Chapter 1, Pages 36-40

 

Suddenly
he felt so right, her head fit perfectly between his shoulder and
chest. Relaxing completely in his strong arms Rielari felt at peace
for the first time since Yislon’s death.

“Thank
you,” she said.

Zefrik
moved his hand from the small of her back and slowly ran it through
her long hair. It was as soft as silk and smelled lightly of
lavender. This mysterious woman was stirring feelings in him that he
had thought were long buried. Abruptly he released her and took a
step back.

Slightly
stunned by the suddenness, Rielari gained her composure by turning to
her saddle bag. Sifting through it she removed her wrist bands with
the hidden compartments for her tiny throwing daggers. She placed
each one on a wrist without thinking snapping them in place like a
second skin. Grabbing the leather straps that held her two short
swords she snapped them snugly to each thigh. The double baldric
went on next and she adjusted the katana’s so they felt comfortable
on her back. She then stepped into her knee high black boots and
made sure each of her boot knives would slide free if she needed
them. Buckling her belt around her waist she checked all of her
pouches. Deftly she twisted her hair into several strategically
placed braids to hide her white streak of hair. She turned back to
face Zefrik feeling more confident.

“So
you are an assassin?” He questioned with one eye brow arched.

A
wicked smile came to her lips, “Yes. Now why did you run in Geal?”

Color
finally came to Zefrik’s cheeks as he looked away in shame, “The
day she was murdered, I went to see Yislon. The madame said she was
free for a few hours so I went to her room.”

Rielari
steeled herself to what he was going to say next. She could remember
every detail of what Yislon looked like in death.

He
looked at his hands in disgust, “When I went to her room she was
already dead. Someone had beaten her, tortured her. I didn’t even
recognize her at first Her arms looked broken. Her beautiful blue
hair was the only distinguishable feature, that was the only reason I
knew it was her.”

The
haunted look in Zefrik eyes made Rielari feel sorry for him. Knowing
how she had felt when she walked into Yislon’s room she could imagine
how he felt.

“I
panicked, I didn’t know what to do so I ran from the room,” he
looked pleadingly at her to understand, “I think one of the other
girls saw me running from the room. She probably told the madame
that I was the one who killed Yislon. I swear to you I have never
laid a hand on a woman. I’ve never even killed anyone before.”

Zefrik
was trembling with the emotions he felt. Rielari walked up to him
and placed her hand on his shoulder. He looked down into her
brilliant silver eyes and saw acceptance in them.

“We
will find her killer,” Rielari swore. With her hand still on his
shoulder she looked questioningly at her kampilan. He hesitated for
a second then handed her the blade, if she was going to kill him he
figured she could have done it at anytime. She deftly slid the
kampilan into it’s sheath and walked back to retrieve her saddle
bags. Throwing her cloak over her shoulders and tying it she looking
at him then the door questioningly. He nodded and followed her out
of the room.

The
innkeeper was not in the front room as Rielari reached the front door
which worried her slightly. Following her confused glance, Zefrik
was curious as well. Placing her hand on the hilt of her kampilan
she held her hand up indicating he should wait. He stopped
obediently, slightly worried now.

Cautiously
Rielari pushed the front door open and hesitantly stuck her head out.
Her eyes darted up and down the street rapidly searching for
anything out of the ordinary. Seeing nothing amiss she placed one
foot out and rescanned the street. Still seeing nothing wrong she
reluctantly stepped all the way out into the street. There was a
quality to the silence that bothered her. Motioning over her
shoulder for Zefrik to follow her she stepped away from the entrance.
He was suddenly right behind her and they carefully made their way
back to the stable.

<span style="font-size:mediu

m;”>Turning
the corner to the back of the inn, Rielari heard the grouper making
it’s strange feline growl. She froze and instinctively drew her
kampilan. Holding it in her left hand with the edge outward at a
slight angle across her body, she drew a katana.

“Can
you use this?” she whispered handing it to Zefrik hilt first. He
nodded and she drew the other katana with her right hand. Holding it
straight down she slowly entered the stable.

Rielari’s
keen eyes adjusted quickly to the dim interior but almost to late to
block the sword that swung from the shadows to her right. It glanced
off her katana with a sickening scrapping sound but still managed to
graze her arm.

She
prepared herself for the next blow with lightning quickness. The
next strike she was ready for and she deflected it with ease.
Locating the attacker, Rielari swung her kampilan in a tight ark will
using the katana to block. The other assassin was also using duel
blades and they were pretty equally matched in skill. As they traded
blows she sized up the assassin for any weakness.

Rielari
heard the sound of metal clanking behind her and assumed Zefrik was
defending himself from another attacker. Hearing him curse a few
times it didn’t sound like he was doing to well. She forcibly turned
her attacker so she could get a better look. Zefrik was bleeding
from several wounds and he appeared to be losing energy. She knew
from experience that he couldn’t defend himself much longer. She
quickly dispatched the man she had been toying with up until now with
a well placed thrust to the neck. He gurgled in an attempt to draw
air into his lungs through the large gash, but his last breath was in
vein as he slide from her kampilan into a bubbling heap.

Quickly
Rielari ran towards Zefrik pushing him to the ground moments before
the other assassin’s blade came down. She miscalculated his weight
slightly, it took more of her force to knock him over than she had
anticipated. The blade that had been about to cleave Zefrik’s head
from his body bounced off her blade at a different angle than she had
intended it to. It hit her left thigh and went in deep before the
assassin cursed and tore it free.

Rielari
gasped as the pain shot up her leg. Regaining her composure quickly
she let out her rage and with a rapid succession of thrust disarmed
the assassin.

Holding
her katana to the man’s throat she ground out, “Who sent you?”

The
man smiled up at her and bit down on a small object he had in his
mouth before she could stop him. Foam appeared instantly at his lips
and his eyes rolled to the back of his head. He was dead instantly.

“Damn
it,” Rielari shouted at the man as she kicked him.

 

Turning
her attention to Zefrik she examined his injuries. Most of them were
superficial and just needed to be cleaned, but two of them were very
deep and would need stitches. Walking to the closest assassin she
pulled one of her boot knives out and cut a large piece of the man’s
shirt off. Putting the knife back she rolled the cloth thin and tied
it above the large gash in her leg, it needed stitched as well but
she could wait.