Teaching a Dhani new tricks [Flashback]

by **Nyahna Sasin** on January 4th, 2011, 1:24 pm

48th of Summer, 508 AV

One good thing about this dump they called a city was that there were dozens of street urchins, desperate to make a copper or two. He had his informants, three youngsters, wandering the streets of Sunberth, relaying news back to him for a few coins. The news they gave him were usually small things; so and so was out of town for a few day, Mr No-one is sick, and so on and so on. Minor news, that lead to minor burglaries. Just enough money to keep him going, and a little more.

Today, it seemed, was his lucky day. The three boys had all come to him with the news that "Sharpeye" Smith, a minor crime boss, had been run out of town by a rival. Smith had only been a very minor figure in sunberth, but still, money was money, and with the man run out of town, the house was ripe for the pickings.

He spent the day casing the joint, for lack of a better word. The door was locked, obviously. Smith hadn't been expecting to be attacked, and likely had left everything behind. Irritatingly, Sasin could see others eyeing up the house as well.

He had to get to it before anyone else did. Thinking about it for a second or two, he glanced around to size up his rivals. He could see three men were circling the house. Two of them seemed to know each other, and were obviously not on friendly terms. The third, a young man, was watching the two others glare daggers at each other, seeming somewhat amused. After a seconds deliberation, he made his decision. He would go after the third man, get him out of the way, and try to arrange for the other two to "accidentally" meet up.

He followed the third man into a back alley. The would be thief didn't notice, preoccupied with his planning, perhaps. No matter. When they were out of sight, he struck. Moving with inhuman speed, he grabbed the man's face, covering his mouth, and slammed him against the side of the building. As his victim reeled, Sasin grabbed his dagger, and, using the pommel, struck at his temple. The man dropped like a stone.

Smirking, Sasin quickly searched him, relieving him of a coinpurse and a dagger. Glancing around to make sure that no-one was watching, Sasin stripped him, and slashed open his shirt and pants. That, at least, should keep him busy for a while.

As he approached the house again, he was glad to see that everyone appeared to be gone. There was no sign of the other two. Slipping his hand into his pocket, Sasin pulled out a pick and torque wrench, and approached the door. With a bit of luck, this would be quite a haul.

by **Nyahna Sasin** on January 5th, 2011, 4:07 am

The street was deserted. A little strange, but he thought nothing of it. Kneeling down, he inserted the pick and wrench, and got to work. There were at least two tumblers, maybe three. He wasn't very certain which. He got the first tumbler up easily, but then found the second one was stuck. He relaxed the torque wrench a little, and found the first pin coming back down. Switching orders, he found, to his surprise, it was much easier to do the second pin first, then the first. Keeping that in mind, he finished off the third pin easily, and smirked as the door opened with a click. Fun stuff.

Slipping through the open door, he closed it carefully behind him, and glanced around the room he was in. It was rather plain looking, with bare furniture, and not much else. There was a door at the back, presumably leading to the bedroom. Glancing around to make sure there was nothing of value here, he slipped through the door into the bedroom.

It too, appeared bare. Boring. He started checking the usual hiding places, in the drawers (nothing but cheap clothes), the cupboards (a small dagger that was slipped into his belt) the walls (no secrets, sadly) and finally, under the bed. He found a lockbox in there. Bingo.

Pulling it out, he found a rusty lock keeping it closed. Using the dagger he had found in the cupboard, he snapped the lock. He reached to open the lid, and found himself jerked back.

He turned to find a large man standing over him. He hissed in surprise, and scrambled to his feet, pulling out his dagger. Holding it out in front of him, he narrowed his eyes. Smith himself had apparently decided to come back to his house. And had brought a crossbow with him. A crossbow currently pointed at his chest. "Shyke."

Smith just smirked. "Not bad." He twitched the crossbow. "I wouldn't move if I were you. Might end up with a bolt somewhere you won't like." Sasin didn't doubt it. They didn't call him Sharpeye for nothing.
"What do you want?" He asked, a tad nervous. He hadn't been in a situation like this before. He wasn't happy about starting now.
"Well now, the way I see it, there are two things that can happen." Smith replied, with a glint in his eye Sasin didn't like. "I can kill you," he said, indicating the crossbow, "or you can do something for me." Sasin gulped.
"Second one please." Smith snickered.
"I thought you'd say that." He said. The crossbow stayed up, however. "Para Skye. Ran me out of town a few days back, which is why you're here, presumably." Sasin nodded. "She lives out in the woods. She's hiding from me." Sasin nodded again. He wasn't sure where he was going with this. "Kill her." Sasin was about to nod again when he realized what Smith had said.

"Kill her? I'm a thief, not an assassin." Smith grinned nastily.
"Don't care. Deal with it, or die." Looking down at the crossbow, Sasin made his decision.

by **Nyahna Sasin** on February 7th, 2011, 11:35 pm

Great. Just great. This was insane. He was just a thief. He wasn't an assassin. He didn't know how to kill people properly, or how to make a clean getaway, or even what he was supposed to do with the body. He could kill, certainly. He was a Dhani, after all. But he didn't know anything about being subtle about it. Back at the nest, hunting and killing people and animals was relatively normal. And everything had been eaten. But Smith, it seemed, didn't know he was a Dhani, and he'd like to keep it that way thank you very much. Alright, alright. He had to calm down now. He had to…. Gah! What was he going to do? This was ridiculous! Smith was crazy. He had sent a random thief he had met to go kill someone. Why the hell couldn't he do it himself? Why him?

He was hyperventilating now. He was outside of sunberth, and was sitting on a log, trying to calm himself down. This was madness. He could catch her outside, but Smith had said that she was holed up in a cabin near the river, with a few of her friends. Lovely. Just lovely. He was doomed, he just knew it. Smith was somewhere nearby, watching him. If he stepped out of line, he'd be shot. If he failed, he'd be stabbed. This was the best day ever.

He found the river, and followed it. There. In a clearing ahead, he saw a cabin. It looked fortified. As in there was a man, head and arm sticking out of a window, holding a crossbow. Joy. He was skewered whatever he did. So this was why Smith couldn't do it himself, it seemed. He grimaced. This wasn't worth it. He turned to go, and jerked violently as a bolt thudded into the tree next to his head. He shivered, and turned back to the house. Leaving was not an option, it seemed. The man at the window was looking suspiciously in his direction. Sasin was hidden by the tree, but he doubted that would be the case for long. The man disappeared from the window. Sasin waited, still paralyzed with fear.

After what felt like an eternity, the man came out of the house, leaving the door open behind him. Sasin cringed slightly, but made no movement. The man was cautious, looking around for any threat. Luckily, he caught sight of the bolt before he caught sight of Sasin, and walked right past the hidden Dhani. Swallowing his fear, Sasin glanced up at the man, not an arms length in front of him, and standing up as stealthily as he could, grabbed his mouth from the back, muffling his yelp, and slit his throat.

He stepped back, and frowned. This seemed like a very messy and ineffective way of killing. The man was still alive, just bleeding to death. Sasin quickly plucked his coinpurse from his belt, then turned back to the house. There didn't seem to be anyone else there, fortunately. Stepping over the dying man, Sasin darted towards the house, quickly flattening himself between doorframe and window. He waited there for a second, panting with terror, then, when no one came out, slipped through the open door and into the house.

He had been right. There was no one there. Padding silently to the next room (he nearly tripped over a stool, but caught it as well as himself.), he relaxed as he saw Skye, sleeping. He slit her throat as well, and took the money and few valuables she had on her.

Walking out of the house, he nearly ran into Smith, crossbow and all. "Not bad." Sasin grimaced.
"No way am I doing that again." Smith grinned. It was not a nice grin, and Sasin tightened his grip on his dagger.
"I think you will." Sasin paled. "You're working for me now. After all…" Sasin didn't let him finish that sentence. One hand shoved the crossbow to the side, the other sent the dagger into Smith's eye, and into his brain. The man yelled out, and Sasin pushed it in further, and twisted.

Smith just collapsed, and Sasin relaxed, panting. He leant against the wall of the house, and slid down it, trying to start breathing again. OK. OK. He had just killed three people. That was fine. He was OK with that. He had nearly been killed twice. That was slightly less fine, but it was over. He had no idea where to dump the bodies. Well, this was out in the woods.

Standing up again, supporting himself with the wall, Sasin looked down at himself. He was covered in blood. Ugh. He briefly wondered if he should bring two bodies together, make it look like they were fighting. He shook his head, and, after snatching Smith's coinpurse, set off. He was out of here. Syliras sounded nice.

But firstly, a bath.

by **Ink** on January 5th, 2012, 10:12 pm

And in the Aftermath . . .

The Rewards are Revealed.

Sasin :

Written in the ink :