It started like other days. I was given a job, and went to get it done... This one was elusive, though. I had the need to contract a tracker. Found her wandering around the Prancing Pony, and then I knew. She was the one that freed me from jail. I remember those words: "I am just a poor widow trying to do good." If they are truth or not?... I certainly do not know, but she must have done something to anger my contract. Either way, I can't say I owe her much, was going to be freed days later. They say that the way to an efficacious job is to not give a damn.
I followed her through the corridors of the inn. At the end she turned, and questioned me; thinking at first I had appeared to return the favor. One could say that. As the chat continued she grew more and more distrustful. After trying to fool me with the old trick of "You go first" and then unsheathing a dagger to back stab me, she grew silent; would not say a thing, but her eyes were unswerving at the doorway. She wanted to leave, she wanted me to just walk away. And I did.
Wait, it does not end there. Only gets better. Fool if you thought I was going to let her live! What do I gain with that?... Nothing!
That is when the tracker enters. With some observation and gossip hearing one knows who are the ones that will do that job for you, with the correct amount of money. And when it all comes to money, they are complete imbeciles.
It was rather easy for the lass, I just had to follow her. Let her enter first, of course. See if there was any trap to be triggered. While I awaited for any sign of trap or battle, I found something that... could had been expected. Once again, the kid had followed me... I could not be bothered with chitchat, and I can not be bothered with her following me everywhere... have to do something about it. Wonder where Theodane hid my old halberd.
I kicked the door down and entered, some say the best defense is a good offense... I say I wanted to kick that damn door down. Was not going to last for long, regardless if I did anything to it or not. Then I found the scene, lass had everything under control.
The first thing I noticed was that the place had the horrid stench of cat. The place was filled with cats. With cats. The second thing was that the woman was armed with a dagger, prepared to fight for her life. And the third thing was the not-so-comfortable chair near the fireplace, on which I sat and started sharpening my claymore. Can not say the conversation was entertaining... somewhat boring for a woman about to die. No pleas, no crying, no begging. No nothing... She did question if I was going to ravage her before killing her, to which I responded: "You are confusing me with another sort of mercenary." But other from that, nothing the woman could had said or done was enough to prolong her time.
She had her eyes focused on me. Do not blame her, lass had just a rusty dagger (It was the one the woman used to free me from jail) while I had the weapon of choice. Nevertheless, it was a poor choice. Both choosing to look at the tracker or at me was a poor choice. She was doomed, she knew that. She accepted it.
With nothing more to say, the tracker threw the dagger, and it went flying towards the woman's neck. Afterwards she walked away, and I was left to do my job.
With her struggling on her knees I was able to have a good look at where would be the killing blow. Plenty of options, as always. I was not going to take much time torturing, I was not paid for that... I was just told to kill, and I did.
The dagger was skillfully impaled on the side and she had both hands on her neck, trying to stop the blood from dripping out. She made the attempt to scream, but just silence and more blood came out of her mouth. I raised my sword and quickly sent the sharp end into her mouth. Jets of blood soared as I impaled the blade further into her head. I could hear the sound of steel piercing flesh and muscle; and the breaking of her skull. Then I saw the bloody end peering on her forehead, shimmering crimson with the soft light of the candles.
Soon if was the whole blade just cold stuck inside her head, I had to stomp on the motionless body and break her back, was not going to use it anymore. The sound of bones cracking was loud, scaring away some cats. Even with this, the sword would not come out. I stepped on her neck, ejecting a torrent of blood from the dagger wound and her mouth... or what was left of it. I twisted the blade, creating an strange pulp of blood and muscle.
Finally I managed to unstuck the blade, and did not doubt to hack the head off and toss it to the fireplace, removing any evidence of who this woman was... not like it was recognizable.
Such an irony it was; she freed me from a cage, just to launch me into the real jail, and I did the same for her. Sent the soul to the Void.
I left the room, abandoning the rest of the body for the cats to deal with it. I was soaked in blood, therefore I also had the strong stench of death. It was night already, and most people had left the streets; walked for a while until reaching where my contract was, pushed the door and found him waiting. Had the need of asking the question:
"Who was this woman?"
"Someone I needed dead. So many troubles she gave me with that jail breaking... Those brigands where there because of something! No one steals from me!.. And she, she just allowed them to walk away!?!..."
He tossed me a pouch of gold coins and turned around, apparently his highness was not pleased with the question and wanted no more talk. I grabbed the money and stuffed it into my pocket, "You know, I owe something to -someone-... Perhaps it is time to repay."
He never faced me, not once, "I could not care less for that! you are someone I contacted to kill my target, the work is done!"
"Oh, but that is where you are wrong... I am afraid our business is not finished. There is one more thing..." and I raised my sword so that it meets his back, spilling his blood on the dusty floor. The limbless, heavy corpse fell, accompanied by a muffled "puff"... and I felt pleased to find some more bags of coin inside his pockets.
