Revenge: reflections of a balde

“I’ve been in this world a long time. There is nothing I can really do about it. Twelve winters; that’s how long I’ve been searching for him. Seems like a long time, eh? Well, this is your job when you’re an assassin.” Vataliny replied to the man. She lifted her ale to her mouth and took a long drink. A man sat across from her listening to her tale as it finished. He nodded understandingly.
“Aye. So what ‘o this man? Wat did ‘e ever do to you? Why don’t you take down that hood ‘o yers? Not much to hide besides yer identity.” Vataliny shrugged. She preferred not showing who she really was. . People tended to either try and keep her captive, as some sort of prize, or try to kill her. The man continued, “Let me see that dagger ‘o yers. Looks like it could do little damage to a human, assassin.” Vataliny picked her dagger up off the table with ease, as though it were a feather. Flipping it skillfully; then catching it by the tip of the blade, hilt towards the man. He grasped the hilt as Vataliny let go of it. His arm dropped and he had trouble maneuvering it around.
“‘Ow do you carry this thing? It’s heavy as five sacks full ‘o grain.”
Vataliny shrugged once more and replied, “I think it very light. Truthfully, the hilt is made of solid gold. The blade is pure elvish metal. Unbreakable really.”
The man laughed unbelievably. “There are no such things as elves, er wizards. Nothing Mi-thi-cal. Er ‘ow ever you say it.” Vataliny looked at him wondering how sheltered this small village was. She pulled down her hood and maroon hair fell out of her hood, two bright yellow eyes now shone through the dark hair. The man gasped.
“I’ve heard tales about ye ‘ybrid. All ‘o the ‘orrible deeds ye ‘ave done. Yer the demon Vataliny. You killed a whole village. Yer a rouge, an assassin, a beast!” Vataliny rose up in rage; grabbing her dagger out of the man’s hand and held it out so the tip of the blade touches the man’s throat.
“I am no beast, you filthy peasant. Mark my words, if you wish to live then I suggest keeping your mouth shut.” She replied in a raged whisper. Taking the dagger away from the man’s neck she smiled a threatening smile and looked around to make sure no drunk or bar maid was looking at them. The man felt something warm and wet against his neck. Putting his hand up, he felt blood.
“You dirty wench…” The man raised his hand to slap her but no one was there. A bar maid was standing next to the table.
“Is something wrong?” The man shook his head. He looked outside at the snowstorm. No one could get through that. Not even a demon.







The Story
Vataliny sat in the forest waiting for the sun to come out. She was thinking things over. She had risked exposing her identity. She could risk that again if she was going to find him. Toler. She must kill him. Nothing could stop her from hunting him down and killing him. If only she had done it that day. That day so long ago. She remembered everybody, Aluwishis, Alyx, Haze, and of course, Toler. He had to run didn’t he? Just running, he had got a day head start. She never meant it this way. She had found him hiding like a frightened animal backed into corner by an elf hunter. She had gotten tired, but he had gotten quicker then she remembered and skinnier. He looked like he’d been starved. He wasn’t so cocky either. No, he was sane, sane and unprotected. Vataliny started to sing, it was an elvish song. The words could not be heard, but the tone and the beauty could be recognized as Elvin. It was unthinkable that beauty, elegance, and grace could be heard from such a beast.
Though, if Vataliny didn’t have fangs and part reptilian blood she would be a normal human, and she would start to look her age. Vataliny only looked eighteen. Which was very young for a woman, but, in truth, she was really around 280 winters. She was a skilled swordsman. Her dagger also had a small jewel on the top. A turquoise gem, indicating she was a true friend of the keeper of water. The gold elvish writing on the blade said, “Thou who holds this dagger is the purest of evil. There is no good or pity in this being. Thou who holds this weapon will be cursed for eternity until vengeance is brought upon the guilty.” The gold lettering now shone in the bright spring sun. The snow now dripped with life giving powers, the ground soaked up the water greedily. Vataliny still sat in the tree.
Thirty days had passed and she had gone no where. It got worse still, Vataliny had no food. Animals wouldn’t be plentiful, but the spring would revive it. She picked up her dagger and sword and looked around for deer or rabbit at least. Nothing, again, she could see nothing, Vataliny was starting to doubt her hunting skills. She might be losing her touch. The curse might be wearing off. She was overjoyed at this thought, and then realized; blood hadn’t touched the dagger in awhile. She had been dreaming, famished, tired, cold, and was now raging about the forest. No food, no Toler, and if she was to get started on trying to break this wretched curse then she couldn’t sleep. She heard some rustling of leaves in the trees and stopped pacing. An arrow flew towards her it whizzed by Vataliny’s head. What was that? Vataliny looked back down at the arrow. It was Elvin. What the hell did elves want with her? Wasn’t it enough that they had cursed her entire blood line? She looked up and just barely dodged the next arrow. The elf jumped down from the tree. It was a female. She recognized the elf, couldn’t remember who she was until she spoke.
“What are you doing here, Snake woman? You should not be here. Go! Now!” The elf drew another arrow from her quiver and set it on the bow, almost in a threatening motion. Vataliny drew her sword; a hushed no came out of her mouth. The elf leaned forward, “What was that?”
Vataliny looked up, “No, Tari Elanstar.” The elf looked up surprised.
“What? No! You remembered my name. I thought your memory had been lost. A man came by, he had been screaming he was free; the beast was not going to get him. The demon queen Vataliny was dead. She had been drowned in the sea water, I couldn’t believe it to be so, but when I heard him saying the demon queen I knew it couldn’t be that girl that we saved when she was young.”
Vataliny looked startled. She couldn’t believe this. She had been saved when she was young. Tari continued, “Yes, Vataliny. We had saved you after your village was burned down. You were the only survivor of that village. You had passed eighteen winters, and then nineteen, then twenty winters had past. Soon thirty winters had passed and you looked the same as you did when you had reached eighteen winters. We didn’t know you were cursed until your fangs grew in and your beautiful blond hair turned a dark blood red, and those pretty green eyes grew to be and evil yellow. We had to send you away; you were no longer the sweet girl that I had raised. The evil we have been fighting for so long took over the one person that could save us. The curse had taken you and the evil mage that had cursed you, died so long ago but the man was her heir, and the curse of the cobra has taught you to hunt, and your swordsmanship had improved.” She explained how this curse had been placed for a reason. Vataliny was quiet, but a million thoughts flew through her mind. How could this be? She took a step back; someone had struck her in the stomach. Her world started spinning. She was feeling sick, nothing was making sense. Feeling a cold pain in the arm, looking down she saw that feathers were dripping with blood. A scream could be heard and some shouting. Vataliny stepped back once more, dizzy dropping her weapons, almost mechanically.
Then blackness came, everything turned dark and she fell down. She kept falling. She could feel blood flowing out of her stomach and arm. Then water. She heard water, yes, it was unmistakably water. She opened her eyes to see a dark blue sky in between the branches of the forest. The leaves were silhouetted by the moon. She turned her eyes to an annoying humming noise and saw golden wings that seemed to give off a kind aura. A turquoise body hung, along with four dainty legs hung down, suspended in air. Vataliny looked at the thing more closely. She wasn’t dead. She felt her stomach which ached with tremendous pain. It was wet. She drew her fingers closer to her eyes and saw they were stained a bright red color. They felt cold, cold with blood.
“Are you Vataliny?” Came a heavy accented voice. It sounded like a dragon of some sort. Vataliny nodded her head wearily, trying desperately to sit up, but her stomach was in so much pain she couldn’t.
“What is your name?” She said starring up at the dark sky. She heard a small hiss. “What?” she questioned.
“My name is Lluvia.” The dragon replied. Vataliny tried once again to sit up and succeeded only far enough to lean up against the tree trunk.
Nothing could change my past, she thought, but I wonder what this dragon… “Wants with me” she finished out loud.
As if reading her mind, Lluvia said, “I am here to tell you about a prophecy. In the future you will need assistance, on the third day of the sixth month in the year 2004, you will get captured by a man, he will try to use your blood to make someone like you, a clone, but I am here to make sure that prophecy doesn’t come true. Any one who gets hold of your blood will be able to create an army so big that guns will not even be able to destroy them.” Vataliny looked confused.
“Guns? What are guns?” she hadn’t heard of anything like that.
Lluvia remembered that this was still in the old century. “Guns are a weapon of the future. The prophecy can not come true!” she said, reinforcing her point.
“How do I make sure of that?” Vataliny’s voice was full of confusion but also confidence.
“You must kill Toler.” Lluvia’s answer was as simple as that. Vataliny thought for a moment, the man she had been searching for all of these years, was going to be able to destroy her, with her own blood?
“You’ll be able to help me though, right?” she asked, trying desperately to hide the fear in her eyes. Lluvia nodded. After thinking once more Vataliny replied, “Alright then, you may follow if you wish.” Vataliny coughed a couple of times and a small amount of blood ran down her lip. She breathed in heavily and then sighed. Longing to stand up and walk around, Vataliny gripped on to the ground with her hands and pushed her self up so that she was leaning against the tree. Slowly standing up Vataliny managed to rest her weary body against the tree. The blood soaked bandage had now fallen off her stomach; the slight wind blew the somewhat pinkish cloth off into the woods. Lluvia examined the wound carefully and noted that it had stopped bleeding. Tying a peace of black cloth around her stomach, Lluvia gently bit Vataliny’s hand. The woman had fallen asleep hanging limply on the tree branch; her hair was blowing in the breeze. Suddenly a noise was heard. It was a breaking of a twig; the sudden snap then all was quiet again. Vataliny jerked her head up, suddenly awake. Watchful eyes were scanning around them, it was excruciatingly quiet. It was no animal, it was a human. As if all nature had stopped to allow either Vataliny or this person to find one another, another noise was made, it was a rustling noise. It came from the bush next to them. She let go of the branch, and bent down to grab her dagger. Holding it straight out, she yelled, “I know you’re out there, now show yourself!”
Slowly a man stood up. He had long corn-blond hair and pale blue eyes. A sword was strapped to his side and he had loose brown clothing covering his body.
“The infamous Vataliny.” He sneered, “So much have I heard of you, but never gotten to meet you.” His hand had fallen to the hilt of his sword. Slowly, meticulously, he pulled the sword out of the sheath and held it out with both hands threatingly towards Vataliny. “Toler couldn’t be here today.” He stated simply.
“Who are you?” Vataliny asked crossly.
“I, madam, am Toler’s assassin.” A small, mocking laugh escaped his lips.
“Then I shouldn’t have any problem killing you.” Vataliny mumbled. Looking at her sword, she noticed the closest part of it was the blade. Bending down she firmly clasped her hand around the blade. Feeling the stinging pain as the sharp metal cut into her soft flesh she flipped it skillfully into the air and caught the hilt. As the dagger rested in her left hand and the sword in her right, Vataliny could feel blood start to cover her hand and was having a hard time holding onto the saturated hilt with a hand that was covering in the same red substance. Although she could have said something extremely demeaning about this man she chose to keep her mouth shut. It was to be a battle for more then just Vataliny’s life, but for freedom as well.