Nero slipped out of the room into the hallway with his clothes wrapped in a blanket he took off the bed. The hallway was torchless making him unsure of each step. Darker than the Forrest of Sheri, free from the star light. He hoped there were no servants running through the halls. He remembered seeing Daisy walk towards the back of the house so he headed that way even though it would make getting out that much harder. Either way he decided he would go out through a window.
He could see light coming from underneath a door and assumed it was Daisy's room. When he opened the door Trishna was standing across the room dragging an unconscious Daisy to the bed.
"What are you doing?" He blurted out.
"What are you doing here?" Trishna said suspiciously.
"Are you kidding me! You're dragging her around the room and you ask me what I'm doing. What kind of servant are you?" He unslung the blanket with his clothes from his shoulder. Trishna's expression was just as unapologetic as when she spoke up earlier that night but he could see a fierceness in her eyes. He put the bag down slowly. When he put the bag down she screamed.
"Murderer!" She let go of Daisy's body and she thudded to the ground.
"Hey! What do you think you're doing? You're going to hurt her." He quickly crossed the room and crouched down and cradled her head on his lap. Trishna jumped back and glowed purple needles at the tips of her fingers. Nero had seen those before. She was an assassin.
Dalia walked into the room. "What is all of this screaming of a murderer." Trishna had released her needles just as Dalia entered the room.
"It's him!" Her breathing had instantly become haggered and her face was daunt with horror. "It was cold so, I came to check and see if Daisy needed any extra blankets. He was there holding her lifeless body."
Lifeless? Nero reached down and touched her neck and still felt a pulse but it was very weak. Amira entered the room behind Dalia.
"Herbert is dead." She announced then gasped as she saw Daisy unconscious looking very dead in Nero's lap.
"It was him. It must have been him. Look he has a bag. He must've wanted to kill them and get out after he was done." Trishna squealed.
"Me? No." They were suspecting him of murder with no proof but a wailing girl and a travel sack. "No that's not what happened. What are you doing?" He asked Trishna urgently standing to his feet when a foot crossed his head. He flew across the room into a vanity.
"I don't need to hear any of your lies, Spriggan." She had made up her mind and nothing he could say would make her see it any other way. But what about Daisy, she was fading fast and Dalia didn't even stop to check to see if she was alright. Did she even care about her? They were family though. Did that mean anything? If nothing was done she was going to die. If he was going to get to the bottom of this then he had to get Trishna to tell the truth about what was going on. She had lied on him but he didn't know why but now he had to focus on Dalia. Trishna didn't seem like she would raise a finger or she would blow her cover. How he'd gone all this time without meeting an assassin and now he had met two in one month. She had been undercover and he didn't have a clue. Maybe he had met plenty other Assassins but never knew.
Dalia glowed a sword and dashed at him but he dodged and jumped through the window. "Out the window, huh."
Dalia turned to Amira, "Call the guards and the front door man. Tell them that Nero has killed my brother. Have them follow after me."
"What about your father? Is Daisy dead?" Amira whimpered.
"Do it now servant." She commanded then jumped out the window after Nero.
Nero ran into the graveyard. He ducked just in time as an arrow whooshed over his head and demolished a stone tombstone. "Oh shit." He ran faster between more tombstones as arrow after arrow curved around him into another tombstone and another.
"Answer for your crimes. I Dalia of the House Addidel will execute you for your crimes of murder." She ran after him repeating the line as she loosed each arrow. She must have thought each arrow would land and wanted to tell him those last words as she killed him. Instead it just told him that she was about to loose another arrow.
Each time she did he screamed, "Hell no, I didn't do it!" He was getting tired of the game and knew more people would come. He ducked behind the tombstones that were left, making his way toward Dalia. When he was close enough, she released her bow and it disappeared. Then glowed the sword back into her hand but it was too late. Nero had glowed a staff and his attack was swift. He used the staff to parry her rushed slice then whipped the staff across her temple knocking her out.
"Nero?"
Nero looked down the hill and at the entrance gate of the graveyard where Frides stood. He had the same look on his face when he stopped Nero from whaling on Gote. "This is not the time for another one of your judgie looks. There's an assassin in there and she's poisoning the whole house." Nero knelt down and checked Dalia's pulse. She was fine just a little head trauma.
"If there is an assassin in there, they are just doing their job." Frides walked up and looked down at the middle aged woman that was lying on the ground. "You maintained your usual restraint."
"She's fine. She was trying to kill me because the assassin made framing me a part of her job." Frides' smug glare was getting to him but he had to do something or Daisy was going to die. "What do you know about poison?"
"I have been trained in many widely known poisons and most unknown." Frides responded in a skeptical tone.
"And antidotes?"
Frides saw where this was going, "We do not interfere in each other's jobs. It would be chaos if someone could just hire another assassin to kill the assassin that is after them."
"Yeah that would be chaos." He remarked sarcastically. "They're framing me and if you're job is to keep me safe, wouldn't saving the person I am accused of killing be the way to do just that?"
"No." Frides was not even slightly waning on his refusal.
"This is what pisses me off about you. You'll judge me for knocking out a few people hear and there but you're going to let that girl up there die. Whatever lets go and find Urs and our bags and get out of here then." Nero walked past Frides and searched the town from the hill top. "There's nothing I can do. You'll be killing her not me."
"Where?" Frides grabbed Nero's shoulder and turned him around. "Where is she?"
"She's in that room with the candle lit by the window." Nero pointed up to the window he jumped out of just a few moments ago.
"This is going to cause so many problems back home." Nero had never heard Frides refer to where he was from but it surprised him that he called it home. What was this place like, that celebrated contracted murder. Did Frides have a family? He assumed that he was raised in a school devoid of any intimacy and love but still he called it home.
"Well here's to chaos." He smiled an approving smile at Frides that was met with an eye roll. "They're going to be after me so there should be no one in the room besides maybe that Trishna girl."
"Trishna? I've never heard of anyone named Trishna working a contract in this area." He explained to Nero but he could tell that Nero had no idea what he was talking about.
"Either way like I said, Trishna is the one to look out for. She's kinda homely with chubby cheeks. I'll find Urs and we can meet outside the City walls on the Northside." They run off in opposite directions.
Frides was running to the window when a girl jumped out. The girl ran in the opposite direction of him.
"Leonarda." He called her name in a whisper so his voice didn't travel further than her ears.
She turned and saw Frides. "What are you doing here, Frides? Are you spectating my contract?"
He softened his eyes and let a smile slide across his face. "No I'm here on my own mission. I need your antidote."
"Why?" She frowned at the request.
"It is important for my contract that I save the life of that girl inside that room." His face was stone cold this time. He wasn't going to get very far with sugar.
"But my contract states that I am supposed to kill her and her father and frame it on the guest." She was so matter of fact about ignoring his request.
"My contract comes from Padrino directly. If there is any trouble you can tell them that I demanded it of you." He raised his open palm to her. He wasn't going to allow anymore questions.
She wasn't happy about the turn of events but could see she didn't have a choice. She reached down into her shoe and pulled out a pink vile and placed it in his hand. As he turned to the castle she said, "I'm sorry about you're brothers accident." Her tone was all but mournful. She had meant to get a rise out of him. He turned and looked over his shoulder at her.
"It would be a pity if you never made it back to report you're failure. You'd better rush before you have an accident of your own." A glint of purple flashed across his eyes. She broke out into a cold sweat. "Now." He repeated not removing his eyes from hers.
She slowly turned then ran away like a rabbit that had just seen a fox.
TO BE CONTINUED...
Thanks for reading!