Tales of Cubonia

The Golden Hourglass 2 - The Assassin

Darkness had fallen over the continent of Elazio. The capital city of Old Andora was finally calming down after a long day of commerce. Ships in from a hard day of fishing were tethering themselves to the dock in Port Fishmouth. In the northeast, Mirklight Marsh was beginning to emit its familiar eerie glow tempting travelers to enter, but more than likely never return. The mountain trolls in the Pak-Pak Mountains were laying themselves down in their beds made of stone, resting their heads on boulder pillows.

In the southwest country side, on the outskirts of the Green Sea, was a small town on the banks of Shimmer Lake called – rather aptly – Laketown. Laketown's inhabitants had all retired for the night to their respective hovels after a long day of work fishing or trading, and an even longer night of ale, cards, and rowdy dancing and singing. The town was silent except for the sound of the water wheel at the mill and the swoosh swoosh swoosh of the barman's broom on the floor of the pub.

The entire country's inhabitants were laying down to rest. All of them with the exception of one, a Goblin by the name of Küdz Rotbane.

Contrary to the rest of Laketown, Küdz was stirring from a deep slumber. Goblins, as most people are well aware, hated the sunlight. They preferred to sleep during the day in caves or dungeons, or wherever they could find sufficient shade. Küdz crawled out from the bushes he'd been sleeping in to look into the night sky. He loved looking at the constellations. His particular favorite was the Forgotten Queen. As a kid, Küdz's father had told him the story of a vicious tyrant Queen that ruled the land with an iron fist. Naturally, the commoners rose up. An assassin was hired to dispatch the Queen in her sleep. When they found her body the next morning, the Queen's servants threw her body in an unmarked grave, leaving her there to be forgotten and the kingdom to be rebuilt.

It was the Goblin's favorite story for one reason: Küdz was an assassin himself. Well he was a Gourmand more than anything, but he still came out of retirement from time to time for a little more excitement. He was well past his prime now, and he promised himself this was going to be his last job. He had put a lot of work, and betrayed a lot of people to become a Gourmand, and he didn't like the idea of risking that just for the rush of making a kill.

Küdz walked to the edge of Shimmer Lake. He pulled a small retractable telescope from his pouch and extended it with a flick of his wrist. Across the lake was a sleeping Laketown. After a quick scan of the quiet town, Küdz found what he was looking for. A manse was sitting on the bank of the lake opposite him. It was a massive two story building with a clay tiled roof and Elven carvings around each window. There was a single light on in a room on the second floor. Smoke was curling out of the chimney.

Küdz smiled to himself and closed the telescope. He put it back into his pouch and checked to make sure his favorite knife was still at his waist. He felt the cool, black Goblin steel on his fingertips and smiled again. He loved that dagger. His father had given it to him on his graduation from the Assassin academy. That was a long time ago though. He'd been through a lot since then.

Küdz pulled out the dagger and began hacking off branches of the nearby airpine trees. It was actually a bit of a stroke of luck that airpines just happened to be growing around the edges of the lake. Küdz was thinking he was going to have to swim across the lake, which he wasn't happy about since he hated water – all Goblins do – so he was delighted to find them. The benefit to airpine branches was that, not only are they buoyant by themselves, but the more that were put together the lighter they became. Perfect for building a makeshift raft.

Küdz set to work quickly weaving the branches together. He remembered taking basket weaving classes during his assassin training and wondering why he would ever need such a skill. After the first time he'd done something like this, he couldn't help but curse the old Goblin maid that taught him. When he was halfway done, Küdz had to stand on the halfway finished base of the boat he was constructing so it didn't float away. After a few minutes of work, he was standing in what appeared to be an oversized, oblong basket. He picked up his dagger and leaned over to cut a branch off of a nearby shrub. He threw the shrub in the raft, and picked up the whole thing with no effort.