Mage Assassin 2 Chapter 10

I started to unscramble Nara from the ivy, but the pesky plants were ruthless. They tangled in her hair and twisted all the way down to the tips of her shoes, and it was hard to see the Headmistress within the chaos of the foliage. I took my sword and started to swipe at the vines that continued to stretch over from the front of the estate to reach her, but this was only mildly effective.

Mazne stood behind me with a small smile on her face. She was far too short to reach the witch who hung above both of our heads, so instead, she watched and gave a few unhelpful suggestions here and there.

“Hold still!” I shouted at the witch who flopped above the entryway. “I might hurt you if you keep on wriggling like that.”

Nara grunted and didn’t listen, and she just got more pissed and started to roll around in the ivy that was getting more entwined with each passing second.

“Get these bloody things off me!” the Headmistress yelled, and then she hissed as the plants suddenly wound themselves tighter.

“I’m trying, but you need to calm down!” I shouted back. “They react to volatile emotions, so try and keep still.”

The witch slowly stopped squirming, but the ivy had begun to suck her toward the walls of the estate house. I couldn’t blame them for doing their job, but no matter how many times I told them to back down, they just wouldn’t.

“What the hell are they doing to me?” Nara bellowed. “Is this going to be the way I die? From poxy weeds?”

Mazne snorted behind me, and when I shot her a glance, she abruptly looked around like she was very interested in the scenery all of a sudden.

“You’re not going to die,” I sighed. “They’re only attacking you because you weren’t supposed to be here. You don’t have an appointment.”

“Just get them off,” Nara yelled again.

The witch stayed as still as she could in the ivy-wrapped coffin, and I got to work with unpicking the vines that wrapped around her. It wasn’t easy, especially because the plants had taken her hostage above my head, but slowly, the first few gaps in the plants started to form.

Then I uncuffed the green leaves from her and sliced between vines until there was an open slit all the way up the side of her body.

It took around fifteen minutes for her to eventually become unstuck.

“You’re going to need to swing your legs over the side,” I announced to the witch that looked like she was playing dead. “And sit on the edge like a swing.”

“How the fuck am I supposed to do that?” she muttered in a flat tone.

“Figure it out, Nara.” I smiled. “Otherwise, you can just roll onto the ground, but it’s an eight foot drop from up there, so good luck with that one.”

I gave Mazne a smirk, who returned it with a whispered giggle. We both looked up at the shaking, leafy hammock, and the witch slowly repositioned herself.

“Should I jump?” Nara asked. Her head was tipped down and she looked at us through her opened, stockinged knees.

“Yeah, I’ll catch you,” I said.

The witch counted down from three, and I braced myself to catch the woman in my arms.

“And go!” she yelled and pushed herself off from the vines. They swung behind her with force, and Nara came toppling down from above and landed straight in my arms.

“Well, that could have gone worse,” I teased.

The witch jumped out of my arms and fluffed up her wild hair that was still coated in leaves and twigs. Ivy was now clinging to the rest of her clothes, and there were even cut vines that had been laced in her holy tights.

“Your plants are not very nice,” the Headmistress growled. Then she looked up at the plants and hissed at them some more.

“They’re our security,” I laughed. “And I think they did a good job.”

“Well, I can’t say the same,” Nara said and patted down the bottom of her ruffled dress.

I looked up at the vines and saw that they had started to replenish and regenerate already. Soon, it looked like nothing had ever happened, and they all quietly hung over the walls like little tendrils basking in the summer air.

“So, why are you here, Nara?” Mazne said in a formal tone. “You haven’t got an appointment.”

“That’s because it’s a last minute visit,” Nara hummed. “I need to talk to the Master of the house again.”

“I’m busy--” I began.

“And I need to speak to you… post-haste.” The Headmistress raised her eyebrows when she looked at me and then flicked her dark green eyes to the doorway. “So, are you going to let me in or not? I think after being ravaged by your plants like some sort of busty barmaid at a farmer’s tavern, it’s the least I deserve, don’t you?”

Instead of asking me the question, she looked at Mazne, who instantly looked at me to answer the question for her.

“Have you got the payment?” I asked and held out my hand to receive the money I knew she wasn’t carrying.

“No.” She cleared her throat.

“And has your situation changed at all?” I asked in my firmest manner.

“I don’t want to discuss it with--” Nara nudged her head toward the receptionist and then widened her eyes at me. “So, can we please go in?”

“Alright.” I smirked and turned the knob of the door. “Maybe it’s best we talk inside.”

The vines worked backward and exposed the handle underneath. Nara scoffed at the trick, but I could see that she found it at least a little impressive, because by the time Mazne and I had already stepped inside, the witch was still poking at and inspecting the vines with a tentative stare.

Mazne hurried toward her desk, and I watched the odd little witch continue to get thwacked by the vines as she looked closer at them.

“Are you coming?” I prompted through a grin.

“Yes,” Nara said and peeled herself away from the frame.

The door closed behind the Headmistress, and she made her way over to the reception desk looking noticeably happier now that she was inside the building.

Then we strolled in silence down the corridor until we reached my office, and I parted the doors to lead the way over to my desk. We got ourselves comfortable in our respective seats, and Nara folded one of her pretty legs underneath her like last time, so she sat a bit taller than me.

I placed my feet firmly to the ground and clasped my hands on the desk in front of me.

“Explain to me why you’re here,” I started. “And there better be some kind of update. I’d rather this doesn’t turn into another attempt to grind me down and say yes to you at no charge.”

I had to be hard with Nara. She was extremely smart, and she knew how to get her way, and I figured being straight with her was the only way of making sure I kept the end of my self-made deal.

“Someone’s defensive from the get-go,” she tittered and fiddled with the top of her corseted dress.

“What’s going on with the money situation?” I continued and ignored her efforts to make small talk. “Are you working on it?”

“No,” she dramatically scoffed. “And I won’t be able to get it either.”

“Then why are you here?” I asked. “You know that my stance isn’t going to change on this, Nara. You can’t break me down.”

“I know I can’t, but I think your stance might change if I give you the right convincing,” she returned. “Anyway, do you really think I would even attempt to wear you down on the premise of just mithering you without coming here with more information? Master Abbot wouldn’t have been stupid enough to let someone that brittle take over his legacy.”

“True.” I smirked. “What is this new information?”

“It’s about the wizards,” Nara said, and it sounded like she’d almost thrown up a little just mentioning their names. “They’re framing our estate again! It’s happening more and more often, and we can’t keep on trying to defend ourselves.”

“What have they done this time?” I asked.

I remembered what Eroven had said in the city centre about the younger wizard causing some trouble, and I listened to Nara more intently than I would have any other time.

“Apparently, we’ve been going around Ocadia and getting the druids drunk,” she huffed. “They’re saying that we’re getting them too intoxicated to remember our antics. It’s not true!”

I snorted a little at the thought of drunk druids. They were the human healers of the kingdom and had a close relationship with the king, and the thought of seeing them drunk made me laugh. Of course, I still knew this was a serious matter, and I tried to make myself professional again.

“This isn’t funny!” Nara sniped, but then she snorted a little herself. “Well, it would be if they were blaming some other estate, but they’re not, they’re blaming us.”

“I understand,” I replied.

“You know how much the king values the druids, the little snakes, so now I’ve been summoned, and who knows what the consequences will be?” Nara slumped over the desk and pushed her head on her folded arm. She stayed there for a moment while I stared at the twigs in her hair, and then she looked up at me. “Dex… or should I call you Master Morgan?”

“Master Morgan will do fine,” I told her.

“Dex, these wizards are trying to ruin us, and they’re succeeding,” the Headmistress plowed onward.

I might have rolled my eyes at her stubbornness, but there was real fear in the witch’s eyes, and she pursed her dark purple lips together.

I understood where she was coming from, and I knew from Eroven that there was some kind of truth to her story, but I told myself that I wasn’t going to do it without the payment, and I had to stick to that. I hadn’t been the Master of the Assassins’ Estate for long, and if I was going to double back on my word, then it would only lead to trouble in the future.

“I’m sorry for your circumstance,” I said with a hushed voice. “But the deal stays the same, Nara. I don’t doubt that you’re having troubles with the wizards, but there is nothing I can do to help, unless there’s some type of payment.”

The witch sniffled a bit and attempted to roll her eyes, but it was feeble.

“There’s more to life than money, did you know that?” Nara asked and threw her folded leg onto the floor. “How can you be so cold?”

“I agree that there’s more to life than money,” I told her and leaned back in my chair. “But I have to put my house first, and that means getting proper payments for tasks. If I’m being cold, then it’s because I am acting in the best interests of my estate, and I will continue to do so whether you agree with it or not.”

“Master Abbot would have put me first,” she said.

“Perhaps, but I’m not Master Abbot,” I retorted. “However, he did choose me to run the estate after he passed, so I am sure that he would agree with what I’m doing.”

The Headmistress sucked in her cheek and looked at me with an intense glare. Then the witch’s eyes started to toss around the room, and she seemed determined to focus on anything other than me, but every now and then, our eyes would meet, and I would give her a slight smirk.

“He would have,” Nara feebly replied under her breath. She said it so quietly, as if she didn’t want me to hear but only wanted the last word.

“Now, if you don’t mind, I have some things to get on with,” I said in my friendliest tone and got ready to stand up.

“I do mind, actually,” Nara announced. “I mind a lot, because you and your house have gotten expensive. Since when did an Assassins’ Estate expect so much money? Why can’t you do simple favors to help out the community? When have you become so upper class and snooty?”

I sighed heavily and propped myself back up against the back of the chair. I inspected the witch, who was looking at me with daring green eyes. She wanted a fight. Not a physical one, of course, but a fight nonetheless. I wasn’t going to give her what she desired, but I figured that giving her another minute of my time to explain would cause no more harm than what had already been done.

“Nara, I haven’t got the same powers as Master Abbott did, therefore I cannot do the things that he used to do,” I explained. “He had this knack of reading the waters and researching things very quickly, I have to do things manually around here, and it takes us much more time.”

“Then get someone to help you.” She rolled her eyes.

“That’s not how it works,” I informed her. “I was the next chosen one to be in charge of the estate. It’s not anybody else’s responsibility to handle the affairs of this house apart from mine.”

“Hmm,” she retorted.

“Because of this, time is precious,” I continued. “I’m sure you can understand, but I can only accept payments in coin, and you coming in here all the time is distracting us from the work we already have going on.”

“I’m trying to understand you, Dex, but my problems are bigger than you having to do an hour’s research on something,” the Headmistress responded. She clearly wasn’t going to back down anytime soon, and I didn’t know whether to see her as an impressive opponent, or a complete hindrance. “And there will be something that will change your mind.”

“Sorry,” I said for what felt like the millionth time.

“I have another proposition for you,” she quickly added.

“Nara--” I started.

“Just hear me out,” the Headmistress insisted, and she held up a finger. Then the witch rummaged around the ruffles of the bottom of her dress and started to pull out small items. A hairpin, a piece of quartz, a smattering of normal stones, and a few herbs. “This is my proposition.”

I thought she had gone completely crazy, not that I was convinced that she was sane before. Those objects were things I could find freely around the place, and why would I need any of this stuff?

“What is all of this?” I asked her.

I picked up a rock and felt the smooth, gray surface in my hand to see if I could feel anything special about it, but it was just a plain rock. I examined the rest of the items and picked up each one, but everything was just ordinary.

“My proposition,” Nara repeated. “I want to help you.”

“And how can you help me with these things?” I snorted.

“Because I’m a fucking witch, Dex,” Nara said in a mocking tone, and I couldn’t help smiling at the look she sent me. “And I can do shit like this, look…”

The witch held the rosey-pink quartz up to one eye and strained the other closed. Then she muttered words that I couldn’t understand and tickled her fingers along the semi-transparent mineral. Suddenly, wisps of delicate pink smoke started to blow through the quartz and come out the other end like a bubble. It looked like the softest, smokiest bubble I could ever imagine seeing, and something within me told me to touch it.

Then another formed, and another, and soon there were hazy pink bubbles bobbing around the Headmistress and slowly making their way toward my desk.

“What is it?” I asked. I was completely captivated by the bubbles that danced around the witch. They looked so delicate, and tantalizing, and a little dreamy.

“Love spell.” She winked. “I can give you this quartz if you want, and it’ll make anyone you see fall in love with you.”

“I don’t want that,” I quickly declined, and I shifted in my seat to avoid touching the stuff, just in case. “I don’t need anyone else falling in love with me.”

“Ahh, so ladies just fall at your feet swooning?” she inquired and looked me up and down as if she was going to give it a try herself.

“This isn’t something that would exactly help my estate.”

The witch huffed and scrambled to find the hairpin that had gotten lost between the chaos of everything else in her dull collection. The hairpin was probably the most interesting item out of everything. It had a green dragon on it made from the tiniest little gems, and it came to a perfect point on the end.

“Okay, how about this then?” Nara asked and pricked her thumb with the pin. She bled a little and used her other fingers to squeeze more of the red liquid out of her, and then she wiped it on the ordinary rock and squashed it around.

“What are you doing?” I stared half-shocked but half-intrigued.

“I’ll give you my blood,” she responded. “In return for the job.”

“And what would I need your blood for?” I shifted uncomfortably.

“Rub this rock on whatever you want, and then you can command that thing to do your bidding,” Nara said with a devious smile. “Only one command, of course. You can’t make it a soldier of yours or anything, but that one command could be used very, very well, don’t you think?”

It seemed like a decent trick, but I had enough people around me to get things to happen in my favor.

“I appreciate your efforts, but my mind is still unchanged,” I told her. “If you can come up with the coin, then I would put your case right to the top of my list and get the job done myself.”

“Is that all?” she scoffed.

I leaned back on my chair and smirked at the wild woman with ivy and twigs still sticking out from her hair.

“That might not seem like much to you,” I replied. “But if you saw how many jobs we have to get through, then you would find that it is quite a big deal.”

“So, if I do find a way to pay, then my problem could be sorted within a week?” she asked, and her dark green eyes narrowed as if she was tempted by my offer.

“If you came to me with the payment today, Nara, then I would have your problem seen to by tomorrow,” I assured her.

The witch tapped her chin and nodded just a tiny bit. “We’ll see about that.”

“I guess we will,” I said with raised eyebrows.

In some weird way, I was actually starting to enjoy the conversations I had with the Headmistress. The witch kept me on my toes, and there was something about seeing her tangled up in the ivy, overcome with determination and fight, that made me appreciate her more.

It didn’t hurt that she was attractive, even if she was a bit chaotic with her clothes and mannerisms.

Maybe it was turning into a little game between us. Now and then, there was a hint of a smile that would appear on the sides of her dark purple mouth, like she was also enjoying this thing that was going on between us. But everytime I glanced at those alluring lips and caught her smiling, her mouth would go straight again.

“I need to go now,” I announced and stood up. “I have a case I’m working on that needs to be dealt with sooner rather than later, and I’m already behind on my research.”

“What is it?” The Headmistress asked with pure excitement on her face.

“I obviously can’t tell you,” I laughed. “Estate secrets and all that.”

“You’re a shithead.” She rolled her eyes.

“Thanks for coming,” I snickered to the witch as I headed for the door. “Do let me know if you find money to pay me for the job.”

“Money, money, money,” Nara mocked and held her hands up like she was speaking from her palm and imitating me.

I didn’t say anything else, I just let her carry on while I held the door open for her and followed her into the hall.

She seemed as if she desperately wanted to storm off like she had done before, but we were walking the same way, and it was impossible for her to make a huge dramatic exit when my pace was much faster than hers.

I slowed down and let Nara overtake me and pretended that I needed something in the reception area.

“What’s all this?” Mazne asked with her eyes fixated on the strutting witch.

“Just giving her a moment to shine,” I whispered.

Once Nara had skeptically opened the ivy-covered door and surveyed the frame again, she slammed it behind her with a loud huff, and I waited a few seconds before I let myself out.

The moment the fresh air hit me, Nara and her problems were sidelined, and I strolled out into the streets of Ocadia with purposeful strides and only one thing on my mind.

A lecherous duke needed murdering, and every proper assassination relied on a clearcut plan.