Mystic Ink - Ch. 58 The Hunt Begins (Patreon)

Cass did not want to move, but she could not let herself lay there long.  She had tears running down her face and she was covered in her own blood and she did not want anyone to see her right now.  Maybe for a long, long, time.  But she also needed to be ready whenever her Master or- and the very thought made her shiver now- her Mistress called for her.

She used her system to make herself invisible and disappeared, working her way back to her apartments.  Thankfully, water had been set out for a bath she had never showed up to receive- even cold, she was grateful to be able to clean herself and dress.  To make matters worse, even though Cass did not want to see anyone, that left her alone with her thoughts, and her thoughts were quite unpleasant.

Clare…  Clare had hit Cass hard on her weakest point, her pride.  As a dreg, she had none, but her time with Hall had given her some measure of self worth and a deep admiration for the worth of her Master.  Cass was proud of herself, and vastly more proud of Hall- literally joyful to serve him.

Clare humiliating Cass was one thing.  Cass felt that her pride was unwarranted sometimes, and it was within the rights of her Mistress to put her back into her place.  Cass had chosen this collar after all, she could hardly complain about now having to face the consequences of that.  But to make her recant that experience, which had been wonderful and special to Cass, in front of a group of laughing and jeering people…  Her Master might hate her for the shame she had brought him.  No, Hall would never do something like that- she knew that to be true.  But she still worried, no matter how insanely irrational those fears were.

A soft knock followed by the opening of her apartment door was the last thing Cass wanted to hear, and Birdie was one of the last people she had wanted to see.  But Cass could do nothing about it, and tried to focus on the fact that Birdie had not been one of the ones who had laughed and hurled abuse at her.  Birdie was her maid by order of their Master, and so Cass would simply have to deal with it.

“Cass,” Birdie began hesitantly and Cass stiffened, her wish that Birdie would say nothing blown to pieces before it even truly materialized.  “I am sorry, I really am- I had no choice!”

Birdie rushed her words out as she looked at the floor, not raising her eyes- not that Cass was doing much else, neither of them really wanted to see each other during this conversation.

“I know,” Cass said, trying to rein in her emotions.  “You had your orders- I had mine.  It is simply the way of things.”

Does not make it hurt any less.  Everytime Cass sees one of them will be a cause for worry and shame from now on.

“Owen did not want to either…”  Birdie said softly, “but that woman…  She is a monster!”

Cass had to agree, but she could not say that.  “Be careful Birdie,” she warned instead.  “She is our Master’s wife, you must speak of her with respect.”

Though it might be a struggle, Cass thought to herself.  She had come to fear Clare after just a few hours- but the thought was interrupted when the door was opened so violently it nearly went off its hinges.

“Master,” Cass bowed deeply- mostly out of respect but partially out of a desire to hide her face.  Birdie also curtsied, though she was ignored by Hall.

“I heard what happened.”

The first words out of her Master’s mouth made her chest constrict and terror start to worm its way through Cass’s veins.

“I am sorry Mas-”

“I am not angry at you Cass!”  Hall interrupted, though his tone and words did not match in the slightest.  “I should have warned you about the struggles between me and her- she thinks that she has a chance to have power over me, but I will show her otherwise.  This little back and forth of ours has gone on long enough.”

Her Master was seething, his anger barely contained and leaking out through his words and actions to the point it almost felt like he was spitting fire.  Cass had never seen him so furious, and it was terrifying.  It was a level of pure loathing that Cass could not even fathom.

“I do not care how, I do not care when- so long as it is soon- but I want all of them dead,” Hall grabbed Cass’s chin and forced her to look him in the eyes.  “I am going to teach my ‘wife’ a lesson, and you, my dear, are going to get a measure of vengeance through it.”

As much as Cass wanted to do as her Master asks, she had to remind him.  “Master, aren’t those subjects of value to you?  Are you sure you want to waste them for me?”

“First, it is not just for you- she humiliates me as well through this.”  Her Master’s eyes narrowed dangerously as he considered his next sentence, “and even if it was just you, I would still do this.  You are much more valuable to me than all of their lives and talents combined!”

Despite everything, Cass could not help but have her spirits lifted by hearing this and bowed to her Master.  “As you command Master.”

“Oh and you can spare Owen and Birdie at your discretion,” Hall eyed the girl who had been slowly backing away from the conversation- clearly worried Cass might turn and pounce on her.  “Honestly, I do not care which you choose.”

With that he left, and Cass turned to Birdie who froze like a small animal suddenly confronted with a dangerous predator.

“I won’t hurt you,” Cass spoke, though her tone made it clear she was debating it.  “Continue to do your work.”

Birdie did not stick around to become an eyesore, she immediately ran off to whatever work it was that she did- leaving Cass alone and feeling much better than she had even a little bit ago.  After a little bit of hunting, she might feel even better…

An hour later, she was perched invisible on a window box on a second floor window above a courtyard listening to the group below her speak and considering the best, most painful, ways to kill them.

“Haha,” one laughed.  “You had to love listening to the bitch beg!”

“Compared to that story she told?  Are you crazy?  That is a grade A whore right there!”  Another said.

“I’d kill for a night with her,” the final man spoke wistfully, but his face was twisted in a crude caricature of lust.  “If she likes screaming I know just thing for her too.”

“Man, we all know what you are into,” the first complained.  “You have told us more than once, and once was far too much- can’t you even have a normal conversation?”

“All I am saying is that you don’t have to worry about kids if you stick it where I tell you!  And if you want to hear a girl beg and cry, ain’t nothing better!”

“You know,” Cass appeared beside the man.  “That is not a bad idea.”

Then her fist slammed into his stomach with enough force to send him flying into the wall.  The other two caught on when their buddy went flying and ‘activated’ their glyphs- though it was a far different activation than Cass’s own- and struck at her.  However, her training with Rowig- combined with her own glyphs- was more than enough for her to easily gain the upper hand.  She was so superior that she did not need to use her magic, but she felt it was fitting revenge to humiliate them, and so she made systems to trip them up so that she could laugh at them.  Then she made systems that shot a stone into one of their crotches, again laughing as the man collapsed in pain.

When she finally began to tire of this, which is to say that she got bored- she was not physically tired in the least- she used systems she had learned from Beergmutar, with spider silk as a catalyst, to spin webs that bound them hand and foot.

She put another wad of the stuff in their mouths just to shut them up, though it did make her sad that she would not be able to hear their screams as well as a result.

“So you boys like experimenting in where things go, hmmm?”  Cass joked as she dragged the three behind her.  “Well, I am not going to judge you for that- I wouldn’t have the experience to know, though I have heard stories.”

This particular courtyard was well decorated.  Four statues of soldiers bearing lances flanked a fountain with a beautiful woman statue who held a jug from which flowed the fountains water.  The garden was well kept, despite it being in one of the less used portions of the castle, but it was normally quiet- giving it an almost otherworldly, fae-like feeling sometimes.

“In fact, I would really like to help you.”  Cass said earnestly, though her face could only be described as ‘gleefully evil.’  “You boys don’t mind that right?”

Of course, the only answer she got back was unintelligible grunts against the gags of spider silk, but Cass took that for a yes.  

“Wonderful,” Cass stopped pulling them and picked one of them up with her supernatural strength.  “I think this is the perfect spot.”

Still holding the man, Cass casually jumped on to the horse statue- and proceeded to impale the man upon the statues lance.  Cass jumped down and admired her handiwork, as the shaking, screaming, man tried to escape- but only ended up causing himself more pain.

“Heh, Master was right,” Cass said to herself.  “I do feel better after this!”

She was also more sure that she had lost her sanity and any vestige of morality that she had when she was on the street- but she had two more people to ‘help.’