Never Just a Job

I was once naive, I once thought that the world was black and white, right was right, and wrong was wrong. I don’t see that way anymore and I haven’t for a long time.

            My name Is Alexander Vexing, I was raised in the darkest hole in the kingdom, I was born a peasant. I did not stay there. I was abandoned by my parents when I was three. I learned to steal, and fight, and kill. Survival is the greatest motivator.

            I got so good at killing people, someone noticed. I’ve been doing jobs for years. I don’t know who hires me, I don’t know why, all I know it that it made me rich, and with this next job I’ll be rich enough to buy a castle.

            My new job is to kill the king. I’m the best in the world at what I do, and even I know that this won’t be easy. There is a legend of a spirit that protects kings. And though I don’t believe that there’s some mysterious spirit, I do believe that there is something protecting the king.

            Today it was announced to the nobles that the last king had died, and that his son Adrian is king. Today is the day to strike. It is not yet known to the people that the past king had died so Adrian will not yet be heavily guarded.

            I water till it’s dark and climb up a northern facing wall. I stop at a terrace that is dimly lit by candle light. Adrian is sitting at his desk, I’m about to break into the room when I see her. A beautiful girl sitting on a couch only a few feet away, she like he, is pouring over papers. No doubt that he’s looking at protocols for the coronation but why is she here, and who is she?

            I want to go in now, I know that that is stupid though. Even if she is just a little girl, she could still get lucky. I only lived this long because I don’t take risks, even minimal ones.

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Concept for Novra's assassin outfit below

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            I sit for a long time, I want her to leave, I want this to be over. The longer I sit here the longer I have to watch this boy king, and the longer I have to think about how he doesn’t disserve to be murdered. The girl doesn’t leave the whole time. The boy starts to look tired, but the girl only appears to be pretending to be tired.

            It was hours later that the girl finally left. It’s almost early now but not quite. I have a short time before the morning will break the night. I silently open the terrace door and step inside. The ceiling in the here are vaulted with support beams running across the room. I could use them, but all I have to do is walk in. I’m alone in this room. So much for a spirit protector.

            I walk toward the King’s bedroom, It’ll be over soon. I don’t want to look at him; I don’t what to remember what he looked like. I just want to do this and be done. I touch the door knob and before I can push the door open a knife lands a centimeter from my head.    

“Touch that door again and you’ll lose your head,” It’s a girl’s voice.

“Oh the mysterious spirit,” I say, “pleasure to meet you.”

“Who are you working for?” she asks.

“I don’t know,” I say.

“You’re dead,” she says.

“Only if you can kill me,” I say. She tosses another knife. It’s fast, faster then anything I’ve faced before, but not as fast as me. I deflect the knife with one of my own. It lodges itself into a nearby wall. A glimmer appears in her eyes, a glimmer of excitement at a challenge.

“Looks like someone paid attention in assassin school,” she says.

“Yeah top of my class of one,” I say. She throws another knife. It’s faster this time, she’s still holding herself back though. I side step to my right and the knife hits the wall again. She’s the girl from earlier, her height and build are the same; her face is now covered by a black scarf so that only her eyes show. She’s dressed all black scarves, and she blends in with the dark walls. If she hadn’t thrown that knife when she did I’d never seen her. That tells me something about her, it that tells me that she has honor. She moved, she got closer, she’s trying to actually fight me. She thinks she’s toying with me. I’m not getting to the king this way. I have to take care of her first.

I don’t enjoy killing, I don’t want to do it, but I want to get out of the slums, I want to have a family someday. So I’ll kill to create a future. I will never let my apprehensions about this job show though.

            She maneuvers towards the terrace door pushing me through it with simple knife throws. She’s very good, I know what she’s doing and I still can’t figure my way out of it. We’re on the terrace now, I won’t be able to do my job tonight, but before I go I want her to know that I know who she is. I stand on the guard rail, she looks confused. I suppose most of the people she faces are too sure of themselves, and don’t realize they need a new approach.

            “Running away so soon?” she asks.

            “Of coarse not princess, I still have one more thing to do,” I throw one knife, and it hits perfectly. Her scarf flies off and unfurls revealing her face and hair. She’s beautiful, like really stop and stair beautiful. She’s shocked by the sudden change. Before she recovers I want to do one thing. I grab her and pull her close (not a good idea but still) and kiss her. Her face turns red, from anger or embarrassment I don’t know. She hits me, hard, I’m definitely dizzy now. “Just something to remember me by,” I say “Next time I’ll give you one you’ll really remember.”

            “You little miscreant, I’ll kill you,” she says as I jump over the safety rail. As expected she follows me.