Here's chapter twenty - eight. Thank you Eddie Camp and Draconet for reviewing last chapter!
Chapter Twenty – Eight: Escaping an Assassin
The assassin's eyes glittered as she looked at the town stretched out before her. "So," she hissed in a quiet voice, "this is where you've hidden yourself, is it?"
She hadn't anticipated that this boy would be so hard to track. She'd been doing her job for years; she'd had to in order to survive. Normally, she only had to track her quarry once. After that her target was as good as dead. She couldn't help but feel somewhat impressed that this 'Gillick Nogard' had managed to escape her the first time, no matter how close a call it was.
Since he'd taken a horse and ridden out into the storm, she'd had some trouble keeping up with him. He'd tried to through her off by sending the horse off one way while he went another; he didn't succeed. However, most of his tracks had been washed away, and that cost her precious time. But she'd been at this a while; eventually, she'd had enough clues to know where he had gone.
She pulled out a knife, flipping it absently in her hand. "Hmm," she murmured. "Now all that I have to do is figure out what building you're hiding in." She caught the knife by the blade, squeezing her hand around it. The metal cut into her skin, causing blood to seep out and color her hand crimson, the red liquid dripping between her fingers and onto the ground. "And then…you're mine."
Gillick'seyes flickered as he watched his two companions. Another day had passed since he'd told them about his journeys across the world. Mala had seemed surprised that he'd seen so much, and hadn't spoken much since then. If only she knew, he thought, snorting. Riun, on the other hand, had seemed to expect this answer, and had latter stated, "Of course he's seen lots! Heroes go on journeys all the time." Which had led to another conversation about how he was not a hero. As usual, the boy didn't believe him.
Mala and Riun were both in the broken down building now, with the later pestering the former about how she used her bow and arrows. Mala, for the most part, was succeeding in ignoring him as she peered out between the boards and into the streets.
Gillick twitched, looking around uneasily. Damn it. How long before we can get moving? He tried stretching his arms above his head. Pain still pulsed along his body from his wounds, but it was getting better. He lowered his arms, slowly standing. He was immensely grateful that the dizziness he'd felt at earlier times wasn't present. He reached down and grabbed his scabbard, attaching it to his back before slowly pulling his sword out over his shoulder. He held it up with both hands, looking into the rune – marked metal. He took an experimental swing. Not bad, he thought. Nodding, he began moving into a short, three-strike combo. The movements pulled at his wounds and made him wince, but he was still able to finish the move.
He began to move into more complex sequences, slowly increasing his speed. He felt the pain increase, but instead of letting himself give into it, he allowed it to give him the will to continue. He released the sword with his left hand, moving into one-handed strikes and counter-strikes, twisting and turning as he hacked at imaginary enemies.
Finally he was forced to stop. The pain that raced along his body left him breathing hard, but a sense of satisfaction echoed in his heart. It's not as good as it should be,he admitted, but I can do it.
He turned to find Mala glaring at him. He frowned as he slid his sword back in his sheath. "What?"
"You shouldn't be doing that," Mala informed him, crossing her arms.
Gillick rolled his eyes. "Don't worry about me," he growled at her.
"Your wounds haven't completely healed yet!" Mala protested.
"Keep it down!" Gillick hissed, glancing around nervously.
Mala was still frowning at him, but her voice was lowered as she responded, "Well they haven't."
"I know," Gillick snapped quietly, "but we can't just wait around until they do. That assassin could appear at any time, and if we're still here, we're probably dead." His fingers twitched as he clenched and unclenched his fists. "We can't afford to keep waiting here."
Mala sighed, but he could see in her eyes that she was going over what he'd said in her mind. "Maybe," she conceded finally.
"Maybe?" Gillick hissed in response. "There's no 'maybe' about it. We have to keep moving!"
"Yay!" Riun cried, jumping to his feet. "Are we finally going?"
"Hopefully," Gillick muttered. He began walking forward when a movement flickered in the corner of his eye. Amber eyes flicked to the shadows. Nothing stirred. Still… "We need to go."
"You said that already," Mala replied mutinously.
"No," he emphasized, "we need to go now."
Mala and Riun both let out yelps of alarm as he grabbed them and quickly ushered them forward. "Gillick! What are you doing?"
"Just keep-" He cut off his sentence and shoved the two of them to the ground when he heard a faint sound behind him. A knife whistled past where his neck would have been and landed with a thunk in the wood in front of them. Two pairs of eyes looked at the weapon in shock, one in fear. Shit. "Go!" Gillick barked, no longer bothering to try and keep his voice down. Instead he jerked abruptly upward.
He heard a quiet grunt of surprise, and realized the assassin had almost been upon him. His blood ran cold as he realized how close he'd come to dying. At least he'd managed to surprise her, and he hadn't felt the prick of any sort of weapon; instead, he heard it clatter to the floor, meaning that the knife she'd been trying to use had probably hit his scabbard. He whipped around jerking his sword from its sheath, but the assassin had disappeared.
It didn't seem fair, this striking from the shadows. He was used to fighting in close range battles with the power of swords and magic. This seemed almost underhanded, as if his opponent were cheating in some way. Suck it up, he growled to himself. That's the way it is, so deal with it.
He backed up a few paces, closer to the exit. He didn't want to stick around here any longer than he had to.
He felt a tingling on the back of his neck, and whipped around in time to block two throwing knives aimed at him. He wasn't able to block a third, which was aimed at his leg. The slight pain that he felt pulse from the wound wasn't much, but he had a sinking feeling that the knife was more than it appeared.
His suspicions were confirmed when the assassin appeared in the doorway, smirking under her hood. "And now it's all over," she crooned.
"You poisoned the blade," Gillick commented flatly.
The assassin's smirk widened. "Of course I did. And now, all I have to do is wait for the poison to take effect, and take your lifeless body back to that 'goody-goody' Tollun to get my reward."
Something whistled through the air. The assassin quickly stepped to the side, but wasn't quick enough to avoid to arrow launched at her from behind. She whipped her head around to glare at her assailant with a furious hissed.
Mala was standing in the doorway, another arrow knocked and aimed at the assassin. "You think assassins are the only ones who know how to strike from the shadows?" she hissed.
Riun appeared from behind her, rushing towards Gillick. The assassin quickly lunged for him, ignoring the arrow Mala shot at her. In desperation, Gillick through his sword. That she was forced to stop for, allowing Riun to make it past. "What do you think you're doing?" Gillick hissed to the boy as he stooped to pull the knife from his leg.
Riun held up a small pot filled with salve. "Mala got it from a store. She said the assassin might be using posion, so we should get some antidote."
"Ok," Gillick commented, "but is it the right kind?"
Riun shrugged. "Mala said it worked for the common posions."
"I just hope it's common, then," Gillick muttered darkly as the boy rubbed the salve on the wound.
"You little rat!" Gillick and Riun both jerked their heads up to see the assassin and Mala glaring at each other. "You ruined it!"
Mala still had her bow raised, an arrow quivering on it. She was losing her nerve. "Riun. Gillick. Hurry."
"Save your breath, girl," the assassin snapped, drawing out a knife. "You'll need it."
Without thinking, Gillick jumped to his feet and slammed his body against the assassin's. He grimaced as pain lanced through him, but felt a rush of satisfaction at hearing the assassin's grunt of surprise and the sound of the knife falling to the wooden floor. He slipped away and grabbed his sword. "Riun! Come on!"
"Ok!" the boy called, rushing towards him.
The assassin lunged upwards as he raced past. "Stop right there!" she hissed, dagger drawn.
"Riun!" Mala called in alarm. The boy looked at the woman lunging for him, fear flickering in his eyes. He closed his eyes tightly, stretching his hands out…
…and all of a sudden, the assassin's clothes were burning.
Both Mala and Gillick stared in astonishment as the assassin screamed, flames licking her body. "What…just happened?" Mala whispered.
"And the Keyblades caused magic to seep into the land," Gillick muttered, repeating a phrase he'd heard many times while he'd been traveling. He shook himself out of his thoughts. "Come on," he hissed. "We can worry about everything latter. Right now, we need to go."
Mala glanced at him and gave him a quick nod. Then she ran towards the frightened boy, coaxing him onto her back. The trio quickly hurried out of the old building.
"Where are we going?" Mala asked.
"Let's find a cart to ride away on," Gillick responded. "It'll be faster than walking, and I want to put as much distance between us and that assassin as possible."
Nighthas fallen over the land. Mala, Gillick, and Riun were hidden in the back of a cart of goods that was rocking as it rolled down the road. They had, thankfully, seen no sign of the assassin since leaving the town.
Mala glanced over at her two companions. She looked at the sleeping form of Riun, and wondered at the fact that he could use magic. The boy had never shown any sign of being able to use magic, so his actions in the old building surprised her. I think it surprised him, too, she thought, remembering how shell-shocked the boy had been. It was going to be interesting for all of them to see where this led.
She looked at her other sleeping companion. Gillick was sitting with his back propped up against the wall, hardly visible in the darkness. But Mala felt a faint smile tugging at her lips. She remembered how shocked she'd been when she'd discovered that Trevor still believed in him; she'd only helped Gillick out for the sake of his brother. And yet…she was beginning to see some reasons why Trevor might still care for his older sibling. True, he was foul-tempered, withdrawn, and stubborn, but…he'd shown real understanding and compassion when advising her about Trevor, and had protected her and Riun when the assassin had attacked. Maybe he wasn't the easiest person to get along with…but maybe there was hope for him, after all. Maybe you're right, Riun, she thought. Maybe he can become a hero, after all.
And that's the end of chapter twenty – eight. Review?