Chapter One: Assassin’s Blade

The StarBlood Saga

by Daniel Asbury

edited by Qwildurn Bluemoon

Chapter One

Assassin’s Blade

It was a miserable and stormy night, the tail end of a hurricane had blown in from the sea, ships and shops alike had batten down the hatches. A watchman of the StarBlood Guard stood as tight to the castle wall as he could, trying to keep out of the wind and rain. A flicker of movement ahead caught his gaze just as a sharp pain at the base of his skull dropped him into a black void.

The Assassin looked around to make sure this murder had gone unnoticed, retrieved the red cloak off the dead watchman and threw it over his shoulders. He climbed the wall into the marshalling yard of the castle confidant that it would be clear. The Druids he had paid for the weather magic had earned their money. “Shame they won’t get to spend it”, he thought. He had slain them dead the moment the spell was cast.

The Duke of Newport looked out the window at the unusually bad weather. Ammund StarBlood was an old man at 50 years of age. He sat at his desk looking at the painting of his late wife, she had been killed in a riding accident two year previous. He thought of his only child, a daughter, Rebecca StarBlood who was serving as a Knight Captain in the StarBlood Guard. There had been reports of Sea Hags to the south of Newport and she had been sent with a small company to stamp them out.

The Assassin looked at the Duke through the window as he pulled the costly scroll from his pack and read it. A green light surrounded the Assassin and he slipped through the glass of the window to stand behind the Duke. As the lightning flashed the Duke saw the shadow of someone behind him and dove forward receiving a slash across his back where his throat once occupied. He spun around pulling his belt knife searching for his attacker, but no one was there. As he turned to shout for guards, a knife plunged into his chest. As the Duke fell he grabbed for the Assassin snagging his amulet instead.

A loud knocking at the door stopped the Assassin from retrieving his amulet. With two quick steps and a dive, the Assassin was out the window. The guard entered the room to see his Lord on the floor, a pool of blood around him. He shouted for a healer to come at once and for the guards to seal the castle.

A day later Rebecca StarBlood rushed through the halls of her family’s castle, heading to her fathers office. As she opened the door, her heart sank. Behind the desk sat her father’s Sword Master, Amir Coldstone.

“Rebecca, you are back. Thank the Gods. The city is in an uproar. The other Nobles have locked themselves away for fear they will be next.”

“Who has done this? Where is he?”

The anger in her voice was startling. Amir stood and came around the desk to hug her. “No one has been apprehended as yet. There is no clear way of how they got in and out. All we have is this.” He held out a gold amulet with a guild symbol on it, a knife and wand crossed over each other.

“Do we know which guild claims this herald?”, Rebecca asked, the venom thick in her voice.

“No.”, said Amir flatly. “No one has claimed responsibility for this murder. Your father and his before him have kept this city and the surroundings quite for over seventy years.”

“There is one who can help me find this killer.” She looked at Amir and he saw something in her eyes change for the worse. Gone was the grief for her father. Now there was only hate. Hate for the killer. “I go to seek Alcatraz the Lich Lord.” With that she pulled the StarBlood emblem from her armor and left her life behind her and went to find revenge on her father's killer.