Bound By Madness

42. Shared Contract

Looking at the sad eyes of my Jester Assassin, I waved slowly to him as the horse I was on moved away from the Sanctuary, my other arm wrapped gingerly around the waist of the Initiate seated before me. I'd managed to delay our leaving by a day, but it had not been nearly enough time to feel ready to go anywhere without Cicero at my side. I'd gotten far too used to his company and knowing he had to stay behind to tend to Mother left me feeling unwelcomely... vulnerable.

"Don't worry, Faith. This is just a small contract. Astrid says the bigger one she is working on for me isn't ready yet. This one should be easy to complete. That's why she has us picking up some extra supplies while we are out. Babette needs some more blisterwort. Oh, and I think she mentioned something about canine roots?" He muttered a bit at the end, but I could make out what he said and gave a silent chuckle before poking his shoulder until he turned around enough to see my face.

Canis root. She wants canis root if we can find it.

"Oh, yeah. Canis root. For her poisons."

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I could feel my hands trembling as I watched the door, waiting for the target to leave the building and head home for the night. The shadows were stretching across the ground as the sun began to vanish behind the mountains and I could just make out Ellery on the other side of the road as he glared at the Initiate standing beside him. Meanwhile, Amicus had his hands on my shoulders, trying his best to reassure me as we waited to kill a man I had never met before.

Why had someone wanted this man dead? Had he done something to hurt someone? Said something he shouldn't have? Maybe he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time and now someone felt he needed to die. No matter what it was, I likely never would know the reason for his death at our hands and that troubled me.

Feeling Amicus give a sudden, gentle squeeze to my shoulder, I focused back on the door to see a worn looking man exit the inn, a bottle of mead in his hand as he swayed in place before turning toward the road leading to the edge of the small town. Looking over, I saw Ellery following behind Destin as he crouched down and began slipping into the darker shadows around him.

I guess this is it. I'm going to kill someone who did nothing to me... This doesn't feel like when I killed Loreius. I don't hate this man. I... I don't want to kill him. Amicus, please help me get this done so I can return to our Cicero. I just want to go home!

I sank into the feeling of Amicus' hands grasping my wrists, guiding my movements as I tried to pretend the blood wouldn't be on my hands by the end of this.

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"Faith... Faith, you can stop now. He's dead," I froze as I heard the voice come from behind me, a hand giving a gentle shake of my shoulder.

Blinking, I began taking in the world around me again, feeling Amicus' release my hands from his grasp with a soft apology before he stepped back to his usual place a few steps behind me. Immediately I missed that feeling of distance from everything, looking down at the dagger plunged into the dead man's chest, my fingers wrapped around the handle. It was only a moment later that I was stumbling away to lean against a tree, everything I'd eaten that morning finding a new home on the ground as I felt my stomach twist painfully.

Oh, Amicus... is this what it's going to be like from now on? Is this what I have to do if I want to stay at Cicero's side? I... I'm not sure if-

"Faith? Faith, it's okay. I did the same thing during my first few contracts. It gets... easier. Not better, but easier," the Initiate spoke softly to me, his voice soothing in the same way mother used to speak to Bastian after he'd had a bad dream. "Hey, want to go do something to take your mind off of this? I know a place where we can go and do whatever we want inside. Best of all, everything there is already dead, so you don't have to feel bad when you stab it! Lets' go and forget about this for a while, okay?"

His words were confusing, but the idea of going somewhere else, of getting to forget for even a little bit... it was something I wanted far more than I'd expected. I wanted to forget for a bit, so that when I returned to Cicero, I could look at him and smile instead of crying like I wanted to do right now.

Yeah... Please, I just need to forget, just for a while. Just until I can... Please, let's go.

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I wasn't sure what I'd expected when we rode his horse up to the mound of dirt and stone, but this definitely wasn't it. And when we came across the first of the walking corpses, I would have screamed if I could. It was only Amicus' quick action that kept me from being flung across the room when the thing... shouted magic at me, the bones laying on the floor suddenly flying against the wall and shattering as I tried to catch my breath after Amicus had pulled me out of the way so urgently.

Hearing the Initiate, Destin, give a yell and charge toward the thing attacking us had me looking up, seeing him lifting his sword and slashing at the body that should still be laying dead but wasn't obeying the rules. I watched as he blocked an attack from the thing's own much larger sword, his knees bending from the impact before he lifted up again and pushed the dead thing away from him before returning an attack of his own.

Several minutes went by like this, watching him slowly cut away at the Not Dead Thing that had attacked us. It wasn't until I felt Amicus' hand touch my wrist that I nodded and stepped away from the pillar, my hand grabbing at my dagger as we slipped into the shadows and moved slowly around to get behind the Not Dead. Moments later, it was curled up on the ground, a dagger in it's spine and a sword buried within the thing's chest.

Trying not to breath in the dust that had risen from it upon the collapse of the body, I watched as Destin cheerfully walked over to a chest and began trying to pry it open. Blinking, not having noticed the chest until now, I watched him fumble for a moment before slowly making my way over and tapping him on the shoulder.

"I think this one's locked. Sometimes I find one that's open, though, and still has some good stuff inside for selling. Oh, and sometimes the Draugr have stuff on them. Usually just a few coins but sometimes you get lucky," he rambled as I began searching through my belt pouch for my picks.

Kneeling down, I glanced at him before chuckling, knowing he'd forgotten what I'd told him about myself. Peering closely at the lock on the chest, I began the familiar pattern of shifting the internal mechanisms that kept out all but those like myself who lived for these moments.

"Oh, yeah... Hey, does this mean you can handle the traps these places have?" He sounded far too excited, as if he expected I would want to stay in this place after fighting that Dro... Draw... Not Dead Thing.

Hearing the click of the lock releasing, I pushed the lid open and looked inside the chest. Shimmering softly from an enchantment, I stared at the ring laying within, ignoring the coins and piece of leather armor next to it. Reaching out to grab it, I shivered at the feeling of magic that washed through me as soon as I placed it on my finger.

Just how many locked chests do you usually find in these places?