I stopped and dropped my blades. I couldn’t believe it.
“You’re the mole?”
His eyes went wide, and he violently shook his head. “I have no idea what you are talking about. What mole?”
“How did you know to follow me? How did you know my real name? You must have known somehow.”
“I came into town because my sword was becoming dull. I requested the blacksmith make me a new one before we went on the trip to Oslor. When I returned, there was a letter saying my sword was done. I came into town to pick it up and try it, and when I was returning back to the castle, I heard your voice. When I heard that other man call you Mal, I knew something was up and that I needed to talk to you.”
“So you aren’t the one that leaked the information about the trade to the townspeople?”
He shook his head. “I don’t know what trade you’re talking about.”
Crap. I had assumed he was the leak.
“Asher, can I trust you?”
He nodded his head and smiled. The moonlight caught his blue eyes, and they shone like the ocean, and I couldn’t help but smile back.
“Follow me, and I’ll explain everything.”
Once we returned to the castle, Asher led me to a remote part of the grounds he used for private training. It was a shed covered by growth of the gardens so it was almost impossible to detect. From the outside, it looked quite small, but when Asher opened the doors and I stepped in, it was spacious inside. There was all sorts of training equipment, some of which was different to what the guards usually used. I figured he had bought this stuff with his own money. On the back wall was a nice selection of weapons.
“Nice set up. I wish I had a lot of this stuff in my quarters.”
“It has taken me a while to get it like this, but it’s worth it when I beat the other guards when we spar.”
I nodded and continued to look around. Asher just stood there and waited for me to start explaining.
I took a deep breath and began. “I am an assassin. My position here is a job I was hired to do. I needed to get close to the king and watch him.”
“But why? How?” In his eyes, I could tell he was curious.
“It all started before I became a guard here. I was contacted for a job. The job was to get close to the king and watch him. I didn’t question it as long as I was getting paid. I became a guard and waited long enough until there was a position opening close enough to the king that I could watch what he was doing. It wasn’t until then I discovered the trade between King Jarrett and King Rathgar but, for some reason, King Jarrett won’t allow me in on what the trade is.”
As I explained it all, Asher picked up two wooden swords and threw one over to me. I smiled and met him on the sparring mat in the centre of the room. We started with the basics as I continued to explain. I told him about how the kings wouldn’t allow me to see what they were doing while in Oslor to the point where King Jarrett got mad when I tried to push for more information. As we upped the training we were doing, we got more focused on sword fighting than my explaining of it all.
By the end of it, we had made it to the advanced reps, and Asher was starting to get worn out. I laughed and bowed at his efforts to try and keep up with me.
“How are you so fit?”
“Assassin, remember? Plus, I have a rigorous work out that I do before bed every night.”
He laughed and packed up everything we had used. As we went to leave the training shed, I stopped Asher in the door, and even though he was taller than me, I stood my ground.
“If you mention a word about my assignment here, I will kill you and the person you tell. You understand. You said I could trust you, and I need to know that I can. When we see each other around the castle, you are to call me Callie. From now on, Mal does not exist. Only Callie.”
He nodded. “Of course you can trust me. I will not tell a soul.”
Two weeks went by, and it was time for my meeting with Fletcher and Killian again. Every night had become a new routine. After having dinner with the king and Malik, my free time would be spent with Asher, training in his shed. The nights he was scheduled for guard duty I would train alone in my quarters and he would visit me after.
A few nights he would come to me with new routes for me to take for when I had to leave the castle. Finally, it was time for me to try one. The route Asher had told me was a small path behind his training shed. It was a tight squeeze in a small section of an old inner wall that still connected to the castle wall. After I made it through the inner wall, I climbed over the castle wall and dropped into the forest behind. When I made it out without any trouble or hiding from the guards, I realised this was the route I would be taking from now on.
The meeting went on shorter than usual as we didn’t have much to report on. So by the time I made it back to the castle, I could hear Asher training in the shed.
I unlocked the door from the outside and stepped in. He mustn’t have heard me enter because he didn’t stop what he was doing. I stood there for a moment and watched him. He had taken his tunic off, and each time he moved to do a rep, I could see the muscles on his chest and back moving along with him. He was definitely attractive. I must have been drooling with my mouth open because when I finally realised he had stopped, he was looking right at me.
“How did the meeting go?” he asked, completely ignoring the fact that I was staring at his half naked body.
“It wasn’t much of a meeting. There wasn’t anything to report on. The king is still keeping me out of anything to do with the trade and nothing much else has happened in town for Killian’s end.”
Asher nodded and threw me a wooden sword. I nodded and unfastened my cloak. In the few weeks Asher and I had been training together, he was starting to get a lot stronger and faster. A couple of times he almost beat me, but I still had the upper hand. We had gone into town and found some more training books, ones that taught us techniques that the guards didn’t learn. But we were still a while from showing them off in a sparring match with the other guards.
The techniques we were learning were a lot more advanced than the guards were equipped to handle. It focused on speed as well as strength and agility. We worked on each of those aspects before putting them all together in the one fighting style. When I thought about it, it was a perfect fighting style for an assassin.
While we began our warm ups, I questioned Asher on parts of his life. Since he knew a lot more about me, I wanted to know more about him.
“What made you become a guard?” I asked.
He paused for a moment and looked at me like the question caught him off guard. “My father. He used to talk about honour and fighting for your kingdom. Before he died, he was one of the greatest captain of the guards that King Jarrett ever had, besides Captain Malik, of course. When he got sick, I promised him that I would fight for our kingdom just like he wanted, so the day after he died, I signed up.”
The look on his face was strange, almost like he was conflicted. There was love flowing in his eyes, but the hard line he held his mouth at showed some anger.
“Do you not believe in his ideals?”
He shook his head and looked into my eyes. “Of course I do. If it was any other kingdom, if I could move to become another king’s guard, I would.”
“Why?”
“I don’t trust King Jarrett.”
If you plan to continue with this series, there’s an epilogue…but I suggest you stop here if you don’t like cliffhangers and don’t plan to continue.
Thanks for reading!
Epilogue
I was taken back by his words. I had no idea if he meant that by what I had told him about the trade and my job to watch him or if he truly believed it. I stopped the reps I was doing and stared at him. I was lost for words. Someone who had vowed to protect his king by becoming his guard didn’t trust him. It was something unheard of.
“Is this because of me? Because of my job?”
Asher stopped and
looked at me. He shook his head. “No, I’ve felt like this since before my father died. It was why I hadn’t become a guard until he died. I never trusted our king. From the way he acts as a king to the decisions he makes.”
I still couldn’t believe what he was saying. Asher knocked his sword into mine to remind me to keep training. I continued with my reps, but Asher’s words echoed in my mind. What if he is right and there is something off about King Jarrett? Our training became intense. We stopped our reps and started to spar, focusing on our new techniques. Even though I had Asher’s words on my mind, I still managed to beat him. I was picking up the fighting style a lot easier than him. I spaced out for a moment as the words continued to echo over in my mind. Could Asher be on to something? Asher took a chance to attack and knocked me flat onto my back. He leaned over me and stared into my spaced out eyes.
“Mal, what’s wrong?” he asked quietly, knowing he is not supposed to use that name while on castle grounds.
My thoughts jumped back to reality, and I realised that Asher was leaning on me. I blushed for a moment before pushing him off and jumping up.
“Did you really have to sneak attack me?”
“That wasn’t a sneak. I attacked you right in front of you. What were you thinking about?”
I shook my head. “Nothing.”
We packed up the training equipment and locked up the shed. As we walked through the castle grounds, I needed to see if what Asher was saying was right. As soon as we made it to where we parted ways, I looked up at the tower clock and noticed it was only eight at night. I dashed off into the castle and made my way towards the library.
The library was empty was I arrived, but I still checked the entire room before starting my search. I needed to make sure that no one caught on to what I was looking for. I began scanning the stacks for anything that resembled royal records. I had a strange feeling in the pit of my stomach that the information I needed would be there. I walked up and down the rows time after time to try and find anything that could be it. My eyes dropped from exhaustion, and when I heard the tower clock strike midnight, I knew it was time to give up and go to bed.
I had to push the feeling into the back of my mind. Since there were no royal records in the library, it would be almost impossible to prove something was off with King Jarrett.
I sluggishly walked back to my quarters. I was too exhausted to draw myself a bath so I just changed into my sleeping clothes and fell into bed. The moment my head hit the pillow, I fell asleep.
When I woke, I checked the time and realised I had missed breakfast with the king. I quickly had a bath and dressed in my uniform before running down to the kitchen to grab something light to eat. I remembered from the day before where the king was that morning so I met him there. When I arrived, he looked at me and I explained what had happened.
“Don’t let it happen again. You are lucky you gave my meal list to the cooks last night. You are just giving me more reasons not to trust you, Callie.”
“I’m sorry, sir. I’ll make sure it won’t happen again.”
“Good. Now hand me that paperwork.”
The entire day was the king filling out paperwork and drafting up some papers for me to send to other kingdoms. By the time we made it to the afternoon, we were already done.
“I have a few more things I need to do, but I don’t need you here for them. You can have the rest of the afternoon off. Remember to be present for dinner.”
I nodded to the king and left his office. The guards standing beside the door bowed their heads to me as I took off down the hall. I decided to go into town and look for more training books for the training shed. I quickly stopped in my quarters to pick up some money. As soon as I stepped inside, I felt that something was off. My heart was beating so hard it felt as though it would jump right out of my chest, the hairs on the back of my neck stood up and each time I moved, a shiver ran down my spine.
I looked around but couldn’t see anything. There were no shadows on the walls from someone standing there; there were no sounds or movement from anyone else in the room. Something just felt off.
I ran into my bedroom and grabbed my pack along with my daggers for extra security. The horrible feeling didn’t leave until I stepped out of the main room and back into the hall. I shook off the feeling since there was nothing I could see that was causing it in the first place. I left the castle and wandered into Terralyn. The markets were filled with people, tables filled with wares to buy and stores open with new products. My first stop was the bookstore, however, it wasn’t your normal bookstore. It was located right next to the blacksmith, and it was the best place to get books on fighting styles and training techniques. I stepped inside and quickly looked around to see if I knew anybody. I didn’t want any other guards to see what I was buying.
After looking around for a while, I finally found a few books that would help both Asher and me with our training. I paid for the books and placed them in my pack before going next door to the blacksmith. I knew exactly what I was looking for, and I went directly to that section.
The switchblades and throwing knives were something I never really had the desire to learn before. I was more of a close combat girl. I liked the trill of being in a fight, but being an assassin, I needed to know all sorts of techniques to kill. I knew how to throw a knife, but my aim and skill wasn’t great. I picked up two sets of throwing knives and a switchblade with its holster and stood at the counter.
“Do you have any targets for the throwing knives?” I asked the blacksmith.
He nodded and went out a door behind the counter. He returned a few moments later with a large bag. He untied the bag and showed me the targets.
“Those are perfect. How much for it all?”
“One hundred gold for the weapons and another forty for the targets.”
I couldn’t argue with his pricing, so I paid him and tucked all of the weapons in my pack before walking out with the other bag. I knew if I returned through the main gate with the targets in the bag that I would be questioned. I went through the secret entrance and placed all the new weapons in the training shed before leaving again and returning through the main gate.
The guards welcomed me back and watched as I entered the castle. I returned to my quarters, but this time when I entered, the strange feeling didn’t come. I shrugged my shoulders and placed my pack in my bedroom before getting ready for dinner.
By the time I made it to the dining room, King Jarrett was already there. He was seated in his usual spot, and when I sat down, he gave me a strange look.
“Where is Captain Malik?” I asked.
“He and another guard went on a mission yesterday. They have not returned yet.”
I nodded and waited in silence for the kitchen staff to bring the food. After we ate, I remained seated until King Jarrett was ready to leave. He looked over to me, and opened his mouth as though he wanted to say something but closed it almost instantly. When he stood to leave, I stayed in my seat until he reached the doors. When I rose to follow, he turned to face me.
“The queen has organised her winter solstice ball. It will be held on the next full moon in one week. You will be required to attend,” he said before turning away from me and leaving the dining room.
I followed him out but turned the other way down the hall and focused on heading towards Abigail’s sewing room. When I got there, the door was slightly ajar, but she was facing the opposite wall. She had some fabric in her hands and was working away. I stood there for a moment, not wanting to bother her, but I knew I needed her. I stepped inside the room and coughed to let her know I was there.
“Callie, dear. How are you?”
“I am fine, Abigail. I came here to ask you something.”
She nodded, and her smile lit up her face. “You need a dress for the queen’s ball.”
I couldn’t help but smile back. “How did you know?”
“This is the first one since you became the king’s advisor. High royal s
taff are always required to attend, and I know you don’t have any dresses.”
“Well, you’re right about not having any dresses,” I laughed.
She dropped what she was doing and pulled me to the side of her room. She began measuring me again, and a few moments later, she pulled out some paper and ink and started to draw. I stood still until she was done.
“Don’t you worry, my dear. I will make you a beautiful dress for the ball.”
“May I see the sketch?” I smiled. I was curious how she created something so fast.
She shook her head. “Not yet, my dear. I want it to be a surprise. You will see it the night of the ball.”
I thanked her and made my way to my usual training session with Asher. I showed him everything I had bought in town, and we sat down and started reading through the books. After we did a quick read through, we started our reps. We didn’t talk much throughout our training; we were both focused on keeping up with one another since we decided to go harder with the fighting style.
After a few hours, we stopped and packed up our things. Asher grabbed a book to take back to his room, and we parted ways. I returned to my room and drew myself a bath before going to bed.
I woke up early the next morning and used the time to start on some exercises in my own training area. I focused on my stances for the new fighting style and made sure they were right before continuing. After that, I trained with my hand to hand post and worked up a sweat. When I was satisfied with my workout, I cleaned myself up and dressed in my uniform. I made it to the dining room early, sat in my seat and waited.
When King Jarrett finally arrived, he looked at me and then to the empty seat where Captain Malik would usually be. He sat down and gave me a strange look, almost like he was asking me where Malik was. I shrugged my shoulders, and the king sat back in his seat. The kitchen staff brought us our breakfast, and we ate in silence.
Heroines and Hellions: a Limited Edition Urban Fantasy Collection Page 68