"My gods, that was scary." I say as I breathe a sigh or relief once we get on our train. I plop down in my seat with a heavy sigh. We were on our way to a big city called 'Zilvu'. Our nation's capital. We found a good paying job there that seemed pretty easy, seeing as it was a one and done sort of deal. Get in, deal with the problem, get paid, get out. No harm, no foul. Easy peasy. But obviously, that was never the case. But I can't help but hope it'll be different this time. I've thought that before, but it never was. But this job felt...different. Something was wrong about it. We've been hired to kill people before, and always followed through. Money is money. But this job was scary. We were hired to assassinate the nation's royal family. Meaning, we–just me and Shire– would have to sneak into the castle, get past the MASSIVE amounts of security, get into the family quarters, and assassinate 5 people. We've handled armies as large as 20, but those armies didn't have royal security level training. This was going to take some work. The sheer amount of people isn't what's worrying me though. The royal family was nice and kind to the people of Lashal; who would want them dead?
"Why are we doing this?"I ask hesitantly, looking over at Shire. "I'm not sure. Something doesn't feel right about this." He says, looking over at me. He had this far away look in his eyes. Like he was looking at me, but not looking at me. Suddenly, he became focused on my face.
"Who hired us? Did the poster say?" Shire asked, looking half afraid, and half wondered. I pulled the poster that I had ripped off of the bulletin board back in town square out of my bag. The poster read 'HELP WANTED : Needs -assassins, mercenaries, etc. Must be willing to kill. Target -Royal Family (in its entirety)' with a picture of the royal family portrait above the words. The paper looked old and rustic, like the stereotypical 'WANTED' posters in the wild west movies. Under all of the words, in fine print, was an address. 'Go to room 907 in the Renoake hotel on Lesinon street.' I'm going to assume this is where the person wants us to meet them.
"It doesn't say. Just gives us an address on the outskirts of town. I asked around and people said it was some old, run down tavern thing. Doesn't say anything about the employer." I responded, hoping he was still paying attention. Seeing Mir had seemed to really shake him up, not sure why though.
"Hey," I shake his shoulder, ",you okay?" I ask, trying to get his attention. "Yeah. I'm fine. Just a bit shaken up from seeing Mir." His voice wavered as he talked. She did something to him, but he wont tell me what.
"What happened? Ever since Mir showed up, you've been spacing out and looking terrified at every little thing. Did she do something to you?" I asked with genuine worry in my voice. "Yes. I'm fine. It's just... she-" he got cut off by the conductor, "Now stopping at Zilvu Capital station" came over the loudspeaker, announcing this was our stop. "Let's talk about this when we get to the hotel, okay?" I say in a stern tone as I start to get up and off the train.
We ended up having to walk to the hotel, as all of the taxis wouldn't stop for us. Which makes sense. A dark elf and a human traveling together don't make the best mix. Me and Shire don't have problems with each other, but elves and humans didn't have the best history. So we walked, in silence. Shire seemed deep in thought, probably trying to see what he should say when I inevitably ask what happened again. We finally get to the hotel, and I am instantly astonished by the inside lobby. The room was a high-ceiling lobby with a beautiful crystal chandelier that sparkled like the stars in the sky, waxed marble floors, and two split staircases leading up to a balcony. The walls were covered in old looking paintings of people, landscapes, and... cats? Well that's weird. Everything in the lobby was gold and white, with black accents. The reception desk was a gorgeous dark oak, with a white marble countertop.
"Wait here. I'm going to go get the keys. And then we are going to talk about what happened, okay?" I say in the direction of Shire. He sits down on a bench near the desk. I drop my bag next to him and walk up to the desk.
"Hi, I'm meeting a friend here for the night. She said she was staying in room 907. My name should be on there." I told the desk lady. She types on her computer a bit, before looking back up at me. "Sairin?" She asks. That isnt my name, but I assume that's the name of the person who hired us. "Yep." I say with a smile on my face. She hands me a key and tells me where to go to get to the room.
Walking back over to Shire, I get a strange feeling. He isn't telling me everything, I know he isn't.
"Hey. I got the key. Let's go." I say, trying to look him in the eye. His head is hung, so it's hard to tell if he heard me. But he starts to get up, slowly, and grabs his bags. I grab mine and we start walking over to the elevator. He looks shaky, but I decide it's best if I don't mention it. Heading up the elevator, Shire starts to look like he is going to be sick.
"Hey, you okay man? You look like you're going to-","Yes. I'm fine" He says in a stern tone, cutting me off in the process. I look back at the elevator numbers going up. Now I'm the shaky one. I know Shire would never hurt me, but I've seen him fight. He could easily overpower and hurt me if he wanted to. We finally get to our floor and walk to our room. The hallway carpet is a soft green color that matches nicely with the cream colored walls. If Shire wasn't shaking before, he definitely is now. Unfortunately, our room is at the end of the endless hallway, so it's a long, awkward walk down. Getting to our room, I start walking a little slowly. To be honest, I'm scared. We have no idea what's on the other side of that door, if anything at all. For all we know, there could very well be someone who knew we would take the bait, and be waiting with a gun on the other side. We've made several enemies over the years.
Before I scan the key to get in, I look over at Shire," Look, I'm sorry if it feels like I am pushing you to tell me what happened, I'm just worried about you. Mir clearly did something to you, and I am just trying to take care of you. But no matter what happened in the past, I need to know that you are by my side when I open this door." I say, getting a little bit serious at the end. "You have my full support" is all I get out of him.
I slide the key card in, and open the door... "FINALLY! You don't know how long I've been waiting for this." a voice says. The room is completely dark, so I can't tell who it is, but the voice is dripping with evilness and patience, along with pain and hurt.
'God fucking dammit', is all I can think before I feel a blunt object hit the back of my neck and everything goes black.
YOU ARE READING
Unusual
FantasyNyrie is a dark elf who has had a rough childhood. She was taken as a child, where she met her best friend, Shire, a human with a very conflicting history. Together, they traveled the continent, taking odd jobs, and not being afraid of killing peopl...
