The Second Verse

A lone wanderer is attacked by an assassin in a desolate city.

It took him a while to realize what he was doing.  Walking to and from without any sort of rhyme or reason.  What was he looking for?  How would he know once he found it?  Did this ‘thing’ ever truly exist?  He’d never know he thought to himself, taking the last drag of his cigarette.  The cool breeze was blowing through his hair and fur as he walked down the street of the abandoned city.  Most cities in this area were like this, which was beginning to be no surprise to him.  Yet, he could feel invisible threads pulling him in this and other assorted directions.

He tried to think back to how it used to be, before the epic battle that took the sight from his right eye.  The vertical scar was a constant reminder.  Thin, yet noticeable, he could see the scar as if his reflection was always right in front of him.  In his left hand he carried a battered sword.  There was no guard to separate the hilt from the blade.  No fear, he thought to himself.  The weapon in his hand seemed to symbolize to him that it only knew how to attack.  Even at the cost of the beauty it may have had before he held it, the sword was now a personification of the life he now knows.

The wind calmed but the air was still cool.  For as long as he could remember, the weather never changed.  Always the same slight chill in the air.  To him, it was the world telling him it knew he was there.  Nature sent him a message through the feeling of constant pricks of invisible needles.  How can I be numb and still feel this much pain?  He wasn’t bothered by the sensation, but rather he felt he needed the reminder.   He felt his emotions slipping away from him.  At least physical pain was a sensation to let him know he hadn’t gone completely numb.

His ears perked.  He sniffed the air but nothing seemed different.  He didn’t hear a sound, but for some reason he knew someone was watching him.  At least for the moment, though he could have been watched for hours.  Regardless, he knew someone was out there keeping an eye on him.  And his instincts told him this particular individual wasn’t looking out for his well being.  A dark shape lunged toward him, trying to take advantage of his blind spot.  Even though his right eye holds no vision, he’s learned to compensate.

He expected the attack to come swift and quickly shifted into position for a clean swipe with his sword.  But this was no ordinary attacker, having placed a single toe on the flat surface near the tip of his sword and bouncing backward into a rear summersault.  It wasn’t until she landed on her feet that he got a good glimpse of his enemy.  Stood up tall, almost a head taller than he and stood with a resolve he’d only seen before from a previous fight.  She was dressed in black but not completely covered.  Her face was veiled but her silvery hair was in plain sight.  Her yellow eyes attempted to pierce into his exterior.  He wouldn’t allow it, for his eyes met hers and thus the battle began.

Her digigrade legs left him with a huge disadvantage in terms of speed.  He had slight trouble keeping up with her attacks.   But with almost every attack she landed, he was able to deflect them.  Even she knew she could never penetrate his defenses.   From a tactical standpoint, his strategy of standing on a single point while she moved all about aiming for his blindside was costing her.  She jumped back and sized him up from a distance.  He just stood there, sword at the ready.  His entire right side is open, how is it I can’t hit him?  It wasn’t until the wind blow that she noticed what was really going on during that last round.

She looked down at her hands to notice she was cut in several areas.  Her adrenaline was flowing so hot she didn’t feel the warm blood on her arms until the cool air blew through her fur.  It’s time for a new game plan, she thought to herself, no more playing cat and mouse with him, this comes to an end now!  She lunged at him directly aiming his chest.  Even though the distance was small the trip felt like it lasted longer, for this was a suicidal dive.  She just had to survive this long enough to earn her pay and then she could spend as much time as needed to recuperate and take her next job.  With claws withdrawn, her right hand scanned the area of his body and made contact.

He’d only felt this much pain once before, back when he earned the scar that all but took his right eye.  Reevaluating the situation revealed to him that he was a fool for falling for her trick.  It was never her attempt to strike his chest with her right hand.  She used it to stop his left arm from swinging upward to cripple her with his sword.  It was her left hand that hit his chest and it felt like her claws sank deep.  He coughed up some blood before he started to feel woozy and lose consciousness.  She felt him begin to lose ground, but something deep in the back of her mind told her that the fight wasn’t over.  His breathing became heavy, and with every desperate breath he took she could hear his growling grow.  His body stabilized, and she became frozen in fear.

She looked over to where her right hand connected with his left arm and that’s when she noticed the blood that trickled downward and dripped on her right foot.  She then looked into his left eye and it became dilated with a look of dread.  It was at this moment she realized his right arm was still free and she didn’t have time to evade.  His claws made contact with her stomach and left four sizable gashes as she tried to escape his counter.  The pain that surged through her brought her to her knees, but not for long as she found her target had become a freight train headed straight at her.

His sword had left his left hand and was left stabbing the ground as he clawed and swiped his attacker like a mad man.  With her brand new battle scar piercing at her senses, she did her best to fight off the pain and use her evasive speed to out whit his attacks.  Every time she tried to cut left he was there to great her with a thirst for her blood.  When she tried to dash right he cut her off and forced her back.  With her movements limited, her options for escaping this alive were minimal.  The only thing left for her to do was to create some sort of distraction.  The decision weighed heavily on her mind, for she’d never left a job unfinished.

The sun broke through the thick clouds.  What perfect timing, she thought as she rolled under a horizontal swing from his left arm.  The quickly ran for his sword, unsheathed it from the ground and reflected the sunlight into his left eye.  The blinding light forced him to cover his face.  And in that moment, he turned back to where she was standing only to find she was no longer there.  He turned instinctively to try to find her, but she was nowhere to be seen.  Dropping to his knees he gave out a deafening roar, arms stretched wide at his sides.

She made her escape on what she feels is a whim, and struggled to increase the distance between them.  She was making impressive progress despite her injury.  Yet, her mind was only distracted by the wound across her stomach.  She felt as though her pride and reputation had been stolen by her target.  With all her skill and all her knowledge, she wasn’t able to bring the cat down.  She’d been tailing him for the better part of six days, and with everything she learned about him she realized she entered the fight with grave ignorance.  She was now determined, more than ever before, to see this target meet his end regardless of her professional ethics.

Author's Note

This is a writing in progress and I feel the need to add a few notes about this:
-the characters are all anthropomorphic animals, not humans
-grammar will be corrected as I review previous chapters
-aspects of characters, events and setting are subject to change
-all characters are of my own design unless specified otherwise
-chapters will be uploaded out of order
-anything written in brackets are used as placeholders

Beyond this, feel free to rip it apart!

Reviews

[Thomas Fitzgerald]

"Feel free to rip it apart" - well now, I highly doubt that it needs to be, flows correctly and tells a story and isn't that the goal of any writer. I wold however balance it with a subtle plot point throughout the series, well written.