The Foolhardies 175 Assassins

"That would be the Claw," Edo grunted.

He shadowed Aura like the good bodyguard he was and only went ahead of her to check every dark corner or entryway we pa.s.sed before allowing her to move forward.

"Him surviving over their first attempt to a.s.sa.s.sinate your family, that's been a black mark on their record ever since," Edo added.

Aura nodded.

"So other than the three drow Luca and I killed, the rest of them might have gone for your brother," I reasoned. "Sucks to be them…"

Auranos was guarded by his aunt, and Darah would make very short work a.s.sa.s.sins who weren't at least at Azuma's level which was highly unlikely.

"But the Hashas.h.i.+n and the Crippling Blades aren't accounted for," Luca reminded us.

"I've heard tales of the Hashas.h.i.+n when I was training to be a s.h.i.+eldmaiden…" Ashley said. "The Mother Superior once told me of a story where a single warrior from that famous tribe invaded a s.h.i.+eldmaiden's Tower and slaughtered everyone inside… and they didn't know who was killing them until the hashas.h.i.+n revealed itself to the only survivor… the Mother Superior of that fallen tower."

"They always leave one alive to spread the fear of them," Edo noted. "That's how we know they're real…"

"Dean," Luca began, but I already knew what he was going to say.

"Hashas.h.i.+n… users of has.h.i.+sh," I repeated a line I'd read in a book from my world. "On our world, the hashas.h.i.+n was the name for the first a.s.sa.s.sins."

"It's the same with ours…" Edo draped his glaive over his shoulder. "If it's after the princess then we need to get her to safety now."

We all nodded in agreement, all except for Aurana who refused to leave until her brother was safe.

She'd added a scale mail jacket over her flimsy day gown and the brown boots she wore were steel-toed. Strapped to her belt was a sword I'd never seen before but it was expected that she wouldn't use her staff as it was the weapon of Aura and not Princess Aurana. Appearances had to be kept even in this situation.

Basically, Aurana was dressed for battle, not escape. This meant convincing her to run might be more challenging than I figured.

"Is there only one hashas.h.i.+n?" Luca asked. "What if there are two and one went after Auranos?"

Both Ashley and Edo shook their heads.

"There's always only one per a.s.sa.s.sination," Edo explained.

"And if the hit was for the princess," Luca continued.

"Then the hashas.h.i.+n will come for her," Ashley finished.

"That settles it," I said, turning to Aurana and placing a hand on her shoulder. "We need to get you somewhere safe now, alright?"

"You and me," she tapped her chest and then mine, "we don't run away… ever, remember?"

"It's not running away," I reasoned while racking my brain for an excuse she might accept. "It's a strategic retreat… finding a spot where we can ambush the sucker."

Aurana raised an eyebrow at me.

"I took on Azuma solo… I'm not afraid of no drugged up legendary killer," I grinned.

This was a half-truth. I did fight Azuma solo but I wasn't exactly feeling brave over fighting some legendary a.s.sa.s.sin. I wasn't that foolhardy, I think.

Aurana hesitated for another few seconds before she finally relented, and for a moment, the princess mask fell off and the Aura I knew had made an appearance in the smile she gave me.

"Fine…" she said. "Edo, we'll head for the Silent Room."

Edo nodded and then led the way forward.

The Palanquin Palace was a maze of wooden corridors and naturally growing flora where awnings gave way to dense foliage that allowed very little patches of sunlight to peek through. Wooden statues of fairy guardians lined up beside walls with intricately carved mosaics.

As we roamed through these ancient hallways, I felt certain that Luca and I would have gotten lost if we didn't have a guide as the limit of my awareness was the shortest route to Aurana's suite.

No, I wasn't planning to visit her late in the day to do something creepy. I was simply being expedient about reaching her in the nick of time if necessary which is exactly what happened today.

We reached the second-floor meditation hall of the palace's south wing. But Edo stopped at the entrance suddenly.

"What's up, big guy?" Luca asked.

"Something's not right," Edo said in a hushed tone.

"But it looks empty," Luca insisted.

"And too quiet," Ashley added. "Ambush?"

"Dean, use your sight," Edo suggested.

It was more like an order but I preferred my interpretation. I was the commander after all.

I glimpsed the mediation hall from just outside the entryway. My eyes glazed over the white wood floors and thin trunks of the birches around the hall but I couldn't tell if anything was amiss.

"What are you sensing, Edo?" I asked.

"Bloodl.u.s.t…" Edo said with a finality that convinced me despite my insight showing me nothing.

Edo's ogre half was remarkably sensitive to bloodl.u.s.t, even the pretend kind, which made it difficult to attack him from behind during training. I learned to trust this sixth sense of his which always seemed to be right.

"How far is it to your silent room, Aura?" I asked.

"Secret panel behind the largest birch…" Aura pointed it out with her hand. "On the right side of the Meditation Hall."

I calculated the distance we'd need to cross in my brain and realized we'd never make it before the hidden enemy's blades reached us.

"Draw your weapons," I ordered. It was a proper order and not like the suggestion Edo gave earlier. "We run ten paces into the hall and then switch to a back-to-back formation. Watch each other's backs while we move slowly toward the large birch."

The others nodded. Each one tightened grips on their weapons. Then, after a count of three, I rushed in ahead of everyone else, expecting they'd follow right after me.

I made it barely ten paces when an arrow shot out from one of the branches of a birch.

Fool's Insight predicted its trajectory— the spot just left of adam's apple — and made it easy for me to swipe it away with the flat of my falchion's shadowblade.

"Ambush," I yelled just as five naked elves dropped down from their hiding place among the birch trees branches.

I was wrong. They weren't completely naked after all.

They wore loin cloths that hid their private parts, but the two she-elves among them hadn't bothered to cover up their chests and their b.r.e.a.s.t.s dangled obscenely before me.

The a.s.sa.s.sins were also covered from neck to foot in intricate tattoos whose leaf patterns formed branches and swirls around their skin. Wooden masks covered their faces, ensuring their expressions would be unreadable to someone like me who could tell an enemy's intent with just a glance of their eyes.

"Crippling blades?" Luca guessed.

The rest of us nodded.

"At least it's not the hashas.h.i.+n," Luca said with obvious relief in his voice.

Seconds ticked by while we glared at the enemy and I a.s.sumed they were glaring back at us. I couldn't really tell as their masks barely had slits for eyeholes.

The killing intent rolling off them was certainly impressive, but I was used to facing down worse. In fact, some of the toughest fighting auras I'd ever taken on belonged to Edo, Luca, and Ashley who were all fighting alongside me.

"Perhaps we can come to an agreement," Aura called out to them. "There's no need for more death today."

As if in mockery of her question, the five Crippling Blades drew curved single-edged swords from their backs, and with a weapon in each hand, they charged and quickly bridged the distance separating us.

I blocked the first and then second slash from the masked elf that had attacked me.

"I don't think they liked your question, princess," I joked just as I dodged a third and fourth successive slash sent my way.

The Crippling Blades I faced was relentless in his attacks against me, and I was hard-pressed to parry and block his attacks as they came in quick bursts of continuous combos that left little room for counters.

Maybe if I had been less experienced in deathmatches, maybe then I would have lost this fight. Sadly, this opponent had arrived almost a year too late. So, it wasn't much of a challenge to block and dodge and wait for that one opportunity to turn the tables around. That moment came swiftly and surely, and I didn't hesitate to take advantage.

In the s.p.a.ce between dodging a sword slash from one of the a.s.sa.s.sin's shadowblades and the start of his next attack, I pushed my left shoulder toward his chest and knocked him off balance. Then, with my lead foot pus.h.i.+ng forward, I brought my falchion down on his exposed chest.

A weird thing happened afterward. Those leafy vine tattoos covering his skin, they actually came out of him like deadly vipers coming to life after their nests were disturbed.

Again, if I was a little less experienced, maybe this magical defense would have been enough to catch me off guard, but I'd seen enough crazy magical powers not to feel too disturbed by the vines stretching out of the elf. Also, my falchion constantly vibrating like a chainsaw made it excellent at cutting things. The magical vines were no exception.

I cut through his defenses and down to his chest hidden underneath as easily as a bread knife slicing into a slab of melting b.u.t.ter. This one strike was a deathblow that ripped into his chest, killing him almost instantly.

There was enough time for me to say, "It's not the number of swords you bring but how you use it that counts," before he toppled over and died at my feet.

I glanced around me and noticed my team was just about finished with their opponents too. Luca and Aurana were last, Aurana because she wasn't as used to her sword as she was with her staff and Luca because he was obviously distracted by his opponent's large b.r.e.a.s.t.s dangling in front of him.

It was embarra.s.sing to watch, really. My brother looked almost comical in the way he averted his eyes and missed the attack of opportunities that came his way.

Annoyed by Luca's poor display herself, Ashley waded into their battle and smacked her round s.h.i.+eld over the back of the she-elf a.s.sa.s.sin's head, knocking her out almost instantly.

"You were pulling your punches," Ashley complained.

Luca looked sheepishly back at her and said, "Um, sorry… and thanks."

Aurana, on the other hand, had just finished relieving her opponent of her weapons and knocked the she-elf down to her knees. She pointed her sword at the she-elf's neck and politely asked her not to move.

The thing about a.s.sa.s.sins, they weren't afraid of dying and so death threats wouldn't have worked on the last Crippling Blade. Of course, Aurana was just being her usual nice self and offering this she-elf a chance to live. It refused.

In what I a.s.sumed was typical a.s.sa.s.sin fas.h.i.+on, the she-elf stepped into the pointy end of Aurana's sword, allowing herself to be stabbed in the neck like it was only natural to die that way.

Aurana let go of her weapon as her face convulsed into one of horror.

"Why would you do that?" she asked, but her enemy wouldn't be able to give her an answer as she was already dead. "Why…"

I placed a hand on her shoulder and squeezed it the way she often did with me when my mental state was disturbed.

"Let's go," I said. Then I noticed Edo's grim look and I turned to him and asked, "What's up?"

"The bloodl.u.s.t… it hasn't gone away," he said ominously.

I couldn't believe what I saw next. In fact, I refused to believe it, but it did happen. Luca, who was smiling at me from behind Edo in a way that almost distorted his features in a grotesque way, suddenly stabbed Edo in the back.