He let one tear fall down his face as he quietly allowed the guards to push him to their will. Karth saw they had exited the dungeon but beyond that he had no idea where he was. All the walls looked the same black colored stone and the floors the same blue marble tile. He didn't dare look back for he knew the king was watching his every move.
Finally the guards halted in front of a tall red wooden door. The guards bowed as Cortdz stepped to open the door. Once the door was open, the king stepped inside and motioned for Karth to follow him. The guards loosened their grip so he could obey.
The room was an elaborate room with books stacked from floor to ceiling and a raging hearth in the middle of the room. Karth watched as Cortdz sat down in an oversized leather chair and beckoned for Karth to do the same.
Now that Karth was in this room and felt the heat of the hearth flow over his body, he realized how much colder the dungeon was to the rest of the castle. The assassin looked around the room and surprisingly saw no guards. It was just him and the king.
"I have a proposition for you," Cortdz said wasting no time in breaking the awkwardness in the air. "I want you to be my own personal assassin and help eliminate any threats against me."
"That's a weird way of thanking me for saving your life," Karth countered.
The King glared at the assassin. "I don't know who you are. Why should I thank you when you could have been a part of that assassination attempt."
"If I wanted you dead then you would be dead," Karth smiled a wicked smile. He was fortunate that the King didn't know what happened in the Wasteland. He couldn't afford to let that happen to him again.
"Thank you for saving my life," Cortdz grimaced at those words. It had been a long time since he thanked anybody. "Now can we talk business?"
Karth motioned for him to continue. When all was said and done in this proposition, Karth would get something good from it. He deserved that after all he had been through in well he didn't know how many days it had been since he left Solitude.
"As I mentioned before I want you to be my assassin," Cortdz continued. "I have some enemies thanks in part to the Emperor wanting me dead. I want you to take care of these assassins he sends my way to help me sleep better at night."
"And if I refuse?" Karth asked genuinely curious.
"Nothing will happen to you and you will be free to go," Cortdz rubbed his temples. "I am asking not as a king but as a man."
Karth could see the King's age now in the firelight. The assassin didn't know if the King's eyes glinted fear or begging or perhaps both.
Karth gave a half smile and nodded toward Cortdz. "I will help you but not because I care anything about you. I need revenge on somebody and I'm hoping I can find some clues as to where I might find him."
"That's respectable," Cortdz said. He knew people didn't care about him, he knew that being a king came with those risks, but hearing it to his face just hit him in a different way, and he did also throw him in a jail cell without reason.
"Do you know what Death's Exiled Assassin is?" Karth kept his gaze firm upon the King.
Cortdz shook his head in response. He had never heard of that name or title before and it just increased the mystery around his new assassin. Who exactly did he just hire?
"You will be given a room in the castle," Cortdz rose from his chair. "You will have free access to the grounds until I summon you for your next assignment. I will have a guard show you to your room and food sent to you. Go get some rest in a real bed. We will talk again."
Karth was quickly escorted out of the King's presence by the same two guards who escorted him out of the dungeon. This time around he wasn't handled as rough. They seemed to show him respect as they released his arms once they were all out of the room.
Karth followed the guards past the door to the dungeons and into a wing where red carpeting cascaded over the floors and the walls became whitewashed with pristine windows where slivers of red and orange rays of the sun started to awaken over the well groomed hedges.
They turned down a well lit hallway where blue wooden doors lined the walls of the hallway in perfect symmetry. The guards escorted him to the third door down where they stopped.
"This will be your room," one of the guards said with a gruff voice. "Servants will be by shortly with some food but in the meantime try and get some rest."
The guards left without another word and left Karth to his own devices. He entered the room and was immediately greeted by a huge four poster bed as lavish rugs met his feet. Posters of some weird art and people he had no idea who they were hung on the walls around him.
He had a washroom off to one side and a small library on the other. Rays of sunlight glowed brighter now through his lone window as he saw servants tending to the gardens down below. Colorful flowers and an array of fruit trees took up most of the gardens.
Karth knew the first thing he had to do was take a bath as he had no idea how much or who's blood was on him. He slipped deeply into the warm water as he heard a faint knock come from the main door.
The door opened a second later as a frail male servant scurried into the bedroom with a plate of food before leaving just as quickly and quietly as he entered. The smell of fresh baked bread and curried meats hit his nose and immediately his mouth watered.
As much as the warm water felt good on his soul and bones, the assassin decided that his stomach won this battle as he get out and dried off. A fresh pair of clothes were folded neatly on a nearby armchair. Black cotton pants and a red linen shirt felt smooth on his skin. He pulled on fresh socks before heading into the bedroom.
The food was just as delicious as it smelled and within minutes he had devoured the contents and washed it down with three cups of water. Now that his stomach was full, his eyes protested to stay open.
He slipped into the silk sheets and immediately his body felt lighter as he buried himself in the mattress. It wasn't long before his eyes gave up on protesting and closed all together.
Karth didn't know how long he was asleep for when he heard the creaking of the floor.