The Assassin

Part I: IV

ODETTE GRACE

I slipped around the dark corner, my feet silent on the filthy cobblestones. I was nearly there, at my goal, and I could see the shop windows glinting in the final rays of sun.

PAWNBROKERS it announced to the world, and I smiled slyly at the golden chain that I had found on the floor in the palace.

All of a sudden, footsteps vibrated on the ground, racing from behind me and I spun around to see a young man in uniform. Before I knew what was happening, a knife was stabbed into my stomach. I gasped and stumbled backwards.

A guard was staring at me, probably only a few years older than myself. He had no looks to boast of, and his expression was wide and surprised- the way everybody looks after their first kill. "What are you doing with that pretty bangle?" he sneered. "And where did you come across it? Seems mighty fine for a young lass like you."

I shook my head numbly and flicked my left wrist, a knife appearing from my sleeve. I threw it, almost blindly and I heard the satisfying thunk as it met its mark. There was a clatter as the guard fell to the ground, dead.

I managed to pull myself off the floor with the aid of the stone wall. I panted and realised that I needed help. It would not be possible for me to survive if I went without medical attention.

Leaving the guard as he was with no thought of disguising the body, I groaned and began walking to the only place in the city that would help a young woman with a blade in her side.

When I finally reached the house, I barely managed to raise my arm and use my knuckles to knock on the door, my energy almost depleted. A girl, younger than me, answered and gasped as she saw me curled on her stone doorstep. "Odette!" she exclaimed. She pulled me up and half carried-half dragged me through the small house, calling 'Ma! Ma! Clear the table!'

An older woman stepped into the hall, squinting against the light and her eyes widened in shock when she saw me. "Odette?" She glimpsed the blood flowing out from my tunic and was suddenly all business, pulling me up and through the doorway. "What have you done to yourself?" she asked. "And why are you back after all this time?"

I moaned as they lifted me onto their table and tugged open my tunic. The older woman, Edna, sucked in a breath through her teeth. Her daughter, Cassia, was not so subtle about her shock.

"Odette, you've only been in town for a day and you managed to get stabbed? What were you thinking?"

I groaned. "Didn't... mean to. Was... trying... to... escape."

Cassia nodded disbelievingly. "And where have you been for the last year and a half? You said that you'd visit every six months. It's been longer than that. Why didn't you come back? And where are the others?"

Although Cassia was fourteen, she still sounded like a child. The close connection that I had shared with her when visits were regular was what she clung to, and what I wished for as well. But things were different now.

I gave a dry laugh but cried out as it antagonised the wound in my stomach. "I've... been in... prison for the... last year, Cass," I said and she gasped. "Phillius is dead."

She bowed her head. "Oh Dette, I'm so sorry. But the others are fine?"

I nodded. "As far... as... I know. What's the... verdict, Edna?" I asked the older woman and she made a tsking sound.

"I'm sorry, Odette," she said, and I nodded, for it was as I had expected.

"I suppose that this is the end of the line then," I said, closing my eyes against the pain.