Chapter 7: Assassins

Alyssa was barely able to deflect the approaching fireball, which left a part of her face and upper body burned. She could feel the pain surge throughout her body like a thousand barbed tendrils. Quickly, she dropped to the floor as another fireball “whooshed” past her head and crashed into a pile of books sending burnt pages everywhere.

“Damn!” Alyssa cursed to herself. She was an avid book collector and reader, and seeing a pile of burning books angered her greatly. Her nerves were also frayed from the stress of her previous assignment which she hadn’t even begun to recover from, so the anger was building up inside of her. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed several bottles with bright red stoppers in them so she scooped them up quickly, while still making certain she still remained under the protective cover of the now overturned table. From what she could see, there were at least three assassins judging by the fireballs and crossbow bolts that had been launched at her, but she didn’t know where they were.

Despite the pain from her most recent wounds surging across her body, along with the fresh burns, she crafted a spell to send a projection of her running across the room. One of the assassins targeted the projection of Alyssa and fired a crossbow bolt at it, but he was disappointed when nothing happened. She then took that opportunity to hurl one of the bottles at the assassin, and when it impacted on him, he broke into a fiery blaze and burned until he turned to ashes. She then ducked down again as another fireball flew over her head, and fortunately this time she didn’t get singed at all.

“Two remaining; let’s see if we can make things a little more interesting.” Alyssa said as she reached into her pocket and pulled out a leather pouch and emptied some of the black grains of powder into her palm. She then tossed it over her shoulder and instantly, the entire interior of the cottage became pitch black. Slowly, and as quietly as she could she began crawling across the floor to the backdoor inside the kitchen, and lucky for her the random fireballs and crossbow bolts that were being shot randomly inside provide cover for any of the noise she made.

Eventually she made her way to the door which she opened and crawled out onto the grass. Standing up quickly she peered around the corner of the cottage and saw one of the assassins kneeling gazing through one of the broken windows attempting to find a target for his crossbow. She withdrew the dagger from its sheath and took a deep breath. Hoping that her aim would be true, she whirled around the corner and hurled the dagger at the man’s shoulder and it him knocking him onto his back as he shouted in agony.

Delighted with her success, Alyssa smiled; she had been working to improve her non-magical combat skills, and it seemed like she was doing well. She was about to go and finish the assassin off, when she noticed the remaining assassin appear around the other side of the cottage and hurl one more fireball at her. She lunged to the ground and it missed her, but she was getting sick and tired of being a moving target.

“I think it’s time to go on offense,” Alyssa gritted loudly to herself. She then tossed two of the bottles around the cottage, and after she heard them explode, she rounded the corner and saw that she had distracted and wounded the assassin. He raised his hand to hurl another fireball, but this time it was Alyssa who threw the last bottle she had at the assassin, although since it had a yellow stopper on it the result was different. When the bottle impacted on the assassin, it immediately broke his body down and transformed him into a pile of crushed rocks.

Exhaling deeply, Alyssa turned around and began walking towards the moaning assassin on the ground. He looked up at her burnt and dirty face and the fear in eyes was more than obvious.

“That dagger was tipped with a special concoction of mine which should immobilize your body from doing much for a few hours, so don’t even bother trying to move. Why were you trying to kill me?” Alyssa asked plainly and waited for a response, but it seemed like the man either didn’t understand her, or was trying to be heroic. “You come to my home and destroy it and try to kill me; I assure you that I will learn all the answers I desire by the time you die, or you may choose to be cooperative and live. I leave the choice to you.”

“You are a foolish witch that doesn’t know what forces she is interfering with, and soon you will die, and there is nothing you can do to stop it.” The assassin said with a great deal of vehemence.

“Who hired you? And what are these ‘forces’ that you are referring to? Tell me.” Alyssa asked firmly, but after a few moments of empty silence, it was clear that the assassin was going to remain obstinate. “Very well, let’s see if I can find a way to loosen your tongue.”

With a waive of her hand, the assassin’s body was dragged behind Alyssa was she re-entered the cottage through the burnt front door, and she dropped him in front of her potions room, which luckily had survived the attack unscathed. She rummaged through her stock of bottles and supplies until she found what she was looking for and came out to the assassin who was still attempting to move about.

“One last time, who are you working for?” Alyssa demanded.

“Try your worst, raving demoness, nothing shall move me.” The assassin defiantly said.

“If that is your desire then, so be it.” Alyssa said and then took a phial of black liquid and poured it onto the floor in front of the assassin. At first it sat motionless in a pool, but after a few moments it stirred and took almost a slithering like shape moving towards the assassin’s boot, who was trying to move away from it but there was nothing he could do. The black substance slithered its way up his boot and then went down inside of it, and after a few more moments the assassin let out a feral shout with a twisted look of agony on his face.

“What have you done! What is this foul sorcery!” The assassin shouted.

“A special brew of mine, essence of necrotic hemlock. It kills any flesh of a creature or being it touches very, very slowly. The potion was designed to keep the target alive until the very end, which could take up to several hours depending on the size and volume of the potion. How long do you think you’ll last?” Alyssa asked as she sat down on a chair and crossed her legs with determined gaze directed at the assassin.

“But…you…can’t!” The assassin stammered as he shouted again in agony. Sweat was now pouring down from his forehead as he looked from his boot to Alyssa back and forth, as if he was expecting her to stop the potion. “Alright fine, I’ll you, but it won’t do you any good.”

“Just give me the name.” Alyssa said firmly.

“The name is….” But the assassin didn’t get the opportunity to finish as his body suddenly burst into black flames, and after moments of screaming before Alyssa could do anything to help the man, his body turned in a pile of ashes.

“Blast it all!” Alyssa said as she stood to her feet and surveyed the ashes where the man who had answers once was. Clearly there had been some sort of spell or curse to keep the assassin from revealing any information about his benefactor. She was about to accept that she might not learn who sent the assassins after her, when something shiny caught her eyes amongst the ashes. She bent down and picked up a circular bronze medallion, and carved on it in black was the image of a coiled serpent with its head perched up and tongue out as if it was getting ready to strike. It was the clue she needed to begin her hunt of who had tried to kill her, and she knew just who to ask about what the symbol meant.