The Assassin's Heart

Defeat

There she was flaunting her skills in the dark-all confidence and calculation. She's wearing a black shiny material-making her blend almost perfectly with the hazy black sky behind her against her-covering every inch of her skin except around her eyes. Eyes, almost as black as the night, sparkle in stark contrast to the pale white skin surrounding them. She's really quite beautiful for such a witch.

I could tell the exact moment she spotted me; her stance turned feral and her eyes glinted with awareness and- something...excitement maybe? Arrogant fool. Doesn't she know she's about to die?

~

My name is Drake Wellings​, son of Garrison and Bianca Wellings, and I have trained for the past five years for this day. Today I will avenge my parents death and kill the underworld's Empress Ruin. Not only that but I will make her suffer like she made my parents and make her regret the very day she was born.

Five years ago we were away at my cousins' mansion and my father received an urgent message calling him home. At the age of thirteen I could tell something was off but my mother told me not bother him. The next morning they left together in a horse drawn carriage and were found days later, halfway across the kingdom with the very note that had worried my father so.

"You will not live much longer. Leave your child -that part always bothered me- and travel home if you value yours or his life. I will hunt you down. And destroy everything you care about. Don't underestimate my power." It was signed,
Empress of the Underworld.

Today I would kill this "empress" once and for all.

~

Without looking back, the tiny- smaller than I expected- assassin disappears down into an alleyway. This must be her idea of a trap, I think even as I follow her. That little murderer was going to die and I was going to enjoy this.

There she stands in the middle of the alley, her stance daring me to fight, to move, as if any moment she'll spring like a cat from her crouch and either attack or disappear. I'm almost sure she won't run. It doesn't seem like something the empress of the underworld would do. She probably thought she could easily take me down like all those other terminators she's killed.

"So ya gonna fight?" Her voice takes me by surprise; it's high and a little rough from disuse. Why would she want to talk to her opponent?

"Or'm I just gonna kill ya?" She spoke with such arrogance in her peasant slur; I'm surprised again by so much evil in a little person. I doubt she could actually beat anyone else in a fair fight. All assassins are good for is sneaking up on innocents and cutting their throats. Still, I have to admit that with every move she looks like a feline- powerful and sleek. As I contemplate this I can see her restless, impatient expression though she tries to hide it. I watch and can see the exact moment when she makes up her mind and springs at me with full force, so fast I almost don't see her. I see in her hand a glint of silver right as she is within reach and using the momentum of her attack I flip her onto her back, hard against the cobblestone street. With my other fist I knock the knife out of her left hand and catch it as she stares up at me in fear- no not fear... more like wonder.

Her fighting instincts only allow her to lay on her back, vulnerable,for a fraction of a second before she springs- this is really the only word to describe the way she moves- up and begins to circle me in a wary crouch. There is no fear in her eyes and now her wonder has turned to curiosity. Keeping her in my sight, I turn to watch her get ready for another attack. As she whirls forward, with more precision this time, she meets my deflection with a knife. Great, how did I miss that! I must be getting soft. The leather on my arms protected most of it but I can feel a slight sting in my forearm so she must have gotten through. As she whips around, I turn and, using her knife, lung to meet her attack sticking the knife through her left shoulder. She had used that arm to attack with both knives so I assumed this was her dominant arm.

Not even acknowledging the pain I knew she felt, the girl assassin uses both the knife in her shoulder and the one in her hand to throw with deadly accuracy towards my head and heart. Looks like she's going for the kill. Finally. I dodge both knives and they go skittering into the darkness, although I doubt she's defenseless after only two knives.

I don't normally don't fight defensive but this was really getting fun. I might just I'll play with my quarry a little longer. She watches me warily again, her right hand creeping behind her and she draws a beautiful, petite, silver sword, decorated with tiny blue crystals most likely worth its weight in rubies. I wonder just how good an underworlder is with a sword- the weapon of the elite. As I take my sword out, readying for an easy fight, I see her eyes glinting with the same emotions I feel- excitement to the point of giddiness and curiosity in the other's skill. I'm surprised by how easy her face is to read under the cloth on her face. No wonder she covers it; this girl is an open book.

She approaches me and strikes without hesitation, almost catching me by surprise. Of course she wouldn't follow duel etiquette; probably doesn't even know it. Her strikes are light but fast and she moves as much as her sword does, deflecting half my blows and dodging under the rest. She moves like a phantom, the fog on the street whirling around our feet, and strikes occasionally when my balance is off from her dodge. My sword pierces through the cloth on her face at some point cutting it open and leaving a cut from her cheekbone to her jaw.

I lunge in and before she can deflect it my sword pierces her shoulder where the knife was, this time make her body spasm with pain as the drying blood reopens. Again through her pain, she spins under my sword and thrust hers towards a spot just below my rib cage. I dodge but I'm not fast enough and her sword grazes my side. Great. Now I'm losing blood too. I should probably end the fight now.

Finally using all of my skill, I attack- thrust, dodge, jab, duck, lunge, roll, stab. I can tell right away her swordsmanship was at its limit and she retreats with every blow. I swing wide and high, clashing swords above her head as she tries to keep me back. Her thin arms, though probably strong for a girl, are no match for my years of training. Her arms trembling under the pressure, she pushes hard against my sword and then ducks back-right into the alley wall.

She already knows she's to late as she spins around, finally with a look of fear as the flat of my sword goes soaring into her head. She's nearly unconscious; it was a hard blow and even I wouldn't be getting up anytime soon after that. I gaze down at the young empress and contemplate putting her out of her misery by killing her outright, but I know she deserves a much worse fate.

So, I sit and wait for her to come around, preparing to watch my parents' murderess squirm and cry for mercy. Never again would this girl kill an innocent human being. Never. And I would make her suffer for every life she ever stolen.