"Catch her!"
Letting a string of curses exit her mouth, Jacquelyn raced through the halls of the large palace, her one blue eye scanning the spaces around her for an exit. Dogs barked behind her, and as the girl glanced over her shoulder, she caught a glimpse of a bloodhound leading the charge. She scowled.
The guards had caught her in the act. Her knife had been so close to the target, but the dog had to wake up. While she had been wrestling with it, guards stationed outside of the room had heard the commotion and rushed inside, only to find a twelve-year-old girl fighting the king's spirit animal, while he lay unconscious from the poison she had given him.
Now she was running for her life. Stopping would allow the dogs to advance and tear her to pieces, but her stamina - no matter how well trained she was - would not keep her going much longer. She had wasted energy - precious energy - climbing into the bedchambers through the window, and even more fighting the bloodhound. Even now she could feel her muscles beginning to tire.
She cursed herself for her stupid mistake again and searched for a way to escape the palace unharmed. Currently residing on the sixth floor, jumping was out of the question. However, if she stopped to fight, the guards would kill her - being a famous Euran assassin had its downsides.
Teeth tore into her leg. Gripping her mask to keep it from falling off her face, Jac twisted around and kicked the animal - a fox - harshly in the chest, sending it skidding across the scarlet carpet. By that point, the pack was upon her. Dogs of all sorts lunged, a coyote snapping at her arm while a hyena nipped at her ankles. Somewhere in the mass, she even saw a yorkie.
She had never hated dogs so much up until this point.
A single bark rang out over the rest, and the dogs parted ways to allow the huge bloodhound - the king's spirit animal - to approach. Before the young assassin could even think about getting up, it jumped. Paws slammed her shoulders to the ground, while fangs drove into her throat. She let out a gurgling cry, shoving her hands into its chest in an attempt to save her life. It held strong - there was no getting it off.
"Mayne!" A deep voice thundered. "Release!"
The savage dog let go of Jac's throat quite quickly at those words, backing away from the young assassin.
As King Clovis approached, the girl attempted to find her footing to get away. However, her limbs were weakened from the energy it took to fight, so she gave out and collapsed again.
She glared at the king murderously through her mask.
"Guards." Clovis spoke calmly. "Take her to the dungeons."
One guard looked rather shocked at this. "But sir, you told us -"
"I didn't anticipate my killer was an eleven-year-old." The king interrupted. His eyes did not hold anger or remorse, but rather pain and sadness as he stared at Jac. "Take her to the dungeons."
"Yes sir."
People danced.
All around her, they danced and talked and made unnecessary ruckus, giving her a headache.
And then there was Jac, leaned against a wall, holding a wine glass with red liquid. The stuff tasted nasty, but that was probably because a nine-year-old wasn't really supposed to be drinking wine.
Her blue eyes scanned the room behind her mask. It was appropriate - this was a masquerade party, so no one had to see her face - not that she'd let them, being a feared assassin.
"Not satisfied?"
She turned her gaze to the speaker, Lord Devin Trunswick. He stood with his back to the party, staring at her with his green eyes. Jac tilted her head slightly to the side. "I'm never satisfied."
Devin gave a dusty chuckle. "You're like me, then. I'm hardly satisfied."
"Is that so?" Jac raised a brow beneath her mask.
The boy nodded.
It couldn't hurt to have a conversation, she thought. "My name is Jacquelyn McKenna."
"A surname? You must be rather high-ranked, then."
"I am." Jac lied.
"Well, I am Devin Trunswick."
"Pleasure to meet you, Lord Trunswick." Jac responded politely.
He glimpsed the drink she still hadn't touched. "Unpleasant, is it?"
Jac shrugged. "I don't like wine."
"I'll take it, then. I find this brand quite delicious."
She handed it to him.
He sipped the wine gracefully and chuckled. "Say, you look around thirteen years. Have a spirit animal?"
Jac stiffened. She had always been told she looked older than her age. "Yes." She lied again.
"May I see it?"
"Not presently." Jac said firmly. "I don't like when he's out."
"Why? Not too fond of the beast?"
Jac shrugged. "I never wanted a spirit animal." That much was the truth.
CLANG.
Jac was awakened when the door to her cell swung open. She sat up, tense, as this was the first visit she had gotten since she was locked up earlier in the morning. Her mask was still on, as she had not let them take it off.
King Clovis walked in with two guards. His bloodhound was nowhere to be seen - probably passive as a tattoo on his skin.
"Assassin."
Jac glared at him.
"If you would tell me your name, I'd call you something else." The king pointed out.
The girl scoffed. "Keep on dreaming, Buster."
Silence.
Jac closed her eyes.
". . . you ARE eleven, aren't you?"
"Twelve, actually."
"Have you had the Nectar?"
This question caught Jac off guard. She turned her head toward Clovis, her eyes still narrowed. "Why do you care?"
One of the guards scoffed. "I'll take that as a no."
"Get me a Greencloak." The King ordered.
The guard left.
Clovis stepped toward the young girl. "You do realize that it's very dangerous not to take the Nectar. What if you have the potential to call a spirit animal?"
"Then I can have a reason for my insanity." Jac responded without looking at him. "Anyway, my chances are one in two billion. I think I'm safe."
The king scowled. "You never know. And the bonding sickness is so much more than just insanity."
Jac glanced at him. "How would you know? You and that dog of yours seem to have bonded with Nectar."
"We were lucky. My brothers weren't."
"So they're a little crazy or sick." Jac shrugged. "It's nothing to be afraid of."
Clovis leaned forward so that he was standing directly over her. "They're dead." He hissed. "My older brother was killed by his sickness in about a day, and my little brother decided to kill his spirit animal, which killed him as well."
The assassin gave a bitter laugh. "That's not my problem."
"Surely you had family that had the bonding sickness?" The king pried. "After all, your line of work doesn't exactly show me that you have money for Nectar."
"Family?" Jac narrowed her eyes. "What family?"
"The family that turned you into this monster you've become."
The girl growled at him. "My family has been gone for a very long time."
"They abandoned you?"
"They died." Jac responded simply. "In a Fire. I was the only one who made it."
Clovis blinked, obviously shocked. "Then why are you an assassin?"
"The Fire was arson. I'm looking for the person who started it."
Footsteps, and the guard returned with an old woman wearing a green cloak. The king turned to her and put a bright smile in his face. "Peyton!"
The elder woman nodded her head. "Long time no see, King Clovis."
Jac tilted her head to get a glimpse of the woman's spirit animal - a majestic whitetail deer standing behind her. It was short - only the size of a Great Dane, with neat tawny fur detailed with darker colors. The eyes were silver.
"You say this girl needs a sip of the Nectar?"
Clovis nodded.
Peyton gave a deep sigh and unhooked a canteen from her belt. Approaching the young assassin, she held it out. "Take a sip."
Jac hesitated. "I don't want a spirit animal."
The Greencloak raised a brow. "I can't help those feelings." She commented. "But whether you take it or not, if you are worthy, an animal will come. This makes it safer."
The assassin looked down.
"Take it." Peyton continued. "And you will be safe. Refuse, and if you call a spirit animal, it will destroy you."
Jac lowered her head and took the canteen. "Turn away." She hissed.
No one moved.
"Turn away now or you can forget me drinking this stuff."
Clovis sighed deeply and turned around, looking into the hall. Peyton followed suite, and the two guards - after death-glaring the assassin - did so as well.
Jac pulled off her metal mask and sipped the sweet Nectar, gagging at the consistency. Once she slipped her mask back on, the taste became familiar.
The assassin choked back her tears when she recognized the taste of her mother's famous apple Ice. It was . . . strange to taste it again, as it had been over eight years since the last time she had eaten it.
By this time, Clovis and Peyton had turned to face her, watching her reaction with obvious interest. She had started to tremble uncontrollably.
"I think she'll get a spider." The first guard laughed. "Bitter and disgusting, just like her."
The second chuckled. "Nah, a rat is more likely."
"Shush!" The Greencloak hissed, watching the girl.
Jac couldn't control her body, a scary, but truthful thought. She was shaking - her legs, fingers, her shoulders - and a warm glow had started in her chest, growing hotter with every breath she took. Stumbling, she fell to her knees, growling in irritation at this moment of weakness. She grew dizzy, her head feeling swelled up with unfathomable discomfort.
Then the screaming started.
Jac would never scream - never. But the deer in the room was currently making a horrible screeching sound. Both of the guards' spirit animals had started an annoying racket as well, a jackal and a platypus. Clovis' bloodhound, who had been released moments before, was howling in a manner similar to that of a wolf.
The ground rumbled beneath her feet, and there was a brilliant flash of pure white light, close to lightning during a storm.
Silence.
Jac opened her eyes and got to her feet, breathing heavily as she raked her gaze around the cell.
Clovis was staring at one corner of the stone room in shock, as was Peyton. Both were stunned.
Jac followed where they were looking, and found herself staring into brilliant gray eyes. Concealed by shadows, the animal wasn't identifiable from where she was. Despite the static charge running through her body, however, she didn't move an inch closer to whatever it was.
"Call it to you." Peyton suggested.
Jac glanced at her awkwardly, before turning back to the animal. "Er, come here?"
With a majestic screech that rang through the room, the animal stepped from the shadows.
The assassin couldn't believe her eyes.
Gray eyes flecked with gold, glossy bronze plumage, a hooked beak, huge talons, and blue-gray patches on the undersides of the wings.
She was looking at an eagle.
Jac couldn't deny the fact that her knowledge of birds far exceeded others. She knew an eagle when she saw one, and this bird standing before her was most definitely an eagle. They were one of the symbols of Eura.
But that was impossible. No one could have an eagle as a spirit animal because Halawir - one of the fifteen Great Beasts and the Four Avengers - was an eagle. Spirit animals were never the same species as Great Beasts, they never had been. Hawks and buzzards were spirit animals in relation to them that could be called, but eagles and falcons were restricted to the Great Beasts.
It cocked its head in a curious manner, assessing the girl with its storm-colored eyes.
The eyes.
They were gray flecked with gold, and only one eagle matched the description.
She turned her head to the emblem on the cell door. Carved from gold, the inscription of Halawir the Eagle stared at her with the eyes of pure rage.
The eagle stared at her calmly, its eyes holding the manners of a regal beast. Jac resisted the urge to reach forward and stroke it, reminding herself that she hadn't wanted a spirit animal in the first place. It was quite large - at least as tall as a deer - if not larger. Judging what she knew about birds, the wingspan was probably around twenty four feet relative to the size.
The greencloak took a deep, shaky breath. "A famed assassin will tend a natural killer in exile." She murmured in wonder.
Jac couldn't believe it. She hadn't wanted a spirit animal, and yet the Nectar had produced an animal she wasn't supposed to be able to call.
The Nectar has brought her an eagle.
She turned her back on it, her fingers trembling. Resisting the bond, she closed her eyes.
". . . is she rejecting her spirit animal?"
Jac flinched when one of the guards broke the silence. The eagle was still staring at her, she could feel it.
Peyton stepped toward her. "Accept it."
"Why?" Jac hissed, her voice cracking.
"It's your spirit animal. Rejecting it would be fatal to both of you."
Jac turned her head to look over her shoulder at the eagle, meeting its piercing gray gaze. Reluctantly, she held out her arm and whistled.
It spread its wings - she was right, close to twenty-four feet - and propelled to her, landing on her arm with grace. As soon as the talons cut into her skin, her perspective changed.
Jac's eyesight sharpened dramatically. She could see every crack in the cell she currently resided in, along with the creepy crawlers that hid within them. Her hearing also enhanced, as she could hear the heartbeat of the eagle on her shoulder.
She could tell that this eagle was a male, and that he was slightly dazed as to what was happening. The clarity she felt was present in his eyes as well, and she realized one, startling fact:
Jac and the eagle were not bone, feather, and fur, but a perfect idea of freedom and flight, limited by nothing at all.
Not even this dank cell.
The eagle still on her shoulder, Jac stood up and turned to face the king and his three companions. All stared at her - all but the king looked downright stunned.
The assassin smirked under her mask as she looked Clovis in the eyes. "I will get out of here. You can't cage a girl forever."
Clovis gave a deep sigh as he looked at his prisoner, before he turned to the guards. "Come, Axel, Tyrone. If you've finished staring the eagle and his human down, we have a Greencloak to contact." He spoke firmly as he turned to walk into the hall. "Though I do not fear a girl's misguided notion that she can somehow escape my palace, the Eagle is another matter entirely. Some Great Beasts, like Tellun, are peaceful." His fingers traced the eagle emblem on the door. "But I have ancestors who have met the actual Halawir before. He'll destroy everything in his path to keep his home safe. I have no doubt this eagle will be the same."
Jac watched them go, left in darkness once the cell door slammed shut. She turned her gaze to the eagle. "We have to escape."
He flinched slightly, and Jac felt terrible for ignoring him earlier.
"I won't hurt you." She said in the most gentle voice possible. "I would never hurt you. I want you. I know you are scared. I saw everything you were afraid of in that moment when you - when you touched me." She took a deep breath and stared him in the eyes. "If you help me escape, I promise that I'll never do anything to hurt you. I promise I'll listen to my conscience and bond with you. We can choose the best future together."
The eagle tilted his head.
I could use your help with what they left me." The young assassin continued. "A ruined mind, a weak and broken career. You'd be my spirit animal - doesn't that sound all right? When we can love each other without anyone having to die?" She smiled. "I guess I was just waiting for us, my friend."
He shreed softly, as though asking about the inhabitants of the castle.
Jac scowled. "They should have helped fix this. Do you see what they did when they left me?" She dropped her gaze to the floor. "It's all gone - my power, my love. My beautiful future. They did this to my whole line, not just to me."
Silence.
"My Friend, I - I keep looking at all my new possible futures. Millions of possibilities, but they're all empty." She looked up. "They're empty without you. I have no one, eagle. All I can see around me, as far as the future unrolls, are slaves and soldiers."
"BE SILENT, ASSASSIN!" One guard bellowed, entering the room with a large net.
Jac backed away. "What is that for?"
The guard smirked, and hurled the net at her. She braced herself, but nothing happened except for the weight of her eagle being removed from her shoulder. Jac gasped.
"No!"
"You can't escape without your precious spirit animal." The guard - Axel - sneered. "So I'm separating you."
He picked up the thrashing eagle, and Jac cried out in shock. "You can't do this! Give him back, he's mine!"
No response. He left the room with her spirit animal.
"STOP!" She shrieked.
A whistle, and the other cell door slammed shut.
". . . I haven't even named him yet." Jac whimpered in a small voice.
It had been close to five hours.
She heard the endless shrieking of her spirit animal in the cell beside hers, but the guard made no moves to end their suffering. He seemed determined to watch them both break.
Jac was slowly losing it. She wanted her eagle. To name him, to bond with him.
The begging had stopped hours ago - not that she'd done it very long anyway. Currently, she leaned against the wall, head buried in her knees. Listening to her eagle screech was breaking her mind. Desperately, she wanted him to stop, to let him know she was there, but his cries were too loud. Even for an eagle, he would never hear her.
THUD.
Jac looked up when she heard the unmistakable sound of a body hitting the floor. She stood, ready, when the cell door next to hers opened.
A moment later, her own cell opened, revealing a man clad in armor. He wore a green cloak, and her eagle was perched on his fist.
At the sight of her, the raptor leaped from the stranger onto Jac, screeching a sound close to delight. The assassin smiled and stroked his feathers with one finger.
The Greencloak watched. "We must be quick. That guard will wake up soon."
"Who are you?" Jac demanded harshly, bringing her fist up to her shoulder so the eagle could step up.
"Tarik." The man said grimly. "A Greencloak."
Jac rolled her eyes. "I guessed as much," she growled, gesturing to his green cloak.
"I'll explain more later. For now, we must run."
The young girl gave a slight nod and followed him from the cell, dodging by Axel, who slumped on the floor, asleep. "What did you do to him?" She asked Tarik curiously.
"Poison." He responded, glancing at the assassin.
Getting out of the castle was quite simple once she was out of the cell. Jac followed Tarik through a window that led into the gardens, and from there, they ran into the streets of the town.
The eagle - shockingly - remained perched on her shoulder the whole time.
"So, tell me again who you are." Jac demanded once they were a safe distance from the palace.
"Someone who can give you answers."
The girl glanced at her eagle. "Maybe I don't need answers." She said with a raised brow under her mask. "Maybe I just need to punch you in the face for being so vague."
Tarik was silent.
Jac growled. "Fine. Tell me why I called an eagle when it's impossible to do so."
The Greencloak shifted his gaze to the eagle. "That's not just any eagle, kid."
"What do you mean?"
"That's the eagle." Tarik elaborated.
Jac blinked in shock. "What?"
"A famed assassin will tend a natural killer in exile." The Greencloak recited. "The first part in an age-old prophecy."
"I'm the assassin."
"You are."
"And this eagle . . . is Halawir?"
"Yep."
"As in, the Great Beast Halawir?"
"The one and only." He smiled slightly. "I'm tasked with finding the Four Fallen and the Four Avengers. You must come to Greenhaven with me."
Jac was numb. "May I . . . speak to, er, Halawir . . . alone?"
He nodded, and the assassin walked a few paces away, shocked beyond belief as she stared at her eagle - Halawir. It all made sense now. The gray eyes, the strong connection to him. She had read up so much on Halawir the Eagle - how he was a killer at first, before he saw Essix die in the Battle. He avenged her death, just like the others did.
"I . . . can't believe it." She whispered. "You're him. And I understand now."
Halawir stared back at her impassively.
"Don't you see?" She hissed. "You and I share something. We have a bond, a bond like no other two creatures." Her one eye glinted as she pulled off her mask, revealing her face. "In my world, I had a vision, a vision of a world to come. But there can be paradise for us if we are ready. I was chosen to survive in order to show the world this vision. And so were you. Who else has lived through torture?" She blinked, showing that - while her right eye was normal, the other one bore a giant, jagged scar that had long since healed. Her left eye was completely white. "Look at me, Halawir, my eyes once would have seen more than shadows and moonlight. And now I stand before you, half blind. And yet I see, see more than any human has ever seen."
The eagle shrieked, his gray eyes glimmering with understanding. They turned back to Tarik, who was polishing his silver armor with his cloak.
"Do I have to take the vows now?" She asked. "Or may I think about it for a few days?"
"Think about it." Tarik responded after a moment. "But remember that if you do become a Greencloak, it would mean giving up more than just the killing." He gave her a knowing look. "Very few people can make the commitment that all of us have. I think you'd be a great Greencloak, but you have to want it with all your heart.