Today, we have a 2500 word short story written by me, inspired and adapted from Tanya Huff's "Sceleratus". With any luck, she won't sue the hell out of me. :P
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Even after three weeks of torture, she was still beautiful to him. He cut the rope and caught her as she fell, allowing her weight to take him to his knees. Holding her to his chest, rocking back and forth on a floor slick with gore, he waited for the grief to come.
She had been dead for only a few hours when he had finally found her. Her wrists had been tightly bound behind her back, a coarse rope threaded through the fraying and used to life her up in the air. They had started off with whipping, and threw in other…persuasions… as time went by. Finally, her flame winked out in the face of the pain.
She had brought light into a life which had none. And now it was gone.
He brushed away the charred remains of her once flowing blond locks and pressed his lips to hers. His grip tightened. He wanted to rage, to weep, to mourn, but he did nothing. The light of his life had gone, and there was only darkness to take its place.
His heart as cold as hers, Mikagami laid her body gently down. When he got up, his hands were covered in blood.
There would be blood enough to wash it away.
*
He found the animals in a nearby inn, feasting happily in a small room. Cleaned and fed, they nevertheless reeked of her death.
“…And you wouldn’t believe how loudly she screamed when I took the candle to her hair. Why, I was afraid that the windows would shatter.”
The other man laughed. “I can imagine. But answer the question, did she or did she n…Who are you?”
Mikagami bared his teeth – a twisted parody of a smile. “I am vengeance,” he said, bolting the heavy oak door behind him. The younger man stood up with his sword drawn, confident in his own powers, and moved towards him.
Their eyes meet. The soldier, who had stood calmly by as he watched countless innocents suffer torments beyond all reasoning, paled.
“And I am Death.”
They died begging and screaming for their lives as she had died.
It wasn’t enough.
Her memory demanded more.
*
A wave of death swarmed the city. A high ranked officer was found dead in his bed. Three died while on patrol. One fell as he was addressing his squad, which would only remember a flash of colors and blood.
*
“What is the meaning of this?” the Arch Duke thundered. “Six of my men were murdered one after the other, and you have no clue as to who did it? I want this man found, and I want him found now!”
*
With a soft cry, Ino jumped wide awake in the ornate bed, holding the covers close to her breast. The skylight was open, drowning the room with silvery moonlight.
A sound came from her left. Thinking she had woken her husband, her reached out and said, “I had such a bad dream.”
Her screams brought in the palace guards.
He had killed the Duke’s chief torturer quickly and cleanly and left him lying in the filthy pallet that was his bed. After all, he detested dragging out an animals’ suffering.
It still wasn’t enough.
*
“More wine, mister?”
Without lifting his head, Mikagami waved the man away and continued staring over the river at the lights of the city. One of them belonged to the Arch Duke of the land, the one who allowed his army to arrest any traitors and spies, be they actual or not, and had grown fat on the possessions of the traitors. He was the one who allowed her to be killed.
In all probability, he knew that he was coming. Rumor spread fast, and he was only one man.
“Here, drink with me, partner!” Reeking of alcohol, a badly shaven man staggered beside Mikagami till the boat’s rocking threw him into his side. Stumbling back, he raised an empty mug halfheartedly. “Oh? Out of booze…”
Mikagami caught his gaze and held it. Continued to hold it as realization caught on, continued to hold it as fear gripped him, continued to hold it as sweat broke out on his skin. When he finally released it, he caught the mug that fell and watched the broken man crawl away, his mind refusing to acknowledge the darkness that it had seen. “Empty, huh?” he said, tossing the cup overboard.
It had been a simple thing to board a ship that would take him to the Duke’s domain. Once there, he would hunt down ones responsible for her death. It would be easy enough to find what he was seeking after. They would beg and plead and cry, but they would die. Every last one of them. Only then would the stain of her blood be washed off.
*
“You said he was ready to talk.” His robes lifted out of the gore, the interrogator fixed his glare on the torturer, hardly sparing a glance at the living corpse on the rack. “He is unconscious!”
The burly man in the blood-red leather jacket shrugged. “He certainly wasn’t when I called for you.”
“Do I have to do everything around here?” The interrogator threw his hands up in aspiration. “Get him off that thing and toss him back into the cell with the others.” Boots sticking to the floor, he stepped out of the room. “I am exhausted. We can leave the rest till morning, for pity’s…”
Even as his robes turned from white to red to black, Mikagami appreciated the irony of his last word. A man…No, a monster who knew no pity had actually died with pity in its mouth. The torturer, who had pushed men to their limits and beyond, screamed and choked on a crimson flood as a black blade embedded itself into his chest, cleaving his still beating heart out of the cavity.
Doors of solid iron and shielding spells kept a dozen men each in a dank, small cell. Removing the bars and undoing the spells, Mikagami opened the doors and faded into the shadows. He had since learnt that the prisoners would gladly undergo more torture if it meant that they did not have to look into his face. Still, he always watched them leave, a small, foolish part of him hoping to see Rhapsody among them, alive and free.
One by one, they shuffled out of their cells, hands raised to block their eyes from the unfamiliar light, bits of straw clinging to their hair and clothing, those who are able to walk helping those who cannot. They would have no trouble leaving the compound – all the guards had already been taken care of.
A sound drew his attention back to the fallen bodies. An old man, obviously one of the freed prisoners, was kneeling there, closing the unseeing eyes of the former torturer and interrogator. With one hand on the rack, he pulled himself painfully to his feet. “You can come out from there now. I know you are here, and I know what you are.”
“Do you really?”
“You think not?” The old man undone the clasps holding the body to the rack taut, and caught him as he fell. Lowering the barely alive figure to the ground, he said “You are the Death that haunts the Duke. You began in a small, backwater village, and now you have made your way here, to his capital.”
“Since I am Death, you would do well to fear me.”
“I have not feared Death for a long time. No, in fact, I have not feared many things for quite some time.” He turned and swept the shadows with a rheumy gaze, looking for any sign that Mikagami was there. “Are you afraid to face me then, since you have yet to reveal yourself to me?”
Tightening the grip on his blade, Mikagami detached himself from the shadows and moved into the light.
The old man frowned. “Move nearer.”
Snarling, Mikagami kicked aside one of the bodies, splattering the man with droplets of blood. Former prisoner or not, he would know fear. He turned the full power of his gaze on him, and to his surprise, found an equally strong will looking back at him with unflinching eyes.
After a long moment, the man sighed and broke away. “I know you now. You are not evil, although you have stared evil in the eye and now wear its mask. You have no anger, nor joy when you carry out your judgment. No one should ever have to suffer as much pain as you do.”
Mikagami staggered back, shocked by the man’s words. Raising his swords, he took a step forward. “I feel nothing!”
“So you keep telling yourself. What happened there, assassin? Who did the Duke’s men kill that you try to wash away the blood with theirs?”
Over the roaring in his head and the pounding in his chest, Mikagami heard himself say, “Rhapsody.”
“You loved her.”
“Yes.”
“You should kill me now, you know. I have seen your face. I can report you to the Duke, and he would come down upon you with all of his army’s might behind him. For your own safety, you should take my life now.”
His logic was flawless.
What was one more death anyway? Kill one man, and you are a murderer. Kill a thousand, and you are a hero. The people were already singing praises about the enigmatic assassin who has been killing corrupt officials and saving prisoners from the hands their oppressors. He would kill him, and return to the work he had come here to do. There were many other holding centers in the capital, and finally there was the Duke himself. He lifted up his sword, and brought it down in a quick slash.
The blade stopped a hair’s breath of breaking the man’s skin. “No. I do not slay the innocent.” He sheathed his sword. “Go. Leave this place now, old man.”
“Before I leave, let me ask you this: Who do you think Rhapsody really loved – the man you are now, or the one she knew? She would not have wanted to see you to have stained your hands so.”
“What do you know, old man?”
“Nothing other than what you’ve told me and what I’ve figured out for myself. There are two paths for you to take now. One, you can give yourself fully over to the darkness that has been enveloping your heart this many, many months. Or, if you would, stop killing, and start making amends for all the life you have taken.”
“Amends? Ha!” He turned round and gave the corpse another kick, adding yet more gore to the blood socked ground. “You expect me feel sorry for the deaths of these…men?”
“No, not yet. You must first find it in your heart to forgive them. While it is true that these men have done many unforgivable things, not all of them are evil. Fintlock here, for example, has a family out of the palace, and is well loved by his children. Never raised a hand against them, even through he has pushed many others to the brink of madness before. Even though he was good at what he does, he had never loved what he did.” The old man turned the body upright and straightened it. “As for the Duke…Yes, he might be a tyrant, but he is a fair lord, and a capable one. Because of him, many of our people are able to have food on the table and a roof over their heads. His purges may have caused great pain to a few individuals, but he has the admiration of the people. If you remove him from the throne, the entire country will, without a doubt, be put into a state of chaos. Are you sure that is what you want?”
“What I do is none of your concern, old man.” He said, and slipped back into the shadows. “And what happens to this country when I have finished my business is none of my concern.”
*
Mikagami stood within the shadows on the roof of the palace, watching the procession take place below. The Duke was having a parade, walking among his people. Through heavily guarded, one stab is all it would take. One stab would spill his blood to the ground, and finally wash his stained hands clean.
“While it is true that these men have done many unforgivable things, not all of them are evil…”
The angle of attack was perfect. Neither the Duke nor his royal guards would be able see it coming till it was too late.
“…but he is a fair lord, and a capable one.”
“Shut up, old man.” He said, summoning one of his 7 rainbow swords to his side. All it would take now is a flick of a finger to send the blade piecing through the Duke’s black heart.
Down below, a small girl ran up and presented a small ring of flowers to the Duke. The burly man laughed, and lifted the girl up to his shoulders, causing her to squeal in delight.
“If you remove him from the throne, the entire country will, without a doubt, be put into a state of chaos.”
“SHUT UP, OLD MAN!”
A patrol leader stepped out from one of the walls. “Who’s there? Halt, before the name of the la…” He felt more than saw a shadow slip pass him. When he turned around, all he saw was an open door swinging silently on its hinges.
*
“So much for bringing the whole might of the Duke’s army down upon me.”
“Not much of a hiding place, if that’s what you thought.” The old man put down his lantern and sat against the wall, the light from the lantern making him a gray shadow in the darkness of the crypt.
“Why didn’t you?”
He gave an enigmatic smile. “The same reason as to why you gave up the prefect chance to kill the Duke. I was there, down in the crowd, and I saw you standing on the roof. I saw you raise your blade…and I saw you put it down. And besides…” Clutching the lantern, he heaved himself to his feet. “…I hate to lose a chance for you to redeem yourself.”
“Redeem myself? For the number of lives I’ve taken? For the number of families I’ve wrecked?” Mikagami smiled sadly. “Not only do I have Rhapsody’s blood on my hands, I now have the blood of all those I have slain.”
“This Rhapsody…You loved her, yes?”
“My love killed her. If it won’t for me, the soldiers would never have looked her up.”
“Perhaps.” Setting the lantern on the tomb, he took Mikagami’s hand in his. “Did she choose to love you in return?”
His voice was less than a whisper. “Yes.”
“Then don’t take that choice away from her. She has lost enough as it is. You have blood on your hands, assassin. But not hers.”
He looked down at his hands. “Not hers.”
“Yes, not hers.” He gently closed Mikagami’s fingers. “Not hers.”
*
Mikagami sat bolt upright in bed. “A dream about the past…Rhapsody…Les.” His body lost its tension, but he continued to stare at his hands. “Redemption…”
The End
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Well, that's it. What do you think? Feel free to post your comments.