Chapter 6: In the Dark

Chapter 6: In the Dark

‘The bounty on sir Alvey’s head has been increased to 500 gold coins! 500 coins to whoever kills the infamous assassin!’ The town crier announces.

This is definitely a problem. Every day the chance of my friends betraying me becomes larger and larger. I’m about to leave, when an arrow lands next to my foot. I crouch down, scanning the direction the arrow came from. Nothing. There’s nobody around. Just me, standing on the rooftops. I examine the arrow. It’s well made, but not royal. I run into the direction the arrow came from, and end up in an empty town square.

‘You’re here’ a voice echoes from the darkness, ‘That’s fast’.

I draw my sword and look around, still nothing. In the reflection of my sword I can see a man behind me. My sword swipes at him as I turn around. He simply leaps backwards, wearing an unimpressed grin.

‘Almost’ he says playfully, ‘but you’ll have to try harder’.

‘What do you want?’ I ask.

‘Infinite power, but that’s not really an option’.

‘The bounty?’.

‘No, no, no. Nothing like that, I’m here for the fun’.

He draws his sword, it’s thin and long.

‘Shall we?’ he asks.

I sigh, I’m sick of all this s**t. I raise my sword and walk backwards.

‘Whenever you’re ready’.

The sounds of our fight echo through the streets. Guards come running towards us, swinging their swords. I was expecting them to take the man’s side, but it seems the strange man wants them dead just as badly as I do. His sword manages to find all their armour’s weak spots. He dances around, cutting them down as he goes. Skulls are crushed as my sword hits them on their head. I’m like a savage warrior, while the other is like a murderous ballerina. His dark clothes stand out in the dimly lit town square. He looks around, then smiles. He runs around the square, cutting down all the nearby torches, forcing me to hold on to the last remaining torch. He laughs at my despair. A laugh which hints at a small amount of insanity. The guards are all dead, so that’s one less thing to worry about. He appears from behind me and makes a small cut in my arm, then disappears into the darkness. I flail the torch around wildly, hoping to find him. More tiny cuts appear on my leg, then hand, then cheek. I look down at the corpses of the guards that litter the battlefield. Nearby pillars are painted red with blood. I have an idea, but it might end up badly. I throw the torch at a pile of bodies. It takes a while for their clothes to catch flame, and then my plan goes up in flames, literally.

The raging fire quickly spreads to the rest of the bodies, the screaming that follows indicates that not all of them were dead. I throw a knife into the fire, delivering the finishing blow. His screaming stops, and all I can hear is the fire. The strange man is nowhere to be found.

An arrow lands in my shoulder, I turn around quickly. The man is sitting atop one of the pillars, bow in hand. I barely evade the next arrow as I pull out a throwing knife. I hide behind a pillar as the next arrow lands next to my foot. I can hear him jumping from pillar to pillar, looking for the right place to shoot me. His footsteps come closer and closer. I concentrate on the sound, waiting for the right moment. This is it. I throw the knife into the air without looking. There’s a grunt, then a loud thud as he lands next to me. I hold my sword next to his neck, forcefully placing my boot on his hand. He has my knife in his chest.

‘I believe that’s mine’ I say as I bend down and pull the knife out, making sure to give it a hard twist first.

He smiles, then coughs up a little bit of blood. ‘I heard you have a wife’ he says.

‘It’s not really a secret’ I respond.

‘And a daughter. I also know they’re staying at your friend’s house, his name was Stan, if I recall correctly’.

‘How do you know?’ I ask, he can clearly see the shocked impression on my face.

He laughs a bit more, ‘The shadows are my eyes’ he says, as he draws his last breath.

I crouch down and grab his throat, ‘What did you do?!’ I scream, but he’s already dead.

Toric is running as quickly as he can, but it’s not fast enough. Nothing is fast enough. I can see the cottage in the distance, the door has been broken down. Toric is breathing heavily, doing his best to help me. I jump off, running the final meters towards the house. There’s a trail of blood leading to the living room. Stan is on the floor, I crouch down to check his pulse. He’s unconscious, but alive. I keep moving forward, following the trail. A corpse comes into view as I turn the corner. Elizabeth is standing over it, with a bloody dagger in hand. I run towards her and take the knife out of her hand.

‘Elizabeth, are you alright?’ I ask, but she doesn’t respond.

She’s still looking at the man she’s killed, she’s in shock.

‘You’re safe, Elizabeth’ I say gently, holding her cold hands.

She looks up at me, then back at corpse.

‘I’m fine’ she says, shaking her head.

‘It was self-defence’ I say as I look her in the eyes.

Suddenly there’s grunting at the front door, Stan’s waking up.

‘Stan, are you hurt’ I say as I rush towards him.

‘Outside’ he manages to mumble, then passes out again.

I open the front door and unsheathe my sword as I rush forward, only to be met with a wooden plank to the face. I fall to the ground and everything goes black.