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Hello, and welcome to the introduction to my story, "An Assassin's Redemption", as written by ME, Josh / Adarajin. This story has been long in the making, however I have finally got a finished manuscript and the artwork is commissioned, so I'll hopefully be publishing soon. Below is the prologue to the story, to heighten your interest, until the full book has been published.

An Assassin's Redemption

Prologue

At the knock on the door, the woman looked up from the basket of fabric scraps that she had been sorting. She was of indeterminate age as those of elven blood often were, although not a full-blooded one as indicated by the somewhat rounded ears poking out of hair, rather than being sharply angled. Moving past her, a servant strode swiftly to answer it. Curious as to who might be coming by at such a late hour, the woman stretched her legs and then rose to follow the servant to the door. Outside there stood what appeared to be a man, dressed from head to toe in a fine suit of plate armor, with a full-face helmet covering his head. The armor was silver, rather than of the more common steel, however perhaps it was enchanted for reinforcement - silver took to magic far better than steel after all. Showing not the least bit of worry the servant stepped aside and gestured for him to enter.

"Sorry to bother you Seeche, but I was in the area and thought that I might stop by. How is the family doing?" he asked, his voice ringing with an interesting bell-like tone.

"They have been doing well, and I thank you for asking. My husband is out hunting right now, however he said he would be back earlier today. He is overdue but I'm not too worried - he's a good old elf, fully capable of taking care of himself," replied the woman over the servant's shoulder.

"That he is, that he is," the man agreed good-naturedly.

"Senatia is in the back playing with Eyrica. Or at least she was a moment ago - here she comes now," she added, as with a small squeal, a young elven girl came tearing out of one of the other rooms to throw herself against the man.

"Jolston! Jolston! It's Brother Jolston!" she cried. "Did you bring anything for me? Well? Did you?" she continued, hugging him eagerly, her face pressed against his hard breastplate. He laughed a great ringing laugh, pulling a satchel he carried over one shoulder down into his hands.

"Well, let's see here, I might have lost a doll or two in here when I was packing for my trip. Ah, here you go, how does this look?" he asked, pulling out a fine cloth doll and handing it to the girl.

"And what about me?" asked a small, bird-like voice as something like a miniature gryphon came wandering out of the same room as the girl had come from.

"For you Eyrica I have a brand-new puzzle. I know how you enjoy your puzzles."

"Indeed, I do. Thank you very much." The gryphon agreed, ruffling her feathers a bit.

"And as for you Seeche, I brought you some herb seeds for your garden now that it is spring again." He said, handing over a small packet to the woman who then passed it on to the servant to safely store in a nearby cupboard.

"And do you have anything for me as well?" Asked an elven man with an age-lined face as he slipped silently into the house behind the man in the silver suit.

"For you Trevalt, I bring news, and potentially a job as well. Lord Anbelagol is seeking a wedding gift for his nephew's imminent wedding, and thought that you might be able to come up with something useful. There are still creatures roaming the lands, remnants of the old days, and your knowledge would prove useful."

"I will have to think about it, perhaps something appropriate might occur to me. It is good to hear that young Geofred is finally settling down however." Answered the old elf.

Brother Jolston chuckled again, saying "Only an elf would consider that man to be young still, he is nigh on becoming middle-aged! Indeed, it is high time that he settled down."

"Care to stay for the evening? Seeche has been reading to us from her chronicles lately, and you are welcome to listen in." Trevalt said, setting down his own bag on the table. "I caught some rabbits Aeshun, they will go good in the stew tomorrow night."

"Thank you Trevalt, Brother Jolston brought us some more seeds which will taste good once they are grown and harvested." the servant responded, reaching to take the bag.

"That's good to hear," he answered, leaning in for a kiss from Seeche.

"I cannot stay past the morning's first light, but I would love to hear you read from the chronicle for a bit. Where are we at?" Brother Jolston asked.

"Do we really need to read that story again? There are so many other tales that we could hear," asked Aeshun.

"We are just getting to the good part! Mama is about to meet papa! And I like to hear this story, it's my favorite," cried out Senatia, stamping her foot. "Can I get the chronicle from the shelf mama? Can I please?"

"If you are gentle, the journal has grown a bit fragile with how often we have read from it - Trevalt, you really ought to look into casting another renewal spell over it to make certain it doesn't degrade beyond readability," Seeche said."And don't stamp your foot at Aeshun like that, it's rude."

"But it's the story of how we all came together. And she's just a servant, she should be happy to hear this story again."

"Senatia! Just because she helps us around the house does not mean that Aeshun is not entitled to her own opinion. Apologize to her, now!" scolded Seeche sharply.

"I'm sorry Aeshun."

"You can work the spell yourself you know," commented Trevalt as Senatia carefully carried a book out of the other room and over to where Seeche had seated herself in a comfortable-looking chair.

"I know, but I like watching you work magic dearest," she said. "Come Brother Jolston, grab a chair from the hearth and have a seat, and let us continue in my chronicle as we reach the tale of Dronja the Assassin, and his redemption. Aeshun, if you are not interested in listening, you are free to head home to your family," Seeche continued, carefully opening the worn leather pages and turning to a spot marked by a flattened leaf. "Trevalt, you come sit by me here at my feet with Senatia, and I know that Eyrica finds herself most comfortable curled up in front of the fire."

"Yes Ma'am. I'll just be putting these rabbits in the cold box." Aeshun said with a small curtsy, leaving the room.

As each took their place, Seeche waved her hand in the air slightly and a small light appeared out of nowhere to illuminate the page that she held up. "Ah, that's better, now, where were we?" she asked.

"You ended last night right before the story of how you met papa! Didn't you hear me the first time?" cried Senatia.

"She's right you know, you stopped right before the good part began - stop leaving us waiting wondering what happens next, no stopping right before the good parts," Trevalt said, waving his finger at Seeche in mock fierceness.

"What? And have us stay up all night? Be reasonable," she admonished.

Brother Jolston chuckled at this byplay, adding in "You've heard this story many times before, it's not like you don't know how it goes."

Trevalt chimed in. "Oh, very well, we can't have achy eyes in the morning, there are chores to be done and things to do tomorrow after all. Just please, try to find a better stopping place this time dearest."

I hope you've enjoyed reading my story so far, if you would like to view a preview of the first chapter, please click here to view it.

~Josh / Adarajin