177-
Near Boston
Dusk
Maybe it was a mistake to join the army. No, not maybe. No maybe in this thought. It WAS a bad idea. It didn't pay well, the food was horrible, the superiors were jerks, and no one liked you. Not to mention the fact that everyone wanted you dead or seriously wounded.
These thoughts flashed through the mind of British soldier Kent Davis as he ran through the woods, trying to outpace his assailant, an Assassin female who was known as the Shadow Demon, for she usually struck from the shadows.
Her age was impossible to guess, for she had been around for much longer than 16, yet that was how old she appeared. Much to the 25 year old's dismay, she was just as active during the day as she was at night. And she was after him. What was worse, he had lost his weapons in his mad dash to escape her.
He briefly thought back to it as his feet thumped against the tinder dry ground, trying desperately to stay ahead of the Assassin.
He had been in the bar, alone, drinking some ale in a corner away from most of the other patrons. Glancing over the rim, he had happened to meet the Assassin's icy gaze head on, causing him to choke on his drink and spit a good deal back into the mug as a smirk appeared on the black hooded female's face. Lifting his brown eyes to meet the Assassin's ice-blue ones, fear seemed to lock up every muscle in Kent's body as he met those icy orbs. Those eyes saw right through him and into his soul as the Assassin stood up and started walking toward him, resulting in Kent panicking and bolting out of the tavern in a mad haste to escape those piercing eyes.
Kent's panic had cost him when he rushed out of the small frontier bar and forgot his musket as he saw the hooded female approaching him. Yep, he was seriously rethinking joining the British army.
'Why me? I don't have anything of value! What could she want?!' Then it hit him as he ran across a small creek turned red by the dying sun. 'The letters! Dear Lord, she's after the letters! I can't let her get them! If she does she'll kill me on the spot once she has them!'
He tried to push himself to go faster, but he was rapidly running out of energy. Literally running out.
Kent began to gasp for breath, his heart hammering as it tried to keep his supply of blood flowing as he fought his way up the hill and ran past massive boulders. Glancing behind him, eyes wide and mouth open to draw in air, he saw that the Assassin had taken to the trees and was rapidly gaining on him running through the trees with practiced ease. With a cry of fear and desperation, Kent tried again to speed up, only to cause himself to stumble just as he reached the top of a gully where a deep stream flowed gently along over mossy rocks. Unable to regain his balance in time he fell and rolled down the steep incline, crying out in pain as he tumbled over rocks, branches, and roots.
Reaching the bottom, he crashed into the stream with a splash, drenching his wool coat as a shadow passed over head. Mistaking the shadow for a bird, for the harsh cry of an eagle hit his ears, Kent thanked his lucky stars he didn't knock his head against a rock as he scrambled to his feet and began to prepare himself for the climb up as pain shoot through his shoulders, head, and back. But as he turned his eyes up towards the top of the gully, he saw something that made his blood run cold.
There, silhouetted against the sun, was Shadow Demon herself, the sun glinting off her flintlock pistol.
Which was aimed directly at Kent's face.
This story is going to be one of my darker ones. Viewer discretion is advised.
Or whatever the phrase is.