The Treachery Begins

"They left us with no weapons, armor or shoes and we were lucky they didn't find the crest of Dellemar on our clothing�we think. We were only left with a day's rations and an extreme lack of luck." The Captain the group with an evil gleam in his eyes.
"How could you idiotic fool miss a diminutive party of traitors to the crown. The wizards drake could achieved more than your group combined."
One assassin stood out from the others, his freshly washed tunic of black silk dressing his body with a thin gold rope around the waist to keep it from falling, while the rest of his party wearing unwashed brown costumes, a tight fitted uniform appropriate for running, with tears from the hunt over the legs and arms. The assassin in the black was the largest of them all, his age being shown by the scars on his face yet his build was as firm as a swordsman's. All in the group had a golden four-pointed star near their heart on each individual tunic or costumes showing the symbol of the assassin's guild yet the rest weren't as old, built or well trained as this one in the black silk. They were all wearing cloaks on top of their costumes and had hoods on the top of their heads. The cloaks seemed un-torn and each assassin had a coloured star on the back of the hood of his cloak showing rank, the assassin dressed in black having a golden star.
"It was neither mine nor my guild's fault. One of those party members has great skills in the arts of magic. We believe it to be the human as he was the only being who saw us that night. His spells were laid before we got near their camp and affected us before we had a chance to detect them. We are leaving at dawn to hunt them down but our reward will be much greater. A magic user must be hunted with great precaution and time. We now know what we are up against�we WILL be prepared!"
The guard stared in disbelief and tried to stay calm while he stated "You will take your men immediately, retrieve the elf and not one more word will be spoken." His anger broke out and could be seen by the large, crooked wrinkles on his pale forehead, his face turning light red as he spoke.
One of the lower grade assassins stepped forward, his lack of training showing in his words "We are pure bled assassins, what could a mere, pathetic guard like you do us? We were trained to be a higher class by far!"
"Enough Mialdan! Our fault it is not, we will be back to discuss this further once we are prepared for the hunt of a magic user." The man in the black robe turned to leave until he heard a deep dark voice was heard out of the shadows "An assassin will be prepared for the inevitable in any circumstances, as says the code of the assassin's guild. The penalty for breaching a code is torture by the blade." His voice seemed to have an abnormal depth to it when saying "Take them away." The darkness of the shadow reached out, pointing in the direction of the cloaked ones. Instantly a swarm of guards filled the room and began dragging the assassins out of sight.
"Leave the golden one here, I will deal with him personally."
The dark, shadow-like creature could not be seen by any man in the room, his figure shaped in a human-like form although the lack of light would make man unsure.
The assassin with the gold star on his hood was dropped on the floor while the rest were taken out, not a word spoken by any of them, as says the code of the assassin's guild.
After the group of assassins were taken outside the darkened room the large stone door was closed leaving only enough light to see vague shapes as some light seeped through cracks in the rough stone walls.
"Captain, take the prisoner to the torture chamber and ready him. You and one other guard will remain on either side of his body until my arrival."
"Yes your majesty."
Slight shock was seen on the assassins face for less than an instant. The ruler of Dellemar and most of the human race could not be so demanding, for only royalty is spoken to as 'your majesty'. The Kings lengthy speech concerning the future of his people touched their hearts with words more beautiful that a bard could sing, his head up high in the most noble fashion, his garments perfectly placed as only a king would wear. The assassin, one of the highest trained classes known to mankind did not believe this to be the king.
Any man of royal blood excluding Prince Laledric could be so evil at heart, but at this moment the Prince was training military soldiers on the other side of the world, although some people say he has the power of sorcery on his side and if skilled enough would have the abilities of plane shifting or even teleportation.
The assassin suddenly took a heavy breath as he felt immense pain below his ribcage.
"Why are you stalling? Get going before your ears will be what I pull to get you there!"
The assassin recalled his ability to close the outside world to his mind, normally used when being tortured, and also remembered the extreme concentration needed if pain wasn't to be felt.
He noticed who he thought was the Prince had left the room, and strangely the room seemed different, more clear, lighter�could the Prince carry so much darkness within his soul that his outer shell showed it? He wondered what kind of sorcery could cause the light of the rotating sun to be no more.
The golden one again realised that he had drifted. The one thing which stopped him from attaining the platinum rank was this fault. He still knew not how to control it completely which was a large fault for an assassin of his rank.
The assassin followed the short, stubby guard through the stone walls of the secret passageways which assassin's completing missions for the king use to keep the secrecy needed, which was ultimately requested by the king.
As he and the guard continued walking through the castle he noticed the corridors seemed longer and the surroundings much brighter.
As they entered a large dancing hall the assassin noticed the stained glass murals carved in the shapes of the kings of the past, 'the rulers who shaped our every dying land' he thought as they continued. Approximately half way through the room he noticed a new design obviously brought forward by the new king. But why the tail of a serpent he thought? The serpent wasn't an honorable, elegant or good natured creature but was the exact opposite.
As the assassin was stopped by the captain who was conversing with another officer, he noticed something strange about the serpent's tail�it wasn't what he thought it was at all. In fact he recognised the crested fork on the end of it's tail which caused a remembrance in his mind of his specialised mythological teachings in 'the wings of the dragon', his favourite topic while schooling, and continual study in the library of assassins.
"hmph", the assassin took a deep breath as he was once again hurt by the guard.
"End your conscious dreaming before I bring upon you my fury!"
At that time the assassin had decided his drifting had to stop, so he began a shallow mind soother to create mental balance which will keep focus off his surroundings.

His eyes slowly opened but stopped once the light from the fire burned his the inner core of his eyes. He swiftly moved his arm to show his consciousness and the fire drew back.
"I know of you Maehan, Gold star assassin, leader of the Dereric clan of assassins." His voice gained slight humor "I believe I was mistaken, leader of the deceased Dereric clan."
Maehan closed his eyes in mourning and began a silent prayer.
"Your troublesome drifting keeps you from attaining the platinum level�my condolences, the platinum library of assassins had a great deal more information on the wings of dragons as the gold grade."
His eyes opened with hatred, still not seeing the face of the man but recognised his voice and matched it with the Prince's.
"My guild will seek vengeance on our lives, I assure you."
"How could you believe me to be scared of what I have complete control over, the assassins guild is still functional because I allow it to be."
"You underestimate us young Prince, the guild of assassins does not only reside in Dellemar under you direct ruling, we have clans who will fight to the death as far as the sun can shine." Maehan felt courage race back into his soul, he knew how large the assassin's guild was which gave him the power to demote the Prince for but an instant.
"Are you threatening your�Prince. The sentence for this is death although I believe I will start with torture�similar as to what happened to your clan members."
The captain placed the torch on the wall and walked over to Maehan. He untied his chains and noticed the assassin's eyes were shut.
"Your majesty, he is in the same state as the others were while being tortured."
The darkened creature thought for a moment before saying "None of them could deal with my wrath, either will this one. Continue as normal."
The captain placed Maehan on the torture bed - a wide slump of moss filled limestone with slight decays where the body is shaped. The assassin's hands and feet were tightly cuffed with rusted steel.
"Begin!"
The captain began with a small rusted blade and slowly sliced open the fingers of the assassin. After no response was given he slowly cut until the centre of the palm on each hand. He noticed an excessive amount of blood rushing from the body and turned his bearded face to the corner of darkness where the figure was.
"Captain, your negligence deceives me. Have you forgotten since mere sunrise where to torture victims? If I must take your position in this chamber I will not be pleased."
"Yes your majesty" the captain hesitated while speaking.
Next he picked up a forked blade and sliced down the arm of the assassin tearing his skin and colouring it dark red.
"My patients grows weary Captain" The dark one's voice grew deeper and stronger.
The captain hurriedly picked up a dagger and began slicing across the lower chest of the assassin, finding his years of training making it difficult to slice through.
"BE GONE!!!"
"But your majesty�the others�they gave up when I reached their arms�that is the most painful torture of all�this one�he�he must have some sort of protection"
The voice grew deeper again "Captain, your services are no longer required in my kingdom. For failure to do as your �Prince wishes you will suffer death by hanging."
"Prince? But your majesty�you�"
As he attempted to continue he found a cumbersome figure where the voice was emitting from. He sensed pure evil being radiated from that direction and found his mouth could no longer speak.
"Guards, take him away�and also�I do not wish to be disturbed in the slightest. If any man requests my company send them away."
The guards took the previous Captain out of the room and sealed the door. Even in his catastrophic state Maehan felt the darkness enter the room.
The dark figure came out of his shadowy corner to show a human life-form with complete black eyes and a darkened face. His long, shaved chin showing scars of battles from childhood and tight, well defined cheeks creating the image of high power. His body of large build and dress of black robes show high skills of strength and wizadry. His face slightly shifted as a minute smile appeared on the end of his lips.
He unsheathed his sword and pierced a rune on the surface of Maehan's forehead with it, then placed the tip of the sword in the centre of the rune and began the incantation as it balanced on the outer layer of Maehan's skin.
The still darkened figure then proceeded to stand behind Maehan's head and fall down to his knees. His mind engaged in immense concentration as he began to call the spirit of darkness, his unlimited source of power. He felt the darkness around his body, in the air, the walls, his breath, his essence. He recalled the incantation for the spirit calling and began while his mind touched the world of darkness�not for the first time. He succumbed to the evil strength as it ran through his veins and through his heart. He felt the power within him and knew the spirit had granted him power once again. He slowly rose to a stand and placed his palms on either side of the sword. He pushed his power from the deepest area of his heart through his blood and into his palms. He pushed the force out of his body and motioned for the sword to spin, and it did so.
He could think only evil as he projected the image of a golden dragon in his thoughts and focused it to the surface of his mind. He again focused the evil power in his heart through his body, enjoying every moment of it and brought it forward to the image of the dragon. He then, like as bolt of thunder shot it into the sword with a telekenetic blast and through the sword into the rune and into the Maehan's mind.
Maehan slowly began to come out of his catastrophic state and into dreaming as his body informed him that no more pain was being felt. As his mind turned to a light sleep he saw a golden dragon through his mind's eyes. He wondered why his mind was recalling the majestic creature and then took a moment to glare at it's beauty. In what seemed strange to Maehan the dragon was approaching his faster than his eyes could see, and noticed other foul creatures behind it. He hadn't the time to think why a dragon would want his company but then noticed it in attack position with claws open and teeth showing. Maehan began running through the deserted plane of existence in his mind, all his surroundings included were sand and some small shrubs. The dragon finally reached Maehan's body and, using his claws, grabbed Maehan in his dream-world state causing immense pain to his unshielded muscles.

A jump came from the assassin's body, his mind growing fearful of what had been placed in it. The enchanter continued displaying images of creatures more dreadful than evil itself until the assassin woke up startled and shivering. All the hairs on his body stood up with the fear which had been placed in him, his eyes glowing as if sun had burnt his soul, leaving un-removable marks which would live with him forever.
"Now, oh fragile one, what do you know of the DRAGON?"