After leaving the barn, Night walker followed his feet, the next destination unknown. He had been following Kaie all morning and all she had done is go out for a joy ride on the craziest steed she ever could have chosen. In fact, he had gotten so impatient that he had been heard by his quarry, possibly even see.

“Stupid….. Stupid… Stupid!  Each time the word crossed his mind it came more berating, more painful. He had spent his entire life tracking people, hunting,being invisible. It was what had kept him alive. Now that he was so distracted with the past, with personal problems that he had failed to to his job. Failure here was not an option… especially not with the unstable nature of the King.

“The King my friend… why would he send me away for such a thing? Where has twenty years scraping around the world gotten me? Then upon my return…”

He stopped walking as he reached the tavern near the opening of the city. He hadn’t realized how far he had traveled in his quandries.  He took a deep breath and swept the hair out of his eyes. The only way to keep out the millions of questions battering his defenses was to work…. hunt. He had to rejoin the hunt. In order to block out the confusion, the pain and the hurt one had to obsess over something.

He had been sent to find out what Kaie would be up to, what she would do, where she would go. Why, How, Who What….. When, Where…. After a few moments a deadly calm settled on his shoulders. There would be no more mistakes, no more fouls. Follow and be not seen, that was what he would do. With a look around he darted into the nearest crowd headed to the other side of the city, melting in with the dark muddy clothing of the street wandering children and merchants.

Where would she go when everything in the city had changed? She left the castle this morning to seek refuge in the stables… she finds the castle and it’s inhabitants uncomfortable, smothering.  Where to?

He kept wondering away as he walked until it came to him. With a smile he disappeared and began walking westwards.

“Unfamiliarity is stifling her, the only place she can go no for comfort is the past.”  The library, he knew she would have gone there seeking truths, seeking her name and her presence in history. However there was one thing he knew that she did not. The fact that the past was not to be pondered, not here, not now. The only thing contained in that library were ghosts that would seek to haunt visitors with guilt.

He picked up his pace, wondering what he had already managed to miss already; failing to note that his interest in the Great General Kaie had nothing to do with distraction, mission, or duty. The curiosity was all his own.

The assassin pressed on…

Middle of Chapter 4: Quandry

(If you would like the beginnings of this story please email me at: kalikanightwing@gmail.comsubject: Heroes lot)

 

A few minutes later I found myself standing near the tall buildings, and the feelings they evoked in me were more than unexpected. I had never been the type to be wholly religious; however, the fact that these buildings were the only things in my life that hadn’t changed at this point made me feel like I had something comforting and familiar to grip onto in the midst of the tempest I had fallen into. The twin buildings stood tall and majestic, the white marble shining in the glittering sun. They were the beacons of guidance for the entire county, full of knowledge. ‘and plenty of lies’ I thought with a smile as I turned to the building that faced north and paused at the door.

The temple that faced south housed all of the priests and priestesses of the country, all of their schools, dorms, and places of worship, even the main chapel in it faced to the south. The northern building; however, had always been where they kept the ancient laws, current news, religious archives and kingdom history. This building was a massive log of history that kept the secrets of the entire world in stock, readily available for anyone to see, if they could read of course.

At least, that’s how it was when I was there last, years ago. The moment I opened the door, the air inside of the building seemed to pour out in a rush. For a moment I thought I would be blown away when the great gust came to a stop and I felt nothing but dead air, the smell of must, and a chill up my spine. I stood there in disbelief then took a breath entering the library. The place once so grand and sought after was like a tomb. Dust covered every surface in a thick blanket, shelves and books caked with misuse. Statues of the worshiped twin goddesses stood in various states of disrepair, some missing fingers, others missing heads. A great fountain that had always stood at the entrance of the grand staircase in the center of the hall still read “knowledge, the water of life” in deeply engraved letters; alas, the ever flowing waters had run dry. The statues of the creatures of this world had been destroyed; bits and pieces lie all over the floor, like discarded trash. As the door slammed behind me I sank to my knees in front of a large piece of rubble that I recognized as the head of a gryphon.

I was so shocked I couldn’t even find it in me to cry.

“Why? Why would they allow this? This place… this was the pride… this was…” I stopped as I rubbed my hand over the gryphon’s handsome face. This place had been more than a library to me, not only had my friends built most of its knowledge from scratch, but it contained the only thing I had left to hold on to: a past-my past. The world as I knew it no longer existed, I had foolishly held onto the hope that the proof of my existence, my proud existence, would be here. I had hoped for the proof that all that I knew wasn’t a lie or a figment of madness created from years of stillness. A world that should have been carefully preserved in a book, revered by many sat here, on the verge of disintegration.

I’m not sure how long I stood there, it seemed like mere moments; however, when I finally came back to myself the shining sun seemed to have found its way into the western sky, it’s last blood red beams illuminating the sky in a beauty I could not appreciate. It was as if the voices of the ages were dying, bleeding into the horizon as the records of their past faded away into nothingness.