The Nameless Queen

Where did it all begin

This is my first story so please be nice because I really proud of this and I don't want my dreams crushed. And I'm for to or constructive feedback but please don't be to mean 🙏🏻

The grains of ice whipped at my
cheeks leaving the raw and frozen. Although the snow was obscuring my view, from my rooftop vantage point, I could see my target moving throughout his house. He was going about his night time me activities, totally unaware of the assassin larking on the building across the road. The town's clock struck eleven, signalling that curfew was now in play, even better. Now on one would be out on the streets unless the wanted to be killed on sight by the roaming guards.

Swung down off the roof and dropped to the curb below, I quietly lift the grate to the sewer. Instantly the stench of tunnel hit me. Gagging I silently cursed the Headmistress for giving me this job. I would have to have a really long bath after this to get rid of the smell. Signing I slipped down the tunnel without another thought.

I cringe as my feet hit the bottom and the gunky water flows up to my calves. The darkness of the tunnel is unnavigable for most. But due to the endless jobs that have brought me down here, I can walk through these tunnels blindfolded. I need to get this job done without being seen by anyone, so keeping my light to a minimum is key.

I could see the door ahead. The glow of amber lights tries to fill the cave with its promise of joy, but to know one does the darkness kneel. I slip towards the servant's door. This should lead right to the kitchen and if the scullery maid wasn't behind schedule then she would be coming down those stairs to empty the rubbish any second now. And unlock the door, giving me the space I need to slip in. Usually, I would have just picked the lock, but that damn old door seemed intent on waking even living soul in this house whenever someone opens it. Which is why...

Now. The echoes of the maid's footstep filled the tunnel. The keys entered the lock. The lock turned. The keys removed. The door opened. The maid stepped out. The assassin stepped in. The maid didn't even turn.

Just as I'd planned the worm-eaten wood led to the seller. Perfect, now it was time to wait. Again.

I sat there quietly in the soundproof seller waiting for my time. I hated wait but times doesn't and eventually, all the staff in the kitchen left. I don't know what time it is but I have pins and needles in my legs so I have to of be there awhile.

Careful as not to make the wood creak I left my hiding places. As I entered the lobby of the manor, I could make out who figures standing by the door. I could take my chances and go through the lobby, hoping that they don't turn around. Or I could use the servant passageways to make it to the third floor. All the servants have gone up to the fifth floor to their rooms for the night except a few, so running into someone would be unlikely.

Outside the clock strikes one-thirty. Damn. It was later than I expected, I should have been gone by now.

Hurrying this time I find the hidden doors. Using my hands to feel alone the wall I guide myself up, all the while counting my steps. Finally, I feel irregularities in the stone. I grab it, twist, and pull. Slowly the stone archway moves towards me, and I look out. I judged it perfectly I am maybe three doors away from the targets rooms.
I grab the twin knives for my belt and ease towards the door.

I pick the lock without any trouble and it swung open easily to reveal a messy office with two doors leading off it. No guards, no late-night servants, no hidden traps. Well, this guys certainly was making this job easy. Quickly I scanned the office and skim through a few papers. There is nothing interesting other than some divorce arrangement paper about an affair and a trading deal with a rich merchant. I memorise the trading offer before entering the next room.

A closet with nothing interesting other than clothes for both boy and girls. No hidden in secret compartments, no nothing, this a little too easy. Although I do find a swanky pocket watch that had the targets last name engraved on it, Tarmet. Seeming that the guy would be dead in the next few minutes I doubt he will miss it much.

I entered the last room. The bedroom. Asleep in his bed is my target, he had a peaceful and unworried look on his face. Carefree almost. There was a woman beside him that might be the reason that the divorce papers where in his office. One moment he was sleeping, the next he was never waking. I sheath my daggers and exited through the window, guess he won't be needing those divorce papers with a sour chuckle. Like the shadows I melt away into the night, unnoticed and unforgiving.

The gild is quite by the time I get back, the only sounds are a far away dripping tap. I climbed the stairs and open the doors until the strength I'm my limbs gives out and my muscle on my eyelids weakened and my body slept and slipped into a landscape of horror.

***

"Come my child" the women in front of me seemed to know me. Her body glow with a familiar calm. The shape fogged by the light. "Come to me." I went to reach out my hand.

"Come be with me" the voice changed. It layered, it cracked, it blared just like her body began to do. I recoiled. I watch as her body wrapped and darkened, changing until there was no sign of the beautiful lady left. There was only a demon before me. A demon with ripped wings and burnt skin with a smell that made me vomit.

"Come." This time the voice was husky and demanding.

"I don't think so" my voice was not my own, it was smaller, younger, but still familiar.

"Let me show you."The body change again. Now it was the Headmistress before me but maybe a few years younger. "Let me show you what happens when you disobey me." Behind her, the darkness misted away and was replaced by a battlefield. A war. A war where people were being slaughtered without a second thought. Where gods were threatening. Where warriors were forged and killed. Where child were mere casualties.

"'This is what awaits you if you chose to follow me. You will be showered in gold and jewels. You will be treated like kings. You will reserve all you deserve if you choose to fight in this war." I can barely hear her words over the screams of dying people. The bloodbath of war filled my eyes with terror I had only felt once before.

"This is not war" I whispered. "This is a massacre."

"So be it," the women growled as she spread out her arms. Black fabric flowed off her arms as the shadows wrapped around her body, she raced forward, slamming into before I had time to scream. The room returned to its darkness with only me this time.

Her voice echoed around the room its source coming from infinite places. " But don't expect to live through this war darling. They will come for you and when they do, you will be forced to pick sides. So when everyone you care about lies dead in the streets their blood filling the gutters and cities slaughtered in your name don't expect to find refuge anyway. You will find only blood and bone. For you are the salvation if you choose to come. You will rule one day. A country of land and sea, a country of danger and death." Her voice slipped with the darkness " You have been warned my girl, the world is figuring out who you are and when they do, they will stop at nothing to see you dead." The echoes died leaving the shivering feeling of laughter in its place.