End of an Enemy
Maris leaped down from the dark rafters in which she had been hiding. Her feet landed lightly on the ground, barely making a sound on the wooden floor boards. She was clothed in a red leather corset and black leather skirt that reached just above her feet and had a slit going up to her knee. In each of her small strong hands she held two twin blades. Each one two feet long, forged from black steel strong enough to slice through bone as easily as if it were cutting flesh. Strung around her back was a bow and quiver full of swan feather fletched arrows. Turning the corner Maris slunk around the dark corridor, hiding in the shadows. After a series of twists and turns through the maze like corridors Maris came upon what she was searching for. She pressed herself against the wall, so she could not be seen. Maris's steel blue eyes glanced around the corner as she listened to the conversation before her.
"How goes the search?" a tall older man with fair hair said. He was seated upon a stone chair towards the back of the room.
"We have looked all over the country sire, but there is no sign anywhere." said a very tall, very muscular man with a bald head, as he bowed to the man seated before him.
"Then you haven't looked hard enough!" bellowed the tall man banging his fist on the arms of the stone chair. "I want you to search again. Research the whole land again and don't come back, until you have found it." The tall man demanded.
"Yes, sire" the muscular man replied and left the room.
Maris watched until she was sure the tall man was gone and then she walked out of the shadows. She sheathed her swords and pulled her bow from her back. Maris knocked an arrow and turned the corner. Her long black hair swayed as she slowly walked into view of the man seated upon the stone chair. His green eyes grew wide as he saw the girl before him.
"How…" he began and then stopped as his eyes fell to what hung around Maris neck. Around her neck strung on a chain of threaded silver was a dark red sphere the size of a large marble. "The blood pearl?" he whispered. "How did you…"
"…Obtain it?" Maris finished for him. Her tongue was as sharp as the blades within her hands. "I found it Gideon, because as I told you when you left me for dead by the sea, you'll never get it. Your mind is not creative enough to be able to unlock the pearl's location. If your men thought outside of this cold stone box once in awhile, you may have found it." Maris said with a cruel laugh. "And now I've come to do what you tried to do to me." Gideon's eyes froze with fear as Maris raised her bow.
"Guards!" he bellowed and twenty men swarmed into the room blocking Maris's shot.
"Damn!" she said as she released her arrow and it hit on of the guards instead.
"Kill the girl and get me that pearl!" Gideon ordered. The guards' hesitated but left him when he screamed "Now!" and went for Maris, who knocked another arrow on her rowan wood bow.
"Just try" Maris yelled and let another arrow fly right into one of the guard's shoulders. Maris let another few arrows fly before the guards were upon her and she had to re-shoulder her bow and grab her twin blades. Pulling the blades from their sheaths Maris
advanced upon the already charging guards. As her blades met the steel of the guards swords Maris knew she had the upper hand. The black steel of her blades was far superior then the guard's swords. Also Maris was a far superior swordswomen and the guards knew it. Maris spun on her toes and brought her sword down hard on the chest of a guard, who fell to the ground as dark red blood rushed quickly from the wound. Then she turned to her other side and brought her swords through two more of Gideon's guards.
With her quick paced turns and powerful sword Maris slew almost all the men in just a few minutes. Her black steel blades were covered in the dark sticky blood of the guards. Again another set of guards advanced upon her. With agile speed Maris crossed blades with another guard. Their swords met with a clash of sparks and the sound of hot steel against hot steel. With every swing of their blades, Maris could feel herself getting weaker but she knew she had to defeat him. With another turn of her twin blades she twisted her swords into the guard and knew that he was finished. Maris then faced the lead guard, a tall muscular man. They battled quickly and cleanly until she swung around and pushed down hard on the sword of her opponent and his sword was forced from his hands. Maris took advantage his confusion to finish him. She swung her blades across his throat and her arms dropped from exhaustion as the guards blood splashed on her. When the other guards saw their slain captain they retreated as fast as they could. Maris stood there facing Gideon, beads of sweat and blood running down her body and falling off in small drops from the tips of her fingers. The blood of the slain guards fell from her black blades and pooled around her feet. Maris raised her head peering thought her wet, blood and sweat matted hair and set her eyes upon Gideon as he tried to leave the room. Maris threw one of her blades hard and it sailed through the room landing on Gideon's robes, pinning him to the floor. Gideon tried to tear his robes free as Maris advanced towards him.
Finally, right as Maris reached him; Gideon yanked the sword free and swung it up over his head. With a loud cry Gideon brought the sword down and met Maris's blade. Their swords met with a cry of thunder and a flash of hot metal sparks as bright as lighting. Then with the clashing of swords and a series of spins, Maris and Gideon battled in the middle of the blood soaked floor. As Maris brought her blade down upon Gideon's she could feel it was going to be a rough fight. Then with a step aside and a spin Gideon, brought the handle of his blade down on Maris's back. The blow knocked Maris off her feet and she landed hard on her side, on the floor. Gideon raised his sword to deliver one final blow, but before he could Maris kicked hard at his stomach and sent him and the sword flying across the floor. The sword skidded to the other side of the room and Gideon landed closer to the stone chair. Maris scrambled to her feet just as Gideon reached his chair. With out warning Gideon pulled a thornwood bow from behind his chair and docked an eagle feather fletched arrow. Maris scrambled for her sword so she could defend herself but was to slow, for as she picked up her blade, Gideon fired his arrow. The arrow went flying and pierced Maris just below her left shoulder, the force of the blow knocked Maris to the ground.
As Maris lay there blood slowly dripping from the hole around the arrow, Gideon came over to her. Kneeling down beside Maris, Gideon reached one strong hand down and ripped the arrow from Maris as she let out a heart breaking scream and then made her body convulse and the blood pearl shift out of her red corset and fell by the hole the arrow caused, as Maris's dark red blood flowed from the wound. Gideon tossed the blood stained arrow to the side and sneered down at Maris, his eyes as green as the sea before a storm.
"You are a foolish girl!" Gideon sneered. "I knew I should have finished the job I started that day by the sea."
"The…day you…slaughtered my…my mother..." Maris choked through the blood in her mouth.
Gideon smirked and whispered "Yes a very stupid woman…and now you will join her." With that Gideon pulled and dagger from his belt and he was just about to plunge the cold steel blade into Maris's heart when, he convulsed backwards in pain. Gideon tasted blood in his mouth as he stared down to see Maris's black blade sticking out of his gut piecing him stair through.
"How...how…?" Gideon choked as Maris rose driving the sword deeper into his gut.
"Because you forget the healing powers of the blood pearl." said Maris, pulling the pearl from her wound to show that it had closed.
"How…"Gideon muttered before his cough up his own vile blood and took his last breath, before his green eyes glazed over and he went limp on the floor.
Maris then picked up her twin blades and walked over to the stone chair. She then seated herself upon the stone chair, her twin blades in her hands Gideon's fresh blood splashing into pools on floor. She cast her eyes upon the bloody mess before her and called for the rest of the guards. She ordered them to clear out the bodies and burn them. Then just as the sun began to shine through the windows of the hall Maris watched the guards dragged Gideon's body out but before they left Maris cast one final glance at Gideon's body and said "It's time the country had a new leader. It's time for a new rain. Good-bye, Father."