#kateryn

He was so fucking stupid!

“Naran! Naran you can’t stay out here!” He knew exactly where the boy would go when he saw those tears welling up in his eyes and spill over onto his cheeks. Meri was faster and took off after the boy with Sean right behind him. Kat had sighed heavily and got to her feet, picking the little girl up in her arms.

Why did he have to say that? That she was never coming back. The boy was only three!

The rain was coming down in sheets so Sean was grateful they both knew the way so well. As he dashed through the storm yelling the boy’s name he could see Meri hunched over a little figure on the hill, trying to use one of his fins as a shelter. “Naran, please!”

“No!” The child huddled himself against the grave, the rain washing away the signs of his tears. He shouted a couple more words that Sean couldn’t understand.

Upon the hill he stopped behind the boy and Micha’s dragon, pushing the latter aside to pick up the former. Naran squealed and kicked, squirming in the rain and clinging to the stone. “No no! Ama!!”

After a short struggle Sean pried Naran away and instantly enclosed him in a bear hug, holding the boy tightly to keep him from running away again rather than shielding him from the rain. “I’m sorry,” Sean said quickly, his throat tight with emotion. “I’m so sorry Naran. I didn’t mean to yell.”

He had been trying so hard. He never thought it would be this difficult. Naran was an angel but he was just so bad at this. Sean tightened his hold on his son as he blamed himself. He wanted to blame it on others; the men who took his father, the army that took his mother, the nation that robbed his childhood, the fate that took Micha from him. He wanted to but he couldn’t.

“Ama is resting now.. We can’t see her yet. Not for a long time. But she still loves you so much. And I do too. So very much.” Naran had stopped squirming uselessly in his father’s strong arms and crumbled into sobs which were muffled in Sean’s shirt. “I miss her too,” Sean admitted gently when he should have probably stopped. “Every day.”

When he finally looked up he saw Kat and her little girl hand in hand a few yards away, Token’s psychic barrier doing well to keep them dry. He didn’t know what he’d do without her; if he didn’t have someone to center him when he was still so very lost. Sean lifted Naran up and carried him over to the shelter where they all started to go back to the house.

Finally she had had enough.  Her arm was too sore to work and she couldn’t stand another second being lectured so by mid-day she had stormed out of the forge.  She wasn’t sure where she was planning to go; she just let her feet take her.  Eventually she wound up in Castelia’s center, as though the city had a magnetic pull that drew everyone together.

Such a place was an ideal location for the stocks.  And lo- did she see one of their assailants locked up among the wooden boards?  With renewed vigor she stomped right over to the stocks to stand before the ‘Zangoose’ man.  Sean had gotten him good last night and the bandages around his face desperately needed to be changed.  “Well, well,” the blacksmith chimed, “Look what we have here.”

The man turned his good eye up towards the woman and flinched immediately, trying to pull back but his wooden bonds kept him from going far.  “You-!  We didn’t- You should have ran, girl!”

“And why is that?” Kateryn snapped as she shoved her hands on her hips.  “You think it’s okay to just attack someone in the streets like that?  I’m glad to see you’ve been locked up for your actions.”  She looked from side to side but didn’t see the other two men that had attacked them.  “Where are your friends?”

Again the man flinched, balling his hands into fists and relaxing them nervously.  “I don’t know.  The one that girl attacked hadn’t left the healer and my brother..”  His split lip trembled briefly before his eye turned back up to her.  “The Nord came with some other guards this morning.  They locked me up here.  I don’t know where they took him!”

Kateryn couldn’t summon any pity for the man after what he had done.  She looked him over one last time in disgust before she turned away, rubbing her sore shoulder.  Whatever that jerk got would be too good for him.

___

When the man came to he knew he was in a cold, dark place.  Resisting the arrest probably wasn’t the smartest idea but one could hardly blame what he and the others did as bad, not to mention the lies that man had spun.  No one with a lick of sense would trust a Nordborian snow dog, regardless of whose boots he licked.  When he tried to move he discovered he was seated backwards in a chair with irons clasped around his wrists and ankles.  More concerning still was that he couldn’t feel his hands.

Oh, he knew they were there, because something freezing cold was encased around them, but he was having trouble remember how each of his individual fingers felt.  As his eyes further adjusted he saw a figure standing a few paces within his cell and a smaller shadow, which he assumed to be some creature, with him.

“Do you know what Frostbite is, sea scum?” 

The man recognized the voice immediately.  “You bastard!  What the hell is this about?!  Let me out of here!”

“It’s a condition we Nords know well,” the warrior continued, stepping into the sliver of light that came in through the barred vent.  It caught the red of his hair brilliantly and his captive could just barely make out the cold grey eyes that watched him.  “When the cold freezes you so thoroughly that your limbs stop working all together.”

Sean gestured and a blast of ice came from the little figure at his side, freezing the man’s hands up over his wrists.  The man let out a cry of pain and struggled in his seat.

“You’re a fucking liar!” the thug shouted over the sound of his chains ringing together.  “You arrested us saying we had tried to rob those girls!  We should have slit your black throat.”

Sean stepped closer to the man, his hand resting on the hilt of his sword as he smiled thinly down at him.  “But you did.  And you followed them after.”  He tsk’d lightly before drawing his sword, slowly, so that it scrapped against the scabbard.  “Now, do you know how you treat Frostbite?  It’s simple, really.”

When the man didn’t respond Sean rested the blade against his armored shoulder.  “You cut it off.  But don’t worry, there’s not much bleeding since it’s all turned black and frozen.”  The Nord tilted his head slightly to look at the man’s frozen hands.  “Looks like it won’t be long now before we’d have to get cutting.”

The man jerked against his restrains again nervously.  “You wouldn’t-!”

“What do you do for a living, scum?”

His captor’s voice was so calm it made his heart hammer against his chest.  They had tried to kill him the other night; why wouldn’t he chop off his hands?!  “T-Thatcher..”

“I reckon that’d be a difficult job to do without your hands, wouldn’t it?”  The man looked up towards the Nord whose expression hadn’t changed - just staring straight in his eyes like daggers.  The man gave a weak nod and whimper as the red head brought his sword around, tapping the blade against the layer of ice protecting (and slowly killing) his skin.  “You don’t want to lose both your hands and your job, do you?”

This time it was a quick shake of his head.  “I didn’t think so.  Now,” Sean tapped the blade a little harder on the ice and some of it chipped away, “I would be deeply upset if I heard a certain merchant and blacksmith were unable to do their jobs because of something stupid you did.”

“It won’t happen again..!  We didn’t mean to- I swear-”  The next tap was harder still and the man started to panic.  His hands were frozen and while there was still the dull pain, the numbing sensation terrified him.  Would he even feel it if the man cut into his hands at this point?!  “We won’t!  Nothing’ll happen to them, I swear!  I swear it!  Just don’t-!”

“Good.”  Sean pulled back and sheathed the sword.  He had nothing more to say to the man and stepped out of the cell, locking the dungeon’s door on his way out.  “Corsola, warm him up, will you?”  The castle creature chirped happily in response.

“AAHHHHHHAAAHHHHHHH!!!”  The prisoner screamed as scalding hot water blasted from the critter to thaw out his hands.  The sharp change in temperature was enough to be excruciating, let alone it being that hot.  He wouldn’t be handling anything for quite some time.  Sean continued unphased as the screams echoed off the dungeon stone walls, his eyes set dead ahead.

Once inside he gave a heavy sigh, looking between the ladies.  Saki was fine apart from her knuckles being beat red and Kateryn rubbed her arm now and then.  She probably wouldn’t be hammering much tomorrow.  Serafina brought over a wet rag for Sean to mop up the blood running down his arm.

“Goddamn drunks,” Kat vented as she flopped herself down in a chair, glaring between the blonde strands of hair now a mess from the tussle.  “Who the hell do they think they are, anyways?!”

Saki came over to her side, crossing her arms and grinning.  “And they thought three guys would be enough for us, hah!  They weren’t expecting us ladies to know how to fight I bet.”  The observation cracked a grin out of the smith.

“They weren’t after you two.”

Saki and Kat looked over to Sean as he tied the rag around the cut.  “Does it matter?” Saki asked looking somewhat defiant.  “They messed with one of my friends.  Doesn’t matter who it is.”

“That’s right,” Kateryn joined in.  “They had it coming!”

“No, you don’t understand.”  Sean shook his head.  “It wouldn’t have happened if you weren’t with me.”

“Well it’s a good thing we were to save your ass,” Kat jested with a small snicker but the man’s expression caused it to fizzle out quickly.

“Look,” Sean started, “I appreciate you two sticking up for me but you shouldn’t.  In fact, you shouldn’t be associated with me at all.”  The women started to protest but he only raised his voice louder to speak over them.  “You both have to work here!  What do you think will happen if word gets out your harboring and aiding an enemy?  You think they care that I’m part of the guards?  Obviously not!”

Saki had gone silence but the blacksmith rose from her chair.  “Well I don’t care what they think!  You’re not like what the rumors say Nords are like!”

“Well you should care,” Sean snapped back.  “It could cost you your customers, Kat.  It could cost you your whole forge!”  This time the words seem to stick and the blonde bit her lip, getting that awful feeling that she knew he was on to something.  Sean took a second rag Serafina brought over, pressing it against his blackening eye and offered her a weak smile.  “There’s a reason I never stuck around in one place for too long, you know.”  He looked towards Saki to express that the same went for her and her shop, too.

“What are you trying to say, Sean?” Saki spoke up, arms still crossed tightly across her chest.  If she uncrossed them she had a feeling she’d give him a second black eye just for thinking this.

“I’m saying-” 

There was a loud crash at one of the windows in the front of the forge as a large stone flew through it and tumbled across the floor.  Kateryn flinched at the sound before she saw the rock lying there, following the trail of broken glass to the hole in her window.  “You scum-sucking Slugma!” she yelled and made a break for the door only to be held back by Sean.  “Let me go!  I’m going to kill that asshole!”  The man sent a glance over to Serafina and the Kangaskhan stomped her way over towards the door to deal with anyone outside.

“Sorry Kat.  This is for the best though.”  The girl didn’t put up much of a struggle in his arms but he didn’t put it past her not to bolt once he let her go.  “Saki, stay with her, please?  At least until the morning.”  The merchant didn’t look pleased by the turn of events but said nothing.

One at a time he removed his arms from around the blacksmith.  All seemed good when she stayed in position, just glaring at his shirt.  “I don’t want you to leave, too.”

Sean offered the ladies a brief smile before he took his leave out the back way so not to cause anymore ruckus at the forge.  His trip back to the castle was quick.  It had been too long since he had been this on edge traveling through such a populated city.  It was too bad.  He liked Saki and Kat but it wasn’t safe for them.

The trio wasn’t alone.  He had known some people left after they did but he didn’t pay much attention to it.  Now, on the deserted street, he recognized the faces of three of the tavern’s patrons who had sent some dirty glances earlier that night.  It was nothing new for him.  Easy to ignore.  He shouldn’t have been so careless.

“It makes me sick, seeing a spy like you out in the open,” one of them had said while the other patrons advanced.  There were three of them all together.

“He’s not a spy,” Kateryn quickly butt in, glaring at the men.  “He’s a guard for the King.”

“It’s fine, Kat,” Sean muttered as he tried to nudge her back away from the others.  “Let’s just go.”  Saki remained completely silent and still, watching the men like a Fearow hunting a meal.

“Aye,” another one spoke up, “one of the same guards who attacked the Mages not that long ago!  How much of their blood did you drink, ‘Bor?”

“The King doesn’t know what’s up from down anymore by the looks of it, if he’s letting Northern scum into his ranks,” the third one hissed.

Sean noticed Saki’s fists tighten at her sides.  “Saki,” his voice sharpened to get her attention, “let’s go.”  When she didn’t budge he sighed and stepped forward to grab her arm, pulling her back from the group and pushing her towards Kat.

He couldn’t recall if one of the thugs had mentioned they were going to take matters into their own hands but that was clearly what it dissolved into, as one of the men rushed him and took a cheap shot for his kidney.  His adrenalin helped to numb the pain but the blow still caused him to stagger off balance.  The next moment his sword was in his hand, drawn on instinct after being in one too many scuffles.  For all the shit he had gone through for getting the sword he didn’t regret it for a moment.  Once he was armed his attackers usually reconsidered their next actions more carefully.

Unfortunately he wasn’t the only one who was armed at this point.  One of the men had produced a pair of daggers and was looking for an opportune moment to dig them into him.  Sean pointed the sword towards the one who had punched him to keep him at bay while watching the dagger wielder.  There was still the third, too, who seemed to not be armed but he couldn’t be sure. 

In a flash of fabric Saki had rushed past him for the man holding the daggers and struck him hard before he even knew she was upon him.  It was clear to Sean that she definitely knew her way around one’s body in ways he would have to question her about later.  The third man finally came at him and Sean felt something slice his arm.  It wasn’t deep whatever it was and he countered by aiming the sword low to cut the man’s leg.

That was one of the flaws with being a guard now, he had realized.  He couldn’t just run someone through with his sword like in the backwater towns where no one would find a body for perhaps half a day.  Here, the streets were patrolled hourly, and since he wasn’t in uniform he didn’t exactly have the same privileges of defending himself as, say, a noble did.  No one questioned a noble if they killed a man in self defense.

The cut to the man’s leg hardly slowed his assault and his fist connected with Sean’s eye, likely in hopes to blind him for a short moment.  Sean held his sword in front of him to dissuade at frontal attack as half his vision became blurred and painful.  It worked, and the attacker focused his attention on the blade rather than Sean’s left hand that went for his knife.  The moonlight caught a glimpse of the dull red Skarmory blade before he lunged forward, raking the edge down and across the man’s face.

The man screamed in agony as he recoiled back, clutching his face as blood poured from his Zangoose-styled gash.  Sean looked over towards Saki to see that she was handling herself well, kicking her opponent so hard in the ribs he could have sworn he heard one crack from here.  A startled yelp caused him to look the other way.  Shit, he had forgotten about Kat!  The first thug to have attacked him now had one of her arms twisted behind her back.

“Let her go,” the red-head warned, turning to face the pair now with both sword and knife in hand.

“Why?  So you can slice me up like my pal there?”  He yanked Kateryn a bit closer and she teetered on her toes to gain some leverage that might reduce the pain in her arm.  “I don’t think so.”

Sean grinned slowly, pointing the sword’s tip upwards.  He could see the man following its every movement with his eyes.  “No.  I just wouldn’t want to make her mad.”  Distracted by the blade, the man didn’t expect Kateryn to slam her foot back into his crotch.  His grip faltered and the woman spun, punching him as hard as she could which, for someone who wielded a hammer all day, was nothing to laugh at.  The hook sent the man clean on his back in a daze.