D'nel the Ex-Mage
1/24/99

Silent Snow

Silent Snow walked on all fours as he neared the forest.  He changed his
pure white fur to the striped coat of a tiger.  Though the forest was
covered in snow and there was little possibility that anyone would be out
in the blizzard, he wasn't taking any chances.

The forest was all that lay between himself and his next... client.
His... client was, of course, the bigwig head of a corporation, as was
Silent Snow's employer, though he was a politician.  It was always the
bigwigs, he mused, who hired people like him to take care of others of
their kind.

Yet Silent Snow did not know why he had even taken the job.  He gained no
emotional or moral satisfaction from his work, and he rarely accepted
payment for a job.  And he had never known any of his... clients or
employers before a job brought him to them.  But for some reason, Silent
Snow didn't care and he continued his work, regardless.

As he moved through the forest, Silent Snow noticed the lack of movement
from any smaller creatures.  Either there were none about, or they were
intelligent enough to not make their presence known while there was a
predator about.  For that was what Silent Snow was- a predator.  He liked
to think of himself as such.

And that was about the only thing that Silent Snow could say for certain
about himself.  He knew little about his past, but he enjoyed making up
stories about it.  Others knew even less about him: his name, for
instance, was really Ice Snowstrider, but he took the handle Silent Snow
while on jobs, more as a warning than as something that he liked.  It also
hid his identity, as if his color changing fur couldn't do that enough.
Not even he knew what he was.  Tiger, leopard, cheetah- he had been called
all these things, yet he was none of them.  He preferred to think of
himself as a tiger, and wore stripes when alone.  But while on a job, he
couldn't afford to be vain, and had to change the pattern on his fur to
keep himself hidden.

And while that camouflage was keeping him well concealed as he made his
way through the dark forest, he still had to worry about the time of day.
Traversing the rough forest terrain was bad enough, but he knew that the
corporate complex towards which he was heading would be well secured at
night, and that his... client would not be there if he arrived too late.
Silent Snow's employer had been very thorough in giving information to
him, and had insisted that Silent Snow make haste to get into the complex
before sundown.

But going around the forest had been out of the question.  It would have
taken even longer, and would have left him exposed.  He had little to fear
from exposure, since his... client most likely did not know he was coming.
Still, he wasn't taking any chances.

For he had known someone whose life had been all about taking chances.
She had been a wolf-bitch.  Her name had been Mary something; Silent Snow
couldn't remember it exactly.

When Silent Snow had been young and had just started his career, an
employer had insisted that Mary accompany him on a job, to keep an eye on
him.  He had protested the fact that he only ever worked alone, but his
employer had been very adamant, dropping hints that Silent Snow would not
have been able to take the job any other way.  Silent Snow had relented,
but had made it very clear to Mary that he had no problems with her if she
stayed out of his way, but would have preferred to work alone.  She had
ignored him, apparently thinking that her skills made her somehow superior
to him.

But that had been her first mistake.  She had been too complacent.  She
had trained for her work, while Silent Snow had been born to do it.  She
had been skilled at their employ; there could have been no doubt.  But she
had been reckless and she had paid no heed to common sense or her
instincts.

Their job had been accomplished successfully, of course, and Silent Snow
had given her grudging congratulations on that.  But on the way out to
report back to their employer, what should have been an easy task, Mary's
devil-may-care attitude had gotten the best of her.  Cavorting through the
halls and cheering for herself, she tripped a security alarm.  It hadn't
even been well hidden at all.  There had been no hope at all for her after
she had done that.

Silent had been grateful that her end had come swiftly: a single laser
shot through her heart had been just enough to do her in.

He had stood over her, unmoved, as she had lain bleeding on the ground.
He remembered that she had tried futilely to lift herself up on one elbow,
and had tried to plead with him, spitting up blood onto his feet in the
process.

"Snow... help me... please... friend..."

He had spoken to her without the slightest hint of emotion, his tone cold
and firm.

"I never was nor ever will be your friend.  You are beyond all hope; you
are dead.  I regret that you have to die now, but you must admit that it
was your own fault."

She hadn't understood.

"But... I, I thought..."

Silent Snow had picked her up by the arms and placed his face close to
hers.  His cold breath had made her shiver as he spoke to her.

"Welcome to the cold, cruel place I call reality."

Her eyes had narrowed, and then she had died there in his hands.

Silent Snow had taken her body outside and buried it some distance away in
the snow, where he could easily find it later.  He had gone back to their
employer and reported Mary's death by her own foolish daredevil actions.
His employer had ranted and raved and cursed up a storm, while Silent Snow
stood there and took it, then had calmly told him that the job had
otherwise been successful.  He had accepted payment for a job for the last
time in his life, and then left, never to return.

Silent Snow had returned to the cave in the mountains that he called home,
detouring only to pick up Mary's body.  He had found a clearing in the lee
of a cliff that was free of snow and there had he built a funeral pyre for
her.  She had, after all, been a warrior, and he had respected her for
that.

As he raised his blaster to light it, he had noticed something glint in
the waning sunlight.  He had approached her body to see what it was, and
had discovered a ring on her hand that he had not noticed earlier.  It was
silver, with a large red stone, and was much too small for him, having
been made for those long, delicate fingers that had made her so skilled in
their work.  Yet something about it had caught his fancy.  He removed it
from her finger.  He placed it in the front pocket of his jeans, then had
lit the pyre.  He then turned around to go back home, never again to
return to that spot.

And he still had that ring in the pocket of the only pair of jeans that he
had ever worn, the ones that so perfectly matched his fur.  They were, in
fact, the only clothing that he wore, since they were decent and his white
leather belt was necessary for holding his weapons.  He could feel the
ring in his pocket now, even as he approached the outer walls of the
complex and tried to push all distracting thoughts from his mind.  The
memory of it lingered just a bit longer.  He still didn't know why he kept
it.  He had deluded himself long ago into thinking that it was a reminder
of what recklessness leads to...

He extended his claws and surmounted the metal walls of the complex,
keeping himself low as he jumped down from the top of it.  As he took
stock of the inner complex, he saw that people were beginning to return
home from their jobs.  That was all the better for him for there were so
many people milling about that no one would notice an extra white tiger,
especially since there was no cover for him in the inner courtyard.  While
Silent Snow didn't like being obvious, sometimes the best way to hide was
in plain sight.

Getting into the complex was a simple matter of telling the guard that he
had forgotten his ID, and had come back for it, then slipping away when
the guard went to check on his authorization.  Silent Snow knew where
his... client's office was located, thanks to the map that his employer
had so graciously provided.  As he viewed it, Silent Snow decided to walk
the hallways of the complex, rather than enter the ductwork, to make
himself seem less suspicious.

He made his way slowly down the corridors to his... client's third floor
office, backtracking often, taking the stairs rather than the turbolift.
When he reached the huge double doors, he knocked, softly at first, then
louder, and drew his blaster.  His employer wanted this to be quick and
clean, so Silent Snow's choice weapon- a long, thin dagger- remained at
his side.

From inside the office came a faint reply.

"Enter."

The door swung open of its own accord.  Silent Snow took a few tentative
steps inside the office, which stretched out before him like an endless
tunnel.  It was dimly lit, but that did not matter to Silent Snow.  The
door swung shut behind him of its own accord.  The noise startled him, and
Silent Snow whirled on it out of instinct.

Then a strangely monotone, yet gravelly voice behind him got his
attention.

"I assume you've been sent to kill me."

Silent Snow turned back to the desk where the voice had come from.  The
chair behind it was in the process of slowly turning so that its occupant
could face him.

Silent Snow was so astonished by what he saw that he dropped his blaster.

Sitting before him was a wizened old mouse with numerous tubes and wires
emerging from his body and connecting to various points on his chair.  He
had a breathing tube attached to the end of his nose, though the apparatus
itself was hidden from view.  And the only way he could talk was through a
voice synthesizer that rested against his larynx.

"I am sorry if my appearance startles you," he said, laughing dryly.  Then
he sighed.  "I knew this day would come sooner or later." He paused.  "I
see you do not believe me.  Well, understand me when I say that I have
many enemies who would want to be rid of me, not the least of which is
obviously whoever hired you.  I am a very powerful man, yet I am
completely at your mercy.  Do with me what you will.  I only ask that my
end be swift and painless, if that's not too much to ask of you."

Silent Snow reached down and picked up his blaster, never once taking his
eyes off his... client.  Then he holstered it.

"I will not harm you, old man," he said, slowly.  "My employer made a
grave error when he hired an assassin to work for him who has a sense of
honor.  It is against my nature to kill someone who is incapable of
defending himself.  You have nothing to fear from me."

The man laughed.  "Well, I congratulate your employer on hiring such an
efficient, if ineffective, assassin.  I must say that, were the tables
turned, I would not be so generous.  You have every opportunity to shoot
me as you like.  I'm sure you have killed others who were in much less
precarious situations than myself."

"They were victims of their own stupidity and complacency.  They were fat
and lazy and deserved to have their lives taken from them, to make room
for those whose lives mean something more.  You, however, are different.
You are old, but your mind still works as if you had never aged a day
since you began your career.  I know much about you, because my employer
has collected much information on you, but now as I have met you and seen
who and what you truly are, I cannot help but that if anyone deserves to
live out his life, it is you."

"Strong words for a man who never even knew me before today...  Not that I
have much of a life to live."

"If you can facilitate my exit," said Silent Snow hastily, "I give you my
word that I shall never return here to bother you.  Although I cannot say
that you will be safe from others like my employer."

The mouse pressed a button on his chair.  "You have proven to be a worthy
adversary, such as you are.  I should like to get to know you better, but
if you insist upon leaving, then I cannot stop you."  Four security guards
entered the room and surrounded Silent Snow.  His muscles tensed, but he
calmed the almost primal urge to fight them.

"They will see that you leave the complex unmolested," said the mouse.

Silent Snow bowed, then allowed himself to be escorted back to the
entrance.  They got him there without incident, as promised.  Silent Snow
walked through the gate in the outer wall, and then out into the snow.

It was dark, and the night air was cool and still.  He took a deep breath,
then changed his tiger stripes to the blotchy spots of a leopard, and
bounded into the forest to vanish in amongst the trees.

As he picked his way slowly and carefully through the forest, he
contemplated returning to this employer.  It was a good idea, he decided,
to tell him that his plan had failed, even though there was a good chance
his employer might lay a contract on his head.  It had happened before,
though he had never failed to complete a job like this before.  But now
was not the time.  He would return home first and perhaps visit the site
of scorched earth that he had not been to since he had burned a woman's
body there...

Silent Snow surprised himself by thinking of Mary just then.  He had
thought about her more in the last hour, he realized, than he had since he
first met her.  He pulled the ring from his pocket and looked it over.

"Perhaps," he thought aloud, "it is time for me to find a new line of
work.  Yes, it is time for a change.  I am not even interested by what I
do anymore.  There is no challenge.  I feel a weight pressing down on me
that must be lifted."  And he altered his course towards his employer's
building.