Terrine hunkered down in a supply cart, which wasn’t so easy for her to do. She was a tall woman, and having to scrunch herself up so inevitably gave her cramps and tousled her short, sun-blonde hair. She dismissed that thought as unnecessary, and focused on the job ahead, idly fingering the sword hilt at her belt. The supply cart was going to the Desert Topaz Palace, home of the Kurikan Emperor. At some point, those words were feared, and brought nervous murmurs, but Kurikas hadn’t had such power in a while now. A succession of inept children had taken the thrown in recent years, leaving government firmly in the clutches of the corrupt court. The words were a joke now. The cart would stop near the kitchens, when the soldiers escorting the cart would leave it there and a lone kitchen worker would come out to collect the following day’s supplies. He wouldn’t be missed…….
Suddenly, they come unto the cobblestones and Terrine’s stomach began to lurch as though it were doing somersaults in her belly.
“You look pale. Are you alright?” came the voice of Terrine’s compatriot. Terrine had nearly forgotten the bone-thin woman who happened to be a necromancer. It seemed anachronistic for a necromancer to be so benign.
“You get motion sickness, don’t you?” Lily continued, her watery green eyes filled with concern. Terrine scowled and replied,
“I’ll be fine, you needn’t worry about it.”
Lily shook her head (or as much as she could manage) and her curly black hair, which fell in childish locks in front of her eyes bobbed back and forth. If anything, they made Terrine sicker.
“It’s nothing but a simple cantrip. I’m a woman too, you don’t have to be all tough and manly around me,” Lily intoned, frowning slightly.
Terrine’s icy blue eyes widened with wonder. A young, motherly necromancer. The woman more closely matched her name than her profession.
“Fine, I’m sorry. I do get motion sick,” Terrine grinned nervously, “quite easily actually. They’d hear me throwing up, or, failing that, they’d smell it…,” Terrine said, softening a little. Lily nearly immediately began casting the cantrip, the strange arcane syllables mixing rhythmically with the load clunks of the cobblestones on the road to the Palace. Finally, Lily made a slight motion with one hand towards Terrine’s stomach, and Terrine immediately felt better, if not completely well.
Terrine smiled and said quizzically, “Thanks. But…how is it a necromancer knows healing arts?”
Lily only regarded her coolly and said, “Life and death are sides of the same coin. At least, that's what my mother always used to say.”
Terrine was purely fascinated by this. She had always found magic interesting, but lacked the opportunity and the talent to pursue the magical arts in her youth.
“Maybe you could explain that a little over a nice mug of ale after this job?” Terrine asked hopefully.
Lily looked at her funny and said, “But…I need to stu-“
Terrine looked at her firmly, and whispered, “You can study your spells any time. C’mon, it’ll be fun! Just the two of us and great frothing mugs of good, strong ale!”
Lily sighed and simply nodded in acquiescence.
Suddenly, the cart came to a stop, and the guards loaded something; something yellow-ish scratchy cubes…hay. Lily sneezed loudly and distinctly feminine. The escorts were all male; there would be no doubt where it came from…
Terrine sprang from the cart, drawing her sword in one swift, flowing motion, swinging it wildly. An arrow glanced off of her left shoulder guard and Terrine quickly found the archer with her eyes, launching her sword through the air, catching the unlucky archer clean through the chest. A moment later, Lily sprang forth as well with an ominous arcane word and a sweeping pass of her arm, ripping a skeletal warrior from the archer’s corpse even before it hit the ground. Faced with a mage, worse yet, necromancer, the other guards fled, not wanting to share their compatriot’s fate. Terrine regarded Lily coldly, causing the latter to hang her head.
“I couldn’t help it…I’m allergic to hay,” Lily said dejectedly. She dismissed the skeleton, and knelt by the corpse, and said a few words. A strange one.
Terrine shrugged, “I guess it turned out alright,” Terrine said, looking around. Stables were ahead, and a great barn loomed in the next to them on the right. It would appear that the cart was going to bring hay to the horses before stopping at the kitchens. And yet Auztil hadn’t told them that. What was he after?
The palace was straight ahead along the dusty road. The “Desert” in its name was a misnomer, as the palace and Daltropholis itself were many miles removed from the harsh sands of the Alinari Desert, which spanned the entire middle of Cerrinus. She realized Lily was standing next to her and said,
“C’mon, we don’t know where those guards got off to, and, besides, we need to meet up Alfred.”
Alfred. Something about him made Terrine uneasy. But she dismissed the thought; after all, how was he any different from the other dark priests she had worked with?
“Where are we supposed to meet with him again?” Terrine asked.
Lily answered simply, “In the kitchen…it should be on the palace’s left side.”
Terrine quickly caught up and walked slightly ahead of Lily. Terrine was worried about a sniper, and knew her light leather armor and buckler stood a much better chance against bolt and arrow than the midnight blue cloak Lily wore. The three of them moved silently, and then, suddenly, something was ahead. A figure that seemed to blacken the night around him with a sword somehow darker than anything else. Alfred. The sword glinted a slick red as the moon peeked out from behind the clouds. The stars shined dully as Alfred stepped out briskly from the kitchen.
“You’re late ladies,” Alfred said flatly, what must’ve been a vestige of insanity gleaming crazily in his eyes. It was Lily who stepped forward and offered,
“I’m sorry. It’s my fault. I sneezed and we were detected. They fled though…I guess my magic scared them off.”
Alfred’s eyes widened, not with concern or anger…but…contempt?
“You didn’t hunt them down? What if they alert the palace guard!?” he sneered, insanity shaking his voice.
Terrine shrugged in her uncaring way and responded,
“I don’t think it’s a problem. If they alerted the guard, wouldn’t we know by now?”
Alfred just looked at her as though she were disgusting. His glare made her uneasy, so she looked away. Terrine was careful to stay behind of Alfred, with Lily, as they made their way into the kitchen. She didn’t want to be anywhere near Alfred, let alone talk with him. The palace was quiet as death itself and Terrine realized she couldn’t hear herself breathing. A spell of Alfred’s for sure. She could then feel a sort of energy that somehow felt dirty and tainted sidle up to her about as agreeably as a bucket of ice water in a blizzard that made her feel weak, but the feeling passed as quickly as it had come. Terrine noticed that the guards they passed didn’t even notice their presence. A spell of silence and invisibility, Terrine mused to herself. At last they came to a gigantic pair of cedar double-doors carved with all sorts of grand-looking soldiers and dragons and the like. Alfred waved his hand, and the door opened silently. The three of them entered. Terrine realized she had been holding her sword out all this time, and looked to Alfred for an indication as to whether or not she should sheath it. If Alfred even noticed her presence, he ignored her. It was then that Lily said,
“Alfred, what are we doing here? We’re supposed to secure the throne room and distract the guard so the troops can secure the palace. This is the Emperor’s Quarters….”
Not even turning towards Terrine or Lily, Alfred answered, “What better way than to kill the Emperor?”
This was news to Terrine. But, one didn’t ask questions for the sum of 700,000 Anaurochan gold taels. Not even where a small-time assassin with ambition got it. But this?
“Alfred, must I punish you for insubordination?” Her voice shaking with…wait? Had mother sounded like that when…Terrine involuntarily shook her head. She didn’t like to think about that night.
Alfred finally turned around, a half-crazed grin on his face. The look gave Terrine a shiver.
“You would dare oppose me!? Hah. You know not what you do” he warned.
"Killing a baby is just wrong. I cannot countenance it, even if I must fight."
Alfred merely said a word and the woman collapsed in a heap.
“Come Terrine. Let us finish this.”
Terrine almost wanted to follow, but a voice in her head reminded her that killing a child would seriously limit her employment options with goodly priests, merchants, and paladins, all of which were typically generous with their coin where mercenary help was concerned. And besides, the bastard had hurt Lily, and obviously intended to kill her once he had “finished this.”
“No.” Terrine said grimly, holding her sword threateningly. Alfred turned to face her, his face strangely calm.
“No? What of the money? It is more than you’ve ever been paid in five jobs, for sure,” Alfred said, as if he were reasoning with a child.
It's-it's wrong.” Terrine responded acidly.
Alfred smiled. A horrible, twisted smile.
"Oh, that's quite alright. You see, you're killing the child whether or not you want to. And that's all you'll remeber."
He removed a purple gem from his cloak, which glowed menacingly. And Terrine's mind went blank.
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"How did it go?" Auztil asked.
Alfred smiled, "Perfectly, my lord. The woman will awake in the desert, her sword stained with blood. Her only memory past meeting me will be murdering a toddler. It'll destroy her, in all likelihood."
"And you placed her appropriately?"
"Yes. In the desert near Rinocca. Why did you want her left alive, anyways? Much better for your legitimacy if you had 'caught' her."
"Casus belli, naturally. Who can hold avenging the death of the previous emperor against us? It is, admittedly, a minor detail. It is but a training excercise, for what will come. But you must start small when your goal is to conquer the world and become a God."
Alfred smiled and laughed. If only he knew the truth.
"And Lily?"
"I have made preparations. She will be our first vessel, naturally."
"Hmmm, yes. I look forward to having yet more minions. I understand it will take some time to prepare her?"
"Yes, but no worries. An 'accident' can be arranged in battle."
"Wonderful. Now, leave me. I must plan my coronation."
Alfred departed, quite pleased. Everything was going according to plan...
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Terrine sat in the dilipadated tavern, ordering drink after drink. Somehow, someway, she had to get it out of her mind. Maybe 700,000 taels would make it all go away...

This one is actually a good deal older, and has been editted from its original version.