Arrow's Fallen

Chapter Intro: Arrow

The rustle of a leaf. The crack of a twig. A flash of black clothing amongst dark green undergrowth.

All were obvious give aways to the assassin's location.

But that's why I had been selected for my position; I was so talented at seeking out the evasive. My job was to assassinate the assassins.

I silently drew an arrow from my quiver and notched it carefully. I lifted my bow, adjusted for time and speed, and released. The sharp whistle of the projectile cut through the air, the assasin's final cry momentarily interrupting the environment of the forest. Easily weaving my way down the tree was child's play. I bent my knees slightly as I landed and swept my silver Arcbow over my shoulder. The Arcbow was by far my favorite model, with exceptional distance and a sturdy but lightweight frame. I lifted the assassin's triangular hood and examined their features. A young adult male, probably around twenty two, with dark eyes and brown hair. I rolled my eyes. "Well you're pretty generic." I muttered to myself. His cloak was classic shadow assassin material and design, not to mention those unremarkable features.

I wasn't exactly proud of my own outfit- yet. The fielder's cloak was a combination of brown and light green medieval-style tunic. Not too bad for forest goers I suppose, but the sergeant and master garbs were way more, well, awesome. I'll admit I'm jealous of the silver and blue, and navy blue colors they get. Ehm, moving on.

This- I checked the assignment sheet- Carlin was the third this week. I narrowed my eyes. It was getting worse. More and more were arriving in our secluded headquarters within the woods. Well, I say that, but our area was borderline with the mountain province. We had built it from the ground up and it contained an extensive network of ziplines and an impressive armory underground. I had drug the dead assassin to the cliff edge; where I normally toss them if I'm near enough. I tapped the summon button on my navigator and waited. Absentmindedly checking the clock, I realized this mission had taken me less time than usual...unfortunately that was due to how extremely close Carlin had gotten to murdering the SwiftMaster. SwiftMaster Malane had become the main target by other Guilds in the area, thanks to a little stunt he decided to pull a three weeks ago. I hopped onto the vertical zipline that had just arrived, gloved hands gripping the side bar. It took three minutes, roughly, for me to arrive at headquarters and dismount the bar. I stepped in line to the neatly kept courtyard, where a few of my comrade fielders were out and about. Fox glanced at me curiously as I passed by.

"Another one after SwiftMaster, Arrow?" He questioned.

I nodded in confirmation. This one had been narrowly caught by the monitoring scouts, though. I headed off towards the entrance to the facility. As I walked in, I noticed a few of the other fielders I weren't very close to give me a few resentful looks. Competition had gone up to obtain the higher positions lately since the SwiftMaster, along with the other Masters, were in grave danger. Sure we were intensely loyal, but in tough times promotions just follow one after another, and they were normally so rare people got aggressive about it. I happened to be one of the most decorated Fielders in the guild, but because Master Fern didn't like me I was stuck for the moment. Stuck up girl Fern is...I could say the feeling is mutual...Oh, and as for that 'stunt' pulled by SwiftMaster Malane?

The opposing assassin's group, The Horde, had a leader called Wraith. Wraith's son and favorite assassin had mysteriously turned up dead three weeks ago, with a gold tipped arrow through his throat. On this arrow was written: That's for stealing my favorite sword.

On the wall, in a silver frame with the date 2.3.1, was a picture of SwiftMaster Malane holding a golden sword. The one next to it was a letter from Wraith 'apologizing' the day before his son was murdered.