RATING WARNING

For: Dark thoughts and violence

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CHAPTER 2

THREE MONTHS LATER

I slipped into the house like a wraith. No one knew I was coming and only a dead body would tell them I had been there. The layout was exactly as I had been told. No surprises. He slept on a chair in the main room. His head back and slouched slightly to the side, mouth open, and snoring like a dragon with a cold. I sneered. It was far too easy. One slice and the mission was complete. I wiped my blade on his shoulder, no use getting his blood all over me. Then I slipped out as quietly as I had entered. Easy money. Almost too easy.

***

I washed the dagger in the river and watched the blood float away into oblivion, with it went the last trace of the murder. How many was that now? Eight? Nine? It didn’t matter. I had stopped counting after the first one.

Aimless wandering for two weeks had eventually landed me in some small town northwest of Braedoch Forest. The first tavern fight would have been amusing if I had cared. My sword skill put down quite a few men, but I believe it was throwing my dagger across the room to impale a rather annoying singer that landed me the first job. Assassin for hire seemed to fit.

The first murder was challenging. I had to enter a house full of servants, the only one in the whole town that had any, and kill the master. Yet, I had managed it without too much fuss and only one extra casualty. The event peaked my interest. I could learn from this job. If I could enter a house without detection and murder the occupant, it might be possible to do the same to Daurd. But, I would have to be fully prepared.

Each town meant a new job. It seemed that everywhere you went someone wanted another dead. I fit right into this new existence. I survived for one reason only, to find the skill and strength to obliterate Duard from the face of the world. By being a mercenary for hire I had learned how to enter a house completely undetected. I could finish a job in a matter of minutes with no trace of my presence left. It was so easy.

I stood and replaced the dagger in my boot pocket. What direction to go now? It didn’t matter; wherever I went someone would hire me for a job I could now execute without thought. I had to find a different way to learn soon, something harder. I needed a new challenge.

The river turned right, so I headed left, deeper into the woods. I wanted nothing to guide me wherever I happened to go. Least of all the black river that meant so much to some of my former siblings. I would chose the forest’s lonely temperament instead. There was less chance of interaction with any humans and that suited me just fine. They were bothersome creatures. All needing something and their own mission was always more important than your own. Until you taught them differently.

The rays of sunlight were coming through the trees and I sneered at the effect. I much preferred the darkness of night these days. It was interesting to see the blackness of my soul surrounding me on the outside instead of just in. Some weaker humans might have found that disturbing, but I had shed the thought long ago in the precise moment I had left any family behind. I had learned quickly not to feel at all. Feelings were for those who cared and caring was for those who were weak, like the type I typically murdered. Pathetic people who let their feelings overcome their common sense. Idiots, all of them.

I watched without emotions as my own feelings had slowly been stripped away from me. It had not happened in a moment, but over time. The hatred, despair, and betrayal I felt consumed all other emotions and then those emotions boiled themselves down deep into my mind and heart so that I could no longer feel at all. I watched the world from a detached point of view. Nothing in it effected me, I was no longer a part of it or it of me. And that was fine with me.

***

Fire left traces, but I wanted cooked meat for a change. My supplies from the last encampment were all bad many days over. The rabbit was too tempting for me to pass up. I let it simmer over the fire, watching as it turned darker with time. I absently stroked my dagger blade against a sharpening rock. It had been getting dull from the number of kills it had committed. I needed it sharp for the next time something wondered across my path.

A screech from above caused me to look up and frown. A falcon was circling to the left of the smoke. It was awful late for the creature to be out hunting, but it seemed intent on whatever it had in its sight. It screeched again as it spiraled lower. If that bird came any closer, he would be asking for his death. One I didn’t mind providing.

The fire made a popping sound and I looked at it. Perhaps the roasting rabbit was what had caught the bird’s attention. I glanced up again as I slowly pulled my blade across the rock one more time. The bird above had disappeared though. It must have swooped down on its prey.

I turned back to my rabbit, which was almost finished. It would have been almost pleasant to have falcon to go along with it. I slid the dagger back into its slot at my wrist. I used it the most and it had become my favorite. I thought of the falcons talons. It was a predator in its own right. Absently, I wondered if the fierce bird had caught his prey. Suddenly, I felt the hairs on my neck rise slightly. I was being watched.

My wrist dagger was in my hand in less than a second and I rose as if to get the rabbit from the fire. Halfway up I spun and lifted the knife to throw. In the second before it should have left my hand, I stopped the movement. The falcon sat, staring at me with unblinking eyes from the farthest edge of the fire’s circle of light. His head was cocked to one side and the fire cast an eerie glow on his white feathers.

What falcon n his right mind came close to a fire? Even if it did have a rabbit waiting to be devoured. I was no expert on falcons, but I knew this was unusual behavior.

Wren is the falcon expert.

Wren?

The name caught in my mind and held there, waiting to be answered. I had had siblings at one point in my life, a point I no longer acknowledged, and she had been one of them. She had owned such birds too.

“To me all falcons belong to you. When I see one in the air I always figure you are close by,” I promised.

A small smile tugged at the edges of Wren’s lips, but it was a sad one. “Will they always?”

“Probably. It will be a connection to you that even Duard cannot take from us.”

A conversation from the past. Was it possible? Could this be one of her birds?

I stared at the creature, who simply stared back. They had all had names. My mind scrambled as I tried to remember what the girl had called them all.

“Elsu?” I tried, but the bird just looked at me and didn’t move.

“Keaton?”

Again, nothing happened. This was insane. I was sitting in the middle of nowhere talking to some animal that might or might not belong to a sibling I used to have.

The birds had different colorings. That would eliminate possibilities. Only two had the white coloring of this one. So it had to be either Iolani or Gavin.

“Iolani,” I called, consciously making my voice calming. “Iolani, come here.”

The bird moved its head, so that it was now cocked on the other side, but it refused to hop any closer.

“Look, you idiotic bird, I don’t have time for your pathetic games.” My voice was not so calm now.

The bird puffed its feathers and hopped backwards, just beyond the light’s edge. If this was one of Wren’s birds, she had better not be excepting it to come back alive. It was looking more like a meal all the time.

“Fine, Gavin. Have it your way.” I flicked the knife so it landed between me and the bird and went back to the fire. Angrily, I swiped the pole with the rabbit from the fire.

Sitting back down, I tore my teeth into the tender flesh. I felt a trickle of blood run over my chin, but ignored it. The meat was perfect. When I was finished, I tossed the stick into the woods and glanced over to where the falcon had been.

To my surprise it had moved up to the knife, which still stuck fast. He had courage to come so close to the fire. It had to be one of Wren’s birds.

Suddenly, a new thought occurred. If the bird was here, where was Wren?

“Where is Wren, Gavin? Is she around or hurt?”

My bird took a small hop forward. That at least was new. I stood and walked back over to where it waited patiently.

“So, you’re Gavin?” I asked, crouching down before it. “Where is Wren?”

The bird shifted slightly and I noticed a slip of parchment wrapped around its leg. A message? I held out my hand to the bird, who didn’t move. Slowly, I untied the parchment and then stepped back. Walking over to the fire, I unfurled it and began to read.

Dearest Aiden,

I send this letter out with a prayer that it shall find you. I shall press upon Gavin that I wish for you to receive this, but I cannot be sure that he shall obey. He may return to Aquila. Please be patient with him.

I know that by doing this, I am defying Duard and his direct order. However, I feel I am somehow right to do so. Perhaps it is as Father Andrew said. We need to regard Deus’ will as higher than Duard’s when it comes to moral decisions. I think it is thus with this. If it isn’t, my heart will at least be at peace in the knowledge that I have attempted to contact you.

I have sent letters out to all of the others and so far only Aquila has replied. She is safe and has found shelter in an abandoned castle with a strange tale. I pray that she of all of us remains safe. She is so small that many would try to take advantage.

If you fare well or poorly, please let me know. Pen a reply on the back of this parchment and reattach it to Gavin’s leg. Tempt him with roasted rabbit if you need to get him close. Remember to be gentle. He shall return to me with your message, of that I am certain.

Your loving sister,

Wren

So she was all right and Aquila as well. I glanced at Gavin. Wren knew me too well. Looking back at the letter, I reread it slowly. When we had parted ways I had hoped that Wren might think of something like this. To know that she had…. It should have made me proud. If Duard was able to trace it somehow, she would suffer, but if Aquila had replied already, maybe he wasn’t able to. The thought of defying Duard in such a blatant way was intoxicating. And that would mean replying.

I strode to my pack and pulled out a large piece of charcoal. I went for my wrist dagger, only to remember that it was stills tuck in the ground. I frowned and went for the one in my boot instead. Quickly I sharpened the charcoal so that it had a point at one end, then I went back to my spot to write.

Looking at the blank parchment, I frowned. What was I suppose to tell her? What was I suppose to tell any sibling? Of all of those that I had under my protection at one point, Wren knew me best, though I had been closest to Zoe. Wren was able to read what others could not. I did not know if that perception extended to letters, but I had no wish to find out either. Still, I would need to put down something.

She had done what others had not. She had defied Duard. She had done what I had not. Did that make her stronger? Perhaps it did, but then all my former siblings had their own strengths. Too bad they hadn’t bothered to use them when we were together. Maybe if they had not been so cowardly we would have been able to put up a united front and win against the man that had held us all hostage. But we hadn’t. Each time one of us had done something he had decided was impudent, he had punished us in unimaginable ways. He delighted in using our weaknesses against us. I had defied him every chance I got, until he stopped punishing me and began to put the girls in small solitary huts, not allowing anyone to go near. When we had tried to pass food to them, he had plucked the feathers off of one of Wren’s precious birds and flung it at us, telling us to give the girls that to eat. The bird had almost died and so had Wren when she found out. I stopped being blatantly defiant and the others had never tried again. Only Arnan would occasionally act out, but never directly toward Duard, and Taerith and I would always cover for him.

The memories came flooding through a dam I had built up over the past four months. I hadn’t wanted them then and I certainly didn’t want them now. My siblings had betrayed me as much or worse than I had betrayed them. They let Duard take my rightful place as their protector. They did not argued, they did not fight, not sufficiently; they simply let it happen. I wasn’t good enough, not then, not now. I had never been good enough. If I had, our parents would not have died and left me alone. I had to deal with all their children. I had to pretend that I believed in a god who had forsaken us even before our births.

God! What right did Wren have to write about such a monster. He had never helped us, never cared. And yet she spoke like he had given her the courage, nay the right, to defy Duard. As if I had not planted the idea in the first place! Deus, if he existed, did not care, nor would he ever. Yet, my… sister chose to place misguided faith in him. It would ruin her. But she knew that. She knew when she wrote her note that I did not believe in Deus. Only Zoe and Wren knew that truth. Let it stay that way.

Suddenly, I was exhausted, but I knew what to write. I smoothed out the parchment, I must have crumpled it sometime during my thoughts. Slowly, I placed the sharpened charcoal over the paper and scribed some words,

Wren,

Gavin made it here fine. Next time attach a name plate.

Aquila found a castle? Not surprising. A castle will be good protection. She is stronger than we give her credit for.

So you found a way to contact us. I knew you would.

I travel with no destination in mind, only the purpose I will fulfill. Be concerned about the others, not me.

I paused in my writing. That was enough. I had no more obligation to any of them. She would get the message and hopefully read no more into it than the words on the page. I was finished.

If our siblings need me, send Gavin back. I’m not going through this again with a second falcon.

Aiden

Why had I written that? But it was there now, and I could not scratch it out, she would see what I had done and question me. Wren was to perceptive for my own good. I rolled up the parchment and glanced at Gavin. Tempt him with rabbit, huh? That meant I had to catch another one of the things. That could take all night.

I frowned at the annoying bird. He could wait till morning.

***