Mara reached for the shadows within her blood. Cassius knew about her ability, and would have taken precautions against it. If she simply disappeared, he would be ready for a surprise attack.
So she covered the entire room in darkness.
The effort made her light-headed, but shadows blanketed the bedroom, drowning the light from the fireplace. Both Cassius and the Red Brother bellowed in fury, but Jager made no sound at all. Mara darted to the right, jumping upon the bed, and tensed.
The shadows dissipated, and she spotted Cassius a few feet away. The second Red Brother screamed as Jager’s short sword and dagger entered his back. Jager ripped the weapons free and stabbed again with grim efficiency. The Red Brother collapsed, and Cassius bore down on him. Jager whirled, trying to block, but Cassius had the momentum. Cassius hammered down with all his strength, and though Jager managed to parry, the sheer power of the blow threw him from his feet.
Cassius loomed over him for the kill.
Mara sprang from the bed and slammed into Cassius, her left arm wrapping around his chest, her right driving her dagger into his back. Yet she did not have the strength to drive the weapon in deeply, and it only sank an inch or two past his leather armor. Cassius bellowed in rage, and his left fist hit her face. Mara lost her grip and fell backwards, landing hard upon the floor.
“You stabbed me!” spat Cassius, thrusting his sword toward her. Mara rolled, and the blade missed her by less than an inch. It pierced her skirt and sank into the floor, pinning her in place.
Mara ripped her skirt free, trying to scramble backward, but it was too late. Cassius reversed his grip on his dagger and prepared the killing blow.
Then he, too, went rigid, a gurgling scream coming from his mouth.
“I stabbed you, too,” said Jager. He climbed up Cassius’s back, ripped free the skull mask, and opened the assassin’s throat. “More than once.”
Cassius toppled to the floor and did not rise again.
Mara scrambled to her feet, breathing hard.
“You’re not hurt?” said Jager.
Mara shook her head. “No. You?”
She was afraid of what he would say next, afraid that he would accuse her of leading Cassius and the others here, that she had seduced him and set him up.
“Well,” said Jager, “my carpet is thoroughly ruined, but I am unharmed.”
“Thank you,” said Mara.
Jager blinked. “For what?”
“For…believing me,” said Mara. “For trusting me. No one has trusted me in a very long time.”
Jager grinned and began cleaning his blades on the cloaks of the dead men. “Well, the nobles of Cintarra bought my death from the Red Family, and the Red Family wanted to kill you. I think it is us against the rest of the world, my dear.”
“Yes,” said Mara. “I would like that.”
“And Cassius did us one favor,” said Jager.
“What’s that?” said Mara.
“We won’t have to bribe my friend in the mortuary for corpses,” said Jager, holding out a hand. “Mara, my dear…would you like to commit arson with me?”
Mara smiled and took his hand. “I really would.”
They donned disguises, set fire to the domus, and fled into the night.
And for the first time in her life, Mara felt free.
THE END
Thank you for reading THE ASSASSIN'S TALE. If you liked the story, please consider leaving a review at your ebook site of choice. To receive immediate notification of new releases, sign up for my newsletter, or watch for news on my Facebook page. Turn the page for a bonus chapter from the first book in the FROSTBORN series, Frostborn: The Gray Knight.
Bonus Chapter from FROSTBORN: THE GRAY KNIGHT
A letter to the surviving kings, counts, and knights of Britain:
I am Malahan Pendragon, the bastard son of Mordred, himself the bastard son of Arthur Pendragon, the High King of all Britain.
You know the grievous disasters that have befallen our fair isle. My father betrayed my grandfather, and perished upon the bloody field of Camlann, alongside many of the mightiest knights and kings of Britain. Before that came the war of Sir Lancelot’s treachery and the High Queen’s adultery, a war that slew many noble and valiant knights.
Now there is no High King in Britain, Camelot lies waste, and the pagan Saxons ravage our shores. Every day the Saxons advance further and further, laying waste to our fields and flocks, butchering our fighting men, making slaves of our womenfolk, and desecrating holy churches and monasteries. Soon all of Britain shall lie under their tyranny, just as the barbarians overthrew the Emperor of Rome.
My lords, I write not to claim the High Kingship of Britain – for Britain is lost to the Saxons – but to offer hope. My grandfather the High King is slain, and his true heir Galahad fell seeking the grail, so therefore this burden has fallen to me, for there is no one else to bear it.
Britain is lost, but we may yet escape with our lives.
For I have spoken with the last Keepers of Avalon, and by their secret arts they have fashioned a gate wrought of magic leading to a far distant realm beyond the circles of this world, certainly beyond the reach of the heathen Saxons. Here we may settle anew, and build homes and lives free from the specter of war.
I urge you to gather all your people, and join me at the stronghold of Caerleon. We shall celebrate the feast of Easter one final time, and then march to the plain of Salisbury, to the standing stones raised by the wizard Merlin.
The gate awaits, and from there we shall march to a new home.
Sealed in the name of Malahan Pendragon, in the Year of Our Lord 538.
###
The day it all began, the day in the Year of Our Lord 1478 when the blue fire filled the sky from horizon to horizon, Ridmark Arban returned to the town of Dun Licinia.
He gazed at the town huddled behind its walls of gray stone, his left hand gripped tight around a long wooden staff. He had not been here in over five years, not since the great battle against Mhalek and his horde of orcs, and then Dun Licinia had been little more than a square keep ringed by a wooden wall, an outpost named in honor of the Dux of the Northerland.
Now it was a prosperous town of four thousand people, fortified by a wall of stone. Ridmark saw the towers of a small keep within the town, alongside the twin bell towers of a stone church and the round tower of a Magistrius. Cultivated fields and pastures ringed the town on three sides, and the River Marcaine flowed south past its western wall, making its way through the wooded hills of the Northerland to the River Moradel in the south.
Ridmark’s father had always said there was good mining and logging to be had on the edges of the Northerland, if men were bold enough to live within reach of the orc tribes and dark creatures that lurked in the Wilderland.
And in the shadow of the black mountain that rose behind Ridmark.
He walked for the town’s northern gate, swinging his staff in his left hand, his gray cloak hanging loose around him. When he had last stood in this valley, the slain orcs of Mhalek’s horde had carpeted the ground as far as he could see, the stench of blood and death filling his nostrils. It pleased him to see that something had grown here, a place of prosperity and plenty.
Perhaps no one would recognize him.
Freeholders and the freeholders’ sons toiled in the fields, breaking up the soil in preparation for the spring planting. The men cast him wary looks, looks that lingered long after he had passed. He could not blame them. A man wrapped in a gray cloak and hood, a wooden staff in his left hand and a bow slung over his shoulder, made for a dangerous-looking figure.
Especially since he kept his hood up.
But if he kept his hood up, they would not see the brand that marred the left side of his face.
He came to Dun Licinia’s northern gate. The wall itself stood fifteen feet high, and two octagonal towers of thirty feet stood on either side of the gate itself. A pair of men-at-arms in chain mail stood at the gate, keeping
watch on the road and the wooded hills ringing the valley. He recognized the colors upon their tabards. They belonged to Sir Joram Agramore, a knight Ridmark had known. They had been friends, once.
Before Mhalek and his horde.
“Hold,” said one of the men-at-arms, a middle-aged man with the hard-bitten look of a veteran. “State your business.”
Ridmark met the man’s gaze. “I wish to enter the town, purchase supplies, and depart before sundown.”
“Aye?” said the man-at-arms, eyes narrowing. “Sleep in the hills, do you?”
“I do,” said Ridmark. “It’s comfortable, if you know how.”
“Who are you, then?” said the man-at-arms. He jerked his head at the other soldier, and the man disappeared into the gatehouse. “Robber? Outlaw?”
“Perhaps I’m an anchorite,” said Ridmark.
The man-at-arms snorted. “Holy hermits don’t carry weapons. They trust in the Dominus Christus to protect them from harm. You look like the sort to place his trust in steel.”
He wasn’t wrong about that.
Ridmark spread his arms. “Upon my oath, I simply wish to purchase supplies and leave without causing any harm. I will swear this upon the name of God and whatever saints you wish to invoke.”
Three more men-at-arms emerged from the gatehouse.
“What’s your name?” said the first man-at-arms.
“Some call me the Gray Knight,” said Ridmark.
The first man frowned, but the youngest of the men-at-arms stepped forward.
“I’ve heard of you!” said the younger man. “When my mother journeyed south on pilgrimage to Tarlion, beastmen attacked her caravan. You drove them off! I…”
“Hold,” said the first man, scowling. “Show your face. Honest men have no reason to hide their faces.”
“Very well,” said Ridmark. He would not lie. Not even about this.
He drew back his cowl, exposing the brand of the broken sword upon his left cheek and jaw.
A ripple of surprise went through the men.
“You’re…” said the first man. He lifted his spear. “What is your name?”
“My name,” said Ridmark, “is Ridmark Arban.”
The men-at-arms looked at each other, and Ridmark rebuked himself. Coming here had been foolish. Better to have purchased supplies from the outlying farms or a smaller village, rather than coming to Dun Licinia.
But he had not expected the town to grow so large.
“Ridmark Arban,” said the older man-at-arms. He looked at one of the other men. “You. Go to the castle, and find Sir Joram.” One of the men ran off, chain mail flashing in the sunlight.
“Are you arresting me?” said Ridmark. Perhaps it would be better to simply leave.
The first man opened his mouth again, closed it.
“You think he made the friar disappear?” said the younger man, the one who had mentioned his mother. “But he’s the Gray Knight! They…”
“The Gray Knight is a legend,” said the first man, “and you, Sir…” He scowled and started over. “And you, Ridmark Arban, should speak with Sir Joram. That is that.”
“So be it,” said Ridmark.
A dark thought flitted across his mind. If he attacked them, he might well overpower them. Their comrades would pursue him. Perhaps they would kill him.
And he could rest at last…
Ridmark shook off the notion and waited.
A short time later two men approached and spoke in low voices to the first man-at-arms.
“You will accompany us,” he said.
Ridmark nodded and walked through the gates of Dun Licinia, the men-at-arms escorting him.
###
Calliande opened her eyes.
She saw nothing but utter blackness, felt nothing but the cold stone beneath her back, its chill soaking through her robes. She took a deep breath, her throat and tongue dry and rough. Something soft and clinging covered her face and throat, and she tried to pull it off. But her shaking hands would not obey, and only after five tries did she reach her face, her fingers brushing her cheek and jaw.
She could not see anything in the blackness, but she recognized the feeling of the delicate threads she plucked from her face.
Cobwebs. She was pulling cobwebs from her jaw.
A wave of terrible exhaustion went through her, and a deeper darkness swallowed Calliande.
###
Dreams danced across her mind like foam driven across a raging sea.
She saw herself arguing with men in white robes, their voices raised in anger, their faces blurring into mist whenever she tried to look at them.
A great battle, tens of thousands of armored men striving against a massive horde of blue-skinned orcs, great half-human, half-spider devils on their flanks, packs of beastmen savaging the knights in their armor. Tall, gaunt figures in pale armor led the horde, their eyes burning with blue flame, glittering swords in their hands.
The sight of them filled her with terror, with certainty that they would devour the world.
“It is the only way,” she heard herself tell the men in white robes, their faces dissolving into mist as she tried to remember their names. “This is the only way. I have to do this. Otherwise it will be forgotten, and it will all happen again. And we might not be able to stop him next time.”
She heard the distant sound of dry, mocking laughter.
A thunderous noise filled her ears, the sound of a slab of stone slamming over the entrance to a tomb.
“It is the only way,” Calliande told the men in white robes.
“Is it?”
A shadow stood in their midst, long and dark and cold, utterly cold.
“You,” whispered Calliande.
“Little girl,” whispered the shadow. “Little child, presuming to wield power you cannot understand. I am older than you. I am older than this world. I made the high elves dance long before your pathetic kindred ever crawled across the hills.” The shadow drew closer, devouring the men in the white robes. “You don’t know who I truly am. For if you did…you would run. You would run screaming. Or you would fall on your knees and worship me.”
“No,” said Calliande. “I stopped you once before.”
“You did,” said the shadow. “But I have been stopped many times. Never defeated. I always return. And in your pride and folly, you have ensured that I shall be victorious.”
The shadow filled everything, and Calliande sank into darkness.
###
Her eyes shot open with a gasp, the cobwebs dancing around her lips, her heart hammering against her ribs. Again a violent spasm went through her limbs, her muscles trembling, her head pulsing with pain.
Bit by bit Calliande realized that she was ravenous, that her throat was parched with thirst.
And she was no longer in the darkness.
A faint blue glow touched her eyes. She saw a vaulted stone ceiling overhead, pale and eerie in the blue light. The air smelled musty and stale, as if it had not been breathed in a very long time.
She pressed her hands flat at her sides, felt cold, smooth stone beneath them.
On the third try she sat up, her head spinning, her hair falling against her shoulders.
She lay upon an altar of stone, or perhaps a sarcophagus. The altar stood in the center of a stone nave, thick pillars supporting the arched roof. The blue light came from the far end of the nave, near an archway containing a set of stairs.
Calliande sat motionless for a moment, listening to the silence.
She had no idea how she had gotten here. Nor, for that matter, did she know where she was.
And, with a growing sense of panic, she realized she could not remember who she was.
Calliande, her name was Calliande. She knew that much. But the details of her past turned to mist even as she tried to recall them. Shattered, broken images danced through her mind. Men in white robes, warriors with eyes of blue flame, armies of blue-skinned orcs…but all of it slithered away from her gr
asp.
Something, she realized, had gone terribly wrong.
“They were supposed to be here,” she whispered, her voice cracked and rasping. “They were supposed to wait here.”
But who?
She didn’t know.
Her panic grew, her hands scrabbling over the altar’s stone surface. After a moment she realized that she was looking for something. A…staff? Yes, that was it. A staff.
Why?
Calliande looked around in desperation, her panic growing.
“They were supposed to be here,” she said again.
But through her fear, her mind noted some practical problems. She was alone in a strange place, her stomach was clenching with hunger, and she was so thirsty her head was spinning. Despite whatever had happened to her, she could not remain here and wait for someone to find her.
Calliande took a deep breath, braced herself on the edge of the altar, and stood. Her boots clicked against the stone floor, and her legs felt as if they had been made of wet string. Yet she did not fall, and after a moment she took a step forward.
Something brushed her left arm and fell to the floor.
She looked down at herself and saw that she wore a robe of green trimmed with gold upon the sleeves and hems, and the left sleeve had fallen off, exposing the pale skin of her arm. Once it must have been a magnificent garment, but now it was worn and brittle, the seams disintegrating. The leather of her belt and boots was dry and crumbling, and the few steps she had taken had already split her right boot open.
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