TW// Blood, murder, violence, vomit
The throbbing in his head woke him up. The whole left side of his head was in enormous pain. Tivon's mind was blank, the only sound in his head was the high cheeping from the explosion. He looked down at his hands. They were covered in already dried brown blood.
Cornelis.
Cornelis was wounded.
He tried to stand up, but found his whole upper body tied up to a wooden pillar, his hands bound together in front of him. He anxiously looked around the dark room. He was on a ship. Tivon immediately recognized that dark, almost black wood. He was on The Rose Sparrow. Panic seized him and he couldn't catch a breath.
Breath Tivon. Just breath.
You're on The Rose Sparrow. Cornelis got hurt. Elias was alive and he came back. Elias stabbed Cornelis. Elias tried to kill me. Why would he want to hurt us?
Tivon looked around the dark room. It was the same one as the first time he got captured by them. He was relieved to see his bag and the belt with his knives and dagger hanging from the wall. He tried to stand up again. His chest and shoulders were firmly tied to the pillar. If he could just get his hands free, he might untie his body.
The door slammed open. Tivon had to look away as the sun shining through the door blinded his vision. The one who entered closed the door quickly behind him. Tivon looked up. Nick. He reached into his back pocket and took a sack into his hands.
"Nick?" Nick didn't say anything, but Tivon saw the slight hesitation in his movements. "Nick it's me Tivon."
"Look, I don't know who you are and how you know my name, but I will need you to cooperate with me."
What does he mean, he doesn't recognize me? Cooperate with what?
"N-Nick what are you talking about? You know me. I'm Tiv-"
"Stop!"
"You need to let me go Nick, something is wrong with-"
Before Tivon could realize, a knife was pressed against his throat. Tivon went quiet. This couldn't be Nick. Nick would never do that. "You will shut up and cooperate with us. Captains' orders."
"Elias."
Nick looked at him confused. "How do you know his name?"
"I know all of you." He said calmly. "And you need to let me talk to him. Something must've happened to all of you."
Nick lowered his knife and considered his words for a second. Then he grabbed the bag and put it over Tivon. "Sorry kid. No one disobeys Captains' orders."
"Nick!" He secured the bag on his head, moved behind him and started untying him. "Nick!"
This was Tivon's chance. He could run towards the door, Nick wasn't the one to fight. Yet, he didn't know this, Nick. He could just kill him on the spot. But if it is like the first time he got captured, they needed him and they needed him alive. There was also a possibility that they were sending him to his death.
Tivon could feel the ropes loosened. It was his only chance.
But Tivon stayed still. There was no use in running, they would've outrun him either way. If he obeyed and cooperated with them, he might give himself enough time to stay alive and to talk them out of whatever they were doing. He needed to know. They couldn't just forget him.
Nick pulled him on his feet, his hands still bound and pushed him towards the door. He gently guided him outside on the deck towards what Tivon presumed to be a boat. Nobody spoke a word as they sat him down and lowered the boat into the sea. They were going to an island. Tivon hoped it would be the same island as the first time, which meant that he would only have to crawl through a hole and throw them his rope.
He could just hope they only needed him for that.
It wasn't the same island. Despite that Tivon couldn't see where he was, he knew it was not the same. The path wasn't as steep, and Tivon could hear the town as soon as they landed the boat. They must've walked him around the town, the talking of people was just a distant sound. Without a warning, they stopped.
Nick removed the bag and Tivon had to squint through his eyes. They were hiding behind big, dense bushes, looking down at the town. Tivon's heart started beating uncontrollably. Elias was standing in front of him, his mask still on.
Elias was there. Tivon hadn't seen him in a year, and he was there, unharmed, alive. He just wanted to hug him and never let him go.
His voice was shaking. "E-Elias." Tivon took a step closer to him. In seconds the whole crew pulled out their swords and pointed them at him. Tivon lifted his tied hands and took a step back. "Guys, please. You know me."
Why are they acting like that? They knew him. Even though Tivon spent little time on The Rose Sparrow, they knew him. Elias' crew was his crew. Why can't they remember me?
"No one get close to the Captain." Said Filp.
"Filp, it's me-"
Filp took a step towards him. "Say one more word and yer-"
"Stop."
They all turned to Elias, who was looking down at the town. It was his voice. This was definitely Elias. Tivon looked down at his hand. He wore no ring. Elias turned to face Tivon. Even though Tivon couldn't see his face, his heart ripped to pieces. Why can't you recognize me? Please Elias, it's me.
"We need him." said Elias. "We can't do this without him."
They all started lowering down their weapons.
"Do what?"
Elias nudged towards one of the houses in the town. "There's an entrance wide enough for you to get in. When you're in, you sneak towards the back door, where we'll be waiting."
Tivon knew that it was stupid to even ask him, but he still did. "And what will you do once you're in?"
Elias looked at him. "That's none of your business."
"And what do I get from that?"
He shouldn't have kept pushing him, he just hoped if he talked to him for some time that he would remember him.
"We'll see to that after you do your job." He said coldly.
He nodded to Nick, who came to Tivon and cut off the ropes tying his hands.
"Don't try to run." Elias added quietly. "You can't outrun us all."
One of them pushed Tivon towards the house. Tivon rubbed at his wrists and sighed. He had no other choice, but to obey. He ran down to the house into the tight, narrow street to the entrance, Elias pointed to. It wasn't even an entrance. It was a hole, leading to the house's cellar. This better not be some illegal job. He sighed, crouched down, and barged in, falling to the floor.
The cellar was dark, lighten up only by the light coming through the hole. Tivon walked towards the door, relieved that it was open. He didn't have his lockpicks on him and he definitely couldn't get back up to the little entrance.
When he opened the door, he found himself in a hallway, far too familiar to him. The hall had many entrances, covered with curtains instead of doors. Cold sweat started dripping down Tivon's brow. This was one of Luana's pleasure houses. His heart started pounding as he remembered all the days he had been stuck in this place.
Someone walked out from the curtain and Tivon hid back into the door frame. At least Elias is still doing his job of saving the antes.
When he made sure no one was in the hallway he looked to his right to find some stairs leading up to the back door. He noticed a leader heading up, so he went to it. He slowly climbed up and quietly opened the trapdoor. Tivon thought he would enter the hallway, but he was again in a room filled with barrels and containers of food. There were two doors leading into the room. He pulled himself up and stood up by the back door. The key was already in the lock.
When he opened them the crew already stood behind it. Elias signalled them to enter. As they pushed through, Elias asked. "Did anybody see you?"
"No."
"Good." He pulled out one of his knives and handed it to Tivon. "Follow us."
Before Tivon could argue, they kicked down the door and stormed into the hallway. The screams sounded down the hallway and when Tivon reached the door the jade boys were all standing in the hallway. Then the first pistol fired. But not at the guards or the guests. They were shot at the jade boys. The crew was killing every single one of them.
Tivon stood there frozen, his pupils narrowed. No. The terrified screams were drowned out by pistols and swords slicing through their skin. No, this was all wrong. They were supposed to save them. His knees started shaking, as the crew broke into the rooms, killing everyone in sight. The struggling screams quickly quieted down. Tivon stared down at the bodies in front of him. He dropped his knife, fell to his knees, and vomited.
This was all wrong. Tears stared pouring down his face. This is just a dream. I need to wake up. He sobbed, struggling to make sense of anything.
One boy was pushed into the hallway. Tivon looked up.
"P-please, d-don't."
The boy couldn't have been more than seven. Elias stepped out of the same room, pistol pointing at him.
"P-p-please."
Tivon was up on his feet, standing before the boy. "Elias stop!" He reached up his hands. "Stop doing this. This is not you!"
"Move." He said calmly, his voice raw.
"No." He couldn't ignore the shaking of his knees. "Drop the pistol and get a grip of yourself."
"Move!" He screamed.
Tivon stood his ground, despite his fear. His fear for what? Elias? He stared up into his mask. Tivon was afraid of the man in front of him. But he was not afraid of Elias. "No!"
Elias moved his pistol to his head and pulled the trigger. Tivon's mouth opened. He could hear the ringing in his left ears, blood pouring out of it.
Elias shot the jade boy. Tivon reached to his ear, traces of warm blood on his fingers. His eardrum burst at the bang of the pistol. Elias returned the pistol to his belt and leaned down to face Tivon.
"Defy me one more time and the bullet will find its place in your head."
He walked towards the door.
Tivon didn't care that his voice sounded desperate. "You were supposed to save them not kill them!" Elias stopped. "Elias, you need to snap out of it!"
Elias considered for a moment and then snapped his fingers. Before Tivon could say anything, something hit his head and he fell into a dark unconsciousness.