The house of Monde lay in tatters on the arena floor, he stood up and left his seat, his work was done. The result of many years of planning had finally started to come together and the plans that his masters had hatched many years ago were beginning to come to fruition.
He looked around and saw that the two soldiers were standing to attention and waiting for him. A wise man always thinks about his safety, which was why he had three other soldiers dressed in civilian clothes walking behind him camouflaged as part of the crowd.
Every loose end had been tied up bar one....
The Assassin pulled on her boots, she was going to get her payment for killing Henry Monde. At the back of her mind, she worried about getting the payment, she always worried. It was her job to kill people when they least expected, people didn't like to hand over money and would kill to avoid it. This job was different, she had been working with these employers for the last few months and had been paid promptly without any danger, why should this time be different she thought? She had done exceptional work and every assignment had been carried out without a single mistake.
But still....complacency killed many people better than her. There was nothing she could do about this feeling, just swallow it and go and collect her money. She walked to the door and stopped. The window...what was wrong with her, there had been no problems before, better to be a living fool than a dead one. In a moment she was out of the window and climbing down the building towards the ground.
She landed silently and looked around, there was no-one here except an old beggar across the street. She had a brief look at him, one arm missing, both legs broken and smashed, he did not pose a threat, he was on his own but muttering something to an imaginary friend.
Across the road the beggar spoke to a face in the gutter, he whispered "she climbed out of the window and is walking across the road".....the gutter answered "Damn, she was meant to walk down the stairs" the face disappeared as it ran through the underground sewers to tell it's boss that she had came out another way and did not come down those stairs.
The Assassin relaxed a little, she would not be going back to that Inn again, she had left the gold coins on the bed and now just had to collect her money. They had suggested another Inn to pick up her payment, but she had not liked the enclosed spaces and hidden dangers that such a place afforded, when she suggested the main town square, they had agreed without question, had they agreed to easily? She always worried, it was part of her job, and that was why she had survived so long.
She walked to the square, there were four small roads entering the square with buildings around it, plenty of people moving around, these crowds were good for hiding in, but they could also hide other dangers, she tensed a little again.
The exchange was to happen at the north of the square under a statue of some forgotten hero. She scanned the crowd for anything untoward, moving slowly she looked to see if anyone moved with her, she changed direction quickly to see if anyone moved with her and sprinted towards the other side of the square.
The drops splashed across her face, she looked up no clouds, only sunshine...where had the rain come from? She wiped it from her face and saw the scarlet stains of blood, a women to her right fell down screaming with an arrow in her chest.
The next few moments would determine the rest of her life, in a moment the screams and panic would begin and she had some chance to escape in the panic, she rolled forward and zigged to the right and then left, another arrow narrowly missed her.
As people saw the dead woman , the screaming began, this chaos would help her.
As she ran away trying to get out of the square another person else took an arrow for her, today must be her lucky day, she thought. She was nearly at the edge of the square when the soldiers arrived.
A loud voice carried above the chaos.
The assassin of Henry Monde is in this square and we will find her.
Her heart literally stopped, it was a trap, more men arrived, by her count there were at least 15 mounted soldiers and a dozen foot soldiers arriving in the square. The crowd like sheep had begun to slow and calm. Her options were diminishing all to quickly, she saw an open door and quickly walked into it.
It was a bakery and as she ran in a dozen bakers scattered as this woman ran in with her sword raised, she ran through looking for a back entrance, there it was, freedom...but it was bolted and barred shut, she crashed against it, again, again... it started to shatter and splinter... A few more hits with the sword and she would be out and free.
That same voice that had announced her existence earlier in the square boomed an order...
Archers Fire!!
The assassin turned, time slowed, there were at least eight of them, they were taking no chances, four holding crossbows and another four covering the exit. They must have followed her in. She spun and rolled towards a table, the arrows missed... She took out two throwing stars from her pouch and let loose, two archers fell. She rolled again, this time one arrow met its target hitting her in the leg. It had torn across her thigh but had not embedded.
She turned and threw her final star at an archer, it clanged harmlessly against the wall, she saw that more archers had entered.
The voice boomed even louder
For the love of all the God's finish the bitch.
Four more arrows slashed through the air, this time the Assassin was not so lucky, three hit their mark, one deep into her leg, the other through he hand and a third one shot out and through her side, she stumbled forward and felt someone pull at her hair. Sudden pain and then she felt like she was floating, she tried to kick or punch, but nothing, she looked at the face of one of those bastard soldiers and went to spit at it.
The soldier looked at the Assassins head and for a moment thought that it was going to say something, it didn't.
Here's that bitches head, she killed two of us, I wish that I could have taken my time with her and made her suffer for that.
And with that he threw the Assassins head towards his sergeant.
Previous installments of the story
Father and Son
The judge
The death of Henry Monde
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