Original Stories Fan Fiction / Realism Fan Fiction ❯ Aqua ❯ Assassin ( Chapter 23 )

Chapter Twenty-Two

Assassin

 

 

Wham!!

 

Erald bowed his head and looked away from the messenger, trying to manage his emotions as they threatened to overwhelm him. Seven…seven of his provincial princes had died within the last month, not counting the hundreds that had died before the assassin had reached the palace. All the reports said the same: One girl with auburn hair, reddish green eyes, and a slender build tore through the guards and any civilians that stood in her way before she either drew out or hunted down the prince; always the one, always alone.

 

He pushed himself away from his desk and turned his back to the kneeling man. “How many this time?” he asked too softly.

 

“It wasn't so bad,” the man said hesitantly, “but only because the prince confronted her before she got halfway through the palace. He died a valiant death.” He risked a look at the king, the brown fur that covered his canine-like face masking the concerned look.

 

“How many?”

 

“Six hundred guards, thirty civilians, and the queen,” he said softly, swallowing against the memory of the carnage. “She didn't even spare the two children she came across.”

 

“Not so bad you say,” Erald snapped, spinning on his heel to face the messenger. “How is this carnage not so bad? How can it never be bad when so many die by a mere child's hand? How can it not be bad when the Letrangra assassin doesn't bother to use discretion and just slaughters all those that stand in her way?”

 

“She didn't manage to kill the entire palace guard like her previous targets. We drove her off before she could do more damage than she had already done. We wounded her as well.” He raised his head and Erald saw the ferocity that Dogmas race possessed reflected in his eyes. “We have her blood.”

 

Erald stared, willing the relief to be held at bay. Though the Dogmas were the best trackers in the known universe their senses didn't always come through. There was always that chance that her blood couldn't be tracked. She could have tricked them…

 

“And?” he asked softly, one white ear flicking back against his gray streaked black hair.

 

The messenger paused, his light eyes on the king. “We have our best trackers on her trail. With any luck we will have tracked her down to her base by the weeks end.”

 

“And then what?”

 

“We'll kill her.”

 

Erald gave a short humorless laugh and turned back to his pacing. “If this is the girl I think it is, you'll need help. The Rogane are also searching for her. Perhaps I should dispatch Lackardel and some of his men to help you…” He paused and looked at the man. “How confident are you that you will be able to handle her?”

 

“Very. We've seen her style and we won't lose to her again.”

 

He nodded. “Good, then I'll send my Captain with you to make sure she gives you no trouble.”

 

* * *

 

Darain stared at the green-eared man as he contemplated what he had been told. A scowl settled over his features as he shook his head. “You're lying,” he said too softly. “She wouldn't do something like that, she can't. There's no way that she would allow herself to be used for something like…like that.”

 

One of Lackardel's ears flicked back in annoyance. Since he had killed Arisan he had become more and more despondent and irritable the more time passed and now the prince was angering him with his simple denial. “No, prince,” he half snarled, “you are wrong. You only knew her, what, six months before they attacked? For all you know she could have been weaving spells around you that entire time to seduce you away from your race and hold you captive until she could hand you over to her handler in exchange for her freedom.”

 

“She wouldn't-”

 

“You don't know what she's capable of, because you never asked her, did you?” Larcardel broke in.

 

“You saw what she did for me!! They had me and they would have taken me back with them, but she handed herself over to them when she could have killed them. She did it to save me,” he snarled, his white ears flattening against his skull.

 

No matter the time that passed, no matter the distance between them, the memory of their time together was still fresh and it hurt to think of her as an assassin. The girl he cared about wouldn't have ever submitted to being such a monstrosity. She wouldn't have become a killer when she knew the pain of loss…not unless she had a damn good reason.

 

“Yes, I saw and I also saw what she was capable of. If she is willing to defy her handlers for the sake…” he began.

 

“…of the one that she rescued from drowning, for the sake of the one she harbored from everyone else for months, for the sake of the one that taught her how to use her magic, for the sake of the one she loves,” Darain said quietly. “Aqua did what she had to, to ensure my continued survival. If I don't try to help her, if I just let them twist her to their will, then I would not be worthy of being a prince.”

 

The look that Lackardel gave him could have melted flesh from bones. “Your father would be very disappointed to hear such things,” he replied. “I only told you of my assignment, because I thought it would give you some closure. It seems I was wrong and that you are nothing more than a love sick little boy. My apologizes for misjudging you, prince.”

 

With a stiff bow, the Night-n-Gale captain left the shocked Darain to his own thoughts. When his footsteps finally faded from the royal garden, he allowed himself to feel the despair that had been growing for so long. He was the only one that cared about her. He was the only one that could see her for what she was. He was the only one that knew and everyone else was going to stand in his way until she was dead or broken. What good was being prince if he could do nothing for the girl he loved?

 

Slowly, something within him shifted. If he was the only one that cared if she lived or died, then he would save her himself. How, he knew not. He only knew that he didn't care what his father thought anymore. With that in mind, he quietly disappeared for the second time that year.

 

* * *

 

Once the attack had been completed and she had been driven away, she had retreated to the outermost Letrangra base where she could heal her wounds and get some much needed quiet.

 

“Aqua?” she asked, her red and green eyes flickering in the dim light.

 

She glanced at Arisan as she wrung the blood and water from her shirt over the basin. For a moment their gazes held and then she looked back to the wooden surface of the table. There was something about the Night-n-Gale female that warmed the darkest corner of her heart. Maybe it was because she was the same race as Darain, but that didn't matter, couldn't matter, anymore. “Yes?” she answered.

 

She was silent as she studied the long gash and ripped cloth on the younger girl's leg, feeling curiosity burn at her for the first time in a while. “Were you injured by one of your targets?”

 

There was silence between them for a while before she answered, “No. his guards were stronger than I thought and they drove me off before I could complete the entire mission,” she said. “It's the first time anyone has been able to resist my magic long enough to fight me so hard.”

 

Her voice held an almost cheerful quality that made Arisan wary of her. “Don't let the Letrangra hear you say that,” she cautioned. “They might decide to give you harder assignments.”

 

With her back to her again, Aqua shrugged. “Maybe that's for the best,” she said softly. “Maybe the kills wouldn't be so easy if the targets were stronger. Have you heard anything about my latest slaughter?”

 

“No. What happened?”

 

Shaking her shirt out, she carefully kept her gaze down. “I was sent to deal with the Rasfoul race's prince in the Night-n-Gale territory. There were many that stood between us, but he wouldn't let his people die for him. He faced me and we fought. He died. I won. They attacked. I got hurt.”

 

Arisan gasped. “The Rasfoul are known for their tracking skills. They are among the most skilled of hunters in the known universe. If they got your blood…they won't stop until they have killed you. Did they get your blood, Aqua?”

 

She tilted her head back to consider the smooth, black stone ceiling that ran throughout the compound the Letrangra kept them in. “I suppose they did, but it doesn't matter. If they come, they come and I will die at their hands or they will die at mine. Or their revenge may be snatched from them by some other race that I have wronged or I might be killed on assignment. Arisan, can I ask you something?” The emotions that swirled around her, emotions that would not be contained by the ice, who better would understand them than Arisan?

 

Surprised by the turn her words had taken, she was a little off balance when she nodded.

 

She hesitated, then turned her head to look at the older woman that served as her sparring partner. “Have you ever been afraid to look in the mirror?”

 

“Yes,” she answered. “You never know when the Letrangra will show up for the next mission or for special training. There was a time when I jumped at every shadow that moved the wrong way…” Her voice trailed off as Aqua's face filled with frustrated disappointment before she turned her head away. “That's not what you meant. Were you asking if I have ever been afraid to look myself in the eye and see what I've become?”

 

“Yes.” She smoothed the shirt over the wooden table and waited for Arisan to answer, if she could answer.

 

She weighed the words, knowing that her answer could break Aqua or keep her from going insane. “I can't say that I ever have been afraid of myself. I've always known that whatever I did on the Letrangra's behalf I did for survival. The kills I made, I gave them clean deaths where others would have lingered.”

 

“You've always known the kind of person you are and because of that, the Letrangra must forcibly control you. Even when you should have died they kept you alive for their own ends,” Aqua said almost absently. “They have no need to control me like you, at least, not yet. I haven't given them a reason.”

 

“Aqua-”

 

“I remember every kill I've made, especially the unnecessary ones. It's odd the way their screams don't haunt me the way I thought they would. There was a time once when I believed that I could never take another life as easily as I do.” She paused and looked at her reflection in the rippling basin. “I'm not sure what I am anymore. If I can kill a child that was merely in my way without thought, then what else am I willing to do?” she asked, tilting her head to look at Arisan again.

 

For a moment there was despair in her eyes before the ice swallowed it whole. Arisan swallowed against the fear and bile she felt rising. This girl, this child was slowly being turned into a cold-blooded killer. Another month, maybe two and the process would be complete; the Letrangra would have their perfect weapon, but, so too, would they have made the tool of their destruction. If Aqua truly allowed herself to become their perfect weapon, then she would destroy those that had made her in the most brutal of fashion.

 

“It-” she began, but words failed her. Aqua stared intently at her, almost hoping that Arisan had an answer. “You'll be willing to do anything,” Arisan said after a moment and dropped her gaze at the blank look she was given. “If you continue down this path, then you really will be willing to do anything.”

 

“And how would I escape this path?” she asked quietly.

 

“Love. You must love and the ice will melt, but if done so you will feel the pain as acutely as if you had killed them in that moment.”

 

Aqua looked over her shoulder at the older woman before she turned back to the shirt and began smoothing the wrinkles from it's surface again. “That's the problem, though,” she said thoughtfully. “I already do this for love, so where does that leave me if it hasn't already melted the ice and brought out the pain to save me?”

 

Arisan opened her mouth to speak, but the words caught in her throat. Shock numbed the surprise and even as she was trying to work through the problem, Aqua's eyes flicked from her to stare just over her shoulder. That was her only warning before a fist connected with her spine with a sickening crack. The feeling went out in her legs and as she stumbled forward she saw the gathering rage and power in Aqua's eyes. Then, the ground rushed up to meet her and her cheek was pressed against the cold steel of the floor.

 

She moved with lethal grace as she sprang over the Night-n-Gale's still form. The faces of their attackers did not register even as she ripped flesh and fur from bone. There was no sound except the rush of blood in her ears as she focused on eliminating the enemies. All that mattered was defending Arisan. If Arisan died, then her only tangible link to Darain would die with her and she would be left to flounder in the darkness alone.

 

When it was over, she was covered in blood again and wore a dazed expression. She moved on instinct and ignored the chucks of flesh that clung to her like a second skin. Kneeling beside the Night-n-Gale, she raised her hand and allowed her power to flow from her body and into Arisan's, healing the older woman's broken spine.

 

Arisan caught Aqua's hand as she pulled it away. The girl was retreating behind the ice of her soul the more she killed. Her eyes slid from the younger woman to the chunks of meat and bone that were left of their attackers and felt a thrill of fear. From the identifiable bits left, Aqua had just taken out six or seven Dogmas trackers without even winding herself.

“Aqua-” she began when the alarms finally registered intruders and went off. Shrill and keening, they made her ears bleed. She curled into a ball and screamed. Aqua sat there in a daze and watched her.