by ShimmerSolarPets » Tue Jul 19, 2016 11:52 pm
ＣＨＡＰＴＥＲxxxＦＯＵＲ
ᴀssᴀssɪɴᴀᴛɪᴏɴ ғᴇᴇʟs ʙᴀᴅ
▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃
The clangs and thunks of metal connecting and locking into each other filled the air. There was a blaze in Malyutka's eyes as she parried away an oncoming blade with her small dagger. Sweat streamed down her fur. Malyutka panted and gritted her teeth as she stared into the eyes of the taller figure.
"Do worse than that, Tiny, and you're dead. Not that I'm complaining, of course," the figure taunted.
"Really? I was under the impression that you're the one losing," Malyutka retorted through clenched teeth, her tone flat.
She lunged at the figure. Metal connected in the air. The monster inside her hissed with fury. However, as the two continued to spar, they managed to disarm each other. Malyutka was pushed to the ground by the taller figure. Hitting the ground with a thud, the tinier figure tried to push her attacker away. She bared her teeth and slashed her claws.
"Come on, Worm! Or are you too weak and tiny to fight back?" Malyutka's sparring opponent taunted.
He was right. Malyutka was too weak and tiny to push him off. The two wrestled on the ground, the taller figure overpowering Malyutka. However, she used her size against him. Malyutka slid away. Quickly recovering on her two paws, she made a dash towards her daggers, laying on the ground. She picked her two daggers up. The taller figure pulled back his lips, revealing his sharp teeth. He was most certainly displeased with the turn of events. He dashed towards his sword. Malyutka kicked his sword away and held him back from retrieving it with her daggers. Her opponent eyed the sharp blades of her daggers wearily.
"Yield," Malyutka said, sharply. She felt a savage pleasure in having the upper paw, being able to talk down to this taller Viscet. Her daggers glinted maliciously in the sunlight.
"No, I don't think so," her opponent snapped.
He suddenly dove at her feet, knocking her off her balance. Her sparring opponent tried to grab hold of his sword, but Malyutka was faster. She sheathed her daggers and grabbed hold of his tail. Malyutka pulled his tail hard and tripped his leg from the back. Losing his balance, he fell to the ground with a dull thud. Malyutka stepped onto his back and leaped towards his sword. She grabbed the hilt of his sword and fell to the ground with a thud, tracing a line on the dirt with her opponent's sword. Her left leg landed at an awkward position, spraining her ankle.
Just when she was about to get up and fight again, a voice called out, "Malyutka!"
Malyutka turned around to see the deputy running towards them. Her ears pricked up, picking up the groans and moans of her opponent as he recovered from the ground. She did step on him, after all. The deputy surveyed the scene, chuckling.
"My, you're really out of practice," he chided Malyutka's opponent. A surge of pleasure and pride swelled in Malyutka's chest. "Anyways, do you mind if I... um... borrow Malyutka for a while? The leader needs her."
"No, not at all, sir. Go ahead," Malyutka's sparring partner groaned.
"Follow me, Malyutka," the deputy said.
Malyutka dropped the sword roughly next to her sparring partner. Then, she followed the deputy, wiping sweat out of her eyes. She hadn't realized how tired she was. "You're making much progress," the deputy said.
"Thank you, sir," Malyutka replied, not sure what to think. What could the horrible leader of the assassins need her for? Her teeth clenched at the thought of him. Malyutka walked with her back straight and her mouth pulled into a serious line. One of her paws was fiddling the hilt of her sheathed dagger, as if preparing to pull it out at any second. As an assassin, she must be ready for anything. If she got a job, she had to kill the target discreetly. No room for mistakes. However, if she's detected, she must be able to fight her way out while killing the target.
Thinking about jobs made Malyutka's paw grip the hilt of her dagger. Perhaps this was the reason the leader wanted to call her? Her heart pounded excitedly under her chest fur. As if reading her mind, the deputy smiled down at Malyutka.
"You should enjoy this," he said, mysteriously.
Soon, they arrived at the camp's center. The leader was waiting there, a sneer on his face and his arms crossed in front of his chest. "Well, well, well. If it isn't the Midget," he said, smirking. The fiery monster inside Malyutka, which had previously gone to sleep on the walk here, reared up its head and growled at the leader. Malyutka clenched her fist, suppressing the urge to come up with a retort. Her face was emotionless, but attentive.
"Okay, so the deputy brought me to light about your recent... progress"- his face contorted into a look of disdain at this word - "and he thinks you're ready to be given a job. I myself don't agree, but I figured that the camp could do better without you around for a day or two."
Malyutka was tempted to scowl and pull out her dagger at this point.
"Coincidentally, I have a job so trivial that it does not really matter whether or not you blunder. Of course, if you blundered, you'll probably be captured or killed or something, and we'll all be better off." The leader grinned.
"Right, so... What is this job, sir? Who am I supposed to assassinate?" Malyutka asked, trying to prompt him to get to the point. Suddenly, he shoved some sheets of paper roughly into Malyutka's paws. For a moment, her emotionless mask cracked and she scowled, but then it quickly repaired in a second. Malyutka leafed through the sheets. She saw the picture of a Viscet in one of the pages, and some information about his last whereabouts, his name, and stuff.
"You want me to track down this Viscet and dispose of him, sir?" Malyutka asked in a monotone voice.
"Correct."
Malyutka traced over the picture with her left paw, deep in thought. The Viscet was wearing black armor and carrying a black helmet.
"What has he done to deserve this assassination?" Malyutka asked suddenly, unsure of why she did so. The leader fixed her with a cold glare.
"None of your business, Midget. Point is, someone needs us to dispose of him. So, will you accept this job? There'll be rewards, of course. Or, are you going to be a little worm and crawl back into your hidey-hole?" The leader sneered, and the feeling of anger rose back up in Malyutka's chest. She took the blank paper in the back of the pile and stabbed it with her dagger to let out some of that fire burning inside her. The blade of the dagger went through the paper. She gritted her teeth, her eyes flashing dangerously.
"Consider him snuffed, sir," she said in an emotionless voice, although there was a hint of disgust when she said 'sir'.
"Well done," the deputy hurriedly said, seeing the fuming look on the leader's face. He quickly grabbed Malyutka by the shoulders and turned her round, then pushed her away. "Start packing now, start packing..."
"I wish I could assassinate him," Malyutka said through clenched teeth, as soon as he was out of earshot.
"How DARE you speak ill of our leader?!" he scolded in an angry whisper, taking Malyutka aback. She had momentarily forgotten that he was the deputy, and was very loyal to the leader as opposed to her hate for him.
"Sorry, sir," Malyutka said, trying to make her voice as emotionless as ever so that he did not hear any signs of disrespect. She did not want to sound sorry, though. The deputy glared at her disapprovingly, but ushered her to her tent all the same as if afraid the leader might come after them and take his anger out on her.
Malyutka slung her bag across her shoulder and pulled a cloak on. Her daggers, sharp and shiny, were ready. "Good luck, Malyutka," the deputy said. "Don't let me down. Don't fail me."
"I know."
She waved goodbye, her face stony and emotionless as always. The deputy forced a smile, and although it was still clear that he was a bit miffed about her comment on the leader, he still wanted her to succeed.
The black Viscet spent days tracking him down. However, by some miracle, she managed to track him down. He was always surrounded by a cluster of Viscets, so it would be hard to pull off an assassination without being detected. Malyutka stalked and watched him, concealing her tiny self in some bushes. He was slightly bigger than her, but only slightly. Malyutka felt bad for the Viscet. Fighting and training was one thing, but taking the life of another? She hadn't counted on how hard that would be. Needless to say, she succeeded.
Malyutka felt a rising sense of success in her heart right afterwards. Her eyes glinted maliciously in the moonlight, and her facial muscles tugged at her mouth, revealing her teeth in an odd, twisted way. She had succeeded, and it felt very rewarding. Wanting to take something from her first victim, Malyutka stretched out a paw and removed his black armor. Most of the parts were too big for her, except for the helmet. She put it on her head.
She obscured herself with her black cloak again, running off. Malyutka was still grinning. That's when she caught sight of her own reflection in the river, caused by the moonlight. Only, it wasn't herself. A snaggletoothed monster that looked like a Viscet stared back at her, a malicious grin on her face. Shocked, Malyutka stumbled backwards, her expression changing back into its usual emotionless form. Rubbing her eyes, she looked into the river again, seeing a distorted reflection of herself. Sinking to her knees, she kept on staring at the reflection. Suddenly, pain stung her chest. It was nothing like she ever felt before. Instinctively she put a paw up to her fur, as if that would subdue the pain. She realized something.
She was the monster.
"What have I done?" she gasped, pulling the helmet off her head. She stared at the helmet. Visions of the Viscet's shocked eyes came back to her. "Knock it off, Tiny," she scolded herself, harshly. She placed the helmet back onto her head. "It's a normal part of your first job. You feel. You're not supposed to feel." She felt something cold and stone-like creep around her heart, masking the pulses of pain she felt. Malyutka stood up, facing away from the water. She walked away to return to the camp. However, along the way, she couldn't help reimagining the scene she had seen...
The reflection of the monster that had broken through her stone-like shell.
▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃
Word Count: 1846 words
Last edited by
ShimmerSolarPets on Thu Jul 21, 2016 11:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.
