Chapter 6: Rooftops of Noxus

It was all about timing. The convoy from Noxus arrived several minutes ago and it was being unloaded right now. Majority of the food served in the Institute was produced by local farmers, but each faction had some special requirements. For Noxus it was booze and meat, for Demacia old wine and cheese that smelled like feet of dead people. Katarina sneaked through the kitchens dressed as a member of the staff, until she reached the back exit of the Institute's building. There were several Noxian soldiers accompanying the convoy, she recognized those who were older. They had been loyal to her father before he disappeared, so she guessed they were loyal to Swain now. There was a woman among them, her height and figure resembling the assassin's. She watched the woman step into the last wagon, then she took an empty crate that should be brought back to Noxus and followed the soldier. Once inside, the two women were supposed to change their clothes, the soldier would stay in the Institute and leave later without any suspicion, while Katarina would travel back with the convoy and the number of guards would remain the same. Whoever observed them, they couldn't notice anything.

"Are you staring at my tits?" the soldier accused Katarina after she took off her armor and all the layers of clothing underneath it.

"Nope," the assassin lied, "just evaluating them."

"You see that big guy with a huge-ass sword hanging on his shoulder?" the other woman pointed at another soldier, who watched over loading the crates. The assassin just nodded.

"That's my man," the woman continued, "he fucks me properly every night."

"Well," Katarina replied, "I've heard many times that big sword means something else is small."

The soldier let out a chuckle, then put on her the assassin's clothes and left the wagon. Katarina joined a group of soldiers and the convoy set on its journey. It was long, exhausting and also boring. They had to set camp every night, the horses pulling the wagons needed sleep more than the men. They travelled for days, surrounded by fields, forests and hills. Katarina knew she was the important one there, the soldiers were more-or-less guarding her, so she lowered her guard and let the rythmical bouncing of the wagon on an uneven road lull her into deep sleep.

"Why are there so many guards in here?" Katarina asked, "I thought the generals should be able to fight for themselves."

It was her first time in the High Command, she was excited but also a bit sad, because it wasn't her father who took her there, but Swain, because general Du Couteau was preparing for a major military operation in Freljord, and had no time to spare, even for his daughter.

She was extremely nervous as the two of them strolled through the huge building. She was surrounded by great men and women who shaped the history of Noxus, and also by those who will shape it in the years to come. But what surprised her the most was that there was an armed guard on every corner, as if the most powerful men of the world needed to be watched over like little children.

"They are not here to protect us, though that is what we tell the people," the general responded, "but to observe. To watch and listen, and then deliver the information to whomever are they loyal to. Some of them are my men, some are your father's, others are Darkwill's. The point is you cannot trust anyone, we are all liars here."

"But you are an ally of my father, you don't trust him?" the redhead didn't understand.

"No, and he doesn't trust me, we are allies only as long as we have a common agenda," Swain explained, "after that we might become the worst enemies."

"Then why are you teaching me?" Katarina asked.

"Only for my own personal gain," the general said, "I see a great potential in you, you might be a valuable ally even without your father watching your back, we both know he won't be doing it forever. I just want to make you an independent figure on Noxian political scene."

Over the next several hours they were sitting in Swain's office, writing and reading reports, doing all the necessary paperwork that held the enormous war machine together. It was simply boring and after a while the redhead found out she would be rather doing anything else.

"So you thought you'll be having fun in here?" the general asked, "Don't you know ninety percent of every successful plan is logistics?"

Katarina just shook her head.

"What do you want, Katarina?" he asked again. She just looked at him, wondering how much he knows and how much she can tell him.

"Yes, I know you are gay," he said, "everyone knows, it isn't a new information. So what do you want?"

"I don't know," she hesitated, "a pretty girl, and maybe a house my sister won't be allowed to."

"That's not much," Swain admitted disappointedly, "maybe you have yet to discover your true price."

"My price?" Katarina was confused again.

"Yes, the amount of gold you'll be able to sell your loyalty for," the general said.

"My loyalty lies only with my family and Noxus!" the redhead exclaimed.

"Alright, but what if two men approached you," he continued, "each of them claiming something different is best for our city, what would you do then?"

"I guess I would support the one that could convince me," she said resolutely.

"But what if one of them was lying?" he asked, tensely anticipating the assassin's answer.

"Didn't you say everyone in here is a liar?"

"You are indeed learning quickly," Swain remarked with a smile.

Katarina was quite lucky, over the years of her career in Noxian war machine she got used to sleeping in moving transport wagons. In the evening of the sixth day after their departure from the Institute, the assassin was woken up by one of the soldiers: "Hey, get up!"

"What the fuck is wrong?" she growled in response.

"Nothing, we're home."

She looked from the tiny window, the forest scenery opened in front of her and she set her eyes on her home city once again. Scanning the mountain, on, around and in which the city-state of Noxus was built, from a great distance, she realized how much had she missed it.

The convoy stopped by the High Command's kitchens, Katarina had to walk from there, though it was not far to the Du Couteau mansion. The guard seemed to recognize her although she was still dressed as a common Noxian footsoldier. The mansion was huge, it was build centuries ago and used first as a hideout and base of the assassin guild of Noxus. Some time later, the assassins were decimated due to an internal dispute. Those who survived, formed a small group around the most powerful one, who was also the founder of the Du Couteau house.

Katarina proceeded into her room and from there through a trap door to the dungeons underneath the entire mansion and several surrounding buildings. The assassin walked over to countless racks of weapons and wardrobe full of assassin outfits customized for different missions and conditions. None of them was similar to what she used to wear on the Fields of Justice. Soon after she joined the League, she had realized it was not only about skills, but also about the show, so she wore show clothes in the matches. She would never go to a real battle with so much skin uncovered. It was never pitch black darkness in Noxus, not even at night. The stars were shining too and parts of the city were constantly on fire, so black outfit wouldn't be an ideal choice. The attire she finally picked was dark grey, almost black and very loose, it allowed her to move very freely. It also had a hood and a facemask, so nobody would be able to recognize her. She completed it with a black leather vest, bracers and greaves, she didn't want to wear chainmail on assassination mission. It certainly offered better protection than leather, but the constant noise it was making could give away her position in a crucial moment and thus compromise the mission. At the end she donned her favourite black leather fingerless gloves with hardened metal knuckles. The best for questioning her enemies.

Katarina needed to schedule her duties, she only had two nights to carry out her orders. She decided to take care of her less important targets, then sleep at the day and leave the entire second night to assassinate Zardas.

The first thing she should do was delivering the map Swain gave her, she surely didn't want to carry the damn thing around all the time. She left the dungeons through an abandoned shop several streets further, climbed on the building and travelled to the rendezvous point via rooftops. It was in one of the poorest districts of Noxus, close to the docks. It was a simple wooden hut next to an entrance to the sewer system. The man she found inside definitely didn't look like a spy, and Katarina told him, after she handed the map over to him.

"And what should a spy look like?" he replied with a question.

"What the fuck?" she murmured in confusion.

"I mean," the man continued, "if I looked like a spy, everyone would know I am one, and that would make spying were difficult for me, don't you think so?"

"Makes sense," she had to agree.

"So the crucial element of being a spy is making yourself not look like a spy," he continued, "and if you see someone looking like a spy, you can be sure he isn't one."

"Or he's a bad spy," she responded.

"That's also an option," the man admitted.

"And what do spies look like?" she asked out of curiosity, "I mean how do you know what are you supposed not to look like? Like is there a guide how not to look like a spy?"

"Not that I would know," the man said, "and what about assassins?"

"What about them?" Katarina retorted the question.

"You look like an assassin and you are one," he asked, "I thought it would be similar to our ways."

"No," she replied strictly, "we usually don't leave witnesses."

The man finally shut up and Katarina could leave, but she didn't go far, because she had another assignment in the docks. Swain needed to win another general's loyalty by capturing a certain warehouse for him. The Noxian generals were constantly in war with each other, trying to rob the others and steal more power and influence for themselves. Noxian military units also quite often attacked one another in order to cull the weak and let only the strong survive. there were several versions of standard Noxian military uniforms, so they could distinguish allies from rivals, those allied with Darkwill usually wore black-and-red ones, those allied with Swain black-and-green ones.

The assassin perched on a roof near the heavily guarded warehouse. She could see groups of soldiers gathered in nearby alleyways, they were loyal to the general who wanted this warehouse, or anything stored in it, and they would strike the guards right after Katarina kills their commander. It was her job, to create distraction and wreak havoc in the enemies' ranks. When she finally identified the commander, she noticed he was talking to someone, someone she knew all too well. Even from the distance between them she was able to recognize the man's massive spiked armor and crude battle axe.

"What is Darius doing here?" she thought, "isn't he allied with Swain?"

It looked like the Hand of Noxus was giving the commander orders, then the lower man saluted the general and Darius turned away to leave. Katarina waited until he got far enough, she knew crossing paths with him at this point would compromise her mission entirely. She dropped from the building and still hidden in the shadows proceeded to the nearest group of guards.

The assassin briefly remembered her very first mission, killing a low ranked henchman of one of her father's countless political rivals. She stalked the man from his house to a dark and narrow alleyway. She was trembling, her heart was pounding so hard and fast she could hear it, and it seemed her target heard it too. He turned around and drew his sword, Katarina gave in to her first instinct and teleported behind him, then slit his throat instantly. It was a very sloppy cut and warm blood coated her fingers. When she realized her target was dead and she had succeeded, the relief was so great it almost brought the young assassin to tears.

Her mind quickly snapped back to reality and focused on the men in front of her. Katarina was a skilled professional now, no more trembling, just patience and concentration. She waited until the commander came near, then she charged at him. His men unsurprisingly blocked her way, she teleported behind them and started spinning on her heel, flinging blades at all sides, men falling down dead around her. Somehow the commander survived , his armor was much thicker than those of his subordinates. He charged at her with a longsword, she dodged the attack and distracted him with several punches aimed at his torso and head.

Meanwhile the allied troops engaged the rest of the guards in direct combat. It was a bloodshed with heavy casualties on both sides. Surroundings of the warehouse were soon painted red with blood, although it wasn't that unusual in Noxus.

The commander lashed out at Katarina, she swiftly sidestepped and kicked the blade out of his hand. He tried to punch her but she ducked, then dug a blade into his arm, sliced a major artery and thus demobilized him. The pain and a massive loss of blood brought the man down, the assassin only finished him with a mercyful strike at his neck.

The guards were defeated, none of them was left alive. One of the attacking soldiers approached Katarina and took off his helmet. He wore a common Noxian uniform, just like the others.

"Sinister Blade," he greeted her. She saw his face, clean shaved beard and greying dark hair, and thought he is much older than an average soldier. Most men in the Noxian army were either promoted or killed before they reached his age.

"Where is your commander, soldier?" she asked, "I was told I'd be meeting with the general."

"I am general Mogan," the man responded, "but I dress like I was one of my men. If they saw me fall on a battlefield, they would lose their will to fight and the enemy would gain it, so it's better if they don't know."

"You seem somehow familiar, general," Katarina said.

"We have met soon after you seduced my daughter once," Mogan replied.

"Oh," she said, Oh fuck! She thought.

"Only once," he continued, "and it left her... Demacians have a pansy word that describes such feelings, don't you?.."

"Heartbroken?" Katarina tried.

"Yes," the general agreed, "but she deserved it. She has to be more careful about who she lets into her bed."

"Actually we did it on the carpet," the assassin remarked. The general shot her a murderous glance.

"But I guess you didn't need to know that," she added.

The soldiers broke down the gate of the warehouse, Katarina and the general entered in an awkward silence. The building was filled with identical crates, Mogan ordered his soldiers to take crowbars and open some of them, they found only cold, shiny metal bars inside.

"What is that?" the assassin asked.

"Carbon steel," Mogan responded, "the Ionians can make the best swords out of it. There is a word running around the barracks that someone is willing to buy books on Ionian swordmaking looted during the invasion."

"How many could they make?"

"With what we have here I would say something up to one thousand, but the documents I acquired say this warehouse isn't the only one."

"This doesn't make any sense," Katarina was thinking loudly, "there are no wars nowadays, why would anyone make so many swords?"

"I don't know," the general admitted, "you must inform general Swain as soon as possible."

"I will."

Her following missions were just ordinary fights and assassinations. Some fat-ass rich merchants wanted better places on the Noxian market, so it was up to Katarina to destroy their competitors. The merchant guilds themselves had no vote in the High Command, but they had many ways to influence and bribe the generals, so they were powerful allies. There was also some kind of religious fanatics or street preachers, who tried to warn the people form Swain's use of dark magic. They were most probably paid by Darkwill and didn't believe a word from what they were saying. And they were a problem, so they had to disappear. And it was Katarina's job to take care of them. There were rumors of seven such preachers, the assassin stalked all of them and killed them one by one, leaving their bloodied cold bodies as a reminder for everyone, who would want to cross her or her allies.

After that she returned to the mansion, to reequip and rejuvenate. She took a hot bath, then slept for several hours and then had sex with one of her maids, those were her three steps to perfect recovery before every important mission and, honestly, the only reason she even kept maids. This particular mission required a lot of planning, the ball was set in the High Command building and it was heavily guarded. She had three options to strike: frontal attack, infiltration and attack from above.

She decided for the attack from above, frontal attack on an event this size could be done only with a group of assassins and almost everyone there knew her face, so the infiltration would eventually end up as a failure, no matter how much she'd diguise herself. And she certainly had to strike at the ball, otherwise the assassination wouldn't deliver the message as Swain wanted it.

The annual Kingslayer Ball was the most popular and prestigious social event in Noxus. It marked the anniversary of the last time a Demacian king died by the hand of a Noxian soldier, the day Sion killed Jarvan I in one-on-one combat. It happened more than sixty years ago and most Noxians thought it should definitely happen again.

The loud music and shouting of drunk officers could be heard from great distance and Katarina definitely heard it when she was climbing the walls of nearby buildings. She was late and she knew it, but that was the plan, she wanted to show up after the people got drunk and lowered their guard.

She hesitantly watched the great building standing atop the Noxus mountain. She took several steps back on the roof she was standing on. Then she ran as fast as she could and leapt from the edge, her momentum carrying her forward. She didn't have more than a fraction of a second to grab the ledge on the opposite building, but she didn't need more. The assassin kept on climbing the steep grey wall until she reached the top. She noticed a guard and he noticed her. She was ready for combat, or to kill him before he could alert others, but he didn't react as she expected. He didn't draw his sword, only looked at her and nodded. She knew what it meant, it meant he knew she would come and what was she up to. It also meant he was not going to stop her. She just walked around the roof and encountered other soldiers, all of them fell in line with the first one.

This is really impressive, Swain, she thought.

She perched on the opposite side of the roof and watched what was going on in the courtyard down below her. There was a massive bronze statue standing in the middle of it, depicting Sion and Jarvan I in their fight. By the strike of midnight, magic of present summoners would reanimate the statue and Sion would once again chop off the king's head.

In Noxus, the nobility consisted mostly of military commanders, but the highborne could fall in shame very quickly, if they couldn't lead their troops and someone more capable, even of lower born, would take their place, power and possessions. From her spot atop the roof, Katarina could clearly see both nobles and commanders and their ladies, drinking, eating and chatting, but right now most of them were dancing. The assassin hated dancing, every moment of it she had to endure in her entire life. Practicing it with her sister, when Cassiopeia wanted to learn it and also every single event like this one she had to attend, when all of the young dickhead sons of rich old bastards asked her to dance with them, only to try to touch her perfectly toned ass.

The tables down there were overloaded with food from all across Runeterra and barrels of the most expensive wine and beer were standing in the corner of the coutyard. She observed it very carefully as if patience was her highest virtue. Katarina knew what the man looked like, she had met him on several occasions and she was only surprised when she saw a random summoner lure Zardas to a secluded terrace and left him there after a short conversation. She dropped down there right behind the man, punched his stomach and pushed him up against a wall, drawing a blade with which she would end his life.

"Did Darkwill send you to kill me?" the general stuttered, it left Katarina confused.

"What? What are you babbling about, old man?!" she asked, her voice seething with rage.

"I heard Darkwill wants me dead," Zardas tried to explain, "so I guessed he sent you to carry it out."

"What game are you playing with me?" she hissed through her facemask, keeping her voice low so the other guests attending the Ball couldn't hear her.

"I am an old man facing his demise, what games could I play?" he said more calmly now, sensing the assassin was hesitant about killing him.

"So you weren't planning on betraying Swain and allying with Darkwill?" she asked, still unable to grasp the concept of what the man was saying.

"No, no, why would I do that?" the general asked in surprise, "He's a coward hiding in the sewers. Look at this city, girl, Noxus was built on war and now it's slowly decaying in the time of peace. Swain is the only one who knows how to change it."

"I believe you," Katarina said and meant it sincerely, "for now, but I will need a proof of your loyalty if you want to keep my trust."

"I'm certain I can deliver one," he said after she helped him back to his feet, "you'd be surprised if you heard what my spies have to say about certain individuals you and Swain call 'allies'. I might even..."

He didn't finish that sentence because right then a hooded figure in blue appeared out of nowhere behind him and stabbed right through his heart with a forearm-attached blade. The general fell to the ground, heavily bleeding and coughing out warm, crimson liquid. He waved his arms around using all of his remaining strength trying to desperately grasp something, anything, and hold it, as if it could help him stay in this world while his mind was slipping away, into the darkness.

Katarina eyed the murderer. She knew who he was, and she also knew what his next move would be. Talon unleashed a volley of his blades, enchanted to come back to him. She anticipated it, so she just backflipped over them unharmed. He charged at her after she landed on the ground, fiercely stabbing forward with his arm-blade. Katarina diverted his attack with a spin kick aimed at his arm and quickly punched his stomach and ribcage afterwards. He turned around and tried to slice her with blades attached to his cape, but she ducked just in time. She stood up with her left arm over her head blocking any incoming attacks and kept on hitting his torso with the right one, until she heard a loud crack. It could mean only one thing – one of Talon's ribs broke and he was in a lot of pain right now.

The two assassins circled around each other, exchanging minor hits and punches. Katarina took advantage of her better condition and quickened the pace of her strikes. Whenever Talon tried to catch up on her, he only hurt himself. But he did something she didn't anticipate, grabbed both of her wrists simultaneously and headbutted her. Katarina fell down and her opponent was closing in on her, his blade shining in the moonlight and ready to strike. When she tried to get up, he kicked her side so she just rolled until she hit the railing of the terrace. There was no time to think now, so she just teleported behind Talon. He turned around immediately as she expected and when he did, she rammed her knee into his crotch with her full force. He let out a gasp, she took advantade of his hesitation and hit him hard right into the face. She heard another cracking noise and a perfectly white tooth fell from his mouth.

Talon was weakening, it looked like he couldn't hold his pace anymore and retreated to defensive stance. He wasn't throwing punches, only blocking and deflecting the incoming ones. But it was a trick, he was only waiting for an opening in Katarina's technique and when it appeared, he hit her hard, she flew several feet back and landed on her back. He went after her then, hitting her again, cutting her shoulder and side. Those were only flesh wounds, but they cost her energy and speed.

Katarina knew she wouldn't be able to fight him for much longer, she had to retreat. She managed to hit Talon in the face, then grab his head and smash it into the railing. The impact left him disorientated, his head in enormous pain that prevented him from focusing. Katarina used it, climbed onto the railing and leapt at the nearest roof, running as fast as possible from the other assassin. He followed her, it was a crazy pursuit in the middle of the night, two dark, hooded figures jumping from rooftop to rooftop, throwing blades at each other. It showed up Katarina was lighter and faster, she was able to outrun Talon eventually.

She didn't go home, she expected Talon would wait for her somewhere near and the rest of her instructions was clear anyway. Katarina headed for what she called the 'shithole part of the city' in search for the infamous Twisting Snake tavern. She passed around groups of thieves and beggars, but none of them dared to bother her, because she had an aura of danger around her. The locals had to develop a sixth sense, that would tell them who is dangerous and who is not, otherwise they wouldn't survived here. They didn't need to know Katarina was a top class assassin, but they knew attacking her wouldn't pay off well.

The tavern itself was a dark, loud place, filled with drunk mercenaries and ugly, cheap whores. It smelled like someone died there recently and Katarina was quite sure someone did. Once inside, she noticed a man in long, black-and-green robes sitting alone at one table, it looked odd, given how crowded the place was.

"You're summoner Corlan?" she approached him. It was the same man she saw on Syndra's Judgement, a Noxian member of the Council.

"I am indeed," he said and slowly finished his drink, "follow me upstairs to do what you came here for."

He had a room rented at the tavern, from where he would teleport the assassin back to the Institute. The summoners there monitored the use of magic in the building, so it wasn't possible to teleport somone out from there, but it was the other way around.

"So how did your mission go?" he asked when they reached the room.

"It was shit," she replied, "complete, utter shit!"

"Shit happens sometimes," he said in an conversational tone, "so shall we begin?"

Katarina stood to the center of the room and Corlan started chanting a spell similar to the teleport used on the Fields of Justice. Blinded by the light and deafened by the humming sound, the assassin could feel the smell of Noxus dissipate around her, only to be replaced with another one, a gentle scent of forest.

Author's notes: I guess I should've warn you Ashe doesn't appear in this chapter, but I also kinda didn't want to. :D

This chapter was highly influenced by my favourite game franchise, Assassin's Creed.

And I have fashioned myself a new summary, the old one seemed too generic.

A part of this chapter is set in the Noxian docks. I know it isn't said anywhere that Noxus has docks, but look at a map of Valoran and you'll see the city's position is very close to the sea, so I think it's impossible for Noxus not to have docks.

Also, I'd like to write a bit about what I don't like about LoL, especially about Noxus. First of all, several Noxians are some of the worst villain stereotypes, such as a huge dude with an axe (Darius), an undead huge dude with an axe (Sion), an evil plotting commander (Swain) or a red haired bitch (Katarina, and as much as we like her, we have to admit she is a bitch).

Then, it's Noxus itself, not only its name contains 'nox', which is latin for 'night' (and latin itself sounds grimly), it's also shaped like a skull! Why? Why? Just why would anyone do anything like that?! It's so ridiculous and absurd! But, luckily, Riot did it for us, to know that the Noxians are the bad guys, in case we didn't get it from their overall appearance, their lores, their abilities or their playstyles. So, let's just shape their home city as a giant fucking skull, BECAUSE YOU KNOW, THE BAD GUYS LIVE IN THERE!

That's the main reason the description of Noxus wasn't included in this chapter and it definitely won't be in any other chapter eventually set in there.

Anyway, I still hope you enjoy my humble story.