Stygian Sword Page 3

ruin my assassin reputation." I nodded. "Sure. What ever suits you" as we headed back to the inn, a question materialized in my mind. "Can I learn these skills?" He looked distracted as he said "yeah, it's actually really quick to learn." And so, we all retired to our rooms. The next day my party went to the castle. We reached it when Heather asked "Where's Helen?" We were all thrown into a panic when Xavier piped in. "She left out the east city gate. Towards the mage's tower. And..." Ivan looked concerned. "And what?" "Nothing, if we come across it, I'll tell you if we stumble across them." Ivan looked concerned, but Loch looked in pure terror at her. All the mercenaries from all Ilya gathered in the square outside the castle's balcony. King Roy stepped out onto it and all fell silent. "I have received word from the castle Oracles on which heroes shall take this quest." King Roy's voice announced. Everyone tensed up. "The heroes are as follows: Hector DeMaris, Heather Yore, Ivanoff Volstok, Loch Finley, Xavier Santos, Lucia Harken, and Helen Van Wales. Please step forward." Our group headed for the stage. Seeing me and Lucia he smiled and nodded. Then Loch piped in. "King Roy, Helen is not with us at the moment." The king frowned. "Why not?" Ivan butted in "she ran off to find herself." He snickered. Xavier was standing upright with his hood off, for the first time. "Sir. I Will be taking my leave now." And he walked through the crowd. Surges of soldiers moved out of his way murmering about him.