Day 14: Cage
Prompts by: @oc-growth-and-development
“Rehks!!” Kaemon shrieked.
The former assassin was shoved into a large cage in the back of a cart. They flashed an awkward, sad smile. It was a failed attempt at their usual cocky grin.
“C’mon Kae’ I’ve gotten out of worse!” She called back, trying to hide how terribly they were shaking.
Kaemon shook off the guards who were trying to drag her to the cage, and she ran up to the bars.
“I’m going to get you out of here.” She looked around widely, desperately.
“Kaemon.” Rehks grabbed her hand from outside the bars, looking into her eyes, “I’m going to get out of here. I’m not going down that easily, trust me.”
“I’ll try.” She replied before bolting from the scene, running in the direction the rest of the rebels had already fled.
Then she was gone, and Rehks was alone again.
“Well,” they thought, “Time to keep that promise.”
They let themselves be whisked away by the rickety cart, but as it stumbled across the road she got to work. She finagled a small pocket dagger from her back pocket and marched to the metal door. It was chained shut.
“Easy.” She murmured as she absentmindedly looked around to assure herself that she wasn’t being watched.
They quickly fidgeted with the lock, suddenly succeeding, forcing the cage open. She tumbled out onto the dusty wooden road, cursing at the clumsiness. The cage slammed.
Dammit. They’d know now.
Sure enough, the cart slowed. Rehks watched in anxious anticipation as she attempted to get up from the ground that they had fallen so heavily upon. It felt like their ankle was sprained or something.
“You rebel bastards don’t know how to just stay put do ya?” The guard’s hood had fallen from their head in frustration.
They marched towards the struggling icari, infuriated and steaming. The soldier was short, strong, and their scraggly beard accentuated their apparent constant anger. The guard threw themselves atop Rehks, pressing a dagger to their neck.
“Now, are you gonna cooperate with me, or are you gonna make me do this the hard way?” They growled.
Rehks smiled, the cockiness began to show, they had a plan, “Aren’t you on strict orders to bring me in alive?”
“Yes, but they said nothing about how alive you needed to be-!”
They were quickly cut off by Rehks’ spitting into their face, some getting into their mouth. The soldier sputtered, enraged, but it gave Rehks enough time to stab into the thigh of the guard, hopefully immobilizing them. As they cried out, Rehks weaseled away from their grasp, kicking as they went.
Unfortunately, they hadn’t had their wing-extenders on her, so they had no choice but to limp away a s fast as they could. Luckily, although they were out of practice, they were still a grade a (former) assassin. She could get out of tough scrapes.
As she jogged away, the best she could given her injury, they remarked to herself how oddly much more nerve racking this capture was. Usually it was no big deal. They had truly been in worse predicaments, she had stared death in the eyes and challenged them to take their best shot. This was an easy win, yet why was her heart pounding so fast? Why were they so shaky?
As she remembered the distress on Kaemon’s face, they realized what it was. It’s a lot easier to have no fear towards death when you don’t have anyone to live for but yourself. Now that Rehks had others who cared about their well-being, and she cared about theirs, it wasn’t as easy to look death in the eyes.