A chance meeting (Eris)

[Nyahna Sasin]

Timestamp: 30th Spring 510 AV

Why he was doing this, he still wasn't sure. He could have shattered the window, jump in, slit her throat, and be out in a few minutes. Or even better, he could have waited for the target, a hunter, to go out hunting, and killed her in the forest. But noooo. His employer wanted to make an impact. He had to sneak in, and kill her in a way that made it appear that the house hadn't been broken into.

Which was why he was on his knees, trying to use a newly bought set of thief's tools. He had a general idea of how to use them, but theory and practice were very different. He shifted, and tried again, this time applying more force in a different direction. He was rewarded with a click.

Smirking, he slipped the pick back into his pocket, and opened the door slowly. He paused as it creaked, and froze, worried. Luckily, no one came. He slipped in, and closed the door behind him.

Certain that his target was not waiting with a pan to hit him on the head, he stripped off his clothes, and shifted into his Dhani form.

He hissed softly in relief as he slipped back into his natural form. How he loved this form. Looking around, he could smell the woman in her bed. He smirked, and headed off towards the bedroom.



(-30 GM)

[Eris]

Eris stood outside a window which she had previously deduced led to the bedroom of her target. Darkness surrounded the lone house and the only sound she could hear was that of mice scurrying about in the grass. Eris came prepared to unlatch the window from the outside, but this time, the job seemed to have been made easier by the owner’s own carelessness. Who would leave a first-story window cracked open in the evening? Then again, the spring air had grown humid and it was understandable that the huntress would want a light draft in the room while she slept. That is, Eris hoped she was asleep. The last thing she wanted was to find the woman waiting for her –fully awake and with an arrow aimed at her head.

The man who employed her had told her terrible stories about the woman. Apparently, the woman shot his child with an arrow after he tried to steal some fruit from the tree in her yard. The child had died from the wound and now his merchant father was willing to pay any amount of money to have his boy’s death avenged. Deftly sliding her hand into the crack between the window and the sill, she pushed up the window and pulled herself up onto the sill.

As she swung her feet into the room, she froze. She could make out a faint sound coming from somewhere deeper in the house. Eris was sure that the huntress lived alone. The woman was now peacefully sleeping in bed, but Eris couldn’t kill her just yet – not when there could be a potential witness close by. Taking her dagger out of its sheath, Eris planted both her feet on the floor and waited.

[Nyahna Sasin]

Sasin froze as he heard a small thunk from the bedroom. Had she gotten up. He frowned, as he detected another smell. Cursing mentally, he wondered, who it could be? The woman had lived alone, and he hadn't seen anyone else.

He stopped, and scowled. He had heard terrible stories. They said that once, she killed the son of a wealthy merchant. His employer was a client of that merchant, and wanted the woman killed, both to avenge the boy, and so the father would stop moping, an dget back to selling. He didn't approve of that. He killed, but he drew the line at children.

Shaking his head, he proceded. He'd give whomever it was one chance, or he'd kill them as well.

As he slithered into the master bedroom, he looked around. There was his target. And there, there was another woman. He smiled at her. "Why hello there." He sensed no danger. "Judging by the dagger in your hand, and your method of entry," He began cheerfully, glancing at the open window. "You too, are here to assassinate this woman. I don't paticularly mind, but could we compare stories? My employer want's it to look like her house was never broken into."

[Eris]

Eris stared at the Dhani that entered the room. She had expected a maid, perhaps a nosy neighbor, but not a giant snake. No, definitely not a giant snake. Her fingers curled tightly over the dagger’s hilt. She had little practice fighting against Dhani, especially when they were in their most dangerous form. So, she was inwardly relieved when the newcomer seemed rather peaceful, if a little strange. Still, it was better to tread with caution.

“Hello,” she said evenly. “I have no intention of causing any damage to the house, so I’m sure your employer will be satisfied.”

“As for my story – I prefer not to share my employers’ secrets with strangers. Discretion is a part of the job,” she added with a thin smile.

[Nyahna Sasin]

Sasin smirked. "Fair enough. I asssume that your employer doesn't really mind how sshe dies, as long as she no longer breathes by the night's end." He was in a friendly mood today. "It's always a pleasure to meet a fellow assassin." He watched the woman with growing curiosity. It was rare that he ever met a fellow, and he had questions. Still, this wasn't the time to ask questions.

"Gruesome manner, gruesome manner."He mumbled to himself. "Kill first, then mutilate? Or the otherway around? Decisions, decisions." Turning to Eris, he said "Wait for a second." He slithered to his clothes, grabbed a length of rope and a cloth, then slithered back.

Sasin turned to Eris. "How about we tie her up first, then decide what to do with her. Give me a hand her. Hold up her head for me, will you?"

[Eris]

The corners of Eris’s mouth quirked up in amusement at the Dhani’s mumblings. She propped up the woman’s head with one hand, keeping the other hand close to her mouth in case she woke up. Either this one was a heavy sleeper by nature or she took some herbal tea to help her to the land of dreams. One would need help sleeping after murdering a child, after all.

“I’d rather not cut her to pieces if that’s alright with you,” Eris said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. “A clean cut across the neck would do the trick, don’t you think?”

Eris had never liked the more…ornate ways of killing – the burning, mutilation, staged suicides… They were all a waste of time. A swipe of the dagger was always the best way to go. Killing a woman in her sleep was also a tad unethical in Eris’s book, but at the moment she didn’t want to argue with the giant snake in the room.

[Nyahna Sasin]

He raised a nonexistent eyebrow. "A squeamish assassin? Interesting." He remarked. "My employer wishes to make an example of her." He said, his hand reaching for the rope. He deftly bound their target, hand and foot, before gagging her.

"She's still asleep." He remarked, amused. "I agree with you, normally I would just kill her instantly." He didn't torture people unless he felt like it, and him getting a job, and him feeling like it rarely ever coincided. "But this is different. You must have heard what she did. If you don't like it, you can leave. You'll still get paid, and you'll get the satisfaction of her death. "

"I don't claim to care overly much about the child. But I do understand revenge."

[Eris]

“I am not squeamish,” Eris scoffed, feeling insulted. “I simply do not enjoy making a spectacle out of a job. But, by all means, you go right ahead.”

Eris was surprised to hear that the Dhani had been told the story of the murdered child. There was no way her employer would have hired to assassins when one was enough. That meant that he was working for someone also seeking revenge for the child’s death. Eris was tempted to ask, but held the question back. She did not want to reveal anything of her own instructions by asking about his.

“No, I believe I’ll stay,” she said, crossing her arms across her chest as she leaned against a wall. “I’m not going to leave while the target is still alive and I’m certainly not just going to trust you to kill her.”

[Nyahna Sasin]

Smirking, Sasin, lowered his dagger to her cheek, then paused. "On the other hand.... I'd rather not risk all this screaming. Ah, well." Slipping his dagger to her throat, he dug it in, destroying her voicebox. Fully awake, the woman screamed silently.

He grinned in delight as he considered the options available to him. "This won't take long. I can't be too bothered."

He decided on her cheeks. Slipping his dagger across her cheek, he started carving swirls in her cheek. He smirked as blood rolling down her cheek. His knife moved up to her eyes. Carefully, almost gently, he cut her eyes from her face, but left them in the socket

Dropping the dagger, his hands found her fingers. His thumb and finger crushed her knuckles, one after another. He left the other hand as it was.

Picking up his knife, he cut a cross across her belly, and slit her throat.

He slithered back to the living room. He shifted back to his human form, and dressed himself. Locking the front door, he returned to the bedroom.

"Satisfied?" He asked.

[Eris]

Eris watched the display, with a ball of pure horror building up in her stomach. She felt sick. She had killed before and many times at that, but never like this… Never with so much pain and blood and… She was at a loss for words. An accusing thought stabbed at her mind, resurfacing no matter how much she tried to smother it: Why didn’t you stop him? You could have stopped him. Ended her suffering.

Eris shook her head, clearing it of the nagging thought. Her voice was cold when she spoke, her face devoid of all emotion, “Quite satisfied.”

She turned around on her heel, putting her hand on the windowsill. The Dhani had intrigued her at first, but now she just felt disgusted. She would have to leave soon, before the sun went up. Perhaps she could just spend the day in her room at the inn today – take a short break from life.