Death

Miranya perched atop the roof in bird form. The pure black Raven clan member was nearly invisible against the moonless sky. She waited for a moment, unmoving, watching the street below her. There were lights down there, whose glare made it harder for her to see her target. But, it also meant most felt safe, and the lights pointing down masked her image from the few that looked up.

Her target was a young woman who worked for the local lord. Many assassins refused to target woman, but she had no problem with it. She easily justified it with the thought that all humans deserved to die for the pain and death they'd caused her people. If she got amenity for killing the humans they wanted her to, she was fine with that. Most brokers even paid her money as well, Just to ensure they themselves wouldn't wake up with one of her knives at their throats.

Her target was turning a corner, and Miranya turned her attention back to the street. The woman seemed nervous and shy. In the week or so that Miranya had been watching her, the woman had never once talked to anyone else. And, unlike the rest of the street's patrons, the woman kept a very close eye on her surroundings. It brought a welcome challenge to the job, she would not be an easy one to sneak up behind.

Not easy, but then again, not particularly hard. Miranya launched into the air, and glided to a deserted alley that the woman would have to pass on her way home. Flicking to human form, Miranya hid in the shadows and waited. Suddenly, a distinct smell assaulted Miranya's nose. A lailani was nearby, she'd bet her talons on it. There weren't supposed to be lailani anywhere near here. Well, except her, but only because no one was yet ready to argue with her knives. But that smell was definitely lailani. A second later, the target came into view. She stopped and sniffed the air, then headed in the direction of the alley.

Miranya couldn't believe her luck. This was simultaneously the best and worst thing to ever happen in her career as an assassin. On one wing, how often did your target purposely put themselves in a place where they could be dispatched so discretely and easily? On the other hand, how could she possibly justify killing a lailani. Maybe her employer had thought she wouldn't notice, maybe he hadn't even known. This mission was not going according to plan, and the woman was getting way to close to the alley for comfort.

Miranya backed deeper into shadows of the alley, then mumbled a curse under her breath. This wasn't a stupid human, the woman could find her by smell no matter how dark it was. Glancing around, Miranya noticed a balcony to the left and silently jumped up. The woman kept coming, glancing around axiously. It wouldn't be long before she noticed the raven-feet gripping the balcony rail.

If Miranya killed the woman now, she could collect her reward and continue living a life of relative ease in Astadam. But she could never return to her people; the punishement for murdering a lailani was death. Or, she could leave the woman for another assasin and flee the city. The assassin guild was pretty much a kill or be killed business. Neither option seemed particularly appealing.

"I can see you" the whisper was barely enough to break the silence. Darn, must be dolphin clan or something. That clan could see way to well in the dark for most lailani's likings. At least that meant she wouldn't be able to fly.

"Stay where you are," Miranya whispered back, drawing her knives and making sure to let them reflect as much of the streetlight as possible.

"I thought I smelled you," the woman retorted, "What are you planning to do with those things, are talons not good enough for you?"

"I said, stay where you are," Miranya's voice was strained, "You already have your death sentence, and I'm about to get mine."

"Ah, assasin are you?" the woman commented, "I've heard of lailani like you, so are you killing humans for the money or the aminety?"

"That's none of your business," Miranya returned darkly. She was going to have to do something quickly, before someone heard their conversation and came to investigate. The question was: who did she want to be hunted by.

"I think I know a better place to talk about this," the woman commented, as she jumped up onto the balcony beside Miranya. Black-claw feet next to black claw feet. Could the situation get any worse? The pentalties for killing a clan-mate were highest of all. Quite possibly even higher than the penalties for failing to complete a mission. Death was death, but well, some kinds were worse.

Miranya pretended to put away her knives, playing along seemed the best option for now, it gave her time to think. "Up?" Miranya asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Up," the woman replied, launching herself in the air. Miranya put away her knives, unfortunately, she couldn't fly with them out. She glanced at the head of the alley to make sure noone had noticed the comotion. No one seemed to be paying attention, so she jumped to the roof and launched in the air.

High up in the air, Miranya looked around for the Raven. She wasn't below the clouds, but then, it wasn't particularly safe to spend too much time below the clouds. Too easy to be spotted by humans.

A few moments of blindness before glorious sight as Miranya broke through the clouds. The sky was empty of lailani. Miranya flew in a huge circle looking frantically for the woman. Above the clouds, as high as the air allows, the whole sky was empty save Miranya. The woman was gone. Miranya considered her options: she could try to kill the woman later, but the woman would be more wary now then ever. She had probably even disappeared for good. Or she could leave Astadam and try to start somewhere new.

Suddenly, Miranya realized, even with all the killing she'd done, she wasn't so hard that she could kill one of her own clan-mates. Especially not at the request of a human, no matter what she was offered. Pointing her beak west towards her native hills, she flew away.

The End.