The Plauge

[PippinTook]

Ahem, I haven't been here in ages and only a handful of the regular RPers know me *waves to Gulio and Legoles* Anywho, newest little story. Its missing something terribly, something about the quality of writing is messed up, so I was in need of writing help and came back to the good old moot. So, if you wouldn't mind going over it and adding some thoughts, I'd appreciate it.

The Plauge


We are in the time of the Plauge. Great lamentation and evil befalls us now. The people are filled with greed and hatred and everyone is afraid. We pray to the Angels above to save us from this terrible fate, but their ears are stone to our cries. Many have died and I fear that many more will. Most fear that the end is near, we will be wiped from Seren forever. The King is distraught and knows not what to do. Cries of anguish fill the air, and there is no hope. But there is one. He is called the Savior, he has come to free us from our bondage. His eyes are like the sun, and his voice is from the Angels. Nothing can assault this man, he has come to save the world, and I believe he will succeed. But once again, this horrid Plauge will corrupt the fair world of Seren, and I pray that once again, our Savior will come to clean the world with his blood.
Amerna Illien, 1 AP

Five thousand years ago, the Plauge struck, and now the fair world of Seren has been rebuilt and flourishes with the breath of the Angels. The five rivers flow freely and the seas rock the boats upon them gently. All is well with men in the world, and all have forgotten what went wrong so long ago.

Katrina Rhuin looked out upon the Bay of Brita from her small ship with no name. Her short raven hair blew in her face as the seas breeze caught in the sails. She loved the sea, it was the only thing she did love. The sea was great and could not be defeated, it was strong and had no enemy. Katrina had no enemy. Not many people knew who she was, or that she exsisted. She lived only for her job. Katrina was an assassin. She had been hired by a rich noble that wanted to have someone killed for political reasons, and wanted it done cleanly. She always took jobs like these, they paid well. She lived for the money, she did noy enjoy killing, it was just another job like anyone else had.
Katrina had no family or friends. She did not need them, they would only be baggage and get in the way. The only people she made regular contact with, were the two people on her boat, Pon and Don. They were twins that did not speak much, and they always called her ‘Boss’. They did not even know her real name. Katrina did not love, either. Love is so over rated, she told herself. It dies, it fades like people’s lives. People were disposable, just like love. She pulled into the harbor at Capital, the main city of the Lower Country of Seren.
Capital was a big city, it had many large mansions and halls for all the grand nobles to live in. She liked big cities, they hid people well. She could hide herself in any environment, but she perfered cities. She could smell fish from the fisheries nearby. Peasants gathered around the harbor, looking for a job from incoming merchants from the Sea of Brita. She did not get jobs from peasants or for peasants, because they could not afford her prices, which were very high. She slipped down into the captain’s cabin and grabbed a small bag with what she would need. A silk dress, a golden wig, facial powder, eye drops, and a single knife.
“Alright, sea rats, stay aboard. I’ll be back tomorrow. Pay the toll.” she had a thick sailor’s accent, but that could be modified. She tossed a small leather bag to one of the short twins standing on deck. She did not have to worry about them stealing her things, they knew what she was and what she could do. Katrina walked onto the pier, just another young traveler, coming to the big city for vacation. She strolled lightly into the city, looking very innocent and just fading into the crowd of others. The streets were covered in mud because of all the rain that Capital drew from the sea. People fussed and bustled and hurried about their business. Katrina swung her bag over her shoulder and hummed some random tune off the top of her head. No one could ever imagine this twenty-three year old girl could, or would, kill for a living. A street thug gave her a mean look, and she returned it, he seemed surprised, but did not do anything about it.
“Ah, here we go.” said Katrina as she stepped up to a small inn with peeling green paint and a yellow sign that read, ‘The Rainy Day’ that depicted the city with a rain cloud over it. She knew exactly where the inn was and who owned it and who usually drank there every evening, but she had never been there before. Katrina nodded to the inn master and asked politely, but not too sweetly, for a room. He took the money (not gold, he would remember that) and showed her to her room.
“Hope it is satisfactory, Miss.” he rumbled in a low voice.
Katrina nodded and shut the door after the large man. The room was small and comfortable, it had a somewhat lumpy bed and a wash basin. She tossed her bag on her bed and undressed. From the looks of it, it was about five o’clock. She took out the green silk dress and slipped into it. She despised dresses, she really did, but she could get over it. She pulled the golden wig over her short black hair and looked into the mirror over the basin. She actually looked becoming when she dressed up like this, but beauty is not something you need to kill people with.
She took out the face paint and began slapping on the reds and blues. She never understood why women did that, surely it can not make you look that much better. Now, with her freshly red lips and blue eye shadow, she looked into the mirror. Staring there at her were two eyes, one of them light blue, the other blood red. She did not know why her eyes were the way they were, and she hated it. Eyes like hers were recognizable, no one could forget them, and she wanted to be forgotten. She took the eye drops and dripped two in each eye. She blinked painfully as the coloring drops stung at her two toned eyes. When she looked back in the mirror, her eyes were a normal, forgettable brown. After one last look, she was ready. She slipped the slender knife up her sleeve and stretched her sleece to hide her tattoo on her left wrist. Another rememberable thing, she had the raven tattooed on before she decided to become an assassin.

[PippinTook]

Lady Katrina slipped out of the back door, unseen and walked down a few empty alleys until she came to a parked coach. She slipped into the backseat and handed the driver three gold talems and told him to drive to the palace. The coach was a rental, it was common for lesser guests to rent coaches when they came to royal balls. She sat there calmly practicing her smile. She would not have to talk much, just smile and say her name, Amarina Sasena from Barler, she was a distant cousin of some unknown noble. She would stay for a little while in the corner until she had the chance to take out her victim. His name was Lord Opal Ramsey, and apparently widely hated among the nobles.
The coach bounces over a bump in the road and Katrina flew from her seat.
“Sorry about that, Ma’am.” said the driver. The fall was partly on purpose, she was a frail lady, not a hardy sailor. She had to seem intimidated and sweet, not cold and heartless like she was. She felt the rain begin to beat on the roof of the carriage. “Looks like we’re here. Would you like me to escort you in? I wouldn’t want you to get yourself all wet.” said the driver as he pulled up to the entrance of the palace.
“Yes, please.” said Katrina in a well rehearsed accent. The palace was a beautiful place, but she did not care for such things. It had tall limestone columns and many statues of the Angels. Religion, now that was one thing that Katrina really did not like. All those people just want something to show for what is going on. If something good happens, it is the Angels, if something bad happens, it is the Angels. They are all so weak.
The driver helped her from her seat and she gave him a smile and a silver piece. He would be picking her up after the ball. He walked her to the door and tipped his hat. Katrina lifted her skirts to keep them from getting wet and stepped gracefully inside. The ballroom was the biggest room she had ever been in, it had high cathedral ceilings with more paintings of the Angels. Tall windows that were painted with pictures of people dancing and polished wood floors added to the scenery. At the other end of the room there was a staircase that led into the palace. At the top of it stood King Simeon al’Amaran, wearing his kingly crown and looking all high and mighty. Katrina was convinced kings were useless. Standing beside the King was a tall, dark, handsome man who did not seem to be enjoying himself. They walked down the long staircase together and when they reached the bottom, a servant blew a small horn and declared the entrance of the King. Everyone bowed or curtsied, including Katrina who also hated bowing to people.
The dancing began, men and women all spinning gracefully across the floor, twirling and laughing. They all seemed so oblivious to anything but dancing. She noticed a couple not dancing in the opposite corner. The man was tall and lanky with a huge nose and thinning white hair. The woman had the same nose and white hair in a tight bun. Her lips were pursed together and made her look like she had eaten something sour. The man had a glare in his eye hard enough to break stone. Lord Opal Ramsey. She could see how someone wanted to kill him. She could feel the slender knife with a slim hilt up her sleeve, but she did not touch it. She nodded and smiled at a few people politely, but avoided eye contact. She slipped towards Ramsey slowly, not looking at him, and not seeming like she was going anywhere in particular. This silk dress was not so bad, but she perfered cotton much better. She studied the wall hangings of former kings as she walked slowly to the other side of the ball room so she could keep a better eye on Ramsey.
The music picked up and the dancers moved faster, she thought it was a waltz, but dancing was one thing she never mastered. She was nearly at the entrance to the hallway. One brown haired lady nearly bumped into her, and then her partner stuck his foot out one inch too far. Katrina felt herself fall, but she did not want to think about it. Falling was not graceful, falling was not lady-like. Something caught her, something hard and soft at the same time. She opened her dyed brown eyes quickly and saw that she was in the arms of a man. She stood swiftly and tried to act like she was flushed. Nothing really surprised her. The man had dark hair and eyes and smiled at her when she stood.

*screams* The accursed 90 second rule! *kills it dead* ugh. I forgot all about that. Brings back loverly memories.

[PippinTook]

“You are lucky I was walking by.” he said kindly.
Katrina realized that this was the man that stood beside the King on the stairs. He was very handsome, but it was not something she payed attention to. “Yes, thank you.”
“May I have your name? I do not believe I have seen you before.” asked the man.
“Amarina Sasena.”she said with a small curtsy. How could she be so clumsy? She never faltered. She was a flawless worker. She prayed he did not want to talk.
“Eli al’Amaran, at your service Mistress Amarina.” he said with a bow as he kissed her hand. She felt his hand push her sleeve up accidentally, revealing the tattooed raven on her left wrist. It could not get worse. Maybe he would forget. Maybe she would make him forget. He stared for a split second at her wrist then yanked her into the empty hallway and shut the door quickly behind them. He knows who I am, she thought to herself. Keep calm. As he shut the door she slipped the knife out quickly and quietly and held it in her hand.
Eli glared at her in the low lamp light and then down at her wrist and then back into her eyes. They were still brown, weren’t they?
“Who are you?” he asked in a raspy voice. He was alot taller than she was, but height was not an intimidation.
“Why do you want to know?” she asked softly, still being the quiet lady.
“Do not play with me.” he said harshly, a surprising contrast to the gentleman’s voice she heard a moment ago. “That mark on your left wrist, where did you get it? I have never seen one like it.”
This was about her tattoo? This man was cryptic. “A friend of mine did it for me when I was younger.” she was sure he knew she was not just a lady from the north.
“I have been searching for someone with that tattoo for a long time.” he said quietly again, almost to himself.
He recognzes me. I must have killed someone he knows. No more lady, I can’t defend myself like this any longer. She flicked the knife swiftly from her hand and slipped it up to his neck. “What do you know of me?”
“What do you know of the Savior?” he asked in a strained voice due to his struggle to breath behind the blade.
Her eyes squinted, “What are you talking about?”
“If you took that knife from my neck for a moment, I’ll tell you.”
She looked at him, then lowered the knife–a little.
“Thanks,” he said, rubbing his neck. “Maybe we should go somewhere where we can talk.”
“I’m not falling for that, pretty boy. We can sit right here if you feel like sitting.”
He stared at her, then shrugged and nodded. He sat down on the cold limestone floor opposite his new aquaintance. “Now, talk.” she said, keeping the knife pointed at his chest.
“Five thousand years ago there was a plauge that threatened to wipe the world of all people, but someone came to save them. They say that he had powers and could heal people and do miracles. They said he was marked by a raven on his left hand. Are you following me?”
“I’m not a half wit like those nobles out there, al’Amaran.” Katrina snapped.
“After the Plauge was gone, there was a Prophecy that they would come again and that the new Savior would be marked with a raven on the left hand.” he looked down at her hand. “I have been looking for that person ever since I was young.” He still looked pretty young to her, about twenty-five.
“And you think I am your savior?” asked Katrina, cocking an eyebrow.
He looked at her for a while and then nodded, “Possibly.”
“Well, for your information, I am about as far away from a savior as you can get. For the past five years I have been killing people for a living. People pay me to take out someone they don’t like or need to be rid of. I am anything but a savior.” she said, feeling her sailor accent seep through.
“I have to try.” said Eli solemnly. “Please stay with me here, just to be sure. What can you lose?”
“Alot.” Katrina replied frankly. “Why do you think I am here tonight? I don’t like social gathering either. I am losing a job, sitting here talking to you.”
“Please, I’ll do anything.” she hated it when men begged.
“Well, I was going to get ten gold talems for this job tonight, and who knows how long I’ll be here. You probably have alot of money, don’t you, pretty boy?” Katrina said with a ruthless smile.
Eli nodded, “Would you stay if I payed you ten gold talems a week?”
A very good proposition. She would not make ten gold talems a week usually, that was a lie. She was getting paid six gold talems. “I suppose, it’s not a bad deal.”
Eli smiled, a big toothy, white smile. “Thank you, I will make sure you get the best treatment in the palace. Can I have your real name?”
“Katrina Rhuin.”