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Guess this could be the place to start my story of a fetchling that was born in the smoky rift to the shadow realm in the city of Ridwan
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The rushed footsteps of a running boy can be heard on the polluted streets of Ridwan. A sack full of bread and a few coins was the only evidence that suggests why there was a man chasing closely behind him,
"Stop, thief!"
Of course, the boy did not stop. With a twist of his heels, the boy turned a sharp corner into a darkened alley. Unfortunately for the boy, he ran into a wall much too tall for him to climb. What is worse is that he could still hear the footsteps of the man pursuing him. The boy looked around the alley, but he saw nothing that can be of use to him. He turned around to face the man that was chasing him. He had a very plump belly that only seemed to get bigger when he was panting. After the man caught his breath, he looked straight into the boy's brown eyes,
"I got you cornered. Hand over the bag and I promise, no harm will come to you," The man said with a stern expression.
The boy's eyes looked around the alley again, but he saw nothing he could use to his advantage. The plump man took a step forward, and the boy, a step back,
"My patience is running thin," The man said as he stretched out a meaty hand. "Give me the bag now, or I'll be forced to use other means."
The boy gripped on to the sack tightly. No way was he going to just give back the goods he worked so hard to steal. He needed to think of something, quickly. The man took another step forward. The boy tried to take another step back, but his back was already up against the wall. The boy looked behind the man and noticed that the two of them weren't the only ones in the alley. The fat man gave the boy a sinister smile as he pulled out a steak knife that he was carrying with him,
"Alright," The man said, "you leave me no choice!"
The man raised the knife to strike at the boy, but then a sack was pulled over the fat man's head! The man dropped the knife on the floor and reached for the sack that was pulled over his head! The boy saw this as an opportunity and swiftly brought his leg around the fat man's meaty leg, tripping him! The boy then started running for the exit of the alley! The large man had finally got the sack off of his head and was in the process of getting up,
"Get back here, twerp!"
The boy, with a renewed spark of energy, ran out of the alley and back onto the streets! As he was running he noticed a boy that seemed to be about his age yelling at him,
"This way," The other boy yelled at him.
And as if the boy knew that he was the one that saved him earlier, turned around and started to run with him,
"My hideout's over here," the other boy said, "you can hide there!"
The two ran through the streets and crowds of the slums, they couldn't help but notice the all familiar smells that littered the air. The yelling and stomping of the mad, fat, and now very sweaty man could be heard behind them, but he was much too far to ever catch up.
"My hideout's just around this corner," said the boy.
He led him into another alley that looked identical to the last one, but there was a wooden board wedged into the ground. The boy that saved him grabbed the board and yanked it out. Where the board was, was now a tunnel that the boy assumed led to this hideout,
"After you," the boy with the board said.
With a little hesitance, he crawled into the tunnel. The tunnel that led to the hideout was a short tunnel, and he soon found that he could stand up again. The boy found that he was in a fairly sized room, but the only furniture was a somewhat rotting chest and an old bed with old blankets. As he came further into the room, he noticed a picture on a shelf of a man, a woman, and their child being held affectionately. Another body popped out of the hole and the boy turned around,
"Welcome to my home/hideaway! it might not seem like much, but at least it's better than living on the streets," the other boy said as he sat on the old bed.
The boy with the sack took a seat on the ground and started to inspect the contents of the bag. Inside was a couple loaves of bread, some dried fruits, and a few coins,
"What's in the bag?" the boy asked.
No answer. Instead the boy tossed him one of the loaves and started to chew on some dried fruit. As the other boy gave him a look of appreciation and started to chow down on the bread, he noticed he forgot something,
"Oh! We didn't introduce ourselves yet! I'm Kavyn! What's your name?"
The boy looked up at Kavyn, he had hazel eyes and messy, dark brown hair that went all the way to his shoulders. His face was dirty, but that's usual for someone living on the streets. He was wearing a stained brown T-shirt and pants with extremely faded shoes. His skin was a pale grey, and his ears pointed. The boy gave Kavyn a slight smile before saying,
"Well I... Don't exactly have a name," the boy said to Kavyn as he took another bite of the dried fruit.
Kavyn gave the boy a confused look . 'He must have been on the streets all his life' Kavyn thought. "Well how 'bout this: let's team up! I mean, it's easier to survive if you can rely on other people. Like earlier when I helped you escape that fat man," Kavyn stretched out a hand towards the boy, "What do you say, teammates?"
The boy finished his fruit and looked at the outstretched hand 'Having a partner would be easier.' he thought. He gave Kavyn another smile as he clasped his hand and shook it. Kavyn gave an even wider smile as he released his grip on the boy's hand,
"Sweet," Kavyn said with delight. "You can stay here if you want, I got some spare blankets in the chest over there."
And with that, Kavyn lied down on the bed and closed his eyes. It was getting late and the boy was tired, so he grabbed some blankets from the chest and made a makeshift bed on the floor,
"Yeah, teammates." is the last word the boy spoke before drifting off to sleep. The first contact since his emergence from the smoky rift that dominates the city's central square, what would become of him now the boy wondered?
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In the Ridwan marketplace, a fist slams onto the counter of a food stand,
"What is the meaning of this?!" a young boy asked the bearded man running the stand.
Of course, the owner drew his undivided attention to the boy who made the sudden outburst, leaving the rest of the stand unwatched. 'Just what I wanted.' the boy thought.
"What is the meaning of WHAT?" the stand keeper asked the boy, obviously annoyed that a kid was yelling at him.
The boy-or rather Kavyn, picked up a pear and shoved it into the owner's face,
"This fruit is uneatable! It's clearly been poisoned! What kind of cruel trick is this?"
During Kavyn's arguing with the stand keeper, another boy sneaked behind the stand with a large bag and started to fill it with the unattended fruits. Hopefully, if Kavyn gives him enough time, then he can steal enough to last them at least a week. The man slapped the pear away from his face. He furiously grabbed Kavyn by the collar and held him up,
"Poisoned? You think my produce is POISONED? I'll poison you if you don't piss off right now!"
Kavyn, not intimidated in the slightest, spat dead center in the man's eye. The man unhanded Kavyn to rub the liquid out of his eye. Kavyn laughed triumphantly,
"Well, if you really want me to," Kavyn said, "now I'll just take my leave."
He slammed the counter again, which was the signal for the other boy to pack up and leave. He tied up the large bag and carefully exited the stand.
"You b%$*!!" the man yelled as he took out a wooden plank to beat Kavyn with.
And with that, Kavyn pelted the man in the face with the "poisoned" pear. The man made a brief yelp as he fell over, and Kavyn made a run for it!
________________________________________
Kavyn and the boy sat down in near their hideout, inspecting the contents of the goods,
"Man, we really fooled him!" Kavyn said, taking a bite out of a juicy apple.
"Yeah," the boy said, "you were really good."
"D'aww, it was nothing," Kavyn said rubbing the back of his head, "You did good too! Snatching up all the fruit like...like... ummm."
Kavyn looked for the right words, but then he saw a hawk fly by, carrying it's meal in its claws. That gave him an idea,
"Like talons," Kavyn finished. "You said yesterday that you didn't have a name, right?"
"Yeah, I don't really own a name," the boy said giving Kavyn a curious look for why he's bringing up the subject now.
Kavyn laughed, "Then how about I name you? Your name can be Talon."
'Talon,' the boy thought, 'that sounds as good of a name as any.'
"Alright then," the boy said, "you can call me Talon."
The boy, who was now known as Talon, passed the sack to Kavyn,
"This should last us a few days," Talon said, "I'm going back inside."
Talon removed the wooden plank that revealed the tunnel that led to the hideout and crawled inside. Kavyn, still sitting up against a wall, finished his apple,
"Talon," He said quietly, "maybe we can be like brothers one day."
Kavyn got up and went into the hideout. Talon was already in bed. Kavyn quietly placed the sack of fruits in the wooden chest and then lied down on his bed, thinking of what the future holds.
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One week later...
A frying pan flew by and almost smacked Talon in the back of the head as he was running from the thrower. Talon tried to nab a couple potatoes from him earlier, but the man saw him and Talon had to book it. 'Where the hell is Kavyn?' thought Talon as he dodged a spatula being hurled at him. Kavyn was supposed to cause a distraction at the store. That was their usual plan, but this time Kavyn didn't even show up, and Talon got impatient. Talon turned a corner and hid in the shadows provided by the buildings. The pursuer also turned the corner, but he didn't see Talon hiding. The man was holding a long, metal stirring spoon defensively. He walked right by, not even noticing that Talon was standing right there. After the man passed by, Talon quietly paced out in the opposite direction.
Talon made it back to the hideout safely, but he had an empty stomach and he wasn't able to steal any food and get away from the angry person. He sat down on Kavyn's bed and let out a deep sigh. He was angry at Kavyn for not showing up, but he was also worried, 'What if something happened to him?' Talon thought. And as if he knew Talon was thinking about him, Kavyn popped his head into room. Now Talon's just angry.
"Hey there partner," Kavyn said as he tossed Talon half of a potato, and he took a bite of another half.
"You ass! Where the hell were you?!" Talon snapped.
"What do you mean?" Kavyn asked, obviously confused.
"The plan? We were going to make off with some potatoes, remember?"
If there was ever a time where Kavyn would face slap himself, now would've been perfect,
"Oh, my bad on that one. I totally forgot, but look what I was able to snatch from a drunk person earlier," Kavyn pulled out a handful of gold and silver coins. "This must be at least two or three pounds of gold and silver in here. You should be happy that I came across this."
"I almost took a frying pan to the back of the head and a spatula to my back and you expect me to be happy?"
Another time for Kavyn to face slap himself,
"And besides," Talon continued, "how will we even be able to spend the gold? Practically the whole market knows us, and they would turn us in for thievery."
"Ah, but here is where I show you the second things I 'found'" Kavyn pulled in a cardboard box and took off the lid. Inside was a purple jacket with a hood, a pair of ripped pants, black shoes, black fingerless gloves and a red bandana, "Since I'm nice, you can have the cool clothes, and I'll just wear the other one." He pulled out another box, but this time, inside was just a plain brown cloak with a hood, "If we put these on, no one from the market would ever recognize us." Kavyn slipped on his brown cloak, but left the hood off.
Talon thought it over, 'It could work,' he thought, 'but if it doesn't then I-'
"You should put it on," Kavyn said, interrupting Talon's thoughts.
Kavyn grabbed the photo of the couple and their baby off the shelf and starred deeply into it as Talon slipped on the new garb. He put on a serious expression, which was unlike him to do. Talon, now dressed in the new clothes, (renegade Talon skin without the cape and arm-blade) noticed Kavyn's new expression,
"Who are they?" Talon asked.
Kavyn looked up at Talon, surprised at the sudden question,
"They're my parents," He said with a hint of sadness.
"What happened to them?" Talon pressed.
"Dead. Killed by the man they were in debt to..."
"It happened back when I was eight and a half. My parents loved me, maybe a bit too much. We lived in a small house not too far from here. Life was better back then. I didn't have to steal food just to live another day. Hah, problem was: my parents were poor, and in huge debt to some Sczarni loaner. My parents couldn't find the funds to pay off the debt, and soon enough, we were getting death threats from the loaner that if we don't pay him his money soon, he will hire some henchmen to come and 'take care of us.'"
Kavyn took a brief pause before continuing,
"But my parents didn't listen, nor could they even do anything about it. One day, we received a letter saying that the henchmen are on their way, and that's when my mom brought me here, in this room. 'Don't come out until we come and get you,' she told me. She then handed me this photo of us and left to go back to the house."
Kavyn's eyes were slightly red now, but there were no tears. He rubbed his eyes before continuing,
"I waited for three days. Three days I stayed down here. I got hungry, because I ran out of what little food Mom gave me. So I left the hideout and came back to my house. All seemed normal on the outside. It's when I went inside, that I discovered the horrible massacre that was in front of me. Both of my parents were dead. Slaughtered by the people that were hired to kill us. I knew I couldn't stay. I knew that they would come back for me. So I went back. Back to this hideout that I now call home. They'd never find me here."
A small tear then ran down Kavyn's cheek,
"Ever since then, I've been living here. Stealing to survive another day. It's hard to believe that it has already been six years."
Talon, who had been surprisingly quiet the whole time, gave Kavyn a pitiful look. Talon never knew his parents, so he didn't really feel anything when he thought of who or what they were. What did make Talon wonder was 'why did they leave me on the streets?' and 'did I do something wrong?'. Talon saw Kavyn rubbing the tears off of his cheeks and then realized that pressing the subject any further will be a terrible idea,
"So enough about my life," Kavyn said with his usual, upbeat tone, "We need to test out the new clothes. Wouldn't want to have to go to sleep on an empty stomach."
"You're hungry already? We just ate half a potato each." Talon said.
"Hey, it's hard work telling my life's story. Besides, we need to stock up."
Kavyn grabbed Talon's arm and dragged him out of the tunnel,
"Let's hope this works," Talon mumbled.
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Two bulky men were walking down the streets of the marketplace. One of the men had a bulky, double edged ax in his right hand, and was wearing heavy military armor, while the other was carrying two weird looking, smaller, throwing axes, with some flashy executioner's garb. The one with the two smaller axes had a mustache that drooped down partly off of his face, while the other was clean shaven, with his hair combed back,
"I can't believe they're sending Draven, the finest executioner in all of Nidal, to hunt down two street kids!" The man with the two axes complained.
"Just shut up and let's get this over with," the guy with the big ax said. "Besides, these two have been stealing from the marketplace for a long time, and now there are merchants knocking down the military's door demanding that we do something about them."
"I know, I know. But I'm so tired of them always sending Draven, the finest executioner in all of Nidal, to do their dirty work! Draven needs some real action! Not just some search and capture mission in this old, dirty, rundown marketplace!"
"Why do you always do that?"
"Do what?"
"Talk about yourself in third person?"
"It helps my public image, Darius. Nothing you would ever understand," Draven said, giving Darius an immature laugh.
"Whatever. The targets, do you still have the pictures of them?" Darius said, more demanding than asking.
Draven pulled out two pictures. One of them was a picture of Talon, and the other, Kavyn,
"Soooooo. They want us to hunt down these two street kids? Piece of cake! I could even do it blindfolded!"
"Just remember: try not to kill them yet. They should at least get a fair trial."
"Right! And when they get sentenced to death, Draven will get to put on a show at the execution!"
Elsewhere in the market...
"Hard to believe we actually pulled it off," Kavyn said as he and Talon were exiting a grocery shop with a bag full of food. Lucky for them the disguises were enough to fool the shopkeeper.
"I guess," Talon said, "but something just seems off: we're thieves, and pretty good thieves at that. So couldn't we just steal the food and save the gold for something else?"
faceslap.
"Well, uhhh, if we are good at stealing stuff, then we can steal everything. Then there would be no use for the gold, would there?" Kavyn explained.
Talon gave Kavyn the "You're stupid" look.
"Ummm... Let me show you from another prospective," Kavyn said looking away from Talon's gaze, "If we continue to steal food, then the owners of the shops will get no money, and therefore go out of business. Then there would be no food for us to steal. Make sense?"
"Not really."
"It's called business, though I don't think you'll understand how that works either."
"Whatever. Let's just get back to our hideout."
As they were walking through the market, Kavyn noticed two people who stood out from all the rest. They both had axes, and one was wearing armor. But what really made Kavyn notice them was the fact that one of the men kept yelling out sentences about 'Draven' to the crowd,
"Don't you worry ladies and gents', Draven's here to take care of your little pest problem!"
"Shut up," the other man with the big ax yelled.
"Hold on," Kavyn said, putting an arm in front of Talon, signaling him to stop.
Talon stopped in his tracks and stared at Kavyn, then at the two men he was looking at, "What is it?" He asked.
"Let's get a closer look," Kavyn said, walking towards the two men, Talon following close behind.
"Draven's got an execution later today, if any of you's want to come watch me in action!"
While Draven was yelling out his ego, Darius was going up to people listening to Draven asking them if they've seen the two boys they were looking for,
"Have you seen these two?" Darius said showing the man a picture of them.
"Yes. yes I have."
"Do you know where they are now?"
"Knowing them, they're probably stealing a meal from one of the locals."
"I see."
"I wonder who he's looking for," Kavyn said to Talon.
"It's none of our business," Talon said. "We should go."
"Yeah, you're right. Let's get out of here."
The two boys turned to leave, but then a booming voice stopped them in their tracks,
"Hey, you two! Stop right there!" Darius yelled. Talon and Kavyn both froze, a chill coming up their spines. Darius approached them and showed them the pictures, "Have you seen these two kids?"
"Ne-Never seen them in my life," Kavyn said, pulling his hood tightly over his face as he turned around.
"Now if you'll excuse us, we really need to go. Our parents will be worried sick if we miss supper," Talon added a bit nervously, grabbing Kavyn and pulling him away.
"Stop!" Darius boomed. Talon and Kavyn stopped and slowly turned around to face Darius. Darius took the picture of Talon and put it next to Talon's face, "Take off your hood and the mask," Darius demanded. Draven noticed Darius with two boys and walked over,
"Well what do we have here? Two kids on the street? Looks rather suspicious," Draven said, brushing his hair back with his hand.
Talon hesitated. He knew that if the two men found out that he and Kavyn were the people they were looking for, then they would be killed for sure,
"I'll tell you again, take off the hoods, both of you!" Darius demanded, gripping his large ax and slightly raising it to incur a threat.
Talon and Kavyn looked at each other. They both silently agreed on one thing... run! They both spun around and started to run in different directions, splitting up,
"H-Hey!" Darius yelled.
"Let's get 'em!" Draven said with a wide, toothy grin.
"You go after the kid in the brown cloak, I'll take the one with the purple," Darius said as he started to take off.
"Draven doesn't take orders from anyone!" Draven yelled as he took off in Talon's direction.
"D-Draven! That's not where I told you to- Gah!" Darius yelled. He then switched to the direction Kavyn ran.
Talon ran as fast as he could, not wanting to be caught by either of the two older men. Soon he was out of the marketplace, and into a neighborhood with lots of tall buildings. He could hear one of the men giving chase to him, and gaining,
"Come back here kiddo!" the man yelled, followed by a laugh that only seemed to make him run faster.
Ten meters was the only thing separating Draven from Talon now. 'Damn,' Talon thought, 'I need to lose him somehow.' Talon saw his opportunity. It was that alleyway. The same alleyway he uses to lose anyone who chases him when he's caught stealing. Talon turned the corner that led into the dark alley and blended into the shadows. Lucky for Talon, he had been getting better with blending in and now it's hard to tell that he's even there. Draven turned the corner that led into the alley as well. He looked all around, but couldn't see his soon to be victim,
"So your hiding huh," Draven mumbled. "That's cowardly, but you are just a kid."
'He's in here' Draven thought, 'I can smell it... Either it's the kid or the bag of garbage at the end of this alleyway... A bag of garbage.'
"Come on out kid," Draven yelled as he paced toward the bag of garbage, "Draven just wants to play a game."
As Draven approached the bag, he threw one of his axes at it, "DIE!" he yelled. The bag ripped open, and out came the dirty pollutants from a resident’s trash can. "Not in there huh? Well I'll find you one way or another! No one can hide from Draven," Draven said as he picked up the ax he threw and started to look for more possible hiding places.
Talon gulped. If he tried to make for the exit, Draven will most likely catch him, but Talon can't remain motionless forever. He had to think of something to distract Draven. He looked around for a possible distraction. 'Maybe I could-'
"I found ya!" Draven yelled. Talon jolted upright as he heard another ax being thrown, but it wasn't in his direction. He heard a moan escape a black feline that was also hiding in the alley,
"Just a cat huh?" Draven said picking up the ax he threw. "You're making this a lot harder on yourself! Just come out of hiding and Draven'll save you for the execution arena!"
Talon ignored him, Instead his eyes drifted to a small rock. 'Maybe I could throw this,' he thought. Talon quietly picked up the rock when Draven was turned away from him. Talon then threw the rock as hard as he could toward the wall opposite the exit. The rock made a loud clang when it hit the wall,
"There you are!" Yelled Draven as he threw both of his axes toward the sound. His axes planted themselves in the brick wall that the rock bounced off of. Talon saw his opportunity and went for the exit. Draven, grabbed his axes and tugged them out of the wall,
"I can't believe this... First I've been trolled by garbage. Then a cat. And now a friggin' wall is trollin' Draven."
Draven heard rushed footsteps behind him. He turned around and saw Talon running,
"Can't run!" Draven yelled as he threw his ax at what he confidently knew was the kid he was after... 'Or am I being trolled again?'
Talon noticed the ax hurling towards him, and swiftly dodged it by jumping to the side. The ax missed, and Talon made it out of the alley. Now running again, Talon could hear Draven's feet rushing to catch up! Unfortunately for Talon, Draven let out a final burst of speed, catching up to him! Draven let out a loud grunt as he leaped forward, tackling Talon and pinning him on the ground. Draven turned Talon over on his back,
"You put up some struggle back there," Draven said, slightly huffing, "but in the end, no one, and I mean no one, gets away from Draven."
Draven thought over on what to do with Talon. After a brief moment, Draven said, "You're going to be executed." Draven's lips curled up at the thought of executing the kid that gave him so much trouble on the streets today, "You're coming to the execution arena."
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It was hard to keep your sanity when locked inside a jail cell knowing that you will be executed in a couple hours if not minutes. So when Talon was locked inside a cell, the only thing keeping him from going insane was the ability to reflect on the day's events,
'I was found out by the large guy in the armor. I was caught by the other one with the two axes.'
Talon was leaning against the corner of one of the cell walls with his mask and hood off,
'But how did I get caught? Who got me caught?'
"Kavyn," Talon mumbled. "He was the one who wanted to check out what was going on. His curiosity got me captured."
A prison guard was heard walking down to Talon's cell dragging a body with him,
"I got you some company," the guard said, "play nice."
He then tossed the body he was dragging into the cell and closed it. The body he tossed into the cell got up and looked Talon straight in the eye. It was Kavyn,
"I can't believe that a guy with so much armor dragging him down could be so fast," Kavyn said rubbing the back of his head.
"Damn it Kavyn..."
"Excuse me?"
"Damn you Kavyn!" Talon yelled, "You got us caught! Now we're going to be executed because of you!"
Kavyn staggered at Talon's words. He wasn't prepared for them. Kavyn looked away from Talon,
"Well gee I'm... I'm sorry I got us thrown in jail, but I'm sure we can figure a way out of this."
"There is no way to escape a military prison, Kavyn! Let alone, escape this cell. And all you can say is 'I'm sorry I got us caught'?"
"Talon... I-"
"I've always helped you get out of trouble when you get into it, but you never help me! You never stick to our plan, and I always get caught because you weren't there to do your part!" Talon banged his fist on the wall, "You never have my back, Kavyn. I thought that's what teammates were for. Always watching each other’s backs, but you never seem to watch mine."
Kavyn was at a loss of words. He couldn't find the guts to speak to the enraged Talon. He couldn't even look at him. Talon let out a sigh and sat down on the floor, leaning on the wall once again.
"We've never should have teamed up..." Talon whispered barely loud enough for Kavyn to hear.
Kavyn's eyes turned blood red when he heard Talon say those words. Talon was his best and only friend. He was more than a friend. He was like a brother to him,
"You're right," Kavyn said mustering up the guts to speak to Talon, "I'm a bad teammate, and an even worse friend. I'd never stick to our plan. Then you'd get caught stealing because of it. I've made too many mistakes on the streets, and in the end, I made the mistake of getting us caught by the military. I should be the only one getting executed for my mistakes, not you too."
Kavyn chuckled, but it was more like a sad chuckle,
"If this is the last time we're ever going to speak to each other again, then I'm sorry. I'm sorry I couldn't have been a better teammate, or a better brother." a tear ran down Kavyn's cheek as he said those words. He always knew that someday he'd have to pay the penalty for all his actions, but not Talon too. Not his friend. Not his brother.
Talon was silent, he wouldn't talk to Kavyn anymore, but that didn't mean that his words didn't reach Talon's ears. 'Brother,' he thought, 'was I really like a brother to him?' Talon couldn't tell. He didn't even know what a brother was like, and he barely knew what a brother even was. The cell door suddenly opened, and a guard stepped in holding two pairs of handcuffs,
"It's time," was all he said.
"Hurry up Daddy, or we'll miss the execution!" a young girl that was around the age of twelve said to her father. She had emerald green eyes with red hair that went down to her upper back.
"Slow down Katarina," the father said, "we'll get there in time."
Katarina grabbed her father's hand and started pulling it,
"But if we take too long then all the good seats will be taken."
The father's pace slightly quickened as Katarina pulled on his arm,
"Alright, alright, I'm coming," The dad said slightly laughing, "but I don't see why you want to see some execution."
"Are you kidding? Today's execution is gonna be done by Draven, Daddy."
Katarina and her father reached the doors to the execution arena. The guards opened the gate that led into the spectator's seats. Katarina and her father sat down on the closest seats they could find to the execution grounds,
"Just remember Katarina," the father said, "shield your eyes when Draven is about to kill."
Katarina just rolled her eyes and watched as two boys were brought out in handcuffs by a prison guard,
"Look Daddy, they're executing two kids today," Katarina said slightly shocked that Draven will be killing them. The father leaned over his seat and looked at the two boys,
"Interesting..." the dad said.
The guard removed Talon and Kavyn's handcuffs and whispered into their ears,
"Try not to struggle when his axes strike you. You'll feel less pain."
The prison guard then retreated back out the door they entered with. Kavyn looked at Talon, who put his hood back over his head,
"It was nice knowing you, Talon," Kavyn said. "And again, I'm sorry for everything."
A large door opened up at the other side of the stadium. A man came out of the door with a crazy laugh. Two axes were thrown high into the air and then caught by the man that threw them,
"Welcome, Ladies and gents', to Draaaaaaaaaveeennns arena!" Draven yelled.
The crowd cheered as Draven waved to the crowd. Fangirls could be seen fainting and fanning themselves as they saw Draven wave at them.
"Yeah! Whoo! That's what Draven's talkin' about!" Draven yelled. He then faced the two that were his soon to be victims, "I'll give you two a chance," he said pointing a finger at them, "Run for the exit."
Two double doors leading outside opened up in the stadium. That was their only ticket out,
"Kavyn," Talon finally said, "We need to reach the exit. If you got my back on this, then I got yours."
Kavyn smiled at the fact that Talon actually said something. 'There's still hope,' he thought, 'just need to reach the exit.' "Alright Talon," Kavyn said, "you can count on me."
Talon looked at Kavyn and almost smiled. Draven made a cruel laugh at them,
"Start runnin'," Draven commanded.
Draven threw both axes, one at Talon, the other at Kavyn! Talon swiftly dodged to the right of the ax, and Kavyn did the same! The crowd cheered as Draven started throwing more axes that he had in a crate near him! Talon ran towards the door, barely dodging axes as they flew by! He turned his head toward Kavyn, who was running close behind. Draven threw an ax at Kavyn, who didn't notice, since his back was turned,
"Get down!" Talon yelled.
Kavyn immediately dropped to the ground! An ax hurled right over him! Talon pulled Kavyn up and they started running again,
"This is too fun!" Draven yelled, throwing more axes at the two boys.
The exit to the stadium is getting closer and closer, but with every step they take, the axes Draven throws only seem to be coming in faster and stronger. Luckily, Talon and Kavyn were doing a pretty good job watching each other’s backs,
"Behind you!" Kavyn yelled.
Talon threw himself the the left, barely evading the hurling ax! The crowd cheered on as Draven grabbed his remaining four axes and started running towards the two. His feet were quick! Quicker than Talon or Kavyn's!
"Get back here!" Draven yelled as he threw another ax at Kavyn. Kavyn barely dodged it as he ran to help Talon up. Kavyn got to Talon and started to help him up, but then a fist connected with kavyn's face and he fell back! Talon tried to get up, but a foot stepped on his torso,
"Time to die!" Draven said as he raised an ax to strike. Talon then did something that would have made him laugh if he wasn't in this situation. He brought his leg up, striking Draven right between the legs! Draven stumbled back, dropping the ax to hold his crotch,
"That was a dirty shot!" Draven yelled as he limped over to pick up the ax he dropped. Talon rolled himself back up onto his feet! He grabbed Kavyn and they began running again! Draven began running after them, but he wasn't as fast due to his injury,
"You're gonna regret that!" Draven yelled. He took two of his axes and spun them so hard, that they could have been used for flying if he wanted, "Time for the finale!" Draven yelled. He released both of his axes on the ground! The axes propelled themselves forward by spinning on the ground like wheels, ripping up the soil in the process! Both of the axes were spinning with incredible speed, and they were both aimed at Talon!
"Talon, run!" Kavyn yelled. It would be too late for Talon if he tries to dodge them, he wouldn't have enough time to! Then a thought passed through Kavyn's head, 'He shouldn't pay for my mistakes.' Kavyn closed his eyes, then threw himself at Talon, knocking him out of the way! Both of the axes were now going towards Kavyn,
"Kavyn, no!" Talon yelled.
Too late! Both axes impaled themselves into Kavyn's stomach! Kavyn fell back because of the force of the blow! Talon ran to Kavyn, who was lying on the ground,
"Run..." He said weakly.
"Damn it Kavyn," Talon said, "I'm not leaving you here!"
Talon swiftly pulled the two axes out of Kavyn and then threw him over his shoulder,
"Big mistake," Draven said. The crowd cheered as they saw the axes connect with Kavyn. Draven put in a burst of speed to catch up to Talon! Talon was nearing the gates to the outside, but the weight of Kavyn slowed him down drastically! Draven grabbed his last ax and threw it as hard as he can,
"Say goodbye!"
Talon heard the ax whirling through the air towards him! Talon dropped Kavyn and jumped to the left! The ax passed by, skinning Talon's shoulder! Pain ran through his body as he felt the steel graze his skin! 'No time for pain,' he thought. He picked up Kavyn and went for the gate! Draven, who was now out of axes, lost his smile and turned to the gatekeeper,
"Close the doors!" he yelled. The crowd gasped when they heard that this was the first time Draven needed to ever close the doors. The gatekeeper nodded and proceeded to close the gate! Draven was running towards the nearest ax!
'Almost there,' Talon thought. The doors started to close! This is going to be close! Draven got to one of his axes and started to spin it as fast as he could, worried that the boy might escape! Draven released the ax, and it flew almost jet speed! The door's nearly shut! Talon threw Kavyn out the door! Then he threw himself at the door! Talon barely made it through as the doors shut close! An ax embedded itself into the door. The crowd was silent. This was the first time someone was able to escape Draven. Draven was the most shocked. He stood there with his mouth wide open. All the spectators started whispering about what happened. Draven closed his mouth and looked at the crowd, who were looking back at him,
"Heh, Don't you worry ladies and gents'. No one escapes Draven," he said, but he couldn't say it in with the same over exaggerated tone.
Draven then proceeded to leave the stadium.
"What?!" Katarina yelled from the stands, "That was a horrible show! Boo! Don't you agree, Dad?"
The father seemed to be in deep thought, and had a serious expression, "Very interesting..."
"Dad?" Katarina said, staring at her father.
The man broke his concentration and gave Katarina a smile, "Let's go home, Katarina," he said.
Talon managed to sneak past all the guards and commoners and somehow get back to the hideout with Kavyn. He lied Kavyn on his bed, he was weak, but still breathing. Talon was drenched in sweat and Kavyn's blood that was still coming out of him. Talon just stared at his hopeless friend. His vitals were hit, he won't last much longer. Kavyn opened his weak eyes and looked at Talon, who had bloodshot eyes,
"You'll...live," Kavyn said weakly, "for both...of us."
"Why did you save me Kavyn?" Talon asked.
"We're teammates, Talon. It was because I had your back."
Kavyn let out a couple coughs as he spoke,
"I want this pain to end," Kavyn said, "there's a knife in the chest, can you get it for me?"
Talon immediately searched the chest for the knife. Once he found it, he brought it to Kavyn.
"Now kill me with it," Kavyn said as he closed his eyes.
Talon's eyes widened, "I can't do that."
"Please. The pain is unbearable." Kavyn slowly grabbed Talon's hand that was gripping the knife and put it up to his neck, "Goodnight, brother."
Talon hesitated as tears flowed down his cheeks. He closed his eyes, and slid the knife as quickly as he could into Kavyn's throat. Kavyn's heavy breathing stopped, he was dead. Talon opened his eyes and looked at his now dead companion. More tears ran down his cheeks as he saw the blood gushing out of Kavyn's cold throat,
"I... killed him," Talon muttered.
He looked at the blood on his hands, and then the blood on the knife. Sadness filled Talon, but he decided to ignore it, 'Sadness is a weakness,' he thought. By denying the sadness Talon had inside of him, it turned into anger. Talon gripped the knife harder,
"This is his fault. It's Kavyn's fault he's dead. Why should I grieve? He deserved it."
All emotion from Talon's face was whipped away as he got up and left the hideout.
"Goodnight... Brother."
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"One of the boys escaped from the executioner and is now most likely back on the streets, if not dead."
"He must have some skill if he was able to escape the arena alive. And what of the other?"
"Dead, sir."
"Then there is only one..."
"Orders, sir?"
"Track down the boy, give him a message. Tell him to join our ranks."
"And if he refuses?"
"Dispose of him. Now leave, recruit him before one of the enemy guilds do."
"Understood."
-----------------------------------------------------
Talon traversed through the streets of Ridwan, his hand gripping the knife he used to slit Kavyn's throat. It's only been three days since then, but Talon couldn't recall most of the events that happened. All he could remember was Kavyn messing up like always, and then Talon killing him because of it. The boy kept on walking, passing all the beggars and dying children. The occasional corpse of a dead child was also present as Talon passed by. It was a sight that disgusted him. So much poverty littered the lower part of Ridwan, and there was little, small youths that didn't have some kind of shelter, could do to escape it. It always makes Talon wonder on how he survived when he was a little boy.
Talon made his way to the market to do the day's "shopping." He was successful in stealing a sack full of food and a few coins. As well as some refreshments. Talon has been getting better at stealing for himself, and it was certainly easier to do without a partner who never stuck to the plan. Talon climbed up onto a flat rooftop to have a snack. He pulled out of his sack a yellow block. This is what the merchants called "cheese." Talon took a bite of it. To him, it tasted wonderful, and he soon devoured the whole thing. One delicacy that made him sad he didn't have any more of. Talon leaned back on the roof, gazing at the red sky. It was getting late, and the cheese did something to his eyes. He concluded that he would just call it a day and he closed his eyes to sleep on the rooftop.
Talon's eyes opened up as he sat up to stretch his arms out. He woke up on the same rooftop he fell asleep on. He looked around, no sign of anything else but him and his sack of food on the roof. Another night survived on the streets. Talon climbed down the house, leaving his bag of food on the roof, but bringing his knife with him. He didn't know why, but he felt safer with a weapon. It gave him a sense of insurance. Talon began walking down the alleyways until he spotted papers nailed to almost every wall. He ripped off the nearest paper and saw a drawing of him. He then proceeded to read it,
"Wanted," Talon mumbled, "for thievery and failing to pay the penalty of death. Reward: a hundred gold coins and two tickets to his execution?"
Talon wondered why anyone would even want to watch an execution, but then he remembered the executor's arena and how it was filled with both upper and lower class citizens, watching to see him and Kavyn be executed, though he couldn't exactly recall on how the execution went. He decided that it wouldn't do him any good trying to remember it and he pulled his hood over his head to hide from anyone that would otherwise recognize him.
'Great,' He thought as he continued toward the town square to make off with someone's money, 'Now I have to worry about bounty hunters.'
Talon made it to the square, actually happy that he was out of the slums and into a cleaner part of the city.
'Who will be the unlucky citizen today?' Talon thought as he searched the crowd, looking for someone who seemed like an easy sucker to steal money from. He spotted a man who was stupidly tossing a small bag of gold coins in the air, bragging on how rich he is. There weren't many people listening to him besides Talon and a few poor people looking for the right moment to grab the bag. Talon stalked towards the man until he was about two meters away from him. The man tossed the bag as high as he could into the air, and brought his hand out to catch the falling bag. 'Now's my chance.' Talon grabbed a small stone from the nearby ground and threw it as hard as he could at the man's hand. The man made a yelp and immediately moved his hand away to ease the sudden pain.
"o-ouch."
As the bag fell, Talon leaped forward, tackling the man to the ground and catching the bag of gold. He then immediately spun around and ran back towards the slums. As the man got up, he noticed that he had just been robbed and the thief was making his way back into the alleys,
"H-hey! Catch that thief!" He yelled out pointing a finger in that direction. Most people in the square just thought it better to stay out of it, but others saw it as an opportunity for them to take the stolen gold for themselves. About a dozen men and women ran after Talon, all seeking to take his stolen gold for themselves, but there was one person who had a different cause to catch him, and he knew a better way to do it than to chase him pointlessly.
Talon ran through the dirty streets that led back to the slums, hand tightly gripping the bag of stolen coins. There was a crowd of people chasing him, but since Talon was faster than all of them, none of the people were able to get any closer. Talon knew that he could easily lose them soon if he could put a little more distance between them, so he put in a large burst of speed and got so far ahead that some of the people gave up and went back.
'Now I can lose them.'
Talon turned a sharp corner and continued to make more turns at street crossings, and soon enough, the pursuers lost sight of Talon and the direction he was heading in,
"We lost him," said one man.
"Who cares," said another, "it was just a bag with a few coins in it. In fact, I can even bet that there wasn't even any gold in it."
The rest of the people walked back to where they came from, mumbling something about a waste of time.
Talon made his way back to his part of the slums. He leaned his back against the wall and inspected the pouch that was full of coins,
"Too easy," Talon said to himself, smiling at his earnings. "Soon I could buy my way out of thi-"
Talon was cut off by a sharp throwing knife imbedding itself into the wall near his head! Talon immediately ran for cover, but another throwing knife stopped him! If he had taken another step, than that dagger would have been the end of him,
"I suggest you stop trying to run, and listen to what I have to offer instead," a masked man said as he approached a stunned Talon.
"What do you want?" Talon said, mustering up the courage to speak, his voice a little shaky.
"I offer you a choice," the masked man said, outstretching his hand, "I come from a guild that could use swift skills like yours. Therefore, we thought it in our best interest to recruit someone such as yourself. What do you say?"
Talon thought about it. He wouldn't have to live on the streets anymore, and he wouldn't have to fight starvation either, but what do you do in a guild? Carry out dirty jobs. Fighting and killing people in other guilds. And follow whatever other orders you're given. Ugh, following orders. He doesn't want to follow anyone's orders. Talon bows to no one,
"Well," the man started, hand still outstretched, "Will you join our cause?"
"No," Talon said as he started walking away, confident in his decision.
The masked man lowered his arm, another throwing knife fell onto his palm from his sleeve,
"...Then your life is forfeit."
Talon cringed as he felt a sudden pain in his upper left arm as his back was turned from the masked man. He looked to see what the pain was and saw a bloody scar right where he felt it. Talon turned around to face the man that caused the injury, his right hand grabbing his wound,
"My my," the masked man said, "aren't you a fragile one."
Another knife was thrown at Talon, but this time, he was ready for it. Talon jumped to the side, just evading the dagger as it passed by, and also pulling out his own knife to defend with. Talon could just sense the masked man making a sinister grin under his mask. The assassin threw another knife and Talon expertly dodged it, but that attack was only to distract him. The man pulled out a small sword and lunged toward Talon as he was dodging the knife. Talon saw this and barely sidestepped out of the assassin's thrust. Talon saw this as an opportunity and took his knife and tried to plunge it into the masked man's back, but he was too quick and swiftly turned to block the knife with his sword,
"Ohhhh," the assassin said, "you've got some strength there. Are you sure you still don't want to join us?"
"Shut up!" Talon yelled as he pushed away the sword and attempted to stab the man, but he just sidestepped Talon's strike and slashed at Talon's side, giving him another scar. Talon fell forward onto the ground due to the new pain he felt on his side,
"Your form is sloppy, yet I still see talent in you," the assassin said to Talon who rolled up onto his feet and backed away from him, "such a shame that that talent will be wasted when I kill you."
Talon looked at his wounds, and then at the assassin. He managed to make contact with Talon twice, but Talon hasn't even put a single scratch on his opponent. He then looked around for possible escape routes, but saw nothing but walls, alleys, and a couple throwing knives that littered the ground. The masked man was nearing Talon with his blade ready to strike for the kill. Talon had to think of something, and quickly. Or maybe, he shouldn't think at all. Talon dashed pass the man as he struck down with his sword, missing Talon by mere centimeters! Now behind him, Talon had the advantage! Talon used his knife and slashed down the man's back,
"ahh!" he yelled as he felt the metal slide down his back. He turned and brought his sword around, hoping it would make contact with the boy, but Talon ducked under the swing and kicked his legs out, tripping the assassin and also kicking his sword out of his hand! Talon then proceeded to hack and slice at the man's flesh, causing him to scream and thrash in agony until there was silence, and his body went limp. Talon ceased stabbing and slicing the assassin when he noticed he was dead. Talon fell onto his back, panting from exhaustion; sweat covered his entire body, which only made his two freshly made wounds sting that much more. Talon stayed there until he caught his breath, then got up and looked at the corpse that tried to kill him. He gave the body a hard kick for his own satisfaction, then noticed all the knives that were scattered all around the ground,
"I could make use of these if I get attacked again," Talon whispered to himself.
He collected the knives and the small sword (along with the pouch of gold he stole) and placed them atop the roof that he used as his new hideout. The bleeding on Talon's arm and side had finally stopped, and it hurt a lot less now that he stopped sweating. Talon came back to the scene with the body of the dead assassin. He couldn't just leave it here. If anyone finds the body and how he was killed, than they might come after him. He had to dispose of it, and he knew just the place to do it. Talon dragged the bloodied body all the way to the alley of his old hideout, the one he and Kavyn used to hang out in, but instead of going into the alley, he dragged the body to a nearby gutter. With a grunt, and a couple tugs, Talon tossed the body into the gutter and the corpse started to float away,
"Good riddance," Talon said as he made his way back to his roof.
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"Where are you going?" the red headed girl asked her father, who was dressed in an informal brown robe with a hood covering most of his face.
"Out," was his only reply.
"What for?"
"To pick someone up."
"Who?"
The father let out a deep sigh before picking up the katana that was lying on a table. He then opened the door that led out, then turned to face the girl,
"A boy. Don't worry Kat, I'll be back before dinner is ready."
The father walked out and closed the door behind him, leaving Katarina with her arms crossed,
"You better," she mumbled.
________________________________________
Talon threw a corpse of an assassin into the gutter, a dagger in the body's brain was the only reason to why he was dead,
"Another body for the gutter," Talon said, turning around to make his way back to his roof. The attempts to get Talon to join a certain guild have been increasing throughout this whole month. Each assassin would always give him the same two choices; join, or death. And Talon would always choose death. For them, that is, and every death brought him another dagger or throwing knife depending on what the assassin had for weapons. This last assassin however, was carrying small things called shurikens (some of you might call them throwing stars) that Talon thought were the perfect throwing weapon. They were easier to throw than a knife, and most definitely more accurate than a knife too. They easily earned a spot on Talon's person.
Talon inspected his collection of blades as he was still walking back. He smiled at the amount of weapons he had, each one represented a victory over an opponent that intended to kill him. He admired almost every blade he could get his hands on. To him, they were more than just a tool for self-defense. Talon was too lost in thought that he never would have noticed the dagger hurling his way if it weren't for a loud voice yelling at him,
"Watch yourself!" a voice boomed.
The loud noise was enough to break Talon out of his trance and notice the dagger that was aimed straight for his head. He ducked under, just evading the dagger by a hair,
"Dammit, not another one," Talon said as he got ready for another ambush.
A hooded man appeared out of nowhere and was going straight for Talon. Talon took four of his shurikens he had and threw them at the man coming at him, but the man expertly blocked them all with a katana he was wielding. Talon pulled out one of his small swords and blocked a horizontal slice from the katana, but then felt a sudden pain in his ankle as he felt himself fall onto the ground. Talon quickly rolled up onto his feet, then he lunged at the man with his blade, but the man simply stepped out of the way and hit him in the back with the katana's hilt. Talon would've fell forward, but a knee connected to his ribcage and with a flick of the man's wrist, Talon flew backwards into a wall, knocking his breath out of him. The man walked over to Talon, who was still catching his breath. He brought his katana up to Talon, gesturing him not to move. Talon on the other hand, went for one of his throwing knives, but a foot stomping onto his chest stopped him,
"Yield to me, boy," the man said, taking off his hood to reveal his face.
The man looked in his late thirties to early or mid-forties, with light facial hair and dark brown eyes that seemed to pierce into whoever he was looking at. His face and clothes were clean, which meant that he was upper class,
"Who are you?" Talon asked, still panting from the fight.
"My name is Baron Marcus," He said in an impatient manner. "I offer you a choice, boy, either serve me, or meet death by my hand." his voice got deeper as he stated the second choice.
'There's no way out of this,' Talon thought to himself. Marcus's foot was still planted on Talon's chest, restricting any movement he tried to make, and his katana was still pointed at him, 'actually, there is one way out.'
"I'll serve," Talon said with a low voice. It hurt him to say it, but he'd rather become a slave than be killed.
The corners of Marcus's lips slightly curled up, but came back down too soon for Talon to notice. He took his foot off the boy, and withdrew his katana,
"Good. Come, boy, I'll take you to where you will be staying."
Marcus turned around and started walking towards where he came from. If Talon was going to make a run for it, now would be the time, but something told him to follow the older man. Maybe he could learn from him. After all, he did beat him in a matter of seconds. Without giving it a third thought, he followed Marcus's trail.
________________________________________
Talon has never been in a carriage ride before, but he concluded that he didn't like them. The seats were comfy, but that's where the pros end. The ride was very bumpy, and a few times he thought the carriage would tip over. Talon thought he wouldn't smell anything more foul than the sewers, but to him, the carriage smelled way worse, and the horses had to take a dump every five minutes or so, and that didn't make it smell any better. The small space made him feel claustrophobic, and the only other person in there was the man who defeated him. On top of that, Marcus wouldn't stop staring at him and the continued silence made it feel that much more awkward. Maybe it would've been better to choose death.
"How much longer?" Talon asked in a low voice, trying not to sound desperate to get out of the carriage.
Marcus blinked like he just snapped out of a trance, then looked out one of the windows,
"We'll be there shortly."
________________________________________
Talon sighed as he leaned back in the leather seats. 'We'll be there shortly,' he thought, 'yeah, right!' but at least they were getting closer, because he saw less poverty and disease and more green, fresher air, better looking people, and cleaner looking houses.
"Boy," Marcus said, finally breaking the silence.
"Yes?" Talon asked.
"Do you have a name?"
"It's Talon, sir."
"I see."
It has been at least another ten minutes until finally the carriage stopped, and Talon was finally able to get out of the mini hell he had to endure for what felt like forever. They stopped in front of a huge mansion surrounded by a beautiful garden,
"Come," Marcus said as he walked toward the mansion, Talon following close behind.
A butler was standing outside the mansion doors and he made a bow before opening them,
"Baron," the butler greeted.
Marcus waved his hand to his servant and then gestured Talon to go inside. When Talon went in, he couldn't help but notice all the fancy portraits, weapons, rugs, furniture, etc. there was also an overabundance of butlers and maids attending to the household's every need,
"You'll be staying here," General Marcus said, "I'll have one of my servants show you to-"
"Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad," two female voices moaned as two girls ran down the stairs and nearly tackled their father.
"You missed dinner again," The blonde one said with a pouted face,
"You said you wouldn't," the red haired one added in.
"Girls, I'm sorry, but I don't have time for th-"
"Daddy, who's he?" the blonde interrupted as she pointed a finger at Talon.
"He's so dirty," the other girl said, "Is this the boy you went to pick up?"
"Girls, not now. I need t-"
"Answer the question!" The blonde one semi yelled.
Baron Marcus let out a deep sigh, knowing he obviously couldn't win,
"Cassiopeia, Katarina, this is my new personal-and I really do mean personal this time, servant, Talon. I picked him up in the slums."
"He looks kinda cute," Cassiopeia said as she gave Talon a shy look.
"Dad," Katarina said with a stern expression, "Why would you bring someone from the lower sections here?"
"I brought him here because I have use for him. Now run along, girls, I have to show Talon to our guest room."
Katarina gave a "hmph," then proceeded to go up the staircase she came down from,
"Bye, Talon," Cassiopeia said with a shy smile, then followed Katarina up the staircase.
That seemed more than awkward to Talon, as he was trying to figure out what just happened,
"They are my daughters," the Baron said when he noticed Talon's confused face, "The red haired one is Katarina, and the blonde is Cassiopeia."
"Ummm, okay," Talon said.
"Ahem," Marcus cleared his throat, "I'll have a servant show you to your new room. Sleep there for tonight, and I will have a task for you in the morning."
And with that, the Baron left to go into one of his many offices, leaving Talon with a servant that brought him to his room. Talon inspected his new room he was sleeping in. for the most part, it was empty. All it had was a bed with sheets and a pillow, a man sized mirror, a dresser, and a window. Guess it wouldn't need anything else, because Talon would probably be out most of the time. He shoved most of his blades into the drawers, took off his hood and decided to go to bed. It was late anyway.
________________________________________
Talon's eyelids lazily parted. Morning already? He must have fallen asleep faster than he thought. Must be the bed. He sat up and stretched his arms out, then proceeded to the door. When he opened it, a butler was standing right outside and gave Talon a bow,
"The master requests you take a bath," the butler said, handing Talon a white towel.
"A bath? What's that?" Talon asked
Talon just should have kept his mouth shut and said no, because the next thirty minutes was almost as bad as that carriage ride. He had to strip down to nearly nothing, and get into a tub of water. A couple of butlers were scrubbing him down with something they called "soap," and sometimes the soapy water got into his mouth. Finally when his bath was over, he got his clothes back (which were also very clean and spotless) and put them on. Talon looked in the mirror and saw his sparkling clean face. He was sparkling so much that he almost mistook himself for a sappy vampire. (Almost)
"Your breakfast is in the kitchen. Once you're done eating, the master would like to see you in his office."
Talon was too distracted with all these sudden changes in his life that he forgot about food and how hungry he was. He darted down the stairs and into the kitchen where his food was. He was going to dig in when he noticed something very... off, about this food. It looked very strange to him. Two white blobs with a yellow hump in the middle of both of them. When he poked the yellow thing, it popped and yellow stuff started to ooze out of it,
"Umm, excuse me. What do I do with this?" Talon asked a nearby butler in the kitchen.
"You eat it, silly," he said.
"...How?"
"See that pointy thing on your left? You use that to pick it up and put it into your mouth."
Talon looked to the left of his plate and spotted what the butler was talking about. He picked it up and stabbed one of the globs with it. He gulped it down. It tasted strange, but not bad, and soon Talon gobbled down the second one. They tasted rather slimy, but Talon wasn't one to be picky at what he ate. He would've been stuck there thinking about how weird the upper class was, but then he remembered that the Baron requested to see him,
"Where's 's office?" Talon asked.
"Out the kitchen and the third door to your left."
Talon hastily walked out the kitchen and followed the butler's direction and went to the third door on his left. He turned the doorknob and walked inside,
"You're supposed to knock before you come in, boy," Marcus said as he was looking through papers on his desk.
"Sorry."
"Have a seat."
Talon sat down on the chair opposite the Baron's desk,
"You wanted to see me, sir?" Talon asked.
"Yes, yes I did. As you probably know, I recruited you for a reason, can you guess what that is?"
"To kill enemy guilds?"
"Not quite. You will be my new personal assassin."
"Assassin? But sir, I don't really know how t-"
"You know how to sneak around, don't you? It's how you survived this long." the Baron interrupted.
"Well, I guess. But what does an assassin do?"
"An assassin carries out his orders swiftly and efficiently. An assassin leaves no trace of where he was or is. An assassin kills swiftly and silently. And an assassin does not have any emotion when in battle." The Baron emphasized that last part.
"And you want me to be this kind of assassin?"
"No, I want you to be a better one."
"How do I do that?"
"Normally when I need a new recruit I just hire an instructor to teach him, but I will take it upon myself to teach you."
Marcus smiled at Talon. Then pulled out a box and placed it in front of him,
"I will bring you to the training fields later today. We'll start with how to use your new weapon."
"New weapon?" Talon asked.
He placed the box in Talon's hands,
"You'll see when you open the box," The Baron said, "You're dismissed."
"Thank you, sir," Talon said as he got up, gave him a bow and left the office.
Talon got back up the stairs and into his room. He placed the box on his bed and took out a knife to cut the tape off of it so he could open it. With little effort, Talon was able to get the wrappings off and open the box. He smiled at what he found inside, it was a long, silver spring loaded blade. Talon took it out of the box and fastened the straps on his right arm. A Wrist Sheath is what it's called. the custom matched blade would eject with the flick of the wrist into his hand. And it fit Talon's tastes perfectly.
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The first couple of months spent training were gruesome for Talon, because Marcus would always drive him to his limits and in some cases, he would put Talon in real life or death situations. And sometimes he would have to take a trip to the doctor's due to sprains or other injuries. On the bright side, however, Marcus has seen improvement in his abilities, and at an incredible rate at that. He has gotten used to his spring loaded blade which Talon nicknamed "the arm-blade" and how to use it effectively. His aim at throwing knives and shurikens has greatly increased too. Talon has even defeated volunteers from the military in sparring matches. He started out by only sparring recruits, and then built up to the higher ups. He beat every single one; even when he was exhausted. "Endurance is one of the most important things an assassin needs to have," Marcus would always tell Talon when he was about to drop in the middle of training.
Talon stepped out of the bathtub after today's training. He has grown into the more awkward things the upper class does, like baths and table manners, or other strange things like keeping your room tidy and combing your hair. He seems to have his own routine he'd follow almost every day: wake up, breakfast, training, bathe, supper, sleep, dinner, and more sleeping. This routine was rarely broken, but today was one of those days that it was. It all started when Talon was in the kitchen waiting for a chef to prepare his supper,
"How long will it take?" asked a starving Talon who was sitting on a nearby stool, leaning over a counter.
"Another twenty minutes or so," was the chef's reply.
"Why so long?"
"I am making a new dish that needs to be slowly cooked until perfection. You are going to test it and tell me if it's good or not, and if it is, then I will also cook it for the master and his daughter's dinner," the chef said before returning to his cooking.
Talon let out a deep sigh out of pure hunger, "Can you at least tell me what it is?"
"A chef never reveals his dishes until it is served. You'll just have to wait."
"But I see your dishes all the time," Talon pointed to a pile of dirty dishes.
"Wrong kind of dish. I meant the food," The chef started to sound rather annoyed.
Talon pushed himself up from the stool, "Well, since this is going to take so long, I guess someone can call me over when it's ready." Talon made his way out the kitchen door and into the outdoor garden. He wasn't much for gardens, but it did provide some peace and quiet whenever the gardeners weren't around. He even found himself a nice comfy spot in the grass below a shady tree. Talon lied his back on the tree's trunk and closed his eyes,
"Hey there," A female voice said as Talon opened his eyes to see who the voice belonged to. He spotted Cassiopeia dressed in a blue summer dress smiling at him. Talon waved at the blonde, not knowing what she wanted. Even though he has been living in the Baron's mansion for a couple months, he hasn't really made an effort to talk to either of the two daughters, and neither of them would really talk to him either. Except for now, where Cassiopeia's blue eyes were staring straight into his brown ones, making him feel a bit uncomfortable,
"May I sit down? You’re sitting in my usual spot," Cassiopeia said before sitting down next to Talon before he could reply.
"Cassiopeia, right?" Talon asked before taking his hood off.
"Yeah, but you could just call me Cass for short."
"Alright, Cass."
Cassiopeia turned her head and looked at Talon, "You're one of father's personal assistants, right?.. Uhmm."
"Talon."
"Right, Talon. So are you?"
Talon leaned his head back against the tree, "Yeah, I serve your father, but I haven't done too much serving yet."
"So like, you're his personal butler, but he doesn't use you for anything?"
"That's it. All he does is take me out to the training fields to improve my skills."
Cassiopeia thought for a moment, then giggled,
"What?" Talon asked.
"Maybe he's training you to earn him some gold in the fighting pits," Cassiopeia said in a sarcastic tone.
"I hope not," Talon shivered.
"Yup, wouldn't want to fight in there. I heard that there's some guy that uses a spear, and he's been kicking butt."
"Not that he'd be able to beat me that easily," Talon chuckled.
"Nah, you'd be dead in a couple seconds," Cassiopeia giggled some more.
"Yeah right! I think I could be able to hold him off for at least a couple of minutes."
"Heh, if you say so. Hey, have you talked to Kat yet?"
"Who's Kat?"
"Katarina. You know, red hair, emerald eyes, can be quite mean at times."
"-Oh her. No. I've seen her around the mansion, but I haven't talked to her."
"Then why don't we go talk to her?"
"Well, Cass, I-"
"Excuse me? Talon?" A maid said as she walked over to Talon and Cassiopeia.
"Yes?" Talon asked.
"Your supper is ready. In the kitchen."
"Alright, I'll be right over."
The maid bowed, not to Talon, but to Cassiopeia and then left back into the mansion,
"Cassiopeia, I better get back inside and eat," Talon said as he got up.
Cassiopeia showed a disappointed face, but quickly shook it off and smiled at Talon, "Okay. maybe we can talk to Kat after supper?"
"Sure. Um, I'll see you later then."
"Okay. Bye, Talon."
Talon made his way back into the kitchen that had his supper. There it was, his food that he's been waiting for. It looked sort of like pasta, but knowing the chef, it probably tastes nothing like it. Talon sat down on his stool to eat. He picked up his fork and gulped it down due to how hungry he was. It tasted strange to Talon, not a bad kind of strange, but an awkward kind of strange,
"So how was it?" the chef asked. He was standing on the opposite side of the counter with his arms crossed, "Delicious I suppose, since you ate all of it in mere seconds."
"Uhm, it's alright I suppose."
The chef put on his angry face, "Hmph! You people have no taste for exquisite foods," the chef retorted. He then stormed out of the room, leaving a confused Talon thinking on why he got so mad all of a sudden. Talon lifted his plate to put it in the sink, but before he could, he noticed a folded paper fall off from under his plate. He picked it up and unfolded it,
Talon, meet me in my office after your supper.
I have a task for you.
-Marcus-
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Marcus has been gone all morning having a meeting with the Umbral Court, probably discussing political nonsense, and that meant that there was going to be no training for Talon today. And what else could Talon do in the Baron’s mansion but eat and sleep? Nothing else really, and that nothing else is what made him as bored as ever. Talon was lying on the couch starring at the ceiling, and tossing a ball into the air to catch it in his right hand. He let out a sigh of boredom. He was living in one of the finest and largest mansions in all of Nidal, yet there was nothing to do in it,
"There you are," came Cassiopeia's voice as she entered the room.
"Here I am," was Talon's reply. He sat up on the couch.
"I guess there's nothing for you to do since father's gone, right?"
"That's right, nothing at all."
"In that case, I was wondering if you'd like to go on a picnic with Kat and I," Cassiopeia said as she showed Talon the picnic basket she was holding.
"A picnic huh? Not exactly sure what that is, but it's most likely better than just sitting here. Alright, Cass, I'll join you for the picnic," Talon got up and stretched his back.
Cassiopeia smiled, "I'll tell Kat that you're coming along. You could just wait by the front door, 'kay?"
"Sure."
Cassiopeia walked up the stairs into Katarina's room and Talon waited near the front door. After a couple moments, Cassiopeia came back out and down the stairs to the front doors,
"She says she'll be right behind us. Come on, let's set up outside while we wait," Cassiopeia opened the door and walked outside followed by Talon. She pointed to a flat grassy spot in the sun, "We'll set up over there." When they reached the spot Cassiopeia pointed to, she pulled out a large, pink and white checkered blanket out of the picnic basket and spread it atop the grass. Talon and Cassiopeia took a seat on the blanket and set the basket in the middle.
"Now what?" Talon asked.
"We wait for Kat. It would be impolite to start the picnic without her."
After moments of waiting, the red-headed figure, known as Katarina, made her way to Talon and Cassiopeia. She stopped in front of the two and sat down on the blanket.
"Hey, Kat," Cassiopeia greeted.
"Hello Cassy... Hello, Talon." Katarina said, she made her greeting to Talon seem a little harsh.
"Miss Katarina," Talon said politely, ignoring Katarina's impoliteness.
Cassiopeia cleared her throat, "Ahem. Who’s hungry? I got a servant to prepare three sandwiches for us," Cassiopeia opened the basket, revealing three ham sandwiches, some juicy fruits, bottles of water, and some napkins. She passed two of the sandwiches to Katarina and Talon, and took the third for herself,
"Thanks Cass," Talon said, taking his sandwich. Katarina just gave a smile of appreciation before taking a bite of hers.
"It's a nice day to be outside today, isn't it?" Cassiopeia said before taking a bite of her sandwich.
"Sure is," Katarina said. "Much better than the usual overly hot or overly cold days. Today it's just right."
Talon grabbed a water bottle from the basket and started to drink it, "This kinda feels like every day if you ask me."
"Really?" Cassiopeia asked.
"Don't listen to him Cassy. Lower class scoundrels wouldn't even be able to tell the difference between gold or copper. Either would make them rich down there anyway."
"Kind of like how I can't tell if that was aimed towards me or not?" Talon said, playing along. An insult like that was hardly enough to offend him.
"Exactly."
"Kat... Can't you be a little nicer? I mean, he has been living with us for four months after all," Cassiopeia said with a little annoyance in her tone.
"Whatever," Katarina said after she finished off her sandwich and started eating one of the apples in the basket, "but I still don't see why you invited him to our picnic."
"Talon just looked so bored when I found him in the house, so I thought it would be nice to have him come along."
Katarina laughed at her younger sister, "You're too kind for your own good, Cass."
"At least being kind is better than being mean," came Talon after he finished his sandwich.
"heh, fair enough."
Cassiopeia giggled as she was the third to finish her sandwich. She took the basket and searched its contents. When she didn't find what she was looking for, she then remembered that she forgot to pack it with the other foods,
"You know what? I forgot to bring the sweets," Cassiopeia said as she got up. "Hold on, I'll be right back."
Cassiopeia made her way back to the mansion, leaving Talon and Katarina by themselves. Katarina finished her apple and tossed the core,
"So Talon, what do you do with father when you two leave every day?" Katarina asked.
Talon was surprised by the sudden question, but soon shook it off and answered, "He takes me out to train with him."
"Train for what?"
"He hasn't told you what I do yet?"
"No. He just told Cassiopeia and me that you're his personal assistant."
"Well, he wasn't lying when he said that."
"Then what do you assist him in?" Katarina asked with genuine curiosity.
Talon's voice suddenly became a bit deeper and more serious, "Killing people who don't deserve life."
"What?! My dad makes you kill people?" Katarina asked, obviously shocked by Talon's answer.
"Only the people your father orders me to kill."
Katarina calmed down a bit, and then asked, "Do you like killing people."
"Not in the slightest. Taking someone's life is something I don't exactly enjoy to do, so I only kill when I'm ordered to."
"Does Cassiopeia know this?" Katarina asked, becoming worried.
"No. I figured she was a little young and innocent to know any of it," Talon said reassuringly.
"Whew... That's good to know. Promise to never tell her?"
"I don't plan to."
Cassiopeia came back out holding a box and set it down on the blanket, "I got the sweet- hey Kat are you okay?" She said as she spotted Katarina.
"Y-Yeah. I'm fine!" Katarina said. She looked a little pale, but quickly turned back to her regular color. "What's in the box?"
"I got Dad to order some cookies from a bakery called Sinful succulence. Weird name, but I heard that the baker's sweets were delicious!"
Cassiopeia opened the box to reveal an assortment of different cookies and cupcakes. She took one of the big cupcakes and bit it. Katarina and Talon both grabbed a cookie,
"Not bad," Talon said when he ate his cookie.
"It's actually really good," Katarina added.
"Glad you guys like it," Cassiopeia said. "We can have as much as we want."
Talon, Katarina, and Cassiopeia stayed out for a couple more hours. When they were done, they cleaned up and went back inside. Talon dropped onto his bed, bloated from all the sugary food he ate. The galloping of horses could be heard outside, and Talon looked out his window to see Marcus's carriage pulling up to his mansion. Marcus rushed into the mansion and immediately jerked open Talon's door. Talon jumped up off his bed in surprise,
"Talon, I need to see you right away. Walk with me to my office," Marcus said hurriedly.
Talon walked out the door and followed Marcus to his office,
"What's so urgent?" Talon asked.
"Have you ever heard of Desna?"
"A bunch of religious zealots that wish to destroy Nidal?"
"Yes."
"What about it?"
"soldiers of Desna has established a temple on the outer region of Nidal territory, and the other members of the court and I have been discussing a way to eliminate it."
"What does this have to do with me?" Talon asked, curious to know.
Marcus took a seat behind his desk and started to shuffle through a pile of papers,
"Well you see, all the court except for me think that the best way to eliminate this threat is for an assault on the fortified temple, but both you and I know of a better way to deal with it."
Talon then realized what Marcus wanted him to do,
"It would take too long for an army to capture the fort," Marcus continued, "but one man, with the right skills, could find a way in and eliminate all the occupants that resided in less than a day." Marcus found a map of nidal and drew a red "X" on the northern border near the Atteran Ranches and handed it to Talon, "You leave tonight."
"Tonight?! Why tonight?" Talon asked.
"The other members plan on sending a portion of the military tomorrow afternoon. I want you to eliminate the fort before they get there. It will take you awhile to travel to the northern border, and a while to eliminate the Desnans. It's best you leave tonight."
"But how am I going to travel that far in just one day?"
"You will be riding one of my horses. It will get you to the fort in two or three hours if you can keep it running with little breaks. I'll have the horse ready with some bags of food and water. You go get your weapons and come out to the stable when you're ready."
Marcus got up from behind his desk to tell a butler to get a horse ready for Talon. Talon went up to his room and grabbed as many blades that could fit on his person. He grabbed his wrist sheathes and loaded the special blades made for them, and decided that he'd strap it on when he gets to the fort. He hurriedly rushed out the mansion and to the stables, where he found a butler preparing his horse,
"Your ride is ready," said the butler.
"Thank you," Talon said as he jumped on the horse's back and placed his special weapon in one of the saddlebags. Talon walked the horse to the front gates of the manor and saw Marcus waiting for him,
"Ride swiftly, boy," Marcus said when he opened the gates.
"Yes sir,"
Talon commanded the horse to a running speed, the speed of the magically enhanced horse amazed talon, it was like the horses hoofs never touched the ground and he took off to the outer city. Talon rode for hours, dodging the busy roads and only stopping a couple times to give the horse some water and a brief rest. He finally reached the northern edge of Nidal's border and was now on its grassy plains. He spotted the Desnian fort in the distance. He rode his horse swiftly , but quietly, as close as he could to the fort. He dismounted and grabbed his weapons from the saddlebag and tied the horse's reins to a nearby tree.
It was now dark out; Perfect for someone who wanted to sneak into a heavily armed fort. He had to deal with the patrolling guards first, then he could get in. Talon stalked over to the two guards nearest him. He grabbed one of the guards and crushed his windpipe so he couldn't scream. He then delivered a knife to the back of his head, killing him. The other guard lunged his spear at Talon, but he was too slow. Talon stepped out of the way and grabbed the spear by the staff and yanked it out of the guard's grip, also pulling him forward in the process. The guard landed face down on the ground, and Talon gave him a hard kick to the side of the head, making sure he won't wake up.
Talon moved on to the next group of soldiers; There were three of them. He could take them out easily. Talon threw a shuriken at one of the soldiers from afar. He went limp immediately. The other two soldiers started to freak out when they couldn't find their attacker. Talon used this as his advantage, and shadowstepped behind one of them and slit his throat wide open. Talon kicked him forward onto the ground. The other guard turned around and swung his sword at him. Talon grabbed the man's arm stopping him from swinging his sword and stabbed him in the stomach. The man let out a cough full of blood as Talon pulled his blade out and let him drop to the ground. That was it for the guards on patrol, now he had to kill everyone else.
Talon made his way into the outpost killing the two guards standing watch at the front gate. So far no one has been alerted about Talon's arrival, so most of the soldiers were either asleep, or on guard duty. Talon masked himself in with the shadows provided by the tents and a light from a campfire. Talon sneaked up behind a man on guard. He wrapped his palm around his mouth and pulled him into the shadows so no one will notice his death. Talon looked around at the campfire. Five priests of Desna were chatting around the fire and were totally oblivious to his presence here,
"-and then I told him that his new haircut was awful," said one of the priests, "but did he listen to me? Nooooo, I-" He stopped himself as one of the men suddenly fell forward into the fire. A dagger was imbedded into his back.
"Assassins," said one of the men.
The remaining four got up and drew their weapons, ready for an ambush. Talon jumped from a nearby tree and landed on one of the soldier's shoulders and cut his head clean off. The other three charged at him, but Talon kicked the headless body forward into them, making them stumble back. One of the men swung his sword horizontally at Talon's head, but he ducked under and kicked the man's legs out from under him. The man fell on the ground with a thump and the other two men attacked together, Talon rolled back onto his feet and impaled a knife into the hand of the man on the right. He yelped as he dropped his weapon. Talon swiftly got behind him and pushed him into the man on the ground. The third soldier thrust his sword in Talon's direction, but to his surprise, he was no longer there. Talon appeared behind the third man and threw a strike at the back of his neck, knocking him out. He heaved the man onto the other two and stabbed a sword through all three of them and into the ground. Sticking them together,
"What's all that racket?" a soldier came out of his tent rubbing his eyes. He looked around and saw the bloody mess Talon made. His eyes widened, horrified at the sight, "Everybody up! We're being- plfaugh!" Talon threw a knife into his throat, killing him.
'Great,' Talon thought. 'Now they're all awake.'
Talon quickly took a torch from the fire and lit as many tents as he could, cremating the people inside. Soldiers came out of the tents Talon couldn't get to in time and surrounded him,
"Hands up, villain," said one of the soldiers surrounding him.
Talon made a mischievous smile as he brought his hands up. The soldiers came closer too him to restrain him, but what they didn't notice was the several shurikens Talon was holding in his concealed palms. With a spin, Talon disappeared, throwing shurikens all around him killing almost everyone and injuring the rest. Those who were injured ran in fear for their life, but Talon was too quick. He reappeared behind one of the injured soldiers and gave him a fatal blow to his back, killing him.
He then threw a dagger at another fleeing man, hitting him square in the spine. The last two remaining men turned around to face him. They were either brave, or stupid enough to do so. Neither mattered to Talon, they would die anyway. The two men charged together. When they came close enough, Talon disappeared again, then reappeared behind them and plunged his spring loaded blade into one of them. The other soldier turned around, but was too late. Talon stabbed him with a dagger to the heart. Both men fell to the ground, dead. Talon looked all around himself. There was no one left it seems. He killed every single one.
The sun was coming up, and Talon collapsed against a wooden wall. Sweat covered his whole body. He hadn't realized how hard he strained his body fighting everyone at the fort. The fires on the tents started to die down and the horrible stench of dead corpses started to surface. Blood painted the entire ground and the dead bodies. Talon's clothes were also soaked in his sweat and the blood of others. The next thing he could remember was complete darkness.
Talon woke up several hours later. He must have passed out from exhaustion. He stood up and noticed that just about every muscle in his body was soar. He made a mental note to not shadow-meld too much next time, as shadow-melding did use an extreme amount of energy and it could kill the user if used too much. Talon made his way to the tree he tied his horse too, but noticed that it wasn't there. The horse must have freed itself of its reins while Talon was storming the fort. Now Talon had to walk back to Ridwan, but he was tired and his throat screamed for water.
Talon started his long walk back to the mansion. He had been walking for at least half an hour when he ran in to a group of Nidal soldiers from Adamant Company making their way towards the fort Talon was coming from. The leader of the group rode up on a horse towards Talon,
"You don't look Desnian," He said, "What are you doing out here?"
Talon took off his hood, showing his sweaty hair, "Take me back to Ridwan, I took care of the Desna followers already." He said exhaustively.
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"What trickery is this?!" A raspy voice boomed.
"Hmm?"
"How did one boy manage to do what should have taken many?"
Talon was standing outside Marcus's office, listening in on the conversation. After the squad of Adamant Company surveyed the massacre at the Desna temple, they gave Talon a ride back to Ridwan, but of course, they had to tell one of the generals what he did. And that led to him storming into Marcus's mansion demanding an explanation. The general was tall and mostly bald with a mask over his face. He carried a cane and had an obvious limp in his right leg. On top of that, he wore a green and gold uniform and had a blue, six-eyed bird perched on his shoulder,
"What do you mean, General Roarik?" Marcus asked, a little amused at Roarik's outrage but also disappointed at Talon for getting caught.
"How did you get one boy into that fort and eliminate all those priests twice his age?" Roarik asked impatiently.
"He is a skilled boy. More skilled than anyone in your or any other general's military division," Marcus sat back in his chair, waiting for Roarik's response.
"Oh yeah? Then how is he so skilled? Is it magic? Runes? Bribery?"
"None. I had him sharpen his skills in training. To a pointed knife."
"...Then how did you do it?" Roarik lowered his voice a little.
"Do what?"
"How did you get him to become so skilled? If we could provide that kind of training to all our troops, then we could finally conquer everyone that opposes us."
Marcus placed his elbows on his desk and laced his fingers together, "Training isn't the only thing that makes someone powerful, Mykos Roarik. A strong will and determination is also needed."
Roarik put on his angry face, "But my men already have a strong wi-"
"No, they don't," Marcus interrupted. "To almost anyone who lives in Nidal, strength and power is everything. If one is strong, they rise to the top; become a legend to their peers. That is all the army believes in; strength and power to achieve greatness. Not a strong will and determination."
"Tch. You're wrong. All you need is an ingenious strategy and the proper people to execute it. Not some pointless will and determination." Roarik said proudly. "It seems you aren't going to give me this information willingly, so I suppose I'll take my leave. But before I go, there's something you should know: the fort that kid destroyed was just a distraction for Blood Mistress Jakalyn and her Red mantis agents to sneak into the fighting pits and liberate Viscero and the three hundred prisoners he was up against," General Roarik turned around and limped out of Marcus's office. He stopped to turn to Talon, who was still right outside the door listening to the conversation, "Stay out of Court affairs, or it might just cost you your head."
Talon shivered at Roarik's cruel words. His Vampiric eyes pierced into Talon’s very soul. General Roarik proceeded out of the mansion mumbling something about his bird being hungry. Talon entered Marcus's office, but couldn't stare at his disappointed face,
"Leave me, boy," Marcus said in his deep voice, "there's something I need to think about."
Talon gave his master a quick bow, and exited his office. He climbed the stairs to his room, only to find that his door was open. He never left the door open when he left the mansion. Talon looked inside to see Katarina fiddling with some of his blades,
"Katarina, what are you doing in my room?" Talon asked.
Katarina looked up in surprise and quickly hid all the blades she was holding behind her back. As if Talon was that stupid,
"For one thing, this isn't your room. It's just the room Dad was nice enough to let you stay in," Katarina began. "And I was just looking around, making sure you didn't hide all the dead people you kill in here. That would be creepy."
"...Right. Now can I please have my weapons back?"
Katarina hesitated, but brought her hands back in front of her and Talon took his blades back,
"Why were you looking at my blades?" Talon asked.
"I-," Katarina looked away, "I kinda liked the feel of it."
Talon traced Katarina's gaze back to his blades, then came up with a conclusion,
"Would you like one?" Talon asked as he stretched a dagger to Katarina. Katarina's eyes lit up with happiness,
"Y-You mean it? I can have one?"
Talon rubbed the back of his head with his free hand, "Well yeah. I have too many anyway, and you seem to like these."
Katarina took the dagger from Talon and placed a finger on its edge. She showed pure delight at the dagger, before looking at Talon with thankful emerald eyes,
"-Thank you, Talon!" Katarina said. If she was any happier she might have hugged Talon.
"Don't go hurting yourself with it now," Talon warned.
"I won't," she reassured.
Katarina left Talon's room, and when she was out the door, turned around and gave Talon a genuine smile. Talon placed the rest of his blades back in his drawer and plopped face-up on his bed. He had a new sense of generosity now. He has been given everything since living in the mansion, which was an extreme change from having to "earn" what you wanted on the streets. It felt nice to be the one to give for once, even if it was just something as simple as a dagger.
Marcus sat behind his desk, thinking on what to do about Mykos Roarik. He often did things without the consent of the other generals. He was smart and strategic, but he was also unpredictable and might end up making more enemies for Nidal. A loose cannon is what some people might call him. Then again, Marcus was almost exactly the same. Marcus opened up a filing cabinet and looked under the letter "C". He pulled out a black folder labeled with two red letters "C", and "E" and opened it up,
'Now I can always know what you're planning, General Mykos Roarik,' Marcus thought as he read through the folder.
Katarina threw her new dagger outside as it spun hitting hilt first at a makeshift wooden target. She puffed out her cheeks in frustration as she picked up her dagger off the ground. She threw it again, made less of a spin, but still failed to implant itself into the target. Cassiopeia saw Katarina throwing the dagger and decided to get a closer look,
"What are you doing?" Cassiopeia asked her sister.
Katarina threw it again, and this time it stuck into the target with a thud. She made a triumphant face, but then realized that the dagger didn't hit the target like it was supposed to. She turned to face Cassiopeia, a little annoyed,
"I'm trying to throw this dagger right," Katarina replied, a little frustrated.
"Sheesh, Kat. No need to take your anger out on me."
Katarina sighed, "Sorry Cassy. It's just a lot harder than it looks."
Cassiopeia eyed Katarina's dagger, then gave her a curious look, "Where did you get that?"
Katarina lifted up her arm with the dagger and showed Cassiopeia proudly, "Talon gave it to me. He said he had too many and gave me this one."
"Cool. But wouldn't Dad get angry if he sees you playing with a sharp knife?"
"He'd get angry, but not at me when I tell him Talon was the one who let me use it," Katarina explained.
Cassiopeia gave Katarina a shameful look,
"Th-That is if I get caught," Katarina quickly added.
She threw the dagger once again, and once again it hit the target with the hilt,
"Now if only I knew how to use one," Katarina said.
Cassiopeia thought for a moment. Then a sudden idea popped into her head, "Maybe you could ask Talon for lessons."
"I'm not too sure about that. He seemed a little tired when he showed up in his room."
"Aw come on. I'm sure he'd be glad to help," Cassiopeia gave a tug on Katarina's arm, slightly pulling her in the direction of the mansion.
"Ow. Okay, okay. I'm coming,"
And the two girls were off to Talon's room.
Talon woke up to the sound of knocking on his door. He must have fallen asleep. He was still tired and a little sore from last night after all,
"Talon, it's me, Cass," Cassiopeia's voice said on the other side of the door.
Talon got up and stretched his back,
"See? I told you he was sleeping," came Katarina's voice.
'What do they want?' Talon thought as he got to the door. He opened it to see the two younger girls standing on the other side,
"Hey there. Cassiopeia. Katarina," Talon greeted halfheartedly. He just got out of bed and was still a little tired.
"Kat's got something to ask you," Cassiopeia said, giving Katarina a nudge.
Katarina looked at the floor, "Uhm, could you uhm, help me uhm, with-"
"Help her throw a dagger accurately?" Cassiopeia finished.
"-Y-Yeah."
"I could try. I don't really know how to teach someone how to throw it correctly though," Talon said.
"Good!" Cassiopeia grabbed Talon's arm and pulled him outside with Katarina.
Marcus finished his letter to general Roarik and gave it to a postmaster to be delivered,
"Make sure it gets to him as fast as it can, before sunrise" Marcus demanded.
"Don't worry sir. I'm the fastest mailer in Ridwan. He'll receive it in a few hours, tops."
The postmaster rode off with the letter, leaving Marcus to plan for what's coming.
Katarina threw her dagger at the target. It made a knocking noise as it sloppily hit the target,
"That's not how you throw a dagger," Talon said as he pulled out one of his own. "You're putting too much force into it, and that's what's making it spin. Try throwing it like this."
Talon expertly snapped his hand out, releasing the dagger as it flew gracefully into the target. Katarina watched in awe and Cassiopeia cheered in the background,
"See?" Talon started, "You're trying to throw it as hard as you can, and that's what's making the spin. What you want is to throw hard enough to where it will glide through the air, but softly enough so it will stay straight."
Katarina nodded, and then threw the dagger again. It spun, as always, and hit the target with the hilt,
"I don't see how you do it," Katarina whined.
Talon picked up Katarina's dagger and handed it back to her, "Simply put: if you throw with your arm, it will spin. If you throw with your wrist, it will stay straight."
"Maybe if you weren't so strong than you'd be able to throw it right," Cassiopeia giggled.
"Shut up," Katarina said. She took a pause, 'Don't use your arm. Don't use your arm.'
Katarina's dagger implanted itself into the target with ease. It flew straight, or at least straight enough. She blinked at the sight of finally being able to throw a dagger properly,
"I did it," she said.
Talon examined the target and the dagger, "It wasn't perfect, but at least you did it right."
"Good job, Kat!" Cassiopeia said, "Now it's my turn!"
Both Katarina and Talon shared the unsaid word, no.
"What?" Cassiopeia teased, "I was just kidding."
"Thanks, Talon," Katarina briefly said.
"No problem. I'm glad I could help," he replied.
"You could go back to sleep now if you want," said Katarina.
"Sure. I am still a little tired. Well, Katarina, Cass, I'm going back to bed," Talon said, waving at them.
"Goodnight! Sorry for waking you up," Cassiopeia waved back.
"You could just call me Kat from now on, if you want," Katarina said.
Talon gave the two girls another wave before returning to the mansion.
"That fool!" Roarik yelled as he read Marcus's letter.
"KAW!" came the bird on his shoulder.
"What is it?" said a female voice from behind Roarik.
Roarik turned around and faced the figure, "Baron Marcus has been foolish enough to enroll his student into a special force that I command."
"So?"
"His student is skilled in assassinations, perhaps too skilled. And I will assume control over him once he joins this force."
"And how will this benefit me?"
"You'll see dear. You'll see. Once my plan is complete, everything will fall into place."
Talon was once again in his bed, and once again he was thinking about what he just did, until he heard another knock on his door,
"Report to my office immediately, boy," Came Marcus's voice.
"I just want to sleep," Talon moaned. He got up and walked out the bedroom door. He walked down the stairs and into Marcus's office, "You wanted to see me, sir?" he asked as he took a seat.
"Yes. As you may recall, General Mykos Roarik was here earlier demanding how you became so skilled."
Talon didn't say a word, so Marcus continued, "He is hiding something, boy, and I want to know what it is," he slid the black folder to Talon. Talon opened it up, "It's a special organization that is run completely by General Mykos Roarik. Its members carry out special orders that he gives them."
"You don't mean-"
"Yes. I want you to join this organization and follow whatever orders you are given. You will report to me everything Roarik makes you, or any other members do. But just know that I am still your master, and if I give you an order that goes against his wishes, then carry it out regardless of what his orders are. Understand?"
"But I-... I understand, sir. What is this organization called?" Talon asked.
Marcus took back the black folder from Talon and placed it back into the filing cabinet. He then leaned forward onto his desk,
"Tomorrow, you will be joining the Adamant Company’s Elite."
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Talon grabbed the edge of a high cliff when he was caught off guard and thrown by Marcus,
'That was close.'
He pulled himself up to face his opponent, who was frowning at him,
"You're reaction is still too slow, boy," he said.
"Sorry master," Talon shifted his body back into a fighter's stance, awaiting another strike from Marcus.
Marcus dashed with lightning speed behind Talon, raising his blade for a strike. Talon spun around and brought up his sword, just deflecting the attack. Marcus used his foot and swept out Talon's leg while said person was focusing on deflecting his katana. Talon fell back as he lost his balance. He felt a hard punch to his chest when he hit the ground. He let out a cough, and then rolled back up to face Marcus again,
"You must be aware of your foe's every movement," Marcus explained, "A weapon isn't a person's only tool in battle." Marcus withdrew his katana and walked past his student, "We're done for today."
"But we just started," Talon said back. "How can we be done already?"
"You need to save your energy."
"For what? Are you sending me on an assassination?"
" Adamant Company’s Elite."
"Oh..."
"Is something wrong?" Marcus asked. The boy obviously didn't seem too happy about joining the Adamant Company’s Elite.
"its just-it doesn't feel right, taking orders from someone else."
"I appreciate your loyalty, boy, but right now I need you to take orders from General Roarik. Just until you find out what he's planning."
"I know, but it just seems a little hard to obey someone's orders I don't respect."
Marcus gave Talon a look of understanding, "Then maybe you could think of it this way: I order you to obey General Roarik 's every command. Understand?"
"...Yes sir."
Marcus smiled and patted Talon on the head, "That's a good boy."
The two made their way back to the mansion. Marcus, as usual, had work to do in his office, and Talon went up to his room to get ready to go out to Roarik’s headquarters to start his first day of being a member of Adamant Company’s Elite. He took his best blades and exited his room. He made his way outside and started walking towards the mansion's front gates. After opening them, he made his way to Roarik’s headquarters. Talon knocked on the door and waited for someone to answer. The door suddenly creaked open and Roarik’s voice could be heard from across the room,
"Come here," he said with his raspy voice.
Talon made his way in. Eventually he could see Roarik behind a large desk with his bird perched on his shoulder. Talon stopped in front of the desk. Roarik stared deep into Talon's eyes, as if looking for something inside him,
"You have come to serve me through the Adamant Company’s Elite, have you not?"
"I have, but only for the time being," Talon said without emotion.
"Good. As I trust you know, the Adamant Company’s Elite carries out special orders that-"
"Tell me what you need me to do," Talon interrupted. He wasn't in the mood to hear what he already knows. The Adamant Company’s Elite carries out special orders that benefits Nidal's goals. What he wants to know is what he is needed for.
Roarik shot Talon an even deeper glare, "You do NOT interrupt your superior when he's talking!"
"KAW!"
Roarik cleared his throat before starting again, "Since this is your first day, I'm going to start you off with something simple just to see what you're capable of. Also we've been needing to take care of this problem for a while now, so why not let you handle it?"
"What is it?"
"A group of Drow Flauros cultists have gotten too comfortable inside a hidden base near Pangolais. Apparently, they've been terrorizing several towns to see them go up in flames for their own entertainment," Roarik stood up from his desk. "That is where you come in. Find this base and eliminate all the cultists."
"Where's is it?"
"They've dug themselves a nice hole to hide inside in the Shadow Caverns. All you need to do to find them is look for buildings that are on fire. They tend to blow up everything they see after all."
"Then I'll take my leave," Talon turned around and headed for the door, not wanting to waste any more time in Roarik’s office.
"Hmph," Roarik said, "Some people just don't know respect."
Marcus stepped out of his office and gave himself a pat on the back for finishing his work early. It was just afternoon when he got done. Normally when he finished his work this early, he would have taken Talon out for more training, but Talon was out doing Roarik’s dirty work since last night, so he couldn't do that. Though he never shows it, he enjoys having the boy as a student. And sometimes he can't help himself but think of Talon as an adopted son. Marcus made his way to his master bedroom and looked at the large garden through the window of his room. The beautiful sight never got old. The shady trees, the red rose bushes... His oldest daughter throwing a dangerous weapon at a wooden target-wait, what? Marcus immediately left his room and went towards the garden to see what's happening.
Katarina smiled almost wickedly when her dagger planted itself perfectly into the wooden target. She pulled out the dagger and threw it again, and again, and again until her throwing arm became tired. She didn't exactly know why, but she likes throwing sharp knives and daggers rather than wearing fancy clothes and dresses like her sister. It just felt more natural for her. She took her dagger and flung it at the target. It made a loud thump as the weapon struck the wood. It felt a lot more natural. She's only been doing this for a couple days, but already it has become her favorite thing to-
"You have good aim," Came an all familiar voice from behind Katarina, "but your form is sloppy."
Katarina froze. Marcus walked up from behind and put a hand on his daughter's shoulder,
"Where did you get that?" Katarina's father asked, pointing at the dagger stuck in the wood.
"D-Dad," Katarina said, trying to come up with a good excuse for what she was doing, "you finished early."
"Yes I have," Marcus said calmly. "Who taught you how to throw one of these?"
Katarina looked away from her father for a moment. Talon would be the answer to both his questions, but if she told him the truth, her father might become enraged and throw Talon out of the mansion. Or worse. Sure she might not have liked him at first, but now she's come to think of him as somewhat of a friend. Maybe even an older brother.
"Well?" Marcus asked. "You couldn't have been able to teach yourself how to throw like that."
Katarina hesitated, then took a deep breath before talking, "Talon gave me the dagger, and he also taught me how to use it," She said it quickly, as if trying to get it over with.
Katarina looked away from her father again. He would definitely be angry, very angry; Not only at her, but at Talon as well. She slowly moved her gaze back to her father, but to her surprise, he wasn't mad at all. In fact, he had a grin on his face.
"I'm sorry," Katarina said, thinking that her dad might have gone insane, "but please don't be mad at Talon. It wasn't his fault."
Marcus looked down at Katarina, "Talon did this, huh?" He walked over to the wooden target and pulled the dagger out. He came back and placed it in his daughter's hands. Katarina looked up at her father in surprise,
"Dad?" She asked, worriedly.
Marcus crouched down to Katarina's height, "How would you like to learn how to use this dagger properly?"
"You're okay with this? You're not mad?"
Marcus let out a laugh, "Are you kidding? I'm proud that my oldest daughter wants to learn my profession."
"I-" Katarina was speechless. This event went in a totally opposite direction than she thought it would.
Marcus noticed her speechlessness and gave her a concerned look, "Is something wrong, Katarina?"
Katarina snapped out of it and smiled back at her father, "Yeah, I'm fine. Can you teach me?"
Marcus pointed at the wooden target with a finger, "Now, here's what you need to do. . ."
Talon made his way toward the Northern edge of the Uskwood. It would be the most logical place to check, since it would be the perfect place for a terrorist group to hide. The ground was charred black with ash, and the air was polluted with smoke and dust; more evidence that the fire cultists were around here or at least been here. Most of the few buildings in the area were either burned to the ground, or currently on fire. Talon walked on the burned out trails, ashes and dust coming up from the ground with every step he took.
BOOM!
The ground rumbled as the sound of an explosion was heard. Talon turned around toward the source of the noise. What he saw was a huge pillar of flames erupting from the ground, burning everything around it. Near the blast was a Dark Elf wearing red robes with a long, metal staff that Talon could only guess he made the fire with. With the design of the robe and the shape of his tattoos, one could easily tell that he was from Cultist of Flauros.
It's go time.
Talon dashed behind the man and placed his blade on his throat. The Drow's eyes widened in horror when he realized the weapon at his neck,
"Where does your organization reside? Tell me, and I might just spare your life," Talon demanded. He pressed his sword blade harder at the man's neck, drawing a stream of blood.
"I-I'll never tell you!" he said, voice trembling.
Talon pressed his blade harder at the fire cultist's neck.
"W-Wait! I changed my mind!"
"Spill it!" Talon threatened. "Or you will lose your throat."
"S-See that building over there-the one on fire?" the Drow pointed at one of the flaming buildings. "I-It's in there-underground I mean. It's in the basement of that building."
Talon looked towards the building the man pointed to, but kept his blade around his neck,
"Y-You'll let me go now, right?"
"..."
Talon pulled his blade back, splitting the warm flesh of the Drow’s neck. He fell to the ground, going completely limp as the ground was dyed crimson with his blood,
"Why do people always make that disgusting noise when I kill them?" Talon complained before heading for the building the mage pointed to.
The entire building was almost engulfed in flames. Talon cocked his head in the direction of where the entrance would be, hadn't it been completely blockaded by fire, So much for the easy way in. Since the ground floor was apparently inaccessible, Talon looked at the window to the next floor up. Looks like he'd be able to get in that way, and get to the first floor from there, but how would he get up there? He could try to jump up there, but if he misses, he'll fall into the flames surrounding the building. That's not really something he wanted to risk doing.
Talon turned his head toward the bloody corpse on the ground. He focused his attention on the metal staff that the Drow was still gripping tightly onto. He could use that. Talon ripped the metal staff out of the Drow's dead hands and stuck it into a crack on the side of the building to use it as somewhat of a monkey bar. Talon grabbed the bar and swung himself up to the window of the upper floor.
The sudden heat of the building became apparent when Talon entered through the window. Flames engulfed almost the entire floor, but why the wooden flooring did not burn was beyond him. A beam fell from the ceiling over the assassin's head, causing him to quickly roll out of the way as the beam crashed through the floor. The flames seemed to dance towards Talon when he noticed that they were coming closer to him. Someone was manipulating the fire. A stream of flames flung itself in Talon's direction. The boy jumped to the side as the flames whizzed past his head, barely leaving a burn mark on the side of his hood. More flames flew by as Talon had to play dodge ball whereas the flames were the balls, and if he was hit, he'd be permanently out. A fireball launched itself from behind Talon and struck his cape, immolating it. Talon cursed as he unstrapped his cape and let it fall to the ground.
'Can't stay here dodging flames all day,' Talon thought when more balls of fire shot themselves at him, 'I'll burn up.'
Somehow in the middle of all that dodging, Talon noticed the hole in the floor the fallen beam created for him, and an idea made its way into his head. Talon dove into the hole and landed on a safe spot the fire hasn't touched yet. Now all he had to do was find a way into the basement. He spotted another hole in the ground. This one probably led down. He made his way to it, avoiding the dancing flames that would otherwise burn him alive. He jumped down the hole and landed on a dirt ground.
A line of torches illuminated a dirt hallway that led in only one direction. Talon stood up and noticed that his head barely touched the ceiling of the tunnel. He started down the hall, his feet slightly sinking into the dirt with every step. It was a little cooler now, at least cool enough for a person to survive in. He took this time to recount his blades. He lost his cape in the fire, which had several hidden Shuriken inside it. A certain master will be far less than pleased when he finds out what happened to it. Overall, he has lost about half his blades in the fire.
Talon came upon a rotten door at the end of the tunnel. He gripped the rusty doorknob and swung the door open. He stepped inside, and to his surprise, the scene changed completely save for the torches that lit the place. Instead of a tunnel of dirt, the walls and floors were made of a strange marble, as if it was created in a way it wasn't supposed to. The room also expanded into a large, underground building. A castle built below the Uskwood where no one would notice it. Strange on how something like this being built under The Umbral Court’s noses went undetected. Talon stepped down a marble staircase that led deeper into the fortress,
"Greetings, child," came a voice from the lower room when Talon reached the bottom of the stairway. He looked in the direction of the voice. There was another robbed, Drow standing in front of a small group of roughly ten more drow. Some of them had robes with wooden staffs, while others had pieces of red armor on and scimitars that were covered in flames.
"Welcome to the temple of fire," said the lead drow cultist. "I offer you a choice: You can become one with fire like the rest of us, or let it burn you."
Talon remained silent and prepared to shadow meld. He wasn't much for talk with an enemy anyway.
The Drow frowned, "I see you don't see the glory in giving in to fire," he turned to the group of pyromaniacs, "He cannot leave alive," He then proceeded to a nearby door that led deeper underground, "Don't make a mess."
The group of people grinned monstrously, as if they needed to kill like savages. The fire-loving maniacs drew closer to their pray. They came closer, and closer, until they were close enough to kill, but death wasn't something Talon took willingly.
"Enjoy the taste of steel," Talon said with a wry smile.
And with that, the assassin disappeared.
Cassiopeia was sitting in her usual spot under the tree reading a sappy romantic novel about some emotionless girl and a creepy vampire probably thousands of years older than her when she noticed her sister and her father spending quality time together... hitting targets... with a sharp knife. Cassiopeia being the social snake she was, hated being left out of these kinds of matters, so she decided it best she go join in on whatever they're doing. She left her sappy book on the grass and walked over to the center of activity. Katarina's dagger struck the target when the red haired girl threw it,
"We're making progress," The Marcus said, "but try aiming a little to the left, at where the heart would be."
"Right," Katarina said.
Cassiopeia was reminded of Talon and when he tried to teach her sister how to throw a dagger. He wasn't very good at explaining things, to be honest... Where was he anyway? She hasn't seen Talon all day.
"Gah!" Katarina yelled, frustrated. "Complete miss. This is so hard!"
"Don't worry, you'll get it," Marcus reassured.
Cassiopeia giggled at Katarina's frustration. It was always funny when her sister got mad, especially when it was at things someone shouldn't get angry about. Marcus turned his head and spotted his daughter giggling behind his back,
"Cassiopeia, what are you doing out here?" Marcus asked.
Cassiopeia stared at the ground and kicked a pebble that seemed out of place, "Just seeing what you two are up to."
Katarina let out a frustrated puff of air, "I'm trying to throw this knife perfectly."
Marcus also found amusement out of his daughter's frustration, "Don't worry, Katarina. It took me months to master the use of a dagger."
"MONTHS!? How many?"
"It took me around four, but that was nonstop training."
Katarina face-planted on the ground, "Aw man, four whole months. That's like... a third of a year."
"There, there. It only took Talon two months to learn how to use one of these properly. Who knows? Maybe you'll master it in a couple weeks."
"Where is Talon anyway?" Cassiopeia butted in with her curiosity.
"I sent him out on an errand. I think he'll be back by tomorrow."
"What kind of errand?"
"He's just doing some work for a fellow General of mine."
"What kind of work?"
"I can't say I know."
"It's getting late," Katarina said, trying to change the subject. "Can we have dinner soon?"
"Sure. What would you girls like?"
"Spaghetti!" Cassiopeia screamed in delight. "With lots of meatballs!"
"Don't forget the sauce," Katarina added.
"Sounds good," Marcus agreed, "I'll tell the chef."
Talon released his grip on his last kill. They were all dead-the foolish fire lovers-and the killer was on to the next room to confront the leader. He swung the door open and entered the chamber. There were flames nearly everywhere. The ground was almost melted to the point of molten lava. The drow, the leader of the cultists, was standing at the far end of this furnace.
"So you have bested my men," he started. "Surely you have a gift."
Talon still said nothing to him. He wanted to get this over with so he can go back to the mansion.
The drow continued, "Why waste that gift fighting me, when you will surely die? Join me, child, and together we will set this world on fire."
"Or maybe you're just scared to face me," Talon taunted.
The pyromaniac showed no anger towards Talon, "So you have chosen death, and I, Valhegan, will deliver it in the form of fire."
Valhegan, or so it was what he called himself, raised his right arm with his palm face up. All the fire in the room immediately responded and came together into a ball of flame atop his hand. He hurled the fireball in Talon's direction. Talon threw himself out of the way, and the ball of flames dispersed into an explosion where he recently occupied. Talon dashed at the fire worshiper and attempted to stab him in the gut. Valhegan brought up his staff and deflected the attack just before it connected with his flesh. He pushed Talon's blade aside and struck the ground with his staff. Talon heard the ground make a crackling noise and noticed that it was lit up beneath him. A column of fire came up from the ground under the assassin, and Valhegan watched as he was burned alive,
"Such a waste," Valhegan mumbled.
The pyromaniac's eyes shot wide open as he felt the cold sharp feeling of hot steel pierced his left shoulder. He released his staff as the pain of gripping with his left hand became too much. Talon appeared behind him and pulled his blade out of his shoulder,
"How did you escape my blast!?" Valhegan demanded, holding onto his wound with his right arm.
Talon moved with incredible speed up to his target and swung upwards with his blade. Valhegan tried to dodge out of the way, but was too slow and the blade caught his right arm and ripped it off from the shoulder bone. Valhegan whaled in pain as his arm dropped dead onto the molten ground, blood pouring from the severed limb,
"How can this be!?" Valhegan managed to say through the pain. "The fire gives me power! How can I be defeated by the likes of you?"
Talon readied his blade again, preparing for the final strike,
Valhegan realized that death was imminent, and returned to his natural stature despite his missing arm, "No matter. My death will mean nothing. It won't change the storm that's coming," he grinned like a maniac. "Fire will ravage this land! You hear me?! The world will burn! Gahahahahaha-"
Talon impaled Valhegan with his sword. He grew tired of his senseless rambling anyway. He pulled his sword out, and the corpse dropped onto the ground, gushing out red liquids. The flames in the room started to die down, and the ground became cooler. Talon wiped the sweat away from his forehead. Another mission accomplished.
"That was... fast," Roarik said. If he was surprised, he didn't show it.
"What did you expect?" replied Talon, not really caring for an answer.
"I expected it to take a few days, or weeks. Nevertheless, a job well done. You will be hearing from me the next time I require your skills... You're dismissed."
Talon turned and headed for the door, not giving Roarik the respect of a bow or at least a salute,
"So, Marcus, where did you pick that boy up from?" Roarik pondered aloud as he sat back in his chair.
The End? 0.0
:(
kind of on delay when Wife went into hospital. but I have another chapter being edited and the next one after that outlined out.
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The blood of the target's throat spilled onto the ground when a sharp piece of metal was slid across it. The target fell limp, blood still flowing out of the victim. Talon wiped off the blood on his sword with a piece of cloth. He had been ordered by his master to kill this man. Supposedly, the now lifeless corpse was on his way to assassinate the Baron’s family. Unfortunately for him, the assassin was the one who was to be assassinated. That seemed to be the last person on Talon's mental list of assassinations, so that meant that it was finally time to head back.
Talon left the body for the sewer rats and starving desperate. It would've taken him too much time to dispose of it anyway. This whole month, Talon has been taking out Marcus' enemies, which were mainly those who wanted Marcus's place among Umbral Court’s high command and were willing to resort to killing him to do it.
Talon hasn't been back at the mansion for the entire month due to his targets being so far away. It brought back some memories-having to live on the streets again, except he had a goal other than just surviving another day. Talon looked at his arms, and frowned at how dirty they were. His whole body was covered in the filth that plagued the lower city. He will probably need a well-deserved bath when he gets back to the mansion.
Talon made it back to the mansion in the early evening. As much as he wanted to take a bath and have an edible meal, his duty as Marcus's personal assassin has to come first. He knocked on the door to Marcus's office to give him his report,
"Enter," Came a voice on the other side of the door.
Talon opened the door and entered the office. He closed the door behind him, knowing that his master preferred it shut. Marcus looked up at Talon and gave him a small grin,
"You're back," Marcus greeted. "I assume you finished your work?"
"I killed all of them. Just like you told me to," Talon said, standing in front of Marcus's desk.
"Good. Did you bring back Aego's prized blade?"
Talon pulled out a decorative golden sword. One of Talon's targets was a corrupted general that took his loyal portion of the Nidal army and (if it weren't for Talon) was going to take out the other generals until he was the only one left and became the grand general. He always carried the decorative sword with him, so when Talon had it in his hands, it was a clear sign that he had been killed.
Marcus took the blade from Talon and set it aside, "You outdid yourself again, boy."
"I only did what you told me."
"Yes. I suppose you did," Marcus adopted a serious face, "and now I need you to do something else for me."
"Yes?"
"I received a message from General Roarik while you were gone. He has requested your service again."
"What does he want me to do?" asked Talon. He didn't seem too enthusiastic about his duty as a Crimson Elite, but his master wanted him to join the organization.
"If I knew, than you wouldn't have to go."
"Right."
"He did send you this, though. He wants you to wear it during Crimson Elite affairs."
Marcus pulled out a wooden crate from under his desk and placed it on top, in front of Talon. The boy rolled his eyes. The Crimson Elite just seemed to be getting less and less appealing to him,
"Then I'll take this up to my room, sir," Talon said before grabbing the crate and exiting the room.
Talon hauled the crate up to his room. He pried the wooden top off and inspected the contents. The uniform inside was mostly black leather with parts of it being dark red. A golden helmet was under it all. There were also pieces of black metal armor for his arms and legs. Talon changed into the new clothes, after taking a bath and eating a small meal. It fit nicely, and the style wasn't all that bad either. Now that he could get a better look at it, he noticed that the armor on his arms had streaks of silver on it. His chest had a strange silver design on it too. The red leather was also outlined with gold. Maybe it seemed a little flashy for an assassin, but it wasn't a terrible look for him.
Talon made his way out of his room and back into his master's office to tell him that he'll be leaving,
"I'll be going to Roarik's headquarters now," Talon told.
"Indeed," Marcus said. He was too busy writing on official papers to notice the boy's uniform.
"Uhh, sir?" Talon asked. A thought popped into his head. "Do you have another one of those bladed capes I could borrow?" Talon went a whole month without one. Ever since he lost his in the fire, he felt unbalanced without it. Almost as soon as he got back to the mansion from Roarik 's pyromaniac problem, he was sent out again to deal with Marcus' enemies, so he couldn't ask for a new one.
Marcus looked up from his desk, "You lost your last one?"
Talon nodded, "In a fire."
Marcus rubbed his right wrist as if it hurt from writing, "I'll need to order some seamstresses and leather workers to make another if you want one exactly like the last," Marcus stood up from his seat and made his way to the ever-so-handy wardrobe conveniently placed in his office. "But, if you just want any bladed cape," Marcus opened the wardrobe and pulled something out, "then you can wear this." He put the cape in Talon's hands. The cape was of the same basic design as the last. Five strips of leather with blades at the end. Instead of brown leather, it was black on the outer side, and red on the inner. The metal blades on the end were much less bulky than the last, and they seemed sharper too.
Talon strapped on the new cape. It was lighter, but he felt a bit more balanced now.
"You can keep that one," Marcus said, "and I'll have a new one made for you when you get back."
"Thanks," said Talon. He was about to leave, but Marcus stopped him.
"Before I forget," He started, "I want you to use this instead of your usual sword."
Marcus grabbed a rather skinny blade and handed it to Talon. The shape of the blade resembled the shape of a katana, but edged to a point rather than curved. Talon Held the blade in his hand. It felt natural, perfectly balanced. He could tell right away that this sword was meant for faster actions and less combat, as it didn't provide that much protection. "Try it out. I'm sure you'll like it. Now go, General Roarik hates waiting."
Talon nodded again and headed out to Roarik's headquarters. He didn't bother knocking on the door to Roarik's office. Roarik knew he was there. Instead, Talon just turned the knob and entered the room. Roarik was standing in front of his desk, acknowledging Talon in the office,
"What took you so long?" Roarik said in his usual tone. "It's been a week since I called for you and you decide to show up now?"
"I was busy doing more important things," Talon said.
"What could possibly be more important than your duty in the Adamant Company’s Elite?!"
No answer.
Roarik took a deep breath to calm himself, "I was just about to send someone else on this mission instead. In fact, she's on her way here as we speak."
"So am I not needed?"
"If I let her do it alone, it might get done," Roarik stroked the feathers on his bird. "But, if I send both of you, then the success rate for the mission will dramatically increase."
"I do better alone, Roarik."
"It's General Roarik to you!" Roarik cleared his throat, "Ahem! Like it or not, you'll be working with a partner on this."
Ugh. "Fine. What do you want?"
"Wait for the girl to get here. It shouldn't be long."
A brief moment passed by before a knock on the door was heard.
"The door's unlocked," Roarik said.
The door came open and a woman stepped in. the first thing Talon noticed about her was the rune-engraved sword she was carrying. Like Talon, she was wearing a black leather uniform with parts of it red. She had a golden headpiece with a golden shoulder piece. She was also wearing a silver gauntlet on her right arm that produced a bright glow.
"General Roarik," the girl bowed.
"Now that you're here, we can start."
The girl noticed the caped man standing next to her. A few questions arose, but she decided to just ask one, "Uhh, General, if you don't mind my interruption: who's he?"
"Ah yes. I forgot the introductions. Talon, this is Raven," Roarik said proudly, "One of my top soldiers in the military. She's only sixteen and she is already of the strongest Nidal has yet to see," Talon didn't know why he was introducing the girl to him. She was the one who wanted to know who he was, not the other way around. "Raven, this is Talon."
"Talon? That's it? Nothing else?"
"I wasn't told too much about him."
"Kaw!"
"...Right," Roarik said, as if understanding his bird, "We've gone off track. Raven, you and Talon will be working together."
"I thought you said I would be doing this alone," Raven said.
"Originally, this mission was for Talon, but he decided not to show up until after I gave it to you instead. Both of you will be going now. We need this mission to be a success."
"Understood."
Roarik cleared his throat again, "Ahem! As I trust you both know, The Church of Desna is the enemy of Nidal, and it is our job to make sure it crumbles. It may be years before I can see a full-scale assault to bring them to the ground, but for now, we have to settle to just weakening their numbers and fortifications."
Raven was standing at attention awaiting orders while Talon just stood there, "So what do you need m- us to do?" Talon asked impatiently.
"I was getting there. Learn some patience," Roarik said in his angry voice. "A spy has reported that a caravan will be escorting a Desnian diplomat from Korvosa to Tamran, in a week, but that was ten days ago. I could only conclude that this diplomat intends to try and merge Varisia and Nirmathas. It takes roughly a month to travel there from Korvosa, so you only have roughly two weeks to catch up to them. Tamran, would be in our best interest to keep neutral," Roarik handed Raven a map of Varisia with a red line going along a road from Korvosa to tamran. "Your task is simple, somewhere along this road, there's a caravan escorting the diplomatist. Capture the diplomat, and kill all the soldiers within the caravan. There is already a carriage waiting outside. It will bring you to Tamran before the caravan does, and you can start looking for it from there."
"Yes, sir," Raven said, "but... everyone part of the caravan are soldiers, right?"
"I doubt anyone other than members of the Varisian military will be traveling with the diplomat. Now get the job done. Desna cannot have Tamran."
Talon was already out the door and was heading for the carriage. Ugh, why carriage and not horseback? Talon hated carriage rides. The last one he took was when Marcus was picking him up from the streets and into the mansion. It was also the first time he ever rode one. Talon stopped in front of the carriage and was about to step in when he heard someone yelling at him,
"Hey! Wait up!" Raven yelled. She was just coming out of Roarik's headquarters. She stopped in front of Talon and gave him a friendly grin. "We didn't really get to introduce ourselves back there. I'm Raven," Raven brought her hand up, offering Talon a handshake. "Talon, right?"
"That's me," Talon grabbed Raven's outstretched hand and shook it. "We should get in. It's at least a week trip to Tamran from here."
"Agreed."
The two got into the carriage and it took off. Talon took off his helmet and shook his hair. He didn't need it on for a simple ride. To Raven's standards, the assassin looked rather handsome, but she pushed this thought away. There wasn't a place for love in her life. It was considered weakness in Nidal after all, and being considered weak by others is the last thing she wants. The strong survive and rise to power, while the weak starve and die alone.
Neither one of the two made an effort to start a conversation. It was quiet, and the only noise was the sound of galloping hooves and the occasional neighing from the horses. Roughly two hours passed and it was beginning to turn dark out. The carriage slowed to a halt. The carriage driver gave the horses some food and water,
"We'll rest here for tonight" said the driver. He tossed Talon and Raven some sheets to sleep in for tonight. Then went to set up a tent for himself.
Raven looked at the map. They had just made it over the Mountains and were near the Backar Forest, and without disturbing anything in the process. She put the map down and closed her eyes, falling into sleep. Talon did the same, knowing that staying up all night won't do him any good.
Talon woke up just before the sun came into view. He wanted to get an early start and get to Tamran as soon as he can. Raven was still asleep, but she wasn't the one who needed to get up. Talon stepped out of the carriage and shook the tent the driver was in,
"Wake up!" Talon yelled.
The carriage driver rolled out of the tent like it was on fire, "Augh! I thought you were a starving bear!"
"Good, you're awake," Talon said, walking back towards the carriage. "Let's start moving."
The driver packed up all his stuff and got back into the driver's seat. The carriage started to move again. Raven woke up to the sound of the horses and turning wheels. She pulled her sheet off and sat up straight in the seat,
"The sun is barley up and we're already moving?" Raven asked.
"If we started any later, than we wouldn't have gotten to Tamran in time," Talon said.
A few minutes of silence passed by,
"So what's the plan when we get there?" Raven asked, trying to break the silence.
Talon thought for a moment, "When we get to Tamran, we start on the road Roarik said the Desnian caravan will be coming from. We're bound to run into them somewhere along the way."
"And then what?"
"And then we kill them."
"That's a terrible strategy."
"Then what do you think we should do?" Not that Talon cared. He knew his method of killing would work. It always has.
"Well, I'm sure that there are more than just two soldiers guarding the caravan, so we'll be easily outnumbered. We need a strategy," Raven started thinking. "What do you do?"
"I'm an assassin. I kill those I'm ordered to kill."
"And how do you kill?"
"I strike from the shadows where no one can see me. I go for a vulnerable spot that's unguarded by armor. When they are dead, I move onto the next."
"Then maybe we-"
"Raven!" Talon interrupted. "I'll kill them. You can just wait at the city."
Raven's eyes widened. She took Talon's orders as an insult, "What? You want me to wait for you to do all the work? That's stupid! Why am I even coming along then?"
"I never asked for you to come. That was Roarik's idea," Talon let out a deep breath. "I could do this alone. I don't need your help."
"We're supposed to be a team for this, Talon. General Roarik ordered us to work together, as teammates."
Talon's voice started to rise a little, "The last person I teamed up with, I ended up taking his life! Teammates just get in your way, and they will eventually get you killed. His mistakes almost got me executed. I barely escaped with my life," Talon let out another deep breath. "The harsh truth is, is that you're better off alone. Partners are just another burden that will drag you down. It's why I work alone."
Raven looked away for a moment. Is this guy serious? Teammates aren't really like that, are they? No. No they, aren't. "You're wrong," the girl said. "Sure, maybe sometimes a partner could get in the way and possibly get you both in trouble. But the reason people form partnerships is so they could watch each other’s backs. To help pull the one another out of harm's way. To help each other... And maybe that partnership could become a friendship," Raven hesitated, trying to think of another idea. "Didn't your old teammate ever help you out?"
In fact, he did. Kavyn did help Talon escape angry merchants he stole from sometimes, and he also gave him a decent place to sleep when he needed one. It was just all the things Kavyn didn't do as a teammate that made Talon dislike partnerships. "...You can come, but I'm not going to burden myself with watching your back."
Raven seeing that Talon got her point, smiled, "I'll be watching yours though."
After several days, the carriage finally arrived in Tamran. The city looked much different than Ridwan. Cleaner would be the first thing that would come to mind. The people seemed different too. Unlike Ridwan, the city that is driven by power, Tamran’s people aim to improve and broaden their minds. The security here was also... tight, to say the least, but not tight enough for Talon, who was able to slip himself (and Raven) inside without alerting any guards.
"We're inside," Raven said. "Now we need to find where the-" She paused. Her stomach started to grumble a little. Her cheeks turned slightly red. "Ah, maybe we should eat something first."
Talon was about to say "No," but he too felt his stomach growl. "Do you have any gold on you?"
"Um, no. I didn't think we would need any. We could just sneak back out and grab some food from the carriage."
"It would take too much time to get out and back in," Talon remembered his days when he was on the streets. "Stay here," he told Raven.
Talon spotted a couple people carrying pouches of gold. He mused on how the people here were far less alert than those who live in Ridwan. This should be simple. Talon casually started walking next to a man who had a pouch of gold coins strapped around his waist. He took a knife and made a cut at the bottom of the pouch, spilling all the gold in it. Talon had his hand out under the severed pouch and caught all the gold that fell out. The unlucky fool didn't notice anything, so Talon turned around and headed back to where Raven was waiting.
"Where did you get that?" Raven asked, pointing to the handful of gold in Talon's hand.
"Are you hungry?" Talon gestured to a nearby restaurant.
"Yeah, but-"
"It was commandeered."
"You stole it, didn't you?"
"Do you want to eat or not?"
"...Yes."
The two of them entered the restaurant. It seemed more like a bakery, with all the bread around. On a counter were sliced meats and cheeses.
"Hey, kids!" a man behind the counter said, "How may I help-" he stopped himself. He must have been intimidated by Raven's sword strapped to her back. "Er, h-how may I help you today."
"Give us something you could make quickly," Talon said. Raven nodded in agreement.
"R-Right away."
He immediately prepared two loaves of bread and cut them in half. He slid in some of the meats on the counter and then handed them to Talon.
"How much?" Talon asked.
"I-It's on the house! J-Just as long as you take this order to-go." The man hurriedly ran out the back door. Raven looked at Talon in confusion. He didn't know either, so he just handed her a sandwich and went for the door.
"We can eat on the way."
An hour passed by of Talon and Raven getting to the other side of town to get to the road they needed to travel on. They probably would have gotten there faster, but they had to avoid guards on the way. Talon looked towards the sun,
"We have around a half an hour until the sun sets," Talon said.
"Are we going to camp out until tomorrow? Because they'll take two more days to get here."
"Roarik was off . Look over there," Talon pointed towards what looked like soldiers on the road. From where they were, the soldiers look like tiny dots, but the shiny armor they were wearing made it easy to see them.
"You knew they'd be here sooner?" Raven questioned.
"It was just a hunch. We need to wait until dark now, so no one from here sees what happens."
"We should probably start on this road then."
They walked on the road and agreed to hide when they get close to the caravan. They were walking for around twenty minutes when the sun went down and they were getting close to the caravan. Talon and Raven went off the road and waited for them to draw closer,
"You ready for this?" Raven asked.
"Try not to get killed. I'd hate to be the one to have to tell Roarik that he lost his prized soldier," Talon pulled out a throwing knife, readying himself for an attack.
"That goes for you too," Raven readied her rune blade. She was able to hold it in one hand with ease.
'She must have a strong arm,' Talon thought.
The caravan was close enough to attack now. Talon counted seven priests and two horses pulling a wagon. He could only guess the targeted diplomat was sleeping soundly inside the wagon. Most of the soldiers seemed tired. Perfect conditions for an ambush.
"Try and keep up," Talon told.
Talon dashed out onto the road, Raven was close behind. He threw the knife at a guard, and he fell as soon as it connected with his skull. The rest of the soldiers turned around and saw the assassin,
"Ambush!" One soldier yelled.
"Protect the caravan!"
Raven swung her sword at a Desnian priest. The soldier brought his sword up to try and block the attack, but the force of her rune blade was too much for him. The soldier's sword broke and Raven's blade crushed him, spilling blood everywhere. Two of the remaining soldiers ran towards Raven, weapons raised. Raven dashed at them and released a greenish energy around her. The energy rushed through the two bodies of the soldiers, slowing their movements. Raven swung her blade at one of the soldiers. The soldier tried to move out of the way, but his body wouldn't listen. His torso was removed from his legs before he could react, and he fell dead. The second soldier shook off the energy that refused to let him move, and jumped at the girl. Raven sidestepped his swing, and with a swing of her own, jumped into the air and slammed down on the ground, wrecking the earth around her. The soldier was flung back as he felt the force of Raven's attack. He felt his spine break when he hit the ground. He let out a scream of pain. Raven made one more swing with her blade, ending the soldier's suffering.
Three of the other soldiers went after Talon. One of the soldiers was foolish enough to lunge at the assassin. Talon sidestepped his attack, and then plunged his sword into the man's back. Talon kicked his body forward and pulled his sword out. The other two guards attacked at the same time. Talon blocked one sword with his, and the other with a knife. He pushed both of the weapons aside and disappeared. The two soldiers swung their heads, trying to locate where the assassin was. One of the soldiers suddenly fell over; a knife was imbedded in his neck. Talon appeared behind the last soldier and brought his sword around his throat. He swiftly cut open his neck and let the corpse fall to the ground.
"That was easier than I expected," Raven said, cleaning the blood on her rune blade with the grass on the ground.
Talon stood in front of the wagon. The horses must have freaked out and ran off, leaving the wagon here. Talon swung open the door, and there he was. The Diplomat was cowering in the corner of the wagon. Talon delivered a hard punch to the side of the diplomatists head, knocking him out, "Roarik wanted him alive, right?" Talon asked.
"I think so."
"Let's get him back to the carriage then," Talon lugged his body out of the wagon. He noticed a letter inside. He took it, thinking that it might be a letter to Tamran requesting their aid.
The two assassins made their way back to the carriage. Talon set the diplomat inside, and ordered the driver to head back to Ridwan,
"Good job, Talon," Raven said. "You killed those three Desnian priests easily."
"I suppose you did a good job too," Talon said. "Handling the rest of them."
They made it back to Ridwan. Both Talon and Raven entered Roarik's headquarters. Talon dropped the body of the now unconscious diplomat on Roarik's floor,
"Did anyone survive?" Roarik asked.
"No."
"Good, we can't have anyone know that Nidal attacked them." Roarik looked at the drooling body on his floor. "I'll take it from here. You two are dismissed."
Raven bowed and Talon went for the door. Raven caught up to Talon when he was outside,
"Good job, again," She said.
"You too. I'm going home now," Talon replied.
"Yeah, me too. Bye then."
Raven turned and went in the direction of where she lived. Talon made his way to the mansion to deliver his report to Marcus,
"...And that was it," Talon concluded his report to Marcus.
"So he wanted you to stop Nirmathas from joining Varisia?"
"Yes, sir."
"But what does he want with the diplomat?" Marcus trailed into thought.
"I found this with him. Roarik doesn't know about it," Talon pulled out the letter he found and gave it to Marcus.
Marcus looked at the letter, "...Are you sure he doesn't know about this?"
"Yes."
"...You're dismissed."
Talon bowed, then went up to his room to get some sleep.
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"Why not?"
"I hate crowds."
"But my dad said you have to go with us."
"Too bad."
Cassiopeia had a hard grip on Talon's arm and was trying to pull him out of the mansion so they could go to the new year's festival or whatever it was called. She's been trying to get Talon to go with her and her sister all morning, really only because their dad won't let them go without someone to keep a sharp eye on them; make sure they don't get kidnapped by, you know, other criminals,
"Why don't you ask someone else? Your Dad, maybe?" asked a very annoyed Talon, shifting his weight to one side to prevent Cassiopeia from pulling him over.
"Dad's at a meeting, and all the servants have the day off," She was tugging harder on his arm.
"Can't we just stay here? I think your father would prefer that."
"I asked him earlier. He said we could go as long as you come along," Cassiopeia released Talon's arm and he almost fell backwards. "C'mon, it'll be fun."
"No."
"Please?"
"No."
"Please?"
"No."
"Please?"
"No."
"Please?"
"I'd rather hear you say please a thousand more times before I go with you and Kat to the festival."
Cassiopeia took a deep breath, "Pleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasep leasepleaseplease pleaseplease-"
"-Alright!" Talon yelled, not being able to take it anymore. "I'll go with you to the festival."
Cassiopeia grinned victoriously, "Okay! I'll get Kat."
"Where's she?"
Cassiopeia rolled her eyes, "Throwing a piece of metal at the target outside like always," She walked outside the mansion, but stopped and turned back around like she forgot something, "Oh yeah! You need to wear regular clothes. Like a normal person."
"Why?" Talon asked. What was wrong with his usual clothes?
"You'd stand out, and Dad says that that's a bad thing. Bad things happen to those who stand out."
"Ugh. Fine. I'll change."
Talon went up to his room to make a costume change. He hoped that this wasn't going to turn into an all-day activity. He didn't like going into public places that were overcrowded with strange people. He just wasn't a people person, really. Talon slipped on some faded blue pants and a plain white shirt. Why the clothes were in his room escaped him, but they must be his if they were in his drawer. He rolled up his sleeves to just under his elbows and decided that he now looked like a regular commoner save for his dark-brown hair, which was a little long and messy. He pulled a sheathed knife out of his drawer and hid it away somewhere under his shirt just in case he needed it. Good enough. Talon made his way downstairs where Katarina and Cassiopeia were waiting for him,
"Took you long enough," Katarina complained.
"So what are we going to do there?" he asked.
"We're just going to walk around and enjoy the festival," Cassiopeia said before grabbing Talon and Katarina's arms and began pulling them out the door.
This is going to be a long day.
The sounds of joyful voices littered the air as the three made their way into the festival. They were walking through the place that had all the tourist's stands and glittering souvenirs. Talon couldn't understand why people would pay the high prices for useless garbage. What will jewelry and art get you anyway? Bankruptcy? Bills? Muggers and thieves?
"Kat! Look!" Cassiopeia squealed. She was pointing to a souvenir stand with high-price jewelry. She ran through the crowds. The other two had no choice but to follow. She marveled at the fine craftsmanship of all the gold and jewels. "Look at this!" she said to her sister, pointing to a golden bracelet lined with rubies and sapphires.
"Whatever Cassy," Katarina replied, not interested in the slightest.
"Can I have it?"
Katarina thought for a moment, "Oh alright," She reached into her pocket, but found nothing. A quick sign of panic shot through Katarina's face, "I... I think I left the gold coins at the mansion."
"Great," Talon mumbled, "Now we have to go back to get it."
"Or," Cassiopeia said, "you can buy it for me."
"What!? No! Why can't we just go back and get Kat's gold?"
Cassiopeia pouted her lips in disappointment, "Someone else might buy it if we don't get it now."
Cassiopeia looked at Talon with begging eyes. Something told him that she won't stop bothering him about it until he buys her what she wants.
"Fine," Talon said, pulling out a bag of gold coins. "Someone owes me."
"Thanks!" Cassiopeia took the bracelet and slipped it onto her left wrist. She traced a finger on the jewels in the gold and almost screamed in cheerfulness, "I love it! It’s so pretty."
"I don't see what's so great about a piece of gold around your wrist," Katarina sighed, obviously not understanding the value in jewels.
"It's a girl thing," Cassiopeia said. "You have to be a real girl to understand stuff like this."
"Whatever. Now that this is done, I want to go see a show."
"What kind of show?"
"You'll see. It's over this way," Katarina pointed in the direction that led further into the festival.
"Then let's go, I guess," Talon said halfheartedly.
Katarina led Talon and Cassiopeia through the crowds and stopped in front of a small fence. The fence went in a huge circle with several targets inside the closed space. Plenty of other people crowded around the ring, waiting for the show to start,
"What's going on in here?" Talon asked. Cassiopeia was still eying her new bracelet.
"So there's this executioner that's really famous in Ridwan, and he's putting on a show in the ring."
"A really famous executioner? I only know of one person that fits that-"
The crowd's sudden cheering cut Talon off.
"Look!"
"It's that guy!"
"Can't wait to see him in action!"
"He's soooo dreamy."
"Why can't I grow a mustache like that?"
Out of nowhere, two very familiar throwing axes were spun into the air and caught by exactly the ego-maniac Talon was thinking about,
"Hello ladies and gent's. It's time for the event all you zeroes have been waiting for!"
The cheers grew louder and the executioner's crazy grin stretched wider, "Usually I'd be killing someone up for execution, but the director of this washed-up fest says that it's too violent for the kiddies, so I'll just be throwing at targets... YOU HEAR ME KIDDOS?! YOU'RE CRAMPING DRAVEN'S STYLE!"
Draven. Talon was supposed to be executed by him, but he made the mistake of giving him a chance to escape. He would've left right then and there, but Katarina seemed really into it. He couldn't just leave her there by herself, so he decided that he'll just have to live through the boring show.
"Prepare to be breathless!" Draven yelled.
Draven started off by simply throwing an ax at a target. It hit a bull's eye. The crowd clapped. Draven then took more axes and threw them all expertly with incredible form. The show lasted a good hour of target practice. The crowd of people went wild when he did his finish of throwing two axes behind him and hitting the targets thirty yards away. Some of the crowd even fainted from the awesomeness known as 'Draven.'
"YEAH!" Draven yelled, "That's what I'm talkin' about! Now if you want to see me in real action, come to the execution grounds and I'll put on a- huh?"
Draven was looking in Talon's direction. Talon froze, thinking that Draven recognized him. The executioner made his way over and took a hard look at the kid, "Do I know you from somewhere?" Draven asked.
"I- uhh," Talon backed up a little. He would've ran right then and there, but again, he couldn't just leave the two girls here by themselves.
Draven snapped his fingers and pointed at Talon, "That's who you are!" He yelled.
Dammit. He remembered.
"You're one of my adoring fans!"
"Umm."
"Don't be silly," Katarina butted in. "Talon has never been to any of your executions."
...Thanks for the help, Kat.
"Hmm? I could have sworn you were always in the front row, fainting whenever you saw me," Draven stopped thinking about it and began laughing, "Doesn't matter though! I have fan-girls breaking down my door every day! Now those are the real fans. The ones that are just begging for some of this," Draven gestured to his whole self.
"Draaaaaaveen!" came the voices of many fan-girls. Draven turned around and cracked them all a smile.
"Hate to be a mood killer, but Draven's got girls waiting!" Draven ran into the crowd of die-hard fans. Talon thought he saw a couple guys in there, but maybe they were just girls in disguise.
"He's weird," Cassiopeia said.
"Yeah. Makes me think why Kat wanted to see him so badly."
"Sh-Shut up! I like his style of killing! That's all!"
"Uh-huh. Sure."
"Anyway, what now?"
"We could-"
"Hey!" a voice interrupted.
Talon looked in the direction of the 'hey'. He recognized the voice, but not the person it belonged to, "Raven?"
"Hey, Talon. Strange, seeing you here," Raven said. She wasn't in her uniform, so that's why it took Talon a bit to recognize her. She was wearing a regular green T-shirt and light gray pants. Talon didn't notice before, because she had a headpiece covering her head, but she had clean-white hair that went down to the top of her shoulders.
"I could say the same for you," Talon greeted.
"Talon," Cassiopeia started. "Who's she?"
"We're friends," Raven said. "And Talon, I didn't know you had younger sisters."
"They're not my sisters."
"He's our best friend!"
"That lives in the same house as us," Katarina added.
"I see."
"Raven!" a couple girls yelled a few yards away, "If you're done talking to your boyfriend, we need to go."
"Ah," Raven said, slightly blushing, "I have to go now. I'm here with friends."
Raven left to rejoin the girls she was with. Cassiopeia looked at Talon with amusement.
"What?" Talon asked.
"You never told us you had a girlfriend," Cassiopeia teased.
"She's not my girlfriend."
"Really? I heard that the first step in a relationship is denial."
"Ahem," Katarina interrupted. "Cassy, if you're done trying to get into Talon's personal life, I want to go eat something."
"Where do you two want to eat?" Talon asked.
"Sinful Succulence!"
"Sinful Succulence doesn't serve food," Katarina said. "It sells sweets."
"And that's exactly why we should go."
"Alright, we'll go and have a little snack," Katarina looked around. "Umm, who knows where it is?"
"I think it's that way," Cassiopeia pointed in the direction of the lower city.
"Are you sure it's over there?" Talon asked.
"Positive."
"Then let's go I guess."
The three of them started in the direction Cassiopeia pointed to. Talon didn't understand why someone would open a sweets bakery close to the lower city. He had to admit though; the sweets from Sinful Succulence were delicious; Even if they were a cruel trick to obesity.
They were getting closer to the lower city now. The crowds started to thin out and the noxious smell of the sewers started to set in,
"I'm not sure Sinful Succulence is really this way," Talon said.
"What makes you say that?" asked Cassiopeia.
"The fact that there are significantly less people and the few that are here could be dangerous."
"That's crazy. No one here looks dangerous."
"That's what you think, until you find out that all of your belongings have been stolen."
"Talon has a point, Cassy," Katarina said. "There's no bakery down this way. Let's head back."
"But-"
"There's no bakery here."
"...Okay."
The three of them turned around and started heading back to the upper city. Talon should have been smarter than to let Cassiopeia lead them this far down. To everyone who lives here, the three of them looked like a pot of gold, just waiting for someone to claim it. Talon knew it. If he saw three people from the upper city make their way down here, he would've stole from them on the spot.
Three men jumped at them. Just as expected. Talon stepped out of the way and grabbed onto one of their arms. With a twist, the man wailed in pain as he felt his arm break. Talon ducked under another man and delivered a fist to his jaw. The third swung a metal pipe at him, but Talon dodged and grabbed the pipe to yanked it out of his hands. He unsheathed his hidden knife and stabbed one of the attacking muggers in their side. Blood started to gush out of his wound.
"Talon! Help!" Cassiopeia yelled.
Talon's eyes widened. Two of the men were holding Katarina and Cassiopeia hostage. Katarina was thrashing her limbs at her capture, but he was able to restrain her in his arms,
"Let me go!" Katarina yelled, trying to wiggle out of the man's grasp.
The third man, the one that Talon stabbed, backed up from the boy and looked at the two girls, "These are Marcus’ girls all right."
"Let them go!" Talon yelled. He ran towards the three men, preparing to attack.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you!" said the bleeding man. He pulled out a knife and pressed it against Katarina's neck. "Unless you don't care about these two."
Talon stopped himself. If he moved any closer, Katarina might have lost her throat.
"I have to thank you for leading Baron Marcus’ daughters to us, though. It saved us a long trip."
A fourth man came from behind Talon and delivered a hard punch to the back of his neck. The punch was hard enough to knock Talon to the ground. The man continued to kick him in the stomach.
"Talon!" Cassiopeia yelled.
"Shut up!" the still bleeding man slapped Cassiopeia across her face. She started to cry from the pain on her cheek and the torment of watching Talon take a beating.
"F@%$ing let go!" Katarina yelled. She bit the arm that was wrapped around her. The man yelped, but retained his grasp on the girl.
"Tell the Baron that we, the Fraytoo brothers, have his daughters, and if he wants to see them again, than he needs to meet our terms," the bleeding man said to Talon, before smacking him in the head, knocking him out.
Talon awoke on the cold ground. Strangely enough, nobody took his belongings while he was unconscious. In front of him was a trail of blood that led even deeper into the lower city,
"A trail of blood...?" Talon whispered. Then, something in his brain clicked, "Katarina! Cassiopeia!" he yelled. He stood up too quickly, and felt a massive headache as he got up. The trail of blood must have been from the guy Talon stabbed...and he was the one who kidnapped the girls! They must have gone in that direction. Talon checked to see if he still had his knife. It was on the dirty ground, so he picked it up and sheathed it, sure that he'll need it later. He started to follow the trail of blood on the ground, knowing it will lead him to the attackers.
Katarina was tied up to a skinny wooden pillar with her sister tied up on the opposite side. Her kidnappers were sitting around a table, too busy feasting to notice her if she tried anything,
"Cassy," She whispered.
"What?" Cassiopeia whispered back.
"Could you reach the dagger on my right?" Katarina was talking about the dagger she always carried around with her. It was strapped to her right side.
Cassiopeia figured out what Katarina wanted to do. She stretched her arm and felt the metal on her sister's waist, "I got it."
"Cut the ropes around your wrist. Then mine, but leave the one tying us to the pole."
Cassiopeia nodded, and started to slide the dagger back and forth on the ropes around her wrist.
Talon came upon a fairly small shack. The trail of blood ended just in front of the door. They must be inside. Talon pulled out his only weapon and kicked open the entrance,
"Talon!" Cassiopeia yelled, relieved that he's here to save them.
The four brothers jerked their heads over to the entrance while they were eating,
"He found us!?" said one of the brothers.
"H-How?"
"It doesn't matter. We'll just kill him here."
The four brothers picked up their forks and knives they were using to eat with. They all ran towards the intruder, aiming to kill. The brother with a broken arm tried to stab Talon with his fork. Talon grabbed his good arm before it connected and kicked the man's knee. He felt it break, and Talon pushed him over onto the ground. The other three brothers attacked together. Talon dodged a knife swipe while deflecting another aimed for his skull. He pushed the blade out of the way and swung his own knife across one of the brother's torsos, creating a deep gash into his chest.
While the four brothers were busy fighting Talon, Cassiopeia finished cutting the ropes. Katarina took back her knife and lifted the ropes tying them to the pillar above their heads. The two were free now,
"Stay here Cassy," Katarina ordered.
"Where are you going?"
"I'm going to help Talon."
Talon swept out the legs of one of the brothers. He fell back onto the floor and felt cold steel slip into his chest. One was now dead, and the other was unable to move. Two brothers left. The brother with the bloody gash in his chest slashed with his knife. Talon rolled out of the way. He jumped behind one of them and wrapped his arms around his neck, choking him. The other brother attempted to stab Talon in the back, but he swung the man he was choking behind him, redirecting the stab to the choking brother. The last one became enraged at the deaths of two of his brothers, one that he indirectly killed. He screamed in rage, and ran at Talon. He got ready for a tackle, but the last man suddenly stopped mid-run and fell over with a dagger stabbed into his back. Katarina was standing behind the now dead man.
"He's dead, right?" Katarina asked.
Talon pulled out Katarina's dagger and wiped the blood from it, "Dead."
Cassiopeia continuously kicked at the only brother still alive, "Take that, bad guy!"
"Thanks for saving us," Katarina said, not really knowing what to do next.
"It was kind of my job to," Talon cleaned off his own knife and sheathed it. "We should go back to the mansion now."
"Uh-huh!" Cassiopeia stopped kicking the broken man, "but first, pizza!"
The three left, going back to the upper city.
"Let's just keep what happened between ourselves," Talon said.
"Yeah," Katarina agreed, "Dad would have your head if he found out what happened."
Dotting
next chapter in a day or two. possibly two chapters
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A hooded figure hid in the shadows provided by the ruined buildings. He stood almost motionless, only moving when he was sure his target wouldn't notice. It was still early in the morning, and the sun was barely in view, which gave him plenty of cover to move around. The assassin stalked closer, taking careful steps towards the man who will soon become nothing more than a rotting corpse. Something bothered him though: why was his target just standing there? He didn't notice him, did he? Meh, it doesn't matter, because he was within range now. The assassin dashed to his target with speed that would rival a bullet from a pistol. He brought out his blade in preparation of a strike. His arm shot forth, aiming at his target's chest, but suddenly, his blade stopped mere millimeters from its mark. He felt cold steel press up against his throat. Staring down the curved blade threatening to puncture his skin, he saw his target with a wide grin on his face holding the katana in his left hand. The assassin cursed in his head. He was so close.
"You almost had me, boy, but I noticed you just before you came out from the shadows." came the all familiar voice of Marcus. He withdrew his katana and allowed the boy to do the same.
Talon let out a puff of air out of pure disappointment, "What gave me away?"
"You're heavy breathing just before you went in," Marcus laughed, thinking back on how ridiculous the sound of breathing is.
Talon lowered his head, realizing that he took a deep breath before emerging for the kill, "Right..."
"Keep your head up. You would have succeeded if it weren't for that one inhale you took," Marcus did an about face and started for the carriage parked outside the mess of ruined buildings he used as a "training" ground for Talon. "Come, boy. We need to get back before everyone wakes up and wonders where I am."
Talon nodded and brushed off the dust on his cloak. He looked at his silver blade before following his master, 'Next time, I'll get him for sure.'
Talon finished his refreshing shower and was on his way to the kitchen to get something in his stomach. Looking out a window, it was still fairly early in the morning. If he had to estimate the time, he would say somewhere close to five a.m. The boy pushed open the door to the kitchen and spotted his master brewing something foul smelling. It was rare to see Marcus anywhere else in the mansion other than his office, but it was his mansion so it's not like he can't go into a certain room. The Baron turned his head and smiled at his student assassin,
"I hope you're thirsty," he said with a small hint of excitement.
"...For what?" Talon asked. He hoped it wasn't whatever Marcus was brewing.
Marcus took an iron tea pot off the stove and set it on the counter to let it cool, "Grab a cup from the pantry over there."
Talon searched the wooden pantry before finding a glass and setting it down next to the tea pot. Marcus continued to pour a purplish liquid from the pot into the glass. He stopped when it was half full and gestured for the boy to come and drink it. Talon hesitated. It smelled. It smelled nasty, but his master wanted him to drink. He put the glass up to his lips and downed the hot liquid. He felt it burn from his mouth to his stomach and immediately set the glass down and started to cough.
"How does it taste?" Marcus asked a still coughing boy.
"Terrible," Talon managed to say in between his constant coughing. "What is that."
"A highly diluted and cooked poison called deadly nightshade," Marcus said as he took the glass and the tea pot to the sink to wash out any leftover poison.
"You poisoned me?" Talon asked. He started to feel a bit weaker now. Must be the effects.
"You'll survive. You drank enough to where you'll feel what it will do to you, but just under the point where it will kill you."
Talon was about to question the point of drinking poison, but he realized what his master was doing, "Are you making me immune?"
"That's the plan. Nightshade is one of the most commonly used poisons in Nidal. They're mainly used on the tips of arrows, but you may also find them in your drink or food," Marcus finished washing the poisoned dishes and handed the assassin a glass of water.
Talon felt something come up into his throat, but forced it back down with a gulp of the water, "So how long will the effects last?"
"You should be fine in a couple hours. And tomorrow you will take another dose," Marcus placed a hand on Talon's shoulder as he left to his office. "Try not to barf all over my floor," he added in a somewhat humored tone.
Talon made his way up to his room to try and sleep off his new sickness. He tucked himself into his bed and closed his eyes. Ugh, Marcus's training methods will be the end of him one day. All this hardcore life or death exercises on top of executing missions that sometimes brought him all over Golarion. 'And now he's making me take doses of poison.' But, despite all the pain he had to go through, Talon enjoyed being Marcus's personal assassin. It gave him a positive sense of duty along with having a room and a decent meal every day. If nothing else, this "training" made him faster and more alert. Although if he were to think about one negative thing about being the Baron's assassin, aside from all the pain, he had to endure, it would be working through the Adamant Company’s Elite, commanded by General Mykos Roarik. He couldn't really explain it, but he just can't stand taking orders from someone other than Marcus. He just didn't respect the master tactician like he did Marcus, and the only reason he was in the Adamant Company’s Elite was because his master ordered him to. The missions handed out to him from Roarik were usually of the same kind of that Marcus hands out, except they focused more on Nidal's political nonsense. 'So why can't I just follow his orders? Is respect that much of an issue?' Talon must have been thinking too hard because his head started to ring continuously. 'Damn poison,' he thought before passing out on the bed.
The boy woke up with absolutely no idea what time of day it was. He pulled off his sheets and stood up on both feet. A certain dizziness messed with his eyes as he stretched his back. He felt refreshed with no sign of the nightshade inside him, although, there was a strange rumbling in his stomach... Food! He missed breakfast, and having to fight off his sickness probably made him even more starved. He reached for the doorknob and opened it to see a young maid not too older than him standing right outside with her fist up to knock on the now open door.
"Yes?" Talon asked annoyed, but kept his voice calm.
"U-Ummm," The maid started, having a loss of words, "The master would like to see you in his office right away." She then bounced off like she had somewhere urgent she needed to be.
Talon blinked, "What a strange maid."
The assassin made his way downstairs and into his master's office, but not before grabbing something to eat first. Marcus was sitting behind his desk, as usual and was writing on forms, also usual. He looked up to see his apprentice, as that was what he thought of him as nowadays, inside his office.
"Aren't you a sleepyhead," Marcus joked.
Talon cocked his head to the side in confusion, "How long was I asleep?"
"It's half past four, boy."
"It's been that long?" Talon asked, dumbfounded.
"Never mind that. How are you feeling? Did the poison fade?"
"I feel fine now. You have a mission for me?"
"You could think of it as a mission," he got up from his chair and headed for the wardrobe, full of coats and decorative weaponry. "My fellow colleagues and I will be throwing a party to celebrate a recent victory near The Bloodsworn Vale, and all the upper class soldiers who made the victory possible will be invited."
"And you want me to go to this party?"
"Everyone that goes is able to bring a friend or family member. I have decided to invite you because it would be smart to familiarize yourself with these kinds of events," Marcus flipped through several coats until he spotted his dark red, embroidered coat full of shiny medals. He slipped it on and strapped a golden katana around his waist.
"Alright," Talon said while Marcus fastened his coat, "but don't you usually bring Katarina on these sorts of things?"
"Yes, I do," Marcus replied as he began to look through the wardrobe for another coat, "but parties like these can get out of hand with all the alcohol and exotic dancing. The last time I brought her to a military party, I found myself having to fend off drunks from getting their hands on her," While rummaging through his wardrobe, he found one of his old uniforms from before he became a Baron, 'This would be interesting to see the boy in.' "Come here. I got something for you to wear at the party."
Talon strode over to the wardrobe, where Marcus gave him an extremely dark blue, hooded coat with black pants, and boots, and a couple of leather belts.
"Go put it on, then meet me at the gates."
Talon went on up to his room to put the uniform on. The coat went down to his ankles and fit nicely with the black pants and the boots. One of the belts went around his waist while the other across his chest and over the right shoulder. His coat had gold embroidery on the edges along with gold buttons fastened on his tunic. looks something like this
Talon left his room and made his way to the front gates, where his master was waiting patiently for him. Marcus saw his apprentice wearing his old uniform and saw how well it went on him,
"What?" Talon asked, noticing the strange look he was giving him.
Marcus chuckled, "You remind me of myself when I was your age."
"It is comfortable," Talon inspected his clothes just to get a clear look at them.
"Why don't you keep it?" Marcus suggested. He never wore that uniform anymore, so why not let the boy have it?
"You're giving it to me?"
"It's a little big but you'll grow into it," Marcus pushed open the gates that led outside the mansion walls. "Now, to the party. I'd hate to keep the generals waiting."
By the time the two finally arrived at the huge building the party was being held at, it was already packed with soldiers, generals, and others that were invited. There were people partying outside as well as inside due to being a bit crowded. Music was being played outside and exotic dancers were expressing their skills on a stage not too far from the live music. Inside the building was much different than outside. Round tables were set up out of the way with people sitting around them talking about their recent victory. A large stage in the center of the room was set for partner dancing and was currently full of them. At the end of the room, there was a long table where Talon could only guess was where the higher ups sat. Marcus entered the building with Talon close behind, the latter not knowing what to think of such a place. Many soldiers and random citizens came to greet Marcus, and every time he returned the greeting. Every now and then someone would talk to Talon, who would ignore their attempts to get him to talk back.
"You should return a greeting when it's given to you," Marcus nagged.
"What's the point? They know I heard them"
"The point of a greeting is-" Marcus was interrupted by the screech of a very familiar raven.
"Baron Marcus," came the raspy voice of Roarik as he approached.
"General Roarik," greeted Marcus.
Roarik looked around his colleague and spotted the Adamant Company’s Elite member casually looking at him like he was just another citizen, "You brought the kid."
"His name is Talon," Marcus growled. "And I see you brought your bird."
"Her name is Beatrice," Roarik raged back. "Ahem, I'd hate to spoil your mood, but-" Roarik leaned in a bit and whispered only loud enough for Marcus to hear, "I need to see you and the other noble’s- in private."
Marcus nodded and let Roarik take his leave into a room in the back of the building, "Listen," he said, turning to Talon, "I'm going to have to leave for a bit to discuss something with the other nobles."
"What do you want me to do?" Talon asked, truly lost.
"It's a party, boy," Marcus laughed, "Just have fun," he started heading in the direction Roarik went in. "Oh, and take your hood off," he added.
"Fun..." Talon mumbled, brushing his hood off with his hand. "How can I have fun around people who are twice my age and just wanted to talk about politics?"
The assassin made his way to the least crowded area of the room which was surprisingly near the refreshment table. He leaned up against a nearby wall and watched the couples dance on the stage. He mused on how pointless dancing seemed to him. Just two people holding each other close and taking steps in a circular-
"Champagne?" asked a maid holding a tray of wine glasses filled with what Talon guessed was champagne.
He just shook his head side to side and let the maid move on. Champagne was alcoholic, right? And his master always told him that alcohol will weaken your mind, and in time weaken you. Now he was taken back to this morning, when he was fed poison. He could still taste the damn liquid on his tongue. Speaking of drinks, there was a very awkward looking man by the refreshment table drinking to no end. And there was another, less awkward looking man trying to keep him from drinking more. Talon squinted to try and get a better look at them. They were both wearing military uniforms. One of them had several badges while the other had nothing shiny on at all. The one without the any badges looked strangely familiar, though. The mustache that drooped off his face was- oh no.
"Quit drinking, Draven," ordered the man that was trying to get him to stop. "Eight glasses is enough."
"Oh no Darius!" Draven retorted. "Draven's gonna beat the record of glasses of wine drank in a single minute!"
"That's ridiculous! There isn't even a record for that."
"Yes there is," he downed another glass of wine. "Last party I was invited to, I managed to down fifteen shots."
"I'm starting to doubt my decision to bring you with me," Darius completely gave up trying to drag his brother from the refreshment table and began waiting for him to pass out from all the wine.
"Sixteen!" Draven yelled as loud as he could before falling onto the floor. Snoring and mumbling something on the lines of "Welcome to Draven's world, where the most popular man around is me."
Darius shoo'd the crowd that gathered around his brother before delivering a massive punch to his gut, "Wake up! He boomed.
The executioner woke up with a yelp and quickly stumbled to his feet, "The hell you punch me for?"
"Would you prefer me to dunk you in ice cold water?"
"Yes."
…
Talon smirked at the two and how stupid they looked. He felt a tad bit sorry for Darius however, having to put up with a brother like him, but then again, Draven could be able to run the patience of even the calmest person. 'I'd love to see Roarik put up with him,'
"Hey Darius," Draven started, "It's that kid again." He pointed a finger at Talon and Darius looked up to see him.
'...Dammit.'
"What kid?" Darius asked, not recognizing the boy Draven was pointing to.
"One of my adoring fans. I swear, he follows me everywhere. Hey, kid!" Draven shouted. "What's your name? Mellon?"
"...Talon," The assassin corrected.
"Close enough," Draven approached Talon acting all high and mighty as if he was above everyone else. "So are you here just because you wanted to see me?"
"...I'm here because I was told to come."
"Now that you mention it," Darius intervened, following his brother to the kid. "He does look familiar."
"Huh? Well yeah! He's my biggest fan."
"You idiot!" Darius spat when something in his brain clicked. "That's one of the street kids we had to arrest last year!"
Draven scrunched up his face in utter confusion. Then it suddenly clicked for him as well and he pointed a finger at Talon, "Oooooooohhh!" he said, forming an "O" shape with his lips. "You're that kid that embarrassed me in front of all my fans during that one execution!" Draven said it so loud that it caused a couple people to look over at the noise.
"So what if I am?" Talon said coolly.
"What are you doing here?" Darius questioned in his deep toned voice. "Stealing yourself a meal?"
"Do I look like I'm hungry?"
"DRAVEN IS SOOOO GONNA MAKE YOU PAY!"
"Please. Would killing someone here be such a good idea?" Talon said, outsmarting both brothers.
"I...I," Draven suddenly lost all his fury, "Damn kid. Staying in a place where you know we can't get you."
"Hold on, Draven," Darius whispered in his brother's ear, "We'll just report this to a higher up. Then get ordered to kill him here."
Draven showed his signature smile and turned to Talon, "Stay put. When we get back, we'll kill ya."
"Don't tell him!" Darius raged. "Now he knows our plan."
"Well excuse me for telling him!"
"Now he's going to make a run for it before we get the orders!"
"Then why don't we just kill him now and just explain our situation later?" Draven waved his arms above his head.
"You know that's against our training!"
"What training?!"
"Well you two keep arguing," Talon said in a bored tone. Not that he didn't find their arguing amusing, he was just bored, "I'll just stand here and wait until you two decide when and how to kill me."
"Stay out of it, Mellon!" Draven yelled, once again mistaking Talon's name for a fruit's.
"The more time we waste, the further away this kid will be!"
"I'm not going anywhere," Talon said, finding new amusement out of the argument.
"I say we just strangle him here, and tell the higher ups later that he was just getting on our nerves?!"
"Why don't I strangle YOU and tell the higher ups that YOU were getting on MY nerves?!"
"You know what: That's a wonderful idea! Let's just strangle each other and let the fruit get away!"
"Sounds good to me!"
Draven wrapped his hands around Darius' neck, and vice versa. They were shaking each other back and forth and rolling all over the ground, both of them trying to get on top of the other. Talon found this much too hilarious to watch, knowing that they both initially wanted to strangle him instead. A crowd of people gathered around the two fighting brothers and started to cheer stuff like "Rip his throat out!" or "Pin him to the ground!" and some saying that this was the "Best party ever!"
"Enough you two!" yelled a voice that belonged to a white haired, well-built lass wearing your formal green Nidal uniform.
The fighting brothers looked up to see the young lady and immediately released their grip on each other’s necks. Talon soon recognized her as Raven, one of Roarik's favorite soldiers and a member of the Adamant Company’s Elite. Darius and Draven picked themselves up from the ground and brushed off the dirt on their uniforms.
"He started it," Draven gestured to his older brother.
"Untrue," Darius countered. "You started it by telling the kid that we'll be back to kill him."
"What kid?" Raven asked, uncaring about who started the fight.
Draven cocked his head towards Talon, "Him."
Raven recognized the "kid" the brothers were talking about as a fellow Adamant Company’s Elite member, "Talon?"
"Talon?" Draven slapped his face. "Hell. I thought his name was Mellon."
"Good evening, Raven," Talon said as politely as he could, remembering his master's unfinished lecture about greetings, and his savior from having to make an easy get-away from two angry soldiers.
"Wait," Darius butted in, "you know this kid?"
Draven pointed a finger at Talon, "He's a criminal that escaped MY execution."
"He's not a criminal. And yes: he's a partner of mine," Raven said shyly. The crowd around them had dispersed and returned to whatever they were doing before the fight started.
"Partner is an overstatement," Talon corrected. "We just work in the same organization and we go on missions together whenever Roarik thinks I can't handle them alone."
"Wait, wait, wait, wait," Draven shook his hands side to side, "You're saying that you work for Roarik, and-"
"General Roarik," Darius interrupted.
"...and you never were the kid we thought you were?" Draven completely ignored Darius' correction, and said person face palmed his own forehead.
"Sure," Talon said, completely fooling the brothers.
"I'm still not sure what's going on here, but I think you two owe Talon an apology," Raven ordered.
Darius sighed, but gave the assassin a slight (mind you, slight) bow, "My apologies."
Draven on the other hand, stayed silent for a moment, but after a brief pause, looked away and rubbed the back of his head, "Whatever, man. Guess you weren't the kid we thought you were."
"So Talon," Raven started, softening up her voice a bit, "I didn't know you were a part of our victory."
"I wasn't," Talon lifted his back off the wall, as he got tired of the position and instead stood straight up. "I was invited."
"By who?"
"Uhh," Talon paused. He wasn't sure if his master would like it if he revealed that he was the one who took him here.
"Meh," Draven interrupted, "I'm getting bored. Hey Darius, let's go outside and grab the strippers' attention," the executioner rushed out the door without his brother to probably try and score a fun time with the ladies.
"Ack, Draven! That's a terrible idea," Darius followed his brother outside, probably to drag him back before he does something really bad.
"Ahh," Raven said, "sorry about those two. Darius and I are in the same segment of the military, and Draven is some ego-blown maniac who loves to cause a scene."
"Whatever," Talon said. "I did find amusement in their arguing though."
"Yeah," Raven looked around and spotted a vacant table not too far from where she was standing. "There's a table right over there if you want to sit down. That is if you're not in the middle of something."
Talon thought it over for a second, "Okay, sure. There's nothing else I could do, anyway."
"Let's go before it gets taken by someone else," Raven made her way to the vacant table followed by Talon. The two sat down across from each other. Raven on one side, Talon on the other. An awkward moment of silence passed by the two before Raven finally spoke up, "So how do you know the blood brothers? Or did you not know them at all and Draven just mistook you as one of his adoring fans before accusing you of a criminal?"
Talon had to think for a moment about Raven's question, as it was hard for him to remember all the details. He placed his elbows on the table and held his chin up with his hands, "Around a year and a half ago, my partner and I made a living stealing from others as a necessity to survive. We must have been causing quite a problem for Nidal's lower class, because one day, two soldiers were on a hunt to capture us. Draven and Darius, were their names, and after a long chase thanks to my partner foolishly drawing their attention, they succeeded in our capture. We were put up for execution by Draven the next day. He ordered that the gates to the outside of the execution grounds remain open, saying that we won't even be able to make it half way out. He underestimated us, or me at least, and we made it out. I was unscathed, but that would be saying too much for my partner. He received two axes in his body, but somehow made it back to our hideout alive. I later killed him, knowing that if I kept him around, he may get me into another situation like that."
"Damn. So you used to live on the streets?" Raven asked, quite interested in Talon's life.
"Yes, and soon after that, an Umbral Court Noble saw potential in me, and brought me into his household. Now I work for him, killing those he orders me to kill."
"Heh," Raven chuckled, "I guess I don't need to ask how you got into the upper class now."
"What about you? When did you join the military?" Talon asked, somewhat interested, and only asked because he wanted to avoid another awkward silence.
"Hm," Raven thought back for a moment. "Well, as everyone knows, only those who are strong thrive. I found that the only way to prove my strength was to fight for Nidal, but I was told that I'd never make it in the military because I'm female. After hearing that, I found myself a large broadsword and taught myself how to use one. Once I felt comfortable with my abilities, I challenged one of the high ranking soldiers to a duel and won. After that, I was accepted into the military, and after General Roarik witnessed what I'm capable of, he gave me a rune-blade and offered me a spot among the Adamant Company’s Elite."
"And I see you accepted his invitation."
"Yeah. The Adamant Company’s Elite sure was different from the military, though. I remember, my first mission was to eliminate a large group of Korvosian lightning mages that were massing close to Nidal," Raven shivered at the memory. "So much lightning flying around. It wasn't even funny."
Talon gave a small smile, knowing that his first mission was somewhat identical to hers, "You think lightning mages were a problem, try taking care of a group of pyromaniacs all hiding right under Nidal. Now think of fireballs that flung themselves towards you left and right."
"Are you kidding?" Raven countered. "How about having to deal with pirate gnomes and how annoying they are, being able to dodge your every strike with their tiny bodies?"
"Are you serious?" Talon replied, sitting back in his chair. "gnomes are simple to deal with. It's the people that go on about how they'll soon conquer the world that get on my nerves."
"Haha!" Raven laughed. "I guess I can't argue with you on that. The kinds of people that love to shoot their mouth off all the time definitely are the most annoying. Then again, the guys that think they're unstoppable are pretty bad too."
"Hmph, I suppose they could be annoying, too."
"Can I have your attention please?" Yelled a voice from the long table that sat all the generals from the High Command. The room fell quiet as all eyes drew themselves to the man standing up from his seat. Grand General Boram Darkwill raised his glass for a toast. Sitting next to him was unmistakably his son, Keiran Darkwill. The other generals, and including Marcus and Roarik, also sat along the table. "A toast, to our recent victory," announced Boram. "This brings us one step closer to bringing our enemies and their rulers to the ground." The crowd applauded and cheered until Boram brought a palm up, ordering silence. "Tonight, we feast. You may dig into anything you find satisfying on our buffet table." A line of hungry party-goers formed along the food table. Boram Darkwill sat back into his seat and began to start a conversation with his son and the other generals.
"Don't you think it's a little weird?" Raven questioned. "The Grand General throwing a party over a simple victory? I mean, we win battles all the time."
"I guess it does seem a little strange," replied Talon, "but I'm sure they have their reasons. Just like we have ours for showing up."
"Yeah, I guess," Raven placed an elbow on the table and rested her head on her hand.
Marcus appeared behind Talon and placed his hand on his shoulder. Raven saw this and stood up from her chair for a bow in respect of her superior. Marcus put a hand up to dismiss the soldier,
"Baron Marcus," Raven said with a high amount of respect, "it's an honor."
"And you are?" Marcus asked. Talon sat patiently, waiting for the introductions to pass.
"Raven, sir."
"Ah, so you're the girl Talon works with in the Adamant Company’s Elite?"
"Only on special occasions sir, but yes, he and I work together on some missions."
Marcus stroked his beard, as if thinking something over, "Well, Miss Raven, it's been a pleasure, but now I need a word with Talon here – in private."
Raven was shocked for a second, 'Was Baron Marcus the one that brought Talon into the upper class?' "O-Of course," she recovered. "If you want, I can leave and you two can use the table."
"That won't be necessary," Marcus waved his hand side to side. "We'll just leave for a moment if you don't mind."
"Not at all," Raven gave Talon a wave as Marcus pulled him out of his chair and the two went off somewhere to discuss.
Marcus led his apprentice to a deserted part of the building, and cracked a suppressed chuckle.
"What?" Talon asked.
"I didn't think I'd see you sitting at a table with someone else. Especially with a girl, and a very cute girl at that."
Talon looked away from his master's seemingly mocking gaze, "It was either that or stand around with nothing to do."
"Knowing you, I thought you'd rather stand alone."
"Whatever. Is that all you wanted to discuss?"
Marcus lowered his voice to a low whisper and lifted a finger up to the table with the Grand General and his colleagues, "See everyone on that table? They're all generals of the High Command, which means that they hold a lot of power over what happens in Nidal. Remember everyone there; they may just become a potential target to you if any of them gets out of hand."
Talon scanned the table seating the High Command and stored their characteristics in his head, "You're saying that you want me to kill them?"
"Corruption runs deep in Nidal's military, boy. One of these generals may turn against the rest for his own selfish desires. If that happens, then I may have to order you to put him down."
"Just like when you had me assassinate Aego."
"Indeed. Make sure you get a good look at each of them," Marcus turned and started back towards the table he sat at, with the other generals. "Be ready to leave in a moment. I have something I need to do back at the mansion."
Talon took one last glance at the table of the High Command. They all looked stronger and more powerful than the average Nidal soldier. Even Keiran Darkwill, who wasn't even a general yet, had a powerful look about him. Though none of them seemed like they'll be too much to handle for the assassin. Except for his master, of course. Roarik and Boram Darkwill though, may prove to be difficult targets for him. Talon made a mental note of it and decided that he did enough judging on simple appearances. He made his way back to the table he and Raven sat at, knowing that Marcus could just get him when he's done with whatever he's doing.
Raven had a dish of food in front of her when she noticed the assassin sit down on her table, "So what did you talk about?"
"None of your business," Talon retorted in his usual low tone.
"Right. MArcus did say he needed you in private after all," Raven started to pick at her food with a fork.
Talon stared at Raven's plate. All meats glazed with sauces. "That's not healthy for you," he said, gesturing to her food.
Raven set down her fork and gave Talon an accusing look, "And since when have you become concerned with what I eat?"
"I'm not. I'm just pointing out that what you're eating isn't healthy."
"If you say so," Raven said sarcastically.
Talon turned his head to see his master gazing at him from the exit, "I have to go now," Talon said as he got up from his seat.
"I suppose I should leave too," Raven set down her fork and got up as well. "It's getting pretty late."
The two of them made their way to the exit of the building where Marcus was waiting. Raven gave him another respectful bow before giving Talon a farewell and going off in the direction of where she lived. Marcus turned to his apprentice with a serious look,
"Did you finish analyzing their appearance?"
"Every last one of them," Talon said coldly.
"Good," Marcus headed out the building. "Come, boy. It's time to head back."
Meanwhile, outside of the main party:
"Draven!" Darius yelled. "Stop tossing all your money at the dancers! That's how you become broke!"
"No way!" Draven yelled back, tossing more of his money at the strippers. "Draven's gonna keep giving them money until they take it ALL off."
Darius face palmed his forehead in his brother's stupidity, "You don't say that out loud. Now they'll never take off their clothes. Besides, we're outside where nudity is considered illegal."
"Does it look like I care? I'm going to get them unclothed even if it takes all night!"
"You're going to regret this later if you don't stop now."
"Draven never regrets!"