Snippet #1567401

The sun had been up for a while now and Evin was just getting back to camp. No one seemed to question what took him so long to get there compared to other people. Something else that seemed to be on the mind of people was where Jake was. He was the only one that hadn't showed up and it seemed that people believed that he was dead. Evin wished that it was true. No one asked him about it though, they just seemed to be talking around camp about it. He didn't understand why every time he went to Newhaven, that the things he went to do down there never turn out and the stuff he actually spends his time doing becomes big news. Even more interesting to him was how everyone found out this information.
Evin just sat by the unlit fire pit and thought about what had happened at Newhaven himself. He wasn't even sure that he knew everything that went on that day. Crystal had disapeared, Mageria as well. There were several other Knights in the place too, and the memory just became a mesh of different criminals and not so valiant knights killing each other. He didn't know who lived and who died, it all really didn't matter. Things in that dungeon had reached such a point that it really didn't matter anymore what was right or wrong; who was a criminal, Knight or even an assassin. Everyone was walking on the same thin line between life and death, truth or lie and it all couldn't have gotten worse. If even one Knight or assassin had died in those hallways, no one would have survived. He knew that now.
This war had gone on long enough. Too many lives had been lost and nothing was being accomplished during the bloodshed. That made him think of Mageria again and their encounter down in the dungeon. She still seemed to have sentimental feelings for him that he just couldn't understand. They were enemies and they both knew it, yet she didn't seem to be able to bring herself to attack him until after he had attacked her first. Evin usually wouldn't have even made the first move unless he knew he could end the fight in only seconds, but this was different. What urged him to attack her in such a way was beyond Evin thought capacity. He wasn't sure if it was just because he didn't care or he really just hated the Black Knights that much. Or was it because she had lied to him? Evin would never figure it out beating himself up like this. It put it out of his mind for now and got up to go to his cabin.
"Hey Evin, where have you been?"
"That's none of your business Sean."
"But I think it is-"
Evin drew his dagger, "don't test me Sean, is Crystal here?"
"No she's not, she just left an hour ago. Did you need her for something?"
"No I didn't. You usually don't spend this much time with small talk so just spit it out!" Evin didn't mean to yell, but he didn't have enough patience to deal with even the simplest of things.
"Oh sorry, I just wanted to let you know that I was going to Blackpond for some important business. We were thinking that maybe it would be a good idea to set up a new inn there."
"That sounds good. When you come back, let me know what you find."
Sean smiled pleasantly at Evin and then turned around to walk out of the camp. "Thanks Evin, see you later."
Evin started walking to his cabin again, but then he heard Sean yelling at him from a distance away. "What?" Evin yelled back.
"I almost forgot! Lena wants to speak to either you are Crystal as soon as possible! I think she went back to the ruins!" Sean yelled back in response. Afterword, he motioned someone to follow him. He turned around before he could see who it was he was motioning to.
Evin sighed at the comment and began muttering, "thanks," to himself. He knew that Sean wouldn't hear it, but it just helped him vent out a little bit of the anger that he had bottled up in him. Continuing to walk to the cabin, he realised that meeting with Lena would be the perfect opportunity to ask her about Jake. He had to go now. Still walking, he met up with one of the assassins. He had just been promoted to an active and was eager to get his first job. When Evin called him over, he could see the excitement in his face. Evin felt bad for letting him down.
"I need you to go tell everyone else that I am going to my cabin for a rest and I don't want to be disturbed. Got it?"
"Yeah, whatever." The young boy sighed in disappointment at the news of his crappy assignment.
Evin chuckled a bit at the kids reaction and then continued to walk until he reached the cabin. He put his coat on the floor near the entrance and then went to the his desk, took a pen and quill and began to write. "Jake isnt telln u the trut sumthn abot ur mom". He looked at what he just wrote in disgust. It was barely legible for anyone let alone the spelling. He knew it didn't look like all the books and letters he read, but it was the best he could do. He placed it on the table before he put his coat on again to leave. He walked out the front door and then went through the dense forest until he was out of the camp. He made sure that he wasn't seen by any of the others in the camp on his way out. He didn't want them to know that they were left without a leader.
It made Evin a little nervous to be left without a leader, but he knew that he would only be gone for a short period of time and the odds of Newhaven attacking after what had happened were slim. They had way to much cleaning up to do to even worry about attacking the pack. They would just think that he was sleeping in his cabin and by the time he got back, no one would be the wiser.

After a long walk, Evin finally made it down the path he was on when he went to meet Perry at the ruins. He remembered on the way there was an attack on an enlightened woman. She was dead when Evin arrived in the village where it happened. Now he knew that Perry was probably there only about 30 minutes before Evin was.
Not long after this thought popped in his head, he arrived at the ruins. The same old man was there to great him as last time. Before he could speak, Evin spoke.
"I need to speak to Lena. It's important."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As Sean was walking out of the camp, he motioned someone from behind one of the temporary tents to follow him. From behind it Ella, dressed in typical assassin's clothes wandered out. The two of them walked right out into the forest down a path towards Blackpond. Ella wasn't sure exactly what she was doing with him, but he said that he had talked to Evin about it and said that it was alright for her to go with him. His smile was so friendly and genuine when he offered this trip with him, that she couldn't pass it up. She was glad that Evin had approved.
They walked for a while without much to say to each other. Every now and then, they would have a bit of small talk, but that was really it. About half way into the walk however, started to slow down and stopped at a rock. They sat down and Sean took out some food for them to eat. Just a couple of apples and some smoked rabbit's meat was all, but Ella was begining to get hungry and she knew what happened when she just ran past that feeling before. She didn't want that to happen again.
"How are you holding up?" Sean asked in a friendly tone.
"Good, my legs are a little soar." Ella laughed, "I'm kinda glad we stopped. Unlike last time."
Sean returned the laugh and replied with, "well at least you aren't stuck in bed being pampered by a White Shadow."
"Ha, yeah, that was kinda annoying."
"That reminds me of what we were talking about while you were still stuck in that bed." He paused. "It must not have been quite as annoying as Evin is to you. I've seen what he's done to you. That must suck."
"Yeah kinda, but he is instructing me right?"
"I never had to be trained that way. It just seems odd to me, that's all."
"I guess it is a little odd. Isn't it? But still, I really like Ali and Crys. I don't see where you were going with them."
"Well not so much Ali. I was just wondering how you could care for someone so much to almost kill yourself from running alone just to save her. With Crystal, don't you think it's weird that she left the camp without a leader? Why didn't she get someone else to go save Ali?"
"You have a point, but it just goes to show how much Crys really loves Ali." Ella said.
"She loves it more than she does the camp? It could have been destroyed while she was gone!" He said. He was a little mad, but that was only because Ella knew he really didn't like rule breakers. "Does any of that make sense to you?"
"Umm, yeah I guess."
Sean threw his apple away and finished up his rabbit and then got up. "Ok, lets start moving again. Just a few more hours and we'll be there."
Ella quickly got up and caught up to Sean. He said two hours, but Ella was pretty sure that it was still a good three hours left to go. Sean knew a few shortcuts however. It wasn't the safest root to take and that was why Evin probably never took her down these paths. Every once and a while there were men walking down the paths dressed in Newhaven armour. Every time one would show up, they would have to hide.
"This is strange. Usually I only meet up with one of these guards going down the path. There must have been something big happening at Blackpond. A battle maybe?"
Ella knew that this was all just rhetorical and she didn't reply to it. She just followed Sean very closely and made sure she didn't cause any trouble for him. She liked him too much to screw things up.
Suddenly from not too far in the distance, they heard a scream from a man. Sean knew better than to continue down this path and instead, he walked Ella down the next fork to the left instead of the right like he had done at every other fork in the path. It was a good idea too because they didn't meet up with any more soldiers along the way and were in Blackpond before they knew it. It even took two hours like Sean had predicted.
The two walked right through the main gates with no trouble. Assassins were very much welcomed into the city unlike other places across Valcrest. It was nice not to feel like she was being hunted down for a change. She remembered Evin telling her stories about things that happened in Blackpond however and she knew that she had to keep her guard up. Blackpond was like the nightlife of Newhaven with one exception. It happened all day. In broad daylight there would be murders, rapes and all those disturbing crimes. The worst about it was was how no one really cared about it. It even became a public spectacle to commit crimes sometime. Of course, the royal family had been trying to fix this for generation with no real luck. It was just a part of living in Blackpond and all you could hope for was that it didn't happen to you.
Sean and Ella had no trouble however. They made sure to keep their weapons seen by the general public at all time. They knew that the two of them were assassins and people were usually smart enough not to mess with the assassins. Because of this, it didn't take long for them to reach the castle. When they made it into the courtyard, Sean stopped and looked over at Ella. She knew that he didn't want her to follow him any further. Inside the castle walls was safe enough. She hoped that nothing bad would get to her while she waited for Sean to get back from whatever business he had to take care of out there.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Commander Hastings had a terrible past couple of days and he was glad that he was free of it all. The blacksmith had given him trouble, but he just slit the man's throat when he got to close and then broke the chain himself. Passing by all the guards wasn't too hard either. He had managed to steal some fresh clothing from a man's house while he was out and just wore the clothing strait out of the city. He was free from that point on. When a messenger dressed up in the usual messanger cloathing walked by in at a speedy pace, he came up behind him and then killed him. He took the messengers clothing and then went to finish what he started.
This allowed him to go past anyone with even less trouble than before. It was perfect.
He walked all the way down the same path he was taken down before. Past where he threw Mageria off her horse and past where she had tricked him into thinking that he was back at camp when he really wasn't. Every one of those terrible memories of that terrible woman came flashing back as he went down this path. That continued even as he approached the camp where all the Newhaven soldiers were sitting and waiting to attack again. He walked up to the entrance. The same men who were posted there on his first escape attempt were there. They didn't even recognise him.
"If Krander here? I have urgent news for him." Hastings said, not even discussing his voice.
"No he's not. He left on his shape shifting friend to go home."
"Well I will just wait here until he comes back then."
"Fine, enjoy your stay."
Hastings walked right past the men. It was ridiculously easy to do this. He knew what it must have been like to be an assassin, he had never done anything like this. He walked over to where all of the men stayed. He went up to one of the men and asked. "Where would I find Lionel?"
"He is in a tent over there," The man pointed at the tent just to his right. "He is in solitary confinement right now though. No one is aloud to talk to him."
"Well you can tell whoever told you that that there is an urgent message that needs to be given to him right now, so if you could please let me in."
"Sure." The man walked him over to the tent and opened it up for him and let Hastings in, closing it as he walked in.
Lionel was shocked to see someone in his tent. Hastings wasn't sure if he knew who he was or if he was just surprised to have someone come speak to him while he was being punished.
"Hey Lionel, don't say a word, but it's me Hastings." Hastings grabbed a dagger that was sitting on the tent floor and ripped a hole in the roof of the tent, just big enough for a person to fit through. He then gave the dagger to Lionel. "Now, I'm still stuck here and there is no way that I will ever get out. I need you to do something really important for me. This will make you remembered instead of being a tiny pawn that everyone will forget. You will be the most respected man in Blackpond."
"What is it?" Lionel whispered.
"I need you to stab yourself in the heart. If you do it, it will be dying for a great cause, to save Blackpond's great general from death. You are the only one I can trust so please do this for me."
"But-"
"Don't talk, just do."
With that Lionel looked down at the dagger and pointed it towards his chest. With a quick push, he was dead. Only one more thing had to be done and then Hastings job would be complete. He screamed at the top of his lungs. The man who was outside the ten ran in as fast as he could to see what happened. Hastings gravel over the man and made his best to look like he had just witnessed a murder.
"Krander, Krander swooped down on a bird and then, then he just killed him! He threatened to kill me too if I said anything. I need to get out of here!"
With that he ran, as fast as he could out of the camp. Soon he would be home, back in Blackpond.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Rory, Sean is here to see you." One of the servants said.
"Bring him in. Hurry."
The servant ran out of the room and came back with Sean. It hadn't been too long since he had seen him, so it must have been time.
"Your highness, I'm requesting that you be on the ready. The time is to come soon." Sean said to him, bowing his head.
"Fine, I will send them to their place. They will be ready on your signal."
"Thank you sir."
"I will assure you, they are fully capable. Don't worry. Now do you have what I requested in return?"
"Yes, here it is." It was white silk that was used to make healers robes. He didn't want it to make a robe, but instead for a curtain in his room. It was the perfect white to match the rest perfectly.
"Good, I will make sure that everything is done according to plan." Said the King.