The Assassin's Tree

( 12 )

I had a hard time processing what I was seeing. Why was Morte here? He hated me, didn't he? He was the one to give me up, to hand me over. Why would he be back?

Theodore growled in annoyance, whipping around to face the pair. Morte held up his hand. "Easy there, tiger. I'm just here to give you what you want." He glanced at me, those dark red eyes twinkling with mischief.

"Morte...?" I tried to sit up a little, but stopped as pain surged through my body. "Don't..." I croaked, clenching my fists. He ignored me, moving closer to Theodore and leaning towards his ear.

That's when his eyes began to glow, lighting up like a bonfire. He grabbed Theo by the collar of his shirt, lifting him off the ground with ease and hurling him at the wall. There was a sickening thud, and Theodore crumbled to the ground next to me.

Morte knelt down in front of me, avoiding eye contact as he quickly opened up the cuffs that bound me to the chair. "Come on." He muttered, grabbing my arm and tugging me to my feet way too quickly.

I let out a sharp cry of pain, having to lean against him for support. My breathing was heavy, and I was having a hard time calming down. "What's wrong with you?" Morte questioned, sliding his eyes down my battered body.

I placed a hand over my rib cage. "Something... I broke something..." I squeezed my eyes shut. I felt an arm slide around my waist, stabilizing me.

"Well this is fucking great. How are we supposed to get him out of here if he can't even stand on his own?" Morte sounded annoyed, and frustrated with the situation. I didn't blame him.

"I think I can help with that." Sarai answered, her voice coming closer to me. I opened my eyes. She was standing in front of me with a small smile on her face. "It won't hurt, I promise."

She placed both of her hands gently against my abdomen, closing her eyes and pushing in against my skin. Her hands began to glow a warm white, and I felt a small jolt of electricity from her hands. The white light surrounded my chest, then my neck. A short tingling feeling spread where the light touched. I shuddered. That feeling subsided, and I couldn't feel much of anything. The intense pain throughout my body had just... stopped. I put my hand to my neck, and it came away clean. No more blood.

I stared at Sarai, blown away. "I didn't know you could do that." I stood on my own now, Morte stepped away from me to let me get my bearings. "Just a little trick I picked up. Now, hurry along, we need to get out of here before he gets up." She insisted, herding us out of the room.

With a confident stride, Morte took the lead, retracing our previous path. I walked closely behind him, with Sarai at my side. We didn't converse, but I took her hand and gave it a small squeeze. "Thank you, Sarai." She gave me a small, nervous smile, before pulling her hand away.

Was she feeling guilty? It wasn't her fault that her father was a prick. He had been that way even when we were young. He just looked so different now- I hadn't been able to recognize him.

Once we reached the main floor, our path was blocked by none other than Kriss. And boy, did she look pissed.

"And where exactly do you think you're going?" She crossed her arms over her chest, straightening up to get closer to Morte's level.

He stepped up to meet her, looking down at her. "We were just leaving. And I think it would be in your best interest to get out of our way." His hands curled into fists at his sides.

Kriss flashed a sickeningly sweet smile, tilting her head to the side. "I'm sorry, but I can't let you do that."

The tension in the room was hard to shake off, and nobody spoke for what seemed like minutes. I looked over at Sarai, who looked quite on edge as she looked around. She seemed to know something that we didn't.