I don't own Tortall, or Carthak…or much of anything really…

Hey people, if you like this story, or even if you didn't like this story, check out my other Tortallan fic Providence Smiles, please!

Review Responses!

Ace Ryn Knight, man thanks for reviewing my new story! You're the first! Woohooo!

Actually yes, I have read them. I read them about eight years ago I wouldn't call them new, per se. Yes, I know the girl has a similar name, I think it's kind of sad that I remember after all this time. I'm not sure if it was Tahiri or Tahari. I have a good memory when it comes to books. I did, however, not get the name from those books. I was originally going for the name Tahirih but I decided the 'h' at the end looked stupid, so I just chucked it. It's Arabic and means 'pure and virtuous'.

I read like the first four of those books but the library at my house was sadly lacking in the kids novels department, actually it was lacking in every department. I don't even know if that was the last of them or there are more. I liked them. Master Ikrit! Haha, I liked Melody, it's a shame she turned into a fish or whatever, I think her name was melody; in the third or second book I think. Anakin was pretty angst if you ask me; he feels sorry for himself for no apparent reason. Tahiri was cool, raised by Tuskin Raiders, that's spiffy. Yup, see? I really do know what you're talking about.

The shitty thing is, if you read what's suppose to happen to all the characters in Star Wars, it's just pathetically depressing; everyone dies, one way or another. We already know I hate sad endings, so the whole thing with Star Wars is I don't want to know the characters, because I know they die. Damn my curiosity that led me to Star to snoop at future characters…man, oh well. Read and Review please!

Nativewildmage, Yay! You read it! Bi-polar? Well, no I'm not but you're right, my writing is odd sometimes. A story is supposed to be serious, and then all of a sudden someone cracks a joke or says, thinks, or does something really stupid. I'm pretty eccentric. Sorry, this took so long! The next one won't, I don't think. I'm going to try and update it once a week at least, so check back everyone in a while, and thanks for the review! Keep reviewing!

Pure777christine! You're a brand, BRAND new reviewer! Awesome. And no I don't plan to chip this away. Heck no. I just hope you guys like it. This chapter isn't funny like the other. And don't let me go to the bogeyman! I am TERRIFIED of the bogeyman. It's all a product of watching The Nightmare Before Christmas when I was younger. I am freaking STILL scared of that movie. Seriously, I can't help it. Thanks for reviewing! Read and review again!

This is where it starts getting serious people. This is also where you'll find why it's rated Teen.

Turn from Shadow

By LGR

Chapter Two: Assassin's Chance

Myrduk stopped.

Knowing there was someone watching him, he didn't turn to see who it was, but acted as if he were just admiring the scenery.

Trained from the humble age of five in the ways of the spy, the mage, and the assassin he had many techniques and skills to his repertoire, and he could easily distinguish the features of his observers, despite the fact he could only barely see them out the corner of his eyes.

There were seven of them; three looked to be native Carthakis, the others were not; they were all mages. He could see that all of these mages were fairly powerful; three would nearly equal Master Negus, who was a Black robe.

So they were the one's he was fuming about, Myrduk thought.

The night before, his Master had come to the house he was renting for the convention, (he couldn't stand to be in the same building as so many other Mages), and wrecked all of the furniture in the sitting room in anger, then came to his senses and repaired everything in within a fraction of a second.

Predictably, the servants and slaves were in an uproar, scared half-to-death, and those who could, immediately asked to quit, although as they all found out, you aren't done with Master Negus, until Master Negus is done with you. Myrduk himself had been leaning across the doorframe of the sitting room, not flinching an eyelash, but as anxious as one could be. When his master was in such moods, awful things happened to him.

Master Negus's finance and estate manager, secret-keeper, spy-master, and general right-hand man, Uktah, barely responded to the outburst except to sigh in frustration; he was the one who'd have to deal with the servants; they hadn't brought many slaves, excluding Myrduk, of course.

Master Negus owned a vast marques-fiefdom in the southern area of Carthak. About a quarter of that land was dessert, holding great ruins of pyramids, tombs and lost cities; another quarter was vast planes of savanna on the border of the Banjiku tribes' homeland; and the rest was tropical rainforest and coastline. It was in the dessert area, in a large city known as Jyptikaht, where Master Negus had hired Myrduk for an assassination, from the Assassin's guild. He'd done such a good job, that Master Negus had captured him as his own slave.

A member of the Assassin's guild was usually taken in from the streets when they were very young, some begged to be taken in, others didn't have a choice; Myrduk didn't have a choice.

Because of this, they were practically slaves and lived off the mercy of the guild, and so had very little freedoms; you didn't go or do anything the Guild didn't want you to, and if you did do something that was forbidden, it was a guild of assassins, and every single one of them would be after you.

The heads of the guild were older, retired assassins, who ran and assigned jobs; not always killing, but information gathering and stealing operations as well. Unfortunately however, Myrduk was very good at killing. He was smart, skillful, quick, and quiet; the best the guild had had in years, so that was what he was always assigned.

He'd hated killing, and had seen life as a slave to be almost a relief. A valued slave was fed well and supplied with what they needed, and an assassin was definitely a valued slave. Perhaps he wouldn't have to kill nearly as often, who had that many enemies? Little did he know what being enslaved to an extremely powerful egomaniac might mean, not that he'd any choice.

Walking as casually as he could through the streets, he found that the group was following him. He almost laughed, except that he didn't find the situation at all funny as someone else might. There was no chance they'd catch him doing anything, for one he was too good, for another he wasn't even on a job right now. But despite that, if they gave him too much trouble, Master Negus might order him to kill them.

Over the years he'd been suspected of many crimes, however, this was not because of any hard-evidence; in fact all the suspicions upon him sprung directly from his Master.

Master Negus's view of other mages was known throughout the lands he held sway over. He had such a reputation in fact, that a soon as a string of Mage-murders began to occur, the authorities immediately did their best to perform an investigation on the Mage and those of his household.

Or at least as much of an investigation as they could manage, considering Master Negus had no reason to cooperate and the law-enforcement had absolutely no way of making him. People just didn't mess with Mages, especially Black Robed Mages; and most especially Master Negus.

By now, however, ten years later, it was pretty much an open secret that if you showed too much potential, or anything other than complete submissiveness in Master Negus's eyes, you were putting at risk for assassination.

But there was no way they'd ever catch Myrduk in the act, nor any evidence to his guilt: his master had taken care of that as well.

Myrduk nearly shuddered every time he remembered the countless experiments that made him part of the success he was today, most were painful to some extent and had changed him utterly; they had not been good experiences for him.

Don't think about them, he told himself. There were just some things that a human being should never have to go through, and Myrduk had been subjected to a great many of them.

He'd prayed everyday of his life to the gods, and after the first such experiment upon his enslavement to Master Negus, Myrduk knew that he did not want to live out his life as the Mage's personal assassin and bodyguard.

But he'd realized there was nothing he could do, so he'd began going to the Temple of The Graveyard Hag, Patron Goddess of Carthak, known for her trickster ways, and her manipulation of chance, as much as he could, and praying for her help in deliverance. It would take a colossal bit of chance and luck for him to be given citizenship; Master Negus would never chance selling him. Nothing short of a miracle was likely to make a dent in his situation.

Hmm, those mages are still there, he noticed, I need to lose them.

Walking into a nearby crowd of people rushing from another temple, he felt the spells engraved into his being begin to take affect, and when he turned his head slightly, he saw that the young mages were quite confused as to where he had gone, despite the fact he was quite out of place among the rest of the bustling people.

He sighed in relief; he would hate to have to kill them, as strange as that was to say considering his profession.

Myrduk proceeded to walk through the meandering alleyways and streets of the Carthaki capital city to an area where the rich and highborn rented town houses for prolonged visits.

This area was much less crowded then the market or temple squares had been, but he wasn't given a second glance by anyone as he walked like a shadow to Master Negus's temporary abode.

He nodded to the doorman, a servant, not a slave, who hastily let him in the door. Myrduk was known here by all the servants and would always give him what he required without question. This might have seemed a security risk; he could get anything he wanted at anytime. However, it was also well understood by the servants and slaves, that the assassin didn't so much as twitch a finger without the approval of the Mage.

Which was very true, Myrduk was terrified by his Master.

Myrduk went through the hall and up the stairs to the second floor, then the third, where Master Negus's apartments were, but more importantly at the moment, where Uktah the manservant's quarters and office was contained.

Master Negus himself was not presently in the household, but at the University; likely when he returned there would be another round of destruction of furniture and Uktah would have to reassure the hired servants for a second time in the past two days, but that wasn't what Myrduk was worried about.

Crossing the heavily decorated hall, the assassin came to Uktah's office and knocked once.

"You may enter." Came an immediate answer; a very few number of servants were allowed to enter this room; and Myrduk was the only slave.

The assassin, stepped into the room without making a sound, listening and secrecy spells that were covering the entire room flared their brilliance for a moment as the opening of the door temporarily interrupted the spell's working, then subsided back into their proper state as it closed once more.

Uktah sat at a very large desk covered with papers, documents and notices. Bookshelves and drawer holding special or secret papers lined the walls. A large window took up one wall that led to a balcony, (not very secure in, Myrduk's opinion but then again his opinion wasn't what was important.) In front of the desk were two fairly comfortable chairs. Taking one, he crossed his arms and sat.

"So, boy, back from the temple I see? The Graveyard Hag listen to you're prayers, whatever they might be?" the man asked sadly; Uktah's situation was similar to Myrduk's own, though the his was most assuredly not anywhere near as dire as the assassin's, however he couldn't know that. Myrduk just shrugged.

Uktah himself was a tall, very dark black man in his early fifties; his very short white hair, and very white teeth made a striking contrast against his dark skin. He also wore silver spectacles on his nose, which looked very out of place, considering the man's build and stature made him look like a one of the strong and lean Swahijiti hunters that ran after jaguars in the jungles.

In fact, he had been an animal hunter in his younger days, the many animal furs and hunting equipment he'd brought on the trip, now hanging in the room on the walls and stands, attested to that.

"I don't think the God's care for the likes of me." Myrduk answered, his voice caring a strange, electric-inhuman quality. The many spells, charms and magic rituals that had been incorporated into his make-up by Master Negus, had left their mark in many ways, but most easily recognized, was the sound of his voice. Because of this, Myrduk hardly ever spoke to anyone if he could get away with it.

"The Gods like anyone who likes them. I don't have a clue what you want from them, but they might get around to it eventually, as much incense as you light for them…" he shook his head, "it's a waste of money, I say. It's really a miracle you get any sort of stipend as it is."

It was true. He was a slave, not a servant; Master Negus didn't have to pay him. In fact, he really didn't pay him, just gave him some money when he was especially pleased with the assassin, these strangely happy moods came unexpectedly, and it wasn't altogether unusual for the Master to be extremely cruel in the next breath. This made Myrduk extremely wary of the mage.

These sudden changes of emotion and behavior were what made Myrduk most afraid of his master. One day he would be fairly normal seaming, then the next he would be storming about his estate in a fit of anger, then a moment later, he might get a magical idea, and subject Myrduk to another round of tortuous experiments as if he should be happy for the attention. Pleased with the results of his own experiments, he would seem almost normal again, and perhaps give him some money or give the servants a holiday. He was very much disturbed by his Master's behavior.

"Master Negus, when should he return?"

Uktah held up his hands, "He left word he'd be here for lunch, but…"

Myrduk understood, the Master often changed his mind without warning, there was no telling whether he'd follow his schedule or not.

What Myrduk was very much afraid of, was that the Master might learn or think of something new, while amongst the mages, to try it on him.

The assassin didn't see himself as particularly brave, in fact he was fairly sure he was a coward, but he thought he had a right to fear Master Negus's "experiments".

Ten years of these continued magical workings had made him a perfect assassin. There were spells ingrained to make him walk silently at all times, enhance his senses, make him blend into the shadows, blend into crowds, undetectable by the Gift or the Sight, even extremely powerful dampening spells, to make magic unable to be used within a certain distance of him, and more.

But these came at a cost. Such rituals were very often painful, including such things as rewiring of his nerves, muscles or tissue, blood sacrifices, spells etched into his flesh and even…dare he think it, rape; these things tore at his mental stability as well as his physical make-up.

Four years ago, he had been in even worse a mental state then he was now. But the Master had realized he was losing his toy to the workings, his mind and body unable to sustain them no longer, and he'd done another working that would make his mind and body more compatible with the magic.

That working had required him to be tattooed from head to toe in magical symbols; a process that was probably the least endangering ritual Myrduk had ever had to go through. But then, the renewed stability of his mind made the next altogether worse.

He couldn't even think about it. The physical violation had been so disgusting, it had caused him to temporary amnesia and he'd been bedridden for a week, and he still could barely look anyone in the eyes for a year. But then again he was a slave, it wasn't required he look anyone in the eye.

Myrduk hadn't come in for any reason other than to ask that question; and with it answered, he was at loose ends. But he hated to be alone, he knew that he had excessive paranoia and nervousness, Master Negus often had a Healer take a look at him to make sure he was still mentally and physically well and Master Negus's personal healer Mabel, a white-skinned, golden-harired female of very kind nature, had diagnosed him herself.

When there was no one around but himself, Myrduk often worried himself into knots, in fact he felt most comfortable when there were a great many people around him, out in the open and in crowds. He didn't like them talking or interacting with him, but the fact that they were there made him feel at ease. Master Negus couldn't do anything to him in public.

Uktah didn't mind if he took up a chair in his office as long as he didn't bother him, Myrduk had done it before, so he stayed.

One wouldn't think a slave would have any free time, but he was a specialist-slave, and his specialty was killing people, even more especially, killing mages. And when he didn't have a job to do, he really didn't have anything to do. So as Uhktah realized he wasn't going to say anything else, he went back to shuffling papers and signing documents as Myrduk just stared absently out the window.

There was some activity going on two floors below them, Myrduk could easily feel the differences in the servants emotions using his magically endowed senses. And like a blaze a great blazing fire, he could feel the slate-gray color signature, of his Master's magic appear, neither he nor his Master could understand how he was able to distinguish colors, when he couldn't see people's magic, he could only feel, it, but Myrduk could none the less; and he was automatically on his guard.

Uktah had worked for Master Negus for almost thirty years, and had known the young assassin for the ten he'd been one of the Master's slaves. He thought it quite a shame the kid had fallen into the assassin's guild, and even more a shame he'd been so good at his job. Otherwise, Master Negus wouldn't have taken such an interest in him.

The boy, a man really, he was in his late twenties but Uhktah thought of him as a boy, was a severely withdrawn and sensitive at the best of times, but whenever their master was around, he was so dead-pale he could have passed for a Scanran, and so tense he was shaking.

Uktah and the servants also knew more about what was going on with the boy than they let on, and they felt for him dearly. Over the past ten years they'd seen the results of whatever horrible things Master Negus had been doing to him, and by now they often wondered that he was still alive and as well as he was.

He really was a nice fellow; Uktah could imagine him as a carpenter or a baker easier than an assassin, but the truth of the matter sat before him; the boy was an assassin, and what that kind of life, combined with all the things he'd seen, done and been subjected to over his life, had almost destroyed his personality; which, from what he'd been like at the beginning, before he'd been changed so much, when he was just eighteen, he had been very kind and sincere; a very nice kid.

Uktah didn't know how the boy had managed to keep that sweetness intact with so much of the killing he'd done, but it hadn't been able to stand up against Master Negus; nothing could. Now you couldn't get him to string half a sentence together, and he sounded strange when he did bring himself to, and Uktah couldn't even remember the last timed he'd smiled or wore an expression other than solemnity or anxiety.

Uktah saw Myrduk flinch and grow pale; Master Negus must have arrived after all.

Somehow Myrduk always knew when the Master was around. He and the other servants and a few of the slaves had the theory that one of he things the Master had done to him allowed him to know such things, but it was just a theory.

He stood up and Uktah followed suit as Master Negus, opened the door without bothering to knock. Both the slave and servant bowed low, but Master Negus wasn't paying attention to Uktah right now.

The Mage wore a fanatical expression and Uktah immediately saw what was coming. Motioning for Myrduk to come with him and saying, "Come, come! I had the most wondrous idea to work on you, I shall try It." the mage looked like a death trap and Uktah could see him sink in upon himself and his eyes looked even deader than usual as he straightened from his bow and followed the mage out of Uktah's office.

Uktah shook his head sadly, and the boy just got over the last episode, he thought. Three weeks earlier, the Master had called him with another idea and Myrduk had stared at the floor for five days straight, would hardly eat a thing and wouldn't speak to anyone, not even Mabel, the kind healer woman that could usually manage to get him to murmur something even at the worst of times.

He tried not to think about it and when back to his work.

Finally at dinner he pried himself away from his papers, deciding to walk down the stairs instead of calling a servant to bring him food; his legs were cramping from lack of movement. Walking into the kitchen, he was slightly surprised to see Myrduk sitting in a stool next to a small table at the end of the kitchen, the head cook, Aneka, a middle-aged dark-skinned woman with a fondness for flamboyant colored clothing and an obsessive need to feed people, hovered over him trying o get him to eat something. Mabel was also there shaking her head sadly.

Uktah walked passed the many assistant cooks and servants, some getting irritated by his lack of concern for his getting in their way and interrupting their work. As he came closer, he saw that Myrduk's eyes were unfocused as he stared at the floor, not responding to any of Aneka's pleas or him to eat her stew, which was sitting on the table.

He was paler than ever and shaking. The boy wasn't a black or brown toned full-Carthaki, although he did have a darker toned skin then most white's and was usually so tan you didn't notice the difference from him and a northern Carthaki, but it was easily seeable now, he looked see-through, he was so ashen.

"Come on Darlin', please eat something. It'll make you feel better, I promise." Aneka begged, her expression full of worry and concern. But he didn't respond in the least, he just kept staring at the floor.

"How is he Mabel?" Uktah asked as he came over.

The blond healer sighed and said, "As well as can be expected I suppose. It's not as bad as a lot of the times…but he's skin and bone as it is, if Aneka can't get him to eat, he could get sick. When you don't eat to get energy, it leaves you're body weak to fight diseases."

This was just so wrong; but there was nothing any of them could do about it. Uktah decided to try is hand at getting him to eat.

"Mabel and Aneka are right. You have to eat something, just a little…" He said.

No response.

"What's wrong with him?" one of the kitchen workers asked, as he carried a pot over to the large sink where some other servants were washing dishes.

The two female kitchen hands washing dishes, who'd came with them from Master Negus's estates and knew the situation, whispered to him.

"That's Myrduk. Master Negus…does things to him. He's often sick feeling, because of it," one said to the servant.

"Yes, and you leave him alone unless you're going to help. The poor man, he's so nice too, he's actually helped me with that monstrous black kettle quite a few times…" said the other. The servant was slightly confused and gave Myrduk, Uktah, Mabel, and Aneka an odd look before continuing his work.

"Please, Honey? At least for my sanity, just eat what you can, if you start to feel sick just stop, okay? Please? For me?" Aneka said, trying one more time to get him to eat the stew.

"Well, I-I suppose…" Myrduk said, his voice quiet as could be and sounding even stranger than usual.

Aneka's face brightened as she watched as Myrduk brought a shaking hand to grasp the spoon she held out for him. Uktah and Mabel sighed in relief and the girls washing the dishes saw he was eating as well.

"Oh, thank the gods, look, Aneka got him to eat."

"Yes, every time I see him like that I think 'that's it, we've lost him!' but he really is tough, I don't know if I could keep going like that."

"Me neither!" the two managed to gossip before Aneka shook a ladle at them, saying they were I supposed to be working, not chatting.

"Now you just stay here and eat Babe," Aneka told Myrduk and he nodded absently.

Mabel patted him on the shoulder, and checked some bandaging on his left hand that Uktah hadn't noticed before, and left the kitchen back to her own office.

Uktah went to get what he came for, Aneka's fabulous stew, then took a last look at the assassin, and went back to his own office. Myrduk would be fine here in the kitchens. He always seemed most comfortable when there were a lot of people and noise about; though Uktah hadn't a clue why, he already had a head ache from the constant clanging of dishes.

Myrduk himself managed to eat a fourth of the stew before he had to stop; he was just too anxious and unsettled, his stomach was starting to reject what he'd put into it.

Master Negus had thought of a way to refine the dampening spells upon him, which had required a lot of etching in his skin, but not much else on his part. He was weak from loss of blood, and he wanted to sleep but he knew we wouldn't be able to, so he just sat in the kitchen and let the sounds wash over him. Aneka took the bowl away, and urged him to lay down but he shook his head to say he didn't want to.

He just stared off, his eyes unfocused and staring at the tiles of the kitchen.

Someone sat down in a chair across the table to him.

"Why so glum, Dearie?" came a female voice. For a moment he thought it was Aneka, but his eyes focused as he began to pay attention to what was going on around him and he say an old slave with a cragged-face, white hair and an eye-patch over one eye. She smiled at him and he saw she was missing teeth.

He'd seen her before, but not at the manor.

Scanning the kitchen, he saw that no one seemed to see that the old woman's presence was out of place. Someone noticed that he'd looked up, and came over to the table to ask him if he needed anything, ignoring the old woman completely. He shook his head and the servant shrugged and went back to work.

"Young people these days, they forget that the old even exist!" she said haughtily, he just blinked at her, she turned to him and smiled a crooked smile with one eyebrow up, "Oh, I don't mean you Dearie, you always leave me incense every week!"

"I, er…"

"I know you're not feeling too well, let you're old Grandmother take care of it, eh?" she said.

And the next second she was gone, and on the table were a pair of silver dice, the pips marked with sapphires. Hands shaking, not only from his state of health but from shock and disbelief, he reached out and took the dice in his right hand, his left being bandaged.

They were real. The Graveyard Hag really had come.