The rogue assassin

flashes of the past

5 years ago

It has been two days after they murdered both of our parents in front of us. My sister was clinging onto me like I was her only lifeline. Little did she know, I was just as scared as she was but I stayed strong for her. The dungeon was silent these days. Nobody dared to speak or even glace in anyone’s direction. I don't think they even got the desire to do so. The only time people seemed to notice one another was when the lady came back for another unfortunate soul. Only then would people raise their heads just to give a glare full of sympathy before lowering their gaze again. It looked like all the energy was drained out of everyone. Like none of them had anything left to lose. Except for me. I still had Emily by my side which put me on edge. They knew that she would be my weakness and I would be hers so why didn't they kill one of us? Of course, I was glad that both of us lived but I knew there was something more to it. The sound of iron bars scraping over the stone tiles echoed through the room. The doors opened once more to collect the last kid for their final kill. Again glares of sympathy filled the room which caused the boy to swallow an invisible lump in his throat. He was shaking like a leaf and I felt sorry for him. Some kid once raised his voice to the woman to protect a little girl. This resulted in a slow death for him. She came closer and made a swift cut into his aorta causing him to bleed out slowly. She even warned us that helping him would cause even more ‘situations’. So instead of helping him, I pulled my sister closer behind me and shuffled further back against the wall. This might have ringed some bells for the woman because when I woke up the next morning, my sister was gone. They knew that I was the only one who wasn’t broken yet. I did receive my wolf the night my parents were killed just like the others but they never succeeded in breaking my will to live. I think that was the reason for them to separate us while I was asleep. I felt like I had failed to protect her. If I knew back then what I know now... I would have done anything to prevent the separation from happening. This was only the beginning of the worst years of our lives.

Now

The sun was shining on my face as I woke up at my usual spot underneath the willow three close to the shed. The thought of my younger sister was still fresh in my mind. I missed her every day but I was also glad she died. At least now she could finally find some peace. I stood up and decided to go for a run in wolf form. I placed my clothes carefully underneath the tree before shifting into my furry friend. I felt a trace of happiness in my mind. My wolf was happy to stretch its legs. My sharp hearing told me that everyone was still asleep but one and I decided to let them sleep for a while longer. Yesterday was quite heavy if you know what I mean. We killed before so that was nothing new but this time... This mission included children, elderly people, and unprepared warriors. I shook my head in sadness. It was never easy to kill people who were unable to fight back. The same thing happened to us years ago and now I was doing the same thing to others. At least there were no surviving children this time. I made my way to the edge of the clearing and took in all of the scents in the area. Some were ours. Some scents were older and from other wolves and one scent… I wiggled my tail in excitement. A deer! Dinner! Yay! My excitement soon faded as I shifted into predator mode. I gave my wolf the reins over our body as it crouched down behind a tree. Its gaze strictly aimed at the deer now in front of him. The deer raised its head and sniffed around but found no visible threats. He then continued grazing the grass. I sniffed myself and found some traces of mint, wolfsbane, and lemongrass on my fur. This explained the lack of real scent. My wolf came closer to the deer and stood there, ready to pounce. The deer noticed him and made a run for its life. Unfortunately for him, my wolf was way faster than him. We ran next to him and occasionally tried to bite its neck missing the spot a couple of times making the deer change directions. Eventually, we caught up with its movements before biting down his neck, bringing him down to the ground. My paw rested on its belly in search of the right spot. My canines dug deep into the belly of the now-dead deer as I ripped some of the skin off. I went for the most nutritious part. The organs. I moaned in the delight of having the feeling of a full stomach once again. This should recover some of my strength I thought to myself before grabbing the neck of the deer again. It took a lot of strength but I made it back to the shed with the rest of the carcass still in one piece. The smell of fresh kill lured some rogues who eventually helped me with the move of the food source. After that, they fought for the best pieces of meat as I watched them for a distance. I turned around to walk to the water stream to bathe myself before getting dressed again. My clothes still had some bloodstains on them which I knew would not disappear easily. When I came back, all that was left of the deer were some bones and skin. At least no one would be hungry now I thought as I rounded up the rogues for a new day of training.