Shadows: A Six of Crows Fan fic

Chapter Twenty-Eight: Kaz pt. 1

When the silence grew a presence, Kaz took the next corner and waited, pressed with his back to the wall. At first, he had wanted to believe that it was Inej, but he knew that she had already left with Dawa for her mission and wouldn't be back for hours. That, and unlike the way Inej solidified silence into something strong and protective, this presence held more anger and a promise of violence in it.

As the air shifted around the corner from him, Kaz lifted his cane. Once the person's head had barely made it passed the edge of the wall, Kaz jabbed his cane out behind their head and swung it around and forward. The cane didn't hit the person so much as gripped their neck and dragged them into the empty side hall with Kaz. The person stumbled forward with the force and Kaz used their imbalance to quickly shove them against the opposite wall, the pointed beak on the head of his cane pushing against their throat.

"I wouldn't do that if I was you," Kaz whispered to the assassin as he pressed his cane harder, the tip of a knife at his side mimicked its shift in pressure.

"Do it..." Oksana, as Dawa had called the girl who had stabbed him in the shoulder, said. "And watch yourself bleed."

For a full minute, they stayed that way. Hatred and anger on both sides bored into the eyes of the other, a war waging in the irises of broken people.

With a slow release of breath through his nose, Kaz relieved the pressure on her throat and took a step back. His cane tapped the ground as he set it down, resting his hands atop the crow's head.

"I expect reimbursement for this," Kaz said casually, pulling at the fabric of his buttoned-down shirt with his gloved hand. He brushed a thumb over the small hole in it from her knife. His eye twitched. "I need a new shirt."

Oksana's nostrils flared, "The High Sage should never have let you all keep your weapons."

Kaz widened his eyes innocently, "Oh this?" He lifted his cane and tapped it twice on the ground. "This is no weapon, simply an aid for a sad old cripple. How's your stomach by the way?"

His mock innocence shifted into a deadly smile as her hand drifted to cover the spot where he'd shot her. "Had that healer fix it yet?" He savored the feeling he got as her eyes narrowed into slits. He knew that she hadn't of course. He had assumed by now that night in his room had not been sanctioned by the 'High Sage'. Based on her features, he guessed she had wanted to reach Inej before the rest of her guild found her-- trying to seek vengeance for her sister. Showing up with a bullet wound would have raised too many questions.

"I'm glad I stabbed you," she said.

"Yes, I'm sure there are many in the world wanting to congratulate you on that. Your sister probably would have been among them."

"Do not speak of my sister," Oksana spat taking a step closer with her knife raised.

Kaz didn't flinch, only cocked his head at her, his eyes scanning. "I'm guessing she was always better than you, that you got trapped in her shadow-"

"Shut up," she took another step.

"Probably jealous of the attention Dawa gave her."

"I said-"

"It must kill you to see his attention shift to Inej instead of you now. That must sting. To have it land on the person who killed her-" Kaz braced himself as she shoved him roughly against the wall with her forearm to his throat and the knife pointed at his eye. "You can't hurt me, your precious Dawa would be furious."