Caomhnóir - 40

“Welcome,” Darius called out when he was a few feet away from where Keegan stood. When he beckoned him to approach, Keegan shook his head.

“Release him first,” Keegan said with soft intensity.

Thom heard his voice and looked up, his eyes wide with hope and fear. “Go Keegan,” he called out, his voice raspy but strong with emotion. “Don’t let him do this to you. Don’t let him—” His words were choked off when the man holding the chain gave it a sharp tug, almost pulling Thom off his feet.

“Bastard,” Keegan shouted, taking a few steps to reduce the distance between him and Darius without stepping onto the bridge. “Free him, now!”

Darius just smiled, taking his hand from behind his back. “Put this on, then, possibly, I shall.” He held out a collar that matched the one on Thom, a thick chain hanging from it. Keeping the end of the chain held tightly in his hand, he tossed the collar to Keegan.

“When he’s by my side, and not before.”

Chuckling, Darius turned, telling the man to bring Thom to them, and then taking the chain from him. “The collar, now,” he ordered Keegan.

Fighting the Geis with everything in him, Keegan moved onto the bridge. He knew that once he’d put the collar on Darius had only to drag him a few hundred feet back along the bridge to the other side and he would be forever trapped, a prisoner in the place where he’d died, and Darius’ prisoner as well, with no hope of ever escaping.

When Keegan hesitated, Darius put one hand on Thom’s shoulder, forcing him to his knees. A slender blade appeared in Darius free hand. He pressed the edge of it against Thom’s throat just above the collar. Then he looked up at Keegan, waiting.

Slowly Keegan raised his collar, setting it around his throat but not closing it. “Let him go, Darius, and I am yours. Kill him and you have signed your death warrant.”

“No!” Thom grabbed Darius’ wrist between his manacled hands, not to force the dagger away, but to draw it across his own throat. A thin line of blood appeared, trickling down beneath the collar.

Darius’ eyes left Keegan, landing on his prisoner as he tried to pull the blade back. That was all that Keegan needed. His flail was instantly in one hand, a broadsword in the other. The sword rose and descended, a glancing blow taking Darius across the shoulder as he spun back to face Keegan.

Darius merely scowled as he dropped the two chains. Keeping the dagger at the ready, he was suddenly holding a gladius in his other hand. “Do you truly think you can defeat me, a seasoned warrior, street-boy,” he sneered before lunging towards Keegan. As he did, he called over his shoulder to his accomplice, “Kill his lover.”