READ THE A.N. IT'S IMPORTANT!
Kuroikabuto: REALLY busy, no time to write new chaps ATM.
Beta: I'll get Kuroi-kun to write more and send them to me. Soon… PLEASE REVIEW! That's the easiest way to get him to write instead of me bugging him all the time.
Keys: 'blah blah' normal speech
blah blah thoughts
(blah blah) Author's or beta's notes and/or interruptions
Chapter Two: Blade
Tal and his sister stumbled along; weary from moving for almost an hour without rest. Near the border, Mallik had said. They were nearly across the border already and yet no sign of any 'escort'.
'Tal…I can't…go on…any further without…rest…,' Lyn panted.
Tal nodded and collapsed under a tree. Thankfully they were walking through a forest not an open field, they would have been sun burnt to death.
The siblings waited under the tree in silence. What would become of them now? Mallik claimed they would be safe in Geffen, but Geffen sided with Prontera (AN: almost no-one knows about the Thief-Mage alliance, remember). How would they be safe there?
'I suppose you think you're safe here eh?'
Tal sat bolt upright. They were surrounded by knights and hunters, all bearing the seal of the Imperial Army. A tall man, dark skinned and yellow toothed with an eye-patch over his left eye stepped forward. He wore a faded vest over his other wise bare chest and a heavy Gakkung strapped onto his back. He also had a badge pinned on his vest-a commander's pin.
The man grinned. 'Looks like we have the runaways right here people. Don't make this difficult for us, aye? We don' wan no hassle here, don' be making me shoot any of yer limbs off to make you cooperate aye? The king said 'bring back alive' but he didn't say wad condition you need be in…' he finished with a malicious smile at Lyn.
Tal wanted to do something. There was no way he would allow his sister to be…
The sniper made his way lazily to Lyn, smiling widely. The other knights and snipers there had similar smiles on their faces. Lyn looked desperately at Tal, but he seemed frozen in his place, looking at one of the knights.
She turned to look.
He wasn't looking at the knight.
He was looking at the assassin standing behind the knight.
Hurling a poisoned dagger at the leader, the assassin leapt into action drawing his katars smoothly out of their well-worn sheaths. In a single move he had slain the knight in front of him with a slice at the neck. He then proceeded to parry, evade, counterattack and kill the others of the group surrounding the siblings. It was an intricate blade dance that Tal's eyes could not follow, so skilled was the assassin at striking his opponent's vital points it seemed almost effortless. The hunting party was dropped one by one and they could barely fight back.
Barely a minute later the assassin came and stood before Tal, his work done.
'…where is the girl.'
Tal started, looking around frantically, but it was too late. In the commotion ensuing the assassin's blade dance, some of the hunting party had taken Lyn.
The assassin wasted no time for questions. It was obvious from the boy's expression, he had forgotten about his sister's plight.
The trained killer walked over to the body of the hunting party's leader and knelt down to feel his pulse, weak and dying, but still alive.
'Where have they taken her? Answer me and I will ease your passing; the poison will incapacitate you completely, and slowly make you rot from inside out. The wild beasts will sense your impending death and come to consume your flesh while you are still alive. Would you like to hear more or do you want to talk?'
The tactic was cruel but effective nonetheless. The man paled and immediately started talking.
'Prontera Church. The so-called high priests want to resurrect the mercenary group Slayers with human sacrifices for the war against you knaves of the Thieves Guild. Your end has come, bastard, there is no one who can defeat the might of Prontera's Imperial Army and the Slayers combined!'
The assassin straightened. 'What if I told you Eremes Guille and his group of miscreants were slain by an assassin team lead by me, and that I killed Eremes with my own hands?'
Turning to face Tal, the assassin said, 'We have no choice then. We shall continue to Geffen.'
'WHAT?! What about my sister?'
'……'
'Don't expect me to head to Geffen without my sister! And how do I know you're the escort Mallik told me about? You could have been sent to…kill us all! All of us from Prontera! That's what you cold hearted assholes do, isn't it? Kill people?'
After he finished his sentence the assassin tensed in anger. In a flash the assassin had Tal by the throat. He slowly lifted Tal off his feet. Leaning near he whispered, 'Is that what you think? We kill people for the sake of killing?' the man chuckled 'let me enlighten you.'
The assassin dropped Tal to the ground.
'Assassins do not kill for the fun of it. We are the ones who keep the peace in Rune-Midgard. Do you think that lousy king of Prontera gives a damn about the people in the world other than his immediate family? Do you think he can do what he says he does-protect he lands of evil? No. His knights only get in the way of us, the true protectors of Rune- Midgard. The knights aren't even well trained; a lone Soldier Skeleton can make short work of them.'
The assassin paused.
'It is true we accept missions to kill people, but we only accept missions that allow us to further our own goals, which is to maintain peace and order in Rune-Midgard. The Slayers were the greatest danger in our time; which is why we had to get rid of them. I can cite even more examples for you. Do you want to know the atrocities that have gone unpunished by your so-called righteous king?
'If you wish, we may make a side-trip. My mission is to protect you until you reach the Silver Horn. I was not given instruction not to make any detours. If we must go retrieve your sister, so be it. If only to prove to you that we of the Thieves Guild are more compassionate than the king paints the picture of us.'