Life’s a glitch.

Someone said the statement above but using more curse words. It is not known what they were trying to say. Rather, it is safe to say everyone knows what they were saying, but like with all things, people ignored the meaning and went ahead with their own interpretations.

Long story cut short; nothing ever really goes according to expectations. If it does, then something else will go horribly wrong. This is how Liz felt as she watched the young lord fly backwards and fall right beside the bed. She should have been happy. But she wasn’t.

The so-called wastrel, young, spoiled son of the lord, had actually been right. How was this even possible?

Without wasting much time, she put on her dress and ripped a sheet from the bed covers and covered the young lord, before calling the butler.

“What happened?” the butler came in while panicking.

“Cover him and make sure he doesn’t lose a lot of blood!” she demanded, before running out of the room. The assassin couldn’t have gone far. She was sure of it.

She ran out of the house, and towards the garden which was in the back yard. It took her more time to get out of the house, thanks to its size and the fact that she was wearing a dress... a very long one! When she arrived at the garden, there were signs that someone had been there. If what the wastrel … eh … young lord had said was true, then Mizel was trying to kill her after she completed her task. This was not part of the agreement!

Liz decided she would deal with the situation after catching the assassin first. Considering she been told something like this would happen by the young lord, maybe she could talk to him and come up with a solution. Well … that was under the assumption that he actually survived this.

There was a rustle, and Liz ducked behind a bush. The dress wasn’t helping at all. She began to wish she had her normal assassin clothes.

Peering through the bush, she saw him … or her. It was definitely a her. It looked like a her. Liz was sure of it. Sneaking up on the person was going to be more difficult because of the dress. Now she hated it even more.

It was a good thing that she had kept the knife. Without wasting time, considering she had wasted enough already, Liz walked slowly.

“It’s no use. I know you’re already there, Red Claw!” a very familiar voice came from the assassin.

Liz frowned. This was not good. She had just lost the element of surprise, among other things. She came out from behind the bush and stood in front of the assassin, who wore a black outfit. One she should have worn instead of the dress. Wait …

“Alia?” Liz asked, confused.

The assassin took off the mask she wore. She had a particularly beautiful face; one you wouldn’t mind seeing before the owner killed you. She had neat, black hair, that complimented and blended well with the darkness caused by the shadows, and the black outfit she was wearing.

“What took you so long?” the beautiful assassin asked.

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“…”

“You must be surprised to see me here, correct? I have come here to kill you, as per Mizel’s instruction”, Alia chuckled.

“Why would you do this?”

“Remember what I told you when you killed master? Today I have been given the perfect opportunity to kill you, so why should I not use it?” Alia brandished her daggers. On her back was a crossbow.

Liz frowned. Her small knife wasn’t going to work. She remembered the words her master once used. Anything can be deadly in the hands of a seasoned assassin. Unfortunately, he was dead, and she wasn’t a seasoned assassin.

“I see. So, you want revenge?”

“Indeed. Besides, when master took you in, I didn’t like you. You can take this as me doing what I should have done back then!” With a shout, Alia jumped towards Liz, daggers shining in the pale moonlight.

Liz tried to move backwards, but she accidentally stepped on her dress, causing her to fall! Alia stumbled on the fallen Liz, and failed to maintain her balance, before falling beside Liz. Thanks to her fall, she dropped her daggers, and Liz picked one of them.

“Now this is fair!” Liz declared, after getting up. The first thing she did was to tear up the expensive dress she had been forced to wear, until it was very short.

Alia got up and picked up the remaining dagger. “I underestimated you. It will not happen again!”

“More fighting, less talking!” Liz lunged at Alia with the agility of a cat. She was now becoming serious.

**********

Mizel paced inside his office. It was now midnight, and the assassin he had sent had not returned yet. He was increasingly getting worried. Nothing was going according to plan … not that he had one, but it would have been nice if things went according to his expectations.

His servant brought him some tea.

“Are you sure she’s capable?” he asked his servant.

“Indeed master. The guild master recommended her the most”, the servant replied.

“Of course, he did. He would recommend his own apprentice! However, would she be capable of killing Red Claw?” Mizel was not convinced.

“Let us give her some more time, master. I’m sure something might have happened, to cause the delay”, the servant poured some tea.

Mizel sat down and began to drink the tea. The chamomile was good; it always seemed to calm him.

*********

Liz looked at the bloody dagger in her hands. She was back again, staining her hands with blood. It’s not that she was complaining, but she didn’t like being forced into things by the circumstances.

She dragged the body underneath the nearest bush, and then scanned the surroundings to make sure that nothing else was out of the ordinary. There wasn’t anything.

She was sure that by now the guards would have realized that something was going on. It didn’t help that the whole mansion, where the son of the lord stayed, only had three guards. The fact that they didn’t show up, meant that either they were already dead, or Alia had been merciful and put them to sleep. That didn’t sound like Alia at all.

When she returned into the young lord’s bedroom, she found him lying unconscious on the bed. Considering the size of his body, she couldn’t figure out how the butler had managed to put him on the bed.

“We need to call the doctor right now!” she spoke, as she walked to the side of the bed.

“I have already called sent a message to the doctor. Now we need to wait patiently”, the butler replied.

Liz was worried. After checking the wound, she realized that the arrow had not been poisoned. This meant that Alia didn’t plan on killing the young lord at all. She had been the target all along! The reason why Alia had shot the young lord, was to get her attention.

What she didn’t know, however, was the real intention behind this whole ordeal. Why did Mizel want to kill the young lord? Weren’t they supposed to be friends?

You might be asking why she was thinking about this now. Well, when she had been given the mission, she had thought about it. However, back then, it wasn’t her problem, so she had put it at the back of her mind. Now it was her problem, so she had to come up with a solution.

“You said you sent a message to the doctor, is that correct?” Liz asked, with a bit of confusion.

“Indeed.”

“How? I didn’t see any of the guards when I came in, or anyone leaving!”