City of Assassins

by Farah Cook

  Her face is covered in blood, her inner animal, and savage. But there’s a glow around her, and I reach out my hand to touch the light that surrounds her. She’s a true Viking warrior. Her blade is sharp and her moves fast and smooth. There are more guards now, and bloodcurdling screams fill the air, heads rolling and blood splashing.

  “Nora,” I hiss and cough. She comes running.

  “Frederick!” she catches her breath and pulls me up to her chest. “You can’t die; do you hear me? I need you to live, to survive this. I can’t do this without you. All this means nothing without you. Nothing.”

  The oxygen in my lungs thins out, and that’s when I realize I may be breathing my last drop of air. I close my eyes and feel myself slip from her arms. She’s whispering my name over and over again.

  Frederick, Frederick, Frederick. The softness of her lips touches mine and fills me with life. My heart beats next to hers. I am not dead, but I am not alive either. I’m caught somewhere in time and space where my body is floating in the night sky. I see stars twinkling, the blackness of the universe consuming me.

  This sensation is strange, unfamiliar. Is this where souls travels to before dying? I want to give in. The pain has eased. I cannot be here. It feels wrong. I am not ready. I can’t get out. I am trapped. Darkness consumes me, and I hear the wraiths closing in on me. The air is cold and dry. I’m falling into a bottomless pit. The silence is deadly.

  “FREDERICK!” I hear Nora call for me. She is shouting. In the black hole that’s swallowed me, there’s no light. “Open your eyes.”

  I open mine abruptly and bring back my body and mind to Arres. Nora is not by my side. She’s battling with giant monsters, released from behind bars in the arena. She’s standing in the center, her arms to her side. Her clothes are torn, but she has the weapons. One of the gates crash down and out comes a giant beast, running toward Nora.

  She ducks and spins just as the beast leaps at her, teeth bared, quick as a cobra. Its fangs catch Nora’s trousers and tear away the fabric, leaving her leg bare as she staggers.

  “Nora?” I shout her name, but my voice is lost in the melee. Nora is howling as she uses the weapons to take out the beast. Another beast attacks her from the back, and she struggles to yank herself away. She swings the axe and cuts off its head. It rolls and lands at my feet, screams still emitting from its large open mouth. I kick the head and sit upright, unable to stand.

  Other creatures surge forward and surround her, ugly and misshapen representations of crocodiles and snakes. One by one she finishes them off, using the axe, the sword, and the spear, and hides behind the shield to protect herself from being attacked.

  The air is torn apart by an explosion. Broken glass and bricks fly. Henning, Henrik and Harald, ride in on black horses with wings. Their eyes are blood red. Behind them extraordinary animals crouch low and snarl. Their eyes target Nora and me. I hold my ground for a little longer before I muster the courage to get up. My hand clutches my throat. My vest is a smeared mess of sweat, desert dirt, and blood. Nora runs to me, offering me protection behind the shield.

  “Stay with me, Frederick. We’re going to get out of this.”

  “I hope we do,” I croak and add pressure to the wound on my neck.

  The gang of blood hungry beasts and the assassins move in closer. Cruelty, a ruthless desire to kill, is visible on their faces. The broken bricks and shattered glass glitter in the merciless heat. One of the beasts, a large crocodilian animal with fiery eyes, lets out a low growl from its throat. If heaven and earth were crashing, I’d think we still have a chance to survive. But this army of killers and deadly beasts appear undefeatable, even with the powerful weapons that Nora holds.

  “By the gods!” shrieks Nora.

  The army surround us fully now. Nora and I stand back to back facing them. We’re trapped; there’s no way out except to kill.

  “We’ve seen worse, don’t you think?” I say and force a faint smile.

  “This is a war,” she whispers. “And we’re all alone.”

  “We have each other,” I say and tear a piece of cloth from my shirt and tie it around my neck to keep it from bleeding.

  “The weapons,” says Nora. “Take the axe and spear.” I grab them and feel a tremendous power pulsing through my veins. This is a test of our courage and bravery. In one month, I turn eighteen. I may not even live to see the day. All I wanted was a motorbike and race it against Nora, riding over the Guldborg Bridge in the West. How far that place seems from my memory. It’s as if it never existed. I thought I knew what we were getting ourselves into coming to Arres. I was wrong.

  A loud drumbeat follows, and two massive elephants crush the ground of the arena, along with dozens of guards armed with arrows and bows on their backs.

  “Did you really think you would escape with our weapons?” screams Harald, his face furious and suffused with stains of black blood.

  A larger creature, a dark green monster with sharp fangs, moves closer. As it moves, bit-by-bit, its shape and form changes like curling waves. Harald climbs on top of his horse and raises his hand to the creature crawling in our direction.

  “Kill them,” he says.

  “Are you sure, my lord?” says the creature. “I smell something suspicious.”

  “You smell meat,” says Henrik and snickers. “You shall taste human flesh soon enough.”

  “My lord,” says the creature desperately. “Something doesn’t feel right with these humans. I dare not eat them.”

  “No need to worry,” says Harald mockingly. “They are only children.” Henrik and Henning join him. They stand facing Nora and me, fearless with an army of creatures at their back, ready to tear us apart. Nora and I can’t possibly be fast enough to kill them all, even with the assassin weapons. There are too many of them. We don’t know what we’re dealing with. But there may be one way to defeat them, and I will need Nora’s full attention. Is she thinking what I am thinking?

  Her breathing slows down. She tightens the grip around the sword with one hand and takes my hand into hers with the other hand.

  “You will break the curse or die a pitiless death with your companion, slave girl,” says Harald.

  “My name,” Nora shouts, with her hand tight around mine. “Is Nora Hunt.”

  I swing her up in the air. Her sword moves fast. In one flash, she buries it inside Harald’s heart. She lands back on her feet, squatting, and swings around to place the blade into Henrik’s chest. Henning steps back.

  “Not so fast,” I say and drill the spear into his stomach. “I thought you were assassins and not cowards.” Henning’s mouth is bathed in blood, and he joins his brothers in death.

  “Real assassins fight,” says Nora. “They don’t need a killer army.”

  Heat raises from underneath my feet and my body collapses. Nora takes me in and covers us under the shield while the army of creatures wash over us like a catastrophic tide. I see and hear nothing. All is black.

  16

  NORA

  I SHAKE HIS lifeless body, but he’s not moving. His breath is still, his heart asleep. I lift the blood-soaked cloth from his neck; the wound is deep. He has lost a lot of blood. What am I going to do? When I look around I see the blackened corpses of evil creatures and among them my ancestors. I don’t know what happened. When I took shelter under the shield, I heard the growls and attacks and snarling of the monsters. Nothing touched us. The shield protected us. When the clashing storm was over, in the dust and dirt all I could see was death.

  I get to my feet and walk over to my ancestors and draw my sword. The expression on their faces will haunt me forever. But I had to do this. I don’t feel guilty for saving Frederick and myself.

  Frederick’s body makes subtle movements. I look down at his face, serene and calm.

  “Frederick?” I shake him hard. “Wake up.” He’s not dead; he’s taking a snooze. Small bubbles of air leave his lips. I break out laughing while tears wash down my cheeks. By the gods, he�
�s asleep. I give him another kiss and taste iron and metal on my tongue. He opens his eyes slowly.

  “I knew you couldn’t just leave me like that, Frederick Dahl.”

  “What happened?” he says and looks around. “Where’s everyone?”

  “I’ve killed them.”

  “The assassins?”

  “I assassinated them,” I say, satisfied, and point at the beheaded bodies. “I went over and took off their heads just to make sure they stay dead.”

  “They could come back and haunt us as wraiths.”

  “Let them,” I say. “They don’t stand a chance.”

  “What I saw back there was—”

  “Real,” I say. “I felt an electricity inside me unleash.”

  “It’s part of you, Nora. You are unstoppable.”

  “How’s your wound?” I say.

  “I’ll live,” he says. “For now.”

  “It looks bad, not like an ordinary wound,” I say. “You need to be treated.”

  “In Arres?” says Frederick. “Forget about it.”

  “Then let’s leave this damn place,” I say, looking around at the flood of dead bodies encircling us. “And find those Rebels and bring home the weapons.”

  “The shield did all this?” Frederick asks.

  “It’s more powerful that you can imagine,” I say. “The shield must have released a force, an electricity that fried the men and burned the army to ashes.”

  “If it can do this in Arres, what will it do in the Triangle?”

  “Maybe nothing,” I say. “Who knows what spell works where? The assassins forged these weapons to protect Arres. Who says they’ll protect our world?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I have a feeling something is wrong,” I say. “Like we were lured into Arres to serve another purpose. Who are the Rebels and why must we get to them to return?”

  “I don’t know,” says Frederick. “But let’s find out.”

  We leave the assassins’ mansion at dusk and end up in the city’s dirty backstreets filled with sewage. Thick smoke curls up from the corners and melts with the hot night sky. The streets in this part of the city are filled with rats, thieves, and possibly the Rebels watching us slink away.

  “Do you really think the Rebels will help us return?” I say. I turn my head and peer into the dark ally behind me. I have a feeling we’re being followed.

  “They’re our only way out,” says Frederick. “They have to help us.”

  “Where do you suppose we should look for them?”

  “I don’t know, Nora. Maybe they will look for us.” He grabs my arm and turns me around to face him. His elegance, grace, and beauty are covered under thick filth and blood. His eyes sparkle, alive. I’d thought I lost him.

  “Something is bothering you,” I say. “What is it?”

  “I don’t know,” he says, irritated, and walks ahead of me. “I can’t help think why you didn’t just release the assassins from their damn curse. If you had, maybe we could have avoided all this—”

  “What?” I say. “How was I going to do that? I’m no witch and I don’t have the faintest idea about breaking curses—”

  “You saved the Duchess, didn’t you?” he says.

  “What I did have nothing to do with my capabilities. The wizard took care of breaking Grethe’s death curse. I am an assassin—”

  “Slaughtering people,” he says. “You’re a killer, and I think part of you—”

  “Ha!” I cry out. “Do you think I enjoy killing living beings? I grew up in the East. Killing is frowned upon.”

  “Didn’t stop you,” says Frederick. “You are no longer in the East.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “You kill because—”

  “I’m cursed like my ancestors.” I say. “Get used to it because it’s who I am.”

  “What? Where does that leave us?” His voice is loud, angry.

  “In limbo that’s where,” I say. “I must have killed hundreds back there.”

  Frederick stops and pulls me back when I walk past him. “Are you telling me you’re going to become what your ancestors were?”

  “Maybe,” I say. “The Earl told me—”

  “That’s where this is coming from,” he says. “You can’t possibly believe what he told you after lying to you about us, can you?”

  “It’s not what I believe; it’s what is true.”

  “And this entire assassin killer curse is true?”

  “Maybe,” I say again and avoid looking into his blue eyes. I continue to walk. I don’t know what to think anymore. I feel a constant urge to kill, to slaughter anything that breathes or threatens me. I have no guilt and no shame. When I walked back to the assassins to take off their heads, nothing stopped me. No fear or compassion. It almost came naturally, even instinctively.

  The change that is inside me I feel to my blood and to my bone. Something is happening. Maybe I’ve grown up a little, or maybe my emotions live in isolation. I don’t feel things as deep as I used to. It doesn’t help that something seems off about Frederick, too; he’s nervous, agitated, and snappy. One minute I kiss him back to life, and the next he’s dying again. As my strength grows, he falls weaker. Why?

  The backstreets are endless and snake between shaken clay houses and abandoned homes. We continue going unnoticed for miles. We have to find the rebels. If we don’t, we may never return to the Triangle. The very thought of being caught in Arres terrifies me. Ruled by darkness and evil, the fate of the Viking worlds will change if Lord Nourusa conquers Midgard.

  By now I am certain the Emperor of Arres has sent his own army to look for us. It won’t be long before they find us. The City of Assassins has spies, gossips, and eyes of mystical creatures hidden in dust, dirt, and trickling desert dunes. I constantly feel as if someone is watching us.

  The silence of the streets is as vast as a moonless evening, and something unnerving is in the air. Ghosts or other creatures haunt this city. We slow down our pace when shadows in the distance move about on the roofs of the deserted houses.

  My limbs are still in the warm night, and beads of sweat coat my skin. Frederick continues to walk ahead and when he notices I have stopped, he turns around. His eyes widen. I feel a cold blow against my neck, but it is not the wind.

  “Do not move a muscle,” a voice says. By now I am sure Frederick has detected the panic in my face. A creature jumps down from one of the tiled roofs and pushes Frederick onto the ground. The heat bubbles over me like a soup about to boil over. I don’t want to kill more creatures. But this is no ordinary being. I have seen one of its kinds before. Slowly, I drop my hands against my sides and crouch down, lowering my weapons. The beast’s eyes follow my movements carefully as if I were something precious that would disappear in the blink of an eye.

  The animal has dirty, long feet and thick, sharp claws protrude from its four black toes. It slowly approaches me on two legs, moving its body like a dark shadow and baring its long fangs. Drool spills from the creature, and the corner of its mouth twitches like it’s trying to say something. It gazes into my eyes without any fear, without any threat.

  I communicate with Frederick without moving my lips. I hope he hears me.

  Frederick, stand still if you hear me.

  Can you hear me?

  He stands still, but he’s not reacting.

  Frederick?

  Is that your voice inside my head?

  Yes!

  How did you—By Odin, what are we dealing with? Wait, don’t tell me. It’s something ugly again, right? Another vile and dreadful monster. How nasty is it?

  It’s a Mulhog.

  How’s that possible?

  It has its eyes on me.

  Mulhogs cannot be trusted. Remember they belong to a lower order. They are flesh-eating creatures that love to feast on humans. That’s all they care about.

  We are not in a position to be picky about our allies, Frederick. It’s either the Mulh
og or wandering the filthy backstreets of Arres.

  Nora, wait…

  “Why are you following us?” I say. “And what are you doing in Arres?” The Mulhog tucks its tail between its legs, scratches its long, flat ears, and flashes me a dry glare before it opens its mouth.

  “You seek the Rebels?” it says in Norse. “Follow me and I will bring you to them.”

  “How do you know?” I reply back in Norse.

  “I heard you chatting miles away.”

  “I don’t trust you,” I say. “I’ve met you before, have I not, Mulhog?”

  “Your memory serves you well, Nora Hunt,” he says. “My name is Gautam.”

  “You wanted to eat me back then,” I say. “Changed your diet, Gautam?”

  “I still want to eat you; you’d be a juicy delicious meal,” he says, licking his dry mouth. “But I mustn’t.” He looks away, worried.

  “You’ve said that before,” I say. “What’s the matter, not enough meat on my body for you to grab onto?” I want to tempt him enough to tell me what is keeping him from eating me. What’s stopping him? Did he take a vow? My suspicion is growing. Why have we come here? What is a Mulhog doing in Arres, and why will he lead us to the Rebels?

  “Nora?” says Frederick. “What’s going on?” He jumps to his feet and sets out to attack the Mulhog.

  “Frederick, no,” I say. “I’ve got this, okay?”

  “Have you lost your mind?” says Frederick. “Do you really think after escaping war and death that we need this creature to help us?”

  “We don’t have any other choice. It’s our only chance if we want to return to the Triangle before the emperor sends his killer army after us.”

  “How about using your instinct?” he says. “We have the weapons. Why worry?”

  “I’m sick of everything. The killing, the unknown,” I scream, and my voice echoes down the long, dark streets. “I want to go back to the Triangle, but we are not even safe there.”

  “I know,” says Frederick. “Me too.”

  “Follow me,” says the Mulhog, his voice croaky. He takes off in the dark. Frederick and I look at each other.