*COUGH, COUGH, GASP*
Alex crouched down over a person who seemed to be slowly dying and sighed.
"Hey, won't you tell me? I also don't like doing this." Alex turned and looked at Zac.
Zac was in a terrible state, he had many cuts all over his body, one eye was swollen shut and his shoulder had Alex's spear through it with the spear also pinning him to a wall.
Alex turned away from the sad figure that was Zac and turned to an even worse looking person who was lying gasping on the ground.
"I tried to keep more than one of your men alive but sadly he was the only one that survived." I shook my head in disappointment. "But no matter, he should be more than enough."
I then turned back to Zac.
"If you tell me two things I'll let him go." I had a feeling that if I said I would leave the last surviving member of his group alive, he would tell me whatever I wanted to know.
Zac slowly lifted his head and looked at me.
"What do you want to know?"
I looked back at the last surviving member.
"Wow, you sure do care about your subordinates. That's really commendable."
I left the person on the ground, and after jumping over the cracked and shattered ground, then stepping over the dead bodies of the other members of Zac's group I reached Zac and looked him in the eye. "First of all, where is the cylinder you took?"
Zac stared at me for a few moments before his eyes shifted to his left. I followed his eye and saw that he was looking at the ground.
I was about to give him some 'motivation' to answer me when I noticed something. I walked over to where Zac had been looking and when I crouched down my suspicions were proven correct.
"That's clever." I picked up a stone block and threw it to the side. I then pulled out the cylinder. "I would probably not have noticed that block wasn't the same color as the rest of them if you hadn't shown me."
I then turned back to Zac. "Did you remove what was inside?"
Zac slowly shook his head.
"That's good to know." I said cheerfully. "But I can't just take your word for it can I?"
I opened the top of the cylinder and looked inside. "Huh, guess you didn't actually open it."
I closed it again and looked up at Zac. "Now, let's get down to business."
My voice lost its cheery beat and became cold. "Who sent you after me?"
Zac kept quiet for a few seconds before he opened his mouth and spoke raspily.
"Like I said before..."
*COUGH, COUGH, COUGH*
Zac began coughing but after a few seconds he calmed down.
"..I have no idea who hired me. All I know is that one night when I was drinking in a bar, a hooded man came up to me and told me that he had a job for me. He told me your name and some of your abilities, he then said that he would contact me when you were next in the Underworld and tell me what you were wearing."
I nodded my head. 'So that person is willing to try and kill me in Freestone, but is not as willing to do it anywhere else. It seems that he's not willing to take any chances, he probably learned from our last encounter and won't appear in front of me again unless he's sure of killing me.'
A frown slowly spread across my face. 'But then why doesn't he just hire an assassin to kill me? If he's from Freestone then he should definitely have the money to hire a good one.' I looked up at Zac. 'Zac might be quite strong, but he honestly didn't give me as much of a challenge as he did. Why would he send somebody weaker?'
I sighed and shook my head. 'I'll think about it later, there are too many confusing things about this whole mess.'
I walked up to Zac and pulled the spear out of his shoulder, which made him slump to the ground. "Ok, I've got all the information I wanted, sadly our time together has come to an end."
Zac slowly pushed himself to his knees, and after a bit of a struggle he got to his feet even though he was swaying. He then looked at my eyes through my mask. "It seems this is the end for me, but I'm not sad. I might have lived a hard life but....'
All the scenes of his life flashed before his eyes, from the first memory he had of pickpocketing in the streets at a young age, to the hovel he and his men had met in and although they got off to a bad start they eventually became friends, then after that brothers. He and his brothers meeting an old man who eventually taught them how to use Hani. He went through every single moment of his life in a few moments.
Zac looked at all his brothers who were lying dead, some disfigured beyond recognition and although he was pained by all their deaths he still smiled.
"I lived for my brothers..." He then looked at the last survivor of his men. "....I will die for my brothers. Don't blame yourself for being the only survivor."
Zac then closed his eyes and leaned his head back. "It was an honor."
Alex pulled back his hand and after holding it there for a few seconds brought it forward and punched Zac in the chest.
*CRACK*
The sickening sound of bones breaking spread through the area as Zac slumped to the ground. Slowly the light in his eyes dimmed and after a few seconds it fully disappeared.
"A shame," I turned around to look at the last member of Zac's group and immediately noticed tears streaming down his face.
"Always remember that everyone else died and you were the only one to survive. Live with that guilt."
I then walked over to all the dead bodies and scavenged through their clothes.
After I finished I stood up with a smile on my face and tens more gold leclerc in my pocket.
Then with a gleeful chuckle I walked into the alley.
-
-
-
A dark figure stood on a balcony and looked out at the brightly shining moon.
"They died huh."
From behind him a voice responded. "Yes sir, they were all killed by Alex," The person then hesitated before continuing. "Well all except one of them."
"Get rid of the survivor." Immediately said the dark figure. "Even if the chance that he knows something is low I don't like loose threads."
"Yes sir."
After that all was quiet on the balcony, leaving the figure alone with his thoughts.
'Well at least they fulfilled their purpose, I now have more information on how strong Alex is and what Stances he knows.'
The figure then gripped the railing with so much force that it began groaning as the metal started deforming.
"Next time you won't survive." The figure turned around and walked away. "Mark my words."
-
-
-
Alistair and I were on our way to our first lessons of the day. Mine was Hani Manipulation while Alistair's own was Basic Alchemy. Suddenly Alistair stopped in the middle of the hall, and ignoring the looks that other students had him he stared at me.
"It's like every time I leave you alone for one night, the next day you start telling me how you fought somebody new." Alistair shook his head in disbelief and looked at me in amazement. "Tell me how you do it."
I shrugged my shoulders. "It's a gift." The smile left my face and was replaced by a serious look. "But in all seriousness, this is turning into a problem. I've managed to survive each time it's happened, but sooner or later my luck will run out."
I turned to Alistair. "Did you eventually find out if anyone had gone to the med bay with serious injuries?"
"Yes," replied Alistair. "One."
I stopped and looked at Alistair in surprise since I honestly didn't expect him to find anybody. "Who was it?"
Alistair looked me right in the eye and answered slowly. "You, you were the only person who went to the med bay. Everyone else in Freestone knows not to go to the med bay for serious injuries received from a fight."
Alistair paused before continuing. "If your enemies didn't know who you were before, then they definitely will when they hear of a person who had the same injuries that they inflicted getting healed in the med bay."
I scratched the back of my head sheepishly.
"And this is common knowledge?" I asked in surprise.
Alistair nodded his head in confirmation. "Most factions have someone always watching the med bay for situations such as yours, when a member was attacked but they don't know who did it." Alistair leaned against a wall. "In truth that almost never leads to anything, but there are cases like yours when the person got careless and went to the med bay."
"What usually happens to people who do that?" I wondered out loud.
Alistair ran his thumb across his throat.
"The next day they're found dead in some deserted area."