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“You’ve got some fight in you yet!”
I whip my head back, causing him to let go of me. My head rings with a haze, but I lunge again at him, throwing continuous lefts and rights. A vicious knee lands against his groin.
I place my hands on his neck with the intent of breaking it. The recovered guards grab me again, pinning my arms in place. Ocuri rises, grabbing himself in agony.
“Commendable of you to go down with a fight!” he praises. “But it’s not enough to save you. No one is coming for you now.”
His enclosed fist rocks my temple, my world instantly turning to black.
23
SALINA
Istand perched on the precipice of the warehouse roof, having moved up here from the rafters in order to gain a better view. Here, I have a wider vantage point over the vicinity where I can easily detect movement within the perimeter.
It’s quiet for the most part. Up here, there’s no one to interrupt me or break my chain of thought which I’m deeply immersing myself into. The city center is a fair bit away in the distance. Out here, there’s not much but the occasional passerby.
The time and space alone allows me to get lost in my thoughts as I mull over my journey up until this point. My body is as primed as ever as I clench my fists, hardened from years of physical training, but my mind is a totally different story.
“All those years of combat training and etiquette classes… And for what?” I ask myself, sighing in frustration.
I recall being deep into my training, always visualizing myself as being one of the greats, a fabled assassin whose stories and tales would be passed down from generation to generation as legend.
Alas, here I stand with the target of my contract resting nearby, his fate resting in the palm of my hands. If I wanted to, I could easily take him out, especially now with his guard down. Instead, I’m now protecting him, my focus changing to keeping him alive.
The urge to get rid of Denve Thuvrol is long gone at this point. I peer down at my hands, feeling them fill with shame with the rest of my body, just like a cup fills with water.
Sythar’s face flashes in my mind as I imagine his disappointed frown. For me to be doing this goes against the very core of my work, to always focus on the contract. My punishment wouldn’t be a mere slap on the wrist, no, it would mean expulsion, or something far worse.
It doesn’t help that he has a lot of faith in me after I convinced him I could do this. I guess he was right all along. Sythar isn’t the only person I have to worry about back at Nakam. I hear the imagined words of Callista repeating in my mind.
I told you so…
But the biggest person whomst I must confront is myself. I have no clue what’s next after this meeting between Denve and his family, if it even goes ahead.
Things are so incredibly uncertain that I don’t know what I’m going to do tomorrow. One thing is for sure, future events can only be determined based on what happens tonight.
There comes the sound of muffled voices below me. Immediately, I rise to my feet in a flurry.
Someone else is here! I got so wrapped up in my own thoughts that I completely missed people coming in! How foolish of me!
Scolding myself, I head back inside the warehouse interior through the rooftop doors. Descending down to the rafters, I stoop low as I take cover behind a beam of wood. I hear distant talking going on, presuming it to be Denve’s family.
So they finally showed up then.
I peer over the edge but can only see Denve from where I hide. Whoever else is here is just out of view. I’m about to move when I hear the voice of Ocuri, halting me in my tracks. He steps forward, the full view of his face revealing itself.
The sight of him snatches the air from my lungs, as if a nightmare twists and spins in my sleep. In that moment, my awareness of my surroundings becomes invisible to me as I’m whipped into a flashback, my head suddenly filled with sounds of burning wood and blood curdling screams.
I see Ocuri’s face, his eyes filled with flames as a sick smile spreads across his face. Burning in the fire is my dear sister who reaches her hand out to me. I try to go to her but as I run, she slips further and further away, Ocuri disappearing with her as he shoots me an evil grin.
Only when the sound of a scuffle breaks out below do I snap back to reality. I look down, spotting Denve locked in a tussle with Ocuri.
Get a grip! Denve needs your help!
I move as quickly as I can through the rafters without making a sound. One thing is for sure, his parents aren’t here. By the time I’ve reached a better spot, I look down just in time to see Ocuri land a sickening blow on Denve, the latter held back by two massive guards.
Shit, this isn’t good…
