Being an assassin is not for anyone. You got to have a cold heart, and have some balls. It’s not just to enter someone’s house and slit their throat. You have to plan it. Have contacts. Bribing the guards help a lot. But enough about that. I’m an assassin. My name is a secret. Safety reasons. I’m the best there is. There’s a reason why I’m so expensive. I’ve taken out everything from bums to royalties. Never had any problems. Except for that one time.

I had gotten a mysterious letter from someone who wanted to be anonymous. Together with the letter was a leather bag filled with 100 gold coins. I would get 500 more once the job was done. The letter was short. All it said was “Outside the Drunken Sailor at noon.” These kinds of letters are normal for me. But the time and meeting place was odd. The Drunken Sailor was the busiest tavern in all of Cirkadiil, and had its peak at noon. But the customer is always right, so I decided to go.

After waiting for ten minutes, a kid came over to me and gave me a note. The note contained all necessary information about the target. Even how the target should be killed.

I appreciate your time, and I’m glad you accepted my offer.

I’m sorry I could not meet in person, but I am a wanted man, and I can’t get caught, not now.

The target is one of my earlier associates. She turned her back on us, and leaked all our secrets to the guard. Therefore she must be killed.

Her name is Mara Luz, and she lives in a big mansion out by the firehouse.

She’s a sneaky one, so you’ll have to be careful on this one.

I need you to kill her in sleep. Behind you there is a barrel. Open it and you’ll find a knife. It’s poisoned with a very lethal poison, there is no antidote.

You have to stab Mara in the heart. You may not leave your signature, the flower in the victims mouth, on the scene. Instead, you are to leave the small note attached to the paper you are holding on the scene. If you do leave your signature, or forget to leave this note there, you will not get 500 gold, only 400.

On behalf of the Dorec Noctare brotherhood

I wish you luck.

You might not know this, but the Dorec Noctare brotherhood is someone you don’t want to fool with. Some say they don’t exist. I know they do. I’ve been hired by them before. I folded the note and put it in my inner pocket, before turning around and looking for the barrel. It wasn’t hard to find one. At the harbor, there are always barrels. Finding the right one is the hard part. But I found it at once. The Dorec Noctare sign was on it. A broken arrow on top of a leaf. I have no idea what it means, but I really don’t care. I just want the gold they’re offering. I decided to get this job over with, I was short on gold, and I didn’t want the Dorec Noctare waiting, so I did it the same night.

The house was easy to find. There were only two houses by the lighthouse, and old dirty hut and a big mansion. The knife was safely in my belt, and I had a couple normal knives on the inside of my jacket, just for safety. I crawled closer to the house when I was startled by voices. I quickly hid in the bushes, and heard the voices come closer. When I stuck my head out to see who it was, I was shocked to see the two Royal Guards patrolling around the mansion. Royal Guards are not easy to crack. They do not accept bribes, and it is practically impossible to sneak past them. But there were always those few who could sneak past them unnoticed. I am one of them. I stayed hidden in the bushes for a while to take the time on the guards patrol. They went around the whole mansion, and used about 2 and a half minute on the round. I had 2 and a half minute to pick the lock and get inside. I could do that. I waited until the guards were just around the corner and ran silently over to the front door. It wasn’t easy to pick, but with my set of lock picks, nothing is impossible. I managed to get in before the guards arrived, and locked the door behind me.

The house was dark, and silent. But I had a bad feeling, so I took it easy. The entrance was grand and beautiful. The floor was wood, and the doors were incarnated with beautiful motives. I decided to move up the stairs to the second floor, as that is where rich people usually sleep. For some reason, it makes them feel safer. But they never lock the bedroom door. Odd.

I was about to open the door when I noticed something moving behind a door to my left. A guard! The door started opening, and I quickly hid right behind it. As the door went up I saw the commander of the Royal Guard, Edvin Farley. Slimiest man in the whole Guard. He took bribes from everyone, but threw them in prison as soon as he had received the money. And he disliked us. Thieves, assassins, pirates. And now he was standing right in front of me. I realized I had no choice but to kill him. In a few seconds he would turn around and see me, and I could not let this mission fail.

I quickly pulled out a knife, before I jumped on him, hold my hand in front of his mouth and cut his throat. He didn’t die the first time, so I stabbed him in the neck once more. That silenced him. I stood still for a while, listening for sounds, but nothing was heard. It was safe to carry on.

I continued to the door to the bedroom, and opened it. The room was huge. Walls were covered with bookshelves, beautiful paintings hung on the walls, and there was even a corner with a fireplace, for quiet nights where you just wanted to relax and read a good book. By the north wall, the bed was. I walked silently over to it, and pulled the knife out. That’s when I saw the beauty of the woman lying there. It was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. Long, hazel brown hair, and a beautiful face. Why would ANYONE want her dead? I tried to shake it off me, and lifted the knife over my head, ready to thrust it into her heart.

But I couldn’t! I don’t know what was wrong. Suddenly, the woman opened her eyes. “Are you going to stab me, or not?” she said, smiling lightly. I was scared at first, not expecting her to be awake. “What?” was all I could say. The woman got up, and put on a silk robe. “Sneaking up on women is not something they appreciate.” She said and turned around. “Who sent you?” I decided to not answer the question. Not only had I failed to fulfill the contract, I couldn’t tell her who sent me. “I bet it was the Dorec Noctare. This is typical for them. They never do the dirty work themselves. They always hire someone.”

She sat down in a chair by the fireplace and showed me to the other. I didn’t sit down. I didn’t trust her. I wanted to be prepared for her attack. “Suit yourself,” she said, before creating a fireball in her left hand and throwing it into the fireplace. So she was a mage? How come that wasn’t mentioned? “Why does the Dorec Noctare brotherhood want you dead?” I asked, all of a sudden. I didn’t realize what I’d said before it was said. I had just told her who hired me. “Well. I left the brotherhood. I leaked all their secrets to the king, and now, they’re split up. Only a few are left, of the one so great brotherhood.” She said, and took out a book. It was handwritten. “This is a list over all the members in Dorec Noctare. Thos with crosses by their names are dead, those with a circle are in prison, and those without anything are still out there.” She said and handed me the book. The book was about twenty pages thick, with lots of names in it. Most of them had a cross next to them. Only a few were blank.

Suddenly, a breeze put out the fire in the fireplace, and four men stood in the middle of the room. “You have failed on your task. You have not killed the woman. You shall therefore go to the same fate as she will. You must die.” I couldn’t tell who said it, as they all were wearing hoods, but in the next minute, the man in the front had created a big purple ball, and thrown it towards me.

Foolishly, I lifted my hands and tried to protect me, even though I knew it wouldn’t help. But nothing happened. I looked up and saw Mara in front of me, with the ball in her hand. She threw it back at the man, who dissolved it in the air. “So, protecting the man who was hired to kill you, are we?” he said before removing his hood. He was probably in his late twenties, bald, and with cold, grey eyes.

“You know you don’t have a chance. Give up, and we’ll kill you fast, and without any pain.” He laughed. “Shut up.” Mara replied. “I’ll never bow under for anything you say ever again.”

She created another fireball and shot it at one of the men standing behind him. It was unexpected, and the fireball hit the man to the left of the leader. He caught on fire, and cried out, before collapsing. All of a sudden he disappeared, and all that was left was his hood. “You foolish woman!” the leader yelled before shooting three purple balls at her.

Mara jumped away, and the balls hit the wall behind her, making huge holes in the wall. They didn’t make any noise, but cut clean through the wall.

Steps were heard from outside the door, and suddenly the door opened and the two guards that had patrolled outside came in, swords up. “What’s going on here!?” one asked and looked around at the chaos, and at the burning hood on the floor. “Pathetic guards.” The bald man said before setting them on fire just by looking at them. “Who is this guy anyways?” I whispered to Mara. “The current leader of Dorec Noctare, Heath Varlen.” She said, before shooting two more fireballs at the two people behind Heath Varlen. Both were busy watching the burning guards and didn’t see the fireballs coming. The same happened to them as to the first one. They disappeared.

Heath Varlen was visibly angry now. Rather pissed. “YOU SHALL DIE YOU FILTHY WHORE!” he yelled before shooting four magical swords at her. She dodged three, but the fourth one penetrated her right through her heart. She died instantly. I froze. Seeing the beauty lying there on the floor, dead, was horrible. I pulled myself together and felt the anger build up in me. “The girl got what she deserved…” Heath laughed. “Now, over to yo-“ all of a sudden he was silenced. While smiling at the dead body of Mara Luz, I had pulled out my poisoned knife, and stabbed it right through his heart. “You. Shall. Die!” I yelled and turned it around one turn and pulling it out. Heath Varlen fell to the floor and disappeared. He was dead. I looked at the body of Mara Luz, and felt a tear in my eye. That had never happened before. I heard more people running up the stairs, so I jumped out the broken window and ran off into the darkness.

I’ve been thinking a lot about that incident in the later times. What really happened? Why couldn’t I kill Mara Luz? I didn’t accept any contracts for a year after that. But right now, it’s just a memory pushed into the deepest corner of my mind. But I can’t forget it. The day I didn’t finish the contract. The day I felt love for the first time.