| By BlueDagger | Genre | Rating | Reviews | Updates |
| More from BlueDagger | Adventure | PG-13 | Positive | Here |
The first official chapter of Dancing Shadows.
Overview
And outline of how Feng and Wei made their first kill.
Content
Feng and Wei sat on the roof of a run-down building. They were whispering in hushed voices. "Well, Wei, how do you think we should go about this?"
"Dunno, but we have to find the guy first. You sure he'll be here?"
"Trust me, the info's good. I paid the kid who hangs out by that dead tree all the time. He sees everything."
"Okay, then. Do you have the dagger?"
"Right here." Feng drew a small dagger from his coat. It was small, rusted and dent, but it would do the job. It would have to. That was all their contractor had given them. Feng passed the dagger to Wei. She spoke as she studied it.
"Do we have the dagger?" "Right here."
"And once we find the target?"
"Easy enough. You run up to him and pick his pocket, making sure that he notices. You run into an alley. He follows. I stab him." Wei gave the dagger back to Feng, and blew a string of red hair out of her face.
"Got it."
"Good. Then get down, and keep quiet. He'll be coming soon."
It was a summer day in Ba Sing Se. The roof they were on was next to a large marketplace. Merchants peddling their wares, people gossiping, the occasional kid getting yelled at for running too fast. Feng didn't like the openness, but he figured that Wei could get the target into an isolated place easy enough. When they had been offered the contract, at first they had refused. They had never taken a life, and had never wanted to. But the money... so much money. Apparently the contractor's son had been killed by the target. He was willing to pay.
Feng sighed. This was not going to be easy. But he knew Wei was counting on him. He wiped a bead of sweat off his forehead, shoved his brown hair to the side, and muttered, "Any minute now." Ten minutes later, Feng spotted the target. The contractor had explained his appearance specifically enough. The target had long, dark brown hair. He was around six feet in height, and muscular. He had a long scar running from his right ear to his mouth. Feng nudged Wei. "You see him?"
"Yeah."
"Ready?"
"As I'll ever be." They both nodded. Feng stood up, ready to track Wei and the target. Wei climbed down and went into the crowd. The target had gone over to a fruit stand. Wei calmly walked over and bumped into the man, hard. She took his bag of money from his belt, quite obviously.
The man whirled around. "Hey, kid!" he shouted. Wei turned around and ran. The man cursed and ran after her. Wei ran through the crowd into an alleyway, then into another, and then another, all the while making sure the target was close behind her.
Feng nodded in approval. "Nice work," he muttered as he followed them from the rooftops. Eventually Wei got the target into an alley a long way from the market. She pretended to trip. The target smiled and ran over to her.
"Thought you could get away with something like that, eh? Well, you can't outrun me, little girl. Now I'll cut you a deal. You hand over my money, and I'll just walk away and-" the man stopped suddenly. He looked down. The point of a rusted blade was protruding through his body, right between two of his ribs. He gasped. Feng turned the man around. The target looked surprised. "A kid? Great, I get to die by a kid's hand. Just do me a favor, kid, and take the blade out." Feng did as he asked. The man uttered one last breath, and then died in Feng's arms. Feng laid him down gently.
And, thus, an assassin is born.
"Rest in peace," he muttered.
Wei looked up at him. "Feng? Are you okay?" He nodded. What he had done didn't quite register. "Let's get out of here, Feng. We can deal with morality and such later." Feng nodded, and they climbed to a nearby roof, from where they began running.
Eventually they got back to their small home, an abandoned house near a small square with a few shops scattered around it. They slipped in through a trap door they had put in the roof. The slipped down into the kitchen and each grabbed a loaf of bread. Then they sat down and talked.
"That must have been hard," Wei said.
Feng finished chewing, then looked up. "It was. I just killed a man, Wei. A horrible man that deserved to die, sure, but he was a man all the same. That feeling... That feeling when the dagger slid into him. It was... I can't even describe it."
"Well, it's done now, right?"
"Yeah. It was easy, too. An easy target, I suppose. Are we going to be taking more of these?"
"If you want." Feng paused for a while, thinking. Finally, he said, "Let's do it." Wei nodded.
The little of that day that still remained was spent eating, talking, and sleeping. They had resolved to collect their reward the next day. They woke up late the next morning, and went to their contractor's house. He thanked them earnestly, giving them their reward. He told them they had done a fantastic job. They then spent their money, wasted the day away, and went to bed, feeling pleased with themselves.
And so it was that Feng made his first kill.
Trivia
- This took me one night and three Red Bulls to complete.
See more
For the collective works of the author, go here.
| Introduction | |||||||||
| Background | |||||||||
| Part 1: Beginnings | |||||||||
| First Blood - Bar Fights are Fun! - Civil Unrest - What Goes Around - Comes Around - The Shroud - Battle on the Wall - Starry Skies - Sister Dearest - One Last Sale - Horizon Part 1: Stormy Sky - Horizon Part 2: Farewell | |||||||||
| Part 2: Journeys | |||||||||
| That Long Road - Morning Never Comes | |||||||||
| Special | |||||||||
| Christmas Special
|