by Ian Gregoire
Kayden’s agonised yelp echoed throughout the alley.
Leaning into her victim, a smile curled Sorsha’s lips as she gently pressed her forehead against Kayden’s forehead until their noses touched. “I win, you adorable little bitch,” she drawled mockingly.
The look of triumph in her adversary’s eyes snapped Kayden into action. She invoked Yuksaydan, propelling Sorsha viciously into the opposite wall of the alley, and before the Sanatsai assassin could scramble back onto her feet, Kayden unleashed three concussion orbs that struck the muscular woman in quick succession. With her opponent rendered unconscious, Kayden peered down at her torso.
“Oh, shit!” she murmured.
The eight-inch blade of her dagger had been plunged into her abdomen, almost to the hilt. She knew at once she’d been fatally stabbed, and would be dead in a matter of minutes. Trying to remain calm, Kayden was all too aware that her only hope for survival was to remove the blade then heal herself as quickly as possible. But she had not yet been taught how to emulate Fay’s healing ability, assuming she even possessed the same power, and though she had sufficient mastery of Zarantar Jist to be confident of employing the healing ability of the Jaymidari, there was no guarantee that doing so would heal a fatal injury.
Cautiously, Kayden gripped the hilt of the protruding dagger, causing an unwitting yelp to escape her lips. She released her grip instantly; the pain was like a searing, red-hot poker. Pursing her lips, she pounded the temple wall at her back three times with her clenched fist. She took a deep breath to regain her composure, and braced herself for a second attempt at pulling out the blade. Eyes closed, Kayden mentally counted to three then invoked Yuksaydan to yank the dagger from her torso with the ‘unseen hand’. As the bloodied blade fell to the ground, a shrill scream emitted from the back of Kayden’s throat, and her legs gave out, causing her to sink to her knees. Her eyes flashed open as she keeled forward, but she managed to put her hands out in front of her to avoid falling flat on her face.
Down on her hands and knees, with blood seeping through her clothing to drip steadily upon the ground, Kayden forced herself to remember that she had to heal the stab wound before she lost consciousness. If she passed out in the alley, she would die there. She cleared her mind, preparing to begin.
“Oh, no!” she whimpered.
Kayden was suddenly sensing the Zarantar of an approaching Saharbashi. The creepy sensation could only mean that one of her would-be assassins had been drawn by her agonised scream, and he was already close enough that she wouldn’t have time to invoke the Jaymidari healing process before he found the alley. Mind racing, Kayden accepted that she had no option but to hide; she was in no condition to fight off another attempt on her life. Ready to invoke Raytandushay, it dawned on her that it wasn’t enough to be invisible if she didn’t hide all trace that she had been there. She quickly neutralised the illumination orb she’d used to lure the muscle-bound bitch, Sorsha. The alley was plunged into darkness, and Kayden’s alarm spiked when she heard the footsteps of the approaching Saharbashi. Grimacing in pain, she crawled hurriedly across the ground to where Sorsha’s body had fallen. She sat with her back against the alley wall, and grabbed hold of the unconscious Sanatsai, pulling the body close as she invoked Raytandushay to make herself invisible.
A pale light illuminated the nearby entry to the alley, just as Kayden realised she had left her bloodstained dagger on the ground. Invoking Yuksaydan, she reached out with the ‘unseen hand’ to seize hold of her weapon, pulling it through the air into her waiting hand where it instantly became invisible. The source of the approaching light entered the alley, followed by a man attired in dark fatigues and a cloak. Kayden recognised the man as the Saharbashi assassin who had tried to suffocate her with a strange black cloud earlier that night. She recalled that Sorsha had addressed him as Lev. The illumination orb he used to light his way while advancing cautiously into the alley was unlike anything invoked by Sanatsai. It had a pale, yellow glow, and crackled audibly like dry wood being burned. Kayden held her breath, fearful that he might hear her breathing.
Oh no! she thought.
Lev halted near the temple wall where she had been stabbed. It seemed the Saharbashi had spotted the small pool of blood on the ground—an impression that was confirmed when he squatted onto his haunches to dip a fingertip into the dark liquid. Standing upright again, Lev remained rooted to the spot, and Kayden felt his use of Zarantar Najist. At first nothing appeared to be happening, but then she noticed blood drops dripping upwards from the ground, and slowly a blood red ball started to coalesce.
Letting out the breath she was holding, Kayden had no idea what she was witnessing, but she knew it had to be bad so she wasn’t prepared to stick around to find out. Whatever Lev was doing was sure to be detrimental to her already ailing health. Still invisible, she simultaneously invoked Makfayshulat to levitate, and Yuksaydan to carry the weight of Sorsha’s unconscious body. Rising swiftly into the air, she drifted away from the scene, not caring what direction she was heading in just as long as it was far from the Saharbashi assassin.
Barely a full minute into her flight from the alley, Kayden began to feel light-headed and very cold. She knew she was fast running out of time to heal. Searching for a place to land, she spotted a flat rooftop below that would serve her purpose. She descended quickly, dropping Sorsha’s body onto the rooftop, and landing gently beside her. Unable to stand, she sank to her knees in preparation to save herself. With a slow exhalation of breath, Kayden placed both hands over the stab wound to her torso, and cleared her head. In her mind’s eye, she visualised the glyph of accelerated healing, the glyph of pain relief, the glyph of combining, and the glyph of invocation to communicate her will to the nearest ley line.
Right away, Kayden felt the successful utilisation of Zarantar Jist. The ley line initiated the desired effect, but was it too little too late? She was feeling even more light-headed, and was struggling to keep her eyes open. All of a sudden, she keeled over onto her side. Her eyes fluttered shut. I’m not going to make it, she thought, feeling herself slipping away. Then she saw Fay’s beautiful, stoic face before her.
“I’m sorry, Master…” Kayden muttered in resignation.
The image of her master faded away, consumed by a world turned to black.
The raindrop charted its downward course through the night sky, pulled inexorably towards the ground by an invisible force. Its journey ended abruptly when it struck the porcelain skin of a bare cheek. Another raindrop’s journey was similarly ended when it landed on a smooth forehead, while another splashed against the tip of a nose. Each drop of water rolled down the uninjured face, washing away some of the blood spatter.
Kayden’s eyes fluttered open, and her first thought was, when did the dorm room ceiling spring a leak? A distant rumble of thunder presaged the deluge of a torrential downpour, and suddenly she remembered where she was. She wasn’t lying in bed in her dorm room back at Antaris campus. She was in the city of Nagornorak in southern Anzarmenia, on a rooftop, trying to evade the attention of Zarantar-wielding assassins, one of whom had stabbed her in the gut with her own dagger. Sitting up abruptly, the dull, throbbing pain in her abdomen made her lay back down. The stab wound didn’t hurt nearly as much as she remembered so she gingerly pulled up the hem of her black shirt. To her surprise, the injury didn’t look nearly as bad as she feared: the bleeding had stopped, and the wound looked about a week old. So, her implementation of Jaymidari healing had worked after all, she realised, because there was no way she had been on the rooftop for a week, and the Sanatsai assassin, Sorsha, was still unconscious beside her, though she wasn’t likely to remain so for much longer.
Slowly, Kayden sat upright again and rose unsteadily to her feet, thoroughly drenched by the increasingly heavy rainfall. She noticed her formerly bloodied dagger lying at her feet, so she bent down to retrieve it and sheath it at her hip. She needed to find some place where she could interrogate her prisoner about how to get the
other assassins off her back. The Three Crows Inn was the obvious destination, though she had no idea how to find her way back there. But what if…? Kayden wondered. Over the past week and a half, she had become familiar enough with Onyx to feel hopeful that she could detect his presence if she cast out her senses. She promptly put her theory to the test, casting out her senses across the city in every direction. After a minute of uncertainty, she was finally sure that she had located her black gelding.
Moments later, Kayden was drifting invisibly through the skies above Nagornorak, carrying along the body of her would-be assassin, Sorsha. Homing in on what she believed to be Onyx’s presence, she headed directly to what she presumed to be the Three Crows Inn, and soon enough she sighted the lamp-lit thoroughfare that was home to the establishment. She began her descent towards the front of the inn, noting that all the ground floor windows of the three-storey building were shuttered, so it was safe to assume the tavern was now closed. Good! thought Kayden. She didn’t want to be disturbed or prevented from interrogating her captive. At the last possible moment, she invoked Naymutandushay to make herself and Sorsha intangible, then passed through the locked front doors.
Inside the Three Crows, the empty saloon was dimly lit by a quintet of oil lamps hanging behind the serving counter. With no one present to witness her return to the inn, she ceased the invocations that allowed her incorporeal form to enter the building invisibly, then landed in front of the counter with her prisoner. She released her Zarantar-induced hold on Sorsha, and the unconscious Sanatsai fell to the floor in a heap. Blowing out a weary exhalation of breath, Kayden knew that though she was soaked through by the rain, some of the moisture on her brow was sweat. She was feeling feverish and weak, which she attributed to her body still healing from the stab wound Sorsha had inflicted.
Extending an arm out, Kayden invoked Yuksaydan to snatch one of the chairs from the nearest table, and it slid across the floor to her. After she sat Sorsha’s body on the chair, she realised she had no rope to keep the woman restrained. Then she remembered what a waste of time tying up a Sanatsai would be. The only way she’d be able to interrogate the tall, muscular assassin without resistance was to bind her Zarantar. But that was easier said than done. Though Kayden had come to learn how the Jaymidari were able to bind the Zarantar of a Sanatsai, she was also aware that it required the combined effort of three Sisters working in unison. Nonetheless, she had heard the stories that Fay was able to do it single-handedly, so it was a possibility, though Fay probably didn’t have to rely upon the Zarantar of the Sisterhood to accomplish it.
Kayden decided it was worth the effort to attempt a solo binding with her knowledge of Zarantar Jist. If it didn’t work she could at least resort to trapping Sorsha inside a barrier sphere, and threaten to crush her to death by constricting the translucent bubble. Standing before the assassin slumped in the chair, Kayden cleared her head in preparation to communicate her will to the nearest ley line. In her mind’s eye she visualised the glyph of dampening, the glyph of containment, the glyph of binding, the glyph of combining, and the glyph of invocation then hoped the ley line would manifest her bidding.
She felt its immediate rejection of her utilisation of Zarantar Jist.
Annoyed, Kayden clenched her jaw and repeated the process, this time mentally demanding the stupid ley line to submit to her will and do what she damn well wanted. To her surprise, she felt the successful implementation of the desired application of the Sisterhood’s Zarantar, which surely had to mean the captive assassin’s Zarantar had been bound.
The sound of a creaking floorboard made Kayden peer back over her shoulder. Sneaking up behind her was the innkeeper, Reznik, holding a lantern in one hand, and a rolling pin in the other.
“You!” he exclaimed, sounding relieved. “I thought you were a…” His voice trailed off as he caught sight of the unconscious woman in the chair. “Miss Jayta, would like to tell me what’s going on?” he said, halting at Kayden’s side.
With a laboured exhalation of breath, Kayden proceeded to answer. “Mr. Marezarian, tonight I learned the hard way that a price has been put on my head,” she said. “There are now assassins in the city trying to kill me. This bitch is one of them. She stabbed me.” Kayden pulled up her shirt to expose the healing stab wound. “If I hadn’t known how to heal myself I would be dead. Now I’m going to use your premises to interrogate her and find out how I can get the Guild of Assassins off my back before I leave the city.”
“The Guild of Assassins?” said Reznik incredulously.
“You know of it?”
“It’s an old wives’ tale,” replied Reznik “A secret society of Zarantar-wielding assassins operating all across Karlandria. Supposedly, when they accept a commission to kill someone, they never give up until that person is dead. But like I said, it’s an old wives’ tale, so whatever you were thinking of doing to this woman you’ve kidnapped, you’re not doing it under my roof. And as for that alleged stab wound, it looks like an old injury.”
“I just told you I healed myself,” Kayden countered. “As for the Guild of Assassins, I can assure you it’s real, my prisoner has already confirmed its existence. Three of its people have attempted to kill me tonight, and I know there are more out there hunting me.”
Reznik suddenly looked worried. “If what you are saying is true, why in the world would you bring one of these assassins to my establishment?” he said in an accusatory tone. “Haven’t you heard the stories? People who unwittingly discover the existence of the Guild of Assassins disappear without trace, never to be seen or heard from ever again. You need to get this woman out of here before she wakes up.”
“Too late!”
The crooning, husky female voice drew Kayden and Reznik’s eyes to Sorsha. Still slumped in the chair, the Sanatsai assassin’s head was bowed, and her eyes were shut, but there was a growing smile on her lips. Slowly, she raised her head and opened her eyes. “You should choose your company more wisely,” she said to the innkeeper. “Your adorable, slant-eyed friend has just signed your death warrant.” She thrust out a hand towards him. Nothing happened. She repeated the gesture, and again nothing happened. The smile on her face instantly disappeared, replaced by an expression of disbelief.
“Sorry, bitch,” said Kayden. “I’ve bound your Zarantar.” Without taking her eyes off the prisoner, she directed her next words at the innkeeper. “Mr. Marezarian, would you kindly make yourself useful and get some rope to tie up our guest. She and I need to have a nice long chat. But not too long, I hope.”
Setting down his lantern and rolling pin on the serving counter, Reznik hurriedly left the saloon, leaving Kayden to savour the disquiet in the eyes of her captive.
“You should be scared, bitch,” she said. “You tried to kill me.”
Without warning, Sorsha lurched forward out of her seat. Kayden thwarted the attempt to wrestle her to the floor, invoking Yuksaydan to slam the assassin back into the chair, and hold her immobile with the ‘unseen hand’. Lips pursed, she glowered at Sorsha. “I’m not playing games with you,” she said, kicking the woman’s shin. “If you want to live to see another day, you’re going to cooperate and do what I tell you. If you don’t… You will suffer.”
“Fuck you!” sneered Sorsha. She glared contemptuously at Kayden.
Again, Kayden kicked her foe’s shin. “Watch your language, bitch!” She punched the woman in the face—once, twice, three times. Each blow rocked Sorsha’s head back and bloodied her nose.
“Hey! What are you doing?” said Reznik, returning to the saloon with a length of rope in his hand.
Kayden didn’t give the innkeeper the benefit of a reply. Instead she ordered him to tie the Sanatsai assassin securely to the chair, and he duly complied. Now she was ready to get the answers she needed. Standing in front of her captive, Kayden pulled one of her daggers from its sheath.
“Hey, wait a minute!” blurted Reznik. “You can’t kill someone in my inn. Put that knife away before I repo
rt you to the City Guard.”
“I’m not going to kill her,” she retorted, not tearing her simmering gaze from Sorsha. “I’m going to torture her… if she forces me to.” She glanced at Reznik. “If you have a problem with that I suggest you step outside, otherwise keep out of my way, and keep quiet.”
The innkeeper didn’t look inclined to argue. He slinked away to stand behind the serving counter.
Focussed on the restrained Sanatsai, Kayden held the dagger up in front of Sorsha’s face. “Recognise this?” she asked. There was no reply. “Well, you and I are going to have a conversation, and anytime you fail to tell me what I want to hear, I will acquaint you with my little friend. And I can tell you from experience that it will hurt.” She lowered the dagger and leaned forward, bringing her face close to her adversary. “And just so you know,” she intoned. “A part of me hopes you refuse to talk, because I really want to hurt you for what you did to me.”
As Kayden stood upright once more a subtle smile appeared on Sorsha’s face. “Come to think of it,” drawled the assassin in her husky tone, “that blade does look familiar.” A scowl replaced her smile. “Isn’t it the one I took off you right before I stuck you with it?”
For the briefest of moments, Kayden wanted to throw another punch, but she managed to ignore the provocation. “First things first,” she said. “I want to know what I need to do to get the Guild of Assassins to stop trying to kill me.”
There was no reply.
Kayden kicked Sorsha’s leg. “Are you deaf?” she said, trying to keep calm. “Tell me how to get your people off my back. I’m not going to live the rest of my life looking over my shoulder.”
Still Sorsha refused to answer.
The time had come for Kayden to demonstrate that her threats were not idle. It was clear Sorsha wouldn’t cooperate until she learned the hard way that she really would be tortured for her refusal to provide answers. Kayden sauntered around the chair to stand behind the bound Sanatsai. She brought her dagger round and held it to Sorsha’s chest, just below the collarbone. Applying pressure, she made the blade pierce Sorsha’s clothing then penetrate her flesh. The sharp inhalation of breath, and the sudden tautness of the assassin’s body let Kayden know she was inflicting pain. But she wasn’t quite done yet. Slowly, she dragged the blade across Sorsha’s flesh, opening up a shallow wound.
