Another Writ: Another Life

Clotted blood slipped down the tarnished saber blade, which was still sharp after all the flesh and material it cut through. Marshall skillfully wiped the blade against the smooth side of a tree trunk, leaving behind a crude, dark smudge of the viscous sludge on its gnarled bark.

Another writ. Another life. It matter not; the only value a person had to him was the weight of coin. The wealthy merchant he had slain, along with the man's wife and child, were only names on an order to cross out.

"Pointless lives." He declared as he sat on a clean boulder to look down on the mangled remains of the family he had killed.

The child's soulless eyes were still staring up at him: innocence and fear the last expression on the tiny blood soaked body.

He stood and used his fire magic to ignite the corpses to ash: a clean and honorable burial for the slain. At least he could grant his marks that much.

With the dead no longer lingering on the forest ground, he soberly wandered toward the nearby rock pond and stared down on its still waters. 

He dipped a gloved finger into the pond's stillness to stir ripples through his reflected image of a sturdy man with short, rugged dark hair combed back so his steely blue eyes and angled jawline were defined features. 

His thin lips were cracked and void of lines that came with smiles. Even the skin around his small eyes was smooth and lacking traits and scars that would show telltale signs of emotional depth. 

As broad and solid was his body in black leather armor, so was his demeanor: never soft enough and unbending once has mind was set to a purpose.

Marshall was renown for never letting go of the task until it was achieved. Thus elevating his rogue rank within the House of Mercy's mercenary order to Bladehand: swords for hire to nobles, elites and the extremely wealthy.

His body tensed and mind entered a focus when he detected odd pattern of leaf rustling, among uneven sighs of wind.  The sounds of crunched twigs and leaves approached his back, with stirrings of strong magic being enabled.