The Sharded Blade | Part 1 (A Dark Fantasy Novella)

Part 6

Morning came, without me sleeping a wink. Gertrude continued seeing to that. As a result, I was up at dawn, pondering whether or not my skin grew any paler since the previous morning. It hadn't, but it was a way to pass the time.

The growl in my stomach told me I desperately needed to eat something. Not that I'd die if I didn't. Already tried that, believe it or not. The hunger pains got so bad after a month that I broke down and consumed whatever garbage I could find.

At this point, there wasn't much left in my stash of barely edible foodstuffs. All that remained was a pot of already once cooked beans that were now two days cold. So I steeled myself to go out and scrounge something up. But only long enough to do what I had to do.

I didn't like going out much in the daylight. The sun hurt my eyes. All I knew about that was I didn't have said problem before killing the wizard.

How'd I come to this low point? Oh, yeah... like I just said, killing that wizard. Boy was I pathetic, or what? Before that day I never wanted for anything. Before the old man, and my one mistake in killing him, there was more coin in my pockets than I could have known what to do with. One of the perks of being the best at your job in a city where people paid top dollar for the best of the scummiest of the scumbags to reside there.

But, unfortunately, and as fate would have it, my curse of undying was not the only devastation to befall me the night I killed the wizard. That same evening, the building where I'd kept most of my stash burned to the ground. See, the town's top assassin really can't use the bank like everyone else.

As though proving that it wasn't bad luck, but really fate, or perhaps a further aspect of the curse, local law enforcement also raided both safe houses where the rest had been stored.

All that remained after those calamities was my emergency funds. Those were good for about ten weeks.

That money was long since gone, despite how far I'd made it stretch. And there was no salary in avenging innocents at the behest of a ghost and a demon stuck in a rat's body.

I had tried to ply my trade to make some coin on which to survive. But my blade, like me, was cursed. I couldn't kill, except for those I was assigned to by the dead wizard's familiar. That put a crimp in my plans, and my pocketbook.

So here I was, my stomach in knots. And the ramshackle old inn that used to belong to the old wizard was now my refuge. And, as much as I didn't want to, I left the bizarre comfort of this place to sate my hunger.

I returned from my rounds with not much more than when I left. But at least I had managed a quarter of a loaf of stale bread, covered in something putrid, possibly feces, as well as some drooping, mushy, and rightfully discarded carrots.

Over the long months of my fresh hell, I'd been cannibalizing the wood of old tables, chairs, and beds scattered around the inn for kindling. So I used some of that to stoke the coals of last night's fire, tossed the ingredients into a pot, and prepared to heat up the slop.

Before I could put it on the fire, Gertrude stuck her nose in and grabbed a bean. She was busily munching away and being quiet for now. For that, I was thankful and let her be. But it still seemed cruel that she was stealing from my mouth.

Did demon rats even need to eat?

A low flame now simmering, my meager portions reheated themselves. Once they were warm, I took my time in finishing them off and straight out of the pot. It might be the last meal I had for a while, and in hindsight I probably should have saved some.

Rain came that night. A real nasty storm. Like an angry god pissing down on me, it leaked through the roof, eventually through the floor of the second story, and ultimately to where me and the rat were holed up. For now, the spot by the side of the hearth was dry, and I huddled there, out of the light.

Normally, an abandoned building like this one would flood with the dregs of society during a storm. But the wizard had somehow successfully convinced everyone, even the insanely desperate, that this place was haunted and not to be inhabited. I'd heard people talking outside and debating whether to come in whenever the weather turned sour. This place apparently had that reputation going back years.

So, it was to my surprise when she stumbled in.