Chapter 8

-Martin-

The angel rides with me again, mainly so that he can sit perpendicular to me, and not hurt his wings on the journey. And whilst Yvo could do this, the chances of him passing out whilst having a vision and somehow pushing the angel off the horse is just slightly too high for us to let them ride together.

Kossiq does however, make it very clear that he wants to chat whilst on our ride back to the Duchess’s mansion. After a few hours of me grunting responses at him with the occasional word thrown in the mix, he gives up with a sigh.

Until Yvo’s horse matches the pace of ours. I don’t really listen to their conversation, but the two seem to get on well, which is nice.

They can entertain each other, whilst I focus on keeping us safe and watching out for threats. We manage to go through a week or so peacefully, and although I don’t really talk to Yvo or Kossiq much, I feel like I’m slowly beginning to understand their personalities a little more.

Yvo is full of energy, and whether he is complaining or excited about something, he always has something to say. I found it annoying to begin with, but after travelling with each other for so long, I think I will miss his company once we return.

Kossiq, on the other hand, is a bit more of a wild card. He can be extremely sweet and gentle, and then get angry very easily. Not at us, he never gets angry at us, something I’ve found intriguing since day one.

He expresses his anger in different ways - sometimes, he’ll merely go silent. But, other times, it’s like his face is glued in the most disgruntled, pissed-off expression I’ve ever seen. Yvo asked about it before; Kossiq said he was thinking about the Archangels.

I asked what he was kicked out for before, thinking it was some kind of crime, but by the sounds of it…he did nothing wrong. However, he hasn’t actually told us what it was, so. It could all just be his own biased representation.

But, I get the feeling that Kossiq is telling the truth. I couldn’t say why, I just…don’t think it’s in his nature to lie.

“That doesn’t look good,” Kossiq says with a groan, and I force myself back into reality. I keep zoning out at the moment way too frequently. I glance in the direction the angel is pointing, frowning at the upturned carriage and bodies on the ground.

“Definitely not good,” I whisper, pulling out the blanket and covering Kossiq with it. Every time we’ve come across people, we’ve had to do this, so that no one sees his wings, and figures out what’s going on here.

Kossiq pulls the blanket over his head, leaning into my chest as his face won’t be visible either. I mean, being an angel aside, his features are pretty unusual. White hair, pale blue eyes and dark honey-coloured skin aren’t the most common around here.

Yvo and I share a look of concern as we get closer to the carnage, and I automatically place a protective hand on Kossiq’s lower back, supporting him in case a sudden movement spooks the horse, and she rears.

Dropping Kossiq on the ground sounds terrible, regardless of whether his wings are broken or not.

Not wanting to get embroiled with whatever happened here, we carry on through. There are two bodies on the ground- don’t look at them, I remind myself. There’s no point looking at dead bodies, and seeing something which might upset me.

Yes, I kill people, if someone’s paying me. I’m not a good person, and I know that. I’ve killed more people than I can count. But, that doesn’t mean seeing a dead child or something won’t upset me. So, I don’t look, just in case one of the bodies belongs to a child, or a pregnant woman.

I don’t hurt children, and I don’t hurt pregnant women. They deserve far better than that.

Kossiq suddenly grabs my shirt- well, no. He was already holding my shirt, but now he’s practically clinging to it. To me. Glancing down, I push the blanket out of his eyes slightly, whispering “what is it?”

He flicks his eyes to the side, nodding his head in the direction of one of the bodies. Dragging my eyes to meet what he’s gesturing to, I realise abruptly that one of the bodies is still breathing. I bring our horse to a stop, just standing there, frozen.

If I was on my own, I would just go on. I wouldn’t stop to deal with this, I wouldn’t do anything to hinder my journey back.

But, the way Kossiq is looking at me, there’s- I can’t just keep going. I have to at least try and help the person. Right as I’m about to get down from the horse, Yvo grabs my arm. “Don’t,” he whispers, his voice urgent.

Kossiq and I both look at him curiously, but he says nothing, only spurring his horse onwards again. Kossiq looks angry and disappointed, whilst I feel…strangely disappointed also. I thought I’d feel…relieved, that I don’t have to deal with this, but…I actually…maybe, just a tiny bit, wanted to do something good, for once.

Spurring our own horse forwards, we quickly catch up to Yvo. “Why did you stop him?” Kossiq asks, although the anger has already gone from his expression, and he just looks sad now. I find myself placing my hand back on his lower back again.

Was that…did I just try to comfort someone?

“We have to hurry up, or we’ll be in danger,” Yvo says quietly, and I realise how upset leaving that person behind made him also. Deciding to continue wasn’t an easy decision for him to make either, apparently.

“I had a vision, last night. I didn’t mention it, because I thought it was just more mumbo jumbo shit - I get those kinds of visions a lot, and I have to sort through them. Anyway, the one I saw, was of…that scene, back there. Those people were attacked, by bandits. I saw what happened to them, or rather, what was going to happen, and by the time we got there, had happened.”

Yvo glances up at me, his expression grave. “Martin, I don’t think even you could’ve survived a fight with those guys. They’re the real deal. And we can’t risk that. We have to just keep going, they might still be in the area,” he explains, exhaling deeply.

I stare straight in front of me, at Yvo’s back as he speeds up his horse’s pace. I can feel Kossiq’s eyes on me, but I just…I should’ve never accepted this job.

Before, I never cared much if I saw a dead body. I never cared if I saw someone I could help, but ignored them. I never cared what other people thought of me.

I never cared what an angel would think of me.