Time Wasted

Jaden Ohanzee · 04-04-2011, 05:28 PM

[html]

Word Count=800+

Moonlight played among the trees on a chilly night near the Cour des Miracles boarder. A weak wind pushed through bushes and rattled bare limbs on trees, cooling every inch of the forest. The night seemed void of life, a picture of tranquil, timeless nature. No insects chirped. No birds sang. The land itself slept and waited for the inevitable return of warm sunlight. Only could a trained ear pick up a slight disturbance, a ghost of a sound, sliding through the air as if it belonged with nature. But it most certainly didn’t belong. Fur softly brushing past hard metal was barely audible when the invisible hunter suddenly stopped to listen to the wind. His ears flicked, nose twitched, and dark blue eyes scanned darkness for any sign that he was not alone this night. Once he was reassured in the lifeless nature of the forest around him, Jaden quickly continued along the pack boarder, only to stop a little while later and listen again.

The assassin was testing Cour des Miracles boarder thoroughly for any weakness. He looked for easy way in. A river flowing eastward or a rocky outcropping too difficult to be patrolled by pack sentries would suffice. Doing this for the past three nights had given nothing but recently marked territory and worn patrol paths. Such places where the worst possible locations to penetrate the territory’s boarder. Jaden had to find a place that would take him far into the pack’s land without giving an easy trail to follow. Once in, he would keep moving until he found the scent of Vigilante. Following that would hopefully lead to the alpha and Jaden could easily kill him with one of the poison tipped arrows on his back. If the fight would not be that easy, he also wore the custom made blackened steel gauntlets his mate had given to him. Taking the blade attachments from his satchel and installing them to the gauntlets would take merely a minute and a half. The circular weapons had also been poisoned with a thin lair of wolves-bane. Being cut by any of Jaden’s blades besides his dagger would result in an unquestionably slow and painful death. That one blade stayed sterile only because the killer was running low on the potent poison and only used what he thought necessary.

Jaden intensely concentrated on his practiced stealth movements, but every so often a thought of doubt would flutter past his hardened conscience. The same thoughts plagued him over and over as he stalked. Why am I here? What am I doing? Why kill Vigilante? The member of Kaktowik who had offered him a simple deal held the answer. Running from his former murderous pack Uva Atka, Jaden had crossed Kaktowik’s boarder and was almost instantly taken into custody when he refused to leave and multiple assassins showed at the boarders calling for his blood. Thankfully, Kaktowik had an extreme obsession about doing what was right and attempted to be diplomatic with Uva Atka about the exchange of Jaden’s life. While this happened, the wolf who’s life was being debated looked for every possible escape rout, but could find not one. He had almost given up when a wolf hybrid by the name of Pello met with him secretly. He offered Jaden the chance to escape if he agreed to take a life. With no other option and the required experience to do the job, Jaden accepted and quickly set off on his way toward Souls’ in search of Vigilante Haskel.

Pello had not given a strong reason for wanting Vigilante dead. He had only said that because of Vigilante, he was not Alpha. Jaden didn’t care at the time because he was so overtaken by the prospect of actually escaping from Uva Atka that he had not pressed. Now he wished he would have. Meeting new people, loosing his last ties to Uva Atka, and having large amounts of time to contemplate what his life could be now that he was free from death had raised a moral dilemma within the Optime. Morality had never been a problem for Jaden before now. Killing had been a part of life. He had taken the life from an entire pack of non-luperci coyotes, pups and all, in a cruel blood bath simply because they were coyotes. Why now did right and wrong bother him so much? The would-be assassin just kept telling himself, Vigilante is a coward. He is a killer. He took from another what my brother took from me. He deserves to die! Only by lying to himself and equating Vigilante to his hated, murderous twin brother was Jaden able to continue with his mission. Doubts still rose in him, but he quelled them with his lies ad just kept staking silently though the forest, looking for a way out of this horrible trap. Trying to end his killing permanently with one more deserving victim.

Login




Remember me Lost Password?