The Four Territories: The Dark Assassin Book One

by Stevie Collier

  Esh smiled when he realized that this had probably all just been a bad dream. A nightmare. He would wake up to find himself in his bed above the sand with the Elder hovering over him with a whip. There would be no black plague hiding somewhere in his chest and they wouldn’t be hunting rektops that sun-cycle. Just picking trash.

  19 - The Bells

  “Morning, lad,”

  Esh’s eyes opened and was shocked as to how well rested he felt. No part of his body hurt and his mind was clear. Just as he had expected, the whole moon-cycle had been just some crazy nightmare and he would continue his training with his mentor.

  As he leaned his body up sand fell from his hair into his face and eyes. He rubbed them and noticed that his hands wore the same black armored gloves from his dream. He released the sand from his hood and stood up patting himself off.

  “Some moon-cycle, eh?” the Elder said, laying in his bed staring up at Esh. “Some moon-cycle indeed.”

  “Yeah,” Esh responded. He looked at the wound and saw that it was charred black and the edge of the skin was a terrible red. When the Elder tried to move his left arm his crispy shoulder would make a crunchy noise and spurts of yellow puss would run down his arm.

  “Not looking too good is it, lad?”

  Tears filled Esh’s eyes as he shook his head. He turned away fast in order to wipe the liquid from the bottoms of his eye lids before the mentor could notice. He could not, however, hide the shakiness in his voice. “I – I tried my best, sir.”

  “I know you did,” the Elder responded with the same amount of shakiness. “And you did an amazing job. I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you a second time.”

  “Well, we have to eat, don’t we?” Esh said jokingly. “We'll do it right next time!”

  The Elder smiled and nodded at him. They both knew by looking at the highly infected missing shoulder that there probably wasn’t going to be a next time.

  “This isn’t good, lad. I need medicine and not just any medicine. I need it from a world class alchemist.”

  “But I don’t--”

  “Yes, you do,” the Elder said, “You do know of one and he knows of you. Remember Xep from the story?”

  Esh nodded. “He’s the one who was able to rejuvenate his own hand after mixing the poison stuff.”

  “Exactly. I need something like it just more powerful as we are not just talking about some scar tissue but a hole in my torso.” The Elder laughed at his own sick joke.

  “Is he still alive, this Xep guy?”

  “’Course he is! He’s just, sort of retired now. Stays off the front lines to work on the potions for all the younger agents and soon to be agents like yourself."

  Before Esh could even ask how to find Xep the Elder’s body when into a sudden lapse of intense seizures. He began to contort in the strangest of ways. He stuck his tongue out and Esh noticed he was biting at it hard. With quick thinking, Esh grabbed one of the daggers off the wall and forced the hilt into the Elder’s mouth. He then used his entire body to lay over the Elder to stop him from moving his shoulder.

  Finally, the Elder went still and drool fell from the sides of his mouth. He was unconscious again but breathing.

  Esh took this time to clean the wound with one of their last liquid canisters and then began snooping around the dungeon, which was more spacious than he had first thought.

  His instincts told him to look in the room in which he had first been fitted with the armor he now wore. The only problem was that the password in order to open the secret entrance had been the Elder’s alcoholic breath.

  But still, Esh walked up to the sandy wall and pressed his face close to it. He let out a gust of breath and… it worked! The Elder must have known that he would have some sun-cycle needed access to this room, or perhaps anyone’s breath would do.

  He walked in and the flames along the walls were still blazing. Were they permanently lit? He walked up to the table in the middle of the room and tapped the top of it but jumped back as the clasps came to life, violently strapping at what it must have thought to be some sort of victim. Once the straps realized nothing was there they relaxed and went lifeless. Esh was afraid to touch anything else in the room, afraid something else might be magically induced to hurt whatever bothered it.

  He stepped away from the table and made his way back to the giant showcase of where the Elder had grabbed his armor. To the left of it was a large indention in the wall that he hadn’t noticed the moon-cycle before. Upon this indention was a long line of different sized hand bells that were covered in cobwebs and dust. Unlike the rest of the strange objects in the room these seemed to not have been in use for a while.

  Bringing his head closer he was able to see different names engraved below each bell. He grabbed a torch off the wall and went from bell to bell reading each name out loud, realizing that they were all in alphabetical order. He passed over the name ‘Drohdroh’ and then later the name ‘Xep’ appeared. Why did the Elder keep bells labeled with the names of different humanoids from the agency? Were they some kind of memorabilia?

  Esh tried to pick up the bell labeled ‘Xep’ but could barely budge it. He used both hands to grasp the handle, lifted it off the platform, and gave it a weak shake. A sudden vibration filled the room and the walls started to shake. Esh dropped the bell, falling to his knees. He could actually see the tremors in the ground swim through the room in waves.

  As soon as the commotion ended Esh picked up the bell and grunted as he placed the damned heavy object back to its resting place. Surely that had woken the Elder, but as he walked out to check he was disappointed to find the male still unconscious on his bed.

  Esh, deciding there was nothing else to do, continued his exploration of the mystery room. He found a bookshelf as tall as the ceiling. It contained all sorts of disorganized literature of insane topics, topics that he would never have seen at the local Reahlic library.

  “Poisons that Rot the Insides,” “Killer Animals that Can Be Easily Domesticated,” and “Surviving off Bodily Functions for Sun-cycles.”

  As strange as they all were, Esh knew he would read each and every one of them. One book in particular took his attention and he pulled it off the shelf. “Alchemy for All: A beginner’s guide that won’t kill you but may do the opposite!"

  Esh laid it down over the large map and began reading the contents but stopped his finger on the section titled “Dirty Wounds Make for Worthless Corpses: Infection Prevention/Curing and other Useful Information”

  He turned to that page and began reading all he could. He had done some of the things already listed in the pages such as cleaning the wound of anything that wasn’t flesh related, cleaning it with liquid, and even the burning part, but there was A LOT that went straight over his head. He was just about to give up when he found exactly what he needed.

  A Simple Concoction for Even the Worst of Infections!

  Ingredients:

  Liquid

  Jugthram Stool

  Warlock hair (Or any sorcerer/sorceress will do)

  Formaldehyde (Which has been storing a humanoid heart for no less than ten years!)

  And of course, some sorcery skill is required.

  Directions:

  Pour all ingredients into a large pot or cauldron over a cold fire. Mix when all has melted. Once you have a brown and grey-ish juice you are ready to apply to the infected area!

  Esh slammed the book shut and was utterly annoyed. “Alchemy for All” was such a lie.

  “What in the four hells is a cold fire?” he exclaimed out loud, rubbing his temples. “There’s no such thing.”

  “I’d beg to differ,” said a voice behind Esh making him jump out of his skin.

  “Who-who’re you?”

  Before him stood a male of medium height, half his face covered in a dark hooded robe. The only part of his face that showed was his bottom chin covered in a black and grey beard that came out in a sharp point. His hands were at his sides and he wasn’t wearing any s
hoes. How did a homeless male make his way in here?

  “Cold fire is just the name given to an artificial heater that can only be felt by objects without a soul. Therefore, you and I cannot experience its flames.”

  Esh, his back to the wall, quickly looked around the room for some sort of weapon and remembered how heavy the bell had been. He ran over and picked it up. He was just about to try and lob it at the intruder when he noticed that the strange male was already making himself at home, rummaging through all the strange vials and jars of different parts of species.

  “That concoction would not have been nearly powerful enough,” he said simply, paying no attention to Esh being armed.

  Esh looked down at the bell in his hand and, realizing how foolish he looked, placed it back.

  “What are you doing here?”

  “I was invited,” the male said, pulling a large pot off the ceiling that had been hung by a chain. He bent over and formed a large hole in the sand with his hand and placed the pot over it.

  “By who?” Esh was using this conversation to preoccupy the male while he looked for a more suitable weapon.

  “You ring that bell over there?”

  Esh looked back at the bell and back at the male, “Yeah, so?”

  “Then you are the one who has invited me,” he said, raising his eyebrows as he placed the apparent last ingredient he needed. “We should be quick, he hasn’t long to live.”

  20 - Alchemy Lesson One

  Esh now knew that the male in front of him was Xep, the one from the story who had been close friends with his father.

  “I’m guessing the trials did not go as planned,” Xep said quietly, still kneeling before the pot. He placed both hands out in front of himself, palms out. Esh heard him whisper a few words under his breath. The room went dark as the flames from the surrounding torches flew towards the pot, mixing together to make a Green whirling fire.

  “What do you mean, trials?” Esh said, trying to act as though he wasn’t at all impressed with the cracking and whizzing of the new element that had just been created before him.

  Xep chuckled to himself but didn’t smile, “If he didn’t tell you then it isn’t the business of mine to explain them.”

  Esh opened his mouth in protest but didn’t say anything. He knew it was more important to save the Elder who laid dying in the other room.

  “What can I do to --?”

  “Grab me the jar labeled as ‘hands of the infant,’” Xep responded immediately. He stuck his hand in the Green fire, pinched a small piece of the flame and threw it at the nearest torch which combusted in Green flame as well.

  Esh grabbed the torch and waved his hand over the fire. He expected to feel something, some sort of burning sensation or even some sort of coolness. Nothing. It was as if he had just merely waved his hand through the air.

  He used the torch to search the different jars and his stomach turned when he finally found it. He thought that the name ‘hands of the infant’ would have been a false title just like the cold fire, but no, these were actual preserved infant hands.

  “Here,” Esh said, handing the jar to Xep who took it without looking.

  The alchemist opened the jar and plucked the tiny hands out as if they were nothing out of the ordinary. “First lesson,” he said, “‘Hands of the infant’ are used for rejuvenation, rehabilitation, and for fertility issues.”

  “But how did you get them?” Esh asked.

  “What?” Xep asked, now looking at Esh as if he had asked some idiotic question.

  “The- the hands of course.”

  “From dead babies?” Xep replied, raising an eyebrow.

  Esh shuttered and quickly changed the subject. “So, these hands help with curing humanoids?”

  Xep nodded and threw the small hands into the pot of black liquid which had now come to a boil. At first, the hands had sunk to the bottom but soon made their way back to the surface. Esh gasped as the tiny little pale hands started to float in the air above the liquid. Each hand found itself another and started to clap in a slow rhythm. This had to have been the creepiest thing he had ever seen.

  Xep put a finger to his lips and shushed the baby hands. He used a gently palm to push them back into the boiling liquid.

  “It is done,” Xep whispered to himself. He reached out and grabbed the entirety of the Green fire and flung it into the air above him. The fire exploded, sending pieces of itself in different directions back to their own torches, lighting the room once again. Xep started for the door in a slow walk and Esh followed behind him.

  “Do we just poor it on the wound?”

  “No, he must drink.”

  “But how? He’s asleep?”

  “He doesn’t need to be awake. These things you will learn.”

  Xep handed Esh the pot and for some reason his first instinct was to smell the concoction. There was no smell and the hands of the baby were nowhere to be seen. Were they really about to feed his mentor melted baby hand juice?

  Xep opened the Elder’s mouth and stuck a finger somewhere deep down his throat. “Now pour,” he said, “slowly.”

  Esh tipped the pot over the Elder’s mouth and let the liquid fall in. He could actually hear the potion falling into the Elder’s stomach. He pulled the pot back after the last of the liquid had been poured. Esh leaned over to look at the Elder’s wound but jumped back in fear when the Elder suddenly took a loud heave of air, his body rising with unnatural speed knocking the pot right out of Esh’s hands.

  The Elder’s body shaking crazily now and he looked into the sky as he howled in pain.

  “Hold him!” Xep commanded sternly, pushing the Elder’s chest back to the bed, “Hold his feet!”

  Esh paused for only a second but quickly regained his mind and ran over to hold the male’s violently kicking feet. He looked up to see the wound had actually begun to move up and down as if something were trying to escape from underneath. New skin appeared around the edges and pulled itself up like fresh sheets on a bed. Something similar happened with the bone fragments. Piece after piece of white bone appeared and started to rebuild itself like a wall. The Elder screamed the whole time this was happening and he kicked Esh hard in the face multiple times, but he would not let go out of fear his mentor would fall off the bed.

  As the process of mending slowly came to a stop, so did the Elder’s screams. Esh let go of his legs and Xep pulled out some cloth to wipe the sweat from the old mentor’s face.

  “You’re looking old,” the Elder said weakly, followed by a cough. He put a hand on Xep’s shoulder who returned the gesture by bending over and giving the Elder a hug.

  “Not as old as you, I’m afraid,” Xep replied.

  Esh’s cheeks burned as he felt tears coming once again. Why did he have to be so weak? It wasn’t like he was going to miss the old mentor. Oh who was he kidding, he knew the Elder was all he had. Xep noticed the tears before Esh could wipe them away.

  “Do you not trust my work?” Xep asked, smiling for the first time.

  The Elder tried several times to get out of bed but Xep refused to let him.

  “Your body needs time to get use to its new tissue,” Xep had said, “Your body may find the new tissue to be an intrusion and may try and reject it. You need —.”

  “Yeah, yeah, I know. I just can’t stand just laying here doing nothing… So… How is everything? Back at the agency?”

  “Good,” Xep replied. “Still strange without you, Rift.”

  “Rift?” Esh asked, looking up from an alchemy book Xep had found off the bookshelf entitled ‘Everything Alchemy’.

  “Yup, that’s my name,” the Elder, Rift, replied.

  “How come I didn’t know that?”

  “Names aren’t important, the training is. Speaking of which, Esh, there is something we need to talk about.”

  “Xep already mentioned the trials,” Esh said, “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  The Elder looked over at Xep as though he should have kno
wn not to have said anything to him about the trials. Xep merely shrugged his shoulders.

  Rift let out a breath of annoyance. “Well, I was gonna talk to you about your trials but there are certain… physiologic trials young agents must go through first. You see, there is a reason why the Agency has banned the sleeping trials.”

  Esh shook his head, “What psychological trials are you talking about?”

  “The idea is to put the student in a terrible situation, one of life or death! Life or death situations are the only means of pulling out any signs that the student may have the ability to survive the serum and month long hibernation,” Rift paused and lapped his mouth making a dry sound, “S’cuse me, Xep. Could you bring me uh—.”

  “Here.” Xep pulled out a small flask from his robes and held it out to him.

  Rift took it, raised it to Xep, and took a long swig. He let out a nasty burp and continued, “You understand now, lad? You couldn’t have known what was going to happen or else you would have been thinking on it too much. This was the only way I could be sure you would survive the trials.”

  “But you got seriously injured!” Esh was beginning to yell. “You were dying! Surely not every trial has to end with getting half your body bitten off!”

  Rift looked embarrassed and scratched his head. Esh could see a small smirk raise on Xep’s mouth.

  “Well, er, yeah. That’s true. You see, lad, I’m getting old and I’m not what I used to be.”

  “So, you made a mistake?”

  “Now that’s quite enough!” Rift shouted, his face getting red. He kept his eyes on Esh as he took another violent swig of the flask. He wiped his mouth and shoved the flask back into Xep’s hands. “I may have made a mistake, and I appreciate you saving my hide but don’t you think for a moment you have the authority to speak to me like that!”

  Esh wanted to walk over and punch the Elder in the face, but resisted. His own face burned with embarrassment in front of the new guest. “Sorry, sir.”