The beam kept up for nearly six heartbeats before cutting off abruptly. The ground around the three enemies glowed slightly green with the excess energy from the spell. But the three figures still stood, unharmed. The gray beard, however, was panting. “But it doesn’t work so well against evocation. That spell was one I learned from my apprentice! Tell me, Po’tak, have you learned any spells from your apprentice? It’s a novel experience if you haven’t.” The other elderly mage did not respond as far as Ke’dra could tell. Simply struggling to stand as he held on to the much younger woman. “Well, I suppose not. But I can’t imagine how much safer my experimentation would have been. What if I able to conjure shields like this at a whim? I tell you—” The old mage kept speaking, devouring or diverting spells thrown his way. Jekkel was moving from room to room, switching locations in his tower as he slowly made his way down.
Ke’dra knew exactly what her boss expected. He had placed her here to watch and wait just for this, in case someone tried to attack him once the barrier fell. She looked down at her waist. There were dozens of tiny glass vials. She reinforced the glass with her mana, one of the few magic tricks her former master had taught her. Before she had jumped ship out of that clearly dying organization. She rummaged through her choices until she found the two she was looking for. She uncorked the first and drank it whole, allowing the magic in it to take effect. Less than a minute later she was invisible to the naked eye, and most forms of basic divination. The second vial she kept clutched in her hands.
Ke’dra kept her steps to the stones, leaving as little impression in the snow as possible. Her shoes were magically enchanted to deal with the ice, like most people of means in the north. But they had an additional enchantment. They would cover her tracks in snow and leaves if she moved slowly.
When she was finally close enough, she pulled the stopper on the vial and threw it at the trio. The liquid spilled out as the vial flew over their heads. As the concoction fell, it turned into a pink mist that landed around their feet and slowly rose as the alchemical reaction continued.
“It’s alchemy, not magic! I can’t stop it, get Po’tak away!” The graybeard yelled. Po’tak inhaled and his eyes opened wide, bringing the pink mist deep into his lunges. The woman screamed as she picked him up and backed away from the mist. The three got away on horses with hooves beating on the ash and snow-covered ground.
She watched them run, and a smile crossed her face. She knew what would happen to the two mages, though the woman had left untouched. “My lady, how may I serve?” It was the voice of one of her own employees. Her loyal second, a wisp of a man who she had trained in the basics of alchemy. Though the man had come to her with skills she herself lacked, and she had learned much from him.
“Wake the others. We’ll need to move things up a day or two, but we should be alright. And bring me my daggers, I’ll be needing them.” The assassin bowed deeply and disappeared again. The man didn’t need alchemy to become invisible. His class skills gave him that ability without the need for a potion. Still, he bowed to her, and even now, years after their relationship had solidified into what it was today, that still gave her a thrill. Assassins at her command. The little wood fetcher has more power than father ever would have expected, she thought as she began making her way to the base of her employer’s tower.
When she arrived, Jekkel was at the entrance. “I could have handled them. I didn’t need your interference and I won’t pay more for it.” She brushed it off.
“Consider it pro-bono. I wanted to make sure that new brew worked, and it did so nicely.” She knew better. So did he. He has explicitly instructed her to be ready to respond, and she had. But it was clear Jekkel was angry enough at the attack. There was no need for her to antagonize him further.
“Good. Gather your assassins, you’ll need to strike first. I’ve called the others and they should arrive soon. ”
“I don’t think you’ll need those second-rate mercs. My guild will handle this before it even begins.”
“If that happens, I’ll pay you double what I’ve already offered under contract.” She smiled and bowed slightly at the waist.
“It’ll be handled as soon as I leave.” With that, she activated the remaining invisibility potion in her veins and disappeared from view. Jekkel scoffed and closed the double doors. He had never considered her alchemic work worthy of true magi, but he kept coming back to her with work. For Ke’dra that was an admission of her utility.
As she made her way through the woods back to her guilds camp, she saw hundreds of sigils carved into the earth. He had spread them out in different defensive rings around the tower. They light up behind her as she passed by. He had wasted so much time and effort on defense when all he really needed was the right type of offense. She’d make him regret wasting so much money on fall backs. For not trusting her and her people’s skills. Then again, the gold that filled her coin purse and the magic that she had gained from their relationship had gone far in soothing her and her assassin’s wounded pride.
---
The small square outside the modest if well-made and maintained estate teemed with people from all walks of life. Hundreds of them, noble guards standing shoulder to shoulder with rogues and cut purses. Highwaymen commiserating with semi-retired knights about the biting winter cold of the early morning. Would be magi and apprentices traded pleasant barbs with priests who were too young or too old for the long march to the sea. But above it all, what gave her pause was the two stone-still figures that seemed to stare at each other over the crowd.
A golem of metal and stone that had the head of a dragon glared daggers through its energy based eyes at a singular man who stood tall above most in the gathered throng. His dark ebony armor soaking up the early morning sunlight like a sponge would water. A Dreadknight, and whatever strange amalgamation that the wizard had crafted out of stone, bone, and metal. To Ke’dra’s eyes it looked like some otherworldly magic had merged the Jekkel’s ape beast creation with the wizard’s pet undead dragon.
If she failed here, Ke’dra knew Jekkel stood no chance of victory against the hundreds strong throng of varied skills, abilities, and talents that sought to march against him. He wouldn’t leave, though, not until he broke her. His new pet project. His prize, the woman that Ke’dra had heard screaming from the top of the tower most nights in the dead of darkness. The sounds she made sent shivers down her spine and reminded her of her own time under the man’s brutal knife. And not all the memories were from pain. Pain Ke’dra could handle. What gave her pause was the fact that the woman hadn’t broken. Like she had. The hate and bile that just the night before had spilled from her lips had given Ke’dra nightmares. The promises of vengeance, of destruction and ruin that she spat seemingly reflexively after every cut, had made her shiver in dread as she dreamed.
It doesn’t matter, Jekkel is an idiot, but he hired the right talent to make up for his foolishness. Ke’dra sent a piercing whistle through the air in a single long, drawn out note. A few of the assembled people shot looks in her general direction, but most ignored her. Her guild was already in place. The signal was for their distraction.
A few moments later dozens of mid-level mercenaries emerged from the empty outbuildings that Ke’dra had cleared among the other low-level noble estates. This wasn’t the palace, after all. The people here were susceptible to some shattered glass and quick knife work. As the mercs poured out of several empty homes and outbuildings on different estates, they assembled themselves in quick and clean formations. Spears and shields glinted in the bright morning light and doubly reflected the light that came off the snow underfoot.
Shouts arose from the gathered and disorganized ‘army of vengeance’ as people tried to create an organized resistance to the sudden threat. The priests pulled back behind the Traser estates walls. The knights each stood with their guards and retainers, small islands of calm and organization among the chaos. The bulk of the wizard’s force seemed to do little but stand and pick
up their weapons. They mulled about, as others with children, or who were carrying supplies or helping the healers and support staff move important supplies to safety, streamed past them. Those that stayed and lifted weapons waited calmly, patiently, as if for a storm to break.
Ke’dra ignored all of this, the positioning, the chaos. It was all what she had hoped for, and more. Her target was bent over the two old men she had poisoned. Silent, unmoving, oblivious to the world around him. Energy sparked in small flashes of various mana types as he and several other spell casters, including two priests, worked in quiet coordination. It was exactly as she had hoped.
She let out another whistle, this one long and low. Several shadows in different alleys or rooftops moved, shadows and spells of disinterest wrapped around them. Protecting them from passive or casual observation. She uncorked the second bottle of her stealth potion. It contained elements of condensed Silent Movement and Invisibility, granting her better protections than most of her assassins.
Ke’dra moved quietly and smoothly through the crowed. Moving with the non-combatants towards the rear of the estate. When the first clashes of steel on steel rang through the air, she smiled faintly. As the fighting intensified, the stream of humanity finally faded. Battle lines hardened as more of the random cut purses, knights, and squires joined the fight. This wasn’t a proper battle, she knew, but it was the closest thing that she could orchestrate in the city streets. As she got closer to her target, she saw green watch fires along the walls burst to life. Their light alerting the city watch to the battle that had just begun raging behind her.
Ke’dra pulled daggers from their sheaths under her arms. Their blades gleamed in the light for just a moment before being wrapped up in her alchemical stealth. A moment later, there was nothing between her and her target. The other members of her guild would strike a second after she did, felling the guards and allies before they could respond. That was the plan, and it had never failed her before.
To her surprise, the largest man she had ever seen, more a half-giant than an actual person, turned towards the approach of several of her guild members. She could feel more than see her men hesitate in their advance on the glaring bear of a man. He clearly couldn’t see them, but something else had alerted him to the sense of danger. A sound, or even the subtle change in temperature, might have given them away. Another man, this one in full plate, stepped forward, drawing a long sword from its sheath that crackled with electricity.
“What is it Tol’geth?” The younger knight asked. His eyes darted around the space between their little party, still desperately trying to heal the two poisoned old men and the battle line. “Quinn, what are you?! —” The younger man’s eyes fixing on Ked’ra. No, not on her, just behind her.
Ke’dra felt the knife bite into her back, a few inches to the left of her spine just above the kidney. It wasn’t a mortal blow, but it was damned close. Hissing, she lurched forward and whirled on her attacker, daggers raised, to stop the attack. Her invisibility didn’t drop like it would have if it was an ability. Her’s was alchemical. Which was its strength.
“Thought you could sneak up on us, bitch? Try again!” A moment later, three other figures appeared, as if out of nowhere. Each of these new players attacked one of Ked’ra’s men. Her people’s invisibility and stealth skills flickered as they lost concentration. Her men desperately whirled to defend themselves before turning invisible once again. “Get’em boys!” Quinn yelled. Nearly a third of her assassins had been engaged by these mid-level rouges. Quinn’s lieutenants had joined the fight. Still, the other assassins would know what to do. They would find their targets and finish the mission. All Ked’ra had to do was stop these from interfering.
Silently Ke’dra lashed out with her knives and was met by a simple short sword in a nearly masterful perry. Ke’dra was level 17, she was a trained alchemist, had been trained as a squire in basic sword craft. On top of that she had been learning the use of her Vipers Fang daggers for nearly two years. She was a deadly fighter, and she knew it. But this peasant, this Quinn, dressed in dregs, wielding nothing but a basic and poorly cared for short sword and a mocking grin had matched her for speed. He parried both her dagger strikes one after the other. But that had left him in a defensive stance, one that she knew how to counter.
Ke’dra stepped around him, using his own stance as leverage to move her body in a smooth whirling motion directly after her strikes. Less than a heartbeat later, she would face his back. She would face his back and bury her daggers deep into his—”.
*Ting!*
Her daggers hit that damned short sword again! She pushed herself back, away and out of his strike range. He faced her, his grin even wider.
“Thought you had me there, didn’t you?” He asked, smiling. “Man, I bet you think you’re hot stuff, huh? That little trick might work out here in the sticks, but in the ports to the south they would eat you alive.” He struck out with his short sword, cutting deep into her forearm and forcing her to drop one Fang. Ke’dra hissed as she pulled her hand back and began fumbling at one of the small vials around her waist. She uncorked the vial just as Quinn launched another attack that bit deep into her right arm, forcing her to drop the second dagger. As he did, she threw the vial of acid directly into his face.
He lifted his sword to block the blow, but the acid quickly dissolved the weapon. Splashes of the brew fell on his clothes, causing them to sizzle and crackle. He dropped the sword as it quickly dissolved and stepped back, removing the traveling cloak that had taken the brunt of the acid splash.
Ke’dra had used that moment of hesitation and panic in her opponent to uncork another vial and down it as well. The concoction hit her stomach hard, unlike most of her other brews that dissolved on the way down. This one sat heavy in her stomach for just a moment before dissolving and filling her body with warmth. Granting her Fast Healing. The deep cuts in her arms re-knit, leaving only thin pink lines that would eventually turn into soft scars. As she darted forward, picking up her daggers, she saw her second take a mace to the head. His skull exploded, sending blood and viscera scattering over the cobblestones. Ke’dra’s heart ran cold as the other rouge flattened his skull before moving on to another hidden figure sneaking up on the huddled group.
Fear gripped the daughter of the paper maker as she cast her eyes across the snow covered cobblestones. Nearly all of her people had been caught or slain. Two had surrendered and were tied up laying on the ground waiting to be dragged off to gods above knew what fate. If she failed here, even if Jekkel was forced to flee, she would be back there. Under his knife. Fear spiked through her, not of death here in the fighting, but of the fate that awaited her. Her gaze fell on the small knot of targets and found the most important one. The wizard. As her arms healed and her fingers gripped her fangs , she darted towards him. Leaving the still reeling Quinn behind.
My stealth is still active. I’ll be able to kill him and then get out in time before it fully wares off. I’ll pull back, regroup and begin making the guild again from scratch. And, and I’ll stop taking jobs from Jekkel. Ke’dra grew close, just a few more strides past the guards. Even a scratch from her daggers would fell any of them. Once he’s dead, I’ll come back for the rest of them and
A massive hand reached out and plucked her off the ground mid stride. The fingers were iron as they closed around her neck. The bear man lifted her to meet his eyes. She swung her fangs in a spinning arch, trying to gut him. They simply tinged off of his, his abbs? Panic shot through her as the bear man’s other hand found both of her wrists. With a single brutal motion, he shattered them with a powerful squeeze.
Ke’dra screamed, and her stealth evaporated. The elements in the potion burning away before the attention of others. Alchemy wasn’t just chemistry, it was the distillation of intents, of purpose, of elements of magic mixed using the laws and tools of chemistry. Magic and science mixed. Her mind withdrew from the pain and reeled wildly as the barbarian glared daggers into her soul. T
his man was to be her death, he was to be her end.
Her last thought before her mind fled from consciousness was that her father would be deeply disappointed. He had wanted her to be a hospitaller, but here she was, a failed assassin.
Chapter 20: Forsaking
"Our task is to become our best selves. One of God's greatest gifts to us is the joy of trying again, for no failure ever need be final." -Thomas S. Monson
The Traser Estate, City of Sowers Vale, 9th Novos, 2989 AoR
When I came out of the trance, having given nearly every ounce of my mana to Ailsa as she and the priests of the Dead God attempted to heal Zed and Po’tak, I found the ground littered with people. Dead, dying, and injured. Most of them I had never seen before, but some of them were members of the penal legion. Even one of the non-order associated, semi-retired knights who had answered Traser’s call for help was sitting on the ground nursing a wounded arm under broken and bent armor.
“What in the?” I asked. I turned back and catch Ailsa as she nearly collapsed to the ground. “Are you alright?” I asked, and after a moment, she gave a nod.
“I’m fine meat head, just tired. Don’t worry, I’m not mana sick. Thanks to you and those two guys.” she gestured towards the two black-robed priests. It was the same priest I had asked to take the confessions of every member of the penal legion. The boy was some an apprentice from what I gathered. “I still have my full mana bar. But channeling and casting that much energy takes it out of a girl.” I nodded and gently put her in my satchel. Next to several highly dangerous magical artifacts. What, it’s where she usually likes to hang out.
I stood straight and found Traser and Tol’geth standing next to each other. Traser was missing his armor and nursing a nasty cut to his side. “Can someone please explain?” I asked. Ailsa gave a muffled yell of agreement.
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