SS [50] Don’t Need Your Concern

Soren was a practical man. He understood better than most that honest living could cost you dearly, but his parents had taught him that a man’s word was one of the few things truly worth keeping. So he kept his, even when it would have been easier not to.

That was why he struggled to sleep knowing that his most recent employer was not someone he would wish upon anyone else. He had been in Isopike long enough to know that Princess Yrsa was skilled at using people. Once she held the reins over of your life, she never let go.

He had entered her service without understanding what that truly meant. The dwarves traded in silver, but they lived on reputation. Being seen as an ally of a banished noblewoman cast out by her own family was nearly as damning as truly being one yourself.

He had not known that a year ago. He knew it now.

He was trapped in Isopike until Yrsa chose to release him. No one would take his coin. No one would permit him through the checkpoints. In their eyes, he belonged to the banished princess as her agent, her informant, her dog.

That was the leash Yrsa placed upon those she claimed: a leash woven from damnation.

He turned in his bed within the guest annex, thinking of Aurelius and his strange companions. They were being drawn into the spider’s web just as he had been.

It was not his business. They were grown adults capable of making their own choices. Still, it gnawed at him to remain silent.

“If that woman hadn’t looked at me like she was deciding whether to gut me, maybe I could’ve warned them before Yrsa stepped out of her carriage,” he muttered under his breath.

He opened his eyes looking up into the dark silhouette of his room. A groan escaped his lips as he rubbed his eyes and sat up in bed. He couldn’t let Aurelius become the next victim. They were from the same town, both of them were outsiders that were brought into a world they might outlive and both of them were raised by humans.

He scooted over to the edge of his bed placing one foot down after the other. He walked to a small coffee table near the window picking up the last of his once plentiful stock of brandy. His finger brushed the undisturbed wax seal around the rim. Lifting the bottle before putting it back down heavily on the table.

“What am I doing? Just lay back down and go to sleep.” He said to himself.

He crossed the room slowly this time and sat back down in his bed heavily. Before he could fall back into the comforter he felt the alarm talisman he had given to Yrsa activate. It was a simple paper talisman that once she tore it he would not only know where she was but also that she was in danger. 

He looked out the window and saw guards walking about completely unaware of the danger. Without a second to spare he held out his hand and a stack of paper talismans flew into his open palm from the dresser across the room. He opened the window and jumped out. A two story drop wasn’t even worth considering. 

In front of him two of the talisman floated into the air from the stack. 

“Night Eye.” He said.

The first ignited in a pale red light. The harsh shadows and darkness peeled from his vision.

“Detection.”

The second talisman activated, this one a multicolored blaze but only for a moment before the effect took hold. He could see the life energy of others within a sizable range. He couldn’t see into the main estate; there were too many protections on the building itself but he could see every one of the guards outside. 

“There was an attack! Everyone check on the princess!” Soren yelled.

The guard reacted quickly, some of them turning to the manor, others moving to secure the parameter. He didn’t have time to focus on the guards. 

None of them seemed to be in combat and that made him nervous. Either the reason for the alarm was already inside with the princess, the assailant was dead, or they had fled. He stopped when he noticed the briefest flash of a figure that climbed down from a balcony. 

It was odd because the figure and its immense life force vanished once it entered the darkness. He stopped and turned to follow whatever it was it was trying to flee. He could only see glimpses of it. Nothing to give him a solid picture of what he was following. Whoever they were they could move fast and shadows hid them from perception unnaturally.

“Stop and you will just be questioned!” Soren yelled.

Another of his talismans rose into the air and the corners burned slowly as balls of light shot forward illuminating the path ahead. Right as the figure entered into the treeline near the edges of estate ground.

Even so he saw more of the creature he was following now, sure it was not a person. He made out talons and a tail but nothing else. It was fast and getting into the forest only seemed to make it faster.

He ran through the trees using Flash Step to keep up with the creature. Until he knew what it was he didn’t want to use lethal force but he couldn’t let a monster go free. The orbs of light struggled to illuminate the dense woodland leaving dark shadows for the creature to run between.

“Very well.” Soren said.

This creature, this dark forest, this chase reminded him of the lessons his father had taught him about Lifeforce early in his training to wield the material art. Back when drawing a hundred talismans a day felt like hard repetitive work without end. He didn’t know at the time how necessary what he was being taught was. Until he started fighting monsters that were nightmares made real. 

Soren, like many of the guides through the Chaos Lands, was used to fighting monsters that could distort perception, bend light, or make themselves invisible. In the Chaos Lands you either quickly learn how to kill what you can not see or you die. The Chaos Lands was a harsh teacher but he listened to every lesson, learned from every close call, every scar and every encounter.

He was reaching the limit on how many talismans he could have active at once without his equipment. So he slid to a stop. Then deactivated all of the talismans except for Detection. The world went dark around him. 

Six talismans flew up  and the world’s life force was drawn towards him. Not mana or any other enigmatic energy but instead the very raw primordial force of all beings.

The six talismans did not burn, instead they arranged themselves as if wrapping around an invisible bow. As the energy grew denser the shape of the bow became solid. Until he could hold the energy weapon in his hand. It was the Forth Level Talisman War Formation of Jai’Su.

“Warbow.”

His breathing slowed and the world became silent as he raised the bow and pulled back the naked string. Power condensed into a ghostly arrow barely visible in faint whisps. He waited only for a moment before he saw the creature’s life force flash between the darkness. 

THOOM!

The arrow launched, cutting through the darkness like a bolt of lightning. A second later there was a yawl of pain. 

Soren moved and once he saw blood on the ground he knew his arrow had hit its mark. The creature was slowing and he expected that it would make a stand. 

He saw the flash of life force again as the creature repositioned but it didn’t matter three arrows hit its side and he heard it collapse heavily just out of sight behind the brush. He slowed down looking forward cautiously, not foolish enough to believe he should get closer before confirming the kill. 

He heard the creature whimpering as he walked around it in a wide circle. Part of it was still obscured by the darkness. Honestly it was odd to look at. The sections that were in the moonlight revealed bloodied grey fur as the creature’s pained whimpers slowed down. However anywhere where she shadows hit it was impossible to see. Like the world just didn’t allow it to be perceived at all. 

“A shadow wolf?” Soren questioned. 

As the creature came more into view he noticed something. There was a saddle.

Then he heard a branch stap behind him. He jumped to his side just in time to have a blade kiss his skin. He felt a trickle of blood run down his back. He could already feel burning along the cut. Likely some kind of poison. If he weren’t a Lifeshaper that could have been bad. Still he would have to be able to focus to detoxify. He couldn’t risk focusing on the wound for now which meant he was on the clock to end this.

“Shit.” Soren gritted through clinched teeth.

The assassin vanished into the darkness. Their invisibility on par with their mount.

“If you surrender now and tell us who sent you we can get you leniency,” Soren said.

A knife that was sent flying towards his head from the darkness seemed to be his answer. He lifted the bow which deflected the blade.

He used Flash Step to reposition twenty feet away from his original position. He pulled back the bow string again and fired the moment he saw a flash of life force between shadows.

The arrow pierced through trees and hit the distant ground with an explosive force that pulped nearby trees and sent rocks and debris into the air.

Soren was not a melee fighter, he was an archer and getting in too close was not a smart move. He needed distance to be effective and the assassin needed to close the gap. If the attack killed the target great but that wasn’t the goal with that attack. It was to make the assassin more cautious in closing in while also destroying the forest canopy which kept the assassin in the dark.

His plan worked better than expected as he heard a grunt of pain. He saw the assassin near the impact crater. The dwarven man was in all black and trying to crawl away while streaking blood behind him. He was riddled with rock and wood shrapnel. He had been far closer to the explosion than Soren thought he would be. The assassin was good at stealth but not with movement speed. It made sense why he had a mount.

Soren’s eyes watched out for any ambush, not recklessly closing the distance.

“This didn’t have to end this way, friend. If I get you back to the manor and you answer questions maybe they will be lenient.” Soren said.

“There is no need.” The assassin said with a rasped chuckle. “You would have to make it back to the manor.” 

Soren’s instincts screamed and he jumped forward expecting an attack from behind. He drew his bow as he ducked to a knee. There was a pained yelp as a figure came into view. Something about it was wrong. The life force quickly faded but instead of dropping to the ground the figure lifted into the air. It was a dwarven man just like the assassin on the ground. 

A new life force bloomed into Soren’s vision. Scales gleamed under the moonlight. The assassin’s neck firmly grasped the creature's jaw. It bit down harder then there was an audible crack, only then did it drop the lifeless man. 

More heads came into view, each one unfurling from the darkness as if it were pulling back a curtain. They were all serpentine and slightly draconic. The middle one had antlers while the others sported long pointed horns. Only the middle one looked at him, the other four looked around even back behind it into the darkness. At first Soren thought it was five new creatures until it stepped further out into the clearing where the long necks all met at one base.

After the initial shock Soren recognized the creature. The hydra was the familiar of the woman that Aurelius traveled with. He didn’t know the creature’s name but the fact it was here killing the assassin likely meant it wasn’t trying to attack him. Especially since it certainly had the opportunity.

“Are you okay,” the hydra asked.

The voice of the creature rumbled and hissed like the words were forced in a way that wasn’t quite natural or comfortable for it.

“Uh-huh, you can talk?” Soren questioned. “You aren’t with these guys right?”

The hydra dragged out a second body with his tail. This one was impaled on the rather terrifying spikes at the end. They were also very dead. 

Soren lowered his bow. 

This hydra had hunted two additional assassins while remaining completely undetected to any of his magical senses. It could have been following from the beginning and he would have had no idea. 

The power of a lifeshaper was far more dependent on the quality of their gear than most. He might not have had his armors or other detection gear with him since he had run out in just his underwear. Still, to hide so completely from a lifeshaper like himself? That was frankly terrifying. 

“Yes, I can talk, no I am not with the assassins,” the hydra said. “That one is the last. I can not taste any others.” 

Soren noticed the other heads were doing the weird snake tongue flick thing. It always made him uncomfortable when he saw it. It reminded him of monsters that did the same thing and how hard it was to escape creatures like that. They could chase for miles before giving up.

“Well thank you for the assistance.” Soren turned back to the surviving assassin. “At least I have one witness.”

The assassin then promptly pulled out a metallic black orb pressing it to his stomach and exploded. A suicide bomb designed to destroy the body and any information they could gleam from it. Red mist settled down as what was likely remains and dirt fell in bloody wet clumps.

“Shit.” Soren said.

He turned back to the hydra who had turned his attention elsewhere.

“You may want to take a step back.” the hydra said.

Soren lowered his stance prepared for an attack.

“Huh?” Soren said. “Are there more assassins?”

Tanisha appeared in something that looked almost like a Blink. 

Mages had the ability to use the short range teleportation-like movement but this looked and felt different. Blink was not clean. It pulled the mage into another position in their sightline. It was a spell that had to be done in a rush and it showed. 

Soren wasn't a mage but he could tell the difference in the ability from the change in the ambient mana. He knew enough mages that could use the ability that he could tell that this was not that. Whatever ability she used was too structured. It felt like it denoted mastery of space not just simplistic shortcuts.

Wait Aurelius said she wasn’t a demoness.

The presence of Tanisha did not fill him with any more confidence. If she were somehow related to the assassination and this was just them cleaning up loose ends then he was out numbered and out matched without any of his lifeshaper gear. All he had were his basic talismans and no armor. The hydra alone was dangerous enough that he would prefer to flee then engage without a plan and distance. He was an archer after all and while he was within striking distance it was not the best position to be in.

“Lady Tanisha, your familiar did me a great favor.” Soren said.

Tanisha ignored him and walked over to the hydra and said something to him out of his ear shot. She then looked down at the two dead bodies at the hydra’s feet and nodded at something the hydra whispered back. She glared up with an expression that he honestly couldn’t tell if she was going to attack him or not.

“Looks like this is your problem then.” Tanisha said curtly. “We will be going back to the annex.”

They turned, leaving the assassins' bodies where they were.

“Wait.” Soren said.

The woman turned to face him. He could take in her form against the moonlight. Her golden eyes glowed faintly with magics burning just beneath the surface of her skin. He knew she was a warrior because of how she had fought the monsters earlier that day. A hydrokinesis mage of her caliber was rare and dangerous. Despite the fact he knew she disliked him for some reason, he didn’t want her or Aurelius to be caught in the same trap he was.

“What is it, druid?” Tanisha said sharply. “I would prefer not talking to your kind.”

Ah. She didn’t like the fact he was a druid. 

That made him pause. If he said nothing then they would inevitably be tied to the princess. Still he was a man of principal, and she did help him once already. Her familiar might have legitimately saved his life that night. His parents always wanted him to do the right thing. It didn't matter if those people would thank him.

He sighed long and deep.

“You should leave from here as soon as possible,” Soren said. “Yrsa is—”

“I don’t need your concerns.” Tanisha said sharply and turned around. “Let's go Bjorn.”

Soren watched her leave for a moment then walked over to the assassin's bodies. He placed a talisman on one of the bodies so he could find them again. He needed to get back to the manor and check on Yrsa.