Chapter 5

They’d been walking for about an hour, Limiria took weird turns and bends going in seemingly random directions.

“Thalorian, do you have any scrying spells?” asked Limiria, still focused on the nothingness in front of her.

“What the hell is scrying?” asked Thalorian, confused.

“You’re still new to magic, right, Uh okay scrying is sensing the presence of others perfectly,” said Limiria, saying the first part under her breath.

“That sounds cool! I bet I could do so much If I had magic, like shoot fire and eat as much stew as I want, and I could-,” said Haverian, getting cut off at the last bit.

“We get it Haverian, you want magic,” said Limiria, turning around. “Anyway, Thalorian check to see if you have one,”

“Sure, this feels weird, book flip to a page about scrying,” said Thalorian, talking to the book.

Of course. “The Art of Scrying, Anywhere, Anyone,”

“Okay, here we go, Scororn’Ois’Flindavoss,” spoke, Thalorian. A pulse of energy flew off of him and suddenly Limiria and Haverian were covered in a light-blue glow. He could feel their movements without touching them, even when he closed his eyes he could still see them. There was another sensation though, this one was sharp, uneasy, and it felt like it was lighting him on fire. Like the others he could sense it, it was behind them. Flying at speeds equal to that of a dragon on steroids. Thalorian felt a sharp pain in his neck and he fell to the ground, bleeding out. He crawled along the floor and he turned his head around, there was another one of those beasts that had attacked him. Its scaly fur was sharp and patchy, its fangs dripped with the blood of its victims and from behind it came a figure.

Slowly clapping the man started chanting words that hurt to hear. “Gonthoruna Finshani Furoto Cansthini Forek,” he spoke and magic symbols appeared on the ground, ashes coated the dirt and just looking at what was coming out of them terrified the trio. They had baggy grey-brown skin that was sown together with uneven patchy thread, it was a humanoid figure with bloody eyes and its mouth was crooked. “Attack,” said the figure, calmly and calculated, like he knew just the right time to say the words that the beasts sprung at them at the perfect time that the group couldn't attack.

Limiria and Haverian dove to the floor and rolled away from the onslaught of monsters that had attacked them. Thalorian stood up, chanting some sort of spell. The wound on his neck sealed and Thalorian pulled a blade out of the book.

“Can you guys take those things?” asked Thalorian, not looking at Haverian and Limiria, his eyes locked on the man that had attacked them.

“Can you fight?” asked Limiria looking at Haverian.

“Yeah, I’ve gotten into my fair share of brawls. I think I can take a few skin sacks with this!” responded Haverian, upon saying this he opened up his satchel and pulled out a sword. Nothing special: a simple iron blade with basic leather and wood hilt.

Thalorian charged at the man, sword ready to attack. The man countered with a dagger he pulled from seemingly nowhere. Thalorian slid under the man and slashed upward, breaking the skin on the man's back. The man spun around at superhuman speeds and retaliated with a blast of energy from his hand, Thalorian managed to dodge but the attack still hit part of his face, singing his skin.

Thalorian chanted, “Aress!” with his palm facing the man. The man went flying backward and crashed into one of, as Haverian called them, ‘skin sacks’. Thalorian jumped up and was about to slice the man in half but suddenly he teleported behind Thalorian and brought his own knife down and blood flew everywhere. When Thalorian hit the ground one of the skin sacks attempted to kill Thalorian from behind, but Haverian spin kicked its head into the dirt, although it got back up immediately after. Thalorian charged at the man one final time with all his might and plunged his sword into his chest. Blood covered his sword and that salty red liquid covered his face as he ripped his sword from out of the man's chest.

“You,” the man coughed, “are a worthy foe, my dear target,” the man coughed once more, his life was obviously leaving, “Garret Smith, if you ever need an assassin call for me,” The man magically disappeared into a puff of smoke and all that was left of him and his minions was a poorly written note.

“What is that,” asked Haverian looking at the paper.

“Don’t know,” replied Thalorian, picking up the paper and reading.

It was quite simple, the note. Written with basic ink and a bird's feather. It read: Dearest Target my name is Garret Smith, assassin for hire, of course if you're reading this you already know that. It's quite simple: the Crown hired me to kill you. I’m a great assassin you know, you are probably the most exotic person I’ve ever had to kill. Now, you’re probably wondering what that symbol is at the bottom of the page (No it is not a summon circle), If you find that anywhere simply say: Red Blood, Best Blood, and I will appear, Sincerely Garret Smith.

The symbol on the page was exquisitely drawn, with jagged edges and a circle in the center. It was a semicircle, a dot in the middle, with three triangles coming out, Limiria recognized it immediately.

“That's the symbol of The Assassins United, basically there a bunch of assassins that are protected by the crown,” said Limiria, “If you have one of them after you your as good as dead,”

“Well that's great, now we have assassins after us,” said Haverian, seemingly not unfazed by the recent event.

Limiria pulled a map out of her satchel and placed it on the ground. “I say we go here,” said Limiria, placing her finger on a place called Valearen. “We can stay there for a few days, they have their own government and the crown has no power over them,”

“That's good, but that's like a one week walk and four week boat ride,” said Thalorian sitting on the ground. “It’ll be the new month by the time we get there,” said Thalorian. It was mid summer but by the time they got there it would be early fall. “There aren’t many villages on the way, like three and most of them are a two days walk from each other, we’d be without shelter for days,” finished Thalorian.

“That's true but we’ll also be away from the crown and The Assassins United,” said Haverian, pitching in.

“I guess, but still, days without shelter is a bit rough, even for me,” said Thalorian.

“I still think we should go to Valearen, it's our best bet,” said Limiria, resting her case.

“It all comes down to you Haverian what's your vote,” said Thalorian to Haverian.

“I Say we go to Valearen, it’ll get us away from the ruckus and we can stay there until we’re found out and or killed,” said Haverian, siding with Limiria. And there was the decision, to go Valearen for refuge. I’m not saying it was a good or bad idea, it was just an idea.