The Assassin Of Lore

II

When I swung the mahogany doors open, I was faced with a marbled floor and a red carpet. Above my head, a glass chandelier stayed static. This was the richest room in the mansion, and each time I completed a contract, I would have to come back here. It had greeted me many times before. I wasn't in the mood for humble greetings.

The carpet extended to a set of steps - not many - and on top of these steps sat a man - Dante Atrivicus - sat upon an iron chair. I belonged to a pack of assassins named The Fellenhoods, and Dante was the alpha of us all. He had trained alongside us many times before; he had been in our positions, he had ran small contracts simply to put coins in our pockets - and had fought his way to the top all these years.

The Fellenhoods were not a rich order - nor was the lifestyle glamourous. I, for one, joined five years ago, at the mere age of thirteen years old - although many of the members had been orphaned, and turned to the order in search of a home, or somewhere to belong.

Dante hadn't simply been in a line of successors. The previous guildmaster had run the order far before most of the current members had even been born. He had a son, once. Dante killed the previous guildmaster and his son to be able to overtake the guild as their leader. If there was a single assassin inside The Fellenhoods that was the deadliest, it would have been him.

"She returns," The guildmaster's voice boomed from on top of his iron chair. Although it had the power to echo throughout the room, Dante wasn't old, and his voice wasn't all that loud. "Aurour, my sweet-"

"Save it for later, Dante." I cut him off, walking from the red carpet up towards his makeshift throne. I threw Lady Francis's golden necklace down at his feet. "I believe you have to pay me for this."

Dante fell silent as he stared at the chain on the floor - I doubted he'd expected me to return from this mission alive, or certainly not with Lady Francis dead. His tanned hands bunched into tight fists on the arms of his chair, and his obsidian hair that was usually slicked back into a short ponytail fell forward onto his face. His grey eyes narrowed as he stared from the chain back up to my face, and he took a deep breath out.

"I would have expected you to pay more respect towards your elders, Aurour."

If Dante were angry at my disrespectful behaviour, I would have known it by then. One of the other assassins inside the order - Delta - had caught him on a bad day after failing one of the biggest contracts that The Fellenhoods had ever been on, and received a week's worth of whippings in a single night. The servants to the order were never able to get the blood stains out of the carpet - and even the memory of seeing the lashes on the assassin's back made me tremble with terror. For the rest of his life, Delta wore those scars as a reminder of what he did that day - and he knew never to cross that boundary again.

Thinking that I should have paid some respect before I ended up like Delta, I bowed and stepped down onto one knee. "With all due respect, Sir, I did what you asked of me."

"You did, and in doing so caused a great ruckus among the city."

I could feel a mischievous smirk began to spread across my face. "The people should know to fear me."

Dante stepped down from his seat, the soles of his leather shoes hitting the floor with a quiet smack. He paced closer towards me, and I stood as he reached the edge of the steps. "This is where you're wrong, Aurour," He paced towards me again, and tilted his chin upwards to meet him at eye level - he was taller than I was (without the steps making him a giant). "They should learn to fear us - The Fellenhoods - as one. I know you're oh-so-caught-up with your chasing of the title: 'The Assassin Of Lore', but darling, you know there are other guilds, orders, creeds. We need them to fear us"-His fingernails dug into my chin like a cat's claws-"before they can fear you."