The Herald of Death

Chapter 10

Chapter 10 :  

I crouched next to a river barely a half hour's ride away and washed the blood from my hands. I watched the red-tainted water flow away, removing all proof of what I had done. I knew that I should be heading back as quickly as possible but I lingered for some reason, pondering what had happened.

I would tell the king that she had suffered terribly, that I had made her regret denying the crown prince of Peleros. That would appease him.

The child still lived, I knew that. But I couldn’t get myself to go back there and finish the job. Officially though the child was never a part of this mission, for my safety and to preserve my anonymity I should go back and end this. Just to be sure. But the child hadn’t seen me and would have been too young to be any kind of threat really, one day he might grow to seek revenge but that wouldn’t be for many years. And there were already so many people who wanted to take their revenge on me; what was one more ? For now they were no real threat anyways. They never had been. In order to become a threat to my own existence the child would have to survive first when it was very likely that he would die before ever growing old enough to seek me out. No sense in losing time by going back. None at all. 

I didn't know how to dispel this strange heaviness that plagued my mind however, one I had never felt before. It had always been so easy to take my revenge on a world that had never cared for me. Life was a cruel place only the strong could survive in, the weak have no place here and neither do the innocent. I had taken so many lives that I could drown the world in the blood of my victims. And I had never regretted it. Till now perhaps.

I still don't. I told myself firmly, reminding my thawing heart of the rules of the game. Once I was certain that I had convinced myself that my mind ruled my fickle heart with an iron will, I got up and regretted the time I had wasted in useless thoughts. I had to have finished my mission in Estersea in a fortnight, to delay longer would be dangerous. I was after all not free of my movements. People would soon begin to suspect. Dryden might already, he was no gullible fool.

Dryden. He was one of them, one of those people who wanted revenge- wanted me dead more than anything else in the world. And no doubt he would succeed, him or someone else who would end up catching me at my own game. For now I’m pretty secure in my skills and my lifestyle but I have never doubted that my reign of terror over the world would end eventually with only one possible outcome. I don’t expect to live long enough to reach my 25th birthday but who knows ? I may live longer than most killers since I thrive on death more than any other I have heard of.

It was a short trip back to Mallartya. I spent most of it lost in my thoughts. I chose to follow the coast through the forest back to the seaport city. I stopped early one evening, once I’d left the forest behind, to just sit and enjoy the beach. It was a perfect occasion to relax and just let everything go. I even went swimming after having made sure the whole area was completely deserted. I wasn’t going to let anyone sneak up on me, but mostly I didn’t want anyone seeing all the marks on my body. All the scars each telling their own story, but vanity wasn’t something someone who played with knives could afford.

I spent the evening on that small but peaceful stretch of sand, just watching the sun set and the moon rise. I stared at the bright stars and couldn’t help but wonder if there really was something more – some paradise lurking just behind that great expanse or if this little beach, right here, right now, was the closest there could ever be to a heaven. Not that I would ever know. If there really are gods then they would be there to condemn me, not offer me peace. Eurisini was wrong, my soul couldn’t be saved and life didn’t give second chances. Once you made your bed you could only gracefully lie in it.