Cameo the Assassin

by Dawn McCullough-White

  Tomley grabbed Opal, “On the horse.” He demanded, holding a dagger to Opal’s throat.

  “Ah, it’s a bit difficult when one can’t stand....”

  “Stop stalling or I will slash your throat.”

  The horse tore free of Tomley’s grasp as Cameo came nearer, and raced off into the woods.

  Cameo walked over, took the pistol out of Lorelei’s shaking hands, and shot at the assassin she had just hit with a dagger, shooting him in the body.

  Lorelei was frozen in place on the ground.

  “I will kill him if you try anything, Cameo!” Tomley held a dagger to Opal’s throat.

  She could see the panic in his face as she purposely lifted the rapier from the grass, then she rammed it through the back of one of the dying assassins. She took in the scene: Kyrian lying in a pool of horse blood, beaten half to death, and some tasty young woman whom Opal had apparently picked up sitting in the grass, terrified. Her eyes moved from the woman back to Black Opal, a look of displeasure on her face.

  He positively brightened as their eyes met. “Hello, darling.”

  “Shut up. This isn’t about you; this is about me killing you.” Tomley tightened his grasp on the dagger.

  Cameo tilted her head to one side, as if estimating the distance between them.

  Tomley’s eyes widened. “You’ll end up killing your little friend here, and won’t you feel stupid.”

  She smiled thoughtfully.

  “Maybe we could make a deal?” he said, extending one hand as if to stop her with it. “I know Wick’s plans—”

  Opal grabbed the hand that held the stiletto and pushed it from his throat. Tomley grappled for the dagger, leaving his entire back exposed as they struggled.

  The assassin walked over and drove her blade into his back twice before he swung at her weakly. She watched him slide to the ground, trying to use Opal’s body for support.

  The highwayman took a step toward her, “You aren’t interested in Wick’s plans?”

  But she was looking into Tomley’s eyes. His life was ebbing away, and she was watching it happen. Once they had been friends...now he was her victim.

  “I doubt she told any of these assassins anything about her plans. But we do have a hostage, so we’ll see, I guess.”

  She moved toward Kyrian, but Opal was at her heels.

  “You were marvelous.”

  Cameo stopped and turned around, astounded that he would find the killing of several people that marvelous.

  He was a bit dirty and beat up from the fight. “I missed you,” he breathed.

  She touched her wet hair for a moment. “I thought you were going to take Kyrian to his shrine.”

  “I did. It was burned to the ground. So I was thinking we could take him to that that shrine in Lockenwood instead. Certainly the religious people there will take him in. They all like each other, those religious types.”

  Cameo raised an eyebrow and went to Kyrian’s aid.

  Lorelei staggered over to Black Opal. She was quite wretched now. “They killed my sister,” she cried, reaching for his neck, then tumbling to ground.

  He caught her as she fell.

  “Now, now, my dear. Everything is going to be all right.” He glanced over at Cameo, who was now attending to Kyrian.

  “Are you well?” Lorelei asked.

  “Just feeling a little faint,” he lied.

  “Oh, you poor thing.”

  “If you could just,” he moved her hand to the wound on his thigh, “try it keep it from bleeding?”

  “Of course I could, Black Opal.”

  “Thank you, my dear.” He laid down on the ground, staring venomously at Cameo who was at Kyrian’s side.

  “Kyrian?” Cameo knelt over the boy who was covered in blood, some his own, and some that of the horse. She hesitated to touch the face of a lad who was about to enter the priesthood and much more pure than she would ever hope to be. It seemed to her, a monster, that her hands would only sully him.

  She had assumed that Opal would’ve taken him to his shrine and left him there with the priests. Had she known that he was still with the scoundrel, she would never have brought Jules along with her as a hostage. He had her cape. The one she had left behind at the Temple of the Moon. How had he found that? And what had occurred when he met Kyrian’s grandfather, Cyrus? She didn’t want to know, and she certainly didn’t want Kyrian to know.

  She glanced over at Black Opal maliciously. He was enjoying the attention of the young woman. He didn’t take Kyrian to the shrine. Instead, he hooked up with some tart. Now she would be stuck keeping Jules away from Kyrian.

  Kyrian chuckled.

  “Kyrian?”

  His eyes fluttered open.

  “Cameo,” he said in a relieved tone, almost cheery. “How did you find us?”

  “Luck.”

  He struggled to sit up.

  “Maybe you should let me help you up.” She took him by the arm and lifted him to his feet.

  “Do I look that bad?”

  She nodded.

  Kyrian glanced down at his body, covered in blood. He faltered, nearly falling.

  “I think most of that is horse blood.”

  He nodded weakly.

  “You are lucky to be alive.”

  “I’m fine,” he said through clenched teeth.

  “Can you heal yourself?”

  “No,” he lowered himself to the ground again. “I don’t have the strength.”

  “All right, Kyrian. I have some food in my pack.” She stood and turned to Opal, “And no doubt Opal has something you can wear.”

  “No way.”

  “You should get out of those clothes.”

  “I’m not wearing those girly get ups!” Kyrian said.

  “Tsk, tsk, tsk. There is no accounting for taste,” Opal said, brushing mud from his expensive jacket.

  “Fine. I’ll go get Bel.” Cameo ambled away from the gruesome scene and retraced her steps though Lockenwood forest.

  * * * * *

  As she approached, she expected to hear the sound of Bel’s voice chiding the miserable assassin they had captured, but she heard nothing. Cameo peered through the rain and made out the silhouette of Jules’ body dangling from the tree he’d been tied to.

  “Bel?”

  There was no reply.

  She neared Jules and found him unconscious and limp. Panic welled up in her. She didn’t see the bag that she had left with them anywhere. “Bel?” She drew her dagger.

  There was a soft sound as she tripped over his body and landed on the ground beside him in a heap.

  He moaned.

  “Bel?” She slapped his cheek, not so gently.

  “What? Stop that.”

  “Bellamy, wake up,” she demanded, grabbing him by the collar and shaking him.

  Jules muttered something nonsensical in his sleep.

  “Where are the bones?!”

  “Bones? Bones? What bones?” Bel rubbed his face vigorously.

  She glanced around nervously, deciding it was safe enough to put away her dagger. “What was the last thing you remember?”

  “Um, eyes. A pair of silver eyes. I don’t know...I am so tired.”

  “Was it Haffef?”

  Bel cupped his head in his hands, starting to drift back off to sleep.

  She leapt to her feet now. Why would someone steal those bones?

  “He was very supernatural,” Bel said.

  “But you’re alive? I don’t get it.” She stomped around in circles, looking for the bag. “Gods, I’m screwed! Haffef is going to kill me!” She snapped a small tree in half. “Why did I leave this for a human to guard?!”

  Bel could hear her screaming in the distance.

  “I’m such an idiot!”

  He crawled over to Jules’ body for comfort.

  Jules moaned.

  “Trust me, you don’t want to wake.” He held his head in his hands, still feeling a bit drowsy.

  * * * * *
>
  “How long are we going to stay in this horrid place?” Lorelei asked.

  “Well, it isn’t up to me,” Black Opal said.

  “I have to get back to my parents.”

  “Do you hear something?”

  Lorelei glanced over her shoulder, brushing tears from her eyes. “It’s that scary woman and two men.”

  “One extremely attractive?”

  She spied Bellamy, in black satin and ruffles. “Why, yes, yes. One of them is.”

  Cameo dragged Jules over to a tree and tied him to it.

  Lorelei looked quizzically back at Opal, “If it’s not up to you, who is it up to? I took you to be the head scoundrel around here.”

  “Opal,” Cameo was suddenly on the ground in front of him. “I need a word with you.”

  “Let’s see if my friend here has been kind enough to bring back some wine.” Opal smiled at the young woman thoughtfully as he removed her hand from his thigh.

  Lorelei got to her feet uneasily, and moved away from the entire group of ruffians, sitting down on the muddy ground.

  The assassin noticed the heavy flow of blood that gushed out as the girl removed her hand from Opal’s leg and he clamped down on the wound with his hand.

  “Ruining those lovely gloves,” she said gently.

  “Oh, these old things? I needed an excuse to buy a new pair anyhow.”

  She handed him her flask. “Drink this.”

  Opal took the flask and drank it down greedily.

  “Careful, that’s not wine.”

  Bel wandered over. “Hello, Opal. Get in a bit of a scrap?”

  Black Opal wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, something Cameo had never seen him do. “It’s nothing,” he grinned.

  “Bel, would you check on Kyrian? He’s a bit roughed up. He could stand some food and your old set of clothes.”

  “Sure, Cameo,” Bel said as he backed away from her.

  “And Bel?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Would you see if that girl is all right when you’re done with him?” She motioned toward Lorelei.

  The more attractive highwayman looked up and noticed the woman sitting forlornly in the mud, and smiled. “Oh, of course I will.”

  She turned her attention back to Opal, “New jacket?”

  “Yes. Do you like it?”

  “You’re really lying in the mud in new clothes?” she said.

  He started to say something, but then just half-smiled and put the flask to his lips again.

  She ripped the shirt off one of the dead assassins and made an attempt at dressing his wound. “We’re in trouble.”

  “I’d say so. We just killed a few of your old friends.” He squirmed as she pulled the bandage much tighter than he thought prudent.

  She followed his pained expression to the knot she was working on. There was blood coursing through his fingers. She swore and grabbed for more of the dead man’s shirt.

  Opal sat up enough to sneak a quick look at her handiwork, then took another swig of the whiskey as he fell back.

  “Don’t look at it.”

  “Oh, it’s not as bad as it appears at all. I remember what it looked like when the dagger went in. It was clean,” Opal said.

  “That’s a relief because it’s quite a mess at the moment,” she said, motioning for Bel to come over.

  “Did you need something?” Bel smirked at the two of them.

  Cameo thrust a wad of off-white material at him. “Would you dress that wound?”

  “Oh dear. Looks rather bad.”

  “It’s not bad,” Opal said dismissively.

  Cameo took a step back allowing giving Bel more room to work. “Look...Haffef is coming back.”

  “Why?” Opal asked.

  She lowered her voice, “We lost the item I was sent to find. Someone took it.”

  He capped the flask. Her voice had fallen to a whisper as she said that last sentence “Well, my dear, we’ll just simply have to help you find whatever he wants. What was it then? Some pretty bauble? Something a thief would like apparently.”

  Bel muffled his laughter.

  “Not exactly.”

  “A bag of bones!” Bellamy blurted out.

  Cameo turned toward him, her expression dark.

  “All right, all right, it’s not funny,” but he smiled at Opal the moment she looked away.

  Opal noted the pained expression on her face and ignored Bel. “Are you suggesting we move on?”

  Her eyes glittered faintly in the dark. “No point. There’s no saving you,” she stood up, “if I can’t find the bones.... I’m so sorry, Black Opal.”

  “Wait. What? Why are you so convinced that he’ll come after me? There’s nothing so special about me. I’m just a highwayman like all the others.”

  She shook the flask that was still dangling from Opal’s hand. There was a tinkling sound at the bottom. “Why don’t you finish that?”

  He tossed the flask to the side and grasped her hand as she started to walk away. “Cameo wait....”

  She stopped.

  He staggered to his feet, grasping her hand.

  Cameo appraised his broken body and felt horrible because she was about to walk away and leave him so that she could find her sister’s remains.

  “Why is he going to target me?”

  She noticed Bel, Lorelei, and even that bastard Jules watching to see her reaction. “I was probably wrong about that,” she turned away, pulling her hand free of his. “I won’t be long.”

  Lacking her support, Opal hit the ground helplessly, and then obviously pained he smiled a sweet little smile. His eye on her as she walked away.

  * * * * *

  “Are you all right?” Bel crawled over to his side.

  “She likes me.”

  “Yes,” Bel hoisted a bottle of wine to his lips. “Yes, and now you’re going to die because of it.”

  He sighed, “It’s for a good cause.”

  “Oh, brother,” Bel sighed.

  “Gag.” Jules chimed in.

  Lorelei scampered back over to Opal’s body. “That woman is gone. Can we leave now?”

  “Yes, just untie me!” the assassin called as he examined the knot she had left his leash tied in.

  “Shut up, you delinquent!” Bel tossed the empty flask at him.

  “Make me, Roucherquimp!”

  Bel turned his attention to the lovely, but disheveled, young woman. “I’m Bellamy, by the way. I don’t think we’ve been introduced.”

  “Oh, hello,” the girl said.

  “Writer of the most god-awful poetry ever!” Jules supplied.

  “Oh, you write poetry?”

  “Ah, yes, yes I do,” he said sweetly, then walked over to their prisoner and kicked him hard in the side.

  Jules crumpled. “You just wait, Bel, the Association isn’t going to rest until I’m found!”

  Opal laughed weakly. “This is our prisoner?”

  Jules looked over at him. “And you must be Black Opal? Looks like you weren’t such a match for my friends. I thought you were some notorious thug or something?”

  Bel punched him in the back of the head.

  The assassin turned around, angrily pulling at his bonds.

  “Are you trying to kill him?” Lorelei whimpered.

  “No, just knock him out.”

  “Try a pistol butt,” Opal offered.

  Bel smiled, “Oh yes, good idea.”

  “Of course, you might kill him if you hit him just right.”

  Jules’ eyes widened. “I didn’t think Cameo wanted me dead.”

  “Hmm...that’s true,” Bel said as he scoured the scene of the fight for a pistol. “But I’m sure she would understand.”

  “Don’t do it, Bel,” Kyrian rasped.

  “This guy has been following me for miles. He killed people at the Tavern Pipe Inn. He set the place on fire. He deserves it.”

  Jules had his back to the tree, trying to protect the back of his head.
<
br />   “Just like that shrine in Kings Basin.” Opal muttered trying to keep his eye open, “Burned to the ground.”

  Furious, Bel approached the assassin, muddy pistol in hand. Then his anger dissipated as he noticed that brand on the man’s face again. “An F...,” he chuckled and let the gun droop. “For firestarter. You’re an arsonist. It was you at that shrine, wasn’t it?”

  Jules grabbed for the pistol and got a hold on it.

  Bel pulled the trigger, but it was empty.

  Kyrian and Opal looked on helplessly from their positions on the ground. Lorelei didn’t move.

  “What now, Bellamy?” Jules hissed bitterly, his hands still on the pistol.

  “It’s empty. What are you going to do with it?” Bel growled, trying to force it from his grasp.

  “Keep it from you, amateur.”

  “How about I let you take this pistol, then head back over to your backpack to that box of matches, hmm? Start a little Jules fire!”

  “Not very likely. I’m completely soaked; this tree is wet. Those matches are probably the only dry thing around here.”

  “I’m sorry I got you into this, my dear,” Opal whispered to Lorelei.

  She looked over at the shattered carriage that they had ridden in. There was blood on the side of it. Somewhere within was her dead sister’s body.

  Lorelei stood up and walked away.

  “Lorelei?” Kyrian called to her weakly.

  Bel glanced over at Opal and noticed that she was gone, then he turned and gave Jules the pistol as he ran after her.

  “Great,” Jules uttered as he fell back against the tree. The pistol was of little use to him without Bel right there to receive a killing blow.

  “Lorelei!” He called as he caught up to her.

  She didn’t stop.

  “You don’t have to go,” Bel said.

  The young woman caught a sideways glance at him. “Why would I want to stay?”

  “Oh, I hadn’t thought of that.”

  “I suspect you think you should be reason enough?” she asked skeptically.

  He smiled. “I dare not flatter myself—”

  “Well, it’s a good thing, because you just bashed that helpless prisoner! What kind of a man does that?”

  “Helpless?” He looked over his shoulder at Jules. “He’s an assassin with the Association.”

  She stopped. “Association?”

  “Yes, like those people there who attacked you.” He motioned toward the bodies of the assassins Cameo had killed lying on the ground around the wrecked carriage.