Assassin Born

by C. K. Rieke

  “We don’t get in trouble,” he said. “We’re the danger out here.”

  “Well not this time,” she said. “And where were you when we needed you out there? Good use you are!” She stood quickly, her arms out wide.

  “Where was I?” he said, standing to meet her gaze. “Why were you even out there? Lilaci wanted to be alone. Were you spying on her? Or . . . Were you out there to make sure she didn’t return. Yeah— I’ve seen the way you look at her. You're envious, or jealous. One of the two.”

  “How dare you say such a thing,” Fewn yelled. “I went out there to make sure she was safe!”

  “Okay, okay you two,” Lilaci said, stepping in with her arms outstretched towards them. “Fewn did help me out there. The snakes were nearly upon me when she came, I am grateful.”

  Fewn stared at Foro, the veins in his arms and neck were protruding out like streaks of water cascading down a mountain. “I’ve got my eye on you,” he said.

  Fewn curled her lips down and put her tongue out at him. Then turned and sat back down by the fire.

  “Listen, Bompart is a vast desert that could take us months to traverse every square mile,” Lilaci said. “Where do you think we should start? East? West? North?”

  “How about that way?” Fewn interjected, her head peering out northwest.

  Lilaci looked out in that direction and scanned the area. At first, she didn’t see anything, but then the faintest of light came into view. It had to be many miles off, but there was no mistaking it. It was a fire, and it was only a flicker. Only seconds after she saw it, it disappeared back into the bleakness of night.

  “Aye, that’s a good place to start,” Foro said. “We may have found our caravan.”

  Part V

  The Dragon's Breath

  Chapter Thirty-One

  The sky was lit with majestic ribbons of wafting clouds as the sun casts it red glow out into the early morning sky. The sands were cool and calm, a delicate breeze caressing the sprawling desert. As the stars and moon had begun to fade, Lilaci had found that the search for the girl the gods yearned for had turned from wide to focused. She most likely knew the firelight from the night before was a sign of the girl and those hiding her.

  Lilaci and others gathered their things; their tents, weapons, and rations. Their first stop was to gather food for their walk. They walked back to the sight of the battle with the Reevins, and Foro and Fewn set out to skinning and gutting the snakes before the sun rose enough to cook them rancid. They filled a pack with as many as they could carry, and they planned to smoke them over a fire over the next night. Lilaci was squeamish at the thought of eating their meat, but out on the sands there weren’t very many options for food. This is especially true in Bompart, as barren as it is.

  “Could take us a while to catch up to the caravan,” Foro said.

  “We’re assuredly faster than them,” Fewn said. “I bet it’ll be only a matter of days. The gods will be pleased with us. When all’s said and done, we’ve made good time.”

  “I’m not so sure about that, that firelight could’ve been forty miles out,” Foro said. “Even fifty. The sky was clear last night. We really don’t know.”

  “Let’s get moving,” Lilaci said. “Let’s get this over with so we can get back to the city.”

  “What’s your hurry?” Fewn said. “Because when we get back you’re going to get all of the credit? You’re going to get all of the reward?”

  “No,” she answered. This is it. This is the mission. My whole purpose comes down to this very moment. There may be nothing for me after this one last fight. And that’s fine. If I am the one to serve the Six Gods in their greatest wish, then what is the use in postponing my fate? I only wish to prove my loyalty, and my worth. “I just want to appease Dânoz and the others, that’s all I care about.”

  “You’ll be rewarded,” Foro said. “Hunt like this’ll pay fifty orecks, at least— maybe more.”

  “Fifty orecks?” Fewn said. “I’d gladly take that. How much do you take in for a normal hunt like this? I mean- when you’re not looking for a girl specifically for the gods themselves?”

  “Thirty to Forty sanders for one Lu-Polini,” he said.

  “Forty sanders?” Fewn said. “That’s it?”

  “We don’t need much to live on,” Foro said. “We’re allowed a night of entertainment in the city every once and awhile.”

  “But that’s what—?” Fewn said. “One one-hundredth of this hunt?”

  “Yeah,” he said. “That’s about right. But I really have no idea. I’ve never searched for someone this important. It’s going to be a great honor.”

  “What are you going to do with your cut Lilaci?” Fewn asked. “I’m going to roast a whole wild pig, just for myself, maybe buy an Iox just for me too.”

  “I— I don’t know,” Lilaci said. “I’ve never had to use any coin before.”

  “You’re serious?” Foro said. “How old are you?”

  “Yeah, I’m serious,” she said. Why is he so surprised? I’ve been in training my entire life. I’ve either been in Sorock, at the commander’s compound, or out on a mission. “Now that I think about it, I’ve never purchased or ever bartered anything before.”

  “Wow,” Fewn said. “Veranor really took you in didn’t he. You mean to tell me after you left Sorock you never went out on your own and did anything that involved coin?”

  Lilaci looked away, back out to the sands. She looked down at her callused hands from years of training, and the image of Veranor’s amulet with the winding worms entered her mind. How many years has it been since I’ve been out of Sorock now? I don’t even know my own age. I don’t even remember who I used to be. Where did I come from? Did I ever have a normal life? —I can’t remember anything from my life before Sorock. Just when Lilaci tried to think of her life when she was a young girl, the worms slithered tighter together, squeezing each other in her mind. It felt like a stabbing hot iron, twisting and turning. She shut her eyes tightly and winced in pain.

  “Lilaci?” Fewn said, walking over to her and put her hands on her back. “You get headaches a lot, don’t you?”

  “It’s nothing,” she said. I can’t let them see me like this, I hate feeling this vulnerable. “We should be going.”

  Lilaci hefted up her pack and the others followed.

  As they walked the sands, the sun rose high and grew hot. The desert before her eyes rolled in waves like water before her, and they talked little in the dry heat. There was nothing to look at except the flat horizon, so Lilaci found comfort in closing her eyes as she walked, and it helped her escape the blinding light of the sands. She began to think about her headaches and the visions she’d seen in her mind so many times in her life. I hate those worms, I never want to think about them again. Their twisting, and writing. It pains me to even think of them now. They’re awful, disgusting little things. I hope to never see them in real life.

  “What’s that?” Foro asked. Lilaci looked back to see him pulling his light-tan hood down from over his head, his trimmed black hair blew in the wind. His blue eyes peered off into the distance. Lilaci followed his gaze and looked out to see a small structure, waist high just off to the right of the direction they were heading. They doubled this pace, with the hilts of their swords firmly in their hands. Once they were close enough, their hands fell to their sides, letting their scabbards fall loosely back to their hips.

  “They’re a clever bunch, aren’t they?” Foro said.

  “They’ve constructed their own sacred source?” Fewn said, as she began heaving up the bucket from the deep, cool well.

  Lilaci began to inspect the area around the well. She went over to a long-dead fire pit and lifted a piece of the scorched wood and sniffed it. “They’ve been gone for awhile— perhaps a week.”

  “If they’ve done this here,” Foro said. “They’ve been here a long time, and that means they’ve probably constructed more of these. It’d be tough living in a place like this f
or even a normal walker of the sands, let alone a child.”

  “They must’ve known this Lu-Polini girl was special to the gods to go through all of this,” Fewn said. “Why anyone would live in this hell is beyond me.”

  “They’ve got their mission and their beliefs,” Lilaci said. “They are probably just as committed to hiding this girl from us as we are in giving her to the gods.”

  “Well,” Fewn said. “It’s a good thing for us we’re on the right side of the gods. At least we know what we’re doing is the right thing.”

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  After two hot days on the desolate sands, they’d found no other trace of the caravan. No tracks, no items left behind, and no sighting along the way. They only continued in the direction of the firelight flicker. They continued at a good pace as the sands blasted their arms and exposed face as the winds picked up and blew past. Hours into the storm and they had to fully lean into the wind to make forward progress. But no storm would diminish their spirits, they had their mission— and everything— all of their training, all of their upbringing, even the gods themselves had commanded them; to bring them this girl.

  They pushed on, under the burning hot sun, and with the stinging sand that tried to slow their pace.

  “Surely, we must be gaining ground on them,” Foro said, while the three had stopped to take a quick break, to replenish their bellies with fresh water from the well behind.

  “Absolutely,” Fewn said. “There’s no way a group could make the time we are in a storm like this.”

  “Maybe,” Lilaci said. “But this isn’t our home, we are strangers in this land. I would think we are growing closer, but there’s a chance we are going in the wrong direction. If they were smart, they’d walk in different directions forwards, changing course every couple of days.”

  “That’s if they knew they were being followed,” Foro said.

  “How would they know that?” Fewn said. “There’s no way they could see us coming.”

  “Could’ve seen our fires,” Foro said.

  “I just assume that their whole lives have been lived in that way,” Lilaci said. “Hiding, running.”

  “Either way,” Fewn said. “We’ll find them.”

  “No doubt about that,” Foro said. “It’s just a matter of time.”

  Fewn nodded, and Lilaci took a drink of water, and mustered the courage to stomach another couple mouthfuls of the smoked and charred snake meat. It was bitter and stringy, but she didn’t complain aloud.

  “Shall we continue?” Foro asked, and they bundled back up and continued on their way.

  Pushing through the blowing winds, Lilaci’s legs began to ache, although she paid them no mind. It was part of the process, and pain was only temporary. She needed only one thing, to please her master. She would push on, and fight whatever tried to stop her. Her gaze was on the horizon constantly, as she wouldn’t be so easily ambushed by Reevins again, she was sure of that.

  She thought of the Sanzoral often. It had come to her in her times of need thus far, but it was still difficult to find even when her mind was at ease. As they walked into the stinging, sharp sand she would try to recreate the shield she produced again, but the best she could do was a slight bending of the sands outward. It still stung her. She was confident in its powers, and she began to assume that it would come to her in her times of need, maybe it was resting in her, hibernating to recuperate its own strength. Or maybe she just wasn’t as strong as she thought she was, she didn’t have the strength to wield it whenever she called on it. I’m beginning to think of it as if it is its own entity, how silly. It's not like there’s another something living inside of me. It’s a power that I possess, it’s a part of me. I’ll wield it when I wish, it's under my control. It was given to me by the gods to use, and their will is never wrong.

  That evening, under the star-filled sky, they made no fire, and the desert turned cool. They sat in a circle around where a fire would’ve been made, but they wanted to give no signal as to their presence. Had there been dunes in this part of the Arr, it’d be no problem to make a small fire in the pit of the dunes, but on this flat stretch of Bompart, it’d be foolish.

  Lilaci chewed down more of the dense and chewy snake meat, chasing it down with water. She looked over to see Fewn shivering with a thin linen over her shoulders. Lilaci took hers down from over her back and held it out to her. Fewn looked over with a puzzling expression.

  “Go ahead,” Lilaci said. “I’m fine right now.”

  Fewn looked at the linen, and over at Foro who sat in a daze, as though he was half-asleep sitting up. She reached up and took it, tossing it over her back. She gave a jerky nod, that seemed to be a ‘thank you.’

  Lilaci’s eyes began to flicker from dreariness shortly after, and she made her way into her tent, placing her head on a loose bundle of dirty clothing, and laid onto the hard ground covered with only a thin cloth. She thought of her soft cot back in the training grounds, with a soft pillow of down. This is all almost over. We are so close, I can feel it. Then she drifted off to a peaceful slumber.

  The flap to her tent flew open, and Lilaci sprang up to one knee with her dagger drawn. She was instantly wide awake and ready to defend herself.

  “Come,” Foro said. “Come now.” He beckoned her with his hand. He had an eager gaze in his eyes. She stood and followed him out of the tent.

  She saw Fewn standing motionless gazing in the dawn’s earliest light northwest. Lilaci saw it instantly— an encampment just barely visible. There were no fires, but there was a small collection of tents, and a few livestock and Ioxi on the outskirts.

  “What do ya say?” Foro said. “Three miles out?”

  Lilaci nodded.

  “Whew!” Fewn yelled in excitement, her fists pumping in the air in front of her. “We found them!”

  Foro slammed a hand onto Fewn’s back, and then he did the same onto Lilaci’s. “The hunts almost over!” he said. “The girl is surely down there. There can’t be too many caravans in this part of the desert. Our mission for the gods in within reach.”

  “Fifty orecks!” Fewn yelled. “That’s so many coins, we’re going to be rich!”

  Foro smiled widely. “I’ll even be able to cut some out for Dellanor and Garenond. They’d do the same for me.”

  This is the greatest honor I could possibly do for the gods. I’ve been endowed with an ancient magic, possibly one of the only women to ever possess it, maybe the only. All we need to do is go down there and take what is willed of us. This is going to be so easy. This is what your whole life has come down to. This is everything you’ve been trained for, everything you’ve been brought up to be. It's your time to shine, it's your time to prove to him that you’re worthy. Today is the day that you show the gods your allegiance, and you show the Arr you’re worthy. Today’s the day you take the Dragon’s Breath.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  The air hung still, the sands lay silent, and death was eager to show its wicked teeth yet again. Looking down upon the camp, Foro and Fewn were brimming with anticipation. This was what they were bred for— killing and taking these children back to where they belonged— in the servitude of the gods. Lilaci wasn’t as excited as the other two, she was much more strategic— analytical about the coming attack. There were only six people surrounding the small fire that night. Five adults, weak and dirty, and one child— most likely the child.

  “That’s why the fire flickered that night,” Foro said. “They’ve surrounded themselves with a ring of sheets as they sit around the fire at night. They’ve been at this a long time I’d wager.”

  “What a life,” Fewn said. “There’s the girl, you see her? Hmpf— she just looks like a normal girl. Probably eight or nine. This is going to be a breeze. We should just go down now, there isn’t any way they’re going to stop us from taking her.”

  “No,” Foro said. “We only do this one way. We wait until they’re asleep. You know that.”

  The three of
them were laying on their stomachs on the sands, watching from just two-hundred feet away. The moon was but a small, curved slit in the sky, and thick clouds rolled past. Lilaci looked up at the sky as if it was the last time she’d be herself. Something inside of her was telling her that after this night, after taking this girl and killing the others, that she’d never be the same.

  “I was hoping this was going to be more of a challenge,” Fewn said. “There’s no way it was necessary for Dellanor and Garenond to be here. And think of all the coins we’re going to get. This is going to be a cinch.”

  “Now, remember girl,” Foro said. “That was just a guess about the reward. I really don’t know, do go about putting your purse to work just yet. And I’ve been on enough of these raids to know that sometimes these caravans can surprise you, sometimes they have weapons or even traps. This one though— they seem pretty pathetic. Look how they sulk around as they walk from tent to tent. They’re tired. They’re hungry. I’d wager they don’t put up much of a fight.”

  “Look at the girl,” Fewn said. “She just sits there, staring into the fire. She hasn’t moved in two hours, easy.”

  “Probably bored,” Foro said. “What else would you have to do in this wasteland?”

  “Lilaci,” Fewn said. “Aren’t you excited? You haven’t spoken a peep hardly. This is it, we’ve found her!”

  “I’m fine. I suppose I’m just assessing the attack in my head.”

  “You’re not nervous, are you?” Fewn asked in an inquisitive tone. Foro looked over at Lilaci as well.

  “No,” Lilaci said. “I just want this to go perfectly. No surprises. No mistakes.”

  “Don’t worry so much,” Fewn said. “We’ve been trained for a decade on battle scenarios. We were even trained how to take out fortresses. This is us against six frail people who can barely stand, they’ve probably been walking so long.”