Chapter Five, The Price

'Do that thrice, and you've paid the price! Indeed! Indeed! The Shadow's Seed! The Assassin's Son, you're the one!" Kooraw preened, screeching at me from his perch atop the nearest pine tree.

I could only shake my head in wonderment at the whole affair that had just happened in a few seconds time. Looking down at my now quiet tattoo, I began to ponder the nature of my heritage, and what it would mean to live the life of an "Assassin's Son."

Grandfather's books said nothing about a living tattoo! Among many other things, they just said that I had to Assassinate three "unworthy opponents", or something to that effect, before I could begin to understand the nature of shadows.

"Well, no sense in wasting any time. Guess I should tie his fine looking horse to the wagon and see if they have anything useful on them other than my daggers." I said to Kooraw as I got down from my own perch atop the wagon.

After stripping the bodies bare of anything worth money, I left them there in the road, a message to all other bandits who would come this way.

With the help of Kooraw, I also found their camp, not far from the road, and managed to make off with two more horses and a few other goods they had amassed, including a bit more money.

"Well, I'm really going to be in trouble if anyone finds out how much money I have now." I thought to Kooraw. "Now you know why I avoid the stuff." was all Kooraw would say. Ha! As though he had any use for it anyway.

Without another pause, I drove my wagon toward the next village, wherever that may be. "How far ahead did you say it was?" I asked Kooraw for the fourth time that day. "As the Raven flies, not so far, but for you, maybe a camp is in order!" Kooraw taunted.

"Maybe you're right." I said. "I'll probably just get into trouble at a tavern anyway." And with that, I pulled off the road a bit, and set up camp for the night. After setting up noise traps, I drifted off to sleep, and told Kooraw to wake me up if he heard anything.

Being that it was springtime, and being that I was on a fairly well traveled road in a quiet part of the country, the only thing I heard that night other than Kooraw talking with some noisy Owl was the distant braying of wolves. The horses weren't skittish though, so I wasn't too worried.

Upon the morning of the next day, I was rather surprised then, to awaken to the smell of a cooking fire. "You'd best hide that tattoo of yours, boy, if you wish to live to see twelve." came a voice out of my bleary-eyed stupor!