FARHAYVEN: VENGEANCE (118 page)

     “Fine. I’ll waste no more of your time. Have a good day
!
” said Rake as he stormed out of the chamber.

     The cool morning breeze blew gently on the
8
th
Day of Fifth Month of Dry Season
. Clover and her subordinates walked quietly through the forest floor. Suddenly, one of Clover’s scouts gave the signal to stop and crouch. Everyone did so immediately. Their hearts were now pounding fast. Their eyes scanned left and right. Their ears strained to pick up the slightest of sounds. Their grip on their swords tightened. Then they saw them, two young men clad in black clothes, walking casually by. Some of the Sollenthars looked at Clover, but she gave them the signal to stay put and be silent. They repeated the signal to the others.

     The two young men walked casually along, unaware that they were being watched. 

     “Ouch
!
My body aches
!
” said the first.

     “Mine too
!
What the hell were we thinking, joining the Shadow Deathmerchant Clan
?
” said the second.

     “We were thinking about the money, remember
?
Heaps and heaps of gold coins
!
” reminded the first.

     “Yeah, right
!
Heaps and heaps of gold coins, that’s if we first survive and complete this brutal training. Then we have to survive ten years of service to the clan. And only then can we go into business for ourselves and earn those gold coins,” remarked the second.

     “Well, that
was
the deal
!
” said the first.

     “Yes, but they didn’t say the training would be this tough
!
I have bruises all over my body
!
My palm and fingers have lesions. My joints are all swollen. And I have also got a cut lip
!
” said the second.

     The first young man tapped the second on the shoulder.

     “Well, a cut lip isn’t as bad as a broken nose
!
” he said.

     “Yeah
!
You’re right
!
How’s your nose
?
It was that carpenter from Timberstock who gave you that, wasn’t it
?
” asked the second.

     “Yes
!
He’s one of the ones who try very hard. Teacher’s pet
!
I’m sure of it
!
” answered the first.

     “Why does he try so hard
?
I mean, we’re all poor folks trying to make a gold coin or two. What makes him different
?
” asked the second.

     “Oh no
!
He’s totally different. He’s not in this for the gold. He wants to kill Serpentians. They had killed his entire family during that raid earlier in the year. He wants revenge but he doesn’t have the skills to do it. So he joined the clan to get them. After our ten years of service is over, he plans to go on a killing spree in Serpentia, and he has even asked me to join him. I politely declined, of course,” answered the first.

     The sound of the conversation of the two black-clad men faded into the forest just like their bodies did. Clover gave the signal to follow them. The Sollenthars followed from far behind, barely keeping visual contact with these men, sometimes even relying on the faint sound of their conversations to track them. It was very clear that these two were new, inexperienced recruits. No decently trained Shadow Deathmerchant Clan assassin would allow themselves to be detected, let alone tracked in this way
!

     Unbeknownst to the Sollenthars, Dawn was there too, tracking them. She had managed to sneak up close enough to catch bits and pieces of the two young men’s conversation. At first she cursed them for their stupidity. Then she was thankful that they were not original clan members. This made what she was about to do,
what she had to do
, much easier. Dawn’s conscience was clear. It was time to act before these two idiots led Clover and the Sollenthars to The Lair.

     Dawn crouch-runs forward as silently as she can, keeping her body hidden by the shrubs. She manages to pass by the flank the Sollenthars without them being aware of her presence. She picks up the pace. She passes the two men unnoticed and runs ahead. She finally sights a huge bush that is suitable for her to hide in. She goes into the bush and crouches down. Her fingers slip into the lapel of her black assassin’s shirt. She feels around for the sharp tip of her Airblades. But she soon realises that she has a problem. She has only one Airblade left, but two men to kill
!
She pulls out the single Airblade and takes aim. With a flick of her wrist, she sends the Airblade flying towards its target. Then she bursts forth from the bush with her sword drawn.

     The first man feels something cold hit his throat. He gives a barely audible cough and is horrified to see blood spraying from his mouth. He turns to look at his companion and sees the mirrored expression of shock on the man’s face. He felt his head begin to spin and his knees begin to tremble. Then his legs give way and all goes dark before he hits the ground.

     The second man stands frozen in shock. He realises that his companion has just been hit by an Airblade. But why
?
And where did it come from
?
And who is this woman running out of a bush
?
Is that Dawn Breven
?
What is that shiny thing behind her
?
It is a sword,…. the blade of a sword
!
What
!?
Then he feels the cold steel of Dawn’s blade slide across his left collar bone to his right lower ribs. Strangely, he feels no pain, just the coldness of the blade. Then comes the feeling of warm wetness along the line which the blade has travelled. It is only now that he realises that he has been cut. And he curses himself for not even drawing out his sword. Then the pain sets in. And like his companion, his head begins to spin and his knees begin to tremble. His legs give way and he falls to the ground. His last thoughts are directed to all the gold coins he now knows he will never have
!

     Dawn looked down at the two dead bodies. She felt nothing. Neither hate nor anger nor remorse. For her, it was just a necessary action required to solve a problem. She grabbed all the Airblades and coins that she could from the two corpses and ran off into the distant bushes.

     Clover’s lead scout came to a sudden halt. He signalled for his comrades to crouch and for Clover to come forward. Upon seeing the corpses, she commanded her Sollenthars to form a defensive perimeter, which they did by forming a circle with everyone crouched and looking outwards with their weapons drawn. Examining the bodies, Clover came to the conclusion that it was Dawn’s handiwork and that she was still in the vicinity somewhere. Clover had only a stream of Sollenthars with her, so there was not much she could do. She decided to send a runner and two escorts back to base to report the incident to Ray. Meanwhile, she sent three Heat Bursts into the sky to signal the other streams to converge on her location. There was no point in keeping their location secret, for clearly Dawn knew where they were and this meant that the Shadow Deathmerchant Clan knew too, or so she thought
!

     Meanwhile, at The Lair, another secret meeting was taking place. Rake was fishing in the chamber that had a river flowing through it and a figure stepped out of the darkness behind him.

     “Did Venom send you to kill me
?
” asked Rake directly.

     “On the contrary, Rake, I’m here on my own accord
!
” said the female voice, one that clearly Rake did not expect.

     “Founder Menox
!
I apologise, I was expecting someone else
!
” said Rake as he turned around, clearly shocked.

     “You mean those two buffoons whom Venom had sent to kill you
?
Don’t worry about them
!
I’ve handled them myself. My men are burying their bodies as we speak. Your meeting with the Swerrell brothers wasn’t as secret as you thought. But luckily for you, I agreed with your conclusion. My question is, what should you and I do about it
?
” said Eclipse.

     A wide smile broke on Rake’s face. Finally, an ally
!
So it seemed that his efforts were not wasted
!

     “I propose an impeachment
!
A vote of no confidence of his leadership. Have him removed and exiled from the clan
!
” explained Rake.

     “That wouldn’t work. The other Founders support him
!
” rejected Eclipse.

     Rake stood silent. He was lost in thought. But he soon realised that Eclipse was not. She had a plan of her own.

     “Then what do you propose
?
Assassinate him, like how he did the others
?
” asked Rake.

     “No, I propose a schism
!
And a sudden exodus
!
Collect all the followers who are still loyal to the original cause and leave this place and leave him
!
We can start the clan anew and put in safeguards to ensure that it doesn’t get corrupted like this
!
” answered Eclipse.

     “You mean cut and run
?
That may work. But he’ll come after us, that’s for sure,” agreed Rake.

     “We’ll deal with his assassins as they come. They’ll be young and inexperienced, therefore won’t pose much of a threat to us veterans. And after a while, he’ll forget about us; because even if he did manage to kill us, there’ll be no profit in it for him. No one’s paying any
gold coins
for our deaths. We’ll have the chance to start anew. We’ll have a chance to get things done the right way. We’ll have the chance to regain our honour
!
” explained Eclipse.

     Rake held out his hand and smiled ear to ear.

     “Founder Eclipse Menox, I agree with you
!
” he said.

     Eclipse extended her hand and grabbed his, and they shook hands to their new agreement. Then they began discussing the details of how their plan should be carried out. But unbeknownst to either of them, there was a third assassin sent to kill Rake. The third was meant to be a backup should the first two fail, so he had actually arrived much earlier and stayed hidden in the shadows all the while. After eavesdropping on the conversation, he had decided to abort. But he would not be returning to the clanmaster empty-handed. Two Founders conspiring to commit treason would make a valuable report indeed
!

     The next day, Ray and Spirit arrived with 3
rd
River. Spirit felt the excitement of a hunt building up in him. He smelt the odour of an old foe, someone whom he had not encountered for quite a while. He could see Clover just up ahead standing over two dead bodies. The excitement energised him and he jumped off his war chariot even before it came to a complete stop. He dashed towards the bodies. He sniffed around. There was that familiar scent again, the scent of that female killer
!

     Spirit sniffed around again. Yes
!
The scent was getting stronger. He began to run as fast as he could. He was on the hunt now. Finally, after all these weeks lazing around the palace and keeping Lance company at classes, he was back in the game. His nose was the seeker, his legs were the pursuit force and his fangs were to be the misery-ender
!

     Ray and Clover left two streams to guard the dead bodies and ordered the rest to accompany them on horseback as they followed Spirit deeper into the forest. Spirit sprinted way ahead, in pursuit of the scent trail that was so familiar to him. He disappeared into the dense shrubbery, like a blur of white in an ocean of green.

     Dawn, meanwhile, knew that she was in trouble. Serious trouble
!
Losing a group of soldiers, even Sollenthars, was easy. However, losing a wolf who was zoned in on the hunt would be extremely difficult. Her scent was betraying her. With every step of her run and every drop of sweat that she produced, she was giving this wolf a map to her exact location. She would have to hide her scent somehow. But how
?
Would a river help
?
Could the wolf track her scent in a fast flowing river
?
Only one way to find out
!