This topic is mainly for myself but I do appreciate any feedback. More, I just hope you enjoy reading
I'll be posting in chapters, starting with what I've written today.
This is
high fantasy, so for those of you not into that thing you should stop now
I understand most of you won't want to read this as it's pretty long. And yes, I do aim to become published one day. If I can ever get around to finishing a damn book.
Chapter one: Even time has a beginning.There was only innocence, wide-eyes wonder and a speculative scream.
Ludo stood alone in the chamber, his hand resting lightly on the wooden
frame as his eyes took in the scene and his mind wandered. Life was so fragile.
Weak. Easily taken and easily made. It was no wonder that people like him were
needed. A necessity of a society gone mad. To be an assassin was to take part in the
madness, to excel in the arts of murder and debauchery and to prove, with finality,
that no one and nothing was safe.
“Yet you look at me with those big damn eyes,” muttered Ludo. “Me, a killer for
coin, and here I stand hesitant, afraid of what I see. Not because you’re all that
scary, little one, but because you’re not. Nothing in those big stupid eyes, is there?
Oh, but there will be, if you’re given the chance to grow into awareness. I wonder
if it would be a gift or a curse.”
Two rooms down from where the assassin stood, in a room five times the size and
with larg3 bay windows that allowed both the moon and eyes to sneak a peek, the
king slept. At his side lay a beauty of the court well known for her brazen appetites.
Both were content after their heated lovemaking and now slept deeply. Ludo knew
that the queen was in her apartments out in the grounds, blissfully unaware of her
husband’s infidelity. Or not. It wasn’t always easy to judge the intricacies of court life.
Either way, the three people who would be most affected by this nights work were
entirely unaware. The assassin’s hands shook uncharacteristically, his mind at war with
his own fragile heart; he found it almost amusing that they could sleep so peacefully
whilst he felt under barrage. The comfort of ignorance could be a beautiful thing.
“Is that what I see when I look into your eyes? Ignorance? No, no I think not.
Because even without intelligence you still have your instincts. Do they tell you to
scream? Why have you stopped screaming?” Ludo spoke in a low monotone that had,
he realised with ironic amusement, put the newly born child to sleep.
“I’ve never taken a life that hasn’t yet been lived. What do you say, little one? Is that
like stealing bread before it’s been baked? I like bread, you know. When I was a child I
used to sneak over to old Silva and she used to give me buttered crumpets… you would
like them. All kids do.”
Still mumbling, Ludo reached down into the crib. The child weighed no more than a
well-balanced short sword. Tiny hands reached out instinctively to grab at the assassins
robe.
“I took the contract, little one. Instantly.” Holding the child under one arm, Ludo slid out
of the room and into the hallway. The empty hallway where a dozen guards lay slumped
in their positions.
“Not because I really had any intention of completing it – although my final payment
would have been enough to ransom a king.” His voice was a hum as his feet took him past
the lifeless eyes and down the circular staircase. “But I have no need of coin, not anymore.
I am what I am, and I know that. But what about change, huh? A man can change, can’t
he? Isn’t that the whole point in life, to grow? Growth is dependant upon change. Change
in circumstances, in need, in wants. I have the circumstances to change and I want to, isn’t
that enough?”
Ludo, the most feared assassin in the Kingsland, a man whose name was only whispered in
fear of drawing his attention, held close the newly born. On his way out of the supposedly
impenetrable palace he passed twenty-seven dead bodies. Quick, clean, efficient. Each cut or
poke had been fatal, one for each. And he, the man who wanted to change, felt a sudden
emptiness upon seeing their lifeless bodies.
The last, promised Ludo. For me, this is the last. Are you damn gods listening?! I’m not killing
anymore!
* * * *
Alester Nil was a war-hero, Blademaster, sometimes assassin and most often drunk. Not a
good combination for someone who was only half sane at the best of times. Voices racked his
skull with a biting insistence to be heard, and no matter how hard he tried it seemed the voices
were only becoming more insistent.
“That one is a fool, his wife is a mistress to a dozen men. He should be put out of his misery.
And him, he has abused his brothers daughter of seven years. He needs to be stopped. Stop
him! Alester! Kill him now!”
“Shut up!” mumbled Alester Nil, causing glances to be shot in his direction. The man with the
cheating wife wore a frown of concern.
The voices never left him. As he pushed his way through the crowds of men and women,
Alester Nil tensed his hands in an effort to keep a grip of his fragile sanity. Drink no longer
sufficed. Meditation had failed long ago. And the countless healers he’d visited looked at him
with eyes tinged with sorrow and distaste. Two expressions he’d rarely seen directed his way
during years of distinction and achievements. Now… well now he was a different person.
Not for the first time he wondered if death wouldn’t be the kinder fate. Damn his own
stubbornness. Why was it so hard to let go?
The city of Junth, ironically, was named after a Ral princess of unsurpassed beauty. Either it
was inner beauty or the historians and artists of the time were blind drunk. City streets
sprawled in a mess of unrecognised alleys and roads; houses were placed next-door to shops,
blacksmiths and slaughterhouses. The sewers, what there were of them, emptied waste into a
large underground cavern that lay a mile outside the city. Its stench was particularly virulent
on days when the wind blew eastwards. As it did today.
“Those priests who designed it should have died.”
“Shut up, stupid voice. They are already dead.”
A short silence which Dex used to his advantage to move through the city. Then.
“Good. Dead is good”
Despite drinking more than any man had a right to and still be standing, Alester Nil was
particularly aware of the disgusted expressions and men would move out of his way. They
made jokes of him, laughed at his sorry state.
“You have your sword, take it out and kill them all!”
He could, he knew. It would be easier than chopping kindling. Chop chop chop. Bye bye
fuckers! It was so easy to take lives and he’d taken hundreds of them. Just add a few thousand
more to that tally and he might finally get some peace.
When he pushed open the door to the hovel he called home, Alester Nil realised instantly that
something wasn’t quite right. The door was unlocked, as usual, and everything seemed to be in
its normal place. That was, the rubbish on the floor hadn’t been disturbed. As he tiptoed
forwards he became acutely aware of something waiting up ahead. It was all natural instincts,
and one of the reasons he was a Blademaster.
He had one hand on the sword at his waist when a voice spoke.
“Don’t even bother with that sword, Al. I’ve beat you once and I can beat you again.”
Alester Nil froze. He knew that voice, knew it well.
“Only because you cheated, you swine. I would have had your balls otherwise.” He instantly
took his hand from his the hilt of his sword.
A quite chuckle. “There is no cheating when the choice is life or death, Alester. You know that
better than anyone.”
“I do,” admitted Alester into the darkness. “Now light the lamp so I can see your ugly mug, will
you?”
When the light illuminated the room Alester Nil saw a sight most unexpected. Not only was the
sight unexpected, but so was the fact that he hadn’t noticed the small babe sooner.
“A father now, huh?” asked Alester with a raised brow. He moved across the room easily to a
loose floorboard where he kept his few valuables. Inside was a bag, a bottle and one cup. Only
one cup would be needed, his brother would obviously have his own, as he always did.
“No,” said Ludo, looking across the room, babe under one arm. “If you must know, I stole him.”
No surprise there.
“Don’t tell me,” said Alester Nil as he popped open his favourite blueberry wine. “The kings son,
the one the entire city is in a guffaw over.” He poured himself a cup and took a large mouthful.
“Mmm, superb.”
As if making the cup appear from the air itself, Ludo held his arm out as his brother poured.
“You’re not looking good, Al.”
“I’ve felt better,” admitted Alester Nil.
The two men stood in the centre of the room. Brothers. One held a babe whilst the other held a
bottle. And they looked at each other. What they saw in each other no one would have known.
Indeed, Alester had no idea what his brother saw when he looked at him with those disconcerting
blue eyes. Was he disgusted? He doubted it; Ludo had never been one for superficial things. Ha, he
himself had been the superficial one.
Ludo took a deep breath, an obvious and most unusual sign that something big was coming.
Alester Nil couldn’t remember seeing his cold, ruthless brother so animated. Indeed, it was unusual
for anyone to be able to read his brother at all.
“Out with it,” demanded Alester Nil.
Ludo nodded, the two seconds enough for him to recover his expressionless demeanour. “As you
wish. I have an offer for you.”
Alester Nil raised his eyebrows sceptically. “And that is?”
Ludo’s answering smile was a mixture of amused savagery. “Well, I want you to help me train a
god, of course.”
Alester looked down at the babe.
His brother nodded, still smiling. If you managed to read all of that, thanks! And I hope you liked it. I'll be posting more as and when I write it.
Feedback is welcome and I appreciate if you could take a couple of minutes to let me know what you think, even
if you do think it's crap
Take care
This post was edited by slasheriam on Dec 31 2012 08:07pm