Mandalee tore through the StormClaw forest, with tears blinding her vision. She had to find Shyleen. Shyleen was more than she appeared. Shyleen was a part of her. She had given the leopard god half of her soul in return for the knowledge and power of nature. But more than that, Shyleen was, well, Shyleen. Her friend. Her only constant companion since she was a child. Even as Mandalee ran, she could feel half of her own self slipping away.
With a sob, she cried, “Shyleen, I’m coming!”
Moments later, she stumbled across a large clearing. The great leopard was lying there at the far end from her perspective, not moving and barely alive. Mandalee saw at once the vicious wound in her side and knew she had to heal her, quickly. But she also knew something else: this whole situation was screaming ‘trap.’ She forced the tears to stop as she got a grip on her emotions. Shyleen needed her to be in control. She had no choice but to spring the trap, but she could choose what happened when she did, and she decided at that moment that Shyleen was not dying today.
“I know you’re out there!” Mandalee called out. “Waiting to strike. Please, just let me heal the leopard. She’s my friend, though I suppose you know that.” She stepped out of the treeline and made a show of stripping herself of her weapons. “Look,” she encouraged them, “I’m unarmed now. Let me get to my friend, and I don’t care what you do to me.”
About a dozen people – warriors, wizards and clerics, along with half that many demons of various kinds – stepped out of the trees near Shyleen’s prone form. Mandalee knew there were more, a lot more, and she wanted them where she could see them. She took a small step forward.
“Kill me, torture me, take me as a hostage to use against my other friends. Doesn’t matter.”
More enemies were emboldened to join their comrades. Still, Mandalee could hear the animals on the island communicating with each other. From them, she knew there were still more concealing themselves. If she let even one stay hidden, she would die and worse, so would Shyleen. That was not going to happen.
She took another step, slowly, carefully, making no sudden movements, keeping her enemies calm, allowing them to relax. The more relaxed they got, the slower their reaction time when she finally made her move.
Holding up her hands, she showed them that she was indeed carrying no weapons…at least, none that they could see. More enemies stepped into the light, taking the number well into the thirties. Still not all.
As she continued to step slowly forward, a mist began to roll in off the sea…surely a coincidence. Her enemies paid it no heed, whatsoever.
“I’m at your mercy.” Mandalee allowed fear to creep into her quavering voice. “You can take your time with me.”
She wasn’t wearing her mask, and she recognised the looks on the faces of many there present. It was the same look she had seen many times before from people who couldn’t accept her gender identity. It was the same look she had seen at that party in Walminster before she first met Daelen. The look that bartender gave her when he insisted on calling her ‘sir.’ She allowed the anger of that moment to fill her. She let all of her rage from all of those moments fill her. The rage she kept deep inside. The fury that slowly built every time she had to wear a mask to cover her face from small-minded people. It all built inside her, seeping into every muscle, every tendon. She was like a snake, coiled and ready to strike, but she needed to wait. The total was up to forty, but it still wasn’t all. She needed them all.
“Think of all the things you could do to me, all the things you want to do to me. You don’t want to miss out by holding back, do you?”
More stepped forward. Nearly all, but not quite. Mandalee was almost at Shyleen’s side now. Just a few more steps. Just a breath or two longer. Some of them had started jeering at her now. Rude comments assailed her. Wolf-whistles came at her. Many began to describe the things they were going to do to her. The many ways they were going to enjoy themselves with her. How long they were going to make it last for her. And a couple of particularly imaginative souls simply went with, “Freak!”
“You can see the leopard's injuries,” she implored them, ignoring the comments. “I know some of you are clerics like me. You know how drained I’ll be once I heal her.” She could see some of them nodding. “So, let me do it. Please!” she begged. “I can do nothing to you. You can watch my every move, you can watch everything, but if you hold back too much, you won’t be able to see. Think about what you’ll be missing if you can’t see.”
Fifty-two. That was all of them and not one of those assembled now considered Mandalee a threat.
Their mistake.
The mist deepened instantly to dense fog, plunging the area into darkness. Mandalee’s knives were in her hands in an instant, and before anyone could react, five demons and two humans died. Vital arteries were severed, tendons were cut, hamstrings were slit, bellies were sliced open, allowing intestines to drop out. Using her super-speed, she grabbed Shyleen and hid her out of harm’s way. She didn’t like moving her in her present condition, but she had no choice. If she left her in the clearing, she would be killed, whether by deliberate act or by stray weapon or magic would make no difference. Dead was dead.
Rushing back to the clearing, she ran up behind one of the two warriors she had seen carrying a crossbow. Reaching around him, she pulled the trigger, sending a bolt into the last remaining demon. She had so far avoided killing any wizards because she couldn’t be sure which ones controlled which demons. The last thing she wanted was loose demons. Now, with them all gone, the wizards became primary targets. As a demon hunter-turned-assassin, she had learned that lesson years ago. Always kill the demon first while its powers are limited and under control of the wizard, then kill the wizard before he can summon another. Otherwise, she would spend the rest of her short life, slaying a never-ending supply of demons until just once – for once was all it took – a demon killed her instead.
Spells began to ignite around her, but she was too fast for them to target her accurately. Conversely, a flash of magic lit them up nicely for her in the darkness. Three wizards died before her next heartbeat. They switched to area-of-effect spells, trying to blanket the clearing, but Mandalee was unconcerned because she had a secret: her combat suit was magic-resistant. Sara had told her that detail when she’d first brought up the subject – Catriona wasn’t the only one with a special gift for paying attention. She hadn’t had a chance to check it out on Earth, there being no wizards there, but this was as good a time as any for a field test.
Ignoring the wizards who were using conventional magic, she listened out for the tell-tale chanting of summoning magic. She heard them – directly behind her. Before they uttered another syllable, she was by their side, slitting their throats. As they hit the ground, the two warriors on either side, whose job had been to protect the summoners, got their reward for a job well done when Mandalee’s tiny, invisible knives severed an artery in their necks.
At last, one of the clerics decided to use her head and pray for sunlight to banish the fog. But Mandalee was a cleric, too. She felt the effect almost before it happened, and in response, she closed her eyes and prayed for even more sunlight. Her enemies cried out as one, as the bright light blinded them just as surely as the darkness had. Opening her eyes to mere slits was enough for the assassin to commit to memory the locations of her remaining enemies. She had cut them down by about half already.
The cleric who had cast the light spell died next, followed by the final sorceress – just in case she had any summoning powers – and three more warriors standing near her, before their eyes adjusted to the light. A trio of archers let arrows fly, but with a simple application of cleric levitation magic, she nudged their courses to kill three of their comrades instead. One of the archers, having not learned his lesson, nocked another arrow, but Mandalee slipped behind the still disorientated second crossbow wielder and helped the two kill each other. An Arc of Fire from the White Assassin’s fingers burned out the eyes of the other two archers. A neighbouring cleric stepped over to heal them, but Mandalee taught her about the consequences of helping her would-be murderers by levitating a spent arrow through her heart. Swiftly following the path of the projectile, she killed the remaining archers.
Only a dozen warriors remained, but the assassin could feel herself tiring from using her super-speed for so long. She decided her best bet was to cancel it, now, and use the trees as cover for hit and run strikes. None of her enemies possessed any ranged weapons, now, which meant they would have to get up close and personal if they wanted to kill her. Which was precisely where she wanted them.
She feigned a trip, falling to the ground and the first two were upon her in a heartbeat, swords ready to strike. Fools. They clearly didn’t realise that inside six feet, knives beat swords every time. She rolled underneath their guard and went for their wrists. The one on the left was too slow to react and cried out in horror as the knife opened all the blood vessels. He fell to the ground, desperately trying to staunch the blood flow. The one on the right had quicker reflexes, but Mandalee had still cut through the tendons, causing her to drop her sword, which Mandalee levitated to skewer the next nearest attacker. The first two ended their lives still clutching their wrists.
Down to nine, the remaining warriors were more cautious now. Mandalee was desperate to go and heal Shyleen, but she knew if she left even one of them alive, they would kill her. Then she would be no use to her feline friend.
Retreating into the trees, Mandalee switched to stealth mode, taking care where she stepped, never snapping a twig, never so much as disturbing a single leaf. The breeze made more noise than she did.
She circled the clearing, picking out her next target. One of the nine, perhaps sensing something, strayed a little too close to the treeline and died, silently. None of the others even noticed Mandalee hide the body in the undergrowth. She thought about how Shyleen would approach this if she were here hunting her prey. She would stalk her prey. She would not rush out until the odds were stacked in her favour. So, Mandalee observed her targets and waited until she had a clear plan. Less than two minutes later, and all eight were already dead in her mind. She could see it as clearly as the trees in front of her now. Her enemies had no chance. None. They could not stop her. They were too late. They were already dead. They just didn’t realise it yet. One more breath and it would all be over for them. One more breath was all they had left. They were all looking away from her position. The time was now. They had each taken their last breath.
The assassin burst from cover, silent as a shadow. Two hands, two knives. Vital arteries in two necks were severed. The remaining six started to turn. Too late for two more as their kidneys were punctured. Wasting no time on those who were incapacitated, the assassin dropped to one knee and sliced open two more bellies. They threw down their weapons, futilely trying to stop their insides falling to the ground. The last pair leaned down to grab Mandalee. She could see the look in their eyes. The look she had seen before. Both men thought they had her. They weren’t even going for the kill. They didn’t care about the fifty who had fallen. Their thoughts had already turned to the ‘fun’ they were going to have with the ‘Freak.’
Mandalee allowed herself a smile at the cosmos that had allowed this. She hadn’t planned on making these two the last to fall to her blades, but she was grateful for the providence that made them so. Even as that word formed on their tongues, a knife split them in two and cut open their throats. Taking no risks on leaving an enemy behind her, even if they seemed to be bleeding out, she put them all out of their misery.
Maybe ‘White Assassin’ wasn’t such a terrible title, after all, she reconsidered. This was why she had become an assassin in the first place. She didn’t revel in killing. It wasn’t fun. It wasn’t sport. She just wanted to defend innocent people, protect her friends and be free to live her life as herself. The people who came to this island today had thought they could take that life from her. With that decision, they had forfeited the right to their own lives, and now they would harm no-one ever again.
Wasting no more time on them, Mandalee ran to where she had hidden Shyleen. She was still clinging to life, but she didn’t have long.
Mandalee lifted the leopard’s head and whispered, “It’s OK now, I’m here.”
Mandalee’s magic came from Shyleen, but being so severely injured, she could give no more, so Mandalee immediately set to transferring every drop of energy she had left inside her, giving it up so that Shyleen could live. The Cleric of Nature was already exhausted, so she didn’t have as much to give as she would have liked, but it would just have to be enough because Mandalee had already decided: Shyleen was not going to die today.
A short time later, Mandalee collapsed, unconscious, but just before her world faded, she saw the leopard stand. Her friend, the other half of her soul, she was going to be alright.
Shyleen, fully recovered and knowing what her friend had done, carefully picked Mandalee up by the neck of her body armour, being mindful of where she was putting her teeth, and carried her away, melting into the forest.