Silent Night

by Emma Couette

  I see him smile before he slams his foot into my shin.

  I let out a shriek like the sound of breaking glass as something shifts in my leg and I go flying. The force of the blow throws me into a pillar and I collapse at its foot, unbidden tears streaming down my cheeks.

  His dark chuckle fills the hall. “Oh, Silent Night, how’s that broken leg feeling? Better now?” He cocks his head. “No?”

  His laughter takes him for a minute.

  “You know better than to fight someone openly when you have such a weakness they can exploit,” he chides me. “I doubt you can walk now, but you know what that's like, breaking someone’s leg. It’s almost your signature move.”

  I shudder and say, “No.”

  “Don’t agree? Well, that’s okay, I know people who do.” He paces back and forth in front of me. “Take Anane for example. Pour bastard hasn’t been walking properly since the incident on the iron bridge, after you led him out there, hoping he’d slip and fall to his death.”

  I raise my head. “Do you blame me for that?”

  “No, but he does. He would’ve become the new Agent Three if it weren’t for that leg. He didn’t take too kindly to being demoted to Sixth.

  I wince. “Ouch.”

  “Yeah, and you’re not too terribly sorry, are you?”

  “No. Anane was and still is an idiot. He can fall off a bridge and break his leg anytime.”

  “Says the girl who’s about to die.”

  It’s my turn to laugh. “Maybe soon, Hai, but not by your hand. You know, you shouldn’t give your victims time to chat and distract you.”

  His eyes go wide, but I’m already pulling the trigger of my gun.

  His whole body jumps and he claws at his chest as he collapses, slamming against the concrete and convulsing in pain.

  Oh, the throes of death.

  I take my time getting up. He won’t be coming after me dead and I don’t want to screw my leg up even more. What was it the nurse said about vigorous movement? Well, it doesn’t matter now. I have to keep going, though a part of me wants to make sure Hai is dead first.

  I limp over to where I dropped my swords and sheath them, just as footsteps come up to the hall. I look up to see another line of assassins facing me.

  Guess I’ll just have to hope he’s truly dead.

  Shots ring out and I turn and run, pulling out my gun and aiming it behind me, my finger a constant motion on the trigger.

  I round a corner and once safe, I put my gun back and break into a sprint, or as much of a sprint as I can manage with my leg. Every motion sends a searing line of fire through my nerves and I can feel something wet and sticky under the brace, but I ignore it and keep going.

  …

  Only when I finally enter the dark hall that leads to the Charger’s office do I stop. The usual guards aren’t standing at attention in front of the doors. In fact, the hall is empty and eerily quiet, but I know he is there, in the office, waiting for me.

  I take a deep breath and open the door, slipping silently inside.

  The chair behind the Charger’s desk is empty.

  My eyes scan the room, terrified, but it only takes a moment to deduce that he isn’t hiding in a dark corner. I am alone, but at the same time, I am not. I can feel him, a dark presence not too far away, but where?

  There has to be something...

  I search the room, the walls and floor, finding nothing until I trip over something in the dark.

  I land on the floor with a bang, barely containing my cries of agony.

  That damned leg...

  What in the Guild did I trip over?

  I crawl across the carpet, feeling for anything out of place. I touch something cold and my fingers close around a metal rod.

  A lever?

  I brace myself and pull. The floor begins to shake.

  Then, as suddenly as it began, it stops and I get to my feet, noticeably leaning on my good leg. I turn toward the desk and behold a doorway standing ominously behind it, nothing but black beyond its arch. A shudder runs through me and I know this is it. The Charger waits beyond the door.

  Refusing to fear, I walk through the door. I can tell I’m in a bigger chamber from the way the air changes. I keep walking, slowly, until my foot bumps into something, something short and long.

  It’s a step. I don't wonder how far the staircase goes. I just step up and ascend, higher and higher, toward the belly of the beast.

  It gets lighter the further I go up and eventually I come to the top of the stairs, stepping into a huge torch-lit cavern. In the centre, on a throne of what appears to be solid gold, the Charger sits. His dark eyes look up as I enter and stare into mine a long while before he speaks.

  “Hello, Silent Night,” he says. “I’ve been expecting you.”

  I tremble. “You have?”

  “Of course, ever since you disappeared, love. I’ve always expected you to come back home.”

  I bristle at the word love and shake my head. “Home? This isn’t home.”

  “Of course it is,” he argues. “You grew up here. I—”

  “Silence,” I snap. “I had a home once, a home I shared with my mother. A home where I was happy, but you tore that all away when you killed her. You shot her in her sleep, you bloody coward!”

  The Charger winces. “So you found out then. That’s why you left. I thought it was because I asked you to kill Hai.”

  “Oh, I found out all right and then I wondered to myself, why exactly would I kill Hai for you? Why exactly would I do anything for you anymore?”

  “You have every right to be angry, Silent Night. I won’t hold that against you.”

  “You... Wait. What?” I cock my head at him.

  “I said you have every right to be angry.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “I shouldn’t have killed your mother and I wouldn’t have, if she had upheld her part of the bargain.”

  “Bargain,” I repeat. “What bargain?”

  He smiles. “The bargain we made the night you were conceived. I got the child or her life. Yet the foolish woman tried to protect you, tried to keep you from me. In the end, I got both you and her life.”

  My mind is spinning.

  “The night I was conceived?”

  Conceived.

  The child or her life.

  Oh.

  Oh God.

  “You’re lying!” I scream.

  “Am I, Silent Night? Why do you think all of the assassins feared you from the time you could hold a blade? Why do you think Anane hates you? Who do you think you get your black hair and sinister tendencies from? It’s certainly not from your mother.”

  Every bone in my body aches as the horrible weight of the truth settles on my shoulders.

  The Charger is my father.

  CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

  My world is crumbling.

  I never asked about my father as a child, never cared to know. My mother only told me that he gave me my name and dark hair. That was all she offered and I never asked for more.

  Why did it have to be him? Haven’t I suffered enough?

  “Why?” I demand to know. “Why did you need me so badly? Why couldn’t you leave us alone?” My voice drops to a whisper as I try to hold back tears. I think about my mother. I wonder what she ever saw in this monster standing before me.

  “Because I needed a successor,” he replies, “and my other children, though they had grown, were not up to the task.”

  The word successor echoes in my head, but I decide to ask something else.

  “Other children? I have siblings?”

  “Half,” he replies, “and we’re not talking about them. We’re talking about you, my perfect child.”

  “You—you have no right to call me that!”

  “Of course I do. You are my daughter through and through, by blood and by personality. You are the perfect assassin, the perfect one to inherit the Guild.”

  “I don’t want your stupid Guild!”
I scream. “I came here to kill you. Don’t you understand?”

  He laughs. “Oh, I understand perfectly well, daughter, and you’re welcome to try, but we both know you can’t defeat me, especially with that leg of yours.”

  I glare at him, drawing my sword defiantly.

  I freeze when a new voice intrudes on the silence.

  “Maybe she can’t defeat you, but she’s not alone. Two heads are better than one, I was always told.”

  The voice sends a piercing stab of pain through my heart.

  No. Not him. Not here. Not now.

  I never wanted you anywhere near the Charger. You stupid, arrogant...

  The Charger’s booming laughter interrupts my thoughts. “What’s this? A challenge from a Resistance worm? Do you know him, Silent Night? He seems to know you.”

  I nod my head grimly and turn to face the newcomer.

  Armed to the teeth, with his sword drawn, Ajax smiles at me. His blue eyes stare into my soul.

  “What the hell are you doing here?” I snap at him, my eyes saying everything I cannot.

  I thought you hated me.

  I don’t want you to die.

  Don’t leave me alone.

  “Saving your butt apparently,” he replies.

  “Well, isn’t this lovely,” the Charger says. “A friend come to save you, but you won’t need saving if you give up your ridiculous vengeance and accept who you are.”

  My resolve is like steel. “Never.”

  The Charger sighs. “Very well then.” His eyes flick to the corners of the room and his hand flies forward. “Kill them,” he snarls.

  Assassins stream out of the darkness, at least a dozen of them, and converge on us.

  I look at the Charger for a second—arrogant, dishonourable bastard—before throwing myself into battle.

  Chaos descends quickly. Ajax and I draw our weapons and stand back to back, so as not to get flanked. I sink to a crouch, my injured leg protesting wildly, and face off against the first assassin.

  He comes at me with a whirl of daggers. I deflect all that he throws at me and slam my sword against his short, toothpick-like blade. The handle snaps off and he throws it aside in disgust, grabbing for another, but I send my other sword through his chest and he crumples before me.

  I hear Ajax fighting behind me and resist the urge to glance in his direction. There are still assassins coming at me.

  One jabs his sword at my head while another aims for my heart. I parry both blows with my swords and begin duelling with the two of them, one blade per enemy.

  My blades flash and my blood sings.

  This is easy.

  I run them both through.

  Three more wait.

  Eager to put this to an end, I sheath my sword and draw my gun.

  Three shots ring out; three bodies hit the floor.

  Thump, thump, thump.

  I turn to help Ajax, but he is surrounded by bodies as well. We face the Charger together.

  “Is that all you have?” I ask him.

  He smiles wickedly. “Hardly,” he snorts. “Who do you take me for? I was just testing.”

  I sigh. I should have known...

  Another wave of enemy soldiers steps out of the dark.

  “It’s okay,” I tell Ajax. “We can do this.”

  I raise my gun and open fire. Beside me, Ajax does the same. We cut them down like stalks of wheat, but they keep coming.

  My mind reminds me of a similar situation, involving a train and enemies for miles...

  I shake my head.

  No time now.

  When I’m down to one bullet, I put my guns back and draw my swords again. Then I carve a path through our enemies.

  Stab, block, duck, parry, and slash.

  Dodge, jab, and behead.

  Blood flies and body after body hits the ground.

  Their numbers are waning, but so is my strength. I can’t keep this up much longer, not with my leg the way it is.

  Damn Hai. I still don’t understand how he snuck up on me...

  That’s it.

  I don’t know why I didn’t do it from the start. I need to pull my vanishing act, disappear into the shadows. I need to be the silent assassin. I need to defeat the Charger with cunning and throw his “perfect assassin” line in his face. I’ll sneak up behind him and bury my dagger in his neck, but how can I disappear? He’ll notice.

  Damn it all. I am Silent Night.

  If I can’t vanish from plain sight, I don’t deserve that title.

  Focus.

  I keep doing what I’m doing, fighting, cutting down the enemy, but slowly, I move closer and closer to the edge of the room, closer to the shadows. Then, using their bodies as a shield, I step into the dark.

  Ah darkness, my old friend.

  I shall be a child of darkness once more before I abolish that side of me once and for all.

  I slip silent as a wraith through the shadows, creeping ever closer to the Charger’s throne.

  In the centre of the room, Ajax is still dancing with the enemy, unaware he is now facing them alone. I wonder how long it will take the Charger to notice my absence or if he already has. Regardless, it matters not. I am closing in for the kill and soon he will notice cold steel against his skin.

  I reach the final stretch and pause in the shadows directly behind the throne. This will be the difficult part. I have to step into the open in order to reach the throne. I’ll have to rely on all of my training for this.

  Go slow. No sudden movements.

  Keep your eyes on the target. If you do nothing out of the ordinary, you should appear almost invisible to most casual observers.

  Above all, make not a sound, but I mastered that by the time I was six years old.

  Silent as the grave, I creep ever closer to the Charger, who remains unaware of his imminent death. I resist the urge to smile.

  One more step.

  I draw my dagger and lay it against his throat.

  “Surprise, father,” I growl.

  He doesn’t even flinch, but I hear him mouth the words, one and two and...

  When he gets to three, I feel the sharp press of metal against my own throat.

  “Surprise, sister,” a familiar voice coos.

  CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

  I freeze.

  I try to slide my dagger across the Charger’s throat, but Hai drags me away, kicking and screaming.

  “Let me go, you bastard!” My neck moves dangerously close to his sword with each word.

  “I’m the bastard?” he scoffs. “You’re the one who was trying to stab our dear father in the back.” He pries my dagger from my hand.

  “It was the throat actually,” I retort.

  “And I was talking about a figure of speech, sister.”

  I kick at him. “Don’t call me that!”

  “Why? It’s the truth.”

  I’ve had enough truths for one day.

  “If you were a real brother Hai, you wouldn’t have tried to kill me.” I stop. “Wait. You’re supposed to be dead.”

  “Not yet, I’m afraid.” He taps his chest. “It’s a thing called armour. I’d suggest you try it, but sadly, you won’t be around for much longer. Now, if you don’t mind, I have a Resistance agent to deal with.”

  My heart skips a beat.

  “No.”

  I kick and scream and claw at him, cursing that he was able to take my dagger. “Leave him alone,” I snarl.

  “Aw... How touching. Our dear Silent Night, fallen in love with the enemy.” He grins.

  My eyes burn with hatred. “You touch him Hai and so help me...”

  “Oh, shut up,” he says, throwing me to the floor.

  My head bangs against the cement and my ears ring. Despite that, I try to get to my feet, but he places a boot on my leg.

  “Get down and stay down,” he snaps. Then he presses down until my leg starts to give.

  The brace snaps and I feel the fracture grow.

  My leg hol
ds on for longer than I thought it would, but then the strain becomes too much. It breaks with a crack and I shriek, tears running down my face as I watch Hai stalk over to Ajax.

  I can’t think through the pain, but I know I have to because Ajax is in danger and I won’t be able to live with myself if he dies.

  Get up, I tell myself, but my body won’t respond.

  Dammit, Night, I scream at myself. Get the hell up!

  Somehow, I manage to get to all fours, putting absolutely no weight on my now completely broken leg. Still, the pain forces me to take sharp breaths through clenched teeth.

  Now get to your feet.

  My whole body shakes.

  Come on. Ignore the pain. You can do this. For him.

  Then a screams tears through the silence.

  I’m on my feet faster than you can blink. I whirl in the direction the sound came from, pain blurring my vision.

  In the centre of the room, surrounded by bodies, Hai and Ajax stand. Hai is holding Ajax captive, pressing Ajax’s arm against his back. Any farther and the arm will snap. I can’t let him.

  I pull my gun and aim it at Hai. “Let him go, Hai, or breaking his arm will be the last thing you do.”

  My voice shakes, but I can’t help it. My leg pulses like a beating heart. Blood oozes down it, but I can’t stop to think of myself. For the first time in a long while, my own life doesn’t come first. Ajax’s life means more to me. He’s done so much for me, brought me out of the dark, the least I can do is keep Hai from extinguishing his light.

  Hai looks at me sadly and shakes his head. “We both know you won’t do it, sister.”

  “Shut up!” I snap. “Blood means nothing. Loyalty is determined by whether or not you can trust a person and I don’t trust you one bit. I don’t care that you’re my brother. I don’t care that the Charger is my father.” I risk a glance in his direction. He still lounges on his throne, watching the three of us with a bemused expression.

  “I will kill you both,” I go on, “to ensure my freedom and Ajax’s freedom and the freedom of the people you’ve been terrorizing for years. I will put it all to a stop, even if I have to sacrifice myself. That’s true loyalty, something the two of you will never be able to understand. The fact that some people in this world come first, before yourself, and that’s okay.”