part 1

The deer were easiest to hunt in the shimmering glow of the moonlight. In there tiredness, there senses were dimmed and more importantly the silhouette of the hunter was easily concealed. It was in these conditions that Azoth had always hunted.
Azoth reached to his back and closed his fingers around the feathered end of an arrow. His target bobbed its antlered head and bit onto the grass, gaily going about its meal of vegetation completely oblivious to the hunter concealed in the trees.
It will die content, feeding on grass without knowledge of its impending demise. Azoth readied the arrow on the string and pulled it back, there was a creak in the wood of the bow.
The deer looked up and darted its head around as the sound reached its ears. Azoth held his breath and his bow firmly, the deer needed be unaware of his presence, or else the hunt could not be properly executed. Slowly the deer returned to its meal and Azoth silently let out a breath of relief. Quickly he returned to his aim and after taking a breath to steady his mark. he secured the deer within his aim.
He was ready...
Thwip. The arrow flew from the bow and broke the midnight stillness of the forrest. It flew straight and accurately through the air, before burying itself within the neck of the deer.
The creature fell to the ground and weakly attempted to stand, in vain.
Within seconds Azoth had dropped from the tree and sprinted silently towards his soon to be latest kill, dagger in hand he placed the blade against the animals throat and with a few mumbled words pulled it across in a spray of blood.
Slowly placing the now lifless body on the ground Azoth licked the tip of the blade, a sign of respect towards the animal that had given its life to provide food for another being.
The stillness of the forrest slowly returned.
"You alway's were a good killer, Azoth."
Instinctivly Azoth jumped to his feet and almost instantly had his dagger pressed against the throat of a cloaked and hooded figure, It raised his hands in surrender before speaking in a deep voice. "Is that how you treat all family my dear brother?" Slowly he removed his hood to revile his face. In the fullmoon's glow, a long scar along his right eye was vissable. Azoth recognized him instantly. "Im unarmed, there is no need for the dagger."
Azoth frowned and reluctantly removed the blade. "Drako, why have you come here?"
A chuckle escaped the man. "I have come here to take you home my friend. To the sanctuary and to your family."
"This is my home." Azoth raised his arm to display the forest surrounding them. "You're haven of thievery and murder has never been my home nor shall it ever be..."
"Ah but it has, and you know verry much that the lives and treasures we take are not deserved by their owners. You grew up within the sanctuary. You lived there, you loved there, and eventual you will die there. Just like the rest of our family."
"I am not a part of your family, Drake, not anymore." Azoth turned away. "The evil of the creed will never drag me back into its abyss."
There was a sigh from Drako... "Oh Azoth... why do you insist on such cruel words?" Drako reached over and put his hand on Azoths shoulder. "Even after all we have done for you?"
Azoth quickly brushed away the mans arm and turned to face him. "And what have you done for me Drake?" He snapped. "You turned me into a monster! Made me shed the blood not only of men, but of woman and children alike!" Azoth raised his free hand to point a finger towards the man. "It is because of you and your family that I had to flee my home! It is because of you I shall never again see my parents or my brother!"
Drako paused and waited for the rage in Azoth to die down to a moderate level. "You did what had to be done to secure the creed's place in the world. And now because of your selfless actions we have been able to clear your name. Don't you see Azoth? We are giving you a chance to return to your life in the city. A life of wealth and happiness." Drako slowly raised his right hand towards Azoth. "The only condition is that you must return to us as well..."
There was a pause that seemed to last for hours before Azoth responded. "Never, nothing awaits me in the city but pain and hardship. I shall sooner die, here in the forests clearing, then return to your ranks."
Drako let out a slightly frustrated grunt before returning to his soft tone. "Deny it as you will Azoth, we both know that your true calling is to the art of assassination. you are a natural born killer, brought into the world with a thirst for blood that could never be quenched. you proved that to me that night in Fort Banister."
Suddenly Azoth's rage stricken face vanished to be replaced with one of suprise and horror. "You- you swore you would never speak of that."
"And you swore you would never desert the family!"
"You basterd! I'll kill you!" Azoth drew his dagger and tackled Drake to the ground. quickly he raised the blade, shut his eyes and thrusted down towards his ennemy's chest. Suddenly he felt his arm abrubtly stop mere inches from his target. He opened his eyes and saw his wrist grasped in the hand of Drake.
"There it is." Said Drake through a strained breath. "Theres the primal murderer that I once knew."

part two

The night wrapped Azoth in a cold embrace. Even at the hour of twelve and in the ides of January, the cold biting air wasnt enough to take Azoth away from the enjoyment and loving glow of natural darkness. It kept him warm, on the inside at least, but as the night father had taught him, the exterior of your body only serves as an armor, defending your soul from the swords and arrows of the world. So long as you stay in the darkness or light of the moon, you shall be protected...
As a gloved hand was rested upon Azoth's shoulder, he was broken from the ecstasy of the night.
"Are you ready my dear brother?" came a calm voice from Drako.
"Of course brother, the hunt does not wait as we prepare."
A chuckle escaped Drake and he patted Azoth on the shoulder before turning to mount his horse. "so true my friend, so true."
After one last look at the full moon that hung in the sky, Azoth turned to join his partner.
"Be warry Azoth," said Drake as he climbed onto the saddle of his horse. "This mission will not be an easy one. Sir Logan will not allow his death to embrace him without a fight.
"Its nothing we cant handle," Azoth said as he mounted his own horse. "His years of martial training will be of little use to him in these circumstances."
"Oh really?" Replied Drake as he grasped his horses reins.
"Indeed." Azoth did the same and looked over at Drake "For you see Drako, though logan has fought countless battles off the borders of this land, he has yet to battle two experts of death who attack from the shadows."
With a kick the horses began a trot onto the trail.
"I suppose you are right my brother. I have told you the plan already?"
"Yes, scale the east wall, make our way to the keep through the gardens, and then find our deader on the sixth floor. Did you remember the grappeling hook?"
"Of course."
"Good, then be sillent, we must now be shadows."

At the turn of the hour Azoth and Drako had reached there destination at the east wall of fort banister. silently each man got of his horse and dissmised the creature.
Drake took the grappeling hook from his belt and began spinning it to build momentum. "Are you ready Azoth?"
He nodded.
"Then let the night father prottect us." Drako relleaced the hook and sent it flying onto the wall where it caught on an arcade. "After you my friend."
Azoth grasped the rope in both hands and placed his feet on the wall. "Be sure not to climb until I have reached the top. I dont know if this rope will suport us both."
With those words and a nod from Drako, Azoth began climbing the wall.
He heard footsteps as he climbed, echoing into the still night and froze three-quarters from the top.
"What the?" It was the voice of a patrolling guard. "Gerard!" He called.
"What!" Came another voice, this one lined with frustration.
"Theres a bloody hook on the wall!"
Azoth saw the face of a man peer over the wall, the oarnge light of a torch illumanating the mans face but blinding him to the darkness. Azoth was not seen.
There were more footsteps as the seccond guard aproached the first. Azoth held his breath and retrieved a steel throwing knife.
"Your unbeleivable." Came the voice of the seccond guard. "This hook was obviesly left by one of the work crews.
Azoth let out a sigh of releife and sheathed the blade."
The guard resumed talking. "Just put it in the storage."
A mumbled curse escaped Azoth.
"Right sorry sir."
Azoth felt a tug on the rope from the top of the wall as the guard attempted to retrieve it.
"Sir its caught on something!"
"Do you seriously need me to do evreything for you! Just cut the rope, its not like we have a shortage!"
suddenly there was a clack of steel clashing against the stone of the wall and Azoth plummeted down before drawing a dagger and with evrey once of force in his body, plunging it into the stone wall.
Azoth hung, as he looked down at the hard ground fifty feet downword, a sence of releife washed over him. Looking back towards the obgective he drew his seccond dagger in his left hand. Then with an equal amount of force as the first, he plunged the blade through the stone wall and began to climb, the wall's summet a mere twenty meters away...

It took another fifteen minutes to reach the top of the wall, wedging his daggers between cracks and swearing as his sweat slick hands gripped the blade. He grinned as he smoothly swung over the ramparts, his feet barely making a noise as he landed on the walkway. In the darkness to his right he could see three guards standing around a hatch in the floor. They were playing a game of dice, gambeling with gold peices.
Azoth had studdied this fort, he knew the guard posts, the entrances the exits. And he knew for a fact that this hatch contained a ladder that he could use to safley reach the ground.
Azoth crouched and silently crept towards the hatch, eventualy getting so close he could here the feel the exited energy of each guard as they won a throw and a gold peice. Azoth could feel the blood in his veins boil with antisapation, he was as close as he could be now. no more than a meter, the guards blinded to his pressence by the light of there torches and the distraction of there game.
Azoth unsheathed his daggers and readied them as he aproached the first guard.
With a gurgle and a spray of blood the first man fell and Azoth dissapered back into the shadows. The seccond man cassualy looked to his side and began to speak "What was that noi-?" There was another gurgle and he collapsed into a heap.
The third man stood from his seat, horrified he drew his sword and backed away from the carnage only to stop as he collided with something. He turned and didnt have time to yelp before two daggers severed his windpipe and he joined his comrads in death.
The blades were sheathed and Azoth took a moment to rellish in the pure ecstasy of the silence after a kill.
"Verry well done Azoth."
Azoth turned to see Drake standing behind him. "How?"
"Unimportant." Drake interrupted. "Did you find a way to the garden?"
Azoth pointed down to the hatch.
"Good, lets go."

It took the two a half hour and the blood of six guards, but they eventualy found themselves at the large wooden doors of Logan's bed chamber. inside there was the distinct laugh of a woman.
"He is with a lover, I suppose she will have to die with him?" Asked Drake, already knowing the answer.
"I see little alternatives." Azoth said as he drew his daggers.
Drake did the same and they pushed open the doors, exposing the well lit bedchamber adored with art upon the wall's and a crystal chandelier.
In its center there was a dinner table covered with a feast of venison and wine. It was then that Azoth noticed the chambers inhabitants. They stared at Azoth, the eyes of Logan, his wife and worst of all there two children all trained on him. fear covering there faces.
"It must be done Azoth," Drake said "we must finish the mission."
Azoth knodded and stepped forword dagger in hand he aproached the family as they sat in shock. He had to kill them, the nightfather demanded it. He had no idea the pain this would bring him in the future, the burning regret and self hatred that would stalk him till the day he died and beyond.
The dagger raised.

part three

"Dont you see Azoth?" Came Drako's voice, breaking Azoth from the memory. "You are a killer, nothing more and nothing less. You have no options other than to return to your family."
Azoth responded by pressing harder upon the dagger in an invain attempt to break Drako's grasp. "I am a killer of innocents no longer." He said through gritted teeth as he contenued his attempts at silencing the man. "I have a wife now, with a child on the way. And I have ties to no one but them."
"You may think so my dear brother, but you are wrong." Suddenly Drako heaved Azoth to the side and both men returned to a stand. "I will ask you once more to return to us." Drako said as he pointed a finger towards Azoth. "And if you refuse me again, it will not be you who pay's for your insolence, it will be the ropes which bind you to this life..."
Suddenly Azoth's eyes widened and his heart sank. "What, what is it you speak of?"
"You know damn well."
"You basterd! If you so much as lay a hand upon her!"
"Make your choice! Will it be your soul which is bound to the night father as a servant, or your family's as sacrifices?" Drako reached into his robe.
"It shall be neither!"
"Then sleep my brother..." Suddenly Drako's fist shot out and he released a grey powder towards Azoth.
The powder collided with his face and as a burning sensation consumed his nostrils and throat, he suddenly felt weak. He stumbled back and attempted to regain his balance but his legs gave out and he fell to the earth.
Drako stepped forward and looked over Azoth. "Bonedust, a powerful poison made from the venom of a blowfish, the skins of fire ant's and the bones of a bear. all ground together into a fine dust that will travel through a mans body and take his consciousness within seconds." He crouched down to that his face was right next to Azoth's "But you are strong my friend, it should take the venom but a minute to take its course. And as you lie here in sleep, we shall take the lives of those that bind you to this life, and then I shall return and ask you once more to return." Drako stood and left the man barley moving as the poison took evrey ounce of energy in his body. "I am sorry my brother, I do wish there were another way, but the bidding of the night father cannot be bent to our will." as he said this he walked towards the trail which led to Azoth's cabin. "rest my brother, I do hope you will reconsider our offer..."
Azoth attempted to scream a threat towards the man but instead mumbled in his lack of energy. slowly his eyes shut and he lost consciousness.

It was still dark when Azoth struggled to consciousness. His body was alight with pain and there was burning ruminants of the dust in his nostrals. Suddenly the memory of the past night came crashing down upon him and he stood to his feet. The darkness had not left, his family might still be alive.
Azoth began to run through the trail, ignoring the pain in his joints and his blistering headache.
within minutes he reached his destination but he had been to late, his home was gone. All that was left was a pile of black ash and charred wood. in front of the house lay the body of a woman, a stained night gown covering her body. Azoth fell to his knees and sobbed into his palms. His tears not of grief but of rage, some towards the creed, but most towards himself. It was because of him that his wife lay dead outside his ruined home. It was because of him that he will never see his child.
He had nothing. Nothing but a blood drenched past and a burning rage building within his soul.
"You are now bound by none my brother..." Came a voice. "Return to the nightfather."
Azoth looked up and through his tears saw Drako. "You have taken my home and my family Drako. And now you ask me for even more?"
"I ask you to fulfill your destiny as a servant for the brotherhood..."
Azoth stood and suddenly as he saw the blood soaked robe that Drako wore, a demon the rage in his soul began to rappidly grow. "My destiny is not to serve the brotherhood, but I have found my true calling this night."
Drako raised one eyebrow. "What do you speak of?"
"My destiny is to wipe the cancer that is you and your family from the face of the earth!" Azoth rushed forward ands tackled Drako with the force of a mad bear. as the two hit the ground Azoth's hands grasped Drako's throat.
"Azoth! no!" Drako yelped through strained breaths as the grip around his throat tightened.
"Every, last, one of the creed, will suffer, and die by my hand. starting with you!" Azoth continued squeezing until blood began to spew from his victims mouth, then he squeezed even tighter. "I dont just want you to die, I want you to WISH FOR DEATH!" The grip tightened even more and there were several snaps in the mans neck. Azoth roared in his anger, and seeing that Drako's death was near, he yanked.
There was a spray of blood that covered Azoth and Drake as the throat was torn from the neck. Azoth smiled and stood as Drake writhed. "Yes, suffer, SUFFER!" Azoth breathed heavily as Drako's writhing ceased and he lay still in a puddle of blood.
Azoth crouched and with fire in his eyes, stared into those of Drako. "You are right Drake, my family was the only thing that bound me to this life. And now that they are gone you and everyone you ever cared about will die."