| An assassin is in the midst of completing his quest: to kill every person in the clan of his clan's enemy. He feels nothing for finishing the job, but finds there's one left: a small baby that he can't bring himself to kill. This puts him at odds with his clan, so he leaves the clan with the enemy's orphan baby and travels to visit an old friend. There, he meets a rogue of characters, including Lynne. He's there a while and gets the nickname Skinny, and we learn that as a young girl, the army invaded her town, killing her parents, siblings and left her for dead (shot in the back) after the colonel tried to assault Lynne and dad stood up to him. Skinny beings to train Lynne as a warrior, but his own sword is sealed shut, fearing the souls his sword has taken can be tracked by his clan to find him. The colonel and his men come back to town, and he's searching for Lynne; the town hides her, but when the colonel selects a woman, then kills her to take her daughters, Lynne volunteers to take their place. The colonel's men hold Lynne down, but the warrior bursts in and kills all but the colonel; he gets away when Lynne's thrown knife brings down a different guy. Knowing they'll be back, the town (a motley crew of circus people) arm themselves to fight back. The colonel and others return, a grand battle, in the middle of which the warrior's old clan show up and start killing everyone as they try to finally kill the baby. The warrior gives Lynne the baby and tells her to run as he kills his former clan; the colonel catches Lynne and baby, and the warrior kills his way to them, but he lets Lynne kill the colonel, which she finally does. The warrior's master tells him his new life is much like his old one, and to kill the baby; he kills his master. Lynne realizes he must go and she can't be with him; he leaves her with the baby and walks into the sunset alone, noting that wherever he goes now, he will forever be hunted yet remember the family he nearly finally had as his own. |
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