PinoyWrimos

And so she stood up, dusted off her dress, and looked at the sky. She saw the moon shining down on her. Her long black hair, her only pride, molded itself around her, forming a shining black cloak. She melted into the darkness. From that night on, Elysia disappeared and the Assassin took her place.
The Assassin was stoic, silent, and unmoving. She was perfect for doing the dirty jobs. The Dark Lord put her under the charge of Melantha the Dark, his most trusted companion. Unlike the rest of the Witches, Melantha wasn’t instructed to blend into society and sow seeds of hatred. Instead, she traveled from country to country, going back and forth, and watched the action from above. Her job was to survey the land for potential setbacks to the Dark Lord’s plan, people who resisted the subtle work of the Witches, people who shined with so much hope they were affecting the people around them and making them resist, too. Melantha would figure out who the dissenters were. She pointed them out to the Assassin. And, quickly or slowly, depending on how Melantha specified how she would do the job, the Assassin would do what she did best. It was often over before the victims could react.
The Assassin would stand aside, silent, after a killing while Melantha crowed by the sidelines. The Assassin was a creature devoid of emotion. She had to be unfeeling to do her job well. Yet after each deed, regardless of how it went, the Assassin would find drops of water pouring out of her eyes, snaking their way down her cheeks and chin. She didn’t even know what they were. Melantha just laughed and told her they were there to purify her of her sins. But the Assassin didn’t understand what she meant, at all.
Tonight was just another job for the Assassin. Melantha had told her to dispose of the victim’s body completely and only bring the ruby necklace around its neck as proof of its death. As the Assassin stood in the clearing, tears in her eyes, the heart she thought was now made of stone thawed and was engulfed in warmth. Elysia was fighting the Assassin.
Elysia was here now, looking down at the blue-eyed baby, questioning her own motive to kill. She was not a killer; no, not Elysia. Thoughts of obeying the Dark Lord and murdering people in cold blood started drifting off from her mind to be replaced with a gentleness, a sort of tranquil calm in herself that she never knew even existed. Her black cloak crumpled and straightened, and turned back into long, flowing black hair. Her emotionless eyes, that spewed tears without the feelings that accompanied them, blinked and brightened. She felt alive again. The baby stirred in her arms and she gazed at it lovingly, like a mother looking down at her newborn child.
And so, she knew that whatever happened, she would protect this baby at all costs. The baby was so innocent, so untouched, that perhaps this was why the Dark Lord was afraid of it. She couldn’t see why the Dark Lord had ordered her to kill it. All she knew was that the baby had a large role to play in this war. Even an ordinary pawn like her could feel it. Perhaps it was the baby’s inert power to heal and make people feel that pushed the Dark Lord into thinking it was dangerous.
It had saved her, and now it was her turn. It was not a sense of obligation that fueled Elysia as she removed the ruby necklace around the baby’s neck with gentle hands. It wasn’t fear of the Dark Lord that made her fumble as she removed the small ornate black stone that adorned the simple bracelet round her wrist.
It was love. It was the look in the baby’s trusting eyes that pushed Elysia into using the last of her power as a Witch to turn the ruby’s rich red color into milky white. Just as the ruby slowly turned pale, so did Elysia’s black stone. In the end, Elysia was left with a white ruby and her own stone bleached. She kissed them both and snapped them onto her bracelet.
With the baby still in her arms, she ran deeper and deeper into the forest until she felt sure she was as far as she could get from the castle. She tightened the soft cloth wrapped around the baby and carefully placed it among the thickest of the foliage. One of the hunters or miners would surely find it in a few hours, hopefully someone from the other side of the forest.
The baby just looked at her silently, a curious look in its eyes, as she whispered in a hurried voice, “Thank you.” It didn’t cry as she turned around, running back the way she came from, the white ruby now clutched in her hands.
As she reached the clearing, she felt her energy draining and she smiled. Although she was Elysia, she was still a Witch, after all. And now that her stone was white, her life was wasting away with it. But before she died, she had to give the ruby to Melantha or else they would have no proof the baby’s death. She just had to sit and wait. Melantha was probably on her way. Elysia’s eyelids drooped but she fought to keep them open. She didn’t know how long she had stood there, clenching the ruby so hard her knuckles were turning white, before she couldn’t fight it any more. Her eyes closed of their own accord. Her body fell to the ground lifeless. But the white ruby remained in her closed palm.
***
Melantha poked the Assassin’s corpse with a foot and sneered. The body was stiff.
“I do believe she’s dead,” a high-pitched, cultured voice said. It belonged to Melantha’s companion, a 10-year old child, with short bright red hair. The girl kneeled beside the body, her long black cloak splaying on the ground, and touched a pale cheek.
Melantha rolled her eyes. “Yes, Jinx, I can see that.” She had been insulted when the Dark Lord sent the little girl along with her to retrieve the Assassin. As far as she could see, she was strong enough to deal with things on her own. Jinx would just get in the way. But, apparently, the Dark Lord didn’t think so. She could see how he still took the fluke with the Blind Seer a year ago to heart. She had felt her worth go down in his eyes. Even after all the work she’d done the past months, he hadn’t forgotten. Who was she kidding? The Dark Lord never forgot.
“I think the baby killed her.” Jinx touched the Assassin’s long black hair.
Melantha quickly negated Jinx’s statement. “The baby couldn’t have killed her. The Assassin’s powerful…and the baby’s just a baby.” Even as she said the words, she wondered. The baby was supposed to be the Keeper, after all. What if it had indeed killed the Assassin? But she wasn’t about to agree with Jinx.
Melantha got down on her knees and examined the body. With the Assassin’s death came the disappearance of her cloak, obviously because of a loss of power. “There’s no sign of struggle on her face,” she said with a frown. She checked the wrist for her black stone. “Her stone isn’t here.”
“I found it!”
Jinx was crouched on a spot near the body. She was waving a white stone in her hand. “It’s her stone. It’s white and it looks worn out.” Jinx rushed to her side and showed her. “She probably used up all her power fighting the baby.”
Melantha’s eyes widened. She snatched the stone from Jinx. “This is her stone, all right.” She looked at the Assassin’s face, which oddly enough, looked peaceful. “What could have happened here?”
“I have no idea, but first things first. We have to find out if the baby’s still alive.” Jinx was examining the body again. Melantha could only see her back.
Melantha was annoyed at how Jinx had taken charge. She stood up abruptly. “I’m going to look around the forest. Perhaps the baby’s crawling around here somewhere.”
“Not so fast.” Jinx didn’t even look at her but there was a commanding note in her voice. Melantha wanted to punch her. “You said so yourself. It’s just a baby. It probably can’t even crawl yet. Let’s finish looking at the body first.”
Melantha was exasperated. “But if it can kill the Assassin, what’s crawling, right? Or perhaps, someone came along and picked it up.”
Jinx didn’t answer. She was busy with the body, checking the Assassin’s clothes. She examined the Assassin’s right hand. There was a happy cry of “Aha!” Melantha was afraid to look.
“Look, Melantha! It’s the baby’s ruby.” There was a triumphant look on Jinx’ face. She stood up and ran up to Melantha on her still short legs. The ruby was whole but it was pure white, which could only mean one thing.
Melantha was still annoyed but she couldn’t help smiling. The Assassin had died but she had completed her mission, after all. “The Keeper is dead.” There was no way the baby could be alive when her ruby was now white.
Jinx smiled and started dancing around the clearing. “The Keeper’s dead! The Keeper’s dead!”
Melantha wanted to close her eyes. Sometimes, she just wasn’t sure if Jinx was mature or immature for a girl her age.
Jinx jumped up and down in front of Melantha. “Do you think Lord Hadrian would mind if we just left the Assassin’s body behind? I’m not really up to carrying a dead body along with us.”
My thoughts exactly, Melantha thought. Aloud she said, “I think it would be all right…as long as we dispose of the body.” She smiled cruelly. The black stone around her neck flashed red and blue. “That should do it.”
The trees around them had caught fire. “Come on, Jinx, before the whole forest turns to ash.”
Jinx giggled and waved the white ruby for the last time. They raised their hoods simultaneously and melted into the darkness.