Assassin

(Ravenger)

God, what a pain.

“...I have allies nearby. They can get you patched up. Do you want to come.”

The girl stays silent for a moment, then nods her head.

“Good. Pick up your weapons and follow me.” (Ravenger)

The girl slowly gets up and hops over to her weapons. Seems like her leg was injured.

Silently, I picked her up and carried her over my shoulder.

The girl panicked. Trying to get out of my grasp, she kicked my back repeatedly.

“...Calm down.” (Ravenger)

The girl continues to kick me, refusing to listen to my words.

Sighing, I dragged the dead bear and carried the girl back to camp.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“What the hell?! Ravenger, have you gone insane!?” (Alexia)

I returned to the clearing my party was cresting at. Seeing the battered girl laying limp on my shoulder, Alexia confronted me for an answer.

“...I found this girl fighting the bear, which is what I will eat, and I brought her here to be patched up.” (Ravenger)

“...Really?” (Alexia)

Alexia questions me further.

“*sigh* It is. Ask the girl if you want, but she hasn’t talk since I met her.” (Ravenger)

“Bring her to me, Ravenger.” (Celeste)

Dropping the bear, I walked over to the girl- I mean Celeste, and gently placed the girl down.

“Eh? This symbol, I know it…” (Celeste)

“What symbol?” (Ravenger)

Alexia and I approached the unconscious girl.

A symbol comprising of two crossing daggers is marked upon her shoulder.

“The Noxious!? Why is one of them here?” (Alexia)

“The who?” (Ravenger)

“The Noxious. A notorious band of assassins. They have often been hired to kill nobles and ,at one time, a king.” (Alexia)

“...” (Girl)

The girl regains consciousness.

“Are you alright?” (Celeste)

The girl nods slowly.

“I’m Celeste. The girl with the bow is called Alexia. Her siblings sleeping over there are Timo and Tifa. The reptilian humanoid is called Ravenger.” (Celeste)

“...” (Girl)

“Could you tell us name please?” (Celeste)

The girl looks at us anxiously.

I grunted impatiently.

The girl cowers behind Celeste.

“...Sorry.” (Ravenger)

“I think its better if you go somewhere else for now, Ravenger.” (Celeste)

“...Sure. I’ll be eating somewhere in the forest.” (Ravenger)

“Thank you.” (Celeste)

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Celeste)

“I will treat your wounds now. It will hurt a bit, but please bear with it.” (Celeste)

The assassin nods slowly.

I took out a clean cloth and wiped the blood off her body. Then, I took out some cloth bandages and wrapped it around her wounds.

“And I’m done.” (Celeste)

The girl swiftly took out a small book and a small, black rod. She then scribbled something on it and showed it to me.

[Thank you very much!]

Alexia came over after driving Ravenger away.

“Hm? What’s this?” (Alexia)

The girl scribbled something else onto her book.

[My name is Natashia. I am an assassin. My clan lives in the depths of this forest.]

“Really? But that doesn’t explains why you are injured so severely like that. You should have someone else in your party right?” (Alexia)

The girl flinched. She looked downcast for a moment, then wrote on her book.

[...I ran away from my clan.]

...Ran away?

“Why would you want you run away?” (Celeste)

[...I’m the clan’s princess. I’m sick of being protected around like some precious object. So I decided to prove that I can fight just like my mother.]

“...” (Celeste)

“...” (Alexia)

“Oh, so that’s how the story goes.” (???)

The assassin’s face froze.

Alexia and I turned around.

Ravenger’s bloody face burns into our brains.

“AHHHHHHHH~!” (Everyone)

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Natashia)

I am Natashia, the 109th generation of assassins in my clan.

Also the princess of the clan, I have been protected all my life.

I was born a mute. This saddened my father, and it is also the reason why I have to protected.

My father is afraid that if I got lost, I would not be able to call for help.

My mother was the opposite. She felt that I would be able to find a way to overcome my weakness.

My father disagreed and continued to order round-the-clock protection on my safety.

I felt so useless, pathetic, and later on, scared.

I felt that… I wouldn’t be able to protect, or lead my clan in the future.

I felt that… I needed to grow.

Wallowing in self-pity will not lead me anywhere.

One night, I swore to the full moon that I will grow stronger. By any means necessary, I will show my father that her daughter can defend herself.

Thus, I began secretly leaving my home to train in the forest.

From nature, I learnt about peace, and from the animals, I learnt ferocity.

After months of training, I created my own style of assassination.

‘Way of the Predator’

A skill that will improve my overall skills, and decreases the chance of getting caught under stealth.

I felt really confident after learning this skill, which made me want to try hunting the rare ironwood bear.

It has a layer of natural armor, protecting it from most blunt attacks and sword wounds.

However, it does not include its head.

When I found the bear, I had to wait for it to be distracted before going for a sure-kill strike to its forehead.

As the bear lowered its head to sniff the ground, I launched my assault.

Unknowingly to me, the bear had already picked up my scent.

As I leaped towards the bear, it backed up and swiped at me.

Instinctively, I drew my close-combat weapon, my katana, to block the attack.

The bear roared menacingly, growling at me for disturbing it.

I regained my balance and gripped my katana tightly. Feeling sweat dripped down my forehead, I wiped it, only to find that it was my own blood.

Roaring loudly, the bear pounced onto me.

I rolled away, barely able to escape its crushing blow.

Lunging my katana, I attempted to stab it through its head. My aim was off and it deflected off its armor instead.

As I got up and moved to a safer distance, I felt another presence.

It was a dark, angry aura.

I froze, knowing that if that creature arrived, I will be dead.

As I was hesitating, the bear roared and swiped at me.

I blocked the blow with my katana, but it was too strong for me. I flew backwards towards a tree, losing the grip of my katana.

As my consciousness began to fade, I felt the dark aura move.

I see the bear being stabbed and crushed by a monstrous figure as I’m about to faint.

The killing pressure forced me to stay awake, as I shivered non-stop.

“Who are you?” (Ravenger)

Hey guys, IAmTheKroc

Sorry for the late and short chapter.

Reality kept me busy...

Next week I will try to reach my goal of 3000 words!

And I've almost 100 followers! Yay me! (And to all my readers!)

Please keep supporting me! I will keep writing better chapters for you!

Thanks for reading!

Peace

Edit 4/7/15 : I realized the coding was not working. Fixed it.