Plot

Two assassins are part of an assassin's guild who know of each other. She holds a grudge against him because she got hurt in a past mission and he completed it and got all of the glory although they about equally skilled. He has also become well-known for his skill and charisma making him well-liked in the guild. They come across each other in the future when their missions causes their paths to conflict. What will happen next?

Characters

Sunniva Nathalia Solace - Assassin

-

Kingdoms

Elisora - agricultural, merchant/craftsmen

Kraegios - desert, archery, calvalry, oral history

Assassin's Guild

Leader

Advisors

(Have to be the level of mentor)

Mentor

(Trusted to train recruits)

Members

(They are the assassins)

Apprentices

(Training to become assassins)

Name

Killian Thorne

Age

24 years

Gender

Male

Appearance

Adrian stands at 5'10" and has a light build. His hair looks like grass sprouting out of the top of his head. It is short enough that his hair sticks straight up. He has dark brown hair. He has light skin and lots of knife cuts on his arms, evidence of his lifestyle. He has an oval shaped face and freckles are across his nose and cheeks. He has green eyes.

Personality

He is often seen with a friendly expression on his face whether it be a smirk or a smile. He says everything sarcastically or in a joking tone and it is hard to take him seriously although you have to take everything he says slightly serious because he could actually be not joking. He is able to make you know when he is not lying. Particularly, when he is threatening you or he has been hired for a job. While he may talk about his job lightly, it is one of the few things that he takes seriously. He does have enough self-preservation where he will not accept a job where he thinks he will die, but he also has a high opinion of his skills and is willing to take high risks.

Likes

Dislikes

Strengths

Weaknesses

WIP

Peering through the leaves of the bush he was lying underneath, he could partially see the sun hovering just above the stone walls of the small castle and the beginnings of a pink streaked sky. The air was cooling as different bugs took a bite out of Killian. Rustling the bush could draw unwanted attention, so he willed himself to not scratch although there was not much else to focus on.

The tranquil moment and intense boredom urged him that it was safe to sing a ditty, however, he opted for less disruptive options. He slowly turned his head toward his companion, who was laying belly on the ground by his side. Raven had been content to exist together in comfortable silence. He awarded her with his signature expression, a self satisfied smug smirk, broadly pasted across his face. Some might brace themselves for flirtation attempts or a sleazy proposition.

“I don’t think you’re ready for this mission,” he locked eyes with her and remarked deliberately loud enough to attract someone who could be walking on the trail nearby. “You’ve been laying there all silent. I think you’re too nervous. You’re going to mess it up—probably gasp at some crucial moment and give us both away. Hmmm, it’s a good time to make a mental note—we should not be hiding together after this.”

He let his words marinate in her mind before another thought popped into his mind. Killian was not above interrupting her mid-explosion. He crabbed sideways, so that he could lean close enough to breath a light, irritating whisper against her neck.

“Do you know why I am the guild’s number one assassin? Because I can be called Lil’ Prickle and still be more feared than any edgy sod out there.” He nodded his head knowingly. “What kind of name is Raven? Does it have some great sentimental tie because it’s not as tough sounding as you think it is? It makes you scream ‘I want to be taken seriously and no one respects me.’” He determinedly mowed over any attempts she might have made to interject.

“You shouldn’t take yourself so seriously, because people only take you seriously if you are worth taking seriously. People take you the most seriously when you are so worth taking seriously that you don’t have to take yourself seriously because everyone knows you are worth taking seriously.”

This time he kept an eye on her. People had a tendency to want to slap Killian. He waited to see what Raven would say and let her finish because he figured it would kill time nicely. It was dusk before he asked, “Are you ready?”

He clambered out from underneath the bush and headed toward the path where he stretched his limbs for a few moments. He was dressed simply in an off white long sleeve shirt and brown trousers. His outfit was mussed and there was a good amount of dirt that needed brushing off. His eyes darted around checking for witnesses to their strange departure. “The gates should be closing soon for the night. Either we climb over the really tall wall or we get them to let us in. But I don’t fancy being tuckered out when they come chasing us after they find out what we did, but then you wouldn’t want to be identified as the culprit for the death, but it’s dark so how easily are they going to see our faces,” he chattered his reasoning out loud.

He went silent after he was done stretching and he quietly traversed the remaining path towards the castle, keeping his course until he reached the main gate. “Hello, my name is John. I know it’s getting late, but my trek to get to this castle took longer than I was expecting. I would be most grateful if you let me in for the night. I was hoping to have a safe place to lay my head down for the night, and I don’t know the area well enough to know if bandits frequent these woods. No offense. I am sure your lord patrols the area quite well,” he held his hands open and kept his voice soft and trustworthy.

“Come on over to the gatehouse,” the guard sighed, “Edward will search you for weapons or you can identify what you have. You’ll just have to stay in the courtyard. You won’t be getting a place inside this late at night while we’re closing up the gate.”

“Thank you so much sir! You are very gracious.” He dipped his head politely as he moved over to let Edward search him. “Sir, the other guard suggested that I identify what I have on my person. I do have several blades on me for protection and practicality of course, but nothing dramatic like a sword.” He was not surprised when Edward did not even search him as he appeared as he should. A man would be expected to carry at least one knife or dagger; he fulfilled their expectations as he had admitted to carrying a few blades, and some of the sheaths were visible. His clothing looked too simple to be a smuggler, and these guards were not concerned by random strangers as a castle received many unusual visitors.

He ambled into the courtyard and began to go see if he could find Raven however she had managed to get into the castle. He noted a lighter form on the wall, who he assumed to be her instead of a guard. He began to saunter on up to the rampart knowing that looking casual would draw less attention than furtive sneaky movements. “See my way works,” he pointed out once he was close enough to speak to her in a normal tone.“No need for sneaking and climbing up the wall. That seems like a lot of work. I hope you aren’t too tired, because it’d be a lot easier for me to finish my job if you didn’t get caught.” He flippantly shook his hand in a lazy wave as he headed in the direction of the courtyard.

Once on the ground, he hurried over to a nearby guard who was playing cards with other guards. “I think I just saw an intruder on the ramparts. I thought you might want to know about that. She was sneaking and she had a big blade in hand.” He took a quick peek at his cards. “You’re better off catching this woman. Your cards suck,” he deliberately ruined the game so that they’d be more inclined to get up and do their jobs. As the guards scrambled to their feet, he felt eyes on the back of his head. “There she is,” he pointed once he sighted her.

“You better fly Raven,” he whispered as he waved to her while ducking into a hallway heading in the direction of the nobleman they were hunting. If she was as good as she claimed to be, she would be fine.

Her way worked for her, huh? How would she handle it if he forced his way onto her? Would she consider the way he used her as a distraction a betrayal or would she just be a normal level of angry and vengeful that he was being inconsiderate? Of course she would consider him an untrustworthy menace but most people didn’t consider him malicious. I mean, it was true that he didn’t intentionally harm his partners, but nobody described him as cautious.

He smirked to himself as he heard her yell twat waffle. Fair enough, but now, it was time to focus. He quickly forgot her anger as he focused on the next step in his plan. He made his way toward the nobleman’s quarters and quickly disposed of the remaining handful of guards with a quick chatty conversation and even quicker knife work. He strode in and found the nobleman pacing in front of his bed. He froze studying Killian and started to plead, when he realized who Killian was by the bloody knife in his hand. Killian used the time the nobleman spent begging to study the room for other possible occupants and the easiest way to escape. The nobleman didn’t have time to run, because Killian finished the job quickly. He hurried back out the way he came and listened for any commotion following Raven. It didn’t seem like they had come back this way. He slipped out of the nearest gate and headed toward the rendezvous point.

He looked back at the castle once he was a safe-ish distance away and realized that there was a lot of commotion at the main gate. Was Raven still inside? He had a feeling that if she had managed to escape the guards, she would be lying in wait somewhere ready to kill him for the stunt he had pulled. But it worked! Perhaps if he told her that the mission was complete she would still be willing to work with him in the future if they were assigned to work together again. Her sacrifice had not been in vain. He really hoped that the assassin’s guild never put out a bounty on his head. He could only imagine the line of people who would be excited to hunt him down for free. His only hope to escape would be if they fought over who got the pleasure of dealing with him.

Anyway, he shook his head to help him redirect his thoughts, the people inside weren’t sure that the intruders had escaped yet, so he needed to go make sure she hadn’t gotten captured or injured. He had walked this road too many times for one day, he thought as he headed back the way he had come from. He got really sneaky the closer he was to the castle. Soon, he was peering up at the top of the castle walls from near the main gate. Was he going to have to break back in and look for her? He searched for clues and realized he saw blood heading down the road. He followed for a bit assuming that there was no one else intruding in the castle the way they had. The trail veered off into the woods, and he followed.

Oops. He hadn’t meant to get Raven hurt.

He moved quicker now that he was fairly certain that his partner was out there. He almost tripped over her fallen body, when he found her. He nervously chewed on the inside of his cheek, as he bent down to check for life. She was a little pale, and the fact that he had been able to track her by the blood sprinkled here and there did seem to indicate that she had lost a lot of it. “Um…Raven, you in there?” He carefully rolled her over as there was no wound on the back. A million dollar question was if she was such a great assassin how did she manage to get herself shot. Perhaps he would ask her if he managed to keep her alive, or perhaps he would finally filter one of his thoughts. He hadn’t decided yet, but he supposed he needed to focus.

Unlike limbs he couldn’t apply a tourniquet to her torso. He really didn’t like the idea of taking off his shirt to tie around her torso, but he didn’t really have anything else he could use as a bandage that he could secure to her torso. Would she make it if he carried her or did he have to bandage it now? Think, Thorne, think. They had a friend that they had considered staying at if they needed to lay low. Friend was a loose word, but he was willing to give them shelter. He just had to get her there. If he didn’t bandage her, the easiest ways to carry her could jostle the arrowhead deeper into the wound, but he also didn’t think he should take it out yet.

Perhaps he needed to pay more attention to the classes on how to care for wounds with minimal resources that the guild sometimes gave. He just figured at this point he needed to hurry. The wound wasn’t that deep, so perhaps it was more shock and less blood loss. Eventually, he settled on carrying her draped over one shoulder and hurried in the direction of the safe house. With her wound touching his shirt, it didn’t drip blood leaving a trail on the ground.

When he arrived, Ace rushed out of the house and helped him inside. Ace got to work gathering bandages and a sewing kit. With minimal help from Killian, Ace soon had the wound stitched, cleanly bandaged, and no longer dripping blood.

“Thorne,” Ace often refused to call him the Lil’ Prickle because he thought it was stupid, “considering bandaging a person’s wound before you move them. It would really help them heal and sometimes it’s necessary to preserve their life,” he rolled his eyes. “Were you followed? Will you be followed?”

“Um…I was thinking I shouldn’t be around when she becomes conscious. I may have said something that resulted in her being chased around the castle, so I think it would be best if I go and lay a trail so that they don’t even think to look around because they are chasing me. I think we at least have 24 hours before being followed. I tried to not leave a blazing trail, but I am sure they could follow it.”

Killian had tromped through a few creeks to try to lose a dog, but he didn't have time to really do the job right.

“Thorne, you need to be more thoughtful. No one wants to work with someone who gets them injured. Surely, even you can understand that?”
“Ye ye ye,” Killian waved a hand dismissively.

“Anyway,” Ace rolled his eyes realizing that lecturing was getting him nowhere, “What happened? What heat should I be expecting?”

“We went to do a job at the castle. Actually, I’m not sure why they thought it needed two assassins. Surely one of us would be enough. Anyway, the job has been accomplished, and I am sure the noble family will be out for blood.”

“Great. Why do I let you stay here?” Ace joked.

“Because one day you may need the same favor?” Killian offered.

“I have a pack ready to go. You can have it. I’ll set up a new one for me and Raven. Are you spending the night or are you going to get going?”

Killian liked the idea of sleeping in a safe, comfortable place, but he didn’t like the idea of facing Raven. “I better get going. Thank you so much!” He glanced at her. “Please take care of her. I really didn’t mean for her to get hurt.” Soon, he was gone.