Cursed Yoshi

 

Chapter 59 = The assassin’s test

 

Disclaimer: Although all characters here are of my own invention, the original idea of Yoshies, Birdos, etcetera, are copyright of Nintendo, and I make no money from writing this.

 

Sidling through the dark streets of Corvan in the early hours of the morning, Sira had her eyes wide open and her wand out, ready in case she found what she was looking for. Assassins prowled the streets at all hours of the day, so when less people were about she was far more likely to find one…

However, she had been through many alleys already, without success. She hadn’t found anyone yet, and was starting to worry about what might happen if Tammy woke up before she got back. She moved onwards, going down another street, sticking to the shadows, when her luck turned in her favour and she spotted someone, leaning patiently against a wall with their arms crossed, waiting. On the back of the white Birdo’s left hand was the symbol she had seen engraved on the note embedded in her door, a symbol she connected to the assassins…

Sira took cover behind a few crates and waited, making sure she hadn’t been seen. Then poking her head just up from the crate, she carefully took aim with her wand and whispered the incantation under her breath. Immediately, she could hear someone else’s voice in her head as she read the thoughts of the assassin…

Business is slow tonight… and I’m so tired… all those hours of practising resisting sleep deprivation are helping, but still… who in their right mind would be looking for an assassin now? Granted, it’s inconspicuous, but…whatever. There’s nobody out at all, I may as well go back and report…

“Dispellata Magica.” Sira whispered, and the voice ceased. The assassin stretched, shivered, and walked off without looking back, unaware of the dark pink Yoshi trailing her…

Sira followed the Birdo down several streets, leading back the way Sira had come, heading eventually towards the infamous Club Veils. Ducking down the alley adjacent to the building, the assassin almost lost Sira as she struggled to keep up, but she got around the corner just in time to see the assassin walk through the wall.

Not through a door, or passageway, but through a solid brick wall, with no trouble whatsoever. Sira blinked in mild surprise, but walked straight over to the wall and, after listening to make sure there was nobody on the other side, gently put her hand on the surface of the bricks. Seemed solid enough to her.

She saddlebagged her wand and sidestepped along, tapping gently on the wall, and finally found the right spot, looking in amazement as her hand passed right through the bricks. A simple illusion, but convincing nonetheless…

Sira walked through the false wall, finding herself immediately confronted by an angry-looking green Yoshi, who sounded quite old compared to her. “Who are you?” he demanded, “You don’t look like one of us!”

The pink Yoshi jumped a little, but regained her composure as the Yoshi stepped up to her with an angry look on his face. “This is the assassin’s guild, correct? I want to join up…”

There was a moment of silence before the green Yoshi burst into laughter. “You? No offence, but you really don’t look up to it…”

Sira struck out at him in anger, but he was quicker and blocked her swipe. Regardless, she swung up with her other arm and kicked at him at the same time, blocked on both counts, and managed to dodge a counterattack from her adversary, moving her arm up into the path of his fist. She lashed out again, attempting to change the angle of her swing at the last moment, but he still managed to dodge her and kick out, only just missing her chest as she stepped out of the way. She swung her body around and whipped her tail at him, taking his feet out from under him, but he landed on his hands and bounced back to his feet, kicking out at her as he came back up. She stumbled back as she avoided the kick, and when she swung for him again, he caught her arm in his hand and tightened his grip around her wrist, doing the same to her other arm when she tried to hit him again.

“Not bad, not bad, maybe I was wrong…” he mused, moving his leg up to block a kick. “Appearances can be deceptive… alright, I will let you through to take the initiation test, but be warned, you may lose everything if you fail…”

“I’m not afraid of death.” Sira stated firmly. “Not any more…”

The green Yoshi released her arms. “Then you may take the test. May Karshina smile upon you…”

He suddenly struck out at her and knocked her back, grabbing a knife from his belt. Pointing the knife at her, he shouted something at her in Ancient Yoshi and a misty green spray shot out from the tip, clouding her senses and sending her into a deep sleep…

 

When she awoke, she found herself inside what appeared to be a prison cell at the end of a long corridor. She felt groggy but managed to shake it away, getting up off of the floor and brushing herself off, looking out through the bars. Three sides of the cell were solid stone wall, but the fourth was a series of bars spaced too closely for her to squeeze through. There was a locked door in the bars, and beyond that there was a long corridor that she couldn’t see much of in the darkness, with assassins here and there holding torches and waiting for her patiently.

An obstacle course, perhaps… looks simple, but I’ll need to keep on my toes… at least this finally explains why a single-floor nightclub took up an entire four-storey building; it’s just a front to conceal the guild…

Before anything else, she needed to escape, and looked around the cell for something – anything – to help her. She didn’t see anything, and walked up to the bars, testing each one to see if there were any that were loose, but they were all firmly in place and didn’t rattle at all. Checking her saddlebags, she found that her wand had been taken, and all she had left was the few coins she had left with. Perhaps they only wanted to take those from her cold, dead body…

Sitting down a moment to think, her eyes scanned the walls of the cell, finally hitting upon something in the far corner; a loose brick. She pulled it out of the wall and threw it at the lock on the door, but it bounced off with a resounding clang and only lightly dented the cover.

She picked it back up and slammed it against the lock a few more times, without success, and leant against the bars again with a sigh, looking out into the corridor. The nearest assassin, a dark green Yoshi, was watching her with mild interest, but she doubted he would help her if she asked, and as she looked around again she spotted something useful; the hinges of the door were on the inside of the cell, and did not appear terribly secure…

She kicked the door experimentally and saw the screws in the top hinge rattle, and on further inspection, saw them to be partly unscrewed already. It was hard to notice in the light, but notice it she did, and quickly managed to unscrew them the rest of the way with her fingers. As the third and final screw fell to the floor, the hinge came free from the wall and she stepped back a little, before planting a jumping kick on the top of the door.

The forces around the lock, acting as a pivot, were transferred to the lower hinge and ripped it out of the wall enough for her to completely unhinge the door with a follow-up kick. Without any hinges, the door fell to the floor and left her to walk calmly out of the cell.

“Not bad, not bad.” The first assassin told her as she approached. “Lots of them don’t see the hinges, or even then, don’t notice that they’re slightly unscrewed… a good assassin needs to be able to see even the smallest things around them, for any small detail may prove critically important… but, enough of that.”

He gestured down the corridor; there was a series of tiles on the floor between him and the next assassin, a yellow Birdo. “Just get to her, and you can keep going.”

Sira looked carefully at the tiled floor. “Booby traps, right?”

The green assassin nodded, then went silent, watching her closely as she thought carefully how to go about this. The tiled area stretched for about fifteen feet, far too broad for her to try and jump across, even if the ceiling had been high enough for her to flutter. She had no idea what kind of traps were there, but she had a rough idea of how to find out…

Heading back to the cell, she picked up the broken door and carried it back, laying it down on the floor just before the tiles. She gave it a solid push and it slid across the smooth, polished surface, taking up most of the width of the corridor and stopping only a foot or two short of the end. As it went, darts, arrows, and pins shot out from the walls and embedded themselves in the bricks, showing clearly where they had come from. Looking at the various projectiles lodged in the wall, she noted that they were all above a certain height, and she sprawled on the floor and began to crawl forwards carefully, keeping her head down as she went. She set off most of the traps again as she crawled along, but they all sailed over her harmlessly and she made it to the other side in one piece, standing up and brushing herself off as the next assassin greeted her.

“That’s one of the most original approaches to that I’ve seen. Most people just go down there, thinking they can run faster than the darts can fire… and they’re all wrong. If you pass the next two challenges like that, I’m sure you’ll make an excellent assassin.”

Sira nodded solemnly; she had no intentions of joining the guild for any purpose other than to avenge Visali’s death via any means possible. Looking forwards, she saw another long corridor, with a male human standing with his back to her. “Any good assassin has to be stealthy… sneak up on him and knock him out.”

The assassin went silent, and Sira shrugged to herself. She took a cautious step forwards, then spread her legs to stop them rubbing against each other and producing friction sounds. She found it very hard to walk on her tiptoes, necessitated by the distinct sound Yoshi boots made, and nearly lost her balance several times but managed to maintain near-complete silence, breathing slowly though her nose. She was very tense and found it harder to keep going, but she was only about five feet away from him, if that…

Something clicked in her mind, and she gently let down her feet so that she could stop standing on her tiptoes. She then tipped her head back, and brought it forwards again, using the momentum to launch her tongue forwards, the tip held as a firm, round ball, and it smacked into the back of the human’s head with sufficient force to knock him out cold. He stood, wavering for just a moment, before falling forwards, clearly out of it. The next and final assassin, a blue Yoshi holding up a torch, nodded in approval as she walked up to him.

“Most Yoshies forget about that… it’s hardest for the humans, but the Birdos can easily fire eggs to get them… anyway, I’ve been watching you, so let’s see if you can finish this final test of your potential as an assassin…”

He put the torch in a bracket behind him, and drew one of the two swords at his waist, handing it to her before drawing the other. “Every assassin must be a good combatant… I will hold back most of what I have learned here, but I shall still challenge you to see if you are worthy of fighting among us. As for you, hold nothing back, you hear?”

Sira nodded, holding the blade two-handed and trying to remain calm, though it was just starting to dawn on her how much danger she was in… after all, it had mostly been luck that had gotten her this far, hadn’t it?

I hope Karshina stays with me for this…

He bowed to her and she returned the gesture, then they both stepped back quickly, holding their swords up defensively. Sira made the first strike, a weak thrust only to test her adversary’s reactions, and he blocked it easily with a parry strike, making no counterattack. She feinted once, trying to strike while his guard was down, but he recovered quickly enough to block the real attack and made a swift counter-slash that she caught on her own blade. He began to press an attack against her, making several long, fluid swipes that seemed to all connect together into a single graceful attack, and she had a tough time stopping them, dodging by mere inches on a few occasions.

Soon realising she couldn’t win by merely defending, she attempted to counterattack and prompted a sudden wrathful flurry of attacks from her opponent, feeling a sharp sting on her arm as his sword became a blur. She tried to match his pace, failing miserably, and took a deep gash to her chest, sending her backwards clutching at it. She let go as she saw him coming for her, quickly bringing up her sword to deflect his strike and holding his blade in place as she stepped back…

The adrenaline was rushing through her head and she started laying on a heavy-handed attack, combining several broad, powerful slashes and equally strong kicks from her feet, knocking the assassin back, though he sustained no injuries from her sudden assault. Tiring, she let up a little and parried an upwards slash, using the momentum transferred to her sword to bring it around in a full circle and strike at him in the same fashion, though he simply sidestepped it. She jumped back, holding her sword behind her, then planted her feet against the wall behind her and leapt forwards with a powerful swing, planting a hit so solid against his sword that it fell from his hands.

Landing on her toes, she spun gracefully and brought the flat of her sword up to his neck, and he stood there unblinking. “Congratulations… you will make a fine addition to our ranks. I’ll take you upstairs now, and we’ll get you a weapon and a code-name.”

Sira nodded, smirking to herself in the darkness as the Yoshi took the torch out of its bracket and started walking. Thanking Karshina for her good luck under her breath, the pink Yoshi followed, wondering silently if she really did have the potential to be an actual assassin… whether or not she did, she would play along for now, until she had ample skills and an opportunity to strike at the Anthro assassin that had killed her Visali…

 

To be continued…