Scavenger Assassin
All characters and environments within is © 2002-2010 by Eben Prentzler
In case you missed the introductions and other excerpts
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The journey to his destination went by in a blur. Jembulika stood on a hill and looked at the town-like village, which was covered by the blanket of night. By the amount of lamps and fires that were burning throughout the village, the Scavenger assassin was awed of how big Hiana's village has grown over the years. There were several guards at the front gate. Jembulika was pretty sure that they would suspect something if a strange Scavenger enters their village armed with various dangerous weapons. Lucky for him, he was clever enough to bring a hooded cloak to hide everything he was carrying and since it was a chilly evening, the guards might not bug him.
Jembulika approached the gates and the guards didn't even bother to stop him as he walked past them into the town. Either they saw him as no threat or they were just too tired to care. Making his way through the town was rather easy. He stuck to the shadows and avoided contact with everyone where possible. It was close to midnight when he reached the tall walls of the mini fort in the centre of the large town. Jembulika took out his rope and grappling hook. With the accuracy that was expected of warrior of his stature, the Scavenger successfully threw grapple, which clawed to one of the big stones that made up the top of the wall. He quickly scaled the wall and when he reached the top, he saw something he didn't expect. He was looking into the eyes of a very stunned Scavenger guard. Jembulika, whilst still dangling on the rope, quickly drew his dagger and stuck it deep into the guard's throat before he could sound the alarm. He them grabbed the guard by his clothes and threw him off the wall to hard surface below. "What a waste of a good knife," Jembulika thought to himself. Without being seen, he explored the rest of the outside of the fortress, looking into windows for his possible target. It wasn't long before he saw Hiana through a high window. He was sitting at a table, reading some parchments. Jembulika examined the rest of the brightly lit room. There were several tapestries that were draped down the walls. There were a few torches on the walls. A door was located on each end of the room. Hiana was alone, which made it so much easier for Jembulika. He crawled to another window where he could get a better look at the situation. He took out his bow and one of his arrows. After taking careful aim, he let loose the arrow, which swiftly penetrated Hiana's skull through the ear. He didn't even make a sound, but he toppled over sideways, dragging the chair with him, both crashing down on the ground making a lot of noise. Jembulika cursed at himself for making such a racket. Knowing he had to move quickly, he climb through the window and jumped on the closest tapestry. Using his claws, he slid down to the floor, ripping the cloth of the decoration as he went along. Jembulika quickly ran to where Hiana fell and made sure he was dead. He admit that he was rather pleased with himself. It has been a while since he had a kill with one single shot. His joy was killed quickly when he heard voices coming from behind one of the doors.
"Hiana, sir!" a voice called out, "Are you alright in there? We thought we heard a crash." Jembulika ripped the key from Hiana's neck and silently ran over room towards the door, unsheathed his second knife and waited out of view.
"Sir," another voice said, "Please answer us." A few seconds later the door opened and two guards entered, one behind the other. Jembulika used his stealth to sneak up behind the one guard and slit his throat.
The guard in front felt the spray of something on his back, when he turned around he was greeted with a knife, driven deep into his eye. None of victims could even make a sound before they dropped dead down to the ground. When Jembulika turned around he saw another guard. He was running away down the hall through the open door. This was not good. Jembulika quickly got his bow out and shot two arrows in quick succession. One hit the running guard in the back and the other one in his neck. He also fell to the ground, making a minimum amount of noise.
"Damn I'm good," Jembulika said to himself. It has been such a long time that he has been out of the killing game. His sister was right. He was the best, but he hated doing it. Everything he did tonight, he did because he had to save a young boy he cared for. He really didn't give a damn about the Scavenger clan he came from. He wanted to redeem himself for all the bad things he did in his life and he hoped that saving Namandla would do that. As he thought about these things, he wondered whatever happened to the savage Scavenger, Jembulika. He died a long time ago when he found out that he actually did have a heart.
Lucky for Jembulika he didn't meet any other guards on the way to the hallway in between Hiana's bedroom and library. It took him a while to find the secret doorway that his sister mentioned. It was hidden behind a big portrait of Hiana. Jembulika unlocked the door and headed down a staircase that was poorly lit, which made the climbing down very difficult. When he reached the bottom he came to another door that was locked. He tried Hiana's key, but it didn't work. Jembulika swore under his breath and attempted to pick the lock. To his complete surprise the door suddenly opened, giving way to a huge Scavenger, who looked very much like the picture that he saw at Bele's house...Amiri.
"Oh shit," Jembulika said. So much for avoiding the general. He was lifted off his feet and held in the air with one arm.
"I don't even want to know how you got in here," Amiri said, his breath foul, "but you won't live to tell of this place." He threw Jembulika hard causing him to crash through a table.
The impact dazed Jembulika and struggled to regain his composure. He got to his feet and gazed at his monstrous opponent. Amiri was definitely a pure bred Scavenger from what Jembulika could see, but how he got this strong he had no idea. Jembulika stared up at the bulk of a Scavenger that stood over a foot taller than himself. He didn't even bother wearing a shirt, because his big barrel chest would be more than sufficient to intimidate any opponent. The only piece of clothing he wore was some ugly brown pants. Jembulika quickly noticed that the general wasn't armed, which was going to make this much easier. He took his fighting stance, drew his only remaining knife and charged Amiri. He jumped on to the gigantic frame of the Scavenger and plunged his knife deep into his cheek. Amiri didn't even flinch. He grabbed Jembulika's wrist and ripped the knife out of his face. He shook Jembulika vigorously until he dropped his knife. He kicked the knife away and threw the assassin against something hard.
"Ow," Jembulika rubbed his head, "that felt like metal." He looked behind him to see the bars of what seemed to be a dark prison of some kind. Jembulika shook his head, trying to clear up his mind. He drew his only remaining weapon, his short sword and attempted to attack Amiri again. Only to fail once again.
Amiri dodge and grabbed Jembulika's sword arm. He ripped the sword from his hand and threw him down on the ground again.
Jembulika was getting tired of tasting the stone floor. He got up in time to see Amiri snap the short sword in two. With no more weapons in his arson, he had no choice but to attempt hand to hand combat with this monster. After removing his cloak to make his movement swifter, he walked towards the waiting general. Jembulika balled his fist and put all his power behind the punch that struck Amiri's face. The only affect it had was maybe pissing him off more. "Oh, that was a bad idea," Jembulika said out loud. Amiri smiled and returned with a single punch that dazed Jembulika so much that fell down on his tail. He quickly got up on his feet, but backed away so that he could clear his head. It wasn't long before the enormous Scavenger was upon him again. The big fist came to strike again, but Jembulika quickly dodged. He was genuinely scared that he might die here tonight. He was looking for anything that might help him out Another punch came, this time Jembulika ducked and quickly crawled through Amiri's open legs. He picked up the closest object, which was a chair and he broke it over the large Scavenger's neck and head. That seemed to have some affect as Amiri let out a small yelp with the impact. When he turned around he stared at Jembulika with a flame lit in his eyes.
"You must be pretty mad by now," Jembulika said, trying to buy himself some more time, "I guess trying to talk this through is out of the question." The reply he got was Amiri cracking his knuckles, ready deliver punishment. "I thought so." The bulk attacked and swung his big fist, supported by a muscular arm. Jembulika jumped back and avoided the hit. Amiri advanced a step and tried again, only to miss again. The assassin kept moving back, dodging hits until his back squarely against the bars of the dark holding cells.
"You got no more place to go," Amiri smiled, "I'm going to crush you skull. What do you think about that?"
"At least I won't live to be as ugly as you," Jembulika blurted out. The big fist tried to hit its target again. Another dodge...Amiri drove his fist into a metal bar and Jembulika could almost hear the bone break.
Amiri screamed with pain and tried to hit with his other hand, only for smaller Scavenger to duck causing the same result. Jembulika couldn't believe how stupid the general really was nor could he believe that he was going to do something as dishonourable as what he was thinking of. Then again, in this situation it was an exception. He buried his fist hard into Amiri's groin. There was no scream, just a shocking pain that left the general in agony. Jembulika took this opportunity to knock some sense into the Amiri...literally. He smashed Amiri's face several times into the iron bars, causing more damage to his already ugly face. When Jembulika thought the general had enough, he stopped, turned around to find something to finish the job. That was a mistake... Suddenly he was lifted off his feet and a big arm wrapped around his neck and another around his waist. Somehow Amiri just shook off everything that happened to him. He held Jembulika tight both arms, while supporting his weight on the dented iron bars behind him.
"Nowhere to go now," Amiri's said in a pain-stricken voice, "anything intelligent to say before I snap you like a twig?"
"Yeah," Jembulika choked, "let me go so that we can talk about this." Although he was only joking, he was very surprised that Amiri listen to his request. He felt the pressure around his neck and chest disappeared. He was free and he fell to the ground. Jembulika looked up at Amiri. His arms were drooped at his side. This was very strange. He was just standing there, saying nothing. Not for long though. Jembulika rolled out of the way when he saw Amiri falling forwards. He was shocked when he looked closer and saw that the general was dead. He was even more stunned when he saw his dagger embedded right up to the hilt in Amiri's neck....
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