A figure rapidly moved on the rooftops of a small village.
It was more like a shadow than a being, passing from one building to the other in absolute silence.
It was a tall figure, of someone that couldn't have been older than fifteen years old, wearing a black coat and blending in with the shadow that surrounded him. A bounty hunter. An assassin.
He was currently running to reach something he needed to get to in quite a hurry. Something he needed to destroy. Or rather, someone.
His target was clear in his head, residing in the biggest of the houses of that village, a ruckus coming from inside, probably a party. Something that only its residents could manage to do, as all the rest of the houses in the area were badly reduced, dirty, and plagued with extreme poverty.
His target target was the cause of such conditions. After the premature death of the emperor a few moths back, without a mature heir to the throne, the outskirts of the empire fell prey to chaos, with nobles going rogue, thinking to have a chance of reciding themselves from the Empire, forming their own kingdom, or seeing that as the occasion to bring more wealth to their pockets by taxing the poor to their limit, such as the one he was sent to kill. His sender was, in fact, one of the noble's victims. Although he was surprised by his agent's age, he anyway sent him to kill the scum which was the cause of his suffering. Even if the pay was extremely low, he accepted nonetheless, as he had a thought of killing the noble by himself anyway.
The entrance to the big house had little to no guard at all, the host and his guests unaware of what was about to come. He neared one of the entrances to the garden preceding the abitation and peeked from a corner. He saw six guards outside, each one of them with a bottle of alcohol with them, clearly not paying attention. Although he could have done quick work of them, he'd rather not create an even bigger ruckus. So, the best course of action would be sneaking in and blending between the guests.
And the windows on top of the building would be just fine. He quickly climbed to the top of the house, then launched himself down on the two guards standing before the front door, snapping their neck as he landed. He silently walked to the others, giving them the same treatment. After this, still thinking it was best not to just walk through the entrance, he climbed the house once again till he found a little window on top, the lucernary being just big enough for him to fit in. As he entered the house, he noticed the first floor was just a railway of wood which was above the party. Here, security was much higher, with many guards. One look would have been enough for anyone to understand why.
Slaves.
There was a wide stage, illuminated by some torches, and on it there was a man.
The target.
He matched the description perfectly, and he looked like the one presenting the slaves. He was the only one in the room with personal guards beside him. The assassin scouted the room with more attention before climbing down, unseen. Even if there were more guards, they still weren't any attention to what was surrounding them They were mostly hanging around with each other, giving the killer a perfect chance to get down to the lower floor and blend in with the guests.
It was obvious that they were all nobles. They were dressed elegantly, and carried big sums of money with them. He hid behind a couple of them, getting a better look at the man he was sent to kill.
He was a man, probably in his early forties, who was presenting a slave to the public. After bargaining for them for a while, the noble came forward to get his possession himself. This gave the killer the perfect idea on how to proceed.
He made his way to the front door, which was the only exit apart from the slaves' room, and locked it. After doing so, you moved forward, blending in with a group of nobles once again. As the next slave advanced, what struck him was the slave that was now about to get presented.
The slave was a girl around fourteen years old. She had long light blue hair and blue eyes of the same color, eyes that shined with defiance at her captor. She was reduced in a much worse state than the others, and had much more restraints on her. But what struck him the most was that, with just a look, seeing the way she carried herself despite her injuries, he could tell she could fight. This made him change his plan a bit, deciding to come out in the open.
As the host opened the bargain, the assassin immediatly raised his hand, for the first time making himself known.
"Two hundred gold coins!"
As the killer shouted this price, everyone else looked at him dumbstruck. Due to the state of the girl, no one else thought she was worth spending anything, so no one else offered anything. He was not going to complain for that, as it gave him a chance to get closer to his target in a much faster way. As he neared the stage, the host was looking at him avidly, expecting him to hand him a bag of money.
What he didn't expect instead, was the knife that came out of his coat's sleeves that plunged itself deep into one of his guards neck.
As the other one failed to react instantly, another knife came out of his other sleeve, killing him as well. The killer wasted no time as he got a hold of the guard's sword and destroyed the girl's restraints, then throwing the sword at her feet.
He then turned around, only to see that his target had fled from in front of him, going behind a file of guards.
"Guards! Kill him!"
That was the only noise one could hear before the chaos.
The other nobles started to scream, looking for a way out, but the only one they could reach without passing by the assassin was the one he himself locked earlier and killed the guards presieding it, although it wouldn't take them too long to eventually break the door down.
Seeing that, he immediatly dashed forward, his knives flicking out again as they made contact with one of the guards' neck. As a few others came at him, he ducked, frabbing a spear, breaking it and returning it back to the sender. He kicked another guard in the abdomen, sending it flying amidst the group of nobles.
That was when he saw a flush of blue passing just by his eye, a sword plunging deep into a fighter's neck.
As he expected, the girl from before got the hunch, an threw herself into the fight.
You two started fighting your way through the guards, both far better than any of those standing against them. Although, even if better, she was still injured from before, so one guard got the upper hand with her. Seeing that, the assassin made quick work of the one he was fighting before slicing the other one's neck open.
And with that, you were finished.
As you looked at your unknown ally, you noticed her gaze was fixed on the other end of the room, where the noble looked at the two in pure terror.
Then, the assassin turned around as well, staring at his now unprotected prey, tightening his fist.
At the same time, the two dashed at the remaining guests, slaughtering them ruthlessly, the door to the front house now painted with red.
After that was done, he turned around to take a better look at his improvised helper's face.
She had blue hair that reached down to her waist, and she was wearing a ruined attire that was mostly made from danger beasts' fur, as far as one could see. She was a few inches shorter than him, probably due to their age being different. She had a slender figure, and her face looked pretty mature despite her still very young appearence.
He must've stared at her for too long, as she turned around as well, her eyes locking onto his, even if they were covered by his hood. After a few seconds, she stumbled and fell to her knees, too weak to stand.
The assassin walked over to her, making sure she wouldn't fall, before asking her:
"Are you alright?"
"Doesn't look like it" She answered with a low though witty tone, her voice weak, before slumping down in his arms.
"Guess that answers it, huh?"
He then turned over to the other slaves. Apparently, some guards were faster to react than others, killing them before they could escape.
He frowned at it. He hoped to get more than one person out, but it'll have to do.
He then picks up the girl and carries her out of the house, thinking quickly at where to hide for the time being.
In the end, he opted for a forest a few miles north of the house. Speaking of it, looking back at it he could see the bodies through the window, and he could tell that to anyone else it would've been one nasty look. What he had done would create quite the disorder back in town. He might've had got to hide for a while. He sure did not mind, but did his newfound companion?
"Well. Guess I'll have to wait to see that."
And that's it for the first chapter. How did you like it? As I said, it would be coming soon. I didn't expect to get so many words written down for the first one, but I had a lot on my mind, so a lot to write.
I know, for now it doesn't make much sense, and I didn't say the protagonist's name, nor did I throw in a description , but I'll probably do it in the next chapter.
But I can only tell you one thing for now:
I'm cooking, and it'll come out very well.
And with that, I'm done.
See you in the next chapter!