Sweaty palms; she wiped her left hand on her trousers, then her right, switching the needle blade from hand to hand as she did so. Were it not for her mastery of Lapaye, her heart would be racing. The woman, walking briskly down the alley, was less than twenty meters from her now.
In her mind, she could hear Rade’s voice as if he were standing next to her.
“Apprentice, what is the First Law?”
“Patience makes the assassin deadly; haste and carelessness are the instruments of her demise,” she muttered under her breath.
Eridani had nearly set, its twilight mixing with the long shadows that stretched across the street. The night lamps were not yet active and her cloak absorbed any lingering light, rendering her all but invisible. She stepped forward, crouching down and balanced on the balls of her feet. The needle blade slipped silently out from under her cloak. Hardly longer than her hand and as narrow as her smallest finger, the weapon was jet black save for the small drop of bright blue poison at the tip.
The woman’s thoughts were unguarded. She held some apprehension of walking alone at dusk, but gauged the risk to be a small one. The memory of where this woman had been flooded the assassin’s mind and the motive behind this assignment became obvious to her.
The sound of the woman’s steps on the walkway echoed down the narrow alley. It would only be a few moments now. The blade felt alive in her hand, almost humming with anticipation.
“Patience, above all, patience,” she reminded herself.
Her subject appeared in the opening between the bins where she crouched. Her body uncoiled and she sprang, launching herself upward. With her left foot, she pushed off a small crate and increased her speed. Her attack was swift and silent; the blade found its mark before the woman ever saw her assailant.
The wound itself was not immediately life threatening, but the poison acted quickly. The woman uttered a small noise as her arms and legs went completely limp and she collapsed to the ground. Her breathing and heart rate began to slow down. A shadowy, hooded figured loomed over her and watched the fear growing in her eyes.
The hood fell back and the woman’s eyes widened in shock. Long, blond hair cascaded around the face of a young girl. Her brilliant green eyes had the cold, focused look of a killer. Her voice was soft and lilting but her message was harsh and unyielding.
“Dame Regine Larrimore, under the laws of Le Couteau Noir, you have been contracted for assassination. As such, you are entitled to buy out the contract for the amount of two hundred twenty-five Kiloros. If you possess this coin on your person, I will administer the antidote and summon a medico directly.”
“I… have it at… my home,” the woman croaked. “I will pay you double that… if you let me live.”
“Since you have stated that you are not in possession of sufficient coin to buy out the contract, I am duty bound to complete it.”
Although the poison would have finished the woman, it would have been a slow, agonizing death. The girl hesitated for a moment, watching the rise and fall of the woman’s chest slow with each breath. Her eyes fluttered and closed even as her body fought to stay alive. The tip of the blade wavered slightly and despite her training, the assassin’s pulse sounded loudly in her ears. Her hesitation lasted long enough for her to look at the woman’s face and then, the blade, expertly inserted, stopped the woman’s heart and spared her any further anguish.
The girl placed her hand against the woman’s neck briefly before withdrawing a slender, black stylus from her tunic and leaving her mark upon the woman’s forehead. The death of Dame Regine Larrimore would be registered as a contracted assassination, sparing the Mages further investigation.
The night lamps sputtered to life, their greenish yellow light washing over the scene. Her hood once again concealing her identity, she headed down the alley away from the woman’s body. Despite her youth and small frame, the night held no danger for her; few citizens were brave or foolish enough to accost a cloaked assassin, assuming they even saw her.