Chapter 4: The Unlikely Rescuer

Things for Talon become increasingly more difficult and confusing as he decides to set free the woman he had originally intended to kill.

Disappointed in himself, Talon let out a deep sigh as he lowered his bow.  He might as well settle for keeping the half of the old man’s money that he took upon accepting the job and kissing the other half good bye, because there was no way he could kill this lady.  Making up his mind, Talon sneaked around the tent, stole the key to the chains from the passed out guard, and entered the tent.

“Well, this is quite the change of events.” The blue haired woman said, puzzled at Talon’s activity. “Some excuse for an assassin you are!”

“Consider yourself lucky.” Talon replied, as he bent down and unlocked the shackles on the woman’s legs. “Killing you would have been very simple for a man of my talent.  The problem is you remind me of someone, so I decided to take the half of gold I already accepted for doing this task, and call it a day.”

As Talon started to cut the rope that tied the woman’s arms to the large wooden plank, he heard her chuckling.

“What’s so funny?” Talon demanded, “Don’t make me change my mind about getting you out of here!”

“Oh I’m not laughing at anything involving your “talent” as you put it.” She replied, “It’s just…those gold pieces you received…it’s really an illusion.”

“Whatever.” Talon said as he continued to cut the rope. “Say what you want, it looks real, and feels real, so that's good enough for me!  I'm sure any vendor would feel the same way.”

“Your lust for money blinds you.” The woman replied, “Hold the coins to my mouth.”

Talon stopped cutting the rope, reached into his sash, and withdrew the pouch with the gold in it.  He withdrew several coins and, though he didn’t know what to expect, he moved the coins towards her mouth.  The prisoner gently exhaled, and as her breath touched the money, it slowly turned to dust right in front of Talon’s eyes.  Talon stared in disbelief and frustration, as his small fortune disappeared.  He had been tricked!

“Don’t be to down on yourself.” The woman said with a half smile, amused at Talon’s reaction.  “If it makes you feel better, this is an ancient spell that has been used to trick mercenaries and other forms of gold lusting warriors for centuries…It’s quite simple, yet quite effective!”

Talon finished cutting the ropes off the plank.  After the ropes were gone, he pushed the wooden board off the prisoner’s back, so she could freely stand.  The woman stretched out her back and grunted in satisfaction.  It was obvious that she had been wearing that plank for several weeks now.

“Thank you.” The emerald eyed female said, “My name is Oceana.  I am very grateful for your help, young warrior, what is your name?”

“It's Talon.” The blue haired archer said, as he turned his back on Oceana, “And you can keep your gratefulness, I’d just assume have that fake money…then maybe I could fool someone into taking it off my hands for something more valuable!  Alright you’re free, Oceana…if you want to live, follow me out of here.”

“Thanks for the notion,” Oceana replied, “but I’m not leaving yet…The reason I have been defenseless for so long is because these mercenaries took my spell book from me…Its somewhere in this camp, and I am going to get it back.”

“Whatever,” Talon said as he rolled his eyes.  He still was frustrated at how much time he had wasting getting into this camp, only to decide not to kill his target, AND to find out his money was really just some black dust!  “That sounds like a suicide mission to me…there are mercenaries crawling all over here…if you want to get yourself killed, go for it, I’m getting out of here.”

“I should be perfectly fine.” Oceana said calmly, “However, if you want to come with me, I’m sure I could use your services.  This is your time to be a hero, Talon…embrace it.”

“Don’t give me that load of crap.” Talon barked as he glared at Oceana, “Do I look like the kind of guy that wants to be a hero?”

“Suit yourself.” Oceana said disappointed in his answer, “To be honest, you look like the kind of man that doesn’t know who he is.”

“Oh that is very helpful,” Talon replied sarcastically, “coming from the broad I just pulled shackles and a plank off of.  Good luck getting your book, babe.  Hope it’s worth dying for!”

Talon exited the tent, however he didn’t get far.  Upon lifting the cloth to the outdoors, Talon was met by at least twenty mercenaries, each wielding their weapons and glaring at him.  Talon cursed under his breath as he looked around to see many men closing in on him.  He turned around, only to see Oceana was nowhere to be found.

"Great..." Talon murmured to himself, "This is never a fun situation to step into."

Reviews

[Shep]

This was so good i need to stop and grab some popcorn, Nicely done. No errors found moving on to the next chapter to see how he gets out of this mess and where the girl went.

[DarkCrono15]

Mmm, good call on popcorn.