Liridia

Chapter 1: Liridia

Liridia
_______________
People are vile creatures. I think to myself, scolding my mind for wandering. All we end up doing is killing each other. I'm a good example. I shake my thoughts back to reality and drag my hand across the smooth brick. It cools my palm and reminds me of the cool breeze that always sweeps through the Tawabi lands.

Creeping through one of the many hallways in Ridgemont Castle, I know the many shadowy spots to hide in when the guards are passing, I know the familiar smell of baking bread and gunpowder from the cannons stationed on every side and corner of the building and the bakery two-flights down stairs.

Because I've been here before.

I count to eight slowly in my head, standing still in the twenty-third dark corner as the guard passes, eyes skimming over the railing, looking at the approaching daylight. I don't have much time.

I stalk silently up the stairs and slip into the room where my assignment lay, sleeping. I pad through the lush room, full of pillows and other materialistic items towards my prey.

I stand over him. Slightly grey beard with dark hair greying at the temples, a plump, kind face that I know has leafy green eyes behind those sagging eyelids. I open my satchel, careful not to wake him, and pull out the box.

Mahogany with inscriptions of the sea and sky, beautifully made for my mother and passed down to me, it has tiny emerald jewels in the corners surrounded by sapphire and topaz, the box that ran in my family for decades, but now lives in my trusty leather satchel.

I pull back the lid, inside, my weapon of choice. I chose poison, you know, quick and easy. I open the tiny bottle and waft the scent towards my nose, Veranian poison from the Whatooli vipers and Berrywhite dust. A deadly poison found in the fangs of the Veranian vipers mixed with a strong dose of the poison from the Berrywhite toadstool, made to kill within seconds.

I close the box and place it into my satchel, closing the flap and swinging it away to sit comfortably on my hip. I place the lid back on and shake the vial, still looking at the sleeping face of King Ridgemont, slayer of demons, destroyer of cities, and killer of the most important person of my life. Ayala. My companion, friend and partner in crime, literally.

I tap his face lightly, but he doesn't budge, this murderer is a heavy sleeper. I can't believe he sleeps so soundly without the amount of people he has slain on his mind. I press down hard on his chest, his weary bones creaking and scowl when stirs and opens his eyes drowsily.

"Huh, oh, um. Rayta, that's it. Um, yes, breakfast. The usual." He says, rubbing his eyes and stretching.

"Wake up." I demand. His eyes widen at the stern command and squint.

"Who are you?, and how dare you-" he starts, building up into a shout.

"If you say another word, I kill you." I say, towering above this insignificant little pig that can easily be squashed with the heel of my boot.

"Do you remember what you did on the first day of the eleventh month two and a half years ago?" I ask quietly, my eyes staring straight into his. He doesn't answer, just keeps staring.

"Answer me." I command, he's stupid and lazy, he doesn't even know that I'm going to kill him when I get my answer.

"I overthrew the fifteenth king of Idami, is what I did." He hisses, reminiscing the thirst for blood and the amount of people he and his army killed.

"And?" I question, wanting him to spit it out.
"Um, nothing else, really. I didn't do anything except slay all the people of Idami and overthrow the king." He says, smiling cruelly, taunting me.