he finally managed to stand up. He limped his way over to Carl and they both watched as Cormac struggled to breathe.
"Why did he…try to kill…you?" asked Carl in a hushed tone, his voice raspy.
"I don’t know. Do the wicked require reason for evil?" replied Gavin. And at that moment, Carl remembered.
Carl's grumbling stomach was all that he could think about at the moment. He did not understand at all, why Master Norman forced the whole class to condition train for the whole duration of the training hours. Aviana might have broken Rodrick's arm, but Carl for sure had nothing to do with it.
He was just walking from the bathroom, he had to get rid of all the sticky sweat from the running. Now he was about ready to devour his minor-noble dinner, after which he had planned to train for the upcoming concert with his father. He had just been humming the sonata for the lord, when he met a boy that he knew from Cormac.
He greeted him in passing, still heading toward the kitchen.
"Hey man, where are you going?" asked Gavin nonchalantly, eating the small pieces of meat left on his chicken wing.
"Just going to eat, I am famished."
"Damn, sucks to be you."
"Why?" Carl's voice pitched up in the surprise.
"Because the canteen is closed by now. They had to do some restorations today."
Carl looked further into the hallway and his stomach growled.
"Are you sure? Why would they not wait for everyone to get their fill?"
"I don’t know. Do the wicked require reason for evil? You can be sad about the fact, or you can just have this." Gavin pulled out a sandwich from his pocket. "They give me way too much things to eat anyway. I can't even finish all of it."
"You are my savior thank you man." Carl gently took the sandwich.
"No worries, go meet Master Norman and good night." said Gavin as he sharply turned and swiftly walked around a corner.
The sandwich was alright, nothing fancy, nothing to scoff at, although it was way too bitter for Carl's taste. Still, he was grateful.
Then he noticed it. A subtle scent. Something smelled…good. It itched him to go forward, pulled him by his nose.
Then he heard cries for help in front of him and he saw Aviana. She was red from blood and looked beaten. He wanted to help her but…That was were Carl's recollection cut off harshly.
Cormac felt his body complain about the pain it felt. The thread of consciousness tried to run from his grasp, but he held it tightly. One moment, he saw Gavin stand before him, with someone unfamiliar at his side. The man was lanky, incredibly tall, but thin enough to seem ill. They talked about something.
In the meantime, Obscurno was scared for his master's well-being. Cormac could feel it. Whatever bond might have been forged with his words. It allowed him to see glimpses of what the crow thought.
Right now, it wanted to peck out Gavin's eyes rather than anything.
But suddenly, out of nowhere, Gavin was flying.
Not that he wanted to, but the tall figure tackled him, sending him to a pile of rubbish and wood debris. He was not moving after that, just lying on the pile he was thrown onto.
The man came closer to Cormac, and he could just barely make out who it was.
"…Carl? Is that…are you alive?" Cormac said
"The…last time we…met," Carl started, his voice still coming out as a whisper. "What…happened?"
"I…I think someone wanted you to kill me. You and Norman. You were both like animals. You ran after me the moment you saw me and you tried your hardest to kill me." Cormac said, unable to move.
Carl walked over and picked up the dagger, after which he moved back to Cormac. He pointed the dagger at him.
Obscurno was still glowering over at Gavin, not taking Carl into account.
"Why…you?"
"Because I am a ruler. Probably a rare kind. I don’t know much else…but" Cormac picked his head up to look Carl in the eyes. "But I plan to figure the rest out."
"Hmm." replied Carl. After watching Cormac for a little while, he dropped the dagger next to him. Then he walked over to Gavin. And kicked him in the chest.
Gavin spat out saliva and his eyes went wide in surprise.
"You…know…more…" Carl let his words hang in the air for a while, before adding. "Say…or…die…" Carl bluffed. Thankfully, Gavin was too hurt no notice.
"Okay, alright. I Gavin swear on my soul, to share what I know, if you two swear not to hurt me today."
"…I swear." Carl decided to say.
"I swear." Cormac added, though the words felt bitter.
"I was sent to the Academy, to kill you Cormac." Gavin smiled at the words. "I guess you can call me…a bounty hunter and well, there was a hefty bounty for you. I took it. I don’t know exactly why they want you gone. But they really want you gone. Anyway, remember that pill I gave you? That was how Norman and Carl found you when I fed something to both of them too. But you had to live, didn’t you? You little cockroach. You had to survive. Had to tarnish my reputation. Now I cannot go back, not until I am sure that your heart won't beat." Gavin stood up from the rubble, suddenly fuller than life than before. Then he started slowly walking towards Cormac.
"Which won't be that big of a problem anymore."
Carl was surprised for a moment, but then the situation came to him. He swung with his arm, hoping to punch Gavin down to the ground. But his arm stopped inches before Gavin's face.
"Uh-uh uh." Gavin gestured with his finger. "See, you swore. I upheld my end, so you need to uphold yours." he laughed.