[coronatiger]

Assassin

My next mission would take me to Ur. A nobleman there was marked for death. This was a holy mission, and highly illegal, according to the laws of the land, so I would have no papers to prove my right to kill my quarry. I was to be the main agent, but Rhuk and two priests helped me plan. We knew that the nobleman rented escorts out of a certain establishment, and I decided to get a job there.

I’ve never felt the desire to be intimate with a man – I would rather relax with my girlfriends if I’d had any free time – so I thought I should get some experience. I felt no fear or shame. Just like killing, this was a task given to me by Ashtar. As I didn’t know what I was getting myself into, I asked my councilors for advice. The priests blushed, but Rhuk told me she’d teach me how to seduce a man.

A couple of days later, I tested my new skills on one of the Fangs, a fellow just a few years older than me, who I considered a friend. I noticed the marks of attraction that Rhuk told me to look for, but my friend rebuffed my attempts at seduction. “Let’s sit down and talk,” I suggested when I realized I was getting nowhere. I explained that I wasn’t really into him, not like that, but that I was learning seduction for use on a mission, and wanted someone I knew, someone I trusted, to be my first target. He responded that he had always thought I was beautiful, but because the temple sheltered me, and because I had never shown any interest earlier, he’d considered me off-limits, and consequently never made a pass. When I tried to seduce him, he thought it was some kind of test of his resolve. Now that the misunderstanding was cleared up, he didn’t mind if I tried again. He promised to be gentle, and to respect that sleeping with me once did not bestow any rights for a repetition, or a relationship.

It still hurt, I told Rhuk the next morning. She procured a lotion I could apply before the next time and an herb I should take afterwards, so I wouldn’t get with child. I told her I knew about the herb from the midwife’s lessons, but Rhuk warned me that I needed to take a much higher dose than any midwife would prescribe. The dosage I needed would be lethal to weaker people. I learned in the Dagger ritual that I have a higher tolerance against poisons than is normal, even among Ashtarites.

I tried again with my friend, and then I went to town, honing my skills on strangers in bars. Both Rhuk and my friend offered to tag along as security, but I showed them my teeth and said I could take care of myself.

Two weeks later, I travelled to Ur. This time I took Rhuk up on the offer of protection, and invited her along. I sought out the establishment and got a job there. After a few days, the nobleman showed up, and I got him to pick me. It wasn’t hard; all the other girls were experiencing bellyaches, and weren’t particularly alluring. I followed the nobleman home, feeding him grapes in his carriage under the watchful eyes of his guards. The guards searched me thoroughly for hidden weapons before leaving us alone in his bedchamber.

The searches became less thorough over time, but there was nothing to find. On my fourteenth visit to his mansion, I straddled the nobleman and leaned in for a kiss, telling him to close his eyes. Then I tore his throat out and muffled his death rattle with a pillow while I moaned loudly. I dressed hurriedly, left though the window and disappeared into the night. I would have brought his head, but didn’t have anything to cut it off with. I wasn’t about to ask the guards to borrow their blades.

My next several missions were regular bounty hunts for various criminals. I often worked alone, but sometimes with other Fangs. Once, there were nine of us, tracking down a band of outlaws. One of my companions took out their sentry; the other bandits died in their sleep.

My fourth ritual of initiation required me to locate a particular snake among the multitude in the temple and to devour it alive. Ashtar guided me to the right one, a brown-and-black-patterned desert viper about the length of my arm. I struggled not to gag while it slid down my throat. I gasped for breath, and felt Ashtar’s essence suffuse me. The snake settled calmly in my belly. I had become a Toxiner.

Then I got another holy mission, which brought me here. So, can you help me?