"The Assassin's Alliance" is about, you guessed it!, an assassin's alliance. Can anything redeem murder? What happens when you discover your connection to the people you swore were evil? Do people change?
***
"He enslaved children, Kyla. No older than ten. Imagine Kailyn." Clark was cruel to use Kyla's sister as an example, but she knew why he did it.
"He didn't deserve to die," Kyla said anyway. "The Council would have imprisoned him rightfully."
"The Council is too busy tracking down the Alliance."
"Then that betrays the purpose of the Alliance; does it not?"
Clark smiled. "The only way to ensure the safety of the innocent is to rid the world of the guilty."
"Nobody deserves to die."
"Yet, we are all going to anyway."
"God's will is in His hands. Why do people kill?"
With their brown hair and porcelain skin, Clark and Kyla had more than enough similarities, to make up for their disagreement over the Assassin's Alliance. A renowned, illegal, and well-hidden group of vigilantes, the Assassins killed the criminals which had taken over the Forge. The Council spent all their time and resources trying to break the Alliance, as it was commonly known... time which should've been spent taking down the Alliance's targets.
"I need to go."
"Where?" Kyla asked.
"Out." To the area of the rich... away from the familiarity of the villages and into the order of the city.
"Stay safe."
Kyla watched Clark run over the bridge into the pathway through the forest. He would turn left at the fork towards the city, with its mansions and castles. She remained sitting on the ledge, her legs dangling over the water, looking down at the clear river that ran through the Forge. When Kyla went home, she would take the same pathway, but turn right at the fork towards the villages. Her home was in a clearing in the forest, where most of the Forge's poor lived. Kyla and Clark enjoyed meeting in this part of the forest, where status didn't matter and the only noise was the crash of the river on the rocks. They talked for hours here on the rare days when both had time off. Even when overwhelmed with work, Kyla and Clark spent many nights staring at the stars, dreaming of a better life. They were happy with the life they led and they were happy with each other, but perhaps it could be better.
Kyla knew she should get going; supper would be ready soon, but she rarely got a day off. She worked as a servant in a councilman's house. As far as masters went, he was much better than Kyla should ask for. After all, most of the others in the villages found themselves working for cruel merchants and barons.
With a reluctant sigh, Kyla rose, and crossed the bridge. She hummed a children's song to herself as she walked through the trees.
"That's a nice bracelet."
Kyla spun around and found herself facing a bald man with thick muscles and scars covering his open arms. Kyla's breath sped up and her heart beat quickly. Odds were, he only wanted her bracelet, but many villagers found themselves dead at the hands of simple thieves. She couldn't outrun the bandit, no matter how large he was. She knew that.
"Give it to me," the man said, referring to the bracelet.
Kyla touched her the circlet of blue gemstones around her left wrist. She had worn it for many years; it had belonged to Clark's mother, but it survived the fire.
Clark gave it to her.
She couldn't give it away. She couldn't.
"No," she replied, thinking of options for escape.
"I wasn't asking."
He lunged towards her, but Kyla jumped back quickly.
Suddenly, the man was knocked to the floor with a thud. The man rolled over to look at the boy who had nearly knocked him out.
Kyla stood paralyzed. Where had he come from?
Clark stood above the bandit and pulled a small knife from his boot, stabbing the helpless man.
"No!" Kyla yelled, far too late. Tears dripped down Kyla's face as she saw the light go out of the stranger's eyes. Questions swarmed her head, but she could only ask, "Clark?"
"Did he hurt you?" Clark asked, stepping towards Kyla.
How could he ask such a question? How could it matter if Kyla was hurt when a man was dead? Why was the man dead?
Kyla stepped away from his outstretched arms, her legs shaking and her hands trembling. It was all she could do to not collapse upon her knees. Blood was splattered over Clark's tunic. Blood he had procured.
"How did you do that?"
"Ky-"
"You're one of them, aren't you?"
"Listen to me."
"Since when?"
"You know when."
When his family died. When he lost everything.
"You're a murder!" Kyla screamed.
"Assassin."
"Stay away from me." Kyla fidgeted with the bracelet that she had worn for the past five years. It was the only ornament she owned and the last living memory of Clark's family.
"Ky-" Clark, too, was staring at Kyla's wrist.
"Stay away from me!" She flung the bracelet into the forest and took off towards her home. She didn't dare look back, for she knew Clark wouldn't follow her.
The tears were flowing freely now. Kyla couldn't stop them. She felt... betrayed.
The boy she had loved had lied to her for years.
Clark was a murderer.
The same Clark whom she had sung to sleep for years after he lost his family. The same Clark who had helped her sister overcome her fear of the river. The boy whom she loved- had loved.
For she could not love a murderer.
An assassin.
"Kyla!" came her sister's voice from across the clearing. Surrounded by the other village children, Kailyn seemed so normal when Kyla's entire world had been turned upside down. Everything seemed so normal. She might've imagined rain falling from the sky in time with her tears; she would've understood the village be plundered by bandits. But this?
How could everything be so normal when everything was so wrong?
"Hey," Kailyn crooned. "What happened?"
"Clark-" Kyla sobbed.
She wanted to tell Kailyn the truth. To reveal Clark for what he was. But if she did, word would spread and the Council would surely find out. Kyla could never betray Clark as he had betrayed her.
"Um..." Kyla quickly wiped her tears off her face. "Clark won't be coming home today."
"Why not?" she asked. "Did something happen?"
"No. Um... yes. Uh... he's fine," Kyla nodded to herself as she said this. It was as if she were trying to reassure herself as she lied to Kailyn. "But he's caught up in work."
It wasn't unusual, especially not for Clark, and Kailyn didn't press for more information.
Kyla cried. She and Clark had been friends for nearly ten years now. There was even talk in the village that the two would be wed soon, since their coming-of-age ceremony was to be held within the season. Kyla continued to cry until, eventually, she fell asleep, but even her dreams were riddled with nightmares of death, assassins, and Clark.
***
It had been a long day of work, but Kyla was grateful for it.
For not having to think about a murderer. She spent the trip home trying to think about anything except Clark, but what could she think of except him?
He had created all her memories. He was her memories.
No, she told herself. He's a murderer. He doesn't exist. Forget him... Forget him.
As she stepped into the cottage, she forced a smile on her face.
"Kyla."
"Mom."
"Kailyn didn't come home yet."
Kyla's forced smile disappeared instantly.
"Andy went to see if she got held up at work."
"I'm going, too," Kyla said. Kailyn wasn't the kind of person to linger at work or veer away from her path. There was only one explanation for her lateness.
Kyla grabbed her father's bow and arrows from the box. She couldn't sit around and wait for Andy to look for her sister.
"Do you think you'll be needing that?"
Kyla looked back at her mother solemnly, but silence was her only response.
Swinging the quiver over her shoulder, Kyla dashed out. She ran past the trees and into the unnerving order of the city. She caught many angry looks from the rich; all they saw a poor village girl running where she didn't belong.
And she stopped.
Even in her fear, she saw the pearls. The necklace Kyla's mistress had given to Kyla a few years ago and Kyla had given to Kailyn. The trail led towards an alleyway.
Kyla walked lightly, following the trail. She pulled an arrow from her quiver and locked it into her bow. Still walking over the trail, she pulled the string tight.
"Help!" came a scream. A girl's scream. Her sister's scream.
Kyla ran, all caution forgotten. Her heartbeat quickened. It became difficult to breathe. Sweat poured down her forehead, and her brown hair stuck to her face. The stealth disappeared from her step, and her thoughts became blurry.
She had one goal: reach her sister.
In her daze, she didn't comprehend the sight in front of her as anything more than two men standing in the way of her sister.
Guards.
She released the arrow already in position and she drew another, which she released within three seconds of the first.
She aimed for their hearts.
She didn't miss.
She never missed.
Without a second thought, Kyla raced into the structure, an arrow ready to shoot.
A man saw her. She released her arrow before he could call for backup.
Kyla heard the soft thud of footsteps behind her and she spun around, shooting the man before she even faced him.
Kailyn's voice didn't come again.
Kyla should've had so many questions, but she could only think of running through the hallway. Fortunately, there was only a single path through the building. Although there were many twists and turns, they seemed to be leading to a single location.
A large empty room. Empty of everything except...
"Kailyn," Kyla whispered tentatively.
It was undoubtedly her sister, bleeding out in the middle of the large room.
Dead.
Kailyn was dead.
Kyla ran to her sister's side and saw a knife buried deep in her chest, a stain of blood spreading over her tunic. And her eyes: where once there was a twinkle of joy, now remained a hollow sadness.
And it was those eyes that told Kyla the truth: she had failed. She had failed to save her sister.
Kyla didn't know how long she sat there, sobbing over her sister's body; it might've been hours, it could've been days. She might've sat there until she died of starvation, but a voice brought her back.
"I loved her too." Clark had appeared on the other side of Kailyn, and Kyla didn't have the heart to tell him to leave. Rather, she longed for his company.
Looking up from her lifeless sister, Kyla said, "I know."
"And all the men outside?"
Kyla knew he was asking why she had killed. Murdered.
The weight of her arrows hadn't fallen upon her yet; perhaps they never would.
"It was worthless."
"But do you regret it?"
"No."
"What now?"
What now? Now, Kyla realized why Clark had joined the Alliance. How could she go on living without her sister?
"I want to join the Alliance."