A/N: WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Okay, before I start I'd like to say two things. One: Don't ever let anybody tell you that the author controls the story and the characters. This chapter has really made me discover that the characters really do have minds of their own. Two: Here's the action and such that people have wanted so badly… :D Enjoy!
DISCLAIMER: Characters belong to me. Places however are borrowed from the Almighty T.P. :D
Lady Ribyyn of Hadic II: Shadows
Chapter 4 – When Shadows Cannot Be Seen
The Shadow cringed as he walked silently past the home where he would make his rounds that night. Inside he could hear husband and wife screaming at each other and the cries of little girl. He smiled sadly. They wouldn't be screaming at each other tomorrow. They'd be dead tomorrow. They'd be dead and The Shadow would be a wanted criminal.
Up until now, all the deaths had been old men and women. No young couples, no children, and no blood. Every one of his victims had been either suffocated or poisoned. Tonight would be different.
The Shadow winced. He hated bloodshed; it was so pointless and messy.
He sighed. He wouldn't be able to sneak into the house until Midnight at least. Slipping into an alley, he sat on a crate to wait for the time when shadows could not be seen.
~*~
Ribyyn sighed as she stood patiently outside her friend's bedroom door. "Jessa," she called again. "Please open the door. I can't apologize until I know what I did wrong."
Surprisingly, the door opened.
"See? Was that so hard?" Ribyyn attempted a smile but Jessa's frown only deepened and she turned to try and slam the door in the older girl's face. Ribyyn stopped the door by placing her foot in front of it. "Jessa!" she cried, losing patience. The hold on the door relaxed and it slowly swung open. Ribyyn didn't wait for an invitation to enter the room and sit down on the bed next to her young friend.
"Why are you angry at me?" she asked innocently.
"Why do you think? You've ignored me ever since you met the lovely Sir Mathias. Can't you tell he's a snob?" Jessa glared at her friend angrily.
"That's why you aren't talking to me? Because you're annoyed that Fawks Ridge is following me around?" Jessa nodded sadly and looked at her feet. Ribyyn grinned broadly. "Gods! That man is insufferable. I thought I had thrown him off when he saw me dancing with Darin at Midwinter, but it only made him more determined!"
"He's worshiping the ground you walk on," Jessa said with a smile. "Why don't you just tell him to go away?"
"Because that would be impolite, improper, and un-Lady-like," Ribyyn reprimanded the girl, and then grimaced. Rolling her eyes she flopped onto her back. "Goddess, I sound like my step-mother. Don't ever tell Darin I said that."
"I haven't seen Darin since First Night, two weeks ago."
"Neither have I. They won't allow me into the city without a male escort. Going alone is-"
"Improper and un-Lady-like," Jessa finished, grinning. Lady Bryttany had been attempting to teach the young girl how to act like a 'proper lady.' Her efforts were to no avail; without Alden enforcing heavy restrictions Jessa was able to do whatever she wanted short of going into the city alone.
"Precisely," Ribyyn said. "However, I've found that I am always able to try something once before they scold me and lock me up. I realize that I have been ignoring you recently, and I'm sorry for it. To make it up to you, I think we could use a nice, brisk ride, and perhaps a picnic, all by ourselves, since it's strangely, yet pleasantly, warm for January. How does that sound to you?"
Jessa grinned, ecstatic to have her closest friend to herself for the afternoon. "That sounds wonderful. Let's go!"
~*~
The sun was well past its zenith. Ribyyn rested, stretched out on the bank of the River Oloron, while Jessa lay comfortably in a tree soaking up the warmth of the sun. The two girls had shed their heavy cloaks and relaxed only in wool gowns.
Ribyyn sighed. It was so nice to just relax in silence with one of her friends. Her life had been so hectic for a time, especially after her arrival in Corus. And now she had Sir Mathias chasing her…
"Ladies," a familiar, and unwanted, voice broke the peaceful silence. "You do know that it's dangerous to be alone in the King's Forest, don't you?"
Ribyyn sat up and turned her head to see Sir Mathias approaching them. Speak of the devil… "Sir Mathias," she said, nodding politely in his direction. "I understand your concern, but I'm quite capable of taking care of myself."
"I'm sure you are, but what of your young friend?"
"She's very competent in that area as well," Jessa answered for herself from her spot behind the young man. "Now, would you kindly leave us be? We were enjoying ourselves."
"There's no need to be rude about it," Mathias said, a bit put off by the young girl's attitude toward him. "I was trying to be friendly."
"And I was trying to tell you that we don't need your help and that you are excused from our presence," Jessa retorted glaring furiously at him. Goodbye Sir Mathias, she said to herself, willing him to leave.
Unfortunately, the young knight was neither a mind reader nor very smart. He simply refused to go. "Lady," he said, turning to Ribyyn. "Do you feel this way as well?"
Ribyyn immediately bit her tongue to prevent a rude comment from escaping her mouth. "In all honesty, Sir Mathias," she said through clenched teeth, "I do believe we'll be just fine by ourselves. There's no need for you to stay."
Mathias nodded and smiled stiffly. "As my lady wishes," he said softly and gave a small bow. Then he turned on his heel and walked swiftly out of the clearing.
Jessa waited until she could no longer hear his footsteps before jumping out of the tree and rushing to her friend's side. Flinging her arms around the older girl in a tight hug she grinned broadly. "That was wonderful!" she exclaimed. "You're amazing, Ribyyn! You told him to leave and he did!"
"That is usually how it works," Ribyyn said softly. Biting her lip she looked at her young friend. "But if it was all so wonderful, why do I feel so guilty?"
Jessa thought for a split second before smiling and answering. "Ribbyn, he's male. He's not worth worrying about, and he'll be over you by this evening. Come on," she said as she rose to her feet. "Let's go explore the forest some more."
~*~
Sir Mathias of Fawks Ridge stomped through the woods, angry at himself for leaving Ribyyn alone in the woods. Well, not quite alone, but without any real protection. He doubted very much that she could defend herself against a wolf, and he doubted even more that her childish friend could be of any help in any situation. He sighed to himself. Young Jessalyn of Goldenlake was such a pain in rear. Why did Ribyyn spend time with her?
Mat mused to himself. Ribyyn of Hadic was such a mystery. First there was her brother, Kalvin. Although he hardly remembered the boy he did remember that there had been something strange about him. He showed up in mid-January, joining the pages when they were already half way through their first year. And then two weeks later he left, claiming a family crisis. Then, years later, Hadic gets attacked with the reports claiming no survivors, but four years afterwards Lord Jamison's only daughter reveals herself to be alive and well and the heir to a huge fortune she's not allowed to have unless married.
Mat wondered if the girl was aware she was that rich. It didn't particularly matter; she was going to be his, whether she liked it or not. All Mathias had to do was convince the King and the Lord of Goldenlake that they were desperately in love and could not live without each other. Ribyyn was making it difficult. He could never find her alone; she was either with that annoying Goldenlake girl or Princess Mindalyn, and whenever he tried to get her alone she found some excuse. Today was, however, the first time she'd flat out refused. She was polite about it, but Mat had no trouble seeing through the façade.
And then, there was that mysterious young man that he'd seen her with on that first night of Midwinter. He supposed this was the strange Darin that he'd heard her mention briefly, but he wasn't entirely sure. For being in Corus for such a short time she made 'friends' quite quickly. What was so odd about the whole thing was that the young man didn't even act like a noble. He walked and spoke like some commoner found in the streets of Corus.
He sighed deeply, his mind set. In order to win Ribyyn over Mathias would first have to dispose of her pesky friends; Jessalyn of Goldenlake and the mysterious young man from Midwinter. The Goldenlake girl would be easy to get out of the way; all he had to do was send one of his friends after her. She was young enough and naïve enough to fall for one of the handsome young men. If she was too busy to spend time with Ribyyn then that would mean Ribyyn would have more time for him. It would probably cost him a fortune to pay one of his friends to spend time with that child, but if he won Ribyyn money would be the least of his worries. As for Ribyyn's 'companion', well, Mat was certain that if he kept the girl busy enough she wouldn't have time to spend with anyone but himself. Ribyyn would be his by the end of spring. He was certain of it.
~*~
The Shadow was thankful that there was no moon tonight. Working with moonlight made him nervous; there was a greater chance that he could get caught. Usually he worked with cloud cover, but the Master had insisted that this job be taken care of within the month and January was already half over. Using a moonless night was better than waiting for a cloudy one.
He wondered why he'd ever gone to work for the Master. The Shadow had never seen Him, never even heard His voice; all the jobs he got were through verbal messengers. The Master would not take the chance of one of the royal guardsmen intercepting a written message. And if the messenger was caught he was as good as dead; the amount of spells placed on him would kill him if he so much as thought of saying anything that would betray the Master.
The Shadow had become one of the Master's underlings after he'd been caught sneaking into a noble's home. He could remember it perfectly; the smell of the oil has he dripped it over the hinges of the window, the soft breeze that flew past him and into the bedroom, the smell of blood when he climbed into the house. Suffice to say, it was not his favorite memory.
The one to catch him had been the Master's current "shadow-man," at least that was what the man called himself. The shadow-man had taken the young boy to where he stayed. He needed to consult the Master on what to do with him. He couldn't just let the boy go; the Master would have killed him otherwise.
"I hope fer yer sake 'e finds a use fer ye'," the shadow-man said. "I hate t' see such a nice boy like yer'self end up dead in th' streets, an' I hate t' be th' one t' kill ye'."
The young boy gulped. "I'd hate t' die, sir," he answered. The shadow-man stared at him for a moment before chuckling deeply.
"Well, lad, with an attitude like that, I'd say ye' had a fair chance of livin' t' see tomorrow."
Oh, how he wished the shadow-man had been wrong. In the ten or so years that had passed that was the one thing The Shadow wished for, death. Death would have been preferable to this hell. He often wondered why he didn't just kill himself. He'd attempted it a few times, but he either lived through it or chickened out. He always berated himself later for being weak.
Sighing deeply, he pulled himself up the drainpipe connected to the side of the home. This would be the first known murder in the middle class homes of Corus in nearly fifteen years. By the time the news reached the important folks up at the Palace, the whole city would already know what had happened. He only hoped that he would be able to go through with it.
The Shadow coated the hinges of the window in oil, watching it as it dripped off and slid down the side of the building. Slipping his knife out of his boot he slipped it in between the two shutters and slid it up, unlocking the window. After carefully replacing the knife into its sheath and opening the window he climbed silently into the room.
The little girl that had been sobbing earlier that day was sleeping peacefully in the trundle that lay by the window, as far away from her parents' bed as possible. The man and the woman slept serenely on the same mattress as far apart from each other as they could be. The Shadow was surprised to see this. He could vaguely recall when his parents used to fight the way this couple did. They never slept in the same house, much less the same bed. He looked down at the child and sighed. He couldn't have her waking while he was killing her parents. Pulling a packet of crushed up dreamrose petals out of his pocket he knelt and dusted some underneath her nose. She was sure to sleep until late in the morning now. By the time she woke he'd be long gone.
Rising and turning around he made his way over towards the couples bed. Swallowing the lump in his throat he pulled his long dagger out of its scabbard and tiptoed closer. He paused when he reached the edge of the bed and stood near the wife. This should be the point where his conscience started to nag him even after all these years. However, for some reason, his conscience urged him on and he wasn't sure why. After looking down out the woman he understood. Most people looked innocent in their sleep, yet her face was contorted and twisted with guilt. He could see that her dreams plagued her.
Taking a deep and swift breath he grabbed the top of the woman's head pulling it back to expose her neck. Her eyes opened and she saw him, his knife raised. She opened her mouth to scream, but all that came out was a muffled, choking, gurgling noise as he slit her throat. Blood poured out of the wound and down the front of her nightgown and his black shirt.
The Shadow carefully lay her back down on the mattress. One down, one to go. Glancing across the bed at the husband he saw that the man hadn't stirred at all. In fact, he was snoring rather loudly. Tiptoeing around the end of the bed he came to the other side to deliver the same, swift, death blow to the man. The only difference was he didn't wake at all. The Shadow could smell the ale on the man's breath as he slit his throat.
Wiping his blade on the sheets he returned it to its scabbard. Walking swiftly to the window he pushed the shutters back open and lifted a leg to climb back out the window, but a whimper at his feet made him glance down. The little girl still slept soundly, but every once in a while a whimper or cry would escape her mouth. Looking back over towards the bed his conscience finally got the better of him. Bending over, he picked the girl up, wrapping her carefully in her blanket. Lifting her to his shoulder he climbed out the window and slid down the drainpipe.
When he reached the ground he gently lay the child down. Then he pulled off his bloodied boots, shirt, and breeches, redressing himself with the clean clothes that were in a small bag lying near the crate he'd sat on for most of the day. Shoving the bloody clothes in the bag to be burned when he returned to what he called his home he slung it over one shoulder and then lifted the girl up, her head lying on his shoulder and her warm breath blowing on his neck.
He walked down the dark streets of Corus, noting that the bell rang only once. One a.m. He hadn't known he'd spent that long at that house.
Turning down another street he came to the building he was looking for; the orphanage. Not the same one he'd been sent to after his mother died, the one he'd run away from after only a week or so. No, this was the one for the rich, well off children and run by the Daughters of the Goddess. Tenderly placing the girl by the door he pulled a pouch out of his pocket. This one was heavy with gold coins. He laid it by the girl's head, hoping that this good deed would make up for at least one of his many bad ones. Before rising, he took a good look at her. She slept so peacefully, but there was a large bruise around her eye, and deep cuts by her throat. He wondered offhandedly if she would miss her parents when she found out they were dead. Biting his lip he made a swift decision and kneeling over he kissed her gently on the head. Then he rose and knocked loudly on the door, hoping one of the Daughters was awake to answer.
He jumped into the shadows to wait and see what would happen. Moments later the door opened, revealing a young woman in dark green, healer's robes. He saw the woman gasp as she bent down to examine the girl's health. Gold fire poured out her fingers and covered the child briefly before it faded. The Daughter seemed to be convinced that no real harm had come to the young girl. It was then that she noticed the pouch that lay by the girl's head. The Shadow watched as she picked it up and opened it. Her eyes widened at the amount of coin in it. Tightening the bag she tied it onto her wrist in then lifted the child up to carry her inside.
As Daughter Sondra stood up, she glanced around, looking for the person who had left such wonderful gifts at the door of the orphanage. She saw nothing but shadows.
~*~
Ribyyn and Jessa slipped silently into the Goldenlake suite. It was late, well past curfew. They'd been back since just after sunset, but had felt compelled to skip the evening's banquet. Instead, the two girls had gone to one of the Palace's numerous libraries. Together, they spent the evening reading fictitious tales of dragons and knights and kings from far away lands. It was quite childish, they knew, but it was enjoyable.
Jessa clicked the door closed behind her. She had tried to make it as quiet as possible but it seemed so loud in the silent room. The two girls waited for a moment before sighing gratefully.
"I don't know what you two are so relieved about," said a deep voice from the large armchair. There was a flare of light as Lord Alden lit the candle that rested on the table next to him. "Do you girls have any idea how late it is?"
"Past midnight bell," Jessa said softly. "I'm sorry, Papa. We didn't intend to come back this late."
"Well then what time did you intend to come back at?" he asked, his voice rising. "You've been gone all day! Its past first bell, Jessalyn! Where have the two of you been?" Jessa realized quite suddenly that her father was furious. He never raised his voice at her, ever.
"We were in the library," Ribyyn said quietly, uncomfortable with the whole situation.
"All day?" Lord Alden's voice, although it was softer, still held a note of anger.
"We went for a ride in the forest," Jessa told him, watching her feet.
"Alone?" he asked. The anger had faded completely, but there was some other emotion in his voice. One that neither Ribyyn nor Jessa could place.
The girls nodded and Alden sat down heavily in the armchair. "Girls, you can't go off by yourselves," he scolded them. "The forest is dangerous. There are wolves in there and–" He paused when he heard a quiet knock on the door. Sighing, he rose once again from the chair to open it.
The king stood there, a folded piece of parchment clasped in his hands. His knuckles where white and his face was pale with either exhaustion or fright, though it was hard to tell.
"Your Majesty?" Lord Alden was clearly confused. Even so, his manners remained in tact. "Come in, please." The king obliged silently and sat down on the large and comfortable couch in the sitting room. Alden sat down in the armchair he'd occupied only moments earlier and Ribyyn and Jessa watched from where they stood. "Is something wrong?"
The king raised a brow, and for a moment Alden thought that the man was about to burst out in laughter. However King Jonathan the First only grimaced and said, "Yes, I believe something is." He held out the parchment and handed it to his closest friend and advisor. Accepting it, Alden slowly unfolded the note. As he skimmed it, he turned pale.
"Papa?" Jessa asked, interrupting the silence that had once again claimed the room. "Papa, what is it?"
Lord Alden glanced at the king, who rose to his feet and nodded. Sighing Alden stood up and entered his bedroom. He came out a few minutes later, fully dressed. Looking down at the girls he said, "There's been a murder in the city. I have to go down and check it out. You two go to bed, and I do not want you to leave your rooms until I say you can. Is that understood?" The girls nodded solemnly. "Good," he said with finality. Leaning over he placed a kiss on each of their heads. "Go to sleep. I'll see you tomorrow morning." He walked towards the king, who stood by the door.
"Papa," Jessa said softly, and Alden turned around to look at his eldest daughter. "Be careful," she warned.
Alden of Goldenlake smiled. "I will be, Jessa. I will be."
~*~
A/N: AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! Okay then. So it wasn't exactly action per se but it WAS a murder… The plot has thickened immensely, and it's only about to get thicker--- If you review, I'll get the next chapter up faster. Nice, pretty, long reviews give me inspiration. Temptress gives me inspiration too when I rant to here, but she seems to have dissaperated as of late. That's why you need to forgive me for any grammer/spelling/missed words and other mistakes made in this chapter. No beta reader.