Henry Monde my short life and long death....

My name is Henry Monde and that huge mound of muscle and hatred standing in front of me is called Luna and we have both been training for this fight for most of our lives.

I look up at my father, he won his passing over forty years ago when he too had to fight and kill his brother. To be be honest I think that he will be happy when the contest is over because my ever loving brother Luna has always been fathers favourite.

There is a hush amongst the crowd, this fight after all is the main event in the arena tonight and the winner will win the right to be the next head of the Monde dynasty and will at some point in the not too distant future kill our father, my only regret is that I won't get that chance.

Thwupp!

I hear it more than feel it, the look on my brother's face is priceless, I open my mouth to make a smart remark, something catches my eye, I hear shouts gently fading and then I see it.

Biggest damn arrow that I have ever seen and it is sticking out of my chest.

And that my friends is how I died....

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Without looking to see if it had hit the target, she turned around and made her escape. The crowds reaction was all that she needed to hear, it had hit the target.

The roof afforded her a good view of the surrounding city, the street below was empty and she knew that the guards would be inside either running to close the exits or protecting whatever men paid them in gold.

Leaving the crossbow on the roof she started climbing down to the empty street. she would pick it up later when things had quietened down.

There was a jump that had to be made for the last fifteen feet, it had been a lot easier climbing onto the roof from inside the arena, there were always access points for workmen to get up to do repairs.

She jumped down and landed with a thump. She stopped, listened and looked around. She still wasn't safe and had to take her time. Standing up she looked around again. She had chosen this place a week ago as a safe place to leave. It was a dead end leading out onto a market street and only had one entrance, but that worked both ways, there was only one exit.

Worried for a moment, men died in these places, she had killed in quiet back alleys, she pushed these feelings deep down and started walking towards the bustling street ahead of her.

A few more steps and she would be out on the street and would melt into the crowd.

Finally she was out and onto the street, absent mindedly she tapped the leather chest plate, making sure it was there and willed herself to relax and not put a hand on the hilt of her sword.

She still had to pick up her payment this evening, but she would worry about that later. For the moment she had made the kill and was walking away unscathed.

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The first thing that I remember was the fucking heat, it was unbearably hot.

The second thing that I remember was laughter, it was like a child's laugh just completely free and almost infectious.... The laughter faded...

My eyes opened...

For a moment I thought that I was in a hospital, my mind could barely comprehend what I was looking at, people or rather what was left of people hanging on hooks like animals in an abattoir.

"Welcome, young prince Henry", I turned to see the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. She smiled at me and in that moment, I would have died for her. I nearly did, but that part of the story comes later in my tale.

She slapped me so hard my eyes watered and my ears rang, "you are not a sheep, you are a prince from the house of Monde, act like one!"

This time I saw her, eyes red as the fiercest embers, hard features on a hard body and what looked like two massive wings on her back, I fought the urge to be sick.

where was I?

The last thing that I remembered was looking at a large arrow protruding from my chest! This had to be some fevered dream, it had to be, but as I was to find out through other people's pain, this was not a fevered imagination, it was my first day in hell....

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I had started writing this story a few months ago and thought that I would resurrect it as I kind of liked it, Henry is definitely the main character but the Assassin will also play a major part in the story.

I am sure that the cheetah bot will highlight this post, but I thought that I would stitch the three posts together to see if they actually make sense and I do think that they do.

I am going to pick this story again up and start writing more regularly about Henry and his adventures in hell :-)

Image credit here

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As always thanks to @ryivhnn for his creativity and generosity in giving me this, please follow him.