"The truth" - A Caan story

“The truth”

“The darkness of the Caan bloodline: Iriden Caan”

Part I.

A hooded figure walked carefully through the streets of Stormwind, carefully guarding his cigarette from the rain. He was getting tired of the city; even here he was unable to escape the rain. It had been the same for him in the depths of Duskwood, the constant rain that coated his village for hours every day.

He looked up sharply at the sound of a light footstep on a roof above him. He flicked his cigarette from his hand and put it on the hilt of his dagger at a second sound behind him. He slowly turned round to see a man crouched on the pavement, lingering near the edge of the canal.

“Ye’d be wise to piss off” he said.
“Wise? Kalec Caan, y’were never wise” muttered the man as he stood up.

Kalec stood and studied the man’s face, it was middle aged and slightly scarred, the signs of an older fighter, a man that had seen a lot. However, this apparent feature held no weight with Kalec, he was older than him but a Caan fought until the grave.

“Well, if y’know I’m a Caan, then y’know I’m na’ gonna go down easy” said Kalec defiantly. His eyes narrowed as the man let out a husky laugh, a sign of perhaps one too many cigarettes in his lifetime.

“Y’say tha’, yet the whole clan was wiped ou’ in a day, save fer ye n’ yer daugh’ers” said the man with a smirk.

Kalec carefully allowed his eyes to wander over the man, he was armoured in leather, some of it had seen better days and yet his weapons were spotless. His complexion was fairly light and yet his hair was pitch black. Kalec’s eyes widened slightly as he stared the man in the face. After a moment he regained his composure and carefully lowered his hood as the man in front of him casually lit a cigarette.

“An’ ‘ow would y’know abou’ tha’?” muttered Kalec as he slowly let his hand slip away from the hilt of his dagger.
“The clan was weak, yer jes lucky y’weren’ there on tha’ day”

Kalec grunted and clenched his fists, he was a man of composure, despite the blood that coursed through his veins and yet, there was a massive sense of pride that he carried with him, pride in his blood and his daughters.

“Ain’ much anyone could do agains’ the friggin’ scourge ye twa’. Me n’ me’ daugh’ers were away, sure, but ain’ like none o’ the oth-“
“Scourge, so tha’s wha’ y’reckon ‘appened, tch, all tha’ fer nothin’” interrupted the man.
“The feck d’ye mean by tha’?”
“Uncle Kalec, all those times spent tryin’ t’knock me’ aroun’ n’ y’still don’ recognise me? I’m ‘urt”

Kalec’s hands went limp as he stared at the man; those hands soon began to shake slightly. Fear was not something a Caan usually felt, fear was a weakness in their eyes and it always had been. Kalec couldn’t help himself, if this man was referring to him as as his uncle, there were only two people on Azeroth he could be.

“I…Iriden” he muttered as his hands slowly stopped shaking, only to be clenched again moments after.
“Yer not fresh outta wisdom then, I’m chuffed”

“Y’left the village when yer scum brother was born, the feck are y’still doin’ alive? The ‘eck d’y’care fer wha’ ‘appened t’the village?! Ye abandoned the village boy! D’ye remember tha’?!” yelled Kalec.

Iriden shifted on his feet as he flicked the half smoked cigarette into the canal and stepped forwards with a grin on his face. He stopped in front of Kalec, the two of them close enough their noses were almost touching.

“The village was piss, Kalec. Father and mother were piss, so are ye n’ yer lil’ girls an’ like I said, yer jes lucky y’weren’ ‘ome tha’ nigh’. Can’t say the same fer yer wife though, eh?” whispered Iriden with a confident smirk plastered across his face.

Kalec watched with his eyes still slightly widened as Iriden reached down to unbutton a piece of his chest armour, pulling it aside to reveal the same “tattoo” that all Caan’s sported on their chests.

“I weren’ none t’appy wit’ shi’ like this, ‘avin’ t’carry aroun’ a mark fer the rest o’ me’ life, an’ fer wha’? So I could sit in tha’ village n’ steal shi’, get old n’ die? Na’, I left ‘cause I knew I weren’ gonna get wha’ I wanted in tha’ shi’ole” he whispered.

“An’ wha’ did y’find ou’ in the world eh?”

“Strength, skill, sex, money, violence, death n’ greed. An’ I must say, I liked all o’ it” he said with a grin.
“An’ so I wen’ back t’tha’ shi’ole village wit’ one goal in mind. If the name Caan was gonna be great n’ feared, it weren’ through ye lot n’ yer lil’ hide n’ seek games, yer cargo theft n’ yer yellin’.”

Kalec’s mouth twisted into an angry frown as he clenched his fists even further, the cracking of his fingers echoing through the empty street. He stared at Iriden, a boy that he had helped train alongside his brother, Karl. His face only continued to fill with anger as Iriden continued to grin, rain drops falling from his eyelashes and nose.
“Y’killed ‘em all… Y’killed yer family, yer people! Y’killed everyone!” said Kalec through gritted teeth.

“Yeh, I did. Unfortunately, tha’ lil’ goal weren’ realised, four lil’ pieces o’ shi’ managed t’survive” growled Iriden.
“Four eh, seems ye ain’ quite as smart as y’though, shi’ fer brains” said Kalec as his face formed a bitter grin.

“Oh? Someone else survived n’ all? Guess I weren’ as thorough as I intended ta’ be but tha’ ain’ no problem, I’ll sort it” said Iriden cockily.

In a swift motion, Kalec yanked his dagger from its sheath, tearing the leather surrounding it and swung it towards Iriden’s neck. He growled quietly as the dagger tore through the palm of Iriden’s left hand, which was now firmly clenched around Kalec’s hand.

“Old man, ye ain’ got the strength or the skill t’take me ou’. No Caan alive ‘as anythin’ close t’enough. Ye’ll die ‘ere t’nigh’, then I’ll be goin’ after yer daugh’ers” said Iriden with a chuckle, seemingly not phased by the fact Kalec’s dagger had ripped through his hand.

“Y’think jes ‘cause y’came from the ‘ead ‘ouse yer somethin’ special? Yer Dad was a legend, every fecker in the forest feared ‘im!” yelled Kalec.
“Yeh, they feared ‘im but tha’s jes one forest, Kalec. An’ ‘eck, ‘e can’t o’ been tha’ tough, I ‘eard ‘e bit the bullet, same as Ma”

“Why didn’ ye kill ‘em when y’tore up the rest o’ our feckin’ people?” said Kalec with a deep growl, his anger seemingly rising without any end in sight.

“Well, y’know ‘ow me’ parents were, old man. As proud o’ the Caans as y’are, so I figured I’d let ‘em suffer”

“And yer lil’ brother?!” shouted Kalec.

Kalec watched as Iriden burst into a fit of laughter, steadily pushing Kalec’s hand away from his neck as the laughter continued. Kalec watched as Iriden pulled his hand away from Kalec’s blade, a sickening rip echoing around them.

“The other one tha’ survived was me’ kid brother eh? Tha’s friggin’ rich! So tha’s why yer ‘ere” said Iriden, in amongst small chuckles.

Kalec grunted and let his hand fall to his side, the disgust he felt for Iriden and Ledgic was deeply seeded within his soul and yet, with the realisation of Iriden’s survival and deeds in the past, it was as if Ledgic was steadily becoming something much less important.

“Well, I guess I’ll pay a lil’ visit t’yer daugh’ers, then I’ll kill me’ kid brother. Where is ‘e these days, wha’s ‘is name?” said Iriden as his eyes sharply fixed on Kalec’s.

“Ledgic Kaden Caan, leader o’ some undergroun’ crime organisation by th’name o’ the syndicate. I ‘ear ‘e’s na’ exactly a pushover, y’think y’can take ‘im? I’m an old man, ‘e’s young, younger than ye” said Kalec.

He couldn’t believe what he was saying, here he was, defending and almost promoting Ledgic’s skills, the skills of a man he had spent months finding a chance to kill.

“Ledgic eh? A’righ’, well, I’ll do wha’ ye couldn’ do ol’ fella, I’ll be seein’ ye in ‘ell no doubt!” said Iriden with a grin as he swiftly moved his hand, drawing his weapon to stab it straight through Kalec’s throat.

Iriden watched with something close to delight as Kalec dropped his weapon and began choking violently. Iriden knelt down as Kalec fell to his knees and attempted to swing a punch at Iriden, though it was in vain. The fist connected with Iriden’s face, yet the damage was non-existant.

Iriden watched with pleasure as the life drained out of Kalec’s face and eyes, before he eventually died.

“Now, t’bag ‘im up n’ find ‘is lil’ lasses, aww, I’m all ‘appy now, get t’see me’ brother n’ me’ cousins!” Iriden laughed as he hauled the corpse of Kalec over his shoulder and walked into the black of night.