Ascardia

((4))The Shadow of Ash

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Enoch sat in the tallest tree above the Bandit Trail. He was waiting for his Intended. A man named Gustav Mavis. Apparently he stole a woman's dowry and skipped the altar. Enoch hated men like that. Breaking a woman's heart was the cruelest thing a man could do. And Enoch was angry, because the woman happened to be his baby sister. Emma had written him, and Dox had hired him to kill Mavis and bring the money back to Oxland where he and Emma resided so they could visit Enoch.

Bored, Enoch retrieved his book, and wrote. He had a dream about the girl again. The one with midnight black hair, and amethyst for eyes. He wanted to know her. He wanted to know why he dreamed of her. He needed to know her name.

Horses on the rocky terrain alerted him to his Intended's arrival. He cloaked himself into the Shadows and dropped onto the carriage roof. He was silent,  the boots he wore didn't even make a thump as he landed. He drew his dagger and entered the carriage through the glassless windows. Mavis didn't even have guards with him, did he really think the Biore Niore wouldn't find him? Did he think Maddox Ashbury would just let him ride off into the sunset with forty thousand baubles? He saw the money bag, it was just under the bench.

Enoch studied the man that had been betrothed to his sister. He was handsome, in the non-traditional sense. He wasn't bad looking but he was no Ashbury. He slept soundly, he was guiltless for breaking Emma's heart. This man had no heart. Enoch stepped closer, tracing the place on the chest where the man's heart would be. He'd give Emma the heart, and she could break it or feed it to Deidra.

Enoch plunged his dagger into Mavis' chest, and carved out his heart. Slowly, careful not to dislodge any arteries. He wanted this man to feel his sister's pain. It was then, that Mavis opened is oily eyes. Surprise etched on his face.

"Y-you." Blood bubbled up from his throat, cutting off the rest of his sentence. The man looked terrified, and he should be. Nox had a sordid and morbid legend surrounding him. The killing shadow, the silent mercenary that was neither seen nor heard until it was too late.

Enoch removed the dagger, pausing his excavation of the heart muscle for a moment. He traced the man's cheekbones with the tip of the blade, his cold eyes envisioning what they would look like if he fileted them open. He flicked his wrist quickly, at first it would seem nothing had happened...but slowly, blood began to ooze down Mavis' face, it was then the victim knew, that Enoch had removed his eyelids.

"Me? I'm your worst nightmare. You broke my little Emma's heart so now, I'm taking yours. "

Mavis cried out in pain. Enoch was sure it was agony. He felt the pain each time his mystery girl kissed the man she loved.

Enoch extended the man's wrist, and began to saw into the meaty flesh. Blood spurted up in a gaizer of crimson, the warm liquid splashing across Enoch's face, his eyes gleamed with glee. He always enjoyed a good torture before the kill. He was like a toddler with food, he liked to play first.

Growing tired of the mundane dagger, he morphed it into a claymore, twice the width of his chest, and as tall as Enoch. He swung it in a circle, cutting off the upper portion of the carriage. Giving him room to work, and also be heading the carriage driver and the footman in the process. He swung the great sword up, and in one smooth downward arc, amputated both Mavis' hands, and all ten of his toes.

Mavis' cry of anguish fueled Enoch's desire to continue the torture. Enoch laughed in delight.

"No one messes with the House of Ashbury besides me Mavis. No one." Enoch morphed the claymore to its original form, and with a magical burst of strength, he removed both of the man's feet in a single blow. Blood coated Enoch from the tip of his head, to the heels of his boots.