The Assassin's Tale

Chapter 1

“All I’m saying is, what are we actually looking for all the way out here?” The solider motioned to the sheer cliffed mountains surrounding them and the snow that had been falling lightly but steadily for days. “I mean look where we are Joshua! What crusade ever happened in the mountains in the middle of winter?” He kicked at a pile of snow. “Winter is no time for a war!” The soldier looked at his companion suspiciously “And we haven’t seen another living soul the whole time we’ve been out here. They are looking for something.” He said nodding, as if agreeing with himself. “They won’t tell us what, but they are definitely looking for something.” The guard named Joshua glanced around nervously looking for listening ears. “Keep your voice down. If one of the priests heard you talking like that you’d get tied to a tree and left for the panthers.” At the mention of the panthers both men stopped walking their round and stared into the blackness of the trees surrounding the expedition’s camp. The villagers in the area told stories about people going missing in these hills and the ones that made it out talked about the panthers like they were demons that climbed straight out of hell. “Big as a man, silent as a shadow, and quick as snakes!” one traveler had said before they had left. “The ones you see aren’t the problem, It’s the ones you don’t see that’ll get ya.” said another. A patrol had disappeared two nights back. Nothing had been found in the morning but some tattered uniforms covered in blood. The memory of the men’s screams waking him that night made the hair prickle on the back of his neck.

He shook off the thought. “Anyway”,he dropped his voice even further into a whisper, “I think you might be right. We haven’t moved in days now and I heard two of the priests talking about “An Artifact” when I walked past their tent on my round yesterday.”

Something moved in the trees and both guards hands moved instinctually to the swords at their hips, but the darkness of the forest was unyielding. Joshua wiped sweat off his brow even though the night air was biting and he could see his breath. “You don’t think that was…. A panther, do you?” Said Joshua.

“No way,” said his companion, waving off the thought as if it wasn’t the first thing that crossed his mind as well. “If it was a panther it wouldn’t have made noise now would it? I heard those things move like ghosts and always attack from behind you.” The men’s eyes snapped to each other as they held their breath and slowly looked behind them back towards the camp. They saw nothing but the flickering lights from the cook fires blazing behind them. Joshua let out the breath he hadn’t realized he was holding and gave a small relieved laugh, “For a second there I thought we were about to get... pounced… on.” The last two words trailed off as he looked to his companion who was standing next to him frozen in fear. He stood rigid and pale, as if the fright of what he saw had already parted his soul from his body. Joshua looked back down the trail. Not twenty yards ahead of them was a pair of eyes. Glowing, yellow, malevolent eyes moving silently and unblinkingly towards them out of the inky blackness. Joshua tried to yell for help, but it was as if his voice had forgotten which way it needed to go in his throat and instead got stuck right in the middle. He heard an intake of breath next to him as his companion got over the shock and then a bubbling gurgle. Joshua snapped his gaze to his companion and saw 2 inches of blood covered steel sticking out the back of the guard’s head, the knife’s handle protruding from his open mouth. The body lost all strength and fell to the ground in a heap. Joshua stared in wide eyed horror at his lifeless colleague lying like a discarded doll in a growing pool of his own blood soaked snow.

“Matthew,” he gasped. The death of Matthew snapped him from his stupor. Panthers didn’t throw knives! Joshua spun back towards the eyes and reached for the sword at his hip, but before he could draw it he felt the cold edge of a dagger press against his throat, and the warm breath of a man by his ear.

“Take your hand away from your sword.” The man with cat’s eyes spoke in a half whispered hiss. Joshua did as he was told, slowly raising his hands in front of him in surrender.

“Good.” the man coo’d, as if talking to a child. “What happened to your friend here is unfortunate, but he was going to yell for help. Are you going to yell for help?” The man pressed the dagger into Joshua’s throat drawing a crimson line of blood.

Joshua gasped at the pain “N-No.” he whimpered.

“Very good.” Hissed the man in Joshua’s ear as he removed the pressure from the blade, but didn’t take it from his quivering throat. “Now, if you tell me what I want to know, you will live. I prefer not to take the lives of the shit for brains fools that agree to work for these satanic heathens, but-” he grabbed Joshua by the hair and turned his head to look at Matthew’s body with the dagger protruding from the back of his skull “I am not above it. Do you understand? Nod your head if you understand.”

Joshua nodded so slightly it would have been imperceivable to anyone who wasn’t currently pressing a blade to his throat.

“Good” The man cooed again. “Keep doing as you’re told and you’ll be fine. Now I’m going to remove the knife from your throat and you’re going to answer my questions. If you try to do anything besides answer my questions you will die in a much slower and more agonizing way than your friend here. Nod if you understand.” Joshua gave another slight nod.

“The guard two nights ago tried to call for help instead of answering my questions, but you are much smarter than they are I’m sure. You want to see your family again. Nod if you agree.” Joshua nodded.

The man seemed satisfied, as he removed the dagger from Joshua’s throat he deftly pulled the sword out of the scabbard at Joshua’s hip with his other hand and pressed its point into the helpless guards back right behind his heart. Joshua gasped at the prick of pain and tried not to move, hands still raised in.

“What did they find, and what do they plan to do with it?” The man hissed.

“I don’t know.” blurted Joshua and he gasped as the sword was jabbed into his back again. He could feel the small trickle of blood running down his back from the wound.

“Not a good answer.” Said the man “Try again.”

“I don’t know what they found.” said Joshua desperately “But I know where they found it!” he cried as the sword pricked him again. “A mile or two east of the camp, deep in a cave on the mountain side.” The words came rushing out like a stream that had broken its dam. “It’s being kept in a tent in the middle of the camp under guard. Please, just let me go back to my family. I never wanted to sign up for this anyway. I was conscripted through a program promising to pay a livable wage! I am no soldier, just a man tr-”

“Enough.” replied the man sharply. “What else do you know about the site where it was found, or where it is guarded?” Joshua swallowed and continued. “Only that many men went to retrieve it and very few returned back to camp. Please sir I -”

“Enough.” the man said again, more agitated this time. “Grovel again and I will kill you out of pity. These mountains are no place for a coward.”

Joshua inhaled deeply and let it out as he tried to slow his racing heart. “The tent it’s in is guarded day and night in four hour shifts. I am on shift tomorrow night. I swear on god above that is all I know.” There was a pregnant pause as he contemplated Joshua’s last words.

“You are on guard tomorrow?”

“Yes, tomorrow night I am scheduled to guard the tent where I think what they are calling “the artifact” is being guarded. The tent didn’t need to be guarded until after they returned from the cave. Whatever they found must be kept there.”

The man grunted in what must have been contentedness. “Thank you for your cooperation. Here is how this is going to work. You are going to go back to camp and tell them a panther set upon you and your friend here. The beast attacked him while you got away. Then, you are not going to show up for your shift to guard the tent tomorrow night. You are instead going to start a fire on the West side of camp and flee towards the East never to return. Ten miles east of the mountain is a village where you can get food and transport out of the mountains. If you survive the night you should make it back to your family.” The man grabbed Joshua’s arm and spun him around to face him. “I hear as good as I see.” he said, yellow eyes glowing like lanterns in the darkness of his raised hood. Do anything other than exactly what I’ve just told you to do, and nothing will be able to save you from me. Nod if you understand.” Joshua nodded.

“Good,” said the man as he lowered Joshua’s sword.

“Remember you’ve just been attacked by a panther. With the amount of blood your friend has leaked I’m sure there are three or four watching us from the trees right now.”

Joshua’s gaze drifted towards the lowest tree branches. Quick as a striking viper the man swiped at Joshua with claws that cut deep into his chest and shoulder. Joshua cried out in pain and stumbled backwards, tripping on Matthew’s corpse and falling into the blood soaked snow. The man closed the distance between them with inhumane speed pressing a blood covered claw to the throbbing artery in Joshua’s throat. “You’ve just been attacked by a panther.” The man said slowly. “Your friend was killed. You say, and do, nothing else until starting the fire tomorrow night and fleeing East towards the village.”

Joshua stared up into the glowing yellow eyes wide eyed terror. “What are you?”

The man didn’t answer. Removing the claw, he lifted Joshua by the front of his bloody tunic and pushed him back towards the camp. “Go.” he said, tossing Joshua his sword. The handle hit the petrified soldier in the chest and clattered to the ground.

“You’ve just survived a panther attack,” he repeated again. “Go!”

Joshua picked up his sword and took off like a startled hare. Valor could hear the terrified guard wailing “Panther! Panther got Matthew!!” as he ran back into the camp.

Chapter 2

My dearest Liliana,

Not a day passes that I do not think of you. I hear your voice in the wind as it whispers through the pine trees telling me of your love. You dance through my mind spinning in the dress I bought you for your last birthday in the meadow of wildflowers behind the cottage, as Shadow carries me through these bleak and unforgiving mountains. Just the thought of seeing your smile again gives me the strength to continue onward in the perilous journey. I believe I will be on my way home soon.

Give my love to Cherise,

Valor

Valor closed the notebook and returned it and the writing supplies to its pouch on the inside of Shadow’s saddle bag. Seated on a rock outside of the cave he had used for camp the night before he looked out over the frozen valley as the first rays of golden sunlight made their way over the snow-covered mountain peaks. Black smoke began to curl upwards a few miles from the base of the mountain, just as it had for the last four days. The expedition had stopped moving, they had indeed found what they were looking for. Valor picked up his half empty mug of coffee and took a sip. Frowning, he muttered a few words under his breath and glared at the cold drink until the clay mug warmed his hand and the contents began to steam. He returned to his rock and watched the smoke continue to curl into the sky as the sun rose above the mountains. “One more day” he said with no one to hear but his sleek black horse, “One more day.”

Chapter 3

The sunset cast the valley into darkness and Valor, like the other predators of the night, prepared for the hunt. He prepped Shadow for a quick escape packing her saddle bags and tying her up at the base of the mountain. He sprayed Shadow and a ten or so yard circumference around her with a pungent mixture of lemon juice and lavender to make sure the panthers that roamed the mountains stayed away from her while he was gone. He had picked up the mixture in one of the villages not far from the base of the mountain. The same village he had told the guard to flee too after creating his distraction. He drank the bitter gray tea he had set to brew earlier that evening and his eyes watered as they always did when the tea’s vision enhancing qualities took effect. He blinked away the tears and the shadows around him melted, his vision sharpening like he was seeing everything through a magnifying glass. The horrendously bitter concoction was a tricky one. Drink too much of the herbs and one could end up in a permanent stupor, but do it right and all of the senses were enhanced ten fold. The drinker would spend the next few hours in an apex state of sensation smelling and hearing things from a mile away, seeing field mice running through the grass, and feeling the slightest touch of a mosquito on the skin. The herbs were highly addictive for obvious reasons, but the assassins of his order had perfected its use and had been using Apex, as they called it, for nearly a millennium.

The assassin packed two throwing knives, he had retrieved the one from the unfortunate soldier’s corpse from the night before, and his gleaming foot long silver dagger with the black stone in the hilt. He didn’t take the sword, as it was too liable to clatter and he was “to be as a shadow” tonight.

His ears perked. Shouting in the distance, the faint smell of smoke. It was time. “Wish me luck.” He said to shadow as he stroked her nose before silently slipping into the woods. The camp was only a quarter mile from here and Valor wanted to get there at peak panic. He was slightly relieved that the guard had held up his end of the deal, but he had been frightened within an inch of his life. Fear is man’s greatest motivator. Valor silently asked the gods to watch over the guard as he made his way to the village, even though he knew the chances of a man like that surviving even a single night in these mountains were slim, he hoped the man made it back to his family.

He came upon the camp and could see that the guard had done his job admirably. Not one, but two of the tents on the west side of the camp were engulfed in flames and men were running every which way looking for water to try to put them out. Valor remained out of sight as he swiftly made his way towards the tent that the guard had mentioned. There was still one guard seated out front. Valor gave a low growl. He was supposed to have left when his partner didn’t show up and half the camp burst into flames. He swore under his breath and, drawing his dagger, moved to the back of the tent and listened at the canvas. Silence, just the one dedicated guard seated out front, but that smell? He used his dagger to silently slash the back panel and slipped inside the tent already sure of what he was going to find.

The tent was empty except for a large stone box with the lid removed raised up to waist level on a table. The box was a coffin, or more accurately a cage, made of white marble with an intricate silver design woven through the rock. There was a large ruby gem lock on the side of the casket that had been sprung. Valor peered inside to find a shriveled corpse with hands and feet bound and a gag in its ancient mouth. It was as he had feared, they had released another of the ancient ones from it’s bindings. It would now be wearing the skin of one of the priests most likely. They were the only members of this cult with enough brains to operate a gem lock. It was probably trying to find others. They always tried to find others. The Brotherhood had been smart after capturing them though and separated the resting places by miles and miles. There wouldn’t be another site in these mountains. It would be searching for days. That is, if it escaped him. Valor searched the tent and in his Apex state of sensation noticed a wrinkle in the bottom of the canvas and a place where the grass had recently been disturbed. He slipped under the tent, as he assumed the priest had done in the last half hour, and picked up the trail on the other side. The guard out front stood at attention, unaware that he was now guarding nothing more than a fancy box full of old bones.

Valor broke into a brisk trot eastward, relying on the chaos of the fires still blazing on the other side of the camp to allow him to slip out unnoticed. Once he made it to the trees he increased his pace. He would have to move fast if he was going to make up ground. Demons moved quickly. As he closed in on the edge of camp his elevated sense of smell picked up something that made his heart drop. The scent of horse. He had been too late. On horseback the possessed priest would be miles away by now. Thinking quickly he headed back towards the mountain and Shadow. If he hurried, maybe he could cut the beast off before it made it to the village. If it decided to switch hosts there, finding its trail again would be a difficult task. Tracking something that can hop from body to body isn’t easy, but Valor was well trained and had gotten proficient at the task in his last ten years. The Brotherhood he served had been protecting the world from these monstrosities for millennia and had passed down the knowledge needed to defeat them from generation to generation. He was the culmination of thousands of years of trial and error by the best fighters of their time. He would not fail. He would protect the world from the shadows once again.

Chapter 4

Valor rode into the town just as dawn broke. He had lost the trail of the beast hours before as his Apex wore off, but this town was the only thing to see on this side of the mountain. It had to be hiding here somewhere. He found an inn and tied up Shadow outside patting the old mare’s nose. “You there.” He shouted to a stable boy who nearly fell out of his chair at the beckoning, still half asleep in the early morning. “Tend to my horse.” He flipped the boy a silver coin and lowered his hood as he strode through the door to the inn. He walked to the bar and knocked on it with his fist to see if anybody was in the back. A brute of a man with a square stubbled jaw and heavy brow looked around the corner. “What do ya want” the man said, annoyance thick in his voice. “Just coffee friend, maybe a spot of breakfast.” What a pleasant man Valor thought to himself. “I have good sil-” “It ain’t ready yet.” The man growled back. “ The sun just bloody rose! what’s with you people today?” Valor raised an eyebrow in question. “You’ve had other guests this morning?” The man lumbered out of the kitchen and leaned against the counter, his grease stained tunic stretching across his broad chest. “Yeah, another traveler.” “Was he wearing a dark blue cloak? Probably kept the hood raised.” The bar man scratched at his chin. “I can’t seem to remember what the old bloke was wearing.” He said obstinately. “Why? Are you looking for him?” Valor, unamused, took another silver coin out of the purse at his belt and slid it down the bar to the big man. The man smiled devilishly, “ Now that you mention it, I think he was wearing a blue cloak. Came in looking for a place to rest and some grub. Not unlike yourself.” He nodded towards Valor and then gestured towards the stairs. “I put him up in one of the rooms and told him I’d yell in an hour or two after I’d had a chance to get breakfast fixed. He paid well. Said he didn’t want to be bothered until there was food.” Valor flipped the man another coin and stood. “Stay here and don’t let anyone else up those stairs. The man up there is very dangerous.” The bar man stood to his full height and, crossing his arms fit more for a blacksmith than a cook across his chest, looked skeptically at Valor. “Seemed like a decent fella to me. What’d he do?” Valor stared murderously at the bullish barkeep. “He and his band of murderers have slaughtered thousands. Men, women, children. They don’t hesitate. Anybody who gets in their way dies. I have been sent to make sure this one”, he nodded to the floor above them. “Isn’t allowed to hurt anyone else.” The big man’s eyes widened in astonishment and he nodded “I didn’t know he was a murderer. Good of you to rid us of him.” He walked around the bar and locked the front door. “I won’t let nobody else in till you come back down.” Valor nodded and moved toward the stairs. He pulled his heaven stone pommeled dagger from its sheath beneath his cloak and readied himself for the fight ahead. Demons were tough enough when he had the effects of the Apex working for him, but it was too soon to use the herbs again. Without the elevated reflexes he would have to hope he was able to catch the demon off guard and trap it quickly. He pulled the silver stringed net from its pouch and readied it in his off hand. At the top of the stairs he found two doors at the end of the hall. He looked over his shoulder and the burly bar man pointed to the door on the left. Valor nodded and silently moved that way. He lifted the latch, lip curling in anticipation of the fight. He noiselessly pushed the door open and slipped inside, dagger at the ready. The room was small and gloomy with one straw stuffed bed in the corner and the only light entering from the cobwebby window on the far side of the room. Beneath the window was a small wooden desk and a wooden chair in which the priest sat with his back towards the door.

Valor exploded into movement crossing the room in two quick strides, black cloak billowing out behind him. He tossed out the silver net and drew back the dagger to strike at the priest's exposed neck. Something was wrong. The priest hadn’t attempted to flee, defend himself, or move in the slightest. The net fell over the priest and Valor stopped short with the killing blow. Instead, he moved around the side of the table to look at the priest. The man sat droopy eyed, and slack jawed, as if he had drunk too much ale and passed out. With a little effort, Valor lifted one of the man’s hands off of the desk and let it go. It stayed stuck in the new position like the man was made of wax.

“The demons left him catatonic.” Valor thought to himself in alarm. “Where did the bastard go?”

The door to the room closed and the big bar man stood, arms crossed, blocking the way.

“So, you followed me.” The bar man said in a voice rich and smooth. “Who are you?”

Valor just stared back, hatred burning in his eyes. The bar man lifted an eyebrow “Strong silent type I see.” He put a finger to his lips in thought as he paced back and forth across the room, the old wooden floorboards squeaking beneath his feet. “Hmmmm. Threadbare black cloak, net of woven silver, somewhat vacant expression.” His eyes flicked to Valor as he said this last insult and gave a small half smile, evidently pleased with his own wit. He stopped on the spot and turned to Valor, snapping his fingers with sudden realization. “I got it, you’re here to volunteer to be my stable boy.” “I’m here to put you back where you came from.” Snapped Valor.

The bar man laughed. “Well isn’t that inviting.” Suddenly, he moved with the speed of trapped lightning across the little room as he pulled the wooden chair from beneath the doll-like priest and sat in it straight backed, left leg crossed over the right back in front of the door. He was seated and smiling before the priest hit the floor. Valor’s eyes widened slightly, but that was the only sign of surprise he surrendered to the demon now sitting across the room from him. The bar man smiled and steepled his hands on his knee. “Please, educate me on how you plan to turn back time and send me lightyears through space to my un-destroyed home world. There is nothing I would like more.” There was a pregnant pause as the men just stared at each other. The bar man sat back in his chair dramatically and gasped in shock. “What’s that?” He said with mocking surprise. “You DON’T have a plan to send me back to Dem?” He leaned forward and smiled at Valor again. “Then it looks like we’re stuck here together.” He winked. “Best we find a way to play nice.”

Valor’s lip curled “I’m going to put you back in the box you crawled out of.” The bar man frowned and shook his head “See I don’t think you are.” He stood up from the chair to resume his pacing, walking with a grace that looked unnatural to such a stout man. “Or more like, I don’t think you can.” Gesturing towards Valor to try to show he meant no offense. “ I mean, you are more than welcome to try. But, at this point I believe you have come to the conclusion that I drew as soon as you entered the inn.” He stopped pacing and glanced sideways at Valor, his nonchalant behavior quickly replaced by a cold seriousness, “I could kill you at any point I please.” He returned to his pacing, folding his hands behind his back as he thought out loud. “So here are what I believe are our options.” he held up a finger in front of him “Option one. You try to do what you came here to do, and I kill you as easily as you would kill…. Ahh… what are those thingssss?” He stopped and made a motion with his hand as if he could pluck the word out of the air. “Small, extra legs and eyes, crunch when you get them with a boot.”

“An insect.” Valor growled. “An insect!” The bar man repeated snapping his fingers. “Ahh Thank you. That would have driven me mad all day. Amazing the things you forget when you’ve been locked in a stone box for a few thousand years. But I digress. “ He continued his pacing and tapped his stubbled chin with one thick finger. “Option one. You try to disable, apprehend, and re-entomb me, and I kill you like…” he paused to gesture towards Valor before continuing “an insect. Option 2, I just kill you right now and go on my merry way as if you were never here.” He raised a finger again, this time in exclamation. “But!” He looked into Valor’s cold eyes pleadingly. “I don’t want to do that.” He resumed pacing as he continued on. “No matter what you have been told and clearly believe, I actually despise killing humans.” He looked at Valor pitifully. “You’ve been alive for twenty? Thirty years? And the oldest of your kind live seventy, maybe eighty years? We’ve lived for millennia! You’re like children running around this beautiful planet fighting amongst yourselves.” He gave a look of disgust and then huffed as he sat back down in the chair again across from Valor. “I apologize for the rambling.” He gave a small humorless laugh, “You’re the first person I’ve talked to in nearly 2000 years.” He looked morosely at his feet and mumbled to himself, but loud enough that Valor could hear. “A decomposing corpse is a painfully dull companion.”

“Sounds like my options are die trying to rid the world of you, or die even though you don’t want to kill me? Is that correct? ”

The demon looked taken back. “Oh no good sir. I haven’t gotten to option three yet.” He held up three fingers in front of him. “Option three. I give you information to take back to your troublesome band of self righteous murderers, and in exchange you let me go enjoy my first sunny day in a very long time without the guilt I would feel from squashing you… like an insect.” Those last three words came out as threatening as if he had drawn a sword and held it to Valor's chest.

Valor burst into action. He took a misdirection step to his left and then spun to his right, his cloak billowing out shielding his body from view. As he finished the spin he flicked out his left hand tossing a handful of silver shavings his order called Stardust towards the demon bar man’s face. He had worked the knot on the bag of stardust free from his belt under his cloak while the demon had droned on. The demon seemed ready for the attack, but was anticipating a slash from the silver edged dagger in Valor’s right hand. The stardust caught him off guard and he took the toss full in the face and backed away coughing. The silver dust would temporarily trap the demon in the host even if the man died. It wasn’t a long term solution, but it would give Valor more time to come up with a better one. Valor leapt forward pressing the attack following the stardust with a backhand strike from his dagger aimed for the bar man’s heart. The man’s left arm shot up and caught Valor’s wrist in a grip that could have crushed stone. Valor grunted and his knees buckled as he heard the bones in his forearm crack as the Demon crushed them like they were made of glass. The gleaming silver knife fell from Valor's now useless hand.

“That was a nasty trick.” The demon used the hand that wasn’t breaking Valor’s arm to try to wipe the silver out of his eyes. “This is silver.” The demon bar man said thinking out loud. “I’ll be stuck here until I can get it all off. He squinted through bloodshot eyes at Valor and gave a small nod of approval. “Clever.” Valor tried to get back to his feet but the demon squeezed down harder on the ruined arm and he gasped in pain, lights popping in his vision as he fell back to his knees. “Say what you want about humans, they have spunk.” Another Demon would have never picked a fight with me.” He twisted Valor’s arm and Valor cried out this time, unable to keep the scream inside. “Bravery? Or stupidity? It’s uncanny how interchangeable they can be." He turned his head coughing as he choked on some of the silver. “Excuse me.” he cleared his throat, spat on the floor, and continued “You appear to have chosen option one. But as that is extremely foolish of you, I am going to choose option three.” He used his off hand to punch Valor square in the face. It was like getting kicked by a Clydesdale. His ears rung and his eye burned with fresh, hot, pain. With unbelievable speed and ferocity the bar man released his useless arm and instead grabbed Valor by the throat, lifting him from the ground. Valor’s good hand scratched at the thick forearm chorded in muscles in a futile attempt to free himself while his toes dangled in the open air. The Demon’s fingers were like iron. He pulled Valor in close as he strangled him and whispered. “My name is Gallu.”

Valor’s world went dark.

Chapter 5

Valor sat at the desk, light shining through the cobwebs in front of the gloomy window. A steaming cup of coffee sat next to his open journal. He had come too on the floor of the room a few hours after the demon, Gallu, had knocked him unconscious and, surprisingly, left him alive. His right arm had been mangled, there was a handprint bruise on his throat, and he had one hell of a black eye, but his heart still beat. Maybe Gallu had been telling the truth, and he was the only Demon Valor had met that didn’t enjoy killing humans. Or, he wanted the Brotherhood to know he had been released and was using Valor as his messenger boy. Valor’s head throbbed with the thoughts. The cotton sling he had been outfitted with by the village healer rubbed at the bruises on his neck and he adjusted it to a more comfortable position. He picked the quill back up and went shakily back to the task of writing with his left hand.

My Dearest Liliana,

It seems I was wrong in my thoughts about this journey nearing its end. I am healthy and nearly whole. My arm was hurt in my last mission, but it will mend with time. Time, I fear, we may not have. I miss you dearly. My heart aches at the thought of staying away longer, but an evil that has not been seen in centuries has been released onto the world, and I am partly to blame. I need to return to Masyaf Alamut and help the Brotherhood prepare for the atrocities I believe are to come. I love you endlessly and crave the day that I can once again hold you in my arms. I will see you in my dreams.

Give my love to Cherise,

Valor