forum Fire and Water

Started May 19, 2019 by @PrettyLittlePyro

tune

(Maybe?)
“Really? I’m going to the castle again? Well, alright…” Caspian sighed and put his hood up, hopping over the garden wall of the castle once he got to it again.

Kala sat straight up on the throne, looking calmly at her subjects. She had called all the nobles of her kingdom to come to her. She was starting to regret that. Most of them were loyal to the king, and blamed her for his death. It was hard enough keeping them under control with her husband, but now, with him gone, they were down right rebellious. Not that she regretted his death or anything, but he certainly knew how to take care of things like this.

Caspian figured a gun would be better suited for this job. He loaded it and shot one of the nobles through the window before slipping back over the wall. He could hear some screaming as he walked away, putting his gloves into his pockets again. Perhaps I could see the queen again? I’ll just wait until everyone’s gone to bed…

“Why exactly are we here?” One of them asked. Kalama glared.
“Because I am your queen, and I ordered you to.” She clenched her jaw, glaring coldly at the noble.

Finally, the meeting was over. For the day. Kala was glad, but she knew that she would have to work much harder to gain their loyalty. She sighed, rubbing a hand over her face, before walking out into her garden. Last time, here was a mercenary there, who killed the king. This time, there was probably no one.

(Wait but he just shot someone??)
Caspian had decided to sit in the tree in the garden, waiting. Kalama seemed to come out here a lot, so there was a good chance of seeing her. “Hey.” He said calmly, hopping down onto the ground. “Miss me?”

(Oh, right. Sorry.)

Kala jumped. “What are you doing her?” She asked, then shook her head. “Never mind. You were probably the one who shot the idiot,” she said.

“Guilty as charged.” Caspian grinned. “Although I do hope you don’t turn me in, of course. You’re not in danger. The only people who are in danger are the ones my boss tells me to kill. How are things without your delightful husband around, hmm?”

Kala snorted. “Why would I turn you in?” Then she grinned. “It’s certainly better without him. I feel like I should thank you, but I’m too lazy.” She sat down in the grass.

Caspian looked around to make sure they were alone before sitting down next to Kalama. “It’s suddenly occurred to me that I know your name, but you don’t know mine. I’m Caspian.” He held out his hand to shake Kalama’s. “Last name’s not important, of course.”

Kalama reaches out to shake it, and then jerked her hand away, hissing, as soon as they touched.

“What is it? Something wrong?” Caspian looked around nervously as though expecting to see a guard or something, but they were still alone.

“You…” Kalama said through clenched teeth. “Your skin is like ice.”

“Oh! Yeah, that’s pretty normal… well, they’re typically cold, but not that cold. You alright?” Caspian curiously rubbed his hands together to see how cold they felt, but they weren’t any cooler than usual.

She gave him a weak smile. “I’ll be fine.”

“Maybe your hands are just hot by comparison?” Caspian wondered, shrugging. “I mean, I don’t often come into physical contact with people, so I wouldn’t really know.”

She smiled slightly, though drew away. Blowing slightly in her hands, she tried to call heat into them, but none would come… almost as if water had been poured over them.

Caspian looked up at the stars quietly. “It’s nice tonight. Wish I could just sit out in the open like this more often, but with my profession and all…” He sighed almost inaudibly. “I’ve been stuck doing it ever since I was twelve. If I tried to leave, my boss would have me killed.”

She glanced sideways at him. “Why don’t you just pretend that your job takes longer than it does?”

He shrugged. “I mean, I do sometimes, but they know better. I’m good at what I do, unfortunately. They know it doesn’t take several days to shoot a noble.” Caspian looked down at his hands. Those hands had taken the lives of at least a dozen people, but probably considerably more. When he tried to count he just felt terribly guilty, so he’d learned to stop counting.

“Kill more than one,” she suggested. “Or pretend that you got held up.”

“I don’t know… I don’t like killing too many people, you know? I do still feel bad about it sometimes, but it’s usually best not to think about it.” Caspian shredded some blades of grass.

“And you’re a mercenary?” Kalama thought that sounded weird, but hey, to each his own.

Caspian nodded. “Mercenary, sort of assassin… I dunno. It’s one of those jobs you can’t safely quit. You can’t really quit your job at all, huh?”

“No,” she said, “but I don’t want to.”

“Of course not. Besides being the target of assassins, you’re in a pretty prime position. Your death would be impactful. No one cares if someone like me dies.”