The Four Territories: The Dark Assassin Book One

by Stevie Collier

  “Doesn’t sound like you know what you’re talking about either,” Esh said, smiling down upon his old mentor.

  “You have ten seconds to go and introduce yourself before I whip your ass in front of them! Now go!”

  Esh knew his Master wasn’t kidding and that he would actually use that old cane of his to start beating him in front of the females. He found this to be a little less appeasing than the talking. And so he forced one foot after the next to walk over to the group of females. They were becoming closer and closer, their breasts growing larger and larger with each step.

  He could see that their sweat had revealed their nipples through their thin white cloth dresses and panic arose in him, far more than the time him and Xep had alchemically conjured a miniature Xendra, a beast with razor sharp pincers that nearly took off his foot before they could kill it.

  One of the shorter females elbowed the gang leader as Esh approached and all three gasped at how big he was up close. He must have been a giant compared to all the other males they had seen. Esh looked back at Rift for reassurance but found that he was only making kissing faces and embracing his cane in a sexual manner. Esh was alone on this mission.

  “Err… Hi,” he stammered in the Reahlic tongue.

  They didn’t respond. They also weren’t smiling any more. Reahlic was most likely too formal for this situation. He was already screwing this up. He had to say something in the common tongue, and quick!

  “Um… You look hot in those clothes you are wearing.” He quickly realized how much of a pervert he must have looked like, now. The panic grew inside him and his normal perspiration from the heat doubled. The females slowly away from him, fear on their faces.

  “Don’t be afraid,” he said, “I only wanted to-” Esh put a hand out to show them that he would bring no harm to them, but it was the wrong thing to do. The females screamed and fell over themselves trying to get away. Esh yelled too and turned to run himself. For the first time in a long time, Esh tripped over his own feet and fell on his face. He picked his head up and looked back. The females were sprinting away from him.

  It felt like all the humanoids of Reah were now looking down on him and laughing.

  Rift was there and gave him a hand. “Great first try, you’ll get ‘em next time, lad.”

  Esh stood up and brushed the ash from his legs and chest. “Did you see the way they looked at me? Like I was a monster…”

  Rift scratched his head. He squinted back up at Esh and said, “Well, they aren’t used to someone as… large as you.” He punched Esh in the arm playfully but pulled back his fist in a bit of pain.

  His mentor was right, he had grown so tall and so massive in the last five years. His mentor and Xep were both considered tall for humanoids of Reah and Esh towered over both of them. It wasn’t until now that he realized just how big his arms, legs and chest were. Just a few more attributes to make him stand out even more so.

  “How can I ever become an agent if I turn out to be socially unstable,” Esh asked, walking back with Rift to continue their work.

  “That’s your own damn fault, lad. Don’t blame me that you spend all your time lifting heavy objects and eating as much as a rektops.” Rift looked up and saw Esh’s disappointed face. “However, I do think you’re right. We do need to practice your social skills. How about first thing in the morning? You’ll have to wake up extra—”

  “Oh thank you, Master!” Esh pulled Rift into a tight embrace.

  Rift pushed him off of him in a curse but felt joy in his heart. They both loved each other, father and son.

  They were walking back to the hut after their long sun-cycle’s work; the Elder cracking laughs at him in his expense the entire way there.

  “You look hot in them clothes! Why don’t you take em off for a good ole lad like me?” he would say, jabbing his finger into Esh’s ribs.

  After it was all said and done Esh couldn’t help but laugh at himself. Out of everything the Elder and Xep had put him through the last few years, talking to those females had been the most terrifying mission yet!

  A flapping piece of paper attached to a pole caught his attention.

  “One second, Master,” he said, walking over to the flier and ripping it off its post. It read ‘WANTED! WARRIORS OF ALL KINDS! TOURNAMENT BEGINS SEVEN SUN-CYCLES FROM NOW! REWARD: 200,000 REAHLIC COIN AND ONE WISH FROM THE KING HIMSELF! ANONYMOUS ENTRIES WELCOME. RULES WILL BE PRESENTED AT TIME OF REGISTRATION.

  Esh looked down the road and realized that he had been picking up these fliers off the ground all sun-cycle and hadn’t even read one. He must have been preoccupied with his failure with the opposite sex.

  “What do you think about this, Master?” Esh asked, handing the flier to the Elder who looked over it just for a second before handing it back to him.

  “What of it? It’s the same tourney every year. Pretty large event too, very celebrated by the humanoids of Zel.”

  “How come I haven’t heard anything about it?”

  The Elder shrugged, “Probably because your face is either behind a weapon or in a book. Told you that you need to get out more.”

  Esh bit his bottom lip and reread the flier. “I’m gonna join,” he said.

  The Elder stopped and stood in the ash, peering up at him through squinted eyes. He lifted his cane and poked at Esh in different spots, grumbling to himself and nodding his head. “You’d kill them, you know that, right?”

  “I don’t know that, Master. I think it will be a great to test my strength.” Rift looked at him with a worried expression on his face. "A test of my strength without my powers, of course.”

  “I was gonna say, lad! You’d slaughter them all!”

  They walked along in silence. Esh knew the Elder was deep in thought and didn’t want to disturb him. If his Master decided that it was not a good idea he would not go behind his back. His rebellious sun-cycles were behind him and he had grown to be a patient and understanding humanoid.

  He was especially kind to animals, he had grown to enjoy being surrounded by their company. And the animals seem to like him too and it was not uncommon for different metal-covered birds to fly to his shoulders while he was at work. Rift, upon seeing Esh’s affection for animals, gave him the fake name of gentle giant, but Esh didn’t mind. Turns out it suited him perfectly.

  “I think it’s a good idea.” Rift said as soon as they reached the hut.

  “You really think so?”

  “Yeah, why not? I think it would be, like you said, a great test of your strength. The deciding factor for me was the anonymous entry, which I think is a must.”

  Esh was a little disappointed. He found excitement in the thought of humanoids cheering his name in triumph rather than hatred. But he knew the old Master was right, if all the humanoids of Reah knew his name than the Order would never take him. Yet, did it even matter anyways? Lately, Esh had been having second thoughts about joining the other agent recruits. What he really wanted was to explore the other four territories! That was his dream. To escape the Red sun. But wouldn’t that be a waste of his talents? A waste of the old Master’s time invested in him?

  “You there, lad?” Rift said, poking him again with his cane. “I don’t have all sun-cycle, what are you gonna do?”

  Esh shook himself out of his fantasy, “I’ll join, Master. And I will take your advice by entering nameless.”

  “Good choice.” The Elder walked into the hut without any more words on the subject.

  Esh wanted to jump up and down like a child. He let his excited heart do the jumping for him. Now what should he do? He had seven sun-cycles to prepare! What should he train? Where was he weak? What should he wear? He decided he would ask his mentors for help.

  Esh was given permission the next sun-cycle to skip his training and travel the long journey to the coliseum which was built at the other far end of the city of Zel. He was just as poor as his mentor which meant he had no currency to rent a transportation shagra nor did he have enough Rea
hlic coin to just pay for a ride. His feet would be his transportation. He packed himself three large meals for the journey and set off before the sun had turn to face him.

  He couldn’t help but notice that the further he walked towards the other end of Zel how much the housing seemed to become more and more… habitable. And not just the houses but the streets around them were so much cleaner and filled with vendors selling delicious smelling foods and all sorts of different luxuries Esh had never seen.

  The bottom of his boots no longer stepped onto ash but onto cleanly swept roads which somehow made the world around him seem so much brighter. The humanoids who walked on these roads didn’t seem to notice how clean their living spaces were. They wore clothing of all different colors and shiny jewelry around their necks and in their ears.

  This was also Esh’s first time seeing slaves. They looked exactly like the humanoids from the slums he had grown up in except now that they ported collars around their necks which were connected by thin ropes with the other end held in a tight grip by the owner.

  Each slave was highly malnourished, their ribs poking through their dark skin with only a small piece of garment to hide their genitals. Esh had to look away from the females for they were given no coverage for their breasts. It took every ounce of self-control in him to stop from releasing all of their bindings and helping them run back to their ghettos. Absolute sorrow hit him hard in his heart and he now knew what he would wish of the king.

  Most everybody stopped their business to turn towards the giant dressed in drabs now walking down their streets. Their astonishment with his size was quickly followed by looks of utter disgust at the way he was dressed. At least the humanoids in his neighborhood had the decency to ignore him.

  He didn’t care what others thought about him, he was long past caring about stuff like that for he already wore a mark of their disapproval on his chest. There is nothing worse they could do to him now.

  It wasn’t long before the coliseum began to peak over the horizon. It looked as though it could hold half the city inside its walls. The structure itself was made entirely of obsidian rock which Esh knew to be a volcanic glass that was almost as expensive as granite. The coliseum was so beautiful and shiny that it was hard to believe that it was made for humanoids to fight and die within it. It was way more beautiful than how the books described it.

  As he walked closer to the entrance he saw a large cart being pulled from one of the gigantic entrances filled with thin humanoid bodies. Their faces stuck in horrified positions and their causes of death were varied. Some had been cut clean through, others were missing limbs and some looked as if they had been eaten alive. The smell of death now covered the air, a stale citrus had been used to try and cover up the stench but all it did was create a cocktail that depressed anyone who smelled it. That was most likely why most houses were built away from the coliseum, giving them a wide berth from the smell.

  Esh forced himself to pull his mind off of it and walk towards the entrance made for the living. There was a line of odd humanoids signing up for entry, some looked to be fighting fit while others looked in desperate need of the currency and had no business in these games. All the entries looked back at Esh as he stepped in last position of the line. A lot of the smaller fighters shrugged their shoulders and exited the line, rethinking their plan. The seasoned fighters must have known size wasn’t everything when it came to fighting, they only puffed out their chests and turned their backs to him.

  About an hour into the wait a fight broke out in the middle of the line.

  “Ayy you cheated me out of my spot!” Esh heard one of the fighters say. He was a smaller male and one of his ears looked to have been chewed off at a certain point in his life. His arms were wrapped as if he was already prepped for a fight. The male he was yelling at paid him no attention.

  “Ayy you hear me ya stoopid shit? You best move ya ass!”

  Still no reply.

  The littler male drew his weapon and the line backed up a few feet to let the fighters handle their business. The small assailant didn’t wait for his opponent to draw and sprung at him. The fight lasted only a moment.

  The larger of the males, without even looking back, merely sidestepped out of the way. The smaller one’s sword clanged off the ground. The large male swung around and back fisted the assailant in the face, teeth shattered and flew into the black dreadlocks of the fighter behind them. The sword dropped from the small male’s hand and he crumbled to the ground, his head dented in towards his brain.

  The fighter behind didn’t bother to dust the teeth particles out of his hair but merely kicked the small corpse out of his way as he took over his position.

  There was no more excitement after this and time seemed to drag on and on before finally it was Esh’s turn.

  “Name,” the female said behind the counter without looking up.

  “No name,” Esh replied and the female wrote.

  “Your number is four hundred and three. Next!”

  Another fighter placed an arm on Esh’s shoulder but he shrugged it off. “Wait a second, what about the rules?”

  The female looked up with a bored attitude, but woke up once she saw Esh’s massive build. “You telling me you don’t know the rules? Where you from?”

  “It doesn’t matter,” Esh said, shrugging off another attempt of the fighter behind him trying to push him out of the way. “The flier said you would give me the rules.”

  The registrar let out an annoyed air, “Fine. Four battle royals consisting of a hundred and something fighters each. Those who survive makes it to the pyramid. Got that?”

  “What’s the pyramid?”

  “Gah you kiddin’ me? Hurry up!” Esh heard from behind him.

  The female was becoming more annoyed by the second. “Four one on one. No outside weapons, you choose from our wares. Winners fight the winners. The champion gets the currency prize and a wish from the king. Next!”

  The crowd behind him was growing aggressive, he could feel it. He had more questions but thought it best to make his leave. He didn’t notice the male behind him had placed his leg out and Esh tripped hard busting his knee on the ground. The entire line including the registrar laughed at him.

  His cheeks burned in embarrassment as he pulled himself up. He should have seen that coming but had let his guard down. He turned to the male who had pulled the nasty trick. Long curly black hair fell to his shoulders and he gave Esh a toothy smile. Both eyes had been tattooed black in order to give off a menacing look which looked more ridiculous to Esh than anything.

  The curly haired male spat at Esh and he barely jumped out of the way in time. The humanoids laughed more as Esh made his way out. He looked back to see the trickster pull a thumb across his neck at him.

  Esh made it home before sunrise the next sun-cycle and let himself crash into his sand-ridden bed. He was just about to pass out when the Elder came and shook him awake.

  “Don’t think you can go to sleep without telling me about your trip!”

  “Oh, sorry Master,” Esh said, rubbing his eyes. “I thought you were asleep.”

  “Oh, I was! But your clumsy self needs to work on its infiltration! I could have been deaf and still heard you come down that hole.”

  Esh knew it wasn’t his skill in the art of sneak that needed work but that the Elder had an unnaturally amazing hearing ability.

  “Go on! Tell me.”

  And so Esh did. He told him about the clean city which he never knew to have existed. He talked about his first experience with slavery and how sick it had made him. He told him about the cart of bodies.

  “Ah yes, I was hoping you might see that,” said Rift.

  “Master, why? Why would you want me to see something so terrible?”

  “Because you needed to! You need to see how evil resides in this land.”

  Esh didn’t say anything.

  “And don’t you dare try and do what you’re planning on doing.” Rift said, making hi
s way back to his bed.

  “What do you mean?” Esh tried to sound as if he had no idea what his old Master was getting at.

  “Don’t play stupid, I know you, lad. You’re gonna try and wish to free the slaves, but it won’t work.”

  “How do you know?” Esh said in a tone ruder then he had planned. “I’m sorry, Master.” He added quickly.

  “Don’t apologize. I respect that about you and I wish I still had your innocence. However, you cannot believe even for a moment that the king of this land, a king that sits on a golden throne made from the profits of slavery, will even give half a second of thought of your wish.”

  “But he will be in a coliseum filled with humanoids! Can he really ignore my wish in front of so many?”

  The Elder crawled into his bed which he seemed to be doing slower and less gracefully with each passing sun-cycle. “A coliseum filled with the rich, lad. These humanoids will not blame or hate the king for ignoring your wish. I would even think he might sic the greowlds on you!”

  Esh thought back on the bodies he saw on the cart, the ones that had been eaten alive. Some had had their stomachs chewed out while some heads looked to have been pulled off forcefully. He shuddered as he realized that these must have been the work of the greowlds, furry four legged beasts with massive humanoid looking heads. They must have been fed often for them have decided not to finish their food.

  “Have you ever seen a tournament at the coliseum before, Master?” Esh asked, but was met with heavy snoring. So much for his master’s amazing hearing abilities.

  29 - Geared Up

  The next sun-cycles rushed passed as Esh trained his heart out. Despite Esh’s arguing, the Elder made him stay home and train rather than help him pick up the trash around Zel. Xep had started to give him homemade nutrition potions that really helped his recovery after the long and backbreaking workouts.

  However, Rift and Xep both agreed that he should take the last two sun-cycles to rest and study battle tactics out of books, this way his body would be fully prepared for a full sun-cycle of battling. This would be his first time in a long time that Esh would be fighting for his life. Even though his Master told him to fight seriously and take every sparring session as if life or death, Esh rarely ever did. He knew deep down he would pull back the strike if it ever came to that. Luckily, it hadn’t yet.