On The Run E-Book

Julie Hermansson

• Herausgeber: Books on Demand
• Kategorie: Fantasy und Science-Fiction
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 473

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2020

Beschreibung

You've seen a lot from the perspective of the heros. But here you focus on Lucien Nightcrow, a young man that has spent his life killing and training. One day he saves Jaine, a seven year old girl from Clayton. He trains her up to become the best assassin in Layden. But when Lucien finds the body of a young man everything changes as he goes to inform the family together with Jaine. Secrets comes out and the past comes back to haunt forcing Lucien to end it all.

Leseprobe

On The Run

Map1. The Crying Children2. A Bloody Escape3. The Forest Protector4. The Loss of You5. Freedom6. The Body In the Woods7. The Dungeon8. To Continue Our Quest9. The Pub10. The Feathered Friend11. The Snow Monster12. Plan In Action13. The Scent of Home14. The Origin of Jaine?15. Revenge of Lucien16. The Shadow Man17. Accepted18. Betrayed19. The Forgotten20. Loved21. The End of The MissionCopyright

Map

1. The Crying Children

The quiet of the night echoed through the village with only the faint sound of the stray cats running around chasing the rats through the streets. But in the shadows of the alleys were three men dressed from head to toe not showing a hint of skin. Their cloaks hiding any features of who they could be, but more show what they were doing here. For these three men were out, for one thing, to finish the mission that had been given to them from their leader. With weapons out, they looked over the alley with hawk-like eyes ready to take down anyone who came in their way. Two of the men took a left but the third, cloaked in blue and dagger pressed in his hand, he walked forward. Quickly the man pressed himself against a wall as he heard two patrol guards walking passed on the streets. When they had passed him he quietly looked out over the streets with a small smirk on his face. “Lucien! Come on! We need to go!” the leader of the group hissed through his teeth. Lucien glared over at his group leader and rolled his dark gray eyes in a lazy yet former way showing competition to the leader. When Lucien couldn’t hear any cries for help he quickly got back to the group with his usual cold face showing no emotion. “What are you doing?!” the group leader hissed in anger almost spitting on Lucien. But with a simple shrug, Lucien continued down the dark alley with the other two soon behind him. “If you’re doing what I think you’re doing then don’t! Last time we were almost caught by the guards! Let it happen again and I swear I’ll murder you!”

With another simple and easy shrug as an answer, he smirked back at his group leader who was glaring at him. “Calm down Sarach, this time I have all control I need,” Lucien jabbed at Sarach. But before another word could get exchanged Lucien looked up as he heard the cry of help echo through the village. Cries of pain and suffering coming from young children. “You are impossible, you know that right?” Sarach said and grabbed a hold of Lucien’s shoulder. Lucien slowly put his dagger back into the belt and looked down with a look of anger. “I’ll be back soon,” he whispered to the men. With a deep sigh, Sarach was about to grab a tighter hold of him but was too slow as Lucien quickly jumped away and started climbing the walls of the alley houses and got up onto the roof. And without another word his two comrades shook their heads and walked off as nothing had happened. Soon after Lucien ran down jumping from roof to roof with ease. The village was quiet as he ran, the only sound there was, came from his feet as they ran over the clay roofs of the buildings, together with the cries of the children. Lucien looked over the quiet village giving it a cold smile. Fall was coming but you wouldn’t be able to tell from the warm nights they were still having. Clayton had always been lucky with the wheater, at least during the spring, summer, and fall. During the winter the whole town would be covered in snow. Lucien glanced down at the plaza and saw guards patrolling, as quickly as he could he jumped down behind another alley and continued running with no trouble. Another cry of tears and pain echoed through the alley, he was close. So once again he climbed up on one of the houses and peered over at one of the windows and saw two children standing inside a dark lit room with a single candle that lit it up. There was a girl who was sitting curled up begging for someone to stop, then the boy who was lifted by the throat. The man who was lifting them screamed and yelled at the children. The man who was probably their father was big, fat, and drunk. Without even being close Lucien could smell the disgusting odor that was coming from the man. The girl looked up at her probable father and screamed once more at him to stop before the young boy was thrown right onto the floor hitting his head badly. The girl screamed in terror, more tears running down her cheeks before her father walked over to her and slapped her across the cheek. “Honey! Leave the children alone! Dinner is finished!” a woman from another room called out. The father turned around and quickly made his way out the room locking the door behind him. Lucien instantly jumped down and took a closer glance inside the room. The girl was now bent over her brother crying. But the boy wouldn’t move. One knock on the window and the girl looked up showing her pale face. Not even a second later she got up and ran for the window struggling to open it but managed to do it after a few seconds. The girl looked up at him, the light coming from the lanterns from other windows reflected onto her face showing her too skinny body which was wrapped around a cloak and under it no more than a too big of a shirt as well as pants. “Who are you…?” the girl whispered in fear of her father hearing. “You have two choices, stay here or come with me to a brighter and happier future,” Lucien said and reached out his hand. The girl instantly looked over at her brother who was still lying face up not moving. “Papa will kill me too…” she whispered even quieter. Lucien looked over at her brother who wore the same clothes as her. His face was red and blue from marks and blood. “I will be able to save him, but then you need to come with me this second,” Lucien urged one more time. The girl continued to look at her brother before she took a deep sigh and moved away to let him by. Lucien nodded his thanks and climbed through the window. And from one horror to another he went. The room stank of alcohol, blood, and sweat. With the room covered in dirt and blood which looked like it had been there for years together with cobwebs with many flies stuck to them waiting for their death to come. Lucien quickly scooped the boy up into his arms and held him close to his chest. The young boy was cold in his arms but with a deep breath Lucien rose onto his feet and looked over at the girl who quickly jumped out of the window landing in the alley down below. Soon after Lucien joined after landing next to the girl who’s tiny body looked like a walking skeleton. “Come on, follow me and be quiet,” Lucien said and started to walk down the dark alley. The girl nodded and continued to follow Lucien like she was his dog. Through the alley, she was quieter than a mouse hiding from a cat. Only the echo of their footsteps was heard as they continued to walk. The stray cats sleeping as the moon was hanging high. The brief cold air went through the alley and the girl got closer holding onto Lucien’s leg like it was her teddy bear. Lucien looked down at the girl who was looking around the alley in search of any kind of threat. When she finally noticed he was looking down at her she instantly looked up with her big eyes filled with fear looking up at him. “What’s your name…?” “Lucien Nightcrow,” Lucien replied and looked over at the boy with his face that had gone pale.

*

Slow minutes went by as they continued to walk no longer talking. The girl continued to hug onto Lucien’s leg not letting it go for anything in the world. The wind brought some dead leaves from a close-by tree and they landed down in the middle of the alley. Lucien looked down at the leaves and rolled his eyes looking back up hearing the faint footsteps of someone close by. With the instincts of a cat, Lucien stopped not a second afterward. He slowly turned around to the girl and handed her the boy who was now going even paler. The footsteps got closer and the slow motion of someone dragging out their weapons letting it touch the leather belt it had been hanging from before being pulled out. “Reveal yourselves!” Lucien screamed out into the dark alley slowly pulling out his dagger. Not even a second later two dark figures walked out from the shadows. With weapons up high they slowly walked over looking at Lucien with their shadowed eyes. With a sigh of relief, Lucien put his dagger back into the belt. “You almost gave me a heart attack!” he hissed over at the two men. The leader of the group walked over to him with his dagger in his left hand and punched him right in the chest. “What in the hell do you think you!-“ the leader snapped but then held in his breath as he saw the two young children. “Fuck…” Lucien looked over at the boy who’s blood was now covering the girl's arm. The group leader sighed deeply and slowly took a step closer towards the girl. “Give me the boy and I’ll heal him,” he said and got down on one knee. The girl looked over at Lucien then back at the group leader slowly taking small steps towards him. When she stopped she reached her brother over and the group leader grabbed him holding him closely before laying the boy down on his stomach looking at the open wound which was bleeding worse than before. Within a second the glove on the group leader's hand was off and he reached his scarred hand down towards the boy and hovered both of his hands over the wound. A light came from his hands and slowly went down towards the wound, dancing around it inspecting the sincerity of the wound. Minutes walked by slowly as the wound started to close and the blood stopped pouring out of the boy's head. “We’re done…” the group leader said when the wound was closed up. The girl instantly fell onto her knees inspecting what was once a wound but now had become a scar going across his head. “Lucien, you take the boy, Gavin, you take the girl, we’re heading back,” the group leader said before getting up onto his feet. “Sarach…” Gavin whispered out and looked around the alley. The group leader, Sarach, instantly looked over at Gavin and then walked off into the shadows’ of the alley, leaving the four of them alone. Gavin was the first one to rush over to the children and pick up the girl. Only a squeak left the girl but she didn’t fight back as his strong arms held around her in a comforting way. Lucien came soon after and grabbed the young boy slowly walking after the leader who was already way ahead of them. Gavin rushed after Lucien with fast steps. “You could have messed up the mission!” With a small smirk, Lucien looked down at the boy who was still unconscious in his arms. His light bony body as light as a feather in his arms. “I saved a life, and that’s all that matters.” Gavin sighed deeply and looked over at the boy who was still covered in blood. “You could have ended us!” The girl who had her face pressed against Gavin’s chest looked up with her big eyes scanning over his brutal serious face. Two big tears formed in her eyes and then once again pressed her face against his chest. Gavin only sighed and ran his fingers through her dirty hair that was mixed with blood. “Don’t worry kiddo, we’ll take care of you, nothing will happen to you or your brother,” he whispered into her hair. The girl shifted in his arms and looked up with a weak heartbreaking smile of coldness yet comfort. Of trust. She then closed her eyes and fell asleep. Gavin looked over at Lucien with his eyes wide in surprise and his mouth wide opened like he was supposed to say something. But he only received a small shrug.

*

Tears ran down as Jaine shot up in awake. Her body in worse pain than it had been in for a while. She looked around rubbing her eyes in shock of the bright light illuminating from outside. The usual shitty room she had to wake up in for the last 7 years had been changed into a dark green tent with a big lantern beside its pole in the middle. Jaine looked around more and noticed Daren sleeping beside her. The blood from the evening before had been washed away and he was now peacefully asleep. His chest rose and sunk in the response of his breath. He was alive. Jaine slowly sat up and looked around, even more, the tent had many chests in it with bandages, syringes, and other healing like supplies scattered on both chests and floors. Someone walked into the tent and Jaine looked over at the flaps of the tent to see the light illuminating against a tall man that was standing by the entrance. As soon as he noticed she was awake he walked inside closing the flaps and walked over to her. He was cloaked in a cloak that went down to his knees and a shirt with cotton dark brown pants. He wasn’t nice looking, with his scars scattered over his body. But his bright smile told another story. “You should be happy Lucien found you,” he said in a way of greeting as he got down onto one knee placing his hand on her leg. Jaine looked down in surprise at his hand which caressed down over to her knee. In a way of disgust and worry, Jaine slowly backed away. “Who are you? Where am I?” Jaine asked in tears. The man chuckled, his low chuckle freezing water and rain. “You’re safe here, there is no need to worry anymore,” he said and carefully wiped the tears away from her cheeks. Even tho she did not have any reason to trust him, she still felt like something sparkled in her. Something warm. Her tears stopped rolling down her cheeks, her tears stopped forming in her eyes as she looked up at the man. “Why am I here…?” The man nodded and removed his hand from her cheek and grabbed a cloth that was resting on one of the chests. “You’re here because of Lucien, he had found you in your home abused by your father.” The man lowered the cloth into a bucket full of water and pressed the water out before gently grabbing Jaine’s hand and slowly pressed it against some old wounds she had received during the many hours of labor the day before. “Who are you?” Jaine asked once more and looked up at the man who’s dark hazel eyes were looking down at her wounds. He slowly looked up locking eyes with her for only a second before looking back down at her wounds. “The name is Sarach.” Jaine nodded and looked back down at her wounds which were burning up in pain from the contact of the wet cloth. Only a second, a memory passed by of the man. She had seen him the day before, he had taken off his glove showing his tanned hand. Then the light, a bright light had appeared, and then Daren had been healed. Fully. “You’re a magic-user…” Jaine breathed out and looked back up at the man who was now smiling. “Healer, the most trusted assassin in our clan”, he chuckled out. In shock and fear, she once again backed away from the man. Her hands shaking worse than ever as the word echoed through her mind. Assassin. A cold-hearted murderer. Here. With her. And he was tending to her wounds. She had heard so many things from the guards as they had walked past the shack she had been in for so many years. How the assassins kidnapped children and killed them. But she wasn’t dead. With a blank stare, she didn’t react to anything before Sarach suddenly turned away throwing the now blood-filled cloth into a bucket which’s water was painted red. “No need to worry, child, we’re not going to hurt you,” Sarach smiled and slowly placed her hand down onto her lap not letting go of it. Jaine looked over at her brother who was peacefully sleeping next to her. His wounds were patched up. He looked new. And he was alive. “Who is Lucien?” Jaine asked and looked over at the man who’s eyes carefully inspected her brother. “He’s one of our other assassins, he’s a cruel and cold man but when it comes to children his heart is in the right place.” Jaine looked away over to the flaps that were being dragged back by the calm yet exciting breeze. “Don’t worry, kiddo, you’ll like him,” he said and patted her head like she was some kind of animal. But she didn’t mind it as she gave off a weak smile before crawling over to her brother and grabbed his bony hand. Silence fell for many minutes inside the tent. Sarach just sat there looking down at them like they were a painting about to move. “Are you close to your brother…?” he asked after the many minutes of silence. “Very, he’s the best brother you could ever ask for!” Jaine giggled and smiled up at Sarach, who’s seeking eyes looked down at the siblings. Sarach nodded faintly and looked over at the boy, his now shadowed eyes showing a mystery beyond them. “What powers do your parents have…?” he asked with his heavy voice rumbling. In a look of confusion and surprise, Jaine looked down at her brother once more. They had never had any kind of powers, not her brother, not her parents, neither anyone in their family. “I guess you don’t know?” Jaine only shook her head as tears formed in her eyes. There wasn’t any chance that her family would have been together with a magic-user. During all generations of her family, they have always hated magic-users since the death of an ancestor who was brutally killed by a fire started from magic-users. “We’re normal humans, nothing else…” she murmured looking down. The laughter of Sarach filled the room, a loud and heavy voice that went through the thin walls of the tent and out to where probably many more assassins were seated. “Girl, you are not human, or at least not him,” he said and nodded over at the sleeping Devon. Like a shot to the chest, the pain went through the body spreading throughout her body in seconds. She looked over at her brother knowing that Sarach was lying. He had to be lying. Jaine looked back up at Sarach who had now completely changed from the kind and smiling man to an empty-eyed, serious look. His wrinkles clearly showing as he stared down at her. His eyes focusing on just her. “As of you know right now,” he said and looked back at Daren, his conscious eyes looking like they were piercing through Daren’s mind searching for answers. With a small movement, Jaine pulled herself closer to her brother holding his hand firmer than before. The usually serious face now had a small and warm look to it that he had never given anyone except her. Sarach slowly got closer to her and reached out to grab her hand but she instantly looked up with a face of hatred and rage. “I’m his sister! And you are just some stupid stranger who thinks you know everything about us! Well you don’t and you NEVER will!” she screamed out in tears. The world went quiet, the tears not stopping as they rolled down her face and onto her lap. Sarach only opened his mouth for a second before closing it again continuing to stare down at her, his hand stretched out but not moving to grab her. Suddenly, as quiet as the summer breeze, a man walked in. His slender yet muscular arms carefully opening the flaps to the tent. The lantern light shining in his silver long hair. His hawk-like eyes looking down at her like she was his prey. “You’re awake,” was all he said as a way of greeting. A small smile showed on the man’s face. His white fangs showing from the weak smile. With a small nod, Jaine looked into his dark-gray eyes. Death lurking around him, yet not dead. Sarach looked over at the man and smiled brightly. “Lucien, I’m glad you’re here.”

*

Lucien had already heard the screaming and shouting coming from the tent before he had even walked over there. He had just been waiting for any sign of the girl's awakening when the shouts echoed through the camp. Walking into the tent he saw the girl was awake, her brother not. And Sarach, sitting with his hand stretched out towards her. Her wakening eyes looking up at him, down and up for anything. With her eyes widened she looked down in tears towards the ground. “Are you…?” she asked but closed her mouth soon after. Lucien only looked down at her, his seeking eyes looking at how her wounds were holding up. She hadn’t been patched up over the lack of bandages but they’d get them very soon for her. The small cuts around her arms and legs hadn’t been as bad for her as for her brother who had far more and worse wounds than she had. “You’re the man who saved me and my brother…” she whispered with tears running down her cheeks. Only a chuckle left Lucien, a forced one, but the small smile that appeared on the girl’s face was real. He got down onto one knee to her level, the fear in her eyes quickly went away as he tried to smile and seem as kind as he could. “I am, the name’s Lucien,” he said and reached out his gloved hand towards her. After a second of hesitation, she quietly grabbed his hand and for a second didn’t move as she was in a trance. Her eyes widened as her thumb slowly went over his hand and then quickly she pulled it away. “My name… is Jaine…” she whispered with small tears forming in her eyes. Lucien gave a small smile and nodded his head towards her. “It’s nice to meet you, Jaine.” With no other words to be spoken Lucien got up onto his feet and opened the flaps of the tent. Jaine only looked out of the opened tent with her eyes wide open as she slowly looked out over the camps. “Come on, food is ready.” Jaine only shook her head and looked down at her shaking, scarred, hands. Slowly she backed away closer to her brother with even more tears running down her cheeks. “Our clan isn’t as bad as you think, no one will hurt you, I promise,” Lucien said and reached out his hand with a weak smile. With a simple shake to the head, Jaine turned away facing her brother. Her tired and scared eyes looking down at his unconscious body. “I’m not leaving his side…” she whispered and brought his hand closer to her slowly brushing her thumb over it. Sarach peered over at Lucien as in questioning but was met with a small shrug before he walked out of the tent and into the campfire where most of the clan were sitting and laughing away their day. One of the men noticed Lucien and instantly got up waving Lucien over with a bright smile. Caran, the first child that Lucien had saved in his entire life. “Hey there!” Caran chirped and quickly walked over with his food-filled bowl in his hands. “How are the new ones?” With a neutral yet cold sigh, Lucien looked back at the tent he had just left. “Fine, the boy is still asleep but is patched up, and the girl is up but refuses to leave her brother's side.” Caran peered over Lucien’s shoulder to the tent trying to see the children. With a deep sigh, Caran let his shoulders sloop down and head looking down at the ground instead of his mentor. “When will those people understand it’s wrong to hurt others…?” Lucien put his hand on Caran’s shoulder trying to comfort the young man but didn’t have any words to say. The world was a horrible place where kings and lords executed young adults or even sometimes children for having “evil” magic, when in fact that it wasn’t the case. But instead of seeing where the possibilities could lead to with the darker magics they instead execute the gifted people. While the ones with nicer magics like healing or animation magics were allowed to be there and live a “safe” life. “I don’t know, but when they do the world will become a better place,” Lucien managed to murmur out before leaving Caran. There was now a long line of people waiting for their food. The children who were always allowed to go first before the adults were sitting on the logs and happily eating their stew. Some of the children were pushing each other around but another, one of the new ones, was quietly sitting with his two friends and sometimes got a chuckle out of him. Lucien walked over to the chef, Danae who was serving the food was happily talking with the assassins in line with a big smile on his face. A scar that wrapped around his neck was standing out more than usual on this early day as the sun shined down upon them. Some of the assassins threw Lucien some curious glares. By this time everyone knew of the siblings who had come the night before. Lucien, Sarach, and Gavin had arrived late at the camp and few people were still up and going inside the huge camp. The only ones still going were the healers who had been up helping some of the injured assassins. But as soon as they saw the boy who was limb in Lucien’s arms a group of 5 had come and asked many questions but had been rudely shut off and Sarach had demanded they took a look at him. So the healers had done just so and taken the child away from Lucien’s arms. Three of them left while the other two stayed for the girl and when they realized the girl didn’t have any life-threatening wounds they started to squeak about how cute she was, even if she had many bruises and wounds that covered her body. Lucien’s lips tugged for a small smile at recalling how they had reacted but still kept his face neutral. “Did the siblings wake up?” Danae asked before grabbing a bowl to fill it with food for Lucien. Lucien shrugged and grabbed another bowl for Jaine and handed it over to Danae who rolled his eyes. “The girl woke up, her name is Jaine,” Lucien replied and was about to grab the other bowl when Danae grabbed it once more and poured more stew into it. “Make sure she gets a lot of food, that poor soul,” he said and then handed the bowl full of stew over to Lucien. With a faint nod, Lucien grabbed the bowl and walked back to the tent, first he noticed the girl who was still sitting by her brother's side holding his hand against her chest, and then that Sarach had somehow managed to sneak out of the tent without Lucien noticing. Tears were rolling down her cheeks as she just looked at him. “I got food,” Lucien tried to encourage her, but she didn’t move an inch. With a deep sigh, Lucien got down on his knees putting the bowls down on the ground. He pushed over the bowl of stew that Danae had made sure to fill more than needed. “Oh come on, he’s not going anywhere,” Lucien encouraged. Jaine looked into his eyes for a few moments. Lucien was almost shocked as she kept his eye contact more than any adult had ever done since he was a child. But slowly and surely Jaine continued to scan him, letting her eyes search any hint of a weapon on him. And Lucien let her, taking in how her eyes were moving and how her body reacted. Even tho she was shy and didn’t have much status he could feel how his body slowly leaned back. “The chef wants you to eat, don’t want to make him sad, do we?” Lucien tried once more. Jaine’s eyes instantly shot up to his and he felt how a drop of sweat was making its way down his forehead and nose. But after a few moments, Jaine nodded and slowly let go of her brother's hand and grabbed the bowl of stew hauling it towards her before slowly eating it. Her eyes widened a bit as she took her first bite and instantly sped up eating more and more. Stew dropped down her chin and back into the bowl and quickly her spoon picked it up once more and she ate it. Lucien only rolled his eyes and started to eat his stew slowly while watching Jaine eating. She was acting like she barely got any food at her old place. The warm silence that had passed between the both of them soon broke off as the howl of laughter echoed through the camp. Jaine instantly shot her eyes back up and then over at Lucien who was still eating not minding the loud laughter. But he did mind as her eyes stared him down with a look that screamed status. It didn’t take long for Jaine to look back down at her now-empty bowl. Quickly she handed it over to Lucien stretching her arm not wanting to get close to the strange assassin. “If you want more food then you have to come with,” Lucien demanded and put down his half-empty bowl. All he got back was a huff before Jaine got onto her feet holding the bowl close to her with her head hanging low. Lucien walked out of the tent with Jaine soon behind him and the whole camp turned around looking at them. With their eyes wide they stared at Jaine looking at the too many bruises covering her body. But with only one glance from Lucien and they all turned back trying not to glance over at them. Jaine quickly got behind Lucien holding his sleeve tightly looking up at him. Her sea-blue eyes watered and her hands trembled as she stumbled over every small rock and root in their way. A group of young girls was sitting by the fireplace giggling and instantly stopped when they saw Jaine. One of Lucien’s students, Elia, had an emotionless look on her face that she had gotten from Lucien’s many times of glancing over at him during their lessons. When Caran saw the young girl behind Lucien he instantly shot up from his seat and walked over to them. “You were were right Lucien, she’s a beauty.” Lucien only rolled his eyes in annoyance. Jaine pulled herself closer to Lucien and tears fell onto his cloak making it somewhat wet. “No need to cry, girl!” Caran said and got down on one knee reaching out his hand. “My name is Caran, the first-ever child to be rescued by Lucien!” Slowly but surely Jaine looked up at Lucien for the truth, her sea-blue eyes shined with tears. With a deep sigh, Lucien nodded looking down at the girl. “He’s telling the truth, my first ever mission took place in Doren, where I found him…” He still remembered that day, he was 9 years old and had been training since he was 5. A year before the mission his powers had come up which had helped them during their mission as he brought things to life. During that time he had heard a child’s scream and he had left his spot on the roof and seen Caran sitting hugging his knees in tears with three guards beating him up. Instantly Lucien had jumped down and killed the guards soon after. But before one of the guards had died he had swung his sword and cut open a deep wound on Lucien’s left arm. Caran had still been crying hugging his teddy bear and however, Lucien tried to calm him down nothing worked. Until he brought the teddy bear back to life and he had instantly smiled and hugged the teddy bear soon following after Lucien to the top of the roof to finish the mission. Lucien hadn’t been allowed to go on any more mission for a month after that and had been set to work with Danae as a punishment. But still 10 years later and he didn’t regret his decision to save Caran, he would never regret it. Jaine tugged on Lucien’s sleeve and he looked down to see Jaine opening and closing her mouth constantly trying to form some small words out of her mouth but failing over and over again. But even tho the lack of words Lucien understood what she wanted to say and nodded over at Caran. “We need to get going, Jaine is hungry,” Lucien said and smiled warmly at his student. Instantly Danae looked up from one of the bowls and lit up as he saw Jaine hugging Lucien like a cub its mother. Danae happily waved over Jaine and Lucien to come over to him.

2. A Bloody Escape

The sun was slowly setting down and the sky was filled with many bright stars. Even tho Jaine came from a dinky little small hole of a town she had never seen this many stars in her whole life.

One of the assassins looked over at her and in a second she got up and rushed back inside the tent that had been given to her and her brother. The bowl she had gotten from Lucien was still sitting on the ground. He said he would get it later yet after a whole day had gone by and the bowl was still there resting peacefully. Jaine slowly got onto her knees and closed the flaps of the tent, making sure no one of the assassins could spy inside. Even tho she didn’t trust the assassins completely and they were wilder than her father she could feel they wanted her and her brother to get better.

The chef who had introduced himself as Danae had been one of the kindest assassins she had met so far in the camp. As soon as he had spotted her and Lucien in the crowd of assassins he had lit up like a lantern in the dead of night. And when he had grabbed her bowl he had poured so much that it almost went over and had only told her to eat and get better. Jaine looked over at Daren who was still asleep. She wondered how he’d react when he woke up. He would probably protect her with his life and escape into the forest but she had no idea if that’s what she wanted. The assassins were cold-hearted murderers but they laughed and joked around like normal villagers at a party, but on a completely normal day. Jaine once more looked down at Daren who hadn’t shown any sign of improvement during the entire day. The healer had promised he’d be fine but seeing him lying there on his back with his eyes closed made her stomach ache. “I’m sorry, brother… it’s all my fault.”

Her stomach hurt as she grabbed his hand running her bony finger over his hand. It was a tiring day, her legs buckled under her as she walked across the floor with shaking hands. It had been another awful day inside of the shack where she and Daren had been working from early morning to late night. Not being able to control where her feet were going she tripped over a floorboard which was sticking up. She lost her balance and fell but managed to grab a hold of a close-by table. But before she could take a breath of relief the vase, an expensive masterpiece that had been brought down from generation to generation fell onto the floor and crashed into a million pieces. Daren had instantly stopped to look at the damage and no one could scream. Silence fell upon them before they heard the heavy steps of their father and they both took a run to their room. The way there felt longer than usual as Jaine stumbled over everything. She wanted to cry out but the fear of her father hearing her kept her from sobbing. When they both managed to get into the room they closed the door and hid in the corner of the room. Cold tears fell from Jaine’s cheeks and onto her dark black cloak with many holes on it. Time passed slowly until her father stood in front of the door blocking any light to enter. The door flung open and she screamed as he grabbed her hauling her up from the floor and punching her. And whenever Daren had tried to stop their father he had been punched. They had cried out screaming for him to stop. And that’s when Jaine had gotten a glance at her mother who was standing by the kitchen, looking at them. And didn’t do a thing. It had all been her fault if she had just kept her clumsy feet from not tripping then Daren would be awake and fine. Lucien walked into the tent with a plate of bread and butter together with some small pieces of meat beside it. They were all neatly cut and placed in order on the small plate. Lucien placed down the plate on the ground and looked at her. “It’s all my fault…” she whispered. Lucien looked over at her and grabbed her hand tightly smiling weakly. “It’s your father’s fault, honestly, if I had a daughter like you, I’d care for you, protect you, I would make you happy.” Tears fell down Jaine’s cheeks as she leaned in and hugged him tightly. No one in her entire life had ever said such nice things to her. A warming feeling filled her chest as she continued to hug him. And she didn’t let go. But when Lucien hauled her down onto the mattress she didn’t object and let it happen. She slowly let go of him and closed her eyes. But to her surprise he didn’t let her go, he just brushed her hair out from her face and stopped for only a second before running his finger around her eyes. Then down to the tip of her nose. And then to her cheeks. In different movements each time. And he did so until she yawned and fell asleep smiling.

*

With a faint smile on Lucien’s lips, he continued to look down at the sweet child who was asleep. Even tho the two siblings had gone through a very rough time the peaceful smiles on their lips were to look like they had been born in a great family and had a great life. But they hadn’t. Lucien stood up looking down at the two siblings making sure he didn’t wake them up. When not a movement was heard or seen he walked outside with the plate of untouched food. The walk to the campfire felt longer than usual. His mind raced as he tried to think of ways of training the two. Lucien put the plate of bread next to the others and the chef looked at him confused. “Why didn’t she eat?” “Tired and went to bed,” Lucien explained keeping his voice low. The smile that had once been on his lips had now become the usual cold and emotionless look that he always wore. From behind he heard the heavy steps of Caran trying to keep himself as loud as possible as he approached, afraid to be knocked down. Lucien only turned around and looked over at Caran who smiled brightly showing off his teeth. One of his teeth was green from when Lucien had turned around knocking him right in the mouth when he had been sneaking around a few years back. But Caran had learned not to sneak around Lucien or he’d get punched. “Leader wants us to go onto another mission to Mundon, are you coming with?” Caran crossed his arms smirking. When he had been younger they would go to many different villages and kingdoms during missions but as time went by it happened less and less, partly due to the other kids and others that Caran had to learn to not depend on Lucien during missions. As silence fell Caran understood and nodded giving away a small weak smile. Not wanting to see the disappointment in his eyes Lucien instead looked over at the tent. The candle that had been burning inside of the tent had now burned out and left the children inside the dark tent. Caran sighed deeply and walked off in silence. It wasn’t until he could no longer hear the heavy footsteps that Lucien once more turned around and looked over at the chef who was giving off a disappointed look. All Lucien gave was a shrug before he grabbed a satchel full of drying meat and went into the forest. Even tho Lucien wanted to give more, wanted to smile more and be happier, he couldn’t. Because he knew that if he showed too many emotions towards the children who he had raised and trained that it would be too hard for them to let him go when it was his time to go or vise-versa. That’s why he had sent many of the older children away after a year or two of training. The growls of a Fale Degard were heard from close by and Lucien instantly got out of his daydreaming. The growl soon died down and a smirk appeared on Lucien’s lips as he continued to walk through the forest with his ears on high alert. The sound of paws crunching down sticks and leaves were heard from close by. The smirk on Lucien’s lips grew as he slowly strode around. “Come on you beast, I’m right here!” Then the forest went silent, the crunching leaves silenced and the birds with it. Lucien looked around for where the monster could jump out of and was soon met with the loud growl and sticks breaking. Instantly Lucien turned around and saw as the Fale degard, a wolf-like creature was standing there. The size of it was of an adult wolf, too small for his species. The Fale degard’s jaws dislocated and opened up at 180 degrees showing the 2 rows of teeth it had and then he closed his mouth in a second almost biting his tongue off. “Hello there, old friend,” Lucien smirked and slowly walked over to the Fale degard, Rage. It had been soon three months since Lucien had heard the cries of help from Rage. He had rushed into the woods and seen the creature lying there on the ground whining. If he had been reasonable and cunning human, Lucien would have ended him right then and there for the safety of his clan. But when the Fale Degard had looked up at Lucien with his big blood-red eyes he couldn’t do anything but help him. He had spent more time than usual with Rage and had gotten him back to health, and when he had been back to full health Lucien had thought the monster would have eaten him up. But Rage had just looked at him and stayed with him. Of course, Lucien didn’t know the monster’s story. But after spending so much time with him he could slowly puzzle it all together. The wounds that Rage had gotten were from other Fale Degards, and even when spending three months with him he hadn’t grown a bit. This meant that Rage must have been outcasted by his clan after either from being different or something else. But Lucien had never truly cared, he had loved Rage and still loves him like one of the children he had saved. Rage snapped his teeth and sniffed over at Lucien knowing that the drying meat was in his pockets. Lucien only chuckled before grabbing the piece of meat from his pocket and handed it over to Rage who didn’t even need to chew the meat as he gulped it down. When Rage was finished he looked up at Lucien and happily barked before taking a jump right into his arms. The heavy creature pressed down Lucien and instantly he lost his balance and tumbled down onto the ground. His bones cracked in response but he didn’t mind as he ruffed up the creature’s fur. “That’s enough, Rage, that’s enough,” Lucien chuckled and Rage instantly jumped to the side with his tail wagging in the air. Lucien sat up and started to scratch Rage’s ear and the monster instantly laid down on his back begging for a belly rub. With a small sigh, Lucien smiled and ran his hand down the creature’s fur. “You truly are something… aren’t you…?” he whispered with a faint smile. “Come on, we need to train.” Rage instantly got up without a second to spare and his tail wagged happily. Lucien chuckled and got up onto his feet and looked over at Rage who was happily wagging his tail. Lucien pointed over at the usual tree that they had been working on for quite some time now. “Attack that tree!” In pure joy Rage obeyed but instead of attacking it, the second Lucien ordered it he jumped around with his tail wagging and long tongue sticking out. But after a few moments of celebrating Rage went into attack and first clawed at the tree. His massive claws dug into the tree and then he once more dislocated his jaw and opened it up bitting at the tree. With loud growls, Rage continued until a loud snap came from his direction. Rage instantly backed away in pain and the tree tumbled down onto the ground and shook the earth. With a faint smile, Lucien nodded over at Rage and grabbed a piece of meat and threw it over to him. Rage instantly swallowed it up not even tasting the spiced meat. Rage looked up at the sky and howled, the birds flew away and Rage looked over at them in thirst.

*

Jaine rubbed her eyes and looked around. The healer, Sarach, wasn’t in the tent, and either was Lucien. She was completely alone with her brother, Daren, who was still lying beside her, his eyes closed. Jaine rubbed at her face and felt the birthmark under her fingers. Lucien had seen it the night before, she knew he had. But he hadn’t reacted at it. He had just continued to sit there. How long had he stayed? Did he stay the whole night or until she fell asleep? Instantly Jaine covered her birthmark not wanting to risk anyone else seeing how she was looking. She had always hated how she looked, she was a pathetic little girl and would never get married or find a boy, that’s what her father had said, many times. “You know I think you’re more beautiful when you show your birthmark…” In a gasp of surprise Jaine looked over at Daren who was looking up at her, his eyes open and clear, and a bright smile on his face. Jaine almost shook as she saw him. He was alive, the assassins hadn’t lied when they said he’d be alright. “Daren…” Jaine whispered in tears. She let her tears slide down her cheeks and fall onto the covers as she threw herself at Daren and gave him the biggest hug she had ever given. Her heart was skipping beats as she hugged him, holding him tightly not wanting to let go. She felt as Daren slowly let go of her and sat up, but she didn’t let go. She couldn’t let go. Not again. “I thought I had lost you…” she whispered into his ear. With a gentle movement Daren’s arms once more wrapped around her. More tears rolled down her cheeks as she held him tightly. She couldn’t let go. She breathed him in, the scent of him. He was smelling like sweat and blood but she didn’t mind as she held him close with more tears rolling down her cheeks. She couldn’t let go. “Do you think our father,” Daren started but stopped in the middle of his sentence as he let her go and looked around the tent. Warning flags shot up as Jaine realized what was going to happen now. Daren slowly got onto his feet dragging Jaine up with him. His sky-blue eyes scanned the tent for any danger before he looked back once more down at his sister. “Where are we and where’s our father?” Daren growled. Not knowing what to answer Jaine looked down ashamed to tell where they were. He would murder every single assassin in this camp to keep her safe. “We’re… in an assassin camp…” Daren instantly backed away and rushed over to one of the chests and opened it up looking through it. He threw stuff around like they were worthless, bandages, herbs, boxes of needles. But soon stopped and Jaine was about to talk once more when she saw what he was holding. A shining small knife. Jaine was about to take it away when Daren once more got onto his feet and grabbed Jaine’s hand so tightly that it hurt. “Where’s our father?” he asked and dragged her closer. Jaine whined a bit before looking down. “He’s back in Clayton, we’re safe! I swear! Please the assassins’ aren’t,” she started but was cut off by Daren. “We’re getting out of here! Now!” he hissed before opening the tent’s flaps and running off dragging Jaine behind him. But as he ran he didn’t see the many assassins looking at them, and soon ran right into one of them. Jaine looked up to see the dirty-blond haired assassin, Caran. “Plan B…” Daren breathed out and slowly backed away from Caran but soon bumped into another assassin, the kind chef. And soon many of the assassins were surrounding them making sure Daren wouldn’t run away. Caran took a step closer and reached out his hand. “Well good morning boy, my name is Caran.” Daren growled and pointed his small knife towards Caran who was not backing away from the clear threat. “There’s no need for that, we’re here to help you.” As quick as a wolf Daren jumped towards Caran swinging the knife wildly. “YOU’RE ASSASSINS! KILLERS! I WILL NEVER LET MY LITTLE SISTER BE KILLED BY YOU!” Jaine was about to scream at Daren to stop when a hiss of pain came from Caran and a big smirk from Daren. The knife was plunged into the side of Caran and blood was running down. Everything went silent. Jaine’s ears started ringing as she stood there. She wanted to scream, she wanted to do something, but just her shaking hands showed any reaction of what had just happened. Sarach instantly ran towards Caran and got down by his side. The pain was filled in Caran’s eyes as he looked down at the knife that was still plunged into his side. Before Sarach could pull it out Daren took it back and cut up, even more, making the wound larger. A grim smile spread on Daren’s face as he swung the knife around once more pointing towards all of the assassins. “ANYONE GET ANY CLOSER AND YOU’RE ALL DEAD!” “DAREN STOP!” Jaine managed to get out and managed to get away from the grip of Daren. She instantly stopped but he continued to swing the knife around and then got in front of her. She didn’t react at first, she didn’t feel any pain as he cut open a wound going from the side to her navel. The warm blood ran down her stomach staining her shirt and dripping down onto the grass. She wanted to scream, but there was no reaction in her as she fell onto her knees and looked down. The red warm blood continued to run down like a waterfall. Her ears rang more and she wanted to scream, she opened her mouth to scream but nothing came out. Everything became blurry, but she could see the bloody knife fall onto the ground before her, and then Daren who fell onto his knees. She didn’t hear anything, not the screams of Daren, or the call of aid. She didn’t feel as Sarach grabbed her and laid her down. She didn’t even feel as he placed his hand over the wound. And the last thing she remembered was the bright light that shone from Sarach’s hands. And then there was darkness.

*

Lucien woke up to the bright light of the sun that shone through the trees. He groaned and sat up rubbing his eyes slowly looking around the forest. Rage, his trusted creature was already gone and had probably left early in the morning. Lucien put his hand in his pocket to notice the left-over meat he had saved up was gone and all it had left was saliva. With a deep sigh, Lucien got up onto his feet and looked up at the sky where the sun was already hanging high. With another deep sigh, he started to walk back towards the camp. The way there was long as he walked there. But when he arrived he was shocked. He hadn’t heard the laughter of the assassins, he hadn’t heard their usual cheerful conversations. And still didn’t. The ones who wanted to party all day long were now sitting silently by the campfire looking around at each other. Some were whispering and some wouldn’t even look up from the ground. Caran was the first one to spot Lucien, he instantly walked over to him with his hand-formed into a fist. But Lucien could see the pain and worry in his eyes, and see he wasn’t about to be a danger. “Where the hell have you been?!” Caran screamed. Everyone looked over at them, the silence had broken yet no one dared to say a word. Lucien looked around not seeing anything out of place. “The boy has awoken!” Caran growled over at Lucien. His heart stopped. It would have been a good thing if he had woken up, yet the silence of the camp said something else. Someone had died. Lucien looked over at Caran and noticed the stain of blood and cut open the shirt he had on. Under that he had been bandaged, they had been attacked. “Tell every detail,” Lucien growled. Caran nodded and looked over at the tent that Jaine and her brother had been staying in for the few days. “He tried running away and when that didn’t work he attacked, he had a knife and first stabbed me before accidentally…” he started but let the words trail off. And Lucien knew exactly who had accidentally gotten hurt. At a run, Lucien rushed into the tent and saw Jaine lying there on the mattress. She had been healed but was unconscious and had been for quite some time. By her side was her brother who was holding her hand tightly. He had dried blood all over his hands and tears running down his cheeks. The smell of blood was tainted, the scent burying Lucien in horrors. He wanted to scream yet had to keep his cool to not frighten the boy who was still clinging to Jaine’s hand but now looking right up at him. “She’ll be fine.” Lucien looked over to see Sarach sitting on a stool a bit further away from the children. Even he was bloody but didn’t have any visible wounds on him. “I need to talk to the boy, alone,” Lucien nodded over at the boy who cried more and shook his head. With a small nod, Sarach got up and handed a bottle of some medicine over to the boy and then left. The boy clung to the medicine like it was going to save him from this talk. Tears continued to pour down as he shook his head. “We want you and your sister the best life,” was all Lucien said before getting down onto his knees. “There’s no reason to be afraid.” Daren stopped shaking his head and looked up at Lucien with big, lost, eyes. “It’s my fault! I almost killed my sister! I could have killed her! I wanted to protect her!” Images flashed before Lucien, blood, tumble, the golden dagger. “I didn’t have time to stop myself!” Daren continued and continued. But Lucien did nothing as he looked over at Jaine who was sleeping peacefully. He understood the pain better than anyone. “Daren, I understand, you were frightened, we all are, but you don’t need to say sorry to me, or Sarach, or Caran, but who you need to say sorry to is Jaine, understand?” Tears continued to run down Lucien’s cheeks as he slowly nodded. He understood. His small hands clung to the bottle of medicine as he looked down at it. “I wanted her to be free… but not like this…” Lucien nodded getting up onto his feet once more and left. The scent of blood lingered for hours, even as he sat in his tent and grabbed a piece of wood carving away. Even the strong scent of the many wooden boxes in his tent couldn’t get the smell away. The small boxes which he’d one day give away to all of his students, the children he had saved. And now he had two more, one each for the siblings.

*

There was a strange silence hanging in the air when Jaine woke up. She had not yet opened her eyes and continued to lay there in the dark. A small hand was tracing hers as she laid there, not moving an inch. “I’m sorry…” Daren said from the dark and tightened his grip. Tears then rolled down Jaine’s cheeks as she remembered the pain, the blood. Daren had stabbed her and after that, she didn’t remember a thing. She must have fainted. But all of the blood, there was too much blood on that day for it to be real. Had she died? No, she was alive, but how? Had Sarach saved her? Jaine opened her eyes and looked over at Daren who was crying his eyes out looking down at the ground. His shaking hands were still holding hers. “Daren…” she managed to breathe out. Daren looked over at her and he sobbed as he threw his arms around hers. But what would have calmed her down and stopped her from crying were no longer working? Instead, it filled her with rage. She wanted to beat him up, punish him for hurting her. Never in her life had she felt as much pain as that moment, or did she even feel pain? What was even real anymore? She couldn’t even feel the pain now, just empty with rage. “Don’t hug me,” Jaine managed to hiss out. And instantly Daren stopped hugging her and looked at her confused. His eyes narrowed and he looked up and down and then stopped at her stomach where she had been bandaged. “Jaine! I’m so sorry just please let me explain!” he reached for her but she grabbed his wrist and threw it away.