Chapter 4: The Big Job

Geoffrey Whitsworth gives Talon and Willard details on his assassination mission and the two meet and old acquaintance that both are uneasy about. Will this woman be a friend or a foe?

Willard followed Talon into the massive mansion owned by Geoffrey Whitsworth.  As they walked in, their eyes were captivated by all the ornate decorations that surrounded the house.  There was so much gold and many precious and priceless treasures, all of which were bought by Mr. Whitsworth.

“Wow!”  Willard said, “Would you look at this place, Talon?  It’s so big, and filled with so much stuff!  What do you think?”

“I think that this is the kind of guy that could pay us really well for a simple task that he probably thinks is too dangerous for normal men.” Talon calmly spoke, as he took a few small trinkets on a table, and shoved them into his pocket.

"Please, gentlemen,”  Whitsworth came in followed by a couple of maids.  He walked past the mercenaries and into his living room with many expensive pieces of furniture.  “Come have a seat, and if it suits you, have a drink!”

Talon sat down and waved his hand to the maids, as if to tell them to shove off.  Willard sat down, took a drink, and eyeballed the maid moderately impressed with her figure, but not impressed enough to make a move on her.

“I find good fights always make me thirsty and in need of a refreshment.” Mr. Whitsworth said cheerfully, looking at Willard.  “Don’t you?”

“You should try being in one.” Talon muttered, as he was still looking around the room, admiring all the expensive items.

“I can tell you two aren’t the kind to waste time and beat around the bush.” Whitsworth said, as he got more serious, “So I won’t waste your time.”

Talon and Willard concentrated on the man’s words, as his tone became more serious.

“I can tell by the way you dress that you people aren’t from around here.  As you may know, Pelmridge is a little town in the Corbin territory, which is owned by Lord Corbin who rules within the capital.  You also may or may not be aware of the fact that our entire region is made up of three territories, Corbin, Reuben, and Cyprus.  Neither of you look like you’d be much into politics so the long and short of the current dilemma of our region is that Corbin desires to overtake the other two regions, starting with Reuben.  For this to be done, Lord Corbin intends on assassinating the Duke of Reuben and thus by the slightly barbaric laws of the our region, Corbin can lay claim on the territory of Reuben.  From there, with his new combined army, Corbin would be able to overtake Cyprus very easily.”

“So let me guess.” Talon interrupted rudely, “You want us to go to this keep, and assassinate the Duke of Reuben.”

“Please,” Mr. Whitsworth said, in an agitated tone. “With all do respect, you are both very skilled fighters…but stealth does not seem to be an attribute that either of you carry.  As many warriors that would be present outside the keep, there would be just as many if not more guarding the Duke.  We have hired many mercenaries like yourself to join Corbin’s assault and one very special individual to insure the death of Reuben.  The problem will be getting her within the keep amidst the tears of battle.  Once inside, she will be able to make it to the Duke without any concern.  I desire to hire you two to protect our assassin, so to speak, until she makes it into the Reuben keep.”

“Can’t be much of an assassin if she needs our help to keep her alive.” Talon sneered with a chuckle.

“Can’t be much of an assassin if she’s a woman.” Willard added, as he chuckled with Talon.

“Oh you both would be very surprised at how good I am.” A female voice came from the shadows behind the chairs.

The two mercenaries both jumped up and twirled around in a matter of seconds, an instinct that numerous battles had trained within the two warriors.  They were both shocked at the familiar and  strikingly beautiful woman they saw in front of them with short blue hair and stunning emerald green eyes.  Willard was the first to react.

“You again!” He shouted, more angry then most had the opportunity to see Willard.  “Talon, this is the broad that stole my money at Silverthorne!”

The woman gave a sly smile, which was also very attractive and spoke to Willard.  “So I’d say that you are a good reference for Mr. Whitsworth here regarding how crafty I can be, and how sneaky I am…another reason why this job will be easy for me!”

“Forget you!” The former knight barked back, still very much insulted by the fact that he had been bested by a female. Talon noticed how uncharacteristically rude he was being to a woman.  “Forget this job in fact!  C’mon Talon, I say we ditch these two and let them find other protectors for this harlot…AFTER she gives me my money back!”

Talon found himself to be speechless, but after doing a double take of the female standing in front of him, he knew that it was her that was standing in front of him.

“Dinah.” Talon said, finally admitting that it was his childhood friend and rival, standing in front of him.  “So you’re this skilled assassin we’re being asked to protect?  Knowing this, I can see why he needs our help.”

“Talon, I was wondering if you’d recognize me.” Dinah said as she gave a slight smile to him, “I haven’t seen you since…well, since you ran off from the Order of Assassins about fifteen years ago.  To be honest, I thought someone would have caught up and killed you by now.  Don’t get me wrong, it’s actually good to see your still alive.  I’m glad you left, you would have made a lousy assassin.”

“Still as arrogant as ever.” Talon shot back, “I don’t blame Whitsworth here for trying to find some protection for you…you’d be toast out there on your own with that big mouth.”

“Wait a second!”  Willard chimed in, “You two KNOW EACH OTHER?  This is ridiculous!  Talon, you aren’t seriously thinking of helping this chick?  She stole from me!”

“And you were stupid to be fooled by her.” Talon mocked his friend.  “Of course, she’s not the first woman to dupe you…you should learn from these silly mistakes eventually, Willard.  Though I’m still not convinced I want to take this job…”

“What could I do to convince you?” Mr. Whitsworth asked, as he slid between the crowd of three people.  He truly wanted to cut the reunion short, and keep the business simple.  “I assure you, Dinah’s skills are top notch.  She was noted as the best Assassin her guild had to offer…We just have had a recent tip that a very skilled gang of mercenaries have been hanging around the Reuben region, and just in case they decided to get involved, we wanted to give her extra protection.  Consider it a “better safe than sorry” approach.  But you name your price Talon, and I’ll pay it!  After seeing you rough up my personal mercenaries without even using your bow, your talent is some that I must have for this job!”

“Ah so you’re still excelling in hand to hand combat, eh?” Dinah said as she slid by the three man and sat in Talon’s former chair.  She took a bunch of grapes from the nearby platter, plucked one off, and threw it into the air.  After the grape landed into her mouth she rudely spoke.  “I betcha I can still beat you!  I always could, you’d always try to better me…but would fail miserably.”

“Okay now you’re speaking my language.” Talon said with an arrogant smirk to his old equal.  “Listen up Whitsworth, me and Willard will help you IF Dinah can beat me in a hands to hand fight.  And IF that happens, which I am sure it won’t…We’ll the job will cost you three hundred gold.  Deal?”

At first Whitsworth was stunned at the amount of money these two people were asking…but he knew after watching them battle, that they were among the best…he had no choice but comply.  He slowly nodded his head and swallowed as he gave into their barbaric appetite.

“I own an arena in town that my cavilers use to practice in.” He said, depressed at the amount of money he’d lose. “You two can have your fight there.”

“You better start gathering the money.” Dinah said as she stood up and casually walked into the other room where her battle gear was located.  “Cause there is no way in this world that little blue haired Talon is going to beat me.”

“I really hope you clobber her, Talon.” Willard said as he glared at this vision of beauty walking past him.  “And I never thought I’d say that about a woman.”

“Don’t worry.” Talon spoke to his friend, “She’s grossly underestimating me.  I’ll win easily.”

As the two left the mansion, Willard was left wondering if Talon was making the exact same mistake he was claiming Dinah was making.