INTRODUCTION - ANFAL&GENDUR It was winter. A family was about to start their dinner, when a stranger knocked on their door. The father rose, and went to open the door and the stranger pleaded to be let in, to rest. He said he was a messenger of a faraway lord and he had ridden long. His worn but elegant travel clothes convinced the father, and so the messenger was let in and invited to dinner. Afterwards, the father and the messenger spoke of trivial matters, news of things that had happened lately. When a moment of silence came, the messenger turned to look the father. After a while he spoke quietly to him.      "You may be tempted to not believe me, but I must assure you, what I'm about to tell you is the truth."      "Go ahead and speak, then."      "My... lord sent me to find you, my good man. He has a business proposition for-" The father snorted and interrupted him, before he could finish.      "I make straw baskets.. undoubtedly your lord is interested in such."      "Not at all."      "Yeah, well I thought so too."      "That is not the business he requires from you."      "Oh?"      "It relates to your past, Anfal." The father inhaled sharply.      "You know my name? No, I am.. I'm James, here. No one knows."      "We have ways to find things out, Anfal. And we have unfinished business.."      "No. I have finished all of my jobs. There is nothing."      "This job you left alive. She's the only one who survived, and you ran away. We will not tolerate that, you must finish what we hired you to do."      "Shh! My family is near, they do not know.. why now?"      "None of your concern."      "No... No, it isn't. It doesn't matter. I have given up on my past, I do not do such anymore."      "If you won't complete your job, we will revenge that on your family!"      "You wouldn't!"      "Oh, we quite well could...", he paused for a dramatic effect: "Your darling wife... she is old, we will merely torture her to death... Your precious daughter... she is young and pretty, she will make a wonderful toy... And your newborn son... brought up to fill the ten."      "Ten!" Anfal looked at the man closely, and recoqnized him.      "You. Gendur. I had hoped you would have died after that last time. You had black hair then..." Gendur stroked his now blond-white hair.      "Suits me much better, doesn't it?", he grinned.      "Quite."      "Well, the old contract still applies. I presume you agree?"      "I'm not sure I agree with you about the job altogether."      "Make up your mind, quickly. Our tolerance is not high." Anfal sat still, and stared at the flames in the fireplace. He sighed, and lowered his head to his hands. He sat like that for a while.      "Decided yet?"      "I... Yes, I have decided." He rose his head and looked Gendur straight into the eyes.      "I'll do it. The old contract.. still applies."      "Wonderful!", Gendur laughed and punched him lightly on his arm. Then he reached into his bag and took out a smaller one and handed it to Anfal.      "Here, we give you this. Gold, the same amount as last time."      "She's worth more now.."      "Don't push your luck, boy."      "... And the time limit?"      "Ah, almost forgot. One year, starting from the first day of spring."      "Two months from here?"      "No, the old spring day. Two weeks from here. We're old-fashioned", he shrugged.      "So be it."      "Good. Well, I'm off now. So much to do, so little time", Gendur chuckled.      "Oh, and one more thing, Anfal. Don't fail us again, or we will punish much worse than you could even imagine. Trust in us that is the truth. After all... We've had a lot of experience with such."      "I will not fail. I can't."      "Good night." Gendur bowed to Anfal's wife as he folded his cloak around himself. He was out sooner than could be imagined. Anfal's daughter ran to the window, but she could not see him outside, even though it was a clear night.      "Strange man, that", his wife commented without looking up from her knitting.      "Yes..." Anfal waited till the others had gone to bed. He took the bag of gold and hid it in a small hole he had once dug up in their cellar. He removed two smaller bags from the hiding-place and checked their contents. Both were filled with copper coins. Taking out a dagger and a small sturdy box, he grabbed the stones and placed them on top of the hole, covering it so that no one could see more than a stone floor. The other bag he placed on a table, intending it for his family, while he was going to be away. His skillful use of daggers and poison had made him known as the best assassin for hire to people who needed someone else to be killed. But this had attracted an unpleasent employer for him. The Ten had contacted him, and asked him to kill this one pesky mage. He had, much to his regret now, accepted, thinking it was going to be easy. But he had failed. He had had to run, not only from the mage, but from the Ten as well.      He hadn't planned on falling in love, or getting married, or having children. It happened, and he was sure no one could find him anymore. He was certain they were safe from his past. He should have known better. This story © to Riikka Kankaanpää, please do not use without permission.