Lost Memories : Together With You

Chapter Three •• The Night She Died

Devyne's eyes trailed the carriage longingly as it rode out of sight, delivering countless attacks on Bryan while he kept defending. With both his sword and his body.

The moment the Houlden carriage finally left their sight and rode into safety, she turned on Bryan.

With both swords poised, she struck.

Fast. Furious. And frustrated.

But Bryan countered, a little more easily this time. And swords clashed...

Blades against each other. Metal to metal. Flesh ripped open. Each got the other's blood on their swords.

But without the constant worry about Lord Edric behind him, she was no match for him.

This was the main reason Bryan had taken to swords. To be able to protect his own. The people he cherished. With his hands.

He had trained hard, and strong with nineteen years of guilt. A sense of duty. Turning weakness into strength.

She had trained hard and fast to kill people who only held papers and brushes, mainly influential people who had never even held a sword their entire lives.

His swordsmanship was superior to hers.

The fight wore on and minutes later...

"Who the hell sent you?" Bryan growled. He needed the name of the person who wanted his father dead badly enough to hire an assassin this skilled.

But she would give no name. Instead, with blood staining the edges of her lips, Bryan only saw the corner of her eyes wrinkle, for the rest of her face was covered.

She was smirking. Even when faced with death.

Devyne smirked.

"Aren't you curious about me, my identity? I was the one who attacked him directly. I so wanted his neck, you see." She spat.

"I have no business with you. I'll ask only for the last time. Who sent you?"

"You'll have a better chance at becoming the king of this nation than getting anything out of me. Kill me if you must, quit wasting time." Devyne scoffed at the absurdity of his question.

Loyalty was the very first principle instilled into them in the Shroud. She'd rather go to hell than give any name.

Bryan attacked and this time, he came at her full force, feeling no inclination to keep her alive for he was certain she had no intention of spilling anything.

Once. Devyne defended. Twice. She countered. Thrice. She came away bloodied. A gash at her side from where he'd cut her.

At the fourth attack, Devyne's world tilted.

She fell. And landed hard. Her head against a protruding stone.

Her whole life flashed before her eyes.

From the Shroud. To the very first moment she'd held a sword. Back to that night. Then to the palace. To the tree she'd planted with her stepbrother, Queen Selena's son.

Then the world went dark. Blood pooling from the dent by her head.

The cold brutal assassin died that night.

The town of Zelton...

The night felt longer than usual. Mistress Kate got more agitated with every second that passed.

The dish was getting cold. The night was stretching into dawn. Even the night pub was emptied as customers retired for the night.

And yet, Devyne had not returned.

Mistress Kate stood up from her chair and strolled to her favorite spot by the window, hands resting against the windowsill.

The doors to the inner office slid open.

Mistress Kate turned, hopes high, to the door, expecting Devyne to walk through it.

But it was only Nightingale. Bearing documents with her, probably for another client.

Apparently, the disappointment must've shown on her face for Nightingale noticed the moment the doors shut behind her.

"Aunt Katin, you do not look quite good. Is something bothering you?" Nightingale asked as she shut the cabinet close, the documents arranged orderly in it.

"Tis nothing.... Has Devyne arrived yet?" The answer was obvious. For the first place Devyne would come to after successfully taking down a target was to her inner office. To Mistress Kate.

"No. She has not returned yet." Nightingale paused as she assessed her aunt. "Is there a possibility, that you are worrying yourself about her late absence?"

"Devyne has never been out this late." She looked out the window then, into streets that had retired for the night "She is not one to stall or delay. But it is almost dawn, she should've arrived here hours ago."

Nightingale didn't like how Mistress Kate sounded. Not one bit.

Her disciplinary Aunt worrying about someone who had not even been gone for a whole day. They'd met right here early the previous day.

Nightingale doubted whether Mistress Kate had ever gotten this worried about her whenever she was out for longer than supposed. The woman hardly expressed any soft feeling for Nightingale openly. It was as though Mistress Kate saw her as more of a right hand and second in command than family.

"Do not worry yourself too much, Devyne's not one to be easily overcome. She must've only encountered a delay," Nightingale offered. While her own skin still tingled with envy.

Despite Nightingale's half-hearted attempt at comfort, Mistress Kate still felt angst. She was unsettled. There was this feeling that kept nicking at her guts. One she could no longer continue to ignore.

"Night." She called.

"Aye, Aunt Katin."

"Have one of our men in Nolver go to the Houlden home to confirm. Has Lord Edric's loss been announced... Or has he arrived at his home. Alive."

Mistress Kate swallowed before the last part of her sentence. For it was certain that if the latter was true, then it meant that Devyne had failed.

And in their field, failure only meant one thing. Death.

It was either the target's life or the assassin's. Only one was to walk away alive.

"Lord Edric Houlden in Nolver arrived home hours ago. Alive and safe. His son, Lord Bryan with him."

The letter bearing the reply came exactly an hour later.

Lord Bryan Houlden. He was not supposed to be there.

The result left Mistress Kate devastated. And the inner office emptied of presence.

Mistress Kate ordered a ride immediately to Nolver. She had Nightingale take some of their men with her.

The town of Nolver.....

Mistress Kate arrived in a carriage to the road leading to the Houlden. The very road that had just claimed the whole past of Devyne.

"Have our men dispersed to search every village and corner near this road. If Houlden had indeed rode past her alive, then Devyne must be somewhere here," She ordered Nightingale.

"Aye. But with Houlden alive, there is possibility that she might not be."

"I know that too. Just find her... Dead. Or alive." Mistress Kate declared.

Nightingale turned to address the men in black who they'd brought along.

The men all spread out on her command.

Mistress Kate felt light-headed. For the first time in her life, she looked up at the deep sky and offered a prayer to whichever god was up there.

Mourning for Devyne. That she could deal with. But please, let her body be found.

She would take her body back to Zelton with her and at least, give her a proper burial even if she'd be the only one to attend.

But the people of Nolver here must not end up with Devyne's body. No, they'd turn it up and their police agency would be inclined to conduct a search for any family relative to claim the body.

It would probably lead to an uproar in the city if they should find that Devyne was their long missing princess. And it was all going to lead back to her.

The main reason Mistress Kate had even relocated over to start the Shroud in Zelton was to avoid any sort of accidental coincidence that might bring Devyne to face the truth about her real family.

Had she made a mistake by sending her here? Should she have assigned Rourke - the next best in the Shroud - the Houlden client instead?

Mistress Kate was lost in thought that threatened her sanity when Nightingale came to her side, providing a momentary distraction.

"Aunt Katin, I'm aware this might not be the best of time to give attention to things like this but... I came across this jewelry on the ground, must've been misplaced by its owner. It seemed really like a luxurious one..." Nightingale trailed off to produce an ice blue crystal bracelet.

Without sparing it a glance, Mistress Kate spoke, "Put it out of my sight and away at once. You should be drilling those men into putting more effort to find Devyne, for you know quite well what it entails to lose one of our own. But here you are, speaking of a-" Her words caught in her throat as she caught a glimpse of something that glinted off the moonlight. Something in Nightingale's palm as she moved to put it away. It was the jewelry Night spoke of, but a color Katin knew too well.

An ice blue crystal bracelet made from diamond.

The bracelet was one of a kind, made specifically by the King of Nolver for the only princess. A unique and expensive ornament it was. One that was on Melissa the night she 'died', one that continued to be on Devyne even after the night she was 'saved'.

It was the only fragment from the palace that Mistress Kate allowed Devyne to keep. As a constant reminder more to herself than to Devyne.

For Devyne probably didn't even remember the origin of the bracelet.

But the bracelet had been on Devyne's wrist just the previous morning.

She had it on her the last time Mistress Kate saw. Devyne hardly ever took it off.

"Wait. Let me see that bracelet." She collected it from a confused Nightingale, and examined the torn jewelry which laid straight against her palm.

It was Devyne's.

Mistress Kate staggered. Her head suddenly feeling light as her fears were confirmed. Nightingale helped her Aunt steady herself back on her feet, her hands a firm support by Katin's side.

"What is the matter, Aunt Katin?" Nightingale asked, her tone laced with concern. She was still confused as to how a torn bracelet she'd picked off the ground could make Mistress Kate lose her composure.

Mistress Kate looked up at Night with eyes that were failing to believe what they'd seen, "Where did you say you'd come across this bracelet?" She barely managed to keep her voice stable.

"It was just on the ground over there."

"Lead the way."

Nightingale led the way to a piece of protruding stone with blood stain - where Devyne had been lying just hours ago.

Nightingale bent to confirm that, indeed, the blood that pooled by the stone was fresh. And that it was Devyne's.

Mistress Kate's world tilted. And she collapsed.