I watched the intruder turn around and duck before the knife could come in contact with her skin. A sharp ‘twang’ echoed throughout the room as the dagger embedded itself into the wall.
Missed. My eyes locked with hers as she stood up slowly, her gaze making the room seem frigid.
“Oh, Fynos,” I whispered.
“Your God of mercy can’t save you now,” she seethed, bringing her hands together. In between her palms, a small, dark-blue sphere started to form, expanding when she pulled her hands away from it. As the ball grew, it started to glow, illuminating the room.
What in the seven hells is that thing? The intruder forcefully pushed the orb towards me, aiming at my head. I dodged her attack just in time to see the ball fly over me, and smash into the wall behind me. The collision made the room rattle, causing candles to fall off shelves and papers to drop off the edge of my desk. I glanced over my shoulder to assess the damage. An ashy residue stained the spot on the wall where the magic had hit.
Before she could start making another ball, I snatched a dagger from my bedside table. Quickly, I aimed for the intruder’s heart and threw the knife with all the force I had.
She tried to dodge the attack, but this time it was too late; the blade had pierced her skin and embedded itself into her chest. The intruder looked at me, a mixture of surprise and disgust on her face.
“You’ll pay for this,” she choked, clutching at the knife lodged in her chest. I watched her eyes go dull before she crumpled to the ground.
“I doubt it,” I replied with a chuckle. Sighing, I got out of bed and walked over to the body. I knelt next to her and checked her – nonexistent – pulse before pulling the dagger out of her chest. The blood-covered metal glistened with wetness as I tossed it behind me, promising myself I’d clean it later.
As I peeled the cloak off the intruder, a gust of wind blew in through the open window, the cold, winter air making me shiver. I should close that.
Searching the inside of her cloak, I found a secret pocket with a small piece of parchment inside. I disregarded the blood that coated the inside of the pocket and pulled out the note.
The only words that I could make out on the blood-soaked paper were, ‘Capture Aspen…’
Why would someone want to capture Aspen? I shoved the note back into the pocket and turned the cloak over, so I could inspect the embroidery on the back. The stitching depicted a swirly crest with the letters “IM” sewn into the middle.
Questions filled my mind as I held the fabric. What does “IM” stand for? What does this IM person want Aspen for?
I dropped the cloak, trying not to think about it too much. My eyes wandered over to the body, lying limply on my floor.
“Now, what shall I do with you?” I sighed, standing up and heaving the corpse over my shoulder. The intruder's blood seeped into my nightgown, covering me with blood … again. I hauled her to the window and dropped her off the two-story ledge.
~~~
Colors of dawn painted the sky with soft pink and orange hues. Usually, watching the sky helped calm me. Whether it was sunrise or sunset, the color of the sky always seemed to soothe my anxieties. After tonight’s events, I really needed to relax.
I leaned against the window frame, my elbows propping me up. Wistfully, I watched the sun as it started to peek out from its mountain-top blankets.
Sighing, I pushed myself off of the window frame and shut the window. I shed my bloodied nightgown onto the floor and bathed myself before getting dressed in the guild’s trademark uniform: black pants and a black tunic with the guild’s crest embroidered over the left side of the chest.
Before I went into the dining hall, I decided that I’d make a slight detour to Dusk’s office. Dusk was the guild’s leader. She handled most of the contracts, and all of the funds that went into keeping this place hidden and operating smoothly.
I approached the big wooden doors of Dusk’s office, feeling slightly intimidated by their height. Staring at the patterned swirls, I traced the carvings with my finger. After a couple minutes, I snapped out of my trance and knocked on the hardwood.
“Come in,” Dusk’s strict call came from behind the doors.
I pushed the door open and sat in one of the two chairs that stood across from her mahogany desk.
“I need a new contract,” I stated, crossing my legs.
“Alright. How did your last one go?” she asked as she shuffled through papers that littered her desk.
“It went alright. The victim is gone, so I guess the goal was met,” I replied. She shoved aside a few stray pieces of gold and skimmed the words on the parchment underneath.
“That’s good,” she said, preoccupied with the stack of papers in front of her. She picked up a pile of papers and began to look through them.
My eyes wandered to the overflowing bookshelves that lined the room, and I read what I could of the titles closest to me.
'History of Erratath', 'Waekbourne's Rise to Power', 'Royal Family Bloodlines'
I kept skimming through the book titles, most of them seeming to be about historical events or the Capital's political system. some of the books had more interesting titles like, ‘The Legend of the Great Mage’ and ‘Sacrifice of the Apprentice’
“Ah ha!” Dusk exclaimed, handing me the contract. She had made a mess of her desk, unlit candles knocked over and papers piled on top of each other.
“May I have my payment from the last contract, too?” I inquired.
“Oh, yes, sorry.” She handed me a small pouch of gold. I pocketed it and stood up.
“Thank you, Dusk. See you around,” I said, excusing myself.
“You too, Brynn.” She nodded as I turned and walked out of her office.
I skimmed over the contract as I made my way towards the dining hall. On the parchment, she was described as a stout woman with fiery, red hair, and green eyes. She was a lady of the Royal Council, and she lived in the capital of Waekbourne. The client stated in the contract that I had two months to complete the job. That was doable.
Suddenly, I collided with some kind of large mass. I looked up to see familiar messy, black hair.
“Oh, Aspen! sorry about that,” I murmured anxiously.
“Oh, don’t worry about it, just watch where you’re going next time,” he chuckled, smirking. I felt my cheeks heat up.
“I’ll try,” I laughed nervously. “What are you up to?”
“I was about to go get my contract, but I got sidetracked by Phantom. He was telling me about how his room was ransacked before he got home last night. He seemed livid,” Aspen replied.
“Yeah that sounds like him,” I confessed. “He’s a very aggressive person.”
Maybe the ransacking of his room had something to do with the intruder from last night.
“He’s in the dining room if you want to ask him about it. It seemed like quite an odd occurrence,” Aspen stated
Maybe the same person who was going through my room, stopped by Phantom’s room first.
“Will do,” I mumbled, still lost in my thoughts.
“I’ll meet you in the dining hall in a bit.” Aspen started walking towards Dusk’s office.
“See you soon,” I muttered absentmindedly.
I rolled-up the contract and shoved it into my back pocket before stepping into the refectory. As I walked up to the server to get my food, I scanned the room for Phantom’s long white hair and muscular build. There weren’t very many people eating at this time, so he wasn’t very hard to find.
I took a deep breath, mentally preparing myself for this potentially dangerous conversation. Phantom had a slight anger problem, and I didn’t want to get hurt.
Once I got my bowl of porridge, I sauntered over to his table and sat across from him. He looked up at me and swallowed what was in his mouth before speaking.
“What are you doing here?” His brows furrowed.
“I heard that someone ransacked your room last night,” I retorted.
“Yeah, what about it,” he responded harshly.
“Anything weird occur? I need details, so try to remember.” I crossed my arms. “I know it’ll be hard with that small brain of yours.” “Why?” he seethed. Phantom tightened his grip on the spoon he was holding, making his knuckles turn white.
“Stop asking questions and just tell me,” I said tauntingly, watching as he took a deep breath in an attempt to relax himself.
“Nothing weird happened, except for the fact that someone had the balls to look through my shit,” he shouted, slamming his fist into the table.
“Okay, did they happen to drop anything, or did you see anyone leaving?” I asked. Phantom put a finger to his chin.
“As I was approaching my room, I saw a shadow quickly duck into another room. I didn’t think too much of it, but I guess it could’ve been the person that broke into my room.” He took a spoonful of his own porridge and shoved it into his mouth.
How is that possible? She came in through the window. I shouldn't dwell over this too much, plus, I was starting to annoy Phantom.
“Thank you for the information, Phantom. That was all I needed.”
“Whatever,” he said dismissively.
I watched as he took one more bite, finishing off his porridge. He then stood up, grabbed his plate and walked away. Turning my attention towards my own breakfast, I picked up my spoon. As I was shoveling mounds of brown sugar into my oatmeal, I saw Aspen plop himself in the seat across from me.
“Did you get your first contract?” I muttered.
“Sure did!” he exclaimed.
“Awesome, where do you have to go?” I spooned some of the hot cereal into my mouth.
“A small village off the border of Ayrith. It should only take a couple hours to get there,” he said through a mouthful of food. “Where’s your next contract?”
“I have to go to Waekbourne to off some Royal Council member,” I replied, finishing off my breakfast.
“Waekbourne? I’ve never been to the capital before,” he stated.
“Well, after you finish your contract, and if Dusk is okay with it, feel free to come along,” I offered.
“When are you leaving?” he asked before gobbling up the rest of his oatmeal.
“Day after tomorrow,” I answered.
“Alright, I can do that.” He smirked. “How about we go practice like we said we would.”
“Sounds good. Take care of the dishes and I’ll meet you there.”
“Why do I have to take care of the dishes?” he sighed.
“Because, you’re the new guy,” I teased.
“Fair enough.”
We both stood up and he grabbed the dishes, while I left the dining hall, making my way towards the practice room
~~~
I placed my contract on a bench and grabbed a rapier from the rack next to it.
“I’m going to kick your ass,” I boasted flippantly.
“Oh, I doubt that,” he replied playfully.
“Don’t you remember last time? I knocked you to the ground in less than a minute.”
“Of course, I remember that fateful day, but I’ve gotten better,”
“Well then, all I have left to say is...” I smirked whipping my sword into an offensive position. “En garde!”
I swung my sword towards him, but he deflected my blow. Quickly, I swung again. He grunted as he blocked my attacks, but remained persistent. My eyes darted to his change in position. He was about to attack.
I moved into a defensive stance and let his blade hit mine. Swiftly, I moved backwards, dodging his next attack. As he lost his balance and stumbled forward slightly, I attacked again. But, Aspen recovered quickly, and blocked the strike.
“You have gotten better,” I said with a pant. He nodded in acknowledgement.
Even though he was blocking every single one of my attacks, I could feel him tiring. Sweat drenched his back and his defense got weaker each time I struck. I was starting to tire as well. Each advance I made, the more exhausting it was. It was time to end it.
Catching him off guard, I thrusted the sword towards his chest. He was able to bring his sword up quick enough to block. This had quickly become a matter of strength to see who would disarm the other first.
I gasped as my strength faltered and my wrist turned, causing my sword to fly out of my hand. My eyes followed it as it clattered on the stone floor. When I looked back at Aspen, his blade was inches from my neck. He was panting and sweat dripped from his brow.
“Damn,” I remarked, genuinely impressed. I put my hands up with a defeated sigh. “I surrender.”
“Thanks,” he breathed, whipping the blade away from my body. He sat on the bench to catch his breath. I took a seat next to him and let my mind trail off into thoughts about the intruder from last night, and how the same thing had happened to Phantom.
“By any chance…” Aspen started, “Did anything weird happen to you last night?”
The question caught me off guard.
“What do you mean by that?” I questioned.
“I mean like what happened to Phantom,” he replied.
“Why do you ask?” I looked at him quizzically. Did his room get ransacked last night too?
“Because, Brynn,” he sighed. I detected a hint of nervousness in his eyes. “I heard you murder someone last night.”
Comments (0)
See all