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Fairy Tale Assassin - Chapter 1
This story is a dark homage to the Fractured Fairy Tales which was part of the old Rocky and Bullwinkle TV series from the late 50s/early 60s. You can find them on Youtube if you are unfamiliar with the series.
Chapter 9
Footsteps coming up the stairs told me I had no time to worry about my questions while I waited on the balcony. I pulled out my dagger and crouched down with my ear next to the door. The voices I heard appeared to be servants. Another door opened, and the light coming through the cracks of the door frame next to me grew brighter.
“Our master has another common wench tonight. It’s a shame we’ll need to teach her how to be a proper servant,” a male voice said.
“Well, only until the lord grows tired of her. I swear, how many ladies does the master need?” A female servant sighed. “He should find a good noblewoman and rid himself of such lowly women.”
The man chuckled.
“Yes, on that we can agree.”
My anger grew as I listened to them. Finally, they left the room and before long, I heard more footsteps, this time heavier. A voice bellowed out.
“Damn king keeping me away. I’ve waited all day for my bite into that tasty wench I saw this morning. Bring me the woman along with more wine. Your lord shall enjoy another virgin this night.”
At this point, it took every ounce of control to keep me from rushing into the room. But my rational mind kept reminding me to get Ruby out of the manor quietly. Once the servants left her alone with the bastard, I intended to make my presence known.
Damn right, this son of a bitch will remember me!
After a while, the footsteps slowly grew stronger. A door opened, and I listened expectantly. I could make out the man talking to his servant before sending him away.
“Come, fair maiden, show me what I’ve paid for,” the male voice said.
I couldn’t make out the whispering . Since I doubted it was Ruby's voice, I hesitated. Then, I heard a slap and the tearing of clothing.
“Bitch, let me see what I’ll despoil tonight!”
After a moment, I heard his voice again. My hand squeezed the latch until I recognized I had only one shot. If it’s not Ruby in there and I kill him, I might not get another chance. Nevertheless, I readied my blowgun.
“That’s better. You’re a true red hair!” the man chuckled.
You’re a dead man!
I slipped through the door and saw the fat bastard with his pants partially dropped. Rage filled me, but I forced myself to approach slowly while watching the bastard forcibly kissing her. As he groped her breast, my free hand pulled the dagger out from under my cape. The thought of the poison covering the blade almost caused me to let out a triumphant chuckle when I aimed and sent an arrow into his exposed, hairy butt. He flinched, slapping his hand behind him.
“Ah, damn bugs!”
As I silently stepped next to the bed, I caught Ruby’s vacant eyes staring at the ceiling as she refused to acknowledge the worthless creep on top of her.
“What?” Gilbert mumbled while reaching back to his injury.
The floorboard creaked under my foot, and Gilbert glanced back. His eyes grew wide as I leaped at him. I drove the dagger into his back. His gargled yell muffled as soon as I forced my hand over his mouth. He bit down, crushing my finger into the blowgun I held. I grunted in pain as I stabbed him again with the dagger. Frantically, he elbowed me with his elbow while he tried to roll away.
Ruby slid down to the floor during the attack. She looked back in confusion, unsure of Gilbert’s attacker. The assassin’s face remained hidden behind a scarf. When the attacker’s hood pushed in the fight, she recognized her benefactor.
Covan!
A sudden surge of hope filled her, and she grabbed the edge of the bedsheet. She landed next to Covan and stuffed the cloth over the shocked nobleman’s face. Another bite from Gilbert cut into Covan’s fingers. Gilbert tried to yell out, only getting out a strange muffled gasping grunt as Covan wrenched away his injured hand.
Ruby pummeled the nobleman in the head with her fists while I quickly pulled out another arrow point. Joining Ruby, I punched Gilbert’s covered face several times until he weakened. I lowered the scarf covering my face and whispered for Ruby to pull back the bedsheet from his face. Then, I slapped him. The noble’s eyes widened, and I felt satisfied he recognized my battered-up face.
“Payback is a motherfucker, isn’t it?”
I pushed the tip holding the poison into Gilbert’s neck to ensure his death while Ruby stuffed part of the sheet into his mouth. As the noble convulsed, he fought with an expression of disbelief and terror. Finally, white foam emerged next to the cloth jammed in his mouth. His vacant stare into the abyss told us he was dead.
Breathing hard, I slid down to the floor, and Ruby rushed over next to me. We hugged as I regained my strength. After a moment, I explained my plan. The fat bastard required Ruby’s help to get him into the bed and covered. She stared at me until I noticed her torn clothing. Scratches marred her breasts, and I wanted to kill Gilbert again. But I focused on our plan to leave.
“Find anything you can use as clothes in those drawers!” My ragged whisper sent Ruby toward the nearby chest.
Glancing over the face-down body, I realized my stabs hadn’t gone deep into the man’s back. It reminded me of how weak I was. But a grin came to my face when I noticed his money bag still attached to his belt. My hurt fingers made me gasp in pain when I used the dagger to cut off the bag. After I pocketed the coins in my cape, I covered Gilbert’s body with the bedcovering. Arranging another lump in the bed using a pillow I found our charade was complete. Any servant taking a quick peek inside the door would fool them into believing he was sleeping with Ruby in the bed. My hope rode on the idea that it would give us enough time to escape from the city before daylight.
Going over to Ruby, I could tell she wanted to say something. However, I shook my head and whispered for her to dress. The linen dressing ground was too large, but it would have to do. She pulled a brown woolen cape from the dresser, which carried the nobleman’s house emblem. If the guards caught her with it, the seal meant death. Since we were already at that point anyway, I just turned the cape inside out. When she finished changing into a linen shirt, I put the cape over her shoulders. Ruby still trembled from her treatment. A sudden urge to burn the house, along with the servants who allowed her to suffer, came to mind. But caution snapped back into my brain, and I kissed her on the cheek.
“Let’s get out of this place!” I whispered.
After helping her down from the balcony using the rope to slide down, I removed the improvised grappling hook and dropped it to the ground. Then, I went over the banister and let myself fall from the lowest part of the balcony. My fingers still ached from the crushing bite, but I didn’t harm my body. I snatched up the rope and led Ruby into the garden.
We exited the estate using the same alley that I had come in by, which led us to an empty street. Quickly, we crossed over to the other side. As we followed the road, I felt like eyes were watching us. Ruby sensed it as well. She whispered about her concerns, and we slunk into a dark corner by a building.
“Something is wrong,” I mumbled.
After a long moment of watching over the darkened street, I saw no movement. However, I heard the marching sound of boots coming down the street toward us.
Damn!
Taking Ruby’s hand, I led us into another alley. While we watched and waited for the guards to pass, instead, they came to a stop a few buildings away. Each of them had lanterns, and the officer of the watch told them to split up and make their rounds.
One guard came toward us, and we bolted deeper into the alley. Without light, Ruby and I groped along the wall, trying to keep quiet. I ran into a water barrel, but it only caused rats to squeal as they hurried away. The pain in my aching knee almost made me let out a groan. The man with the lantern inched toward us, stopping occasionally to check the doors. His light only lit up a few feet in front of him, so hoped we could find a spot to hide.
After pushing deeper into the blackness, my heart stopped when we came against a wooden structure in the way. I groped around in the area and discovered a tall fence. But I couldn’t see how far up it went. Worse, the guard continued to come our way.
“Over here!” Ruby whispered.
She discovered a door on one side that seemed to enter the building next to us. We struggled to find a handle, but it appeared to be latched from the inside. In growing desperation, I pushed one of my sickle blades through the edge of the door and tried to use it as a lever.
A loud click snapped from behind. We looked back at the shadowed area, and a figure dressed in black held a lantern under his cape. The sliver of light coming out showed us a gate in the fence. It stood open. The figure waved us toward the gate. Sliding out the sickle blade, I sighed.
“I guess we don’t have an option.”
We inched toward the figure as it backed into the darkness behind the open gate. A quick glance down the other end of the alley showed the guard approaching. With a sigh, I went through the gate with Ruby following. A voice whispered to close the gate. After Ruby did, we heard the click of a latch locking.
“Follow me!” the male voice ordered.
As we followed, we struggled to make out the path. The light from under the person’s cape in front of us only showed the moss-covered stones and our guide’s pair of boots occasionally. We came to a building with an open entryway and followed a flight of stairs down. We continued on for a while until we came out into a dark, open space. A moment later, I found us walking between rows of headstones. After going into the cemetery, we came to a small stone building.
Inside, we found several benches near a type of altar. Our guide told us to wait and left through a dark passage by the altar. The temperature of the room felt cooler, and the blackness played with my mind as I heard noises all around us. Sliding out the dagger, I kept it hidden under my cloak.
“I don’t like this place,” Ruby breathed with a shiver.
A smile came to my face at her words. She no longer sounded like a Shakespearean actress. But I agreed with her caution. A light burst behind us. I turned in time to see a long rapier blade pointed at my throat. At the other end of the sword, a handsome young man stared at me with cold blue eyes. A pretty woman with an old-fashioned handgun pointed at us stood next to him. Her eyes glittered with amusement while she held up a lantern.
“You stole our contract!”
