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Chapter 29: The Trade of the Assassin
Kim couldn't believe what just happened; one of the most powerful people that she had ever known had just been lost. She surveyed the tunnel and her friends, the tunnel seemed to stretch on beyond her vision, as for her friends they seemed as tired and as distressed as she felt. Jas was kneeling by the wall where the hole had closed, Spyro and Cynder were curled around each other whispering softly, Ember was not one pace away from Kim and had her head down muttering softly. Jas stood up and Kim felt a light brush on her consciousness, so soft she hardly even noticed it. Kim often felt the same feeling when she would be in the Castle's library in the early afternoon. Jas approached Kim.
"I just talked with Lan, he says this tunnel is a straight shot out of her." Jas started, "You are the only one out of us that can see in the dark, you have to lead us out."
Kim was startled at first then said, "You made your way to me just fine, why can't you lead us out?" Kim then first noticed that Jas's eyes were closed.
"Only because I could sense you, I could not find you in the dark if I could not." Jas explained.
Kim had just realized that Jas had more power then she first anticipated and shuddered at the thought, "I understand," Kim said levelly, "it looks like a straight path out, though I could be wrong." A trickle of gratitude brushed over Kim though it was not her emotion and she shuddered at it touch. There was also a weak sense of fear also made its way to Kim, she realized that it Jas's emotion, but Jas was not afraid of what just happened or what might, but that Jas was afraid of Kim. She did not know why but the emotion was clear, Kim reached out her hand and hesitated before putting her hand on Jas's shoulder, Jas flinched, "Don't worry, I'll get us out of here." Kim comforted, and then added, "Nothing bad will happen, I promise."
Jas gave a weak smile and whispered, "Thank you."
Kim grabbed Jas's hand and addressed the remaining survivors, "Let's get out of here. Use the wall as a guide and stay close." Kim lead Jas forward in the center of the tunnel as the three dragons used the wall for direction.
Time seemed to stretch on as they walked through the never ending tunnel, but to Spyro it was worth it for he had been reunited with his love. "Cynder." he whispered.
"What?" she asked.
"I…I'm sorry for before…before all of this. I was acting like a fool, and I don't want to lose you again." Spyro apologized.
"You said that already and you shouldn't be. I was the one who left, not you." Cynder protested. Spyro felt Cynder brush up against him, "Why won't you let me say sorry?"
"Because it's my fault." Spyro began, "If I wasn't so thickheaded this never would have happened."
Spyro felt Cynder stop and did the same, "You always were too hard on yourself. Spyro, I am just as much as fault as you are, if you weren't so thickheaded you would see that."
"But it was my fault, and it was all because…"
Cynder interrupted Spyro with a kiss, "You talk too much." Cynder said impishly.
"Spyro! Cynder!" Kim's voice echoed, "You're falling behind."
Spyro and Cynder continued walking and Cynder nuzzled Spyro's neck, "I'm glad that were together again."
Spyro wrapped his wing around Cynder, "Me too Cynder, and I won't let anything separate us again."
"I'll hold you to it." Cynder cooed.
The eternity of walking was worth it with Cynder under his wing, but eternity ended to soon when Kim said, "I think I see an exit." Not that many paces later Kim had stopped the group. Spyro head the rattling of doors trying to be opened, "They won't budge." Kim complained.
"Let me try." Jas insisted. After a few minutes of silence Jas said, "I don't understand, there are no locks on this door, not even a bar on the other side."
"But how is that possible?" Spyro wondered.
"I'm not sure, but the door is locked without any locks." Jas replied.
"Maybe there is something on the door that needs to be moved to open it, or perhaps directions?" Ember suggested.
"Actually there is." Kim responded, "There is a big circle that is split in half where the doors meet, inside the circle is an image of a stone or a rock with a chipped off side."
Spyro spoke up joyously, "That is the symbol for Earth maybe that is how it is opened!"
"It's worth a shot." Jas agreed.
"Alright, stand back!" Spyro ordered. He harnessed the power of Earth and focused it, a green sphere formed in front of Spyro's maw giving off a green light. Spyro aimed at the door and released the energy, the sphere impacted the symbol and the doors stayed put. Spyro's heart sank but was quickly rose when he heard the doors open on squeaky hinges. Light flowed in from the outside and Spyro breathed in deep fresh air.
"You did it Spyro!" Cynder cheered.
Spyro smiled, "Yeah, I guess I did." He walked outside, and to his amazement, they were walking out of a hillside. "Where are we?" he asked himself as his friends filed past him.
Jas answered, "Come look over here." Jas was standing on the hilltop above the exit.
Spyro made it to the top of the hill with Cynder and gasped. The Regnum of Lux lucis was miles away, "The tunnel lead straight out of the city. We were walking all night." Spyro said in astonishment.
"How are we suppose to get back in?" Ember asked.
"We walk." Jas replied.
"That is not what I meant," Ember retorted, "the city is probably under guard, how are we suppose to get past them?"
Cynder agreed, "Embers right, last night before Chad and I entered the labyrinth there were guards everywhere."
Spyro sighed, "Then what do we do?"
"I…I might know of a way in." Kim hesitated, "Before anybody gets their hopes up I don't even know if it exists anymore or if it will work."
"There is no way in." Ember protested, "I know the city in and out and all of the entries that I can think of are guarded."
Kim gave a small grin, "Like I said if it still exists it will lead us inside."
"And if it doesn't?" Cynder asked.
Kim's grin grew into a smile, "Then we have to fight our way in."
Jas, as if remembering something, walked to the exit of the tunnel and raised both of her hands and slowly brought them together, here scars on her right for arm glowed blue. The doors shook and creaked but slowly closed. "No point in leaving it open." She answered when her friends gave her awkward looks.
Spyro yawned, "I think we should move after some sleep, we were running half the night and walked the rest." he didn't wait for a reply, Spyro curled up by a tree next to the doors. Apparently his friends took his advice because they settled down in separate place, except for Cynder, she curled up next to Spyro. He welcomed her company as he fell into a deep sleep.
He had waited all night for a means to an end, but he still had no means to that end. This may be because he never asked, there was just one problem, and it was that he couldn't ask someone a question who wasn't there. The sun had peaked through the windows of bone and flesh causing the Nightwalkers to either leave or hide in the shadows. He surveyed his surroundings once again from the wall he leaned in, he was in a large room made of flesh that didn't bleed and bone that didn't break, easily. Windows dotted the walls in a symmetrical arrangement that allowed few shadows and with every passing minute the shadows shrank. In the center of the room was a bone hand that supported a crystal ball though the hand was much too large to be a humans.
The room would have been called lonely had he been the only one in the room. He knew them all by name but he guessed nobody knew his. Sprawled out and unconscious on the floor was Paul, memories of training with Paul were still fresh in his mind but nothing to think or care about. Paul was all brawn and no brain, although if he actually hit someone with an Earth attack they could be in major trouble. Sitting in a chair brought to her by a Nightwalker was Catharine Arcaro who was the daughter of a noble, she was also the daughter of an Order of the Dragon member but she refused to be apart of active training. Rumors say that Catharine was a very adept acrobatic and could use it flawlessly with her element of electricity. The one reading his book was Kenneth of the Red Mages, it was a wonder why Ken was there at all, Mages usually don't deal with the Dark Arts and those who do are banished from the Mage's Society. Despite that fact Ken was also a member of the Order but he could use magic other than his fire element.
Axel closed his eyes, nothing had changed since the last time he surveyed his surroundings. He had been trying to figure out why they were summoned, they were all apart of the Order of the Dragon but Axel suspected that there was something more to it than that. Axel heard footsteps approaching from down the hall he was leaned next to and opened his eyes. A pale man with long jet black hair walked past him and into the room and looked around. Axel pushed himself off of the wall and walked over to Paul and gave him a good shack, Paul groaned in reply. Axel then walked over to Ken, they exchanged uneasy glances.
"I am glad that you all could make it on such short notice. My name is Nexus and I have something you all want." Axel shifted and Nexus gave a wicked smile, "I can understand if you are uneasy, but I need the help of all of you and in return I will fulfill any desire that you request. Although I can already know what your desires are."
Catharine stood up and marched over to Nexus, "You expect us to help you after you made us wait here all night?" she demanded.
Nexus smiled and touched Catharine's face with his hand, Catharine gasped, "Of course Miss Arcaro that is if you want to get back that which was stolen from you." Nexus removed his hand and addressed the rest of them, "Your choice is your own, you can help me or not but you must choose now." Nexus smiled when he looked at Axel.
"You conniving bastard." Axel muttered, "You will have me in your cause, though I don't have a choice." Axel kept his voice cool and level, it was not his fault but a hard life has made him this way.
Ken closed his book with a sharp crack, "I will help you is you will help me." Axel noticed that Ken was gripping his staff hard.
"As will I." Catharine replied.
Paul staggered up and blinked repeatedly trying to focus, "I will do anything to get my hands on that little runt. Just name it."
Nexus pointed to the crystal ball in the center of the room, "Place your hands on that if you really want to help me."
"What will happen when we do?" Axel asked.
"You will gain unimaginable power, power to destroy a civilization." Nexus replied.
Axel could feel himself being drawn to the crystal ball by an invisible force. He fought with all of his might, Not like this, Axel stretched out his hand and the other did the same, Ancestors not like this, the crystal ball was almost in his grasp, This is not how I wanted it, Axel grasped the crystal ball and gave a scream of pain as raw power and darkness flowed into him. For the second time in his life Axel felt fear.
Kim shot up with a gasp. She looked around and remembered where she was and what happened. Kim rubbed the sleep from her eyes and woke the others. The sun was low in the sky but not quite at sunset. "If we hurry we can use the cover of the night while we're in the city." Jas nodded and everyone made there way to the city, not a word was spoken on the trip and Kim felt the pressure build with every step she took. They were depending on her to get them inside the city, I can't let them down. She thought to herself.
The party arrived outside the city a little after sunset, it was just over the next hill. Kim peaked over the hill and saw five guards stationed outside the gate. She ducked back down when a guard looked her way. "Alright, stay here, if I'm not back in one hour something bad happened." Kim explained.
"What are we suppose to do then?" Jas asked.
Kim never thought that far ahead, "Improvise, I don't know! I just thought I'd let you know." Kim darted over the hill by Jas stopped her.
"Good luck Kim." Jas encouraged, "I have faith in you."
Kim smiled, "Thank you." Jas let go of Kim and she darted over the hill and dropped to the ground. Kim waited for the guards to look the other way, she held her breath then crawled closer to the wall. Kim wished that she wasn't in a dress, she thought of them as uncomfortable and degrading. A twig snapped under Kim's hand and she held her breath. A guard was walking in her direction, she felt around and found a rock, she tossed it to her left and the guard changed directions to investigate the sound. Kim looked up to see the moons nearly full giving off plentiful light, as much as she loved them she wished they could not be as bright tonight. Then by a stroke of luck or fate a cloud moved overhead blocking out the moons. Kim whispered a silent thanks and bolted for the wall. Kim kept her back to the wall and edged her way along it while feeling with her hand for a symbol in the stones. Her hand finally came to a symbol slightly protruding from the wall. Kim checked her sides to make sure none of the guards were watching. Kim examined the symbol, it was a four pointed star that pointed up, down, left, and right. Kim placed her thumb on the bottom one and her pointer and middle on the top, The combination was a half-turn right, Kim rotated the symbol clockwise so the top was pointing down, the symbol clicked as it turned, Next was three-quarter-turn left and then a quarter-turn right. As Kim made the final turn the symbol pushed into the wall and a door opened making a grinding sound of stone on stone. Kim rushed inside and the stone door closed behind her. There was a staircase inside that spiraled down into a room.
The room she entered was dark although it didn't matter to her. Kim surveyed the room, it was small and cobwebs were abundant from disuse. On the far end of the room was a ladder that lead up to a trap door. There were wooden boxes piled up on either side of the room. Kim opened the one closest to her, inside was full black bodysuits and half facemasks. Kim pulled out one of the bodysuits and a mask and placed them on one of the other crates. Kim striped off her dress and petticoat then shivered when the cool air touched her bare skin. She then donned her mask then bodysuit by slipping though a hole in the back of the suit, the hole took up the entire lower back. The suit was elastic and formed to Kim's curves, the suit covered up to her writs and ankles and everything in between, the mask was also elastic and fit snugly on the lower half of her face. Kim searched though other boxes and found ; a leather cord, a pair of gloves that felt like they had metal plating in them, a pair of shin high shoes that separated the big toe from the others, and a sash. She tied her hair back with the leather cord and put on the gloves and shoes along with the sash. Kim made her way to the ladder but stopped at one of the crates and opened it, inside was needles and viles filled with a clear liquid. She took five needles and one of the viles tucking them in the sash then continued to the ladder.
Kim peeked her head out of the trapdoor and surveyed the area. It was a dirty back alley with not a soul in sight. Slowly Kim crawled out of the trap door and onto the alleyway and quietly closed the door. The trap door from the outside was cleverly disguised as the ally floor. Sticking to the shadows Kim made her way to the gate where her friends were hiding.
Jas peeked her head over the hillside, "Its been awhile." Jas ducked back down.
"Stop worrying about her Jas." reassured Cynder, "She is more than capable of taking care of herself."
Jas sighed, "I just hope that she is alright." Jas sensed the presence of another being enter her area of detection. Jas whirled around, but it was to late, they were spotted.
Over the hill appeared a guard, "Who's there?" the guard asked. The guard looked down and saw Jas, Spyro, Cynder, and Ember, "You! We thought you were all dead." Spyro charged at the guard but he sidestepped avoiding Spyro. "Calm down." the guard yelled. He removed his full helm revealing his face. The guard turned out to be Brad.
Jas had stumbled backwards when the guard surprised them, "Brad is that really you?"
Brads face lit up, "Yes it is. We thought that you were all lost, tell me, were is the King and princes and the rest of your party?"
Jas hesitated then looked away, "They didn't make it."
Despair covered Brad's face, "I see, that's…a shame." He turned away and threw her helmet to the ground with great force.
Jas stood up, "They are not dead, they have been turned to stone by the Basilisk."
Brad turned around, "So Ben wasn't making it up, there really was a Basilisk under the City."
"Lan said that if we find Hector that he would know how to reverse the curse." Jas said hopefully.
"Then lets go find him." Brad ordered, "But first we have to get all of you in the city walls unnoticed, and all of the entries are guarded, even the secret ones."
"Don't worry." Spyro reassured, "Kim said that she would get us in."
Cynder peeked over the hill, "Look over there, by the guards."
Kim positioned herself by the corner of a house. The gate was just around the corner, along with four guards by it, on both sides! Kim peeked around the corner and observed their equipment again. All of them had long swords but no shields, they wore chain mail armor and half helms. Kim thought in her head how she was going to take each one down quickly and silently. She picked up a rock at her feet and dropped it. She heard a guard approach, she crouched down in the shadows and waited.
A guard rounded the corner into the alley and walked right by Kim. She slowly crawled out of the shadows and jumped on the guard wrapping her arm around the guards neck and the other around his mouth. The guard struggled slowly getting weaker and weaker before he passed out. Setting the guard slowly to the ground Kim moved the guard more in the shadows then waited. Before Kim got the shadows the next guard entered the alley and started to draw his sword. Kim charged and grabbed the guards arm before it reached the sword and raised it in the air. She made a fist with her free hand and punched the guard in the throat then repeatedly in the stomach before taking the arm she held and threw him further in the alley. The other two guards saw Kim and charged at her and she charged at them. She pulled out one of the needles from her sash around her waist that was coated in the viles liquid. The guards had there swords drawn and swung at Kim. She ducked under them and stabbed one of the guards behind the knee with the needle then brought it out and stabbed the other guard in the chest though his chain mail with the other end of the needle. The guards paused there actions as if they were stunned before collapsing to the ground.
Kim looked up and ran towards the gate pulling out two more needles for four guards. They were not yet alerted but soon would be if she did not move fast enough. Kim jumped when she made it to the first guard and stabbed him the neck then threw the same needle at another guard and slipped between the chain mail into his chest. The other guards were now aware of Kim's intrusion and attacked her, but not before she stuck her other needle into one of them. It was down to one guard and Kim and as he charged Kim readied herself. The guard slashed with his sword but Kim easily dodged it and she put her pointer and middle fingers together and struck the guard in the Adams Apple. The guard gasped for air but Kim would not let him have it, she made a fist and struck the guard under the ribcage in an upward angle repeatedly. The guard gasped for air every time Kim jabbed him before he finally dropped. Kim exhaled the breath she was holding the entire time and relaxed herself. She looked over to where her friends were hiding and motioned them to come by her.
Cynder had just blinked and it was all over, Is that Kim? Where did she learn how to do that? Cynder thought. Kim was waving them over, Cynder looked at the other who were still in awe. "I think she wants us to go down by her." Everyone else nodded and followed Brad down the hill. Cynder whispered to Spyro, "Did you know that she could do that?"
"No, I'm just glad that she is on our side." Spyro whispered back.
As they got closer Kim started walking towards them, "The guards will be out for a few hours, but that doesn't mean that someone will find them before then. We should get in the castle now, quickly and quietly."
Kim turned to leave but Jas grabbed her arm, "Where did you learn how to do that?"
Kim paused before answering, "This is the trade of the Assassin."
This Chapter only took a day and a half to write, but the reason why it is so late is because even though school has been out for about a month I had a lot of loose ends to tie up that needed to be tied. Plus I had to get a personal Summer schedule down to balance; work, family, friends, and my personal time (FanFic being under personal). This was the first time that I was able to sit down at my computer and write for the past month. So now unless something else comes up there should be a steady stream of chapters coming regularly.
