And here's the first page...
~
Flickering orange torch-light spilled across the cobblestone roads. A mix of wooden and stone buildings were sprawled across the city with the busiest and most expensive buildings towards the center, where the King himself held court. The quality of the city steadily decreased the farther one went from the center going from: The Noble sector, The Mundane sector, and The Poor sector. There was no creativity with the name of the worst sector, but, Elric supposed, that was pretty obviously because they stopped caring at that point. It was a blessing that you didn't have a job that far from the center tonight.
Elric sniffed the night air. Yes, a blessing indeed. There would be plenty of time for booze and women tonight, Elric thought contentedly. His lot as a mercenary wasn't always the best job in the four realms, but it sure paid better than border duty near the Lost Realm. Rumor had it that those guards occasionally had to deal with goblins flying on top of wyverns! No, Elric was quite content with mercenary work. No chance of being eaten alive in the greatest city of the greatest realm in all of the four realms!
Well, unless you got on the wrong side of Dagod. He was the leader of the underground world in Elric's resident city of Alostead. Cross him and you'd find yourself hunted by every cutthroat mercenary in the city. Leave the city and you'd find yourself hunted down by vicious assassins in every city, village or nook you could possibly find yourself in. Leave the realm, and supposedly you'd find yourself at the sharp end of the notorious Realm Assassin's dagger. He could and would track a person to the ends of the the four realms to kill him. Upset Dagod and you would live the rest of your life in fear. Simple as that.
On the other hand, if you managed to be in the good graces of Dagod, you could look forward to to having a comfortable, if a little dangerous, life. Like Elric.
"Oi. Stop dozing off. I think I see her." The voice came from your current partner. A fellow rather new to mercenary work named Isak. He was a greenhorn if Elric ever saw one. His eyes simmered with too much energy. They constantly darted around in the dim torchlight of the roads. As if that wasn't enough, he was also constantly shifting which foot he put his weight on. It might not have bothered normal commoners, but it sure bothered the hell out of a trained merc like Elric.
"Calm down Isak. You're jittering around like a virgin about to get laid for the first time." Elric whispers this to him while silently following his gaze. If he did really see their target, then this was definitely going to be a good night. It wasn't too hard to see who Isak was looking at, and, well, hard to miss in general. That was one damsel Elric wouldn't mind getting a piece of.
Wavy black hair fell in curtains around her angelic face, and even from where Elric was situated he could see the glimmer of blue from her eyes. A blue dress hugged her curves admirably with her neckline not quite swooping, but definitely not modest either. She looked in her early twenties, and, in short, she was gorgeous.
But most importantly she fit every description that the contract detailed. Down to the letter. There was only one thing left to do to confirm her identity, so Elric and Isak waited as she stepped out of the tavern and onto the Mundane sector streets. A man, around the same age stepped out after her and tangled his own hand in hers. A complication, Elric thought. On that was easily dealt with, however, for while the man was muscular, he carried no weapon. In fact you were willing to bet that he would cower at the sight of a dagger. But an easy solution.
Elric and Isak watched closely as the pair made their way past. Their faces were flushed. Love or lust, you couldn't tell, but you what you could see was an emerald encrusted ring on the damesl's right ring finger. It was the exact thing Elric was looking for, Neither he, nor Isak paid any attention to the simple polished iron ring on her left ring finger.
Identity confirmed, Isak turned back to Elric for a final confirmation to which Elric nodded. It was time for work.
This job was to involve no killing. That rule was explicit. Dagod didn't want unnecessary blood on his hands. No, this was a simple abduction mission. The higher-ups had the logistics, but from what you gathered; someone very rich decided to pay Dagod a very large some of money to deliver this damsel, the contract named her Liliana, to the client. As simple a mission as one got from Dagod.
After Elric's target and her partner passed, he and Isak pushed off the bench they occupied, and began their pursuit. There were still enough people out to make following them not suspicious, but not enough to stay following them for longer than a few minutes at worst. Elric would have to make his move quickly. In preparation for this night, he memorized all of the routes leading to and from that tavern. Elric had Isak do the same. The age old abduction technique: bait and snatch. Elric would have Isak take a shortcut for the route chosen by their target, then he would start crying for help. Only loud enough so the target could hear, but as soon as the target went in, Elric would wrap a gag in their mouth, to prevent screaming, then administer the knockout drug to them via poisoned blade. While this happened Isak would take care of any escort the target had. In this case that would be the man.
With a few quick words and clarified locations, Elric set the plan in motion. All he had to do now was wait for his target to go snooping down an alley, and then Elric could spent the night amongst his two closest friends. Booze, and women with low standards.
It took a minute or so longer than Elric would've liked, but eventually his target and her escort turned the corner at the alleyway you specified to Isak minutes before. Ever the gentleman, her escort entered the alley first, but that only played into your plan. As soon as Liliana's and her escort's backs were turned, you gagged and administered the sleep inducing poison. It was fast-acting. Expensive, but necessary for your work. By the time her escort turned around she was already passed out, and Isak was getting ready to hit him in the head with the hilt of his dagger.
The escort's eyes widened, but before he could scream Isak crushed his dagger's hilt right into his skull. At least that was what was supposed to happen, and in fact was what should've happened, but some ungodly reflexes took control of the escort and he managed to spin away from the attack without a scrape. He then proceeded to pound his right fist into Isak's face. Elric hears a sickening crunch, and he knows Isak's nose will never look the same again. Isak drops to the ground with his back lying against the cold hard stone. He was no doubt wondering why his vision was red, and why he could see stars.
The escort, whom apparently is some sort of guard, wrenches the dagger from Isak and immediately dashes toward Elric. The escort was rash, confident even. He assumed that Elric would go down just as easily as Isak did, but he was sorely mistaken. Elric was no greenhorn, and this guy was clearly emotionally charged. He would make quick work of him.
And he did. With the girl in one arm, Elric sidestepped the brash lunge and then proceeded to slam his fist into the escort's temple. He dropped like a stone. Knocked out cold. On the other side of the alley Isak was only just starting to get up.
"Oi, hurry up Isak, we need to get out of here. The authorities could be here any second." That was a lie, but any mention of the Alostead watch was sure to quicken Isak's pace. He hurried and before too long the pair of you, damsel in tow, left the alleyway to go complete their contract.