In the very opening line I was put off: stories that start in taverns make me feel bored. Too often scenes in fantasy are played out in taverns, like it's a go-to cliche setting. I haven't read on at this stage but I guess that we'll meet the bartender (usually an older male, harrassed by his customers), maybe one or two named drunks and then an interesting stranger. Probably wearing a hood.
Despite that, the initial visual - the beaten woman dragged by the threateningly large man - is good. A nice hook. I do genuinely want to read on.
Torrin gives his information up too quickly - shouldn't he at least try to claim that he didn't hire an assassin? I feel that he's a bit disconnected from his wife's suffering, as though we're following the innkeeper as the protagonist but we don't hear about his feelings enough.
Avoid using numbers as numerals and write them in full - this is standard practice.
hood up and eyes closed.
Lol I knew it :D. I don't really like this kind of super-cool hardman, doesn't even open his eyes type character. To me this guy is an idiot. His decision not to pay attention indicates that he
The action gets difficult to follow because there are quite a few characters involved, mostly named as 'the guard' or 'the man' since our unknown assassin has no name at this point. This part in particular I found this hard to follow, mostly because I wasn't expecting a guardsman seemingly in a control-trance to be using magic and attacking:
The last guard stalked slowly towards the messenger, sword out, with a faint glow to his green eyes. “Yes My Lord.” The guard pulled a small pebble from his pocket and pressed it against the hilt of the sword and smiled. The swords blade glowed green as the guard charged slicing at the man’s neck.
You then start calling the assassin 'the messnger' but I didn't understand why.
“I am Death, Reaper of Souls, and I have come for you at last.”
Cheeeeeeeeseeeeeeeyyyyyyyyyyyy!
It doesn't make sense that the innkeeper's wife starts arguing about payment with a man who has just killed a bunch of people in front of her eyes.
or the nearest brothel
Small boys wouldn't have any interest in going to a brothel. You give the impression that the person who saddled the horse was a child.
The character of Death is somewhat confused. Is there a reason that we can't know his actual name? I feel that the reveal of it, now that we're following him as the protagonist, will be somewhat anticlimactic. In the inn he seems to be a murderer, potential rapist and mercenary. Once he gets away from that he's bothered about the killing he has done? That doesn't seem to make sense.
I feel that we've read a character introduction, but certainly we're not getting into the plot just yet. The character appears to be the villain of the piece, given that he just killed a man whose only wrong was trying to ensure that he didn't get assassinated, but I feel a bit as though you're trying overly hard to be gritty and it's falling a bit flat. The protagonist threatening to rape the innkeeper's wife is particularly misplaced, and any grittiness was dispelled as soon as we find out about his pointy ears which made me groan a bit.