The fire crackles through the darkness, letting off the only light that protrudes into the night. With each passing minute the cold grows stronger, to the point that a slight frost covers the bark of the lone tree behind him. Yes, it's a freezing night, but things must be done.

A twig snaps, and he jumps to his feet. "W-Who's there?" he calls into the night, but no answer comes. He had been leery of meeting like this in the first place, and as it got colder, that fear grew. But he came anyway. He had to earn a living somehow.

A shadow comes forward, agonizingly slow, and then stops. "Matthew Reed," it says.

Matthew takes a step back, nearly falling over his horse's saddle. "Dear God, man. Could you please not say my name aloud as if we were regular citizens? There could be people watching."

The shadow reaches out a hand. "There is no one."

"How do you know?"

"Little faith has the man who must see to believe."

Matthew looks around, scanning his eyes slowly over the darkened horizon. Whether it be his imagination or not, it's almost as if there's figures moving about. A hand clamps down on his shoulder, and he turns back to the shadow of a man before him. Slowly, the shadow lifts down his hood, revealing that he is not a phantom, but a mere man.

"W-Who are you?" Matthew breathes.

The man smirks. "That needn't be known, young man, but there are certain things I need done, and I believe you are the one to do it."

They sit, close but not too close, and Matthew painfully swallows the lump in his throat. "Why me?"

"Tsk, tsk. So many questions. I haven't even given you the assignment yet." Matthew sighs, looking down at his hand. "You are an assassin, are you not?" the man asks.

"Not by choice," he answers. Matthew meets the man's eyes, but immediately looks away.

The man sneers. "We all have a choice. But are you an assassin?"

Matthew sighs. "Yes, I am." A sudden realization crashes down on him. "Are you with the English armada? The French? The Italian? Have you come to arrest me?" Not letting the him answer, Matthew jumps up, putting his knife between him and the man in question.

The man doesn't even flinch. "Now, now. I'm as wanted as you, sir, but you don't need to know how so." He grasps the handle of Matthew's knife and drives it into the trunk of the tree. "I've heard you're good at what you do, and I need a job done."

Matthew narrows his eyes. "Then, by all means, tell me what it is."

"I need you to find and kill a girl, or a woman, I should say now."

Matthew raises an eyebrow. "A girl?" He laughs, shaking his head in utter disbelief. "Can you not handle a little girl by yourself?"

"She is not a little girl," he snaps, "but a decorated soldier that can take you down and kill you with one flick of her pretty little wrist. Now, if you don't want to do this, say so now, because then I will know how much of a coward you really are."

Slowly, Matthew shakes his head and starts to laugh. "You really think I'm stupid, don't you?" He snorts. "Well, I'm not. I'm not going to kill a girl just because she tarnished your pride or whatever the hell she did. You can do that yourself. And I'm not a coward. I've killed more people than I'd care to admit, and, I'm sure, far more than you."

The man smirks. "I highly doubt that. And it wasn't a choice, sir."

All at once, a cold, sharp blade is pressed against Matthew's throat, so tight that a thin trail of blood travels down his neck. He doesn't dare speak.

"So, how about we rethink that offer, hm?"

The people holding Matthew loosen their grip just a bit, just enough for him to speak. "I thought you said we all have a choice."

The man smirks. "Ah, but we do. You kill the girl, or we kill you."

Matthew stares at him a moment, debating whether this is worth it. He's killed so many people before, how is this any different? It's not. It's just a girl. Just a girl. It'll be no trouble at all.

"Who do you want me to kill?" Matthew asks, his voice a solemn whisper.

The man smirks, finally realizing that he won, just like he knew he would.

"Her name is Corinne D'Artagnan."


AHHH IT'S FINALLY TIME. Okay, okay, okay. Welcome back, friends. Thank you all so much for reading this. Trust me, it's going to be a WILD ride, so just buckle up and stay tuned! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Keep in mind it's just a prologue, so it's shorter than most of the main chapters. Most of the actual chapters will exceed this length, but a few are quite short. Just bear with me while I get comfortable with this world again!

Also, I've made a Spotofy playlist for this story if you wanna check it out! Just go to play . spotify user / weatherbug02 / playlist / 6cQodxE7M3PQZa2XrmVEWs (Remove spaces)

And I've made a fic trailer, which you can find at this link: vimeo 171347857 (Again, remove spaces)

Again, thanks so much for reading, and tune in next week for what happens next!