A brave man ran over to help him, and as he was reaching for Tonles’ hand, he was struck in the back of the head and fell on top of him. Thinking quickly, Tonles used his body as a shield and hid underneath just as more bolts rained down upon them.
On the roof, the lead assassin couldn’t tell if their intended target was dead or alive, so after he ordered another round of bolts he then signaled his men to leave, because the guards were coming.
After they arrived, the guards searched frantically for the attackers, while a few others pulled the dead body off of Tonles and carried him off to the healers after they found him unconscious.
Konafar and Breen were eating when Captain Strom rushed into the inn and to their table. He was flushed and breathing heavy, indicating that something was wrong.
“Tonles was attacked by assassins.” He said.
“WHAT! WHEN?” Konafar shouted and stood up.
“A few minutes ago down in the market square.”
“Is he dead?”
“He’s unconscious and my men took him to the healer. I’ll take you there now.”
They ran through the streets and entered the healer’s house. There they found Tonles lying on a table, and the healers were in the process of removing the bolts.
“Is he alive?” Konafar asked.
“He is, but will he live is another story. We’ll know better after we finish removing the bolts, so please wait over there.” One of the healers pointed.
Captain Strom pulled them aside. “They’re very good healers.”
“Did you catch the killers?” Konafar snapped at him.
Strom shook his head.
“Can’t your men do anything right? First, you lose the killers who killed the priest and now this.”
Strom knew his friend didn’t mean what he was saying. “We’ll get them.” He promised.
“You better or I will.” Konafar was seething with hatred.
“You should know the attack wasn’t random.” Strom said trying to calm his friend.
“Tell me something I don’t know.”
“How so?” Breen interrupted.
“The attacks were too precise and there was only one other casualty. A bystander was struck down trying to help him. Let me ask you something. Does he have any enemies or had an argument with someone prior to the attack?”
“Last night there was an incident at the inn when Tonles beat up three men for picking on the minstrel boy.” Breen said.
“Describe them to me.” She described them in detail.
Captain Strom knew the men she described and after placing a reassurance hand on Konafar’s shoulder, he told him that he would get them within the hour and left.
“Wait here.” Konafar said moments later and followed after Strom.
“Don’t do anything stupid.” Breen’s words fell on deaf ears as he left through the door.
She turned her attention back to the healers.
Within the hour, Captain Strom’s men rounded up two out of the three men from the night before and found the third with his throat slit. After they were placed into separate rooms, Strom, Konafar, and a couple of guards went in to see the guy with the broken wrist.
“Why am I here?” He asked Strom as soon as they entered.
“Loist you’re here because the man you had a run-in with last night was attacked today.”
“Too bad for him, but I didn’t do it. He must have had other enemies, and that wouldn’t surprise me one bit. He started a fight with me, Cytep, and Posis for no reason. We were just minding our business drinking when…” Loist paused when he saw the angry look on Konafar’s face.
“Go on.” Strom urged him.
“Like I was saying that animal came up to our table accusing us of breaking some kid’s lute and hitting him.”
Konafar reached over and grabbed him by his tunic and lifted him off of his chair.
“You lie!” Konafar barked at the prisoner.
The guards tried to remove Konafar’s hold on the prisoner, but they were unable to break his death grip.
“Please Konafar.” Strom pleaded.
Konafar glanced over his shoulder at his friend and then threw the man down hard into his chair.
“I’m only going to ask you once,” Captain Strom leaned in. “Did you hire the assassins?”
Loist glanced at Konafar and then back at Strom. “I’ll answer if he leaves.”
Strom nodded for Konafar to follow him out of the room. When they were safely out of earshot, Captain Strom stopped.
“We can’t get information out of him if you keep acting the way you did. I know your emotions are high, but be patient and let us do our job.” Strom said.
“What happened to you? You were always the one to administer the right amount of punishment in order to get the information you needed.”
“I’ve learned that it is easier to get information this way than beating it out of them.”
“This is useless.” Konafar said in frustration.
“Let me show you how it’s done.”
Captain Strom reentered the room and questioned Loist for a long time, and then went to the other room. Cytep was a mess. His broken jaw and bandaged nose made his face look like it was run over by a wagon.
“Loist said you hired the assassins to kill the man who beat you up last night. Is it true?”
Cytep’s eyes went wide with fear.
“Cytep if it is you’ll stand trial for this alone.”
“I did… no… such thing... We went… to the… healers and then back to our… rooms.” His broken jaw made it difficult to speak.
“What?” Strom drew closer to understanding what he was saying.
“I didn’t do… it. We went… to the healers… and then to our rooms.”
“Are you sure that’s what you did?”
Cytep nodded his head and Strom suddenly left the room, then waited for several minutes before returning. The man was sweating, and Strom continued to twist Loist’s story around until Cytep finally broke down and told him everything.
“So you were embarrassed and humiliated, and that’s the reason why you wanted him to die.” Captain Strom said.
“Please Captain Strom, one of… the men was… Posis’ brother in-law, and… if they killed him…” He looked down and then back again. “They’ll kill us too.” He was clearly growing nervous.
“Calm down and tell me how you met them.”
Cytep gave Strom the location where they met the assassins. How many there were, the reason why they hired them, and how much they paid the assassins to kill Tonles. Strom reassured him that he was safe and left the room to talk to Konafar.
“I know what happened after their altercation last night. They wanted revenge on Tonles for embarrassing them.”
Konafar made a motion to enter the room and Strom put his hand on his shoulder stopping him.
“I have an idea. We can kill two birds with one stone.”
“How so?”
“Let’s use either Loist or Cytep to draw the assassins out. After we kill them, I’ll leave you alone with them to do whatever you want.”
Konafar liked his idea. “So what’s your plan?”
In another part of the town, the three assassins huddled together on top of a roof, drinking dark ale.
“One down, two to go.”
“Nails that was my brother-in-law.”
The assassin laughed at him. “So what, I didn’t see you mourn for my cousin last year when I killed him, hence don’t give me any crap Lope. Am I right Seiles?” Nails took a long swig.
“If you can’t take what we do, then get out, but you know what would happen if you did.” Seiles said, looking at him with cold, flat eyes.
Lope knew he was right, once you joined the Assassin’s Order you were a member for life, and death was certain if you wanted to leave.
“I’d even kill my own mother if she hired me.” Seiles chimed in, and both he and Nails laughed then clanged their wooden g
oblets together.
“You’re not thinking of leaving are you?” Nails asked Lope directly.
He shook his head.
“Good, I’d hate to kill you.”
“Ya, me too.” Seiles said.
Lope looked at Seiles with disgust and then back at Nails and said. “I’ll be fine. I just never killed someone close to me.”
“The first one is always the toughest. Take Quick Shot, for instance; he had to kill his own sister after she hired him to assassinate that fellow who raped her.” Nails said.
“Now that’s tough.” Seiles added.
“Where do you think my brother in-law’s friends are?” Lope asked, changing the subject.
“I am sure we’ll find them later getting drunk."
“Do you think we killed our target?”
“He couldn’t have lived. We shot him like nine times and what does it matter? We have their money.”
Nails reached over and grabbed Seiles by the throat. “Go make sure he’s dead, and if he isn’t, finish the job.”
He shoved him away. Seiles got up and left.
“After we’re finished here our next assignment is for us to go to Tinderrush and kill a high-ranking officer."
Lope nodded in acknowledgement, and they went back to drinking.
Back at the healer’s house, Breen kept watch over Tonles, while the healers were eating in the other room. She was bored so she rummaged through her belongings until she found the Eyepieces of Understanding.
She held the case near the candle and looked at the tiny round objects inside. All at once, they changed colors right before her eyes, as if they were putting on a show for her. First, they were clear and then changed to blue, red, orange, purple, and finally back to the original. She smiled while opening the case and grabbed one to give it a gentle squeeze. The eyepiece was soft and flexible, and to further test its durability, she bent it in half and watched it spring back to its original shape.
She read the instructions and then wondered what would happen if she couldn’t get them out, or worse, what if they were cursed, and they blinded her. Determination, and curiosity to understand the book of Tirips won the day, and she placed them into her eyes one at a time. Her first three attempts failed miserably, because every time she placed it onto her eyeball, her eyelid fluttered too fast. After several more attempts, she got frustrated and placed a firm grip on her eyelid, opened it as far as it would go, and forced the lens onto her eye. Instinctually, her eye watered and tears streamed down her face.
When the strange sensation of having a foreign object in her eye passed, she opened it and covered the other one without the lens. Right away, she could tell everything looked different on her left side. Things appeared clearer, and she could make out details on objects across the room.
Excited, she opened the book only to be disappointed when the words and symbols remained unchanged. She assumed that she might need the other eyepiece in her eye, but as she was about to reach for the other lens, she heard several a grunts followed by a thump of something hitting the floor, coming from the other room where the healers were.
Breen’s gut feeling told her something was wrong, so she put the book and case back into her bag and hid behind the largest of the cabinets. Carefully, she watched the door and a few minutes later, a person carrying a long stiletto, dressed in black leather with his face covered so that only his eyes were visible, walked in. She knew right away what he or she wanted, unsheathed her dagger and reached into her sack without taking her eyes off the intruder.
The killer paused and scanned the room for any hidden danger and then proceeded towards Tonles. As soon as Breen grasped one of the flasks, it clanked against the others on its way out, causing the killer to stop and turn in her direction.
“Come out and I might let you live.” He coldly said.
Breen didn’t respond, and the assassin threw his blade in her direction, barely missing her face. In the next instance, he held forth another dagger.
“Last chance or you die where you stand.” He said.
Breen’s vision was skewed from the one eyepiece, so she told him she was coming out and left her dagger behind, while palming the flask to conceal it from the killer.
“Ah, a female healer dressed in leather and wearing a sword. Now isn’t that an unusual manner of dress? You must be a friend of the soon to be deceased.”
“What do you want?” She snapped.
“What do I want? Hmm let me think about it,” he glanced at Tonles and then back to her. “To kill him. Now down on your knees with your hands in the air.”
As Breen was about to do what he requested, she threw the flask underhanded at the assassin. He tossed his dagger at her, scoring a direct hit in her chest, piercing through armor and flesh, and sending her sprawling to the ground coughing up blood.
Meanwhile, the flask missed the assassin’s head by inches, hit the wall behind him and shattered, dousing everything within a three-foot radius, including the assassin’s back, with the blackish liquid. The assassin’s screams were frightening and loud as he fell to the ground, writhing pain. Before Breen passed out from the pain, she saw smoke rising from his body and smelled flesh and leather burning.
Standing outside of the Inn of the Lion, Captain Strom peered out from behind the door in the back and watched the room intently. Seated throughout the room were his most skilled guards, wearing common clothes and hiding long knives. Konafar was seated off to the left of the entrance, drinking with several patrons while keeping his hand on Carnage under the table.
The plan was to wait for the assassins to contact Loist and Cytep and either capture, or kill them outright. The serving wenches were instructed to keep serving Loist and Cytep ale to calm their nerves.
It was around dusk when an elderly man, hunched over, and carrying a walking stick entered the inn. He looked around and walked towards Loist and Cytep. Konafar lowered his tankard and watched the old man slowly making his way over, then exchanged some words with them and sat down. He wasn’t sure if he was the assassin or not, but knew enough to know assassins were masters of disguises.
Captain Strom also watched things unfold but waited, because if they acted too hastily or were mistaken, then the assassin would get away. The old man began drinking with them, and both men didn’t appear to be alarmed or indicate anything was wrong.
During the next hour, they continued drinking and everything appeared to be normal until Cytep’s head hit the table, like he passed out, and then so did Loist’s. The old man took one last swig, stood up, and threw several silver coins on the table. Captain Strom noticed something strange. The old man had lost his hunch, and that was enough for him to come into the room, shouting for him to stop.
The guards took that as the signal, grabbed their hidden weapons from underneath the table and stood up. Konafar grabbed Carnage and moved closer to the exit so that escape was impossible without going through him.
“You’re under arrest.” Strom said, short sword in hand.
The old man stopped and didn’t say a word.
“Take him.” Strom ordered his men.
As soon as they were close enough, the old man turned his walking stick around, gripped it with both hands, and shoved it into a nearby guard’s chest. His eyes widened and blood spilled out of his mouth, He fell away, revealing a four-inch blade sticking out of the walking stick.
The other guards raced in, but the old man moved quicker and stabbed several more in the stomach, killing them instantly. The rest fearfully backed off.
Captain Strom had had enough and engaged the old man, parrying most of his attacks, but the assassin was quicker and stabbed him several times.
Konafar and the rest of the guards joined the fray. The assassin was an excellent fighter. He blocked and parried Konafar’s attacks, wounded Strom severely and forced him to leave the fight, and killed the rest of the guards. Konafar was the only one left standing and backed away to catch his breath. All that stood betw
een the old man and freedom was Konafar.
“Let me go.” The assassin demanded.
“No, you tried to kill my friend.” Konafar responded.
“Well if he didn’t die from his wounds, then he’s dead already.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes, my associate should be joining me shortly with the good news.” He smiled.
Konafar charged the assassin and he sidestepped the attack, and then stabbed him in his side, piercing through his armor and flesh, sending him headlong into a few tables gasping for air. The assassin made a motion to leave, and then turned around to face Konafar.
“You know what? I think I’ll kill you and then kill the good captain.” He laughed and began walking towards Konafar.
Meanwhile, Captain Strom found enough strength to attack the assassin’s blind side, and as he was about to deliver a vicious blow to his neck, the assassin deflected the attack and then sliced him across the stomach, dropping the captain to his knees. The assassin was about to stab him in the throat, when Konafar charged him with Carnage in an overhead guard.
Out of the corner of his eye, the assassin saw him coming and waited until the last possible second before turning around and raising his stick over his head and at a slight angle. Konafar anticipated his block and changed the direction of his strike, bringing the two-handed sword upwards into his groin. The assassin screamed as Konafar moved Carnage back and forth in a sawing motion, until his guts spilled onto the floor. Exhausted, Konafar dropped to his knees gasping for air.
Outside, Nails arrived just as Lope’s guts hit the floor. He thought about entering the inn and killing the captain and the man with the sword, but when he heard more guards rounding the corner, he made haste and went to the area where he was supposed to meet the other assassin, Seiles.
Breen regained consciousness and immediately felt her wound throbbing with pain. She took hold of the dagger and couldn’t bring herself to remove the blade. Slowly, she climbed to her feet, staggered a few times to regain her balance, and then saw the body of the assassin, lying face down, near the door. His armor, back, and head looked like they had melted away. Apparently, she had thrown the flask of dissolving. The fluid did just that to him, some of the doorframe and most of the floorboards.
A Demon's Quest the Beginning of the End the Trilogy Box Set Page 56
