William felt the wind from a sword that was swung just over his head move his hair as it missed its target. He rolled his body backward immediately after, narrowly dodging the dagger that followed in a downward slash flowing with the momentum of the sword. He casually flicked his left wrist towards his adversary, which held a short sword, but the slash was blocked.
Following his return attack William jumped backward to put some space between himself and his enemy. As he was falling back he deftly caught two throwing knives that flew at him from another person standing behind his original attacker. He threw the two blades at his pursuers, and both were blocked. However, while they did that William moved forward with incredible speed. While the man had his sword up to block the dagger he swung the man’s legs out from under him.
“Dead!” a voice resounding from the small room shouted.
Following this William flashed forward to confront his final adversary. The fight only took a few more moments before he was able to dispatch this one. He caught his enemy’s dagger between two of his own, twisted his wrist hard and fast, and forced the dagger out of the hands of the armored man.
“Dead! Good work William. That’s the fastest time yet.” the same voice said from the darkness in the room.
After speaking out again the new man stepped into the light. He was tall, but not as tall as William. Black leather armor of exquisite quality was covering the man, and a mask hid his face. This was William’s trainer and had been for as long as he could remember. He had been locked in the same fortress in training every day for the last hundred years. This was just yet another test that he had to face through his daily training, fighting multiple adversaries without suffering injury or leaving any sort of trace evidence behind.
“Yes, Master.” William said in his baritone voice with an expressionless face.
He had learned over the years that showing any hint of pride or excitement over accomplishments only led to either more difficult tasks, or painful punishments. That was not something William wanted to encounter here though.
“It is time William. We have your first mission, from one of our contacts in the Kingdom of Trace, and you will be leaving the fortress. We have trained you for this, and you had better be ready.” The masked man said, “Go back to your room and get a pack set for two days work. Then find me in the armory and we will brief you on the mission further while we outfit you with the proper weaponry.”
William felt excitement bubble inside of his chest, but he killed it immediately and responded in an even tone, “Yes Master.”
William then left the room and headed down the narrow corridor in the direction he knew his room to be in. After spending such a long amount of time in the same place he knew all of the ins and outs of the fortress. Escape patterns, hidden entrances, and various weak points in the stronghold were all running through William’s head as he traveled the long walk to his room.
The fort was massive, but generally the lighting was kept fairly dim. This did not hinder William in the least, as he reached his destination without tripping over the various steps inside of the castle. He entered the room, and closed the door behind him. After that William walked to his bed and reached underneath it. He grabbed the bag that was there, and pulled it out to begin rifling through it.
Inside was his own set of leather armor designed specifically for him, and an assortment of gleaming silver daggers which were perfectly weighted. He threw some extra clothes that he got out of a drawer inside of the pack, enough to last the specified amount of time by his trainer, and then quickly left the room. Leaving his Master waiting was never pleasant.
William arrived at the armory shortly after leaving his room. This room was well lit, one of the only rooms in the entire fort that was. A silver glow flowed out of the room from the massive amount of swords, axes, great swords, and various other weapons that hung on racks in the middle of the space and covered the walls. All the weapons were made by master blacksmiths, and William had been trained with each and every one. He had even been taught to use some of the stranger weapons, such as the flail and another weapon called a Kusarigama. The Kusarigama was a small one handed scythe attached to a chain, which could be used in both medium and short range attacks. The masked man stood inside of the room facing one of the walls covered in weapons. After he heard William enter the room he turned around and faced his protege.
“The mission is in Stanford, which is only half a days ride from here. You have one day to complete it, and then return the next day. Take him alive, the pay is better.” the man said, handing William a slip of paper.
Harold Anderson
Age: 38
5’8, Shoulder length Black hair
Green Eyes
Always carries a massive greatsword on his back.
Suspected leaders of a rebellion to form a coup against the King of Trace.
Wanted dead or alive. 2000 gold dead, 5000 gold alive.
“Collect as many weapons as you deem necessary for this mission, William. I look forward to your return.”
After issuing William’s orders, the masked man immediately left the room. William watched as his master disappeared, and then turned his attention back to the room filled with weapons. He did not waste any time, as there was a long bit of travelling ahead. He already had a significant amount of throwing weapons that he had sheathed on his person after retrieving his pack, so now William had to grab his main hand weapons.
He grabbed a set of dual wielding swords, one longsword and one shortsword, similar to the weapons he used earlier in the day for training. After grabbing them off the rack he reached down to a few drawers below the assortment, and pulled out the two sheaths for the blades. They were solid black, and could be secured to his back to be out of his way.
Following which William immediately left the room and headed to the outside of the castle. He would need a horse for this kind of travel so William headed directly to the stables. He would need a quick horse for the travel that he was going to be making, so he took one of the Tracian breeds as they were bred to be fast and have significant endurance for longer lasting runs. The stable master watched as William expertly went through all the necessary tasks to tack the horse, and get the saddle set. He tied his packs to the horse as well, which had some gold he took from the armory for any sort of provisions he needed on his mission. After his pack was secure, he lifted himself onto the horse, and set out of the stable to perform his first mission.
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Half a day later...
Harold Anderson was currently sitting inside a warehouse inside of Stanford. He stood up to look over the plans that he had placed on the table in front of him. His most trusted aids surrounded the table as well, as they talked about various plans they were working on to further their cause.
Harold spoke to his advisor, “What does our spy next to the tyrant say about the assassin they planned to hire to kill me?”
His group had been planning the insurrection for the last several years, so it was no surprise they had a spy close to the King of Trace. The last report said that the King wanted to cut the head off of the snake, and that he had planned to hire an assassin to take care of the job. How the King was aware of the planned coup was another question, but for now Harold wanted to make plans to defend himself from whomever the King hires.
The advisor responded, “About that…”
“What is it?” Harold asked, suddenly looking up from the plans and giving his full attention to the man.
“That farce of a King has been keeping a closer eye on our spy on the inside. He feared he had been discovered, so he had begun making preparations to escape. The bastard got to him first.”
Little did they know, the assassin was already near. William had been waiting outside for a few hours at this point. Though his Master had said the trip would take half a day he was able to use magic in order to enhance his horse’s ability to continue running to increase his efficiency. When he reached the city of Stanford it was still dark, and his mark was inside of his home sleeping. Initially he wanted to make his move then, but found that the security there was a liability he did not want to cross. Various alarms and guards, William did not want to make it needlessly difficult.
Instead he found himself sitting outside of what he perceived was the rebel forces headquarters in the middle of the night. Torches flickered in the wind, brushing lightly past his form where he was perched. The building that Harold was set up in was a two story warehouse. It looked similar to a barn in that the second story was displayed to the outside with a massive window. Inside appeared to be some sort of factory, where the everyday passerby would be able to see how their company created their products. None of this was important to William since his target was being hidden inside of the basement that the building contained, and that was where he needed to be.
William muttered something under his breath, almost as if he was talking to himself, and if someone were paying close enough attention they would notice the massive man that had been standing in the shadows before disappear in the blink of an eye. He cast a spell on himself that made him completely invisible. It was one of the techniques he was required to master under his training regiment over the years, and he would put it to good use tonight. His footsteps would still be seen and heard if he wasn’t careful though so William didn’t rush himself.
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William didn’t waste any more time as someone approached the front door to his target’s building and prepared to enter behind them. He slipped in at the back of the apparent employee, and began to scour the first floor for some sort of secret entrance. When he entered he noticed that the first floor was nearly completely empty. The stone walls were lined with torches to light the area. The entry room was small, and there were several different hallways that he could go down.
It took him nearly half an hour to find anything remotely suspicious, until he discovered several guards in the same hallway. Having security in this area of town wasn’t exactly odd, but having seven guards within the same hallway would be considered overkill. William pressed himself tightly against the wall in the hallway, and slowly crept past them. He was nearly discovered as the guards switched posts, and one of them put themselves right against the wall to stand next to William.
He held his breath, in order to avoid detection, and slid off the wall to pass directly in front of the man since he couldn’t just phase through them.
I wonder if there’s a spell that makes you able to do that… William thought off-handedly, as he finally passed all of the sentries.
The door behind the guards opened silently, and William slipped inside stealthily. Inside of the door was a ladder, which lead down what looked like a hundred foot drop. William marveled for a moment at the amount of manpower it had to have cost in order to get this dug out. They could have had a mage do the digging, but that would have cost an exorbitant amount, as the necessary mana to clear out a hole this deep would have taken several earth mages.
William started down the ladder, but he noticed something along the way. A few of the ladder’s rungs had some form of adhesive placed on them. He could only assume this was meant to be a trap. Random intruders wouldn’t know which rungs to skip, but someone who goes up and down the ladder every day would.
After William made it all the way down he started moving through the pathway that was before him. There was only one direction to move, so he just followed the hole as deep as it went. Torches were scarcely placed along the walls, making most of the path hard to traverse since you were unable to see. Loose rocks and the uneven walk would also be something that could trip any sort of robber or assassin that hadn’t been down here before. It was ineffectual in the end against William, but he had trained day in and out over the last several decades for this.
There were several hallways that he could have taken along the way, but William continued down the main pathway toward where he knew his mark to be. He had placed a spell over the area that allowed him to see only the foot prints of his mark. Finally after what felt like hours he reached the door that Harold’s footsteps led to. William stopped next to the door and listened intently. Inside of the door he could hear voices coming from inside of the room.
“I don’t give a damn what it costs! Get it done, James. We have been working on this for the last five years, and I am not letting any amount of gold stand between us and our goal!” A voice shouted from inside the room, which William identified as Harolds.
“Harold, you’re being rash. It’s not just any amount of gold. It’s thirty thousand gold! That’s a fortune that we could use to fund something that is guaranteed instead of this ridiculous plan of yours!” Another voice shouted back at Harold, presumably this James character.
William could hear Harold growl even through the door, and he roared, “Just get the hell out of my office and get the damn gold!”
Shortly after that last remark the door flew open, slamming into the wall on the opposite side of William. A well dressed man came out in a huff, red faced, and walked down the corridor with purpose. William used that moment to slip into the room before the door shut itself again.
“Bloody fool wouldn’t know a guaranteed plan if it smashed into his huge nose.” Harold muttered under his breath, but William heard with his sensitive ears.
There was another guard standing inside of the room with Harold and William who asked, “Should I get anything for you sir?”
Harold thought for a moment, both hands placed on the table as he stared at the plans on the desk and said, “Yes. Get Dimitri for me. We need to go over this plan to make sure it works. I don’t relish the idea of James having the chance to come back here and say ‘I told you so’ if it doesn’t.”
The guard immediately left the room, and slammed the door behind him. William listened for a few seconds, ensuring the guard wouldn’t hear anything if the fight got out of hand, before he made his move. He circled around the table that was in the center of the room, the one Harold was currently eyeing like a fat man eyeing cake.
William whispered a short spell under his breath, and felt his power resonate in the room. Just as he suspected, Harold was wearing some form of magic defensive amulet that detected negative magic being used against him. He wouldn’t notice William’s cursory search, as it wasn’t an attack against him, but if William attempted to knock him out with a spell Harold would be informed. Soon enough he was directly behind Harold, and William grabbed him from behind in a headlock. Harold struggled of course, and William would expect no less from a former soldier, but he was not nearly strong enough to fight against William. Harold ripped and tore at his assailant’s forearm that was currently choking him, and tried to stab at the man behind him with a dagger that had been sheathed at his side.
William felt His prey grabbing around at his side before he heard the subtle sound of steel slipping from a sheath. He immediately released the man, and after Harold turned to face his attacker, William landed a solid punch square across his jaw.
One minute. William thought, estimating the amount of time he had until the guard and this Dimitri fellow would come the room.
Following the punch William evaded two separate swipes where Harold attempted to counter. When Harold’s arm was reaching across his body, after he tried to slash at him, William grabbed the man's arm, and after putting a significant amount of force against it he heard a snap. Harold began to scream out, and dropped the knife from his hand directly after William broke his arm. William caught the knife in the air, and muffled the man’s scream by putting a hand over his mouth. Following which, William slammed the hilt of the dagger to the side of Harold’s temple which knocked him out.
All of this was done within a matter of thirty seconds, following which William quickly replaced the invisibility spell over himself and he also extended it so that it would cover Harold as well. Next William lifted his target over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and immediately left the room. The hallway was made to allow only two people to fit through the corridor at a time, so William made sure to keep his mark on the opposite side that the guard was patrolling. A few minutes later, if any of the guards looked outside of the gate to the city they would note a man riding a horse, with a large bundle tied to the back of it.
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Half a day later…
The trip back to the fort took significantly longer. The horse was unable to run nearly as fast as it had before since it carried not only William, but also his target. When William tried to push it too far Harold’s straps came untied and he nearly fell off the horse. That was when the mark woke, and began to attempt to get out of the bundle William had wrapped him in. This was quickly followed by a sharp yelp in pain, as William did not find it to be necessary to heal the man’s broken arm. Who in their right mind would heal their captive so they have the ability to escape?
Then came the begging. William had covered the man’s eyes so that if, for whatever reason, the man was able to escape he would not be able to know his immediate location. That would keep him from running to get help, but it also made it so that if any help did come then Harold wouldn’t know where the fort was.
“Please! I can give you money. Whatever that bastard paid you I can double it! Triple it!”
His captor did not even respond, instead deciding to continue on at the same pace until they reached the destination. Trees passed by as they rode, and William kept a close eye on the brush. His Master had always insisted that he needed to always be on guard, and never be caught unawares. At any time it would not be unprecedented for a bandit group to attack, or even at this point for Harold’s men to come and find them.
“Aren’t you going to say anything? Or are you just the King’s dog, doing his bidding no matter what?”, Harold cried out through the pain of his broken arm, but to his dismay no response came.
William instructed the horse to pull off to the side once they reached an area with thick bush surrounding them, and plenty of overhead coverage. He had been traveling over the last several hours, and needed to get some rest. According to what he found on the way to the job, this was the best location for it. William dismounted then, and began untying some of the rope which secured his target to the horse.
Harold, believing that he had made a dent in his assassin's cold demeanor said, “Oh thank you. I guarantee you won’t regret-”
He was quickly cut off by a fist making swift contact with his face. William finished untying the man after having incapacitated him, and then proceeded to carry Harold to the nearest tree to where he planned to sleep. He dumped the man against the tree unceremoniously, and then tied the rope tightly around it. Following which he gagged the man to ensure he couldn’t scream out to others who may pass by.
The man walked around the area, and found several small logs he could use to make a fire to make dinner before he rested. William split the logs to ensure they were dry, to avoid making smoke and alert any who may be near. He grabbed a small spade out of his pack, and began digging a little fire pit, ensuring no grass or dead leaves were left in the area. After that, he began building the base and set the hardwood logs down with a few small kindling sticks to get the fire started. William then left to find a small meal in the vast woodland that teemed with life.
After making dinner, and ensuring Harold remained sleeping with a simple spell William laid down to rest. For the first time in a long time, William dreamed.
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Eyes groggily opened and closed, attempting to peer into their surroundings. Blinking furiously, William saw vague figures moving around a small room. Two he recognized as the masters, but the other two he did not recognize from his memories.
“I am familiar with the risks Mage. I asked for results, not to be lectured on the dangers of soul magic.”, one of the figures spat in annoyance.
“Merely informing you of the danger to the boy sir. I meant no harm by it. He won’t remember a thing once we’re finished. He will need periodic revisits though, as I am sure you are aware. This sort of magic isn’t permanent.”, an older man with a raspy aged voice responded in deference.
“Set up the appointments with these men, and they will ensure that the boy doesn’t miss a single one of them. Now get this done, I have other issues to deal with on this day.”, The angry man responded in a rush.
William could see the older man come closer now. He was bald, and wore a long silver robe that touched the ground. He could not see the faces of the others, as they were covered with masks. The grace with which they stood became ingrained in his mind. The bald mage began muttering words of power, and with a flash everything went white.
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Harold was moving next to William, attempting to reach next to him where his swords lay unstrapped from his back. The assassin had set a ward around himself to alarm him if anything came within his sphere, and the imbecile actually thought he laid there without protection.
Standing up William went over to Harold. He quickly struck the man in the temple, and his consciousness faded. A sleep spell would have been simple, but William felt that people learned better to cooperate when pain was involved. He untied the man once again, strapped him to the horse, and they continued on their way to the fort.