Symbiote Knight Ch. 4

Chapter Four: New World 

Water crashed over Cassian, jerking him awake with a splutter and a curse. He reached for the boot knife he kept and cursed again as his fingers scrambled over the empty sheath. Something hard hit his stomach and he doubled over gagging as a pitiless laugh rang out above him. 

“Boy’s got spunk, give ‘em that.” It was a gravely woman’s voice and as Cassian pried his eyes open, squinting through the bright light that seared his retinas, he got a look at her. She towered over him with a heavy black jacket that fell to the ground, a belt wrapped around her waist with a short sword on one hip and heavy pistol on the other. Her tricorn was cocked at an angle and thick golden earrings hung from her earlobes. 

She smiled and white teeth flashed in the sunlight as she leaned down over him. Closer to him he could see her gray-white eyes and the blue-black bags underneath them. Faint blue lines traced a crossroads across her face as she leered at him.

“Don’t just stare, pretty boy, get up!” She smacked him again with her boot and he struggled to his feet. He grunted again and swiped at her leather boot as he got to his feet. All around him the others from the Lord Mayor’s manor were stirring as water pooled under their bodies showed they’d received the same treatment.

Cassian staggered over to Henri, a cold wind whipping over the rails froze the water to his body and caused him to shiver violently as he grabbed his friend’s arm and helped her to her feet. She looked pale and haggard and leaned into his support. 

Cassian looked around at their surroundings and felt his stomach fall through his guts. Clouds surrounded them, thick, iron-gray, violent storm clouds. The floor beneath his boots was actually metal decking and the wind that threatened him with hypothermia was the draft of the airship cutting across the sky. 

“Oh, we’re fucked,” Cassian whispered, never once letting his grip go of Henri’s arm. The rest of the chosen had staggered to their feet and were looking around in a mix of horror or resignation. Cassian grabbed at his stomach, remembering suddenly the last thing that had happened to him.

The cloth around his navel was ripped and torn, specks of blood staining the cloth and making it tacky, but his skin was unbroken. Confusion and anger swirled in equal measure as he cast his gaze about, trying to find either of the knights that had recruited them. 

The small deck was filled with bodies and machinery, but the two knights were nowhere to be seen. In fact, as Cassian looked around, he didn’t see any of the frillery associated with nobles or the military dress of other knights. Most of the people were dressed in simple uniforms of thick, plain white shirts, and brown breeches with sturdy black boots.

The others were like the woman who had woken them up. A menagerie of people with different outfits and looks. Mana powered prosthetics were common, the bronze and steel contraptions shining brightly in the light as they strapped weapons to themselves. Sabers, maces, spears, polearms, pistols, and even a pair of expensive rifles. 

“They’re all up!” The woman called out over her shoulder and stepped back to look at them with a vicious smile as the group of heavily armed individuals started working their way to them. Two figures stood out from the group heading their way, both of them were younger and lacked the heavy assortment of weaponry. 

Cassian eyed the taller man first, looking to be of the same age, was impeccably dressed and didn’t seem to have been drenched in bilge water like Cassian had. Six and a half feet tall with broad shoulders and the beginnings of a wispy black mustache, his brown leather lizardskin jacket was stretched tight across his chest. A simple sword sat on his hip and he walked with the measured cadence of a soldier.

The girl next to him was much more dangerous he realized after just a moment of thought. Surrounded by what looked to be a military airship, she practically skipped around without a thought to her surroundings. Loose lines, airmen, and even the slick plate armored deck, nothing slowed her down. It was like she had always known the warship and was at home on it. 

Every sailor bowed their head in her wake and not a single one dared to take an appreciative look at her as she walked by. There was a level of respect and fear there that Cassian had never seen a soldier have before. Even the lord’s and lady’s of Dreadisle hadn’t been afforded this level of deference.

She was armed with a thin rapier with a basket hilt on her right hip and a long dirk on her left. Her blue shirt was tight to her torso and the little cream colored half cloak couldn’t have offered much in protection against the biting winds. She walked up to their captor with an easy smile that lit her face with joy and clapped the scarred woman with easy familiarity while the tall soldier looking man stood at attention looking down at them. 

“Greetings, I am Veronica. This is Halston. The water thrower is Gina, I mean, Sergeant Hull.” Veronica’s voice was deep and husky, full of confidence and cheer even as she looked over their bedraggled states. Cassian was sure now that this girl was the most important person who he had ever been around and that thought scared the hell out of him. Important people meant danger. 

“Veronica. I am Lord Felix Dunn, and while I do enjoy the scenery, I must demand why we’ve been abducted,” the first boy from the testing said. His rumpled red vest had stains on it now and his slick black hair was in disarray. Still, he held himself like he owned the world, somehow peering down at Halston even though the other boy was half a head taller than him. 

Cassian knew the Dunn scion only peripherally. His time with Henri had been generally among the lesser lordlings, the heir of House Dunn would never have frequented their general haunts. Cassian could feel Henri about to say something, her spine stiffening as she drew herself up. He squeezed her elbow gently in warning.

Halston had a frown appear on his face the moment the word demand had been uttered and Sergeant Hull looked apoplectic in rage, a faint purple tinging her features. Veronica laid a gentling hand on the giant’s arm and his frown disappeared while Hull kept her biting remarks to herself as the tendons in her neck seemed to be on the verge of snapping with her repressed desire to scream at them. 

“Lord Dunn, unfortunately many secrets are kept about the Symbiotes and becoming a knight in the order. One of them is that immediately after bonding your symbiote is starving and since it primarily eats mana, it’s best to get you away from any form of mana user or machinery. Now, while there is mana aboard this ship, it is heavily locked away and stored just for this occasion.” 

“Wait, are we going to a rift?” the fat lad asked. His pale face managed to grow positively transparent. The others stirred in a mix of uncertainty and fear while Cassian began to look for escape routes. There had to be at least one lifeboat on this ship that they could detach and float down to the surface. 

Maybe while the Sergeant was busy with the lordlings? Grab Henri and make a break for it. He wouldn’t be able to fight off the soldiers, but he doubted they would be willing to use lethal weapons on them, not when they had the symbiotes inside of them. Cassian started searching, eyes looking for a way out while holding himself still. 

“Huuunnnggggrrrryyyyyy” a voice whispered in his mind and if Cassian hadn’t been so focused on staying still he would have bolted then and there. 

“Got a runner, ma’am,” Hull said suddenly, her own eyes locked on Cassian’s. Veronica turned and looked at Cassian and she quirked a pale red eyebrow at him and tsked softly at him. 

“Don’t go running anywhere. First you won’t get anywhere, the soldiers on this ship are the finest in the Empire. Second, your symbiote will begin to eat you if you leave before feeding. I would rather not have to see that again.” Veronica had finally let her smile slide away.

“Will we be entering a rift then?” the muscular dark woman from the training asked. Cassian tried to rack his mind about her name, knowing she was part of House Brant, but the house had a half dozen girls and most of them were recluses. 

“Yes. We won’t be clearing it. That will be Major Leary’s job.”

“Major Leary?” Henri asked, pulling her arm free of Cassian’s grip. The sudden move finally pulled Cassian out of his shock of the whispering in his mind. 

“He’s in charge of this expedition. Sergeant Hull and her squad will be in charge of our protection detail. We will be going down and letting our symbiotes eat while the Major and his men clear the rift.”

“Where are the mages and knights then? We need mages and knights to clear a rift,” the fat boy asked again. 

“No we don’t. It matters the rift size and rating. Regular troops can clear F, E, and some D tier rifts by themselves without mages or knights,” the final member of the group said. The tall girl was looking down at the deck and seemed to be resigned to her fate. 

“She’s right. We’re hitting an F-Tier rift. The Major’s men will clear it while we eat.”

“We?” Henri asked. Cassian wished she’d stop speaking, give them time to work their way off the ship. It’d be easier done if she wasn’t attracting attention to them.

“Yes, both Halston and I have recently bonded as well. We need to get to the rift just as desperately as you do.” 

“Ma’am I don’t like the look on the pretty boy. He’s going to bolt,” Hull said again, her eyes having never once left Cassian’s face. She had stood still as a statue the entire time Veronica spoke, her eyes cutting through the mask he wore on his face to discern the truth of him. Cassian had never seen someone stand so still, so resolute in their purpose. 

“He won’t. His friend will stay and he won’t leave her side.” Veronica spoke the truth like it was so easily discerned that even Henri looked at him with a bit of surprise. Cassian would never leave Henri, she was the only family he had in this world worth a damn, but he never said that to anyone. Cassian didn’t like how easily Veronica had seen through him.

“It’s not your fault, I cheat,” Veronica said with a cheeky wink as she turned back to the rest of them.

“Now, when we go down to the rift, you will listen to whatever Sergeant Hull or her soldiers say as if it was straight from the Emperor’s lips. She will keep us alive.” 

Hull nodded along and the look she gave them promised a harsh lesson of what disobedience would net them.

“Once the area is secure, we will find a spot with a decent outcropping and will feed. The symbiote will do all the work, we just have to get them there.” 

“What does feeding entail? Do we have to eat the actual mana rock ourselves?” the heavy set lad asked. Cassian really needed to get his name, he couldn’t just keep calling him the fat one.

“No, we just need to get close. When the feeding is done, our symbiote will finish its integration with us. It will not be pleasant, but when it’s done, we will be one step closer to being true knights.” 

“And, if we don’t want to be knights?” the short boy asked.

“What’s your name, little pig?” Hull said with a vicious grin, leaning into his space.

“I am Tarly Wellston.”

“Well, Tarly, The moment the symbiote chose you, you don’t get a choice. You have taken a loan from the Emperor directly and you will repay it. “

“Ma’am! Five minutes to the rift!” one of the sailors called out to Veronica. She gave a wave of acknowledgement and looked back to the rest of them.

“Just relax and listen to Hull, she’ll get you through this.”