Ashes of Revenge

A knife fell upon paper, writing out letters with blood - Colt’s blood.

Colt pressed the knife coming out of his finger against his cut palm again. He wrote down the final word, and his blade contracted.

They had managed to outrun the Knights and make it deep into the woods, but now they were all exhausted. Colt, to be honest, was out of options and could only see one out for everything the group had worked on for years.

Grabbing the paper, Colt handed it to Mark, the new messenger. He was losing another man, and this one didn’t have the camouflaging skills the Messenger had, which meant there was a higher risk of him being shot. But that was a risk that had to be taken.

Mark also had almost all of the food with him, so he wouldn’t have to stop for long periods.

“Yeh know where to go?” Colt asked.

Mark nodded as he began to stretch out his wings. He quickly bowed, and within the next second, he was gone. As Colt watched him leave, he felt something wash over him.

Without Raven and Richard, he was lost. He didn’t have anyone to talk anything through with.

He had no one.

He was alone again.

Raven and Richard were his family, and now they were both gone, and there was nothing he could do to change that. His entire life, he didn’t have anyone, parents, siblings, even friends. But that all changed when he met Raven and Richard. They somehow managed to replace that void he felt had been empty for most of his life. Now it was empty again, and he absolutely hated it.

Colt could feel a panic attack washing over him like in the cave.

He was alone.

He was alone!

He was alone!

He was-

“Colt?”

Colt swallowed and braced his hand against a tree. "Yeah?" he managed to say, his voice shaking.

“Where ios Raven an’ Richard?”

Colt turned around and faced Bram. “Raven an’ Richard . . .” he paused and looked down. “Raven’s dead an’ Richard . . . I don’t know.” His breathing picked up, and his body began to shake.

“Colt,” Bram said in faint concern. He kneeled in front of the boy and grasped his arms with his massive hands. “Wey have to regroup fiorst.” Slowly, he felt as Colt’s trembling body began to calm.

Death appeared on a tree next to the pair; he had been preparing since the group made it into the woods. He was finally ready.

He had gotten secretly acquainted with Colt when he was in the Shifter Kingdom. The number of times the boy had come close to dying was unbelievable. It had come to fruition when he was stabbed in his lung, but Death had decided to give him one more chance at an unfair life.

The same could be said for Richard.

Pushing himself off the tree, Death walked over to Colt. The boy had seen him as mercy, so he would be as merciful as he could be.

“Hi,” Death said in his ear.

Colt closed his eyes and breathed in deeply as a headache washed over him. The weird familiar voices entered back into his head after years of being absent.

“I'm sorry, my boy." Colt’s heartbeat began to pound in his skull. “The pain won't be as bad as while in your Kingdom; that's all the comfort I can provide."

“Colt?” Bram asked once more.

Colt nodded. He didn’t have time to break down, it’s not what Richard would have wanted, and Raven wouldn’t know what to do if he were to. Because of those two facts, he refused to cry.

“I’m gonna kill him,” Colt said. “I’m gonna kill tha King.” Bram stood again and saw Colt truly angry - his eyes the Shifter silver.

Bram looked down at Colt’s hands.

Colt followed his gaze and saw that his knives were out.

Before he could try to retract the blades, a twig broke near them. They turned but saw nothing.

Bram pulled out his axe.

The voices said something to Colt: Sorry. . . . Pain thudded against his head and his world went black.

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