Assassin's Curse (46 page)

“Hmm, that might have worked if I had not started wearing double armor,” Mave said, pulling out the blade that had penetrated only partway through his armor.
 
“I shall have to thank your wretched witch friends for giving me the idea and saving my life, right before I kill them of course.”
    

Mave charged forward swinging his blades in a deadly dance, eliminating any distance Jeda had for throwing.
 
Jeda grabbed his last two blades and tried to deflect the sword blades as they came faster and faster.
 
Amazingly, he parried swing after swing and actually thought he might be gaining a slight advantage when Mave took a step backwards.
 
Just as Jeda was thinking his time and training with the gypsies had given him the advantage he needed to defeat this bastard, Mave let out a maniacal laugh.

“I have to admit that you have gotten better, but playtime is over.”

With that Mave rushed him again, and as Jeda tried to leap to the side, Mave caught him with a blade to the back of his leg.
 
Jeda crumbled to the ground and Mave attacked, striking at the downed man again and again.
 
Jeda tried to parry the sword strikes as before, but without the ability to move, Mave easily disarmed him, striking and sending the last two knives skittering along the floor out of Jeda’s reach.
 
He stood with his blades poised over Jeda’s neck and looked down at him.

“It would be so easy to kill you now, but I have a better idea.”

Mave walked back to the prostrate body of Kara and lifted her by her hair.
 
“Watch and feel the true meaning of the assassin’s curse.”

“No, wait,”
Jeda
cried out, trying to stand on his crippled leg.
 

“You’re truly pathetic,” Mave said, watching him trying to stand.
 
“I will kill this little bitch girl as you watch, then I will kill you.
 
Once you are dead, I will kill the other little bitch and then move on to your precious wife.
 
Has she even awakened yet?
 
I thought I might have dosed her with too much Darkshade, but we all make mistakes.”

“You bastard….”

“Oh, you don’t know the half of it.
 
I’ll hunt down those gypsy dogs you hid among all those years and kill them all.
 
Maybe I’ll torch their wagons while they sleep and watch as they all burn to death.
 
I will kill everything you hold dear in this world, and there will be nothing you can do to stop me.”

As both men faced each other, Kara moaned and moved slightly in Mave’s grip.
 
She was beginning to wake up and tried to fight against him, but the drug’s effects still had a hold on her and she was too weak to be anything but a slight nuisance to him.

“She’s weak, just as you are.
 
Maybe I will let her watch while I kill you first.”

Jeda knew his leg would not hold his weight, but he got up on one knee to ready himself for a forward roll to where one of the deflected knives lay
.
 
Mave was watching him, knowing exactly what he was up to.
 
He had seen this trick before.

“You will never learn,” Mave said.
 
“Never use the same old trick twice.”

“Really?” Jeda replied.
 
“You are still the same fool I used it on all those years ago.”

As Jeda rolled forward to grab the knife, Mave dropped Kara to ready his swords to deflect the expected throw.
 
Mave stepped over Kara to meet Jeda’s attack, but to his surprise, she wasn’t as helpless as he thought.
 
She lifted her leg and caused him to trip slightly.
 
He sneered down at her and raised his sword to strike her, but Jeda had reached the knife and without conscious thought drew back his arm and let it fly.
 
Mave watched as the blade flew lightning fast past his defense and slammed into his chest.
 
The blade was thrown with such force that Mave’s double armor was no protection against it.
 
He looked down to see the blade sticking hilt-deep out of his chest.
 

“That’s impossible,” he said, stumbling back and falling to his knees.
 
“No one can throw a knife like that.”

“It’s not impossible, it’s magic.”

Mave fell over and Jeda crawled over to him.
 
He grabbed his collar and leaned in close to the dying killer.
 
“Who was it?” he screamed.
 
“Who paid for the contract to kill my father?”

Jeda knew that by guild rules only two assassins would know the full details of that contract--the master who had accepted the contract and the assassin sent to fulfill it.
 
Mave belonged to the school of the sword and with Master Dykara dead that left only Mave with the information of who contracted the guild to kill his father.

Mave looked up at Jeda with pain-leaded eyes and attempted to say something.

“Tell me and go to the gods with a clear conscious,” Jeda said.
 
“Tell me who wanted my father dead.”

“It was…it was,” Mave began.

“Yes, who was it?” he asked desperately.

Mave began to shake and Jeda thought he was in his final death throes.
 
He leaned closer to hear the killer’s last words.
 
To his surprise, Mave was not shaking from the grips of death, but because he was silently laughing.

“You’ll always be pathetic…” Mave smiled evilly as his eyes rolled back in his head.

Jeda watched the last clue to his father’s death slip away as the life went out of Mave’s eyes.

“You murdering bastard,” Jeda yelled in frustration, pounding his fist on Mave’s chest.
 
“Tell me who killed my father.
 
You won’t leave me like this: tell me you bastard.”

“Da, he’s dead.
 
He can’t tell you anything.”

Jeda looked up at the small voice of his daughter and then back to the dead body of Mave.
 
He was hurt and exhausted from everything that had happened in the last few days, but his nemesis was finally dead.
 
He should be happy and relieved, but after spending more than 10 years always looking over his shoulder, it was hard to finally relax and let his guard down.
 
He stared at Mave’s body, remembering their first encounter, their countless lessons and Mave’s relentless pursuit of him.
 
He leaned over and pulled his knife out of his enemy’s chest and wiped it clean on Mave’s tunic before putting it back in its harness.

He crawled over to Kara as she was struggling to sit up.
 
He reached her, pulled her into his arms, and spoke gently in her ear.
  

“Thank the gods you’re alive.
 
I don’t know what I would have done if I hadn’t gotten here in time.”

Kara pulled away for a moment and looked over at the dead body of her captor and mimicked his sneer.
 
“I’m not a little bitch girl.”

With that said, she buried her head in Jeda’s shoulder and cried softly.
 
She finally raised her head and looked at her father’s face.
 
“Da, I knew you’d come for me.”

“I will always come for you, always.”

Kara hugged Jeda.

He squeezed her tighter.
 
“I love you to death, Kara.
 
You know that, right?”

“Come on, Da.
 
You sound like Kala now.”

Her comment broke the tension and he allowed himself to chuckle at his daughter’s reserved nature.
 
“That bastard will never hurt you again.”

“I hope not, Da.
 
I really do.”

Jeda hugged her tighter and stroked her back, trying to comfort the young girl after her ordeal.
 
His daughter’s words chilled him and he looked over to Mave’s dead body and felt the familiar warning shiver up his back.

It did not take long for the searching guards to find Jeda and Kara lying in each other’s arms.
 
Kara was too weak to stand and the cut on Jeda’s leg effectively crippled him.
 
A healer was summoned and did a cursory healing on Jeda’s leg before they were helped to the council chambers.
 
They found Elizabeth and Gelda with Kala at their side finishing their discussions with the remaining masters, but upon seeing her sister, Kala came rushing forward and began to hug her, mortifying Kara beyond reason.
 
Kara had recovered some of her strength and pushed her sister to arm’s length.
 
Too much had happened to her in the past few days and even her sister’s unwavering love did not give her comfort.

The brothers recounted the story to the masters that Mave was dead when they found Jeda and the young girl.
 
Jeda’s wounds and exhaustion were a testament to the fight he’d had with Mave in his efforts to save Kara, and the masters nodded knowingly when they saw his condition.
 
Mave had been an expert swordsman, but everyone in this room knew there was something special about Jeda as well.
 
Jeda glanced around the room, seeing the destruction that had occurred while he was fighting Mave.
 
He looked over at Elizabeth and Gelda for answers to what had happened here.

Gelda was the first to speak.
 
“There has been too much killing today.
 
We have agreed to a truce between us, and have agreed to move forward in life, not death.”

Jeda looked at the old witch and wondered what would have happened had the guild not stopped attacking the witches.
 
Looking around he saw countless dead and injured brothers while the two witches still stood tall and uninjured.
 
Gelda looked a little peaked, but Elizabeth stood strong and vibrant.
 
It was probably the best decision the masters had made that day.
 

“There is still one thing left that is required from you,” she continued.

Jeda raised a questioning eyebrow at her until one of the masters stood and began to speak.

“Brother Jeda,” the Grand Master of the Knife intoned.
 
“Please step forward.”

The School of the Knife was the original school that Jeda had apprenticed with and he felt a moment of apprehension as he stood facing the masters.
 
He leaned on their table for support.
 

“Brother Jeda, we find ourselves in a quandary as to what to do with you.
 
Too long, you have been gone from the guild.
 
Too long, you have been living in the company of magic and prophecy.
 
We feel you would likely be a disruptive presence if you came back to the guild house.”

“But no one ever leaves the guild,” Jeda said.

“That is correct, which is why we are giving you another assignment.”

Jeda’s shoulders slumped at the master’s words.
 
He could not imagine taking up the reins of his old life again and would never come back to the guild.
 
He was thoroughly spent, but mentally prepared himself for this last fight.
 
“I don’t understand.”

“We have conferred and this is your assignment.
 
You are to go and live amongst the witches and other users of magic and learn everything you can of them.
 
When you have learned everything you can, you are to come back and give us your report.”

“But Master, that could take a lifetime.”

“Yes, we know this,” the master replied.
 
“With your new assignment, you are hereby reinstated as a full brother of the guild and shall no longer be hunted or pursued by any of the brotherhood.”

Jeda let out a pent-up breath.
 
He had not realized that he had been holding his breath while the master was speaking.
 
“Thank you, Master.
 
I will give this assignment my best.”

“Brother Jeda, gather whatever belongings you have left in the fortress and leave us.
 
Do not return until you have finished your assignment.”

“Yes, Master,”
Jeda
replied.
 
He bowed to the masters and turned to leave, but he didn’t get far.
 
His injured leg collapsed under him and he fell to one knee.