Chapter I- Eyes of a Killer
His eyes darted about nervously, the hurried footsteps occasionally stumbling upon the trash that lined the particularly foul alley of Neverwinter. Vagrants… drunks… all sorts of low lives lined the streets. Though, perhaps not all were. Beneath each pile of stinking rags, could lay a killer, waiting to put a dagger in his back. His own clothes of fine silk concealed under the heavy woolen robe. The fabric making his body itch, ever tempting to reach out to scratch. Though he hurried along, he couldn’t be late…
But the eyes of the killer were not in fact amongst the rejects of society. Rather, the gold iris’ traced the robed figure through the streets from above. Pale moonlight streamed in through the beams and rafters of the abandoned building. He watched his prey with a relentless gaze. As he disappeared behind a smoky corner, his footsteps traced silently across the rafters, quietly leaping between them above the rags and ruin below him. Carefully balancing himself as he saw his prey shuffling along another side street, sticking out like a sore thumb, despite his attempts. The gold eyes narrowed slightly as the robed figure slowly came to a stop in a lit corner, a measly flame flicking atop a wooden torch…
His footsteps slowly came to a stop, his gold eyes slowly surveying about. This was the place. Very few places were beyond their eyes and ears. A place such as this wouldn’t be suspected for an important meeting between the good men of Neverwinter. They needed all the help they could get. Their resources were rather large, their forces formidable, though elusive. Perhaps this would be the beginning, to drive them out… He peered out from under the brown hood, slowly turning to regard the three directions that converged on his point, the vagrants still minding their own business… so far…
He frowned lightly… it was too bright, too empty where he was, unable to get close without being noticed amongst the motionless men that sat about. He tapped his chin a moment against the light stubble, considering his options. His hand slowly snaked around to his pack. He slowly took a chunk of dried, salted meat out, some of the best of Neverwinter. Pausing a moment, he tossed it down amongst a group of vagrants. At once, several glanced up, and leapt at it. An argument broke out as three men grasped the precious food in their hands. Gold eyes traced the arguing man closest to his prey… His fingers traced along his belt, sliding a dart out, he took careful aim, and flung it at the man, not enough to kill, though enough to wound. The man yelped, and snarled at the other men, believing another made a stab for the food that was rightfully his. The vagrant leapt upon another behind him. It didn’t take long…
Startled he turned, several of the vagrants he had passed arguing. Till one gave a yelp, and snarled with an attack at another, his hands seeking his neck. Soon, the others became caught up… He stepped a bit back as more jumped in, a small riot breaking out in the middle of the alley. One which he didn’t wish to get involved in… Then again, he couldn’t leave till his companion arrived. Huddling against his robe, the fight swelled around him as he was bumped around the group of vagrants engaging in likely drunken fistfights.
He surveyed the situation quickly, finding it now much more to his liking. The jostling mass of men creating greater cover then any cloak of night, it was time… He crouched, jumping down and landing softly on the ground. He slowly approached his prey. Who now looked confused and scared, his eyes darting about. The killers stride was slow and purposeful. He waited a moment before they prey’s back was turned, then struck out like a cobra. The dagger emerged from his belt, the grip resting in reverse position in his right hand. With a dash through the crowd, he plunged it into the space where the spine met the skull, effectively cutting off the rest of the body from the brain. There was no scream, no fanfare. The man simply fell to the ground like a sack of potatoes. Such was the advantage over slitting ones throat, little blood as well. The killer bent down, the riot still raging about him. He pushed the mans robe aside, and slowly, roughly etched a hand, flat, and encircled… the symbol of Bane. His eyes slowly traced up the body, and blinked, taken aback at the gold eyes that stared back blankly at him… The slightly elongated ears… Another half elf. The sight shook him, before he shook his head free of the shock and then slid back, disappearing into the crowd as quietly as he had come…
As he strode through the now empty streets, he stripped the dark clothing from his body. Dropping them in various places as he pulled the commoner shirt back over his body, ducking into a shadow to change back into normal. And like that, he was once again a normal citizen of Neverwinter, just on his way home from a hard days work. Tipping his hat to his neighbour, he strode into his house. The pale moonlight filtered in through the few windows as his even his light footsteps could not avoid making a light creaking as he made his way up the stairs. Pausing a moment, his hand pushed at rough wood to slowly crack a door open. The soft breath of his daughter was heard. Her soft brown hair visible as she slept. He smiled lightly, and shut the door again. A man, so much different then a few hours ago, crept into his own room, and silently slide into bed, brushing his wife’s hair lightly, before he slept, though not peacefully… The soft gold eyes still staring back to him in his sleep…
//More to come, when I get around to writing it ;)\\