Night's Cold Embrace

Chapter 8

Garrett silently followed Isabella as much as he could from the rooftops. Gil took her to a balcony opposite that of the Baron's mansion, the few surviving guards of which stood nervously by the door on the terrace. Word must have gotten around that the mob had taken a hostage, for the Baron himself soon stepped out of the mansion.

"Mr. Northcrest," Gil exclaimed in a mockingly polite tone, "what a pleasure it is to be speaking to you, sir."

"To what do I owe this pleasure?" The Baron replied coldly.

"A simple request, a simple deal to make," Gil said with a smile that never reached his eyes.

Gil yanked Isabella flush against his chest and once again drew the dagger flat against her neck. "But let's skip the formalities, shall we? I know you're a very busy man." He flipped the dagger and pushed until the sharp edge just began to cut into her pale skin.

"You would harm a girl who doesn't even have any part in this to get what you want?" The Baron said composedly. Garrett didn't detect any genuine concern or fear in his tone or voice, despite the fact that a girl was being held at knifepoint mere metres in front of him. Somehow, that didn't surprise him.

"You and I both know that's not true." The two men exchanged a glance, and for a split second a trace of fear crossed the Baron's face. Gil chuckled as he tightened his grip on his captive. She cried out in protest but didn't move. He raised his voice so the crowd could hear him again. "She's just as guilty as you are. Like you, she's one of the noble born. Like you, she sits around all day, eating her fill and enjoying the safety and comfort of her own home. Like you, she lives in this paradise while the rest of us all burn in hell!" He shouted, his lips curling vehemently around each word.

He waited until the indignant cries and shouts had died down before continuing. "We offer you a choice now, Baron, because unlike you, we will never be cold-hearted, selfish monsters." He removed the blade from her neck then and lowered it slightly. "Surrender to us, to the Graven, and let us start anew. Let us create a City that the people need. We know what's best for them. We are them. We only ask that you do what's best for the City and its people."

"And if I should decline your... altruistic offer?"

"Then you will watch the City burn, your precious little Isabella with it."

Garrett narrowed his eyes at that remark; he wondered who this girl exactly was.

The Baron scoffed. "So you would burn the very people you wish to help? Do you honestly expect me to leave the fate of this city in the hands of you savages?"

"We would only burn the evil in the City. And afterwards, we would take responsibility of our new cleansed paradise. So the choice is yours: will you relinquish the City from your iron grip or will you force our hand and make us kill to save it?"

The Baron straightened his back and raised his head. "You do not know how to govern a city, and you will never have the opportunity to." He turned around to enter the mansion again, but paused and looked over his shoulder before he opened the door. "I'm sorry, Isabella, I truly am. You must understand that I'm doing what needs to be done."

"You monster! You're no better than these brutes!" She shouted as she thrashed violently, but the press of the knife against her throat quickly stilled her.

"This girl's death is on your filthy hands, Baron!" Gil cried out after him.

When the door slammed shut, he closed his eyes and whispered just barely audibly, "And from the ashes we, the once oppressed, rise not so that we may build upon the bones of our predecessors but so that we may build a new life altogether."

There was a slight twitch in his arm, a slight movement presaging an attack or action that only a thief of Garrett's caliber would have been able to detect. Time seemed to slow as he whipped out an arrow from his quiver and, without pause, nocked and loosed it before Gil's arm could move any further. Just as Garrett heard Isabella scream in terror and defiance, the arrow found its target and Gil dropped to the floor.

For a moment, everyone stood still in confusion. Then, all at once, panic and chaos erupted. The mob of the Graven immediately turned to the archers posted on the mansion's balcony, and soon they were smashing in the windows and doors of the mansion in their unbridled rage. Glass shattered and wood splintered apart as the mob destroyed the mansion.

Out of the corner of his eye, Garrett could see the Baron, accompanied by two guards, fleeing the scene through a back entrance of the gardens. He was about to give chase when he heard Isabella cry out in pain. He ran to the edge of the roof and leapt to the balcony, landing lightly behind the dying Gil who had his hand wrapped around Isabelle's ankle and brought her crashing down to the ground.

"You bitch! You'll-" He grunted as Garrett brought his foot down on his forearm. He promptly let Isabelle go. She scuffled to the edge of the balcony and glared at Gil.

The man looked up to see his attacker, then laughed as he looked him up and down. "So this is the enigmatic, notorious Garrett? I expected you to be taller and skinnier, but you look pretty normal."

Garrett remained silent and walked away from the pathetic man on the ground. He didn't deserve the company of another person before his death. He turned to the girl still sitting on the floor, her eyes glued to the moribund man beside her. Gil began spluttering and convulsing violently, blood spouting profusely from his mouth and the wound in his chest. Garrett considered killing the man not only out of mercy, but also so that he would stop making those irritating noises.

His thoughts were interrupted by the crash of a bottle nearby, followed by a strong rush of hot air as flames erupted around the broken glass. Garrett roughly pulled the catatonic girl to her feet and shook her briefly before muttering, "We need to leave. Now." She nodded, her gaze directed towards Gil's still corpse. Stumbling, she following him out of the house and away from the crazed mob who had by then moved past the Baron's property and onto other houses.

Isabella abruptly stopped, prompting Garrett to whip around and grab her arm. She shook him off as he dragged her further, digging her heels into the ground.

"No! We can't leave! It's not just the Baron back there. Families, children, innocent people are going to die if we don't do anything!" She looked at him with pleading eyes. "My family is there."

Garrett sighed. He was beginning to regret toting her along. Just as he was about to turn around and continue walking, she clutched his arm in a gentle yet desperate grasp.

"Please! Don't leave! We must go back. It's the right thing to-" He jerked his arm away and turned to face her.

There was something odd about her; she was different from most of the townspeople. Her obvious care for the well being of others was part of what separated her from the rest, but there was something more than that. Garrett studied her face, his gaze momentarily meeting her widened eyes. There was a glimmer of hope, innocence, courage and life that was rare and unfitting of a person living in the godforsaken city.

His gaze softened for a brief second, hardening almost immediately afterwards. He shifted his gaze to the blaze behind the girl. The flames danced horrifically, cutting through the cold night air laced with the panicked and agonized cries of the countless people unfortunate enough to be trapped in the once safest place in the City. Like tortured souls desperately trying to escape their inevitable fates, he thought bleakly to himself.

With a booming thud, followed by hooting and cheering, a small building up the street crumbled to the ground.

"There's nothing more to be done here," he said flatly. "They're already gone."

Isabella turned her head as if to look behind her, but quickly changed her mind and instead lowered her eyes to the ground. She padded slowly behind the thief as he led her away from the bedlam behind them and into the sheltering darkness of night ahead.

There was nothing they, nor anyone else, could do. The City was immutably, irrevocably plunged into utter anarchy.

End of Part I