The Assassin's Tale; Other People's Problems

Credits; Krell, Rea,

Krell slept that night.  It had been hundreds of years since he'd slept and it was quite startling to wake up the next morning.  Considering how late she usually slept in, he was even more surprised to find Rea awake, fully dressed, and waiting for him on the other side of the room.  He remembered having been by her bedside, late in the night.  He and Rea had talked for hours, she told him what her brother, the founder of the fleet he'd served in his past life, had been like.  It had been a very enlightening conversation, and long overdue in his opinion. 
"What time is it?"
"Two in the afternoon, you slept in."
"Two!  You let me sleep until two?"
"You looked like you were enjoying it." 
"But think of how much we could have gotten done.  Someone on the council is conspiring to do something to Petra, we should be investigating it."
"We aren't.  Courtney stopped in while you were sleeping.  She's already got a team of her best working on it.  Besides, I'm not much of a PI; I always work the other side of the field."
"Then what are we doing?"
Rea pulled out her little leather book.  It contained all the information she needed for every assassination she made.  It was practically her only guide in life. 
"It's reset."
"Who are we going after next?  The Queen of Athou?  The president of Haroun?"
"Holine of Danielland."
"She's already dead.  I watched you kill her and I helped."
"No, its reset.  This has never happened before.  When I killed her it just changed the information.  Now she dies on a different day, in a different place, by...it's like she never died at all."
"Then we find her and kill her again, and again if we have to."
"Arcania thinks it may be something demonic.  Petra says the book isn't that important, but she's always said that."
"What do you think?"
"I think that I'm going to get to stab her again, but I don't think I'll enjoy it as much."
"Where do we start?"
"I'm going to check where all the good adventures begin; a seedy tavern with a silly name."
"I'm not buying you drinks, just to warn you now."
"Hehe, one of these days I'll buy you a round."

The two left the Immersfeld residence after a quick lunch.  They'd made it to the dock before he noticed that they'd been followed.  Rea went on board to start up the engines, But Krell waited a moment for their tracker to reveal themself.  He heard a rock shifting and teleported behind it.  There was a lightly armored elf waiting for him with a ready spear.  Krell barely had time to dodge before it was thrust at his chest.  He quickly leapt aside and rolled as another strike narrowly missed him.  It was another elf, but this one was far stronger and better equipped than any guard he'd seen in any part of the city. 
"Kai!  Stop playing around and kill him, we'll get the girl."
"No!"  Krell dropped to his side and swept the legs out from under his assailant.  He charged at the other two intruders, who had made it to the ramp.  An arrow flew past him as he pulled his sword from the subspace in which all mages stored their weapons.  The third warrior was clad in heavy armor but still moved quite quickly to intercept him with a heavy broadsword of his own.  He ducked and parried around in an attempt to get in a decent shot, but the knight was too skilled and too strong for him to best at arms.  He could see the elf coming back and knew he didn't have much time before he'd be completely overwhelmed. 
"What's going on here?"
Just in the knick of time, Rea had showed up standing at the top of the gantry.  She'd managed to change clothes again, and was now wearing very high boots and a rather fancy leather tunic.  Then he realized that she wasn't wearing her gauntlet.  She hadn't come prepared for a fight.    
"There she is, Gwen."
Krell couldn't get to her in time to stop the arrow, but he didn't have to.  He snapped with his free hand and the arrow shattered mid flight.  Rea blinked as the splinters bounced off of her. 
"If the lot of you don't get out of here right now I'll knit sweaters from your flesh."  Rea drew a sabre with a blade as fine as a thread from the air.  "And I'll Look Like A Goddess In Them."
Everyone stopped.  The knight and the archer both looked at each other.  The archer seemed downright afraid, but he couldn't read the Knight's face through his helm.  The Elf's reaction was unquestionably the most interesting though. 
"Kid, nobody looks that good in a sweater.  Certainly not a pre-pubescent little runt with a price on her head."
"W-what did you say?"  Krell could almost hear the vein popping out in Rea's forehead. 
"I said you wouldn't look good in sweater."
"Do you have any idea how old I am?  I've been around since before your great-great grandmother fell out of her first tree, you primping Elf!"
"You wear twice as much make-up as I ever have!"
"Kaithoras!  Stop arguing with the quarry."
"She called me a Primper boss."
"You called me Pre-pubescent."
"You were threatening me."
Krell carefully backed out of the reach of the knight's blade.  It seemed that if they hadn't run into each other before then at least Rea and these three had been adventuring long enough that none of them took it quite seriously any more. 
"Rea, do you know these guys?"
"The Knights of the Radiant Skull are the best adventurers in the universe.  No one has thwarted more evil plots or recruited more revenge seeking orphans then they have.  The one with all the armor is Captain Adan, he's more or less in charge.  The angry looking woman with the bow is his second-in-command and passionate-aggressive spouse Gwen.  And this jerk is Kaithoras, third in rank, skill, and brains." 
The knight motioned towards Rea and Krell could make out even through the muffling effects of the helm something to the effect of him and Gwen having run into Rea before, and that had they known she was involved they'd have never come.  Only it was much longer and any inflection or tone was lost.  Based on Gwen's expression though, their last encounter had given them reason to take Rea's threat seriously. 
"Oh, so you're the psychotic imp then?"
Krell had to admit that to anyone who'd never seen Rea in a casual circumstance it would have been an extremely accurate analysis.  Still, the Elf seemed to have a way with words. 
"If I wasn't in such a hurry I might teach you a lesson."
"About time someone taught the squirt a lesson in priorities.  How are you little brother?"
Nao had come up from nowhere.  The family resemblance was remarkable, dark hair, tall, they both had pointy ears and a slight build.  Although to be honest all elves were tall with pointy ears and a slight build. 
"The slacker returns, found a job yet?"
"Yes actually, this very attractive young woman promised me a significant reward for trailing these two around.  Said they'd need a chaperone and that she'd feel deeply indebted to any man with enough honor to keep them from doing anything they'd regret.  How could I refuse?"
"I meant a job, not trying to win the favors of another manipulative seductress."
"Seductress?  On the contrary, she was neither lewd nor tawdry in her advances."
"You're an idiot Nao."
"You're a bore Kai."
The two continued to banter.  Krell zoned them out and slipped around to Rea. 
"We should go before they start tryingto kill us again."
"One sec."  Rea looked over at Gwen and Adan.  "Who wants me dead?"
"Bigshot millionare type.  Name of Tomastein, runs Mechnacorp.  He posted it and we could use the money."
"Really?  Never met the guy, looks like I'll need to pay him a visit.  What else is going on?'
"Astelle's got her first solo, Shade activities been down on all fronts, cults are pretty quiet.  It's a bad year for adventuring."
"Shade activities down?  That's never good.  Means they're planning something; you should step up recruitment."
"Good idea, thanks Rea."
"Now get off my gantry and stop attacking my friends."
"Yes ma'am."
Adan knocked on Kaithoras' head and the three of them stood a safe distance away.  Nao cheerfully hopped on board and bowed to Rea as she closed the door behind them.  It seemed as though they'd gotten there destination, an odd new companion, and any troubles that might be headed towards the universe were no longer their problem.