Assassin

Shadows seemed to change, seemed to move with each step. The moon, small and distant upon a velvet sky, shone little light upon the ground. The assassin needed no light to show the path, all that was needed was the candle lit windows that identified the manor. The assignment was simple, the target was easy, just getting in was the hard part. That was what she was told anyway.

The hired killer reached the outermost perimeter gates. The iron bars were wide enough for the assassin to squeeze, or so thought. Passing the right arm through the assassin cursed her breasts. Thought the leather outfit could easily slide through with little chance of grazing, the pain was noticeable. Once through she searched for an entrance.

The assassin thought back to her second life. There she was a nineteen-year-old merchant's daughter in a large town. Her life was simple, happy and average. She had met heartbreaks and encountered times of unbelievable joy. But she knew the truth of her experiences. Her entire life was set up by her owner. Everything she did, everyone she met was appointed to her on a timetable known only by her master.

As she crept past a sleeping guard, she thought about her master. She had met him once and once only. It was some weeks back yet she still remembered his face as if she had seen him only yesterday. It was a face a girl could not forget.

He entered the merchant's shop alone and the moment she saw him she knew exactly who he was. His shoulder length dark hair was loose, his eyes were as blue as the sky and his face was set on a friendly expression as if he was an actual customer.

But she saw through his act. She knew wanted her for an assignment. But why did he come himself? He could have sent the assignment through the usual way. A disguised assailant comes into the shop and hides the information under a stand while "browsing" around. She felt something was not as it seemed though she could not quite put her finger on it. He had walked through the shop as if he was interested in the stock then he had called for her assistance. When she had gone to him he had told her the assignment under his breath right there in the open. She knew that something was definitely not right.

She stealthily ducked into a doorway as the change of guard trooped by and as soon as they had rounded the corner she continued down the hall. She was in the house and running out of time, they would soon discover the bodies of the five perimeter guards that had spotted her and the alarm would spread through the entire estate. She would not have a chance to escape. As good as she is, she will be caught and maybe killed, even tortured to death if she was careless, or worst. This was going to be fun.

The assassin rounded a corner. She was fifty or so yards from completing her task. She crossed the hall to hide in the shadows, though it was not necessary, She could make herself invisible even in a lighted room.

"Third door on the left," she whispered under her breath. "A circlet of leaves with a dagger through it."

She found it, then crept up and tried the handle. It was not locked. She thought this was strange as her master told her that this person had many enemies, though they did not lock the door, there weren't even any guards standing post. She griped the hilt of the sword she had taken off an oriental warrior, a memento of a past assignment, and turned the handle.

Once inside she quickly, yet quietly closed the door and waited. It took less then a second for her eyes to adjust to the darkness of the room. The room was the private quarters of her intended target. A large canopied bed was to her right. There was other furniture in the room but she was interested in was the bed. And its occupant.

She crept towards the sleeping soul she was about to release from this world, her sword, now unsheathed, held low and her heart and mind determined. A movement. She stopped dead. She saw the bed covers move and rustle as the occupant turned over. Once again she moved towards her hapless target.

A sound outside the door made her stop again. She was halfway between the door and the bed as she turned her head slightly and saw a light under the door. She waited, anxious of been discovered but soon the light passed. She breathed again. She was frustrated with the delay, they would have discovered the bodies by now and would probably be on their way bearing the news that she was inside the grounds. She had to act quickly, this had to be finished as soon as possible and that meant right now.

Throwing caution into the wind she quickly ran over to the bed. Once there she raised the blade and aimed for the neck. It would be messy but it had to be done quickly, one good swipe would do it. She prepared herself then stopped. Something had a hold of her. She looked up and saw a thin cord around her wrists at its end a dark shadow had a hold of the cord. Before she could react the shadow had jumped onto the bed bringing the cord over the support beam. She was pulled off her feet as the cord tightened and wrenched the sword out of her hands. Quicker then she could possibly move the shadow had tied the cord to the bedpost and was now securing her legs to the bedside.

She was strung up unable to move as she saw the shadow light the lanterns around the room and then shake the bed's occupant. She watched as the occupant talk to the darkly dressed assailant who was in fact another assassin. She watched as the assassin left the room, her neck straining to see him leave.

"I thought you said you could pull this off without a glitch," came a familiar voice.

She turned her head to look into the face of her master.

"Surprise!" He said mockingly, shrugging his shoulders and raising his hands out wide.

"What's going on?" she asked struggling on her bonds.

"Don't do that," his face took on a look of concern, "It will only hurt more."

"Then get me down and tell me what the hell is going on!" she half screamed.

" Ok, have it your way." He picked up a dagger from the bedside table and walked towards her. "Just promise to behave."

"I'll try to hold myself back," she said with heavy sarcasm as the cord to her feet was cut. She found that even with the cord cut she couldn't loosen the loop.

"It's all in the knot," he said as he put his shoulder against her stomach and cut the cord to her wrist's. She dropped onto his shoulder and he gently sat her onto the bed.

The assassin checked her wrist's. The cord had dug deep and her hands were wet with blood. Her ankles were the same. She tried to work them loose but couldn't, she winced as she tried again.

"I told you not to do that," he laid a gentle hand on her wrist's and cut the cord with his dagger. She immediately went for her thin dagger that was belted at her waist, but couldn't find the hilt.

"Looking for these?" he produced four needle point blades. "I took them from you as I cut you down."

"You have fast hands," she said as she looked up into his face.

"Not fast, just gentle." With a quick movement he threw the daggers towards the door, striking the precise centre in unison.

"And accurate." She looked into his blue eyes. "What do you want with me?".

"Nothing yet," he got up and moved towards a cabinet. It was then she saw the hilt of her sword lying just under the satin bed covers. Could he have overlooked it?

She quickly reached down and snatched up the blade, then quietly slid it back into its scabbard. She moved awkwardly as her ankles were still bound, but she managed to hide the hilt from sight. She did her best to make no noise.

"Would you like a drink?" he said as he poured himself a glass of red wine.

"No, thanks."

"Your choice," he put down the iron bound canister and walked back towards the bed, sipping his wine.

"Could you tell me what is going on?" she said as he knelt in front of her. "And could you do something about this?" she showed him her bleeding wrists.

"Oh, so sorry," he said as he put down his glass and took up a corner of the bed sheets, then with a quick tug the satin fabric tore. Long strips were made from the valuable sheet and he bound her wounds. He then took up his glass and pored its contents onto the bandage. She winced as the sting of alcohol seeped through the fabric.

"For an assassin your features are very becoming." He cut the cord at her ankles.

"Thank you for the compliment." She winced and watched as he dressed the wounds to her ankles, then he reached for the empty glass.

"Out of wine," he said as he looked at the bottom of the glass, "be right back".

He was half way across the room when she saw her chance. Quietly, she got up off the bed, drawing her sword as she went. She crept up behind her master. This would free her from a life of killing for the sake of living. A quick strike would end his bound to her and finally she would be free to do whatever she wanted to do. And that's to live a normal life without being bound to a second one, a life that kept her days intolerable and her night's a living nightmare.

He reached the cabinet and started to pour the wine. The sound of rich wine into a glass hid her final movement as she raised the razor sharp blade over her shoulder for a swipe at the neck. It would be messy but very effective. She set herself and swung with practised power, precision and speed.

Sparks flew into her eyes as her blade struck the canister. Blinded, she staggered back and swung again to gain enough time to clear her eyes, but her sword was jerked from her and a powerful pair of hands griped her bleeding wrists. She screamed as she was lifted off her feet and thrown upon the bed. She landed heavily then curled up and held her knees close to her chest. She lay there and expected the worst but only felt a gentle hand upon her shoulder.

"Never give up," her master sat beside her and gently forced her to sit up, "you still have a lot to learn."

Her eyes cleared and she looked at her master. Her tear streaked face seemed to awaken something in the master assassin. His eyes seemed to change to take on a look of pity.

"What do you care? You never treated me right. You never gave me any acknowledgement for what I did for you. No compliments nor complaints on who I killed or how I killed them. And you've never once talked to me about anything but my assignments," her anger was long awaited and she waited most her life to say those words.

"Your wrong, I never talked to you at all except once", his eyes had a glimmer of mirth and his lips were starting to curl into a smile. But that was put to a stop as her hand found its mark on his face. The sound reverberated off the walls and each echo seemed as bad as the initial strike.

"Why keep me here?" Her face was livid with long pent up anger, anger she would finally release tonight. "WHY!"

He slowly turned his head back to her, his cheek red. He was silent for a long time, watching her eyes.

"Why do you ask? Why do you want to know what I want with you?

"Because I want to be free!" her eyes were misty with pain, not from her wounds, but from within. "I want an escape from all this."

He leant closer. "You wouldn't be free for long. Even if you had escaped you wouldn't feel real freedom, as I would send every man, EVERY man, I have to hunt you down."

She watches the emotions flare in his eyes, so quick she almost missed it. "Why?"

"Because your good, very good, for your age," He smiled then, confusing her more then his eyes did, "and your showing great talent, talent I could use. Talent that could match mine with time and training."

That's what he wanted her for, she thought. All she was to him was an assassin with potential. One that could kill with precision and perfection and could cleanly kill with ease. Her tears began as she realised her own stupidity. All her life she wanted to escape her master, escape the life the master assassin had made for her. She wanted out and she wanted it now.

She was about to say something, something vile and insulting, something that stated her mind and emotions to the core. When he kissed her.

The movement was so discrete, so smooth and gentle she hardly noticed until she felt his lips on hers. She watched his relaxed face with tear streaked eyes, unmoving with shock and confusion. Then slowly, letting his warmth flood her, she relaxed and leaned into the kiss, returning it with her own.

"Why taste freedom," he said breaking the moment and looking into her eyes, their faces close, "when you can feed off it?"

"What are you saying?", she looked at him, her eyes still confused and her mind still lost in the kiss.

"I want to keep you. Here, safe by my side," he caresses her cheek, brushing his fingers lightly over her soft skin.

"What if I don't want to stay?" She whispered, she would get the truth now, here tonight. "Why wont you let me go and let me live a normal life? Why have you let me live the life of an assassin, dealing death while dodging it as well?"

"Because I'm testing you," he said after a moment, keeping his eyes locked onto hers, "I want to see how you act and think in desperate situations. I want to know if I can trust your judgement when things heat up and trouble looks to deal death."

She looked at him. His eyes. What he had just said confused her more than the kiss. Taking a breath to ease her mind and heart, she thought hard and fast as she asked her next question.

"Why are you telling me this, master?" She raised her head slightly, thinking she figured it out. "Is there another job you want me for? An important one?"

He smiled, and she thought he never looked any more handsome then right now. "In a way, yes. But this job will decide your future. This assignment, if you choose to accept, will change your life forever." He sighed and bows his head slightly, almost sadly. "I'm getting older in my years."

She looked at him, silent as night. Getting older? Decide my future? Her eyes widen as a thought struck her mind, shocking her more then anything she had experienced so far tonight.

"You... you want me to be Master Assassin?" Her words were whispered, awed and disbelieving. "You want me to take over after you?"

At that he laughed, throwing his head back with true merriment. "No! My dear love, no", she flinched mentally, her mind now too busy to pick up the endearment he gave her. Not Master Assassin?

"Then what?" She was about to reach over and rip the truth from his chest. She was sick of guessing and was as confused as she had ever been in her entire life. And she hates not being in control.

He smiled then, looking back into her eyes. The emotion she saw in them she had never seen before, ever. "Dear one, I want you to be my wife."

It took a second for his words, and proposal, to sink in. Her face slowly losing its colour as her mind quickly pieces together the puzzle. Wife? He wants her to be his wife?! "Do you accept?" His eyes full of emotion, his heart in her hands, hoping she won't harm it. She remained silent.

He loved her, she knew that. But did she love him? Her thoughts flashed back to the night after she saw her master in the shop, to her dreams. Her dreams were flooded with her masters face and hands, remembering the fleeting brush against her arm, imagining that touch on other parts of her body. These dreams were vivid and extremely life-like. She dreamed of his face close to hers, his body pressed against her own, and his warmth deep inside her. After each of these dream filled nights she would wake confused and disorientated, not knowing why she dreamed of him like so. Didn't he own her? Didn't he control her life like a puppeteer? And, everyday, she always wondered why he had come himself.

He wanted to see her as she was that day. He wanted to see her in her normal life, see how she worked her hands around her work, and how she looked in the light of day. He wanted to see her without the leather.

She blushed then, realising how revealing her suit really was. She glanced at her slim body. She was young and athletic, her long limbs silent and fast but holding in it a strength and dexterity equal to a hardened swordsman. No wonder he picked her. She was perfect, almost. She was an attractive youth with a quick and deadly mind, her movements only just as quick and as deadly. And she was the best assassin in the guild, second only to the Master.

"Do you accept?" He asked again, his hands on her shoulders.

"I want too." Her voice was unsure, and hushed. Her mind still working out the final pieces of her hidden, destined, relationship with her master.

"But?" His face dropped, her heart almost breaking at the disappointment they promised should she turn him down. She put a stop to that with a hard kiss, filled with newly found passion.

She did love him.

"But nothing!" she pushed him down onto the bed. "I want too."

He laughed lightly as he lay down onto the sheets. Laughed until her lips stopped him as they kissed again. She lay atop him with his arms about her waist and shoulders, holding her close. He held her tight as he rolled them over, breaking the kiss and looking down at her.

"You know, for the Master of the Assassins Guild," she said as he leaned back, "Your not very observant."

"What do yo...?" He stopped and looked into her eyes, his mouth slowly smiling. She had her sword again, pressing it lightly against his neck. The edge of the blade was razor sharp and a thin line of blood marked where the sword rested on his skin.

"You may have gentle hand, master," She smiled then, and he had never seen such loveliness anytime and anywhere before this night, "but mine are a little more gentle."

"I knew you were the best," he said, pushing a stray strand of hair from her brow, "You're just a little emotional when things don't go your way."

"I'm also emotional when things do go my way," He felt a blade point press against the back of his neck, just below his skull. He wondered then where the other blade came from, then found that the dagger he used to cut her down with wasn't where he put it.

He smiled, not daring to move against her, or her blades, as she rolled them over. She crossed the sword and dagger on his neck, straddling his waist with her legs either side of his hips, she then leaned down to kiss his lips. With a gentle hand and slow, deliberate movement, she dragged the dagger down his shirt, the fabric giving way to the sharp edge.

Still kissing his lips, feeling the warmth flood from within herself, she casts the sword aside leaving a light blood trail from the mark the edge made. Slowly removing his shirt from his chest she felt his hands trail from her hips up to her waist, gripping the thin leather top she wore. She giggled as the leather was peeled from her skin, releasing the blade as the top was discarded. She wore nothing underneath.

Letting long awaited passions loose, her master sat up pulled her down onto him, holding her closer then he had ever done since they first met. She giggled again, feeling his hands brush down her side to hook her pants. He slowly slid her leather pants down her smooth thighs, his fingers caressing her legs as they went. Wriggling free she kicked out of them, sitting on his waist, completely naked.

He sat up then, bringing her legs around him and crossing her ankles behind his back, holding him close to her. He kissed her lips again, deeper then before.

"I love you," was all he said. It was all that he needed to say.

She smiled, "And I love you." She kissed him again. Then promptly fell off the bed as her master tried to roll them over. They landed with him on top, both laughing. Their laughter could have been heard from outside the room, if anyone had been there. But there was no one. They had been ordered by the other assassin to leave the building, to give the two some peace and privacy. The entire compound was deserted and empty, no guards even wandered the halls or the parameter for the two needed no guards. They were the best in the Guild. And their laughter filled the empty halls, it's meaning known only to them.