Bronze age: Killer and a Wolf |Lagertha x DaL|

[Lagertha]

Everyone runs from their nightmares. Well, sane people at least. Then again who was really sane to begin with? Because people had dictated what was right from wrong made them above everyone else and the sane ones? At least that’s how society was formed since the beginning of time. No one questioned the Gods, the belief systems in place, and no one questioned the Kings or Queens above their heads. Still, majority of people lived on the outskirts of kingdoms, such was a time in the bronze age. Where people could live how they wanted without much dictatorship of Gods and Men if they so choose.

There were truths to what people believed, it was how society had been formed, it was how men went into battle eager to die for their Gods or Kingdom. One thing was for sure, it never mattered where she had traveled to over the years. Majority of the rules that were enforced were the same; Don’t kill. Don’t Steal. Don’t rape. Don’t cheat.

Most people would think growing up on these rules would be enough, that they would be safe to raise their children without fear. However not all children grew up sweet and sugary..there were some of those whose minds became as twisted as their hearts.

Her whole life she had watched people run from danger, run from the nightmares in their heart and dreams, fear the unknown. It was amusing, how much they tried to hide their true natures, their true selves. Then again, there were some of them that had not been so good at hiding their truths.

Eik Oddle could remember the first time she had killed someone. She had been playing with her sisters and brothers in the field. Her brothers had been swinging sticks at one another, just thick enough to leave a bruise, and her sisters had been sitting there sewing. One sister had been sewing up the youngest sisters doll, the other sister had been fixing a shirt of their fathers. Eik had been watching her brothers, only five was the girl when she ventured away from the group. Eik had found a little boy down by the river, dishpan scrubbing to find some good rocks he could use for daily work. The boy had wandered too far down the river bed away from his home, and he was no bigger than Eik who was only a few inches shy of three feet. The boy was no older than a year above Eik. She had found herself, kicking the boy into the river bed as the waves were strong that day from the heavy breeze.

“Do go on Eik, tell us the whole story.” She remembered herself recalling the story to the group of assassins she had wanted to join at the age of twelve. Though the group had claimed the girl too young to be doing the heavy things in the guild, they had wanted to hear about her first kill. She remembered the round face of one of the men, the decoy that was talking to her in the cavern while the others backs were to her on the table behind.

“Well..” Eik could remember the smile that had crept on her face. You never forget your first kill. “I had kicked the boy in, I was five and he was six. He had often played with my things, or threw rocks at my little sister with his older brothers. My little sister was only four, and had taken ill that week. I thought I kicked him in, for a joke, to treat him poorly like he had treated my little sister…” Eik choose her words carefully, but this had been a time before she had become completely merciless. “..The boy didn’t know how to swim, he cried as he hit the middle of the stream asking for me to help..I watched him, it was suppose to be a joke, but no one was there to laugh besides me. I could have pulled him out, I could have saved him..instead I picked up the rocks in his pan, some of the smaller ones at first and started to throw them at him. He was bloody by the time I picked up the larger ones, still breathing..”

“You kicked the boy into the river, for a joke you say? Then the beast took hold and made you stone him too?” She remembered the black hood, the jawline of the man sitting behind her. This big man to her right had been the decoy afterall, she was really relaying her story to the men behind her. The beast, the men had joked to her, was her truth, the truth most people ran from.

“The moment her started screaming, I just wanted him to stop. So I kept throwing until he went below the water. I could have still saved him. Instead I went home with my family, frightened the Gods of the forest knew what terrible thing I had done and would punish me. Or that my father might find out..” How foolish Eik had been. It was the bronze age, but her father was a great hunter, she had thought if he couldn’t tell what she had done then she would be at the mercy of the Gods. “I prayed the whole year that the Gods not punish me for what I had done. Karma, I had called it. Even when a farmer too hundred miles away had found the body at the end of that year. I thought I might confess to my father, I thought I might be punished. Instead, his brothers were punished for the act, and my siblings laughed.” Eik had still been a child at this moment, when the men had seen promise in the girl and had agree to let her join the guild, if only for minimal labor for the first three years. She could still remember the food she had ate after killing the boy, and could remember the lives she had taken before she had turned twelve.

Still, for three years Eik had grown up under the assassin guild, and when the girl had turned fifteen she was allowed to go with them to kill their targets. The girl had been sloppy at first, someone picking up the mess she had left behind with each kill. Every life she took, Eik got better at the craft…

It had finally gotten to the point when Eik had turned seventeen she had left the guild altogether, after killing one of the leaders from sheer boredom. She knew there was money to be made, and the assassins only gave her a third of the pay. Over the years in the guild, Eik had made powerful friends, and easily after leaving she climbed the ladder to the wealthiest of the wealthy.

Her journey had lead her here, in a small summer home of a councilman of the north. Eik had traveled all this way with a band of other travelers putting on a fair for the country side. Eik was turning nineteen in a day or two, but the girl could care little about her age. She was here on business, listening to an old man speak as she sat there in his finely crafted chair. Her hair was tied up, twisting with different knots and such, bleached a light white color to remove the lice from her hair after traveling such a long way. The man was up, pouring himself a drink as he looked at her.

“I could have remembered the man that suggested you, saying your hair was red.” The old man spat as he took a swig of wine. Old drunk.

“Perhaps when I was child, before I ran away from home. My family would have spotted me a mile away. Not many people had out color red in the countryside.” The man laughed, as he moved over slowly to his chair. Eik’s skin had become slightly tanned from the amount of sun she had seen over the last year, pretending to be a peasant had it’s benefits, though her skin was still pale enough to pass herself as a noble. “And no councilman, I don’t really tan, and yes I’m still whiter than you.” Eik had been with enough nobles that the same questions always popped up. She never understood their fascination with her appearance, or how she managed to get the calculus off her hands and feet. Perhaps it was the fact Eik herself was very pleasing to the eye, large breasts, small waist, large hips, toned body, round face, small nose, thin brows, long black eyelashes, and golden eyes. Her hair was long too, past her butt if she let it down. “Now, who was it you wanted me to kill and why?” Eik was impatient as she watched the man sit, twisting on the seat in front of her to try to get comfortable.

“Now wait a minute. I want to know about you.” The old man coughed, and Eik glared.

“Councilman. You know I’m a killer, you know what my weight will be in silver and gold. You know I won’t leave any trace that will come back to you, and I won’t speak about this to anyone. Don’t ask me how they will die, a man will die on how I see fit at the time, a woman or a child too. You need to know nothing about my work, but know this councilman. I am a contract killer, and you are wasting my time, and wasting my money. So hurry up, before you make yourself a very dangerous enemy.” The councilman’s lip twitched at Eik’s harsh words. Then again, Eik had never been the best with words unless it was for the kill.

“Threatening a councilman is an act of treason little girl! I could have the emperor kill you!” The old man spat. To this, Eik smiled evilly.

“You could send out your guards, you could tell your Emperor what you tried to do, and by the time your men even start to look for me; I’ll be gone and you’ll be left without a trace of me besides this conversation.” Eik cracked her fingers, as she looked dully at the porky man.

“Of of course, here.. This is all the information you should need.” The man pulled out some goatskin parchment with writing on the pages. Eik snatched the papers from him, flipping through them quickly before she sat them in her lap.

“Payment.” Eik announced, not playing games.

“Y-Yes, here you go.” The old man snapped his fingers, a servant came to his side before he whispered in the girl’s ear. Eik watched the girl leave, before coming back with a sack full of coins and laid it at Eik’s feet. “You have enough silver to last you a few years.” The man laughed as Eik opened the bag after picking it up. She picked up a coin, biting it, and a few others before closing the bag and standing up. “Wait! Is this it? I give you some papers, the payment and then you leave?”

“You paid me to kill a man. You paid me more to make sure it looked like an accident or a natural cause. We are done here. I’m sure you’ll hear about his death very soon. I’m sure your colleague has already told you not to stiff me on fake silver, yes?” The man nodded and to this Eik smiled, as she stood above him in his sitting position at only 5’3. “Good, then we are done. You will never hear from me again.”

Eik’s journey out of the councilman's house to her destination took longer than she thought it would. Traveling with a band of circus people did not always bode well for her, but she fit right in. Though she departed from them in the dead of night to join another group of travelers going to the city she needed to be in.

It was nighttime on a saturday, the rain was pouring and made the stench of mud and mildew that much worse. At least there was the soft scent of moss and pine in the air that hit her nose. Eik had dressed in a ragged cape, the hood up with holes in it to make her look all the bit of a peasant. Hell, majority of her time she was in some form of peasant clothing, pretending to be invisible to get to the people she needed to. Her bare feet sloshed around in the mud. Ripped toenails she had done before joining the new group of travelers to make her fit more of the part. Eik’s golden hues looked on the cabin that was near the outskirts of town.

“This is the one.” She saw the notches in the side, where swords had hit there once for fun, Eik knew even if someone was watching her, they wouldn’t know who she was when she went to run. Made her life a hell of a lot easier.

Thankfully, the moon was full this night, and with the stars in the sky and thunder, Oil lamps lit up the man’s home, but Eik easily found her way inside through the front door with the man awake. She shrugged off her cloak, letting it fall to the ground to reveal her tattered dress that hung on her loosely. The councilman had wanted the murder to look like an accident, or natural, which could be difficult if the man saw her. Still, she snuck her way towards the kitchen, hearing the man clank around plates as she looked inside. The man looked older, salt and pepper hair, tired shoulders. Luckily, his back was to her and Eik looked around the kitchen before smiling. There was a pelt below the man’s feet, it would be easy to pull it out from under him, to watch him trip then finish the job. Eik moved into the kitchen, crouching down to grab the pelt and lift it up lightly, she was ready to tug.​

 

[DaL]

Everyone runs from their nightmares. The howling abysses that lay deep inside each person are constant reminders of the disguises they wear when walking down the streets or working in the fields. Most do what they can to hide from it, to never have to stand their ground and face it. Happy little lies they tell themselves over and over until they've become convinced by them. Lies are a helpful tool to have when needing to survive. Perhaps it best for that pathetic race to live in their fairy tale world in sheer obliviousness until death came knocking for them. They can tell themselves whatever they want, do whatever they want. No one or thing has truly been their masters.

Funny thing though, reality is free to do the same thing. And more often than not it doesn't give a damn about what other people think. Be they the lowest beggar to the mightiest kings, the only reason why their false truths wouldn’t come crashing down around them is because reality has let them stay. For the time being.

Not that there never was a sliver of hope for them. Some who have learn to accept truth and embrace it have found what some might call peace within themselves. Are they devoid of suffering and death? Of course not. Are they content with themselves? As much as they could be. But to do so required bringing everything they knew into question, about the world, about themselves. Most never had the nerve to do so. Or they simply chose not to.

And then there’s though that think they have. Fools who’ve tried to rush for the answers. They will naturally get the rudest awakening of them all, when reality finally caves in on them. Question being will they survive long enough to learn.

Some like the worn out man living alone deep within the woods have come to realize all of this. His life had been dominated by the ways of his family which have run in their veins for years unknown even by their most shriveled up elders. Much like the rest of them, he thought he lived a noble life. It was impossible to think otherwise, with so little contact outside his family during his childhood. Their work had gain them the favor of powerful figures in society. Kings loved their discipline and prowess in a fight, as well as the civil control they were able to keep within any city they lived in. Temple priests praised them for their dedication to the values and ways of their gods. Anyone that benefited from their work would often shower them with gifts, making their family one of the wealthiest in all the lands. Best of all though was their discreetness. The common folk would know of them for their warriors and guards, their diplomats and their magic. They were seen as practically royal in blood, you would never hear anything else from anyone. If they tried to, they would instantly find themselves with horrible accusations like blasphemy, murder, or treason.

So, if they were to employ someone of the likes of Eik, they wouldn’t have a reason for a second thought. After all, in their minds they are just getting rid of another rowdy peasant that seeks to disrupt the natural order of things. If only she knew how deep her assignment went. If only she wasn’t like most people and knew just what other sort of things the family have done.

The man that she was set against was nothing more than a mindless killer himself back in the day. He too didn’t question anything about what they were doing. It was after all for the greater good. The price was well worth paying for. And he was exceptional at the family craft. His tracking ability to hunt down wanted criminals was unmatched. Constant extrusions out into the wilderness with his father and brother hardened him for the tasks up ahead. At the age of fifteen he joined the city patrol as most in his family did at that age. Officially it was part of their training, to gain the experience they would need for the hardships up ahead. In reality, it was to harden their hearts. As a patrol guard he would get to wander the lowliest parts of the city, where the filth and decrypted reside. He would get to see humanity at it’s worst, it’s ugliest so that when the time came he would have no problem executing his orders.

That first time came at seventeen years of age. A murder had occurred in one of the nearby farms. He alone was set out to hunt down and slay the bastard responsible. It was his final test before being fully accepted into the inner circle of his family. Tracking down the person involved wasn’t difficult in the slightest. The fool hardly traveled far from the site of the murder. Night was creeping down over them as he closed in with knotted arrow in hand, ready to fire. The tip shimmered in the dying light as something silvery and wet dripped from the tip. He would have only one shot at it. Only one person was going to walk away, and it’ll depend solely on if his shot hit or missed.

The cries and growls of pain lasted nearly a minute before the target fell to his side, arrow in his back. The young man took pride in his first kill. Another blow from justice. His family and his king will be proud of him when he returned with the head. Hands were shaking as he slowly approached the corpse with hatchet in hand. Another perk of working on the city patrol was that you would get used to the sight of the dead on the streets before they were hauled off and dumped into the river. So he would have no qualm with the gruesome task ahead.

And then a cry was heard. A whimper really. Something small. Something right up ahead coming from the corpse. He froze, confused. Slowly his feet took him the rest of the way. What he would find would be the image that would forever haunt his dreams at night and refuse to ever give him peace so long as he was alive. A child. A little girl no more than three or four, sobbing over her dead father. Food laid scattered across the ground. Food that he was stealing from the farm to help support his child. The farmer the night before caught him, and unable to run he was forced to defend himself. Even in his malformed shape, as the not quite human father had tried to shift before the quicksilver took ahold in his veins, it was clear he was near starvation. All his stealing was going towards his little daughter.

For years he tried to brush the image out of his mind. He was constantly reminded that these people don’t have souls and thus shouldn’t be mourned. Why else would he just leave the child there as he yanked her father’s corpse away to have beheaded? They were monsters. All of them. But the nightmares were only getting worse. The worn out man standing before Eik was only about to turn 28 in another month, but the memory had aged him greatly. He continued his work, trying to stamp out the image from his mind. All that did though was add the faces of those he had killed into the nightmares.

His family had been taking notice of what was happening with him and tried all sorts of remedies to make him forget, but he continued to get sick. Then all of that came to a breaking point. A family of those monsters was tracked down. His father took him along to have them slain while they were at their weakest. Right after a major hunt for them, during the wee morning. A mother, two sisters, and a young brother still not quite old enough to fight were their targets. With the physically exhaustion they were still recouping from, they were no match. The mother gave the best she could, but his father knocked her back down without much effort. All that was needed was to get the deed over with, make the scene look like a bandit raid, and get out. No problem at all.

And there they were again. The faces of those he had killed during his youth. The little girl crying out in agony over her father, they are were there in his vision as his father rose up the blade. Their faces of horror matching that of the ghost floating behind them. Sweat and tears rolled down his face under the helmet. His body stood their frozen. His father didn’t even notice in the frenzy of the kill. His whole life flashed before his eyes as time seemed to slow down around them.

He didn’t think. He just did.

His father didn’t even live long enough to know what happened. All he could do was look down to the red blade sticking out from his chest right below the collarbone. Blood gurgled out from his mouth as he failed to utter words. And his body fell to the ground, sword clanged as it fell beside him, and then silence. A sickening feeling rushed threw him, his sight blurred, his stomach turned and threw out its context from his mouth before he fainted and fell limp on the ground as well.

His memory of what happened next was a blur. He had to be explained to that after his betrayal he was taken by the family to safety, where he was treated and protected. The next year felt like a dream, still so dazed over what he had done he walked as if he too had died back in the house. It could be argued though that he did indeed die back there. Officially, they were both killed by professionals in retaliation against their family. They didn’t want word to get out that one of their own had committed treason against the kingdom. So his name was scraped from history. Lord Kischiin Roghadclan was no more. In his place, and walking dead that now lived to regain his honor. To gain true honor. To dedicate his life towards repenting for the wrongs he’s done and protecting what he saw now were the true innocent from the true monsters. And with a new life came a new name. One gifted to him for his deeds. Anvet. That who seeks redemption.

The training he went through that will grant him his new life was intense, even more so than what he had gone through before. He might have been one of the lucky ones, and his previous training prepared him for the physical hardships he would have with his new family. It was the mental hardships he wasn’t expecting. It was amazing just how important having a high mind was to their way of living, even among the grunts. They had to. It was the only thing that kept them under control. He had been doing quite well, doing what he could to rescue and protect those of his new kind. They even said he might soon be truly accepted with their ranks. He knew what that would mean, but he was willing to accept it. Even after everything he’d done to them, they still forgave him in the end. Such behavior was rare within human society. These peoples’ rules and ways were quite harsh at times, again probably even more so than with humans. But they were always fair. Despite their outward appearance, they were surprisingly civil at times. Yes, he would be honored to finally become one of them.

Off elsewhere in the woods that night, three figures covered in ragged cloaks walked among the trees. They were on a scouting mission to help chart out new territory for their tribes. The journey had been long for them and they seek shelter from the rain. It’s not that they could get sick from it, they just wanted to have a roof over their heads after so long. They knew of the safehouse that Anvet had been running for the past couple years, it would only take them off their path a little bit.

The first one up ahead peered up, black straggling beard caught drops of rain as his beady eyes peered out to the house in the distance. A figure was seen nearby walking along but he paid no mind to it. Waving a hand to the others, they crept up towards the house. Another one, a woman with short blonde hair and pale eyes, clenched her shoulders with crossed arms as she looked up towards the sky. The glow of the full moon blazed across her face. “We really should get inside sooner than later.” Her hushed voice singed out over the rain. “I don’t think I can keep it in much longer.”

“The walk has been taxing on us, yes.” The old one up in front spoke out. “I hope our human friend can deal with the three of us inside his small little shack he has going there.”

The last one spoke up. “I know him personally. He would take in a dozen of us during a full moon if he had to, and find a way to make it work. You can’t find a more dedicated human.” A younger but still aged man, with an amber tan and deep blue eyes, he would definitely be the most good looking of the lot among humans. That is until he would show them his true face.

“Especially since the alpha has plans to have him turned soon.” The woman jokingly retorted.

They were very quiet getting inside. Door was unlocked, as if they were expected… Something wasn’t right. Water already on the floor, and there was a strange smell in the house. The oldest one clenched his fist in the air to tell the others to stay quiet and they sneaked forward. They rounded the corner. And there she was, a stranger in the house, leaning down and grabbing the carpet which Anvet stood on. Their eyes flashed in bright glow as they jumped into action. “Anvet!”

A throwing knife clang to the floor right next to Eik, thrown by one of the travelers. The other two closed in from either side as Anvet spun around. Hand reached for the knife he was cooking with and muscle memory kicked in before his brain had, preparing to defend himself.

 

[Lagertha]

Her hair was twisted in a series of braids, though some of her hair hung loose behind her in small braids. Eik was all the bit fitted for this, for killing this man and as she held onto the rug she could remember the little boy she had killed. Other memories surfaced in Eik's mind.

Most of the people under the empire no doubt knew of what they were going against, their trained killer dogs, she was different. Eik knew the basics, though she had looked into the councilman before deciding to meet with him.

A plague had once rattled the slums, though Eik had easily found out that the councilman himself had sent the orders to poison the water supplies of the slums to thin out the population. Overcrowding, no doubt the councilman might argue. She knew all about the guards he had taken from his ranks to put them in another division of trained killers, which had brought up the question why he might have hired someone like her.

So she had looked into that as well. The councilmen's trained men were under watch by the Emperors men. To kill a man that had wanted to leave the guard he would have had to get the Emperors approval. Of which no doubt the councilman wished to bypass. Perhaps this man had left without the Emperor knowing, but Eik felt like there was more. Then again, she didn't exactly care. She was getting to kill someone, end another life to make herself feel alive and getting paid a hefty coin to do so.

Still, this moment made her stomach turn. This should be easy; pull the rug, watch the man trip and fall into the corner of the table, and if he lived she could easily smuggle him to death. However...Eik could feel something was wrong.

It was like the time all over again when she had killed her baby sister. The girl had been so sickly since birth, and Eik had killed the boy who had tormented her sister. Yet, Eik had taken her sister's life as well. She could still remember the way her mother tried to rationalize the whole; saying it was because her little sister had gotten some of the others sick that Eik had done it out of kindness. Eik hadn't done it out of kindness. Eik had done it out of revenge.

The moment still turned behind her eyes as she started to tug at the rug, breathing in deeply. Her sister was six then, and Eik herself only seven. Two of her brothers had died from the new sickness her youngest sister had caught, her mother had caught it as well, and one of her other sisters had been the first to pass. Still, none of those people had mattered when Eik had slit her sister's throat. Her father's death had done her in. She had idolized the man, wanted to be a great hunter like him once, but Eik was a girl. Girls were to stay with their mothers and do the chores. Silly Eik had thought if she showed her father she could kill like him he might let her come with him, and he had been impressed with the animals she had killed. However, the fact had still remained that Eik was a girl, and her father had refused to let her be a hunter. Eik had still thought she could change his mind, after all she was good at killing things, and even killing that boy had been nothing. There was nothing she could have done then, with her father's death to convince him to let her be a hunter, so a killer Eik had become. A cold, heartless beast that had no problem butchering her youngest sister and...

Eik's head jerked when she heard a voice call from behind her. Instincts took over as she saw the trio approach, tugging and twisting the rug under the man's feet. Of course they had thrown a knife to the man to have him defend himself, but the idiot had twisted his legs to turn around in such a manner that had opened the opportunity for Eik to drop him to the ground. The man fell, but not the impact she had wanted.

"Fuck!" Eik hissed, grabbing the thick rope that was tied around her clothing. She pulled out the thick rope, twisting on her fists as she tried her best to run to her target, to grab him before they could stop her. All she needed to do was grab him, use him for leverage and Eik ran as her heart thundered in her cold chest.​

 

[DaL]

He wasn't a soldier anymore, but Anvet was no fool in combat. All those years of training still proved valuable to himself and those under his protection. This wasn't the first time someone attempted to take his life. The assassin will not have it easy if he had anything to say about it.

Still on the floor his options were limited. He kicked his legs around towards her, keeping them between her and his vitals. Instincts told him to just keep her off just long enough for the others to take her down, he just needed to buy them a few precious seconds. Two of them bolted for her, the oldest one stayed back a bit to make sure she wouldn't be able to slip by all of them. No words or orders were spoken between them, just action. They didn't need to be told what to do. The short haired woman dashed up on top of one of the counters with amazing agility as she closed in on the assassin from her right. The tanned man was coming in from the other side. From under his cloak he drew out what could only be described as a giant dagger. The medal blade glimmered brightly in the candlelight, the handle was embroiled with intricate beadwork and looked a bit far too big for even his giant hands.

But the bearded one had a different idea. She her still running across the rug he immediately dropped down and yanked hard on the rug. The tanned one, who was also on the rug immediately felt it move under his feet and instantly knew what happened, jumping off to the side before he would loose his balance. Anvet saw the bearded one dropping down and grabbing the rug, so he was able to react a little bit sooner. With the knife in hand he swung it over behind him and straight down to an exposed part of the floor. The blade dug into the wood with a loud clang and he held on hard with both hands. Legs rose up in the air to allow the rug to slip under him.

The bearded one yanked hard on the rug, sending it flying half way across the room. The short haired one, undisturbed from his move since she wasn't standing on the rug to begin with, leaped into the air and reached out for the assassin's legs. The cloak flung off revealing the ripped, thin, toned body underneath covered up just enough by a loincloth and some cloth wrapped around her upper chest. She fell on top of the assassin's legs as they were forced to fall with the rug.

"Stay back!" The tanned one yelled out to Anvet as he gained his footing again, soon making a dash for the assassin while his companion tried to hold her down.

 

[Lagertha]

Everyone says things speed up when you are being hunted like an animal, about to be captured. Everyone had told their stories of being caught, the ones that had fled and survived, and how the moment sped up so quickly. They also talked about killing, but they weren't real killers like her, how the moment went so fast. Not to Eik. Everything. Was. In. Slow. Motion.

She could count the seconds between each breath, each little object and movement calculating in her head as they made their moves. Eik was no doubt running on the rug, but the girl was not dumb. She was cold, ruthless, and she had not survived this long by being stupid. The moment she felt the man stop running, his feet no longer rattling the ground under her, Eik knew something was up. Her head jerked, watching the woman run on the cabinets like Eik might have and should have.

One. By the time the men drew the rug to tug it roughly from Eik's feet, she had caught wind. Exhaling deeply, hands tensing on the rope in her hands poised to kill, she jumped avoiding their attempt to fool the girl. Two. Eik breathed in as the woman tackled her, grasping her legs and bunching them together. Three. Eik fell, chin knocking on the ground, lip splitting as Eik's hair fell upwards, but she didn't cry. Four. Eik twisted in the woman's grasp. Her legs twisted under the woman as her upper body moved. Five. Eik exhaled as she moved her arms, easily catching the girls throat in his awkward position. Her body was twisted, ass up, legs under the girl, one trying to twist in a more natural way, her upper body contorted in a way she could easily pull muscles. However still the rope moved with ease, as Eik criss crossed the rope around the woman's neck. The rope was thick, several other ropes banded together, a rope strong enough to bring a ship into dock and tie it. Six. Eik inhaled as her hands pulled, tightening the rope around the girl's neck. Seven. With one quick jerk, a motion Eik was familiar with, she snapped the girl's neck. Eight. The girl laid lifeless on top of her. Eik reached up, grabbing something in her hair that held it up as one hand held onto the ropes. Nine. The small slick piece of forged metal came out of her hair, the sharp pointy edge glistening in the oil lamps. Eik's hair had been pinned up with a multitude of these sharp needles that were only about an inch wide, and an inch thick at it's biggest part in the middle. Ten. Eik was close enough to the man she was suppose to kill to see her opportunity. The other men that had come to stop her were on the other side of the room holding the rug, though one was running towards her now no doubt enraged. With the small dagger like needle in her hand, Eik struck quickly stabbing the man in the legs several times. Eleven. Eik exhaled as she continued to jab at the man's legs, Anvet, rendering each one useless.

These men, this woman had thought they had cornered Eik into a spot where her only option had been to run, but Eik didn't enjoy running unless she was chasing. Besides, they had given her the perfect opportunity to get her fix. Though she had been suppose to make Anvet's death look like a natural cause or an accident, this would do. A robbery gone wrong. Eik's golden eyes glistened as she watched the blood spurt from the man's legs.

Twelve. Eik faced the man coming her way. Her hand loosened on the rope on the girl's neck, knowing now that even if she had somehow survived her neck being snapped that she had cut off the girl's oxygen long enough to render her dead. Thirteen. Another inhale took her as a twisted smile played on Eik's pretty face. Cold eyes looking at the man approaching her, a hand still wrapped around the silver blade in Anvet's leg under his knee cap. Fourteen. The free hand went under the girl's neck as Eik had twisted her legs under the girl's lifeless chest. Fifteen. Eik exhaled as she kicked and pushed the body with one quick force, flinging it upward in the direction of the man coming towards her. Sixteen. Eik inhaled again as she grasped another dagger from her hair, pulling it out sharply as she twisted back on her stomach. Seventeen. Eik crawled, easily climbing as she dug the dagger out of Anvet's leg. She held the daggers in her hands, moving to climb on top of Anvet to finish the job. Eighteen. Eik straddled Anvet's body, his legs unable to move with the wounds she had made. A hand moved to defend herself, while the other raised all the way up in the air, hovering as Eik was ready to strike, to end this. Nineteen. Down, down down came the dagger as Eik exhaled.​

 

[DaL]

Pain was familiar with Anvet. It was his life, his curse. He was so used to it that by now his brain would go numb whenever it would surface again. Having a dozen stab holes in his legs no longer phased him. Guilt would make sure to overshadow such pain. But that didn't make things easier for him. Her strikes were perfectly on mark, hitting him in just the right locations where he would be rendered effectively paralyzed. By automation his arms tried to block whatever attacks the assassin would throw at him. But there was no emotion in his defense. Ever since his betrayal he knew his family would keep sending people after him. He had been living on edge knowing at any second he could find himself in a life or death situation. His new companions would help him out, but more than once someone had gotten close. And now his presence has cost someone else's life. This whole damn thing was getting old. He was tired of trying to keep going. His body was only acting on muscle memory, but deep down he didn't care. Even as his paled eyes looked up as the glistening blade rising above him, he didn't show a degree of emotion. So this was how it finally ended, he thought.

He just needed to close his eyes was all. It would be over quickly. Heavy eyelids slid shut as he heard the sound of heavy steps and crackling bones. Somewhere nearby, something was creating a guggling sound. He could feel the floor underneath starting to shake a bit with each sound of a distant thump. A whisk of air signaled the knife beginning its decent. He can finally rest soon. Just a few more seconds.

A sharp crack rang through the house. The tip of the blade, hungry for blood, held frozen in place just a few inches from Anvet's forehead. The handle and the arms holding it disappeared into something huge. A giant of a hand, covered in fur. Finger muscles as big as some people's arms clenched tightly around Eik's hands, cracking the bones inside. Long sickle black claws dug into her skin as it pulled back up. It yanked her off of Anvet, swinging her around like a ragdoll. It shot up high into the air, easily pulling her off the ground by more than a few feet as it lashed her body violently. A heavy breath blew across her right before a giant maw opened up and let out a deafening roar right into her face. Ivory teeth shined brightly in the candlelight as two burning yellow dots pierced into her eyes .

 

[Lagertha]

No love. No hate. No fear. Eik had been dabbling on the edge of death her whole life. Watching the life distinguish in someone's eyes every time she took it from them. Maybe, Eik herself wanted death, or perhaps she knew in a way that everything was permitted on this plane. After all, how many times had the seers spat in her face telling her that death was only the beginning. She wondered what it was like? Painful? Scary?

Every second counted right? She had been on eighteen when she exhaled and her eyes danced on the man's face. He looked oddly similar to the man who had issued his death. Family issues. How many times she had killed for that? It was always funny, when the men hired her to take out the others and thought this issued no blood on their hands. However, somehow Eik always ended up where she started; killing the person who had first issued the orders to begin with. Perhaps it was her own twisted vendetta;wanting to get rid of those higher up who thought they were untouchable. Or more likely she just liked the chaos it created when one of the wealthy was gone and the others tried to scramble to find out who had done it. Though, none of them ever tried to question Eik for fear of her.

There was something more about this man under her. She could tell he wasn't frightened. No. Instead he looked as numb as Eik did when she had tried going over a week without killing; numb, distraught, ready to end it all. How tired this poor son of a bitch must have been. No doubt he had others come for his life but none as brutal as Eik. Or perhaps there was other killers as brutal as her. She had met a fair many in her days under the Silent Men, her assassins guild. Hell a few many had tried to fuck her over only to lose a limp...or two.

Nineteen. Eik started to inhale again. She knew she needed to start counting, but she knew this man wanted his own death. He was only moving by memory now, and at any moment he would give way and let her finish what she came here to do. Twenty. She could hear something disturbing behind her; gurgling sounds almost, breaking bones. Normal people might turn around to look, to see what the noises were, but Eik's eyes only focused on her victim. Twenty-one. A crooked smile crept on her face the closer the dagger got, aiming for his heart as she dodged his knife. Twenty-two. The man hit her on the cheek, making her flinch as he cut her, he managed to move the dagger to his face, between his eyes. Twenty-Three. She exhaled as the ground shook, her lips pursing as she raised a brow. Twenty-four. As she inhaled again, her head jerked to see what all the commotion was, distracted by the sounds finally. Off guard, she tried to jerk head back to the victim as the air broke around her. What the hell was causing such a force?

Twenty-five came. Her body stiffened, she tried to jerk the dagger down the finally inch, but something large caught her. Everything. Sped up. Eik's head jerked as the furry hand gripped both hers, and squeezed. Her lips parted in a howl, pain surged through her as her fingers snapped and broke rendering them useless. Why? What? The man below her had given up on his life, but his friends had become angry enough to want to end her before she could take another life. What was more, was the fact she had never seen a hand such as this before, and it easily lifted her up off the man and flung her around.

Eik collided with the floor, the counter, a table, before she was flung back on the ground. Her cheek pressed against the wood, blood gushed out of her broken lips and nose. Her hands were crippled, and her eyes blinked as her head spun. Still, one side of her nose worked enough to let Eik inhale. Blood caked her white hair, a bone or two stuck out of her hands as she finally made contact with what had attacked her. Her daggers were scattered on the ground, too far to reach for.

She winced as the thing roared, making her ears pop and ring as she closed her eyes. Opening them again she saw the creature, it's glowing yellow eyes staring at her. Her brows furrowed, confused. When had a dog entered the house? What the hell kind of beast was that? They set me up. Eik was certain of that now. She scrambled, trying to sit up. Nlood poured out of her left ear, and she knew she couldn't move. In all the confusion, Eik had not realized the beast had whacked at her body, breaking some of her ribs. She growled, in pain and frustration. She did not want to close her eyes, she knew death would ensue, but she knew no matter what she was probably dead anyways.

She pressed her bloody hands into the ground to try to sit up, clenching teeth as she grimaced at the beast. Her hands snapped and broke further, numbly throbbing as her eyes shook. Eik spat out blood, hitting the beast on it's face, though some of her blood was already on it's fur. It's eyes never left hers, angry as she was as she tried to stand up, she fell back down. One of her ankles twisted from him banging her around.

"Fuck. You." Eik spat as she tried to reach for her hair. Her hands hurt and ached, twisting as best they could to grab another knife. Really she could only use two fingers on her left hand, and she gripped them. Pulling out the knife, Eik exhaled. She was too far to attack the beast without throwing a knife. Too far to kill her victim without most likely missing. She could not place where the second male was, or the first, but Eik knew she wasn't going to let this beast torture her to death. She held the knife to her throat, grinning. If she had to die, at least she'd do it herself. Time to know what death felt like.​