The Girl Assassin

Chapter Eighteen | Blood On the Scales

Chapter Eighteen | Blood On the Scales

Jason woke up feeling refreshed. The cloudy day put no hold on his happiness though.

He hot up and walked over to AJ who was already awake and moving.

"Morning," he greeted.

AJ turned around and laughed. "Good morning to you too!"

"What ever," Jason waved him off, heading to the table to grab some bread.

He ate in silence, watching the birds flitter around the roofs.

Annabeth walked to the table, her usually wavy and untangled brown hair was a rat's nest. AJ burst out laughing at the sight of her.

"And this is why I don't live with anyone else." She muttered, a scowl on her lips.

"Haha! Was that a joke?" AJ chuckled. His eyes lit up playfully.

Jason could feel his soul get jealous at AJ. The nerve he had to be messing with his 'girl'. It sickened him to the core. "Stop!"

"Whatever!" Annabeth growled ignoring his attempts at flirting with her. She faced Jason, "Jace, could you pass the bread please?" Jason obliged.

                              ••*••*••*••

Later that morning, the group walked around Ymmot, hoping to find a job to earn extra Lyra.

The pedlars opened up their stalls right on the street, as they walked past.

Skerries was jumping for joy, because she had never been to a real city. Her mouth watered at each food stall, the delicious aromas filling the pungent air. Annabeth had given her two Lyra to spend on something, but Skerries didn't know what to buy.

They walked onto the first large cobblestones road that led to the atrium of the Lord's Palace. 

A carriage swerved quickly past them, almost knocking AJ down if he hadn't jumped away. It did hit a older man, around his late thirties. They rushed over to him.

"Is he alright?" Skerries asked.

"Annabeth, take her away, he's dead." Jason whispered into her ear.

"Skerries, the man is dead." Annabeth told her bluntly.

"Oh my! Oh my gods! No." She muttered, shaking her head. Annabeth tried to comfort her. She looked around, searching for a Gazette of some sort. Annabeth walked up to a stall.

"Ma'am, do you by any chance have a copy of the latest newspaper?" Annabeth asked as sweetly as she could muster.

The older woman smiled, her falling out teeth plainly visible. "Sur' I do, thanks dar'lin'." She handed Annabeth the sheets of paper.

Glancing at the paper, Annabeth noticed that a wanted advertisement for "Puck" was boldly printed on the page. And she thought that it only was a dream...

Before long, AJ got up and started to walk away, leaving the other's behind. Annabeth rushed after him, bringing Jason and Skerries along.

"AJ, you do realise that you just killed a man." She said.

"Yes, and I hate myself for it." He muttered darkly.

"Wouldn't we all," Annabeth murmured to herself.

                              ••*••*••*••

"The court will now come to order!" A short, balding man screeched.

The room's inhabitants seated themselves before a man who sat next to AJ, got up.

Annabeth clutched Jason's arm protectively while holding Azula.  Skerries leaned against her side, trying to sleep with all the commotion going around.

The room was musty scented, the dark rotting wood covering the walls and floor. A set of finely made silver scales stood upon the floor before the judge. A cup of the dead man's blood sat on one of the scales and the opposite held a jar of feathers and Lyra, symbolising AJ's blood.

"Do you think that my client is guilty? If you do, why! Explain the reason's why you think he is? Is it because he is a stranger in these parts or because you are wary of what happened in Artlana?" The attorney for AJ asked the court.

A few people had murmured their answers, some agreeing, some disagreeing.

The judge whacked the table with the mallet. "Silence!"

"My client acted out of self defence, not in an attempt at murdering someone." His attorney continued.

Annabeth pulled out her blow darts. Jason took Azula out of her arms as she positioned the dart inside of the pipe. Aiming for the judge, Annabeth took a deep breath and blew as hard as she could.

The dart hit it's target, landing smoothly on the judges neck. The blow dart was dipped in a poison made from blackberry leaves. 

The judges' head slumped forward, the mallet he held clattering to the ground, hitting the chalice of blood. Shattering the glass in the process, sending blood onto the silver scales.

A woman shrieked thinking that another person had died, when in reality the judge was only sleeping. Annabeth pulled out another dart and hit AJ's attorney, making him fall asleep.

AJ jumped up and ran back to them. "Thanks, Sophy!" He hugged Annabeth happily. Jason could feel jealousy running through his blood...

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A/N

Another short one, sorry.  This one was harder to write. Then again I wasn't listening to any music.

Music is my kryptonite.

Ciao,

Ellie