Black Cross

by J. P. Ashman

  ‘Begging your pardon, Master Son, but I’ve never seen you this angry before,’ Pangan said, lifting his head again.

  Knuckles white, Poi Son shook his head. ‘No, I don’t suppose you have.’

  ‘Would it have been better if I’d accompanied the assassins that faced Longoss?’

  ‘Well, at least they might have been more subtle about their attack if you had, but no, there would’ve been no sense in losing you too. I need you more than ever, Pangan.’ Poi Son reached into one of the drawers in his desk and drew forth a piece of parchment with a wax seal on the bottom right hand corner. It was impossible for Pangan to see what it said, both because of the light and the fact he couldn’t read, but he strained to see the mark anyway.

  ‘I have done things I don’t like doing of late, and all because of one offered contract. A contract I have not yet accepted.’ Poi Son’s eyes remained on the parchment in front of him, and Pangan knew when to keep quiet and so did just that, allowing the guild master to continue. ‘I ordered a personal hit on the new-found lover of one of my own assassins, albeit a whore. I then placed a mark on that same assassin’s head and offered it to every man and woman of this guild, bar the other guild masters and their closest advisors.’ Poi Son rubbed at the back of his neck and looked up to meet Pangan’s eyes before continuing. ‘And I even allowed you to offer a Dockside gang rewards on the mark of Longoss, thus creating multiple new street-assassins so as to assault him with numbers and people he could not know. All of this has resulted in nothing more than overt street fighting which could draw attention to this guild, at a time when that was exactly what I wanted to avoid.’ Poi Son looked up at the ceiling and took a deep breath, before letting it out slowly.

  ‘We knew he was powerful,’ Pangan said, warily, ‘but we couldn’t have known how powerful.’

  ‘You talk of Longoss?’ Poi Son looked back at his closest advisor, who nodded. ‘Yes, well it wasn’t purely for that, that I wanted him to take this contract on. It was his bullish ways and the fact that once he’d given his word, I knew he would never have revealed our identity should he have been caught. In all honesty, I didn’t think he was that good before all of this.

  ‘Gods,’ Poi Son said, slamming his hands on the table, ‘knowing now how damned dangerous and powerful the man is – and that’s after swearing not to kill – makes me certain just how capable he would’ve been to take this mark on and succeed.’ Pangan again nodded at his master, to show he was listening. ‘But all it does now is lead me to another move I wanted to avoid.’

  ‘Which is?’ Pangan ventured.

  Poi Son tapped the parchment with his right forefinger. ‘To accept aid from a sister guild in Eatri.’

  ‘But Master Son,’ Pangan said, taking a step forward before his master held up his hand to halt him from both moving and speaking.

  ‘I have no choice. This contract must be taken on and it cannot be linked to this guild and especially not to me in any way.’

  To you personally? Pangan was suddenly suspicious and concerned as to why Poi Son would be talking about himself in such a way; a way in which he never had before with any other mark. He’d always talked about the guild as a whole, whether contracts came through him or one of the other guild masters, so why was this now about him? Pangan cursed himself as he saw Poi Son’s brow crease.

  ‘My reputation,’ the guild master said carefully. ‘After losing so many, Pangan, I cannot risk my position as joint master by making any more mistakes.’

  ‘Of course,’ Pangan said, not at all convinced at the explanation of Poi Son’s self concern.

  ‘If this contract is carried out successfully then our reputation not only in Altoln, but throughout all of Brisance will increase tenfold, and I cannot risk losing that chance.’

  Still unconvinced of Poi Son’s motives, Pangan asked what he intended to do.

  Poi Son paused and looked down at the parchment on his desk, before looking back at his assassin. ‘This mess with Longoss ends now. We’ve made open moves, despite my expressed wishes otherwise—’ Pangan winced at the barbed tone, ‘—and so I expect you, Pangan, to stop at nothing now to ensure Longoss and his companions are silenced.’ Poi Son held up his hand to stop the man’s protests, knowing he would argue that he never took on a contract against Longoss like the others. ‘Not you personally,’ Poi Son added, calming the assassin, ‘but I want you to put an open mark on Longoss and his companions’ heads to any and all Dockside gangs.’

  Pangan’s eyes widened. That has never been done in all my years.

  ‘Have them ensure the trio is dealt with using any means necessary, is that clear?’

  Pangan nodded, reluctantly. ‘Anything else, Master Son?’ he asked, with no attempt to hide his sarcasm.

  Poi Son couldn’t help but smile, before realising what else he required. ‘Yes,’ he said, looking down to the parchment in front of him again and reaching for the goose feather quill and black ink pot on the side of his desk. ‘Have this contract,’ he continued slowly, whilst signing the parchment at the bottom, ‘returned to the guild in Eatri whose seal is upon it.’

  Pangan was leaning forward again, despite his inability to read.

  ‘I am accepting their offer for their finest assassin to carry out the contract I shall now accept as our own.’

  ‘And how, Master Son, will the completion of that contract raise our profile across Brisance if it is carried out by an assassins’ guild in Eatri?’

  ‘Very good question, Pangan, but leave the details to me. I am confident,’ he said, handing the now signed and rolled parchment to the assassin, who’d stepped forward to receive it, ‘that I have secured with the client of the contract I will now accept, a future where the Black Guild will sit atop the food chain, not only in the brotherhood of assassins’ guilds, but of all human nations and their ruling powers within Brisance.’

  Pangan’s nerves fluttered as he took the parchment and looked into the cold eyes of his master. Nodding slowly he turned only to ask how he should have the message sent, considering the quarantined city and the insecurity of sending messenger pigeons over such distances.

  Poi Son smiled wryly. ‘My sources inform me that more than one group has left this city since the gates were closed to all, so I’m sure you will find a way.’ Standing, Poi Son moved across to his dulcimer and picked up both hammers. He looked to his assassin one last time before the man left the room. Taking hammer to string, Poi Son prayed to any god below who’d listen that Pangan could stop Longoss leaving Dockside or especially from reaching the guild, because despite the grandest assassins being all about him within the building, the last thing he wanted was to explain to them why they were having to defend themselves against one of their own. It was all he could do to hide his own losses from them through all of this, and he could only thank his latest client for his assistance with regards to that. The thought of that client sent a shiver down Poi Son’s spine and for the first time in many a year, he unintentionally struck a wrong cord.

  I think client and yet I haven’t even signed the contract yet… it is feeling more and more as if I am his servant, rather than he my client.

  ***

  Sav was in his element, he'd never felt this way before; never had anyone made him feel this way before, not even the best whores he'd ever been able to afford. This elven woman seemed to know his every desire. The way she looked, smelt, moved… moved…

  Why is she jerking back like—?

  Sav cried out in shock and horror as the woman’s head suddenly fell to one side in a spray of black, tar-like blood that covered his face. He scrambled to get from under the dismembered body despite his complaining shoulder, and finally managed to stand and draw his short-sword. Sav saw them then, as he wiped the thick, black blood from his stinging eyes.

  Errolas and Fal both stood shaking their heads at him and pointing down towards the beautiful yet freakishly winged beast he’d been lying under.

  Sav cried out again, th
is time at the sight of what lay before him.

  Suddenly realising he was naked from the waist down – apart from his sword belt and scabbard – Sav quickly pulled up his braes and hose, stumbling as he did so and crashing down on top of the dead succubus. He was roughly pulled to his feet by Fal then, as Lord Nelem came crashing through the undergrowth, followed by a flustered and red faced Starks and a clearly disgusted Correia.

  ‘What the…’ Sav spluttered, as he looked back at the naked winged thing he couldn’t get his head round.

  ‘Succubus,’ Errolas said.

  ‘How did you know so soon?’ Starks asked Errolas. ‘We just encountered one on the path. Lord Nelem killed her… it. She was beautiful,’ Starks continued, his eyes settling on nothing in particular, ‘then…’ the young man’s voice trailed off as his gaze shifted to the one at his feet.

  ‘We thought she was a nymph,’ Nelem said, ‘until your crossbowman here said she was an elf. You see nymphs appear to the one they are trying to seduce in the form of their own race, so that’s how I knew, Errolas, because your friend here said she was an elf. But how did you know?’

  ‘The wings,’ Errolas explained. ‘Since she already had what she wanted, she had relaxed her guard. Her wings were visible as she began to show her true form.’

  Sav groaned, before bending double and throwing up.

  Fal laughed. ‘Serves you right you fool. You were told not to leave the path.’

  ‘It is not that simple I’m afraid, sergeant,’ Nelem said. ‘Your man is not to blame here and he is lucky to be alive. Nymphs are one thing, they have lived in these forests as long as us and mean no real harm, but succubae, they are unnatural creatures, deamonettes from distant dimensions and times. Immense arcane magic is required to bring these forth and there has been none to my knowledge, in the north anyway, for…

  ‘We must seek the council as planned,’ the elf lord said quickly. ‘There is more to this plague of yours than meets the eye I fear. It must be investigated further.’

  ‘And stopped,’ Correia said. The elf lord nodded his agreement.

  After Sav managed to tie up his braes and wipe his face with his sleeves, the group set off back down the track with Errolas leading and Lord Nelem bringing up the rear, a black haired succubus head tied to his belt as evidence for the elf council. Sav walked along in the middle of the group, his head down and his pride the worst of his injuries, despite Lord Nelem’s reassurances.

  Chapter 42: Middle Wood

  ‘It’s alright,’ Sears said to Coppin, who was berating herself again for failing to kill the female assassin at their feet. ‘If ye had finished her, we’d have no one to make talk.’

  ‘I stabbed her in the damned chest,’ Coppin repeated, shaking her head and staring down at the bloody wound on the woman sneering back at her.

  ‘She’ll bleed out if left anyway, Coppin, and that’s what we’ll do if ye don’t talk, Leese,’ Longoss said whilst crouching next to the woman, a clump of her black hair held tight in his fist.

  Eyes finally leaving Coppin’s, Leese turned her gaze to Sears, her bloodied face softening as she looked upon the big man towering over her. ‘Help me,’ she managed quietly, although her voice caught at the end, resulting in a cough that brought blood to her lips.

  Those eyes, Sears thought, she’s no threat… she just needs me to—

  A sharp pain in Sears’ wrist – brought on by Coppin’s prodding finger – snapped the man’s attention back to the green haired girl, who glared at him.

  ‘Stand guard, big guy,’ Longoss said. ‘We needs ye watching our backs, and looking at this one isn’t worth the trouble.’

  Leese managed a laugh, albeit short-lived as Coppin dropped to her haunches and jabbed a finger into the open wound on the assassin’s chest. The resulting scream almost turned Sears back to them, but he held fast, his eyes darting about the street, making the most of the feint ambient light now coming from the rising sun behind him.

  ‘Bitch!’ Leese’s chest rose and fell rapidly as she recovered from the sudden pain.

  ‘Ye’ve seen nothing yet.’ Coppin’s lip curled as she looked the assassin up and down.

  ‘Tell us who Poi Son’s mark is, Leese,’ Longoss said. The woman turned her head to him, or at least tried to, but the former assassin took hold of her chin and forced her head back to look upon Coppin and no one else.

  ‘You won’t kill me, Longoss,’ she said softly, despite looking upon Coppin.

  ‘No, but I will,’ Coppin said, holding her long knife in view.

  A beautiful smile was Leese’s response, followed by, ‘You tried that already, girl.’

  ‘This time I’ll try harder.’

  ‘Enough!’ Longoss said. ‘We’ve not time for games. The mark, Leese, tell us what ye know. There’s something afoot for Poi Son to be throwing all this at me just for turning it down?’

  Silence.

  ‘Ye’re right, Longoss, we don’t have time.’ Coppin reached forward with her bloody finger again and Leese pulled back, struggling against Longoss’ vice like hold. As the finger neared the wound, Leese shouted, ‘Alright alright,’ and Coppin stopped short, but left it hovering over the woman’s chest.

  ‘It’s all Poi Son, the other guild masters know nothing of his mark or any of this,’ she managed, her voice breaking here and there.

  ‘Bollocks. He couldn’t keep all this shit from them,’ Longoss said, forcing the assassin’s head around the street and holding it on her former lover’s body.

  ‘That was too easy,’ Coppin said. ‘She’s lying.’ Her finger plunged into the knife wound and Leese screamed again. Longoss threw a surprised look at Coppin and she withdrew her finger quickly, her emotions torn between shame and elation at the pain she’d caused the woman at her feet.

  ‘Ye know what men are like around ye, Leese,’ Longoss said, his eyes finally leaving Coppin’s to look back at the assassin, ‘and ye also know the effect ye have on women, so I suggest ye start telling the truth and fast, we ain’t for waiting around here any longer.’

  After the scream, Leese had fallen quiet and her breathing had turned from fast and heavy, to slow and shallow. Her eyes closed.

  ‘No no no…’ Longoss laid her head down on the muddy cobbles, shook her and then slapped her gently on the cheeks. ‘Don’t you die on me Leese,’ he continued, shaking the woman and leaning over her.

  Coppin looked from Leese to Longoss briefly, confused as to his motives for keeping her alive until he spoke again.

  ‘We need answers, damn you!’

  Her tear filled eyes opened suddenly and she sucked in a lungful of air, before screwing her delicate nose up at the pain.

  Longoss leaned in close. ‘Leese, tell us who the mark is and all this’ll be over. The guild’s not bloody worth it.’

  She looked to Longoss, her brown eyes wide once more. ‘I’ve told you what I know,’ she whispered. ‘It’s all I know. I don’t want to die, Longoss… I don’t want to.’

  ‘I know,’ he said, nodding slowly, ‘and ye don’t have to, lass, just tell us all ye know.’

  Leese shook her head slowly. ‘He’s telling no one who it is, I swear. I slept with him hoping he’d tell and still nothing.’ Her voice was barely audible and Coppin had leant in to hear the words. She didn’t miss the disgust on Longoss’ face.

  ‘With Poi Son?’ he said, looking down on Leese, clearly surprised.

  She attempted a nod. ‘And still he wouldn’t say.’

  Coppin couldn’t help but feel jealous as Longoss continued to look down on the woman he was now cradling. ‘She knows nothing more, Longoss, let’s leave,’ Coppin managed, wanting to drag him away, wishing to see no more of the emotions he obviously felt for the woman who’d tried to kill him.

  ‘You don’t have to leave me, Longoss,’ Leese said, lifting a hand to brush his face. ‘There’s always been something between us and you know it.’ Her eyes half closed again and it wasn’t hard to see the woman had to fight
to re-open them fully.

  ‘Longoss?’ Coppin said, placing a hand on his arm. ‘We need go, the sun’s rising.’

  He looked up then from Leese’s eyes and noticed the lighting of the sky above the city. His eyes dropped back to Leese and he pulled his head back slightly, shaking it slowly as he did so.

  ‘We need more,’ Sears said, from behind Coppin, but Longoss shook his head all the more.

  ‘She’s told us what she knows and I believe her.’

  ‘Because ye love her?’ Coppin asked, trying to ignore the churning in her stomach.

  ‘No,’ Longoss said, laying the woman’s head gently on the ground once more, ‘because her allegiance is to her, not the guild and if she knew more she’d have told us, to survive.’

  Sears cursed and faced away from the group again. ‘Then we get out of Dockside, now,’ he said, without turning back to them.

  Coppin looked back to Leese and realised she was dead. The colour had left her cheeks and her hand had fallen from Longoss’ face to lie at an uncomfortable angle on the floor next to him. Her chest had stopped moving too.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ Coppin said, unsure why, but she directed it at Longoss, who was looking down at Leese’s still form. He looked up at her, brow furrowed.

  ‘Why, because ye think I loved her? Ha!’ He barked his laugh out and stood, grimacing as he realised again his multiple wounds. ‘She thought she was playing me, so I let her Coppin. She didn’t have the strength to sway me this time. There’s never been ‘owt between us two I promise ye that.’

  Unsure where to look, her face flushing slightly, Coppin stammered something about it not being her business anyway and finally looked up the street, towards the upper districts and the rising sun.

  ‘Why’d she not have the crossbowman shoot ye dead then?’ she said eventually, without turning.

  ‘Her lover?’ Longoss shrugged despite Coppin not being able to see it. ‘Because she wanted the price on my head to herself I expect, and the dope with the crossbow will have agreed to wound but not kill me if she batted her eyes at him.’