Hope everyone's doing fine! Here's the fourth chapter!
She was hidden, behind the trees. The night provided an extra layer of obscurity, and the clouds of an impending storm covered up the moon.
Bats screeched as they flew way over her head. Owls hooted, their eyes searching for supper. Snakes and other reptiles were already enjoying their nocturnal hours in the
open, making all sorts of noise they could.
The man walking straight towards her was dressed in a simple loose tunic and pants. At his feet, the straw slippers, usually worn by peasants, made a swish sound. The wide hat on his head was balanced the wrong way. Clearly, he was not comfortable in his new outfit.
He kept his head low, as if he was scared of being caught.
Of course, he would. Ono Cheng was going to have a secret meeting with the sugar merchants tonight. The wealthier he looked, the higher the chances to be met on the way by thieves or burglars. He probably knew that burglars and thieves were not good for him.
He was the wealthiest buisinessman of Zhong after all.
Ono did not know that he was going to be met by an assassin. Poor luck that the sugar merchants did not call him for a meeting. They'd let him into a trap. There was no meeting today. Only an assassination.
Thunder and Silverdew struck together.
The murder shook Zhong. One of the wealthiest businessmen, a favourite of the emperor, killed. The emperor himself was killed by the Greencloaks in broad daylight, a few days later.
Most theories linked both the murders as they argued that the Greencloaks had targetted the state of Zhong. To murder both their premier and the biggest businessman would've brought any country to its knees.
The Greencloaks denied any part in the murder. The Oathbound promised to try all the torture techniques to pull the truth out. The leaders were apparantly under harsh interrogation.
While the Greencloaks were still under the suspicious radar, but more suspects were added to the list. Ono's personal assistants, securities, brothers, friends, everyone who had been said to have met him recently was questioned.
It seemed as if he was stabbed. But, the wound didn't spill any blood. The Zhongese Police were bamboozled. Later, it was found. Ono had been stabbed with a Wayfare knife — an old modelled Zhongese weapon. It looked like a dagger, but was much smaller and potent.
The blade had gone through the heart, and Ono probably had to live out the last hour of his life with a literal hole in his heart. Internal bleeding was the major cause of death.
No evidences of a fight, no hoof marks of horses or even footprints of people. What such a wealthy businessman was doing, in plain clothes, at this part of rural Zhong, was a mystery.
Within a few days, that part of the mystery was solved. Ono Cheng was going to meet the sugar traders for a meeting. It did not take much intelligence for the Police Chief, Shey, to conclude that the meeting probably included monetary benefits for both parties.
Slight pressure and the merchants, from Amaya, spat out the truth. Shey would end up being extremely frustrated with the entire ordeal — he couldn't even extract the assassin's name.
Silverdew waited atop the clocktower. Jex the Giant appeared at the town square. Silverdew couldn't help but notice that he was as much a giant as the Great Panda, Jhi, was violent.
His hair was done as if the barber had been a cat. His cloths were probably supposed to be stylish, and not much on the useful side of things. That pair of pants would rip if he took steps longer than he was supposed to, and his shirt could have definitely not helped to hide, with that gleaming white colour.
She was already hating the man.
A silly necklace adorned his collar, and his wrists had golden rings around them. Unless scimitars like those of the old king Gilgamesh sprouted out of those rings, they would only be useful to give his location away in the night.
But all the adornment meant that he was rich, and rich people brought more money. Silverdew did not argue with money. She was desperate for some coins.
Her nails scraped against the rough stone that was used to make the clocktower as she climbed into the maintenance shaft. The view was splendid. She was, quite literally, watching the world through the eyes of time.
She oiled the joints and brushed away the cobwebs. Then she refilled her quiver and strung her crossbow. When the cricket's incessent screeching got to their peak, she climbed back up to the top of the clocktower.
The shadow of the clock meant that no one could spot her once she was here.
Jex stood under the clocktower, obediently, but once it was dusk, he started to murmur to himself and walk around. As the clock hit six-thirty, she steadied her hands. At the stroke of time, she leaped down.
The short man almost jumped out of his boots, seeing Silverdew pop behind him. She towered over him, and his feet betrayed his calm stance; they swiftly turned backward, the way they do when you want to run away.
After taking a few moments to breathe in shallow gasps, he began to talk. He spoke with the air of a fine noble, his voice betraying his nerves. But eyes do not lie. The small, black and round things looked at everything but her masked face.
His fingers fidgeted with his scabbard. His palms were sweaty, and knees were weak already. He was nervous, but on the surface he looked calm and ready. Beads of sweat had collected below his hairline. The left knee kept twitching, the way it does when you try to hide the shiver in your knees.
She enjoyed the fear she'd sprouted in him. What she did not like was that he was hiding something from her. He just wasn't telling the whole story.
Then Silverdew noticed the insignia on Jex's shoulder, and Silverdew wanted to kick herself for not noticing it earlier. There it was, glistening in the moonlight, the symbol that scared all the assassins that worked in this era, etched in silver.
Jex the Giant is short.
For a moment, her senses quickened, trying to find others possibly surrounding her. She found none.
Jex saw her staring at his badge, and his chest swelled with pride. He acted as if he was taller than he actually was, and rubbed his palm over it, as if brushing it off.
"Don't worry, we all are in it. The entire Order wants this done. You are not in any trouble from our side if you complete this. But if you don't..." he stood smugly, as if he had left a threat hanging.
Silverdew would have loved to put the ready crossbow bolt through his skull, but she also loved the sound of a million gold coins. She decided to stay patient.
In a few minutes, a deal was struck and Jex extended his hand. Silverdew reacted the same way she had reacted to every question he had asked: silence.
Jex blinked and, the next moment, found himself entirely alone.
Sitting atop the clocktower once again, silently watched Jex, who had come round to look behind the clocktower, find no one, look around and scratch his head.
Then she took a deep breath. Time to find Raisha.
Silverdew entered the maintenance shaft, and noiselessly chewed on the apple that she'd carried with her. Jex hadn't showed up yet. She still had time to decide on how to make the entrance.
Some time and three apples later, she had found the perfect way to pass the information, without having to meet his pathetic face or have a talk. She took a piece of paper — she knew the books from Wellishere library were for a greater purpose — and scribbled her message on it.
Jex appeared, and Silverdew was again overwhelmed by a desire to drive an arrow through his skull. His sunshine-inspired shirt was as cringy as shirts could be, and his hair was now chopped to resemble a cow's tail. His boots shined.
He stayed at the spot for a while and then began walking around, humming a song in the process. Silverdew thanked her patience — she would have whipped out her throwing knives if not for the high levels it maintained.
She took an arrow, aimed for his boots, and let it fly. Too sad that he'd moved too soon. But the sight of his entire body quivering like the leaves on a shaken tree was delightful. His new pants were about one more crossbow bolt away from being as wet as a fish.
He seemed quite happy with the news, and threw a decently big coin sack at the arrow and turned to leave. Obedient fellow.
She leaped down to take the coin sack. The man's feet were slowing, and she was fairly sure that he'd turn around the next moment.
As she had predicted, he turned around. Of course, he found no one. He just shrugged, and continued to walk. Then he got onto his horse and left the town.
"Gorgeous Wellisherean making." was what Jason had said, over and over again, the day he had died in Silverdew's arms. It was his great-grandfather, after all, who had built the clocktower.
His hands had twiched for the last time, and Jason, the boy-Conqueror who had bonded with a Euran Fletchling, died of the very pearl white wings that had brought the two together. His feathers killed him, as he bled uncontrollably at the sprouting of the latest batch. If the town dwellers hadn't thrown stones at a pleading Silverdew, he wouldn't have gone.
She'd vowed to respect and uphold his last wish: to make sure the Wellishere clocktower kept ticking. "It'll tick forever, Jason." she whispered to the wind. It'll tick as long as she lived, and she'd live forever if needed, to keep it ticking.
She climbed back upto the top.
Raisha Lin.
She repeated the name over and over in her head. Her father always said that repeating what you want a hundred times will bring you that. Silverdew repeated the name once more after the customary hundred.
Without Raisha, Jex's order would hunt her. And it would be difficult to keep the clock ticking if the Oathbound hunted her down.
She couldn't believe that they could get so close to her without the snake noticing. She knew that snakes usually had much higher senses than humans.
This one was a Great Beast - it had to have better senses. Yet, she'd managed to get so close to her. Surely, her stalking skills had improved. She was against the direction of the wind. Her scent wouldn't be that easy to spot.
She was the top assassin, and today, she had another job to finish.
But still, when Gerathon's neck muscles pulsed, Silverdew was overcome with emotion. She felt fear, emanating from the ophidian. She felt it coiling around her, her muscles trembling. Her biceps, strained by holding the crossbow for so long, felt sore. She felt the sense of great respect to have seen a Great Beast. Her crossbow felt ineffective against the foe.
Then Gerathon looked in her direction, and she almost dropped the crossbow. Her eyes seemed to be searching. The summoner hadn't realized yet.
Silverdew took a deep breath, slowing her heart rate, not letting any more of her fear present itself. She wasn't going to give away her location. This assignment meant a lot. And if the Oathbound demanded it, there was no way that she was going to escape from them if she failed this.
She was going to turn 14 this year, but had already faced more that what most grown-ups had. She had seen the darker side of the Devourer War. Her past had toughened her. The bloody view of her father clutching the dagger that'd stabbed him had erased her revulsion to blood. The soldier who'd killed her father had been her first kill.
Some girl who had summoned a Great Beast wasn't going to stop her.
PS: How was the Eminem reference? Lemme know how the chapter was!