The Assassin's Promise
A short story by Selket Shadowdancer
Inspired by and based on the setting of Guild Wars.
Part One: Way of the Assassin
Another arrow whistled past Selkets head as she stumbled through the moonlit woods towards the village which she intended to seek refuge in. Bloody and wounded Selket had to stop to regain her composure, though almost as soon as she had stopped another arrow that narrowly missed piercing her athletic body forced her to press on. The guards had been chasing her for three days now with no relent in their pursuit though having assassinated their employer she couldn’t say she was surprised. Selket cursed to herself after reliving the moment of being spotted by the Ministers mistress, probably the main reason why she was still being chased by the deceased Ministers guards, to keep his affair quiet to the public. She needed to make a stand, she had no choice, those guards would not stop pursuing her no matter how far she ran. It was at that sudden thought Selket stopped dead in her tracks and turned to face her pursuers. As they came crashing through the undergrowth of the forest they stopped when they came into her view and started forming a circle around her, heart pounding as she assessed the situation. There were five of them, lightly armoured but well armed, the Minister obviously looked after his employees well. They had all drawn melee weapons at this point, too close to risk hitting each other with their bows in such close proximity.
The first guard charged straight at her sword high in the air, ready to bring down onto the top of her head. Selket sidestepped him, at the same time drawing a dagger from a sheath on her armour and stabbing it into a chink in the guards armour in his back. The poison on the blade started kicking in before he even hit the ground, thrashing and scrabbling as his face turned blue from the lack of oxygen that the poison so quickly deprived him off. He was dead by the time the rest charged her, weapons raised to mob her and get an easy kill to finish the fight quickly. Shadow steps really come in handy in situations like that, specialist spells learnt from Selkets training as an Assassin.
“Now you see me” She said out aloud as some of the guards swung their weapons to take her life. ”Now you don’t” She whispered in the ear of a guard as she teleported behind him and drew her knife across his throat. Selket pushed him away towards his comrades, gurgling and bleeding out from the fatal wound she had inflicted upon him. As he slumped dead on the floor the last three remaining guards shifted towards her nervously, unsure of how to handle someone trained the way she was in close combat.
It was at this point Selket charged them, silently but swiftly, not giving them a chance to recover from her assault. Relentlessly, she drove home her attacks on them, using a combination of Shadow Steps, and hexes. They were well trained but were no match for Selket, they were scared to die but she was not. To Selket death was just a path to another life, an escape from the life she currently lived. As the last guard fell dead to the ground and exhaled his last breath from Selkets final blow, she heard a whistling sound behind her, as she turned around she felt a sudden and stinging pain in her chest. She looked down at the arrow protruding from her chest, the blood trickled around Selkets gloved hands as she grabbed it around the head of the shaft to extract it from her body. With a scream and a spurt of blood the arrow was expelled from Selkets chest. She fell down to one knee clutching her wound. As she looked up from the ground the last thing she could remember seeing was the pommel of a sword before it struck her in the head, rendering her unconscious.
It took a while for Selket to focus clearly on her surroundings when she awoke from unconsciousness, it didn’t take her long to realise that she was hanging from a thick tree branch by her tied wrists. Selket looked down at herself to examine her wounds and noticed that her armour and clothing had been stripped and her weapons taken. She shivered, not so much out of fear mind but more because she was naked hanging from a tree in the middle of the night. Selket didn’t know how long she had been hanging there but felt cold enough to know it had been quite a while. Noticing Selket had awoken a short man limped over to her and struck her across the face with the flat side of a Longsword.
“So, you have awoken assassin huh?” He said in a gruff voice, prodding her slim, but toned, bloody abdomen with his sword. Selket looked at him as he spoke, she couldn’t focus much but noticed he had long black hair in a pony tail and wore an eye patch over his left eye. Before she could make out any more of his features he grazed the point of his Longsword down her body cutting her skin, laughing with a twisted look upon his face. Selket couldn't hide the pain from the cut being made, which only fueled the mans laughter more. Somehow, from somewhere Selket managed to speak.
“Who are you? What do you want? You want me? Huh? You sick freak! Don’t you get laid at home? Minister not pay for your RED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GO last night?” She hissed, her body in pain, blood welling from the cut he had made. He looked at Selket and laughed coldly.
“My name is not important to you Selket Shadowdancer, as for what I want, well the only thing I want is your slow but inevitable death” He replied, a sinister smile on his face. “You are infamous for getting out of tight situations, so I’ve made sure you have nothing at all that you can use to your advantage to get out of this one.” He pointed over towards her armour and weapons. Before she could make any form of reply he stabbed her with the point of his sword in the stomach. Selket could do little more than whimper quietly in pain, she was so weak from her injuries she couldn’t have been louder if she wanted to, any sound she did make was drowned out by the mans laughter. Selket could feel the blood seeping from her wounds and travelling down her limp body, looking down she could see it dripping off onto on her assailants armour and onto the ground below, her life slowly draining away. She noticed that the man seemed injured slightly as he seemed to tend to his arm for a second after his attack upon her.
"You will pay for this! I promise you, you will die by my hand!" Selket voice was soft, almost forgiving in tone.
"I doubt that" Her assailant replied, waving his sword about randomly in the air. "You'll be lucky if you manage to make it through the night by the time I'm done with you, Assassin!" He stabbed her again with his sword, grinning maniaclly. Selket couldn’t even utter a sound, the pain was too great. She closed her eyes awaiting the final strike but would never know if it would come. Whether due to blood loss, fear, cold, or death, she passed out, a sea of darkness embracing her.
Selket wasn't sure how long had passed before she regained consciousness again. She was surprised to find she wasn't dead. The rope that bound her wrists was biting into her fair skin, not surprisingly seems she'd been hanging here for a while now. Selket had lost a lot of blood and her life was still oozing out of her wounds. Her assailant was nowhere to be seen. Her weapons, armour, and clothing were still on the ground around 10 feet away from her. No matter how much she tried Selket could not slip out of the binds that tied her wrists, they were tied too well. "So, this is it then" she said to herself, hanging her head. All she could do now was wait for the inevitable. Selket was feeling so weak, she could feel her life slowly draining away from her, she knew she didn't have long before death took me. As Selket contemplated her fate se noticed a small Hare gazing at her naked and bloody body.
"Think yourself lucky Hare; most men would be dead by now if they saw what you just saw." She smiled weakly. She found it ironic that in her last moments before death her final company would be a rodent. Almost as quickly as the Hare had appeared it was gone and Selket was left alone to her fate. Yet again she slipped into the darkness of the void that was called unconsciousness.
Selket awoke to find herself not hanging from a tree anymore but lying on the ground with a cloak mostly covering her body, and a Hare sitting on her chest. Sunlight flickered between the branches of the surrounding trees, illuminating the area in an orange hue. She could smell a campfire burning away and the roasting meat skewered above it, and as she looked around for her armour and equipment, clutching the cape close to her body to give herself at least some form of dignity, the Hare scurried off into the foliage. She found her equipment close by, relatively untouched, and as Selket put it on, along with the cloak she had been covered with, she noticed that the majority of her wounds had been tended to, though not fully healed. She looked around for any sign of her would be saviour, but there was no one to be seen. Not wasting any time Selket cut off some meat from the skewer and salted and packed it away for travel, then cut off some more and ate quickly. She hadn't eaten in a while and it tasted good, so good that she just had to have more. Selket saved some on the skewer for her unknown saviour, in case they returned, and dowsed the campfire before getting her bearings and making her way from the camp towards the village that she intended to seek refuge in while she was being chased.
Coming to the edge of the woods, Selket quietly observed the village from a distance to make sure that there was no activity there due to her presence. She decided it would be safer to approach the village at night, just in case, and waited at the edge of the woods under cover of the foliage there until nightfall. Once night fell Selket approached the village cautiously, pulling up the hood of her cloak over her head, as she approached the main gate. Selket entered the village unchallenged, and made her way to the closest inn for food and shelter for the night. There were several inns in this village, as it was quite large suprisingly. It was an amazing settlement popular among traders and merchants for it's large population and extravagant night life. It was also a great place to go unseen for the same reason, while locals were known to each other very well it had enough commercial trade to pass yourself off as simply another traveller looking to earn coin.
Selket entered the inn she had chosen to stay in for the evening and sat down in the darkest corner, waving at the local maid for some food and drink. After going through all the usual formalities of buying her consumables, renting a room for the night, and gaining directions to the local herbalist, the maid left Selket alone to serve the many other customers they had. As Selkets meal was brought to here along with a jug of wine she thanked, and tipped, the maid and started to eat her meal, which while looking nothing special, was at least nourishing enough to pass as a meal. When Selket finished eating she left the inn, informing the innkeeper she would be returning later that night. As she stepped out of the door she took in the hustle and bustle of the night life of the village and made her way towards the Herbalists premises to gather her much needed supplies, with one thought on her mind.
Revenge.
Part 2: An Old Friend
The sound of a skirmish could be heard in the distance of the forest. Durkon stopped to think about whether it would be wise to carry on in the direction he was taking or go around and take a safer route, then smiled to himself.
“What do I have to be scared of a few bandits for? He looked down at his hand, a small fireball forming within his palm. “I’m the greatest Elementalist in all of Tyria.” He always travelled alone and often spoke to himself. Fortunately no one was about to comment on how mad he must have seemed though that was nothing new for the solitary life of an Elementalist. Almost as soon as he had spoken the sounds of the skirmish had stopped, an eerie silence fell upon the forest, and not even the sounds of the wildlife within it could be heard.
“Quietly now, we don’t want to disturb our new found friends.” He whispered quietly to himself. He brushed back his silvery white hair from his face, a face that showed youth yet also showed great wisdom. In the pale moonlight he could make out a broken trail, not worn by the years but seemingly freshly made by recent passage, and decided to follow it seems it was pretty much going in the same direction as he was anyway. After following it for some time he could hear the sound of laughter close by though it sounded far from friendly. Durkon stopped to see if he could get a better understanding of what was happening before he pressed forward into the unknown situation ahead of him. A male voice could be heard, quite clear in the quiet that surrounded him.
“You are infamous for getting out of tight situations, so I’ve made sure you have nothing at all that you can use to your advantage to get out of this one.” The sound of someone obviously in pain could be heard afterwards. Durkon could just barely make out another voice, female, but whatever she said was said in such a quiet tone he couldn’t make out the words. "I doubt that" The male sounding voice said again. "You'll be lucky if you manage to make it through the night by the time I'm done with you, Assassin!" Then all went quiet, the eerie silence that followed the previous skirmish fell upon the forest again, leaving Durkon with a choice to make.
“Whether deserved or not someone’s death may be on your hands if you do nothing Durkon” He contemplated what challenge may lie ahead of him then answered himself. “Should I really be getting involved in this? This isn’t my problem after all and I really dislike being involved with Assassins.” He looked down at his hands, fire flickering around the tips of his fingers as he came to his decision. “I am Durkon Thunderstorm, master of the elements, I have nothing to fear from whoever is ahead of me whether man or bea...” He stopped himself short to convince himself if that was actually true. He was a good Elementalist for sure, but perhaps not the greatest, that part was just every Elementalists fantasy. “Damn it; let’s just get this over with shall we?”
As the source of the voices came into Durkons view he was unprepared for what he saw. A woman was hanging naked, bloodied, and hands bound from a tree not to far from him. A man wielding a Longsword looked to be preparing to deliver what would be a final strike to end the woman’s life.
“Unless you wish to end up on a skewer as my meal tonight I suggest you drop your weapon and take what miserable part of your life you have and go back to whatever stinking cesspit you came from!” Durkon bellowed, fire forming in his left hand as he spoke out to the man.
“This is none of your business! This woman is a murderer and will be punished as one!” The man said as he turned to face Durkon. He was surprised to see someone so young looking standing before him with fire burning in their hand.
“How about give the woman a fair trial before condemning her to death? Isn’t that the law of this land? Or do you wish to become what you claim this woman to be?” Durkon allowed the fire in his right hand to grow, illuminating the area around him so he could see more clearly.
“Sorcerer leave us or you will meet the same fate as this Assassin, and I assure you her fate will not end well.” A sadistic grin crept across the mans face. He was old and battle hardened that much Durkon was sure of. The grip on the mans sword had tightened, his knuckles whitening in the glow of fire before him as he prepared himself to battle the Elementalist standing before him. Durkon realised that there was no other option but to fight this man to save this woman’s life.
“The only person who decides my fate is me!” Durkon shouted as he launched a powerful fireball towards the man. Surprisingly the man avoided it with ease, much to Durkons dismay.
“You think a mere fireball is going to help you Sorcerer?” The man let out a rapturous laugh before rushing forward to attack Durkon who quickly responded, slamming down his staff on the ground, pushing out with the elements of the air to throw his attacker backward far away from him crashing into the depths of the forest. Durkon chuckled somewhat to himself lightly; he always loved doing that to people in a fight. He quickly closed in on the man, entering the shadowy forest but couldn’t see him anywhere. He slowly and quietly searched the area for him.
“Damn you Sorcerer!” The man screamed as he threw a knife that was strapped to his armour at Durkon which narrowly missed his head. As Durkon recovered from the instinctive attack from the man he was hard pressed to defend against the mans second attack. The thrown knife allowed the man to close in on the Elementalist and start attacking at close range with his sword. Durkon was too busy blocking the mans lightning fast attacks with his staff to be able to cast any spells as they required intricate inscriptions drawn with his hands to be cast. Suddenly the man lashed out with his fist cracking Durkons head hard and dazing him. The mans sword came thundering down towards Durkons head leaving him just a split second to move out of the way and avoid the quick attack under his condition. As he moved out of the way of the death imposing strike his staff was caught by his attackers sword and knocked out of his hands. Reaching out to grab the staff from the ground beside him the man relentlessly attacked at Durkons hand, narrowly missing taking it clean off from the wrist. He summoned a quick fireball and launched it at the mans face. It was too minor to do any major damage as all his power came from the ornate inscriptions and runes set onto his staff, but it was enough to give Durkon the time needed to reach down and grab his staff to quickly block against yet another relentless attack. The smell of burnt flesh as the man drew his face close to Durkons, his sword locked against Durkons staff, was sickening. Durkon kicked out, landing his blow straight in the mans ribs forcing him to stagger back and quickly launched another fireball at him that was more powerful than the last. It hit the man square in the chest, setting him alight, his skin and clothing burning as he thrashed about on the ground rolling to put the fire out. Durkon walked over towards him, ready to deal a final spell to end the fight.
Without warning the man threw a handful of dirt and stones at Durkons face forcing him to cover his face so that he wasn’t blinded. When Durkon moved his arm away from his face the man was nowhere to be seen. Durkon readied himself for another attack, slowly turning on the spot to anticipate an attack from the shadows surrounding him. There was none.
“Why do they always run?” Durkon smiled, rubbing the bruised side of his head where the man had hit him previously as he made his way back to the area where he had found the woman that was hanging from a tree. As he approached where she was he looked up at her, quickly averting his gaze from her bloodied and naked body. He removed his cloak and wrapped it around her before he burned away the rope that bound her and kept her tied to the tree. “My magic only hurts those I choose to hurt with it.” He said softly. It mattered little as she was unconscious; nothing he said would be heard by her. “I need to keep you warm don’t I?” He said as he laid her down on the ground wrapped in his cloak. He quickly gathered some wood from the surrounding area to make a small campfire igniting it with his hands as he laid it down. He unpacked his cooking kit and meat from his backpack, which he skewered, then started roasting it above the small fire while he tended to her wounds. It was then that he got a look at her face properly for the first time.
"Selket Shadowdancer?" He brushed away her blonde straight hair from her bruised and bloodied face and was mesmerised by her hidden beauty. She too was quite young, surprisingly scar less considering her proffession. Her face was slender and her lips full. Her nose was slightly flat and wide. Durkon couldn’t see her eyes as they were shut but recognised they were slightly slanted upwards marking her as a Canthan. “What are you doing in this part of Tyria?” Durkon asked himself. After he had tended to her wounds he headed into the forest to find something to kill for food later. He pondered the question he had just asked himself, and then asked himself one more question.
“What the hell have I gotten myself into this time?”
U
