*Currently being edited*
An assassin for whoever is willing to pay the price for her services, Aerilynn Maeve Stormbringer lives alone. In a world full of chaos and cruelty, she has placed herself into a life of silence, speaking rarely or not at al...
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Hours had gone by as Aerilynn had watched the fae townsfolk go about their day. Little changed as the day grew long and with that came boredom. Not a good thing for anyone for it only provoked rashness and stupid ideas.
Luckily for Aerilynn, boredom was not her vice nor was she stricken with it on this day. There were many mountain creatures to hunt and kill around SilverHollow and she did it all in the comfortable silence of her own presence. Once a creature was killed, Aerilynn would skin it and drop the skin at Tanners, the best and only person who could work with animal skins in the village. The meat she would keep for herself. She had to make a living in between jobs somehow.
Once that was done she would return to her perch in the trees and watch over SilverHollow once more. Little changed in this routine and though it may have not been her vice, Aerilynn was still not one to relish the mundanity of her work.
Few contracts had come in with requests for new kills and with that Aerilynn was stuck in the lonely, sad little town of SilverHollow until a new contract for a kill was sourced.
A sigh escaped her lips. Frost appeared in front of her face as her breath turned to a light mist in the cold mountain air. Only the hustle and bustle of the town below could be heard in the quiet mid-morning air. Everything had been quiet for a while now and as loathe as she was to admit it, Aerilynn was tired of the silence. It led to too much delving into better forgotten memories.
A small whistle like that of a songbird is whistled on the wind. The smallest of smiles graces my face before I quickly hide it. Finally, a familiar face after so much mundanity. Although I would never let her know such a thing. The one and only person I could call a friend whistled up at me once more. Without further ado, I did what I knew best and fell backwards off my perch.
My booted feet touch the leaves with barely a whisper. Brynn's chocolate eyes widen for a moment before a wry smile graces her face. "You'd think after all the time I've known you I'd be used to you dropping from the trees like that"
You'd think after all this time you'd get tired of saying that, Brynn, I sign, lack of blood flow from the creeping cold making my fingers more clumsy in their movements.
"You wish," She shuffles from one foot to the other.
Got a new job for me, partner? I ask frowning slightly at her shifting feet. Even a close as we were to the village, slight sounds such as that were enough to alert the half-starved animals left in the surrounding peaks.
"You know it Aeri," she says, "Sorry it took so long for me to get here. Nobody had any jobs worth your time and the mountain pass was extra muddy this season"
Brynn lived the closest anyone could get to SilverHollow. Her hometown, Brightton, was almost a days journey from SilverHollow and was the beginning of the only path in and out of the Grarth mountains that SilverHollow resides in.
Your precious winds were of no help to quicken the journey?
"Ha ha smartass, you know wind does next to nothing in mud and muck" she says, lifting her hands in a swirling motion. Her gales of wind whip my silver hair out of its carefully procured updo and slap it across my face.
Each fae has an ability that, when discovered, they are given a namesake. More common fae host calmer gifts, like molding earth, controlling winds or directing heat. The more training someone can get with their gifts, the more they will be able to do with it and to be perfectly honest, Brynn had had quite a lot of training with her gifts. Higher born fae, on the other hand are born with rarer gifts. Metal bending or glass construction and ice control are the most common. As for the rarest, well I'll mention those later.
Alright, alright, I relent. Just tell me about the job. I huff, exasperated with Brynn's games.
Brynn turns toward the village square and motions to me. "C'mon it's best that we return. I'll brief you on the way." Shrugging my shoulders I follow and quickly catch up with her dark form.
Our booted feet match in sync as we make our way to the village square. I want to prod her to continue with telling me about the new job, but she knows it'll irritate me to no end to ask so I stay silent. After an eternity of walking my curiosity gets the better of me.
I tap her shoulder to get her attention and sign, Well? Are you going to tell me about the job or not? I've waited long enough don't you think?
A soft scoff emanates from her lips, "yes, I suppose you do." She stops for a minute and then continues, "Well, the jobs a fairly simple one. Kill the duke of Endale, leave no traces, return for payment."
This job seems simple enough. Hardly worth the month long wait it took to get the job.
"There's a catch though," her words snap me out of my reverie, "he's heavily guarded because he decided to piss off the wrong people."
Heavily guarded or not he'll be easy enough to get to and deal with. With enough luck, soon enough he will be just another tick on the long, long list of my kills over the years.
Should be easy enough. I sign to her. Hardly worth the long wait.
"There was something odd about this job too Aeri."
What about it?
"Well at first it seemed as if nobody wanted your services." She says. "They would pass you over for jobs that paid good money, almost as if they were being scared away."
Ridiculous! If someone is desperate enough to want someone dead, then there is no reason they would be scared out of seeking the best services to eliminate their problem.
"That's what I thought too. But then even some of your most loyal payers started turning away."
Most of those men were too frightened of me to turn to another for killing services. I'd long threatened them to make sure I stayed in business. And?
She pauses, considering her words,"And then well, this job fell right into our lap. It has good pay, easy work and I didn't even have to search for it."
Sounds too good to be true.
"That's exactly what I thought!" She shakes her head, disbelieving at her sudden exclamation, "So, I did some digging and your not going to like who is paying for the job behind the scenes."
