The Black Raider: Ch Four

She twisted her dagger and in one fluid motion cut the throat of the man who knelt before her. Blood gushed out and in his death his back slumped against the thighs of his killer. His mouth was agape in a silent scream of horror, his eyes, even though glazed over in death, still held fear.

Aidan sneered down at the lifeless man who she just killed. She remembered a time when killing had made her sick, a time when she had been far more innocent and naive. With her hand bunched in his hair, she threw him face down on the forest floor and glared at the bloodied knife in her right hand.

She still despised the act of killing, yet, here she was, doing the one thing she hated most. She sighed and bent over to clean the knife on her helpless victim’s back.

Five years ago, she would never have imagined herself here. She would have scoffed at the thought she would have dozens of deaths upon her hands. No, five years ago she would have thought she’d be married to Prince Zacarias.

But, things had shifted and here she was, an assassin bent on protecting her people from a murderous betrayer. Her former father’s steward, Memnoar had been greedy for power. He had killer her brother, had tried to murder her five years ago and would have killed her father too had she not interfered. Five years ago, she started haunting Memnoar from the dead and he, along with his followers, fled south to some remote place she could not find. And now, she was bent on finding every last one of his corrupted disciples and wring every last bit of information she could from them in a vain attempt to find and finally kill Memnoar. At the moment thanks to the dead informant sprawled out in the forest shrubbery, she had a good lead to someone who might know where Memnoar’s secret hideout was.

Turning purposefully on her heel, she started filing through the information he had given her. The man had been a messenger sent by Memnoar to deliver a letter to King Cyrus’s steward. Unfortunately, she hadn’t been able to retrieve the letter because the man had already passed it off to one of Prent’s servants, though that wasn’t a problem. She could easily sneak into the castle, force Prent’s steward to spill and finally find out where her arch nemesis was hiding. She would finally be able to put an end to this madness.

As Aidan stepped through a clump of tightly knit trees, some branches caught at her hood and cloak, pulling at the material. Her hood fell from around her face and revealed her soft set face, bronze eyes, and golden hair that was pulled back into a tight bun at the base of her neck. Right when she was about to step out from under the branches and into a clearing, air was blown across her cheek. Startled, she looked up to see her horse, Dalamine, standing there innocently. Exhaling heavily, Aidan patted the Friesian stallion’s nose. “Hey there,” she whispered to him, “It’s time to ride.” With elegance, she mounted and led Dalamine through the dense forest until they were free from its gloom.

As they rode across the vast landscape towards the castle, she began to plan out how she was going to get in, accomplish what she needed to, and escape without raising any red flags. She would have to be careful because the castle and its secret passageways were patrolled and heavily guarded. If she was seen sneaking around, she would either be imprisoned or killed. And neither were good options. If she was killed, everything was lost, but worse was if she was caught alive… Her identity would be revealed and Memnoar would know for certain she was alive which would blow any advantage she had over him.

No, she couldn’t get caught.

She couldn’t be the princess of Chatan, not until this war was over. Therefore, she would be what everyone knew her as: the Black Raider