The shot of hope

1

Kingsley

Stalking along the thick branch above the campsite where the raiders drank, drunk people were always the easiest to take down due to their lack of senses and ability to move. Tucking my wings closely into my back as even  though they were fully black with a few grey spot ever so often on the bottom feathers it still sometimes could catch peoples attention due to there size. Pulling the mask up to cover everything but my eyes as a hood covered the rest of my head, it wasn't uncommon for assassins to keep their faces hidden especially on a mission. Glancing over at Jake who was crouched on another branch as he signaled for me to call us in whenever the time was right and once I let out a owl like call by holding my hands together under my mask the male dropped down and used a dagger to slice the neck of the man the landed on while sam and peter attacked the other two. Loading an arrow as I pulled it back making it slice through the air and into the back of someone else's head and it was quick and easy as the forest was soon dead silent as I climbed down.

"Every dead?" Jake questioned and I nodded.

"Everyone searches the camp, find the orb" sam ordered, he was our captain, and the orb was one of the reasons we were here as the other was to make sure the dude that had stolen died.

Resting my bow on my back before using a lantern to light the inside of a tent to reveal a lump under a black blanket leading me to yank it off as a woman stared at me in horror and id assume it was one of the raiders but they were tied up and gaged. She had a soft navy dress on that was a bit ripped at the bottoms and side and surprisingly still had her necklace on, soft brown hair that was a bit knotted and dirty due to her position and horrified green orbs.

"Sam!" I called out before cutting the rope suppressing her from breathing properly.

"Oh shit" he muttered as he came in, "uh what's your name ma'am?"

"Roselyn, roselyn Augusta... Princess of the river back mountain" she panted as she tried to regain her lost breath as I untied her.

"Well it's your lucky day I suppose" Sam grinned, "now how did you get here?"

"I was being moved back to my parents castle after visiting my aunt... Sadly I was attacked by those vicious men" she explained and sent me a weary look as sam had removed his mask and hood as unlike the rest I preferred to keep my face hidden most of the time.

"Well I'm sure we can take you there seeing as we're heading on a similar route" Sam beamed and I elbowed his stomach.

"We don't need another mouth to feed... Especially not a snobby royal one" I whispered to him with irritation lacing my tone.

"Exactly, she's royalty so returning her in one peace could get us some good money" he huffed before helping her up, "come miss, I believe we have your horse"

Rolling my eyes as I made sure nothing valuable was there before walking back out and Jake had found the orb and I collected my arrows before putting them into the pouch on my back. Whistling making my chestnut stallion run over as Peter lead the princess horse over which was a pure white one and Sam helped her up as I easily hoisted myself onto my own horse. The forest went dark as Jake put there fire out as Jake lit a lantern and lead the way for us as I let myself trail behind and admire the blue beauty that the forest kept beneath its branches as small fireflies fluttered around. Fixing the black clothe around my wrists as we approached our camp where Jess was waiting for us as she was our nurse so didn't join us on missions, hitching my horse on one of the trees before starting to take the saddle off while the others huddled around the campfire.

"Kim! Come have some dinner!" Jess called out and I looked over before setting the saddle next to the tree and walking over as I took the bowl of soup before sitting down on a old log from a fallen down tree away from the others as I pulled my mask down but kept my hood up.

It was normal for assassins to keep there faces hidden and only show them when there not undercover though I preferred to keep my face hidden as it gave me almost a blanket of safety and after I was taken into this life style it was the thing that basically kept me from the memory's due to the scar across my jaw and nose bridge. Avians we're often hunted for our wings as they could be used as a type of medicine in large amounts that basically granted you immunity to diseases for weeks though it was very hard to craft and meant far to many of my kind died from pure grief of loosing there wings or were just general killed.

Standing and pulling my mask bask up as I put my bowl back and the princess stared at my wings in shock, "are you a avian?"

"What you think?" I spoke coldly as I glared at her.

"I was just asking..." she mumbled and Jake sent me a annoyed look.

"You don't have to be rude" Jake spoke up.

"And we didn't have to take her, let alone feed the girl" I scoffed before walking away and I grabbed a branch and used it to climb up to a higher one, using my cape as a blanket as us avians were used to freezing weathers as our wings acted like heaters in a way.

Looking up at the sky as I admired the way the moon lit the night and gave a soft glow against the pine trees, closing my eyes as I let my head fall back against the tree as I slowly felt sleep nip at my brain before I finally fell into a slumber.