Death Blooms

Death Blooms

– By the Window and the Torchlight

As I ran up the stairs, carefully choosing my steps not to produce any sound, I could hear the metallic clashing of blades filling the air downstairs. Here, only silence. My group of the most skilled assassins was still assaulting the main corridor of the castle’s upper level, defeating the last guards that uselessly defended the royal chamber.

Our work there was done already, and I had King Leandrus the Fourth’s blood all over my right hand since it had spilled and dripped from the hilt of my curved blade when I trespassed his head from his chin up. The queen and four of his sons and daughters had the same fate at the hands of my men; their lives were easily taken, one by one, soon as we reached the chamber where they feasted after celebrating a street festival. It reeked of wine and hypocrisy. Now it was a place filled with death, with blood all over the floor. I just needed the fight to stay there while I worked elsewhere, so my men kept attracting the guards of the surroundings, letting the metal clang so they would be heard.

Our mission was almost over.

Only two still to go: Theolus, the Second Son, and Moraine, the Half-bred.

Theolus, reports said, was the only son of Leandrus that actually knew how to defend himself or knew something about the military. I expected him to eventually show up at the royal chamber, so I left my every man there. I could handle a princess and her guards by myself with ease.

Moraine was the bastard daughter known to live isolated at an annex tower by the queen’s demand. Fruit of an affair the king had on a year’s long expedition to the fiery desertic lands southwest, stories told her to be a dark-skinned midget, hard to the eye, therefore kept in secret. Apparently, it was harder for the queen to accept being cheated on when the king’s target of sexual desire could produce such a hideous creature, seeing that other bastard children did not receive the same treatment and normally lived at the court.

The order our suzerain gave us was to kill them all, using in our favor the knowledge that King Leandrus was more of a sociopath and less of a strategist. The poor idiot kept his entire royal bloodline stuck to his court and under his wing, living in his same quarters. It would have been a good strategy if you were confident they were protected there, which was not the case. One of our elders once said, “A free and happy kingdom is always a place for insecurity.” He was right. With his troops advancing on other lands aiming to enlarge his territory, enslave and loot, all in the name of great and noble Caestyria, the reign itself was so convinced that nothing could hit them that their arrogance would never see us coming, and here we were.

With the right people for the job – mine – it was just a matter of using a festival, as they had many, as an excuse to be as close as possible to the castle at night, kill a guard or two, infiltrate the place and wait for the right time. King Leandrus had a top-notch army on the battlefield, at his borders, but that made his kingdom nothing but a nut; tough shell on the outside but soft and easy to handle on the inside.

The word around was that Leandrus was somewhat crazy, an abuser, a good king only to his servants but a tyrant to his own court, full of himself, and nothing but a fool. Not that any of that mattered to me. I had my orders; I had my village to maintain and to lead. That job would buy my soldiers, elders, peasants, and me some peace for the months to come; the whole winter would pass unnoticed.

The wide ladder to the annex tower was made as a turning left on its way up. The outer walls had thin, tall windows at every quarter circle, and each seemed to face a cardinal direction. Although it was a thoughtful construction, now they were covered by bricks and turned into windows to another wall; I wouldn’t know if on purpose or if it just happened that they covered them up with stone on the outside when they expanded this wing of the castle. The thing was, now, they seemed out of place. Moreover, useless. Mainly they represented my thoughts about the king’s court, something to watch, merely decorative and of no use. I had no problem killing members of a court. The higher, the better.

I heard light steps on their way down the stairs amidst that train of thought.

I took a moment figuring how close it was, and by the speed, whoever it was had no idea of what was happening downstairs or had a good plan to escape, one that did not include passing through the fight. Unluckily, the person had not noticed me either.

When the rushed and light steps were close enough for me to slice through, I had to decide whether to kill the woman or child instantly or to make myself visible and make the person surrender.

After a moment of short deliberation, I made my move, shifting swiftly in the way of the coming prey. I would take less time identifying and striking than deciding the better course of action. Branding my saber up to their face, just one quick step forward, I could puncture a throat, and it would all be over… However, after one glance, I did not want things to happen as fast anymore.

In front of me, static, was a petite girl dressed in a red robe tied upfront of the thinnest silk imaginable and nothing more. Her long and wavy hair of a dark brown tone lit alive in a copper-colored highlight, falling wild all over her forehead, shoulders, and back. I thought the feeble light of the torch was tricking me, for that exotic creature was one of the most tempting beings I had seen in my entire life.

Her chest heaved after the fright, like a scared little bird, but her exquisite face kept emotionless, her brown eyes looking to the tip of my blade through those long, thick lashes. The torches were put by the side of each of those covered-up windows, and we had one at our side, a few steps up. I needed to see her better.

“You didn’t scream. It seems you know better than that. Move to your right, beneath the torchlight.” I said in my low and husky tone, and she looked me in the eye for the first time.

Not looking down nor to the side, she felt the floor with her tiny bare feet and slowly went up one step, then another, while moving to the right. My sword was always following her, but her eyes were still on mine. She was finally to be seen near the false window when close to the wall.

I was not exaggerating, and my eyes weren’t betrayed by the shadows; my companion for gods knew how many years now. She had just reached womanhood, her forms were all young, firm, and perky, and I could see her whole shape, nude beneath the thin cover of the scarlet silk. Her skin, I could not decipher its actual tone… It was bronze… Sun-kissed, it seemed. Something impossible here or anywhere near here. The girl smelled like spring flowers and wine.

“Who are you?” Slowly, punctuating the words so she could feel my intensity and how important her answer would be, I asked her.

She answered after taking a deep breath, never taking her dark eyes from mine. “I’m the King’s whore.”

I was, even if behind several other things I excelled at, an expert on detecting lies. I felt she put additional strength in her truth, enlarged it a little, maybe, or just wanted to ensure I believed her, which, at the end of my contemplation, I did. Leandrus seemed much less of a fool now for hiding a preciosity like that for himself.

“For how long?” I asked, trying to understand the whole picture.

“Not long.” She answered with a tinge of relief in her voice but sorrowed too. “He used me twice. Gave me to Theolus once. Just now, he was secretly mouthing me.”

Her eyes never left mine. Her body shivered, and her face defied me. It was beautiful. She was definitely not one of those in the king’s court. Nevertheless, there was something wrong with her.

“He and not your majesty. Theolus and not Lord Theolus. For a servant, you are quite intimate or lack even the basic manners.” I pointed out.

“Or I hate them, Milord.” She answered, giving a short step back, which put her against the wall.

“I am no lord,” I said, stepping forward, the tip of my blade down from the tip of her nose to slightly touching her throat.

“You have my life in your hands now; you are the one who decides my destiny.