Another week into the journey, Revlis already seemed to have gained an additional ten pounds and was becoming slightly less clumsy. Lawk often went off scouting at night with the pup, for the sheer pleasure of it. Lana, though she could not see clearly in the dark like the graytwolf and her friend, accompanied them to hone her own senses. She had begun honing her aura senses with the Left Hand’s guidance, but they were at a more normal level for a talented youth her age.

One temperate night of a new moon, when the forest was especially dark, Lawk placed a hand on Lana’s shoulder to stop her. Revlis, having noticed the two dark-clothed men as well, had already stopped moving and was about to growl, when Lawk reached out through their connection to keep him silent. He then instructed the graytwolf pup to cautiously flank the men, who were both approaching the traveling companions’ camp and slowly drawing their daggers, one per hand. The two assassins were apparently hoping to catch John off guard, in his sleep. It seemed the former Right Hand was not the only one after John’s head, despite the lack of assassination attempts over the past several years.

Lawk and Lana picked their targets and crept up behind them silently. After training together for eight years, they needed no words to coordinate their ambush. Lawk silently communicated to his young wolf companion to release a growl from the shadows once he reached the far side of the camp.

“I’m impressed Revlis hasn’t made a sound yet, despite his puppy clumsiness.” But, as soon as that thought entered his mind, Revlis snapped a twig, and the assassins halted. They didn’t appear to see the wolf hiding in the darkness just beyond the campfire’s light, but they didn’t move a muscle. Lawk communicated to the pup that he should howl now, and loudly.

John and the twins snapped awake reaching for their weapons, and the assassins turned to find Lawk and Lana a mere three paces behind each of them, weapons already drawn. Lawk was confident in his abilities and eager to test them against these new opponents, but he was concerned for his closest friend. So, he silently called for the graytwolf pup to lead the more experienced companions straight to her aid.

“What’s this?” thought the Dim Dagger. “This fighter’s blades are glowing silver, and he’s wearing a blindfold, but his focus is directly on me. Hmm…a strange one. He’ll die just the same.” A clash of steel sounded out from twenty meters away. “Well, might as well get this over with, in case I have to help that one. I do detest complications.”

Lawk remained still, ready to burst into action as he perceived the assassin in front of him confidently and almost casually, with a graceful but deliberate swagger in his step, begin to approach. Two slow and barely audible swishes sounded in Lawk’s sensitive hearing as two very long, aggressively serrated daggers emerged from their sheaths within the man’s clothing. And a moment later, the Dim Dagger burst into motion with a quick, probing feint to Lawk’s right.

But, the young warrior’s senses missed nothing. And, his intensive training over the past eight years allowed him to dance back, with graceful, efficient movements, conserving his energy but dodging every blow as he got a better read on his opponent. The assassin realizing his go-to initial salvo would be ineffective for a change, became intrigued. “Oh…not just another boring contract then, after all.” A wicked smile began to emerge on the man’s lips, and then he really went to work, for the first time in quite some time.

“His entire style just changed.” Lawk thought to himself, deciding to play it safe and try to read the new pattern before making a move, but there was none. “His movements are erratic now. It’s as if there is no style. Just a medley of brutal attacks, mixed in with feints.” One second the man was dancing forward gracefully, and all of the rapid movements were in his arms, and the next he was lashing out with his legs. “I think I’ll take a different approach and end this quickly.” Lawk thought, as he ducked behind a tree and vanished.

The man, who had spent his entire life training to kill, to sense his targets and enemies, to be the one who surprised his opponents, was, for the first time in a long time, the one at a disadvantage. He could no longer see, hear, smell, or sense the boy in any way. It was as if he was truly gone. “Impossible!” Arrogance turned to frustration, and his smile vanished. “I hope you are running, boy. Or do you think you can play at assassin?” he called out, with a confidence he no longer truly felt.

***

Meanwhile, twenty meters away, Lana had managed to narrowly deflect a barrage of slashes and stabs, while backpedaling blindly. She knew she had to find some way to go on the offensive or she would be overcome very soon. Then, her back hit a tree, and there was nowhere to go. Despair filled her for the briefest of moments, but she pushed it back down, replacing it with determination. “I am not going to die here, tonight,” she told herself.

The young princess deflected three more rapid jabs at her sides but suffered a small, shallow cut to the right side of her neck, when a fourth strike came in unexpectedly high. She had swiped one of her twin short swords up and out wide in time to prevent worse damage, but she knew this position made her more vulnerable. She expected her assassin’s next move would end her if she didn’t do something. So she began to twist her body in hopes of avoiding a fatal blow.

A grim smirk spread across the hooded figure’s face, as he made his advance, and when the girl’s back hit the tree, he just knew it was over. Until, a 130 pounds of clumsy, yet furious graytwolf pup came barreling into his right leg, sweeping it out from under him. The assassin’s reflexes were fine tuned, though, and he managed to utilize the upward momentum of the one leg and the backward and downward momentum of his torso to prevent even a moment of vulnerability.

The man maneuvered directly into a twist and roll, launching himself away from Lana with a burst of strength from his still grounded leg. The agile killer was swiftly back on his feet and ready to dart in at the princess again, but the space he created did not quite aid him as he had hoped. Instead, it put himself closer to the three more formidable foes that were rapidly closing in on him from three sides. Lariatta produced a candlelight spear out of thin air and immediately launched it at the killer. It would have struck the man straight through his heart if he had not heard it cutting through the air and moved aside just in time.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Unfortunately for him, however, he moved toward Lariat, who was darting in, sword at the ready. It was the lesser of three truly unfortunate options. It was either dart forward at the princess who had reset her footing and had a tree behind her, which he would have to go around as well, let a spear skewer him from his left, face a swordsman at his right, or turn around and face one of the deadliest men on the continent head on. And, he could quite literally feel the Royal Ranger bearing down on him from directly behind, as the veteran warrior released a targeted blast of furious killing intent his way.

He had come to kill John in his sleep for a reason. As several of his colleagues had learned, that particular ranger was not to be trifled with. Only a fool would face the man head-on. So, the swordsman it was, and if he’d had the time, he would have regretted it, but Lariat’s own rage erupted out of him from only 2 feet away, surprising the assassin with its intensity for barely a moment. But, that moment was all the time the prince needed to make a quick decisive thrust, the steel of his blade entering just below the xiphoid process, piercing through the stomach, severing the thoracic aorta and spinal cord, and emerging out the man’s back. He would be dead in a matter of moments, and there was nothing he could do about it.

In a feeble attempt at vengeance, the assassin weakly swung the only limbs he could still move, his arms, but there was no strength left in him. Two daggers fell to the ground along with their owner.

Arriving barely a moment later, John quickly asked the man, “Who hired you?!” But, the vindictive man only smiled a bloody smile and died with that expression plastered on his face.

Wasting no time, John cast out his senses in search of Lawk, but he only found the second assassin, about 40 yards to his right. He was about to rush over, when he realized the man was searching for something, or rather someone. And, he let out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding. “Lawk’s fine. He’s hunting the other one. Twins, guard your sister, and make sure she’s okay. We don’t know if there are any more of them out here. I’m going to scout the area. Be ready to back Lawk up if he needs it. Even I can barely sense the other assassin. He’s likely the most dangerous opponent our boy’s come across thus far.

“I’ll be honest with you Uncle John, I can’t hardly sense the man,” Lariat confessed.

“That goes for me as well,” added Lariatta.

“Don’t look at me,” chimed in Lana.

“Hmm…then perhaps the scouting will have to wait. We are stronger in numbers anyways. And, if you two can’t sense him, but this other one was so easily dispatched, then we may be dealing with a master and apprentice pair. Lawk’s opponent is likely a quite highly ranked Dagger. I am not sure he is ready for close combat on that level, but I am confident in his stealth and ambushing. Not even the Left Hand can sense him anymore from any distance.”

Lana began to worry for her friend. And the twins’ expressions hardened as their focus intensified.

The ranger’s lips then briefly curled up at the corners, as said. “Though, there is still the little beast to consider.”

***

Revlis had never stopped moving. He had barely begun barreling back in the direction of his companion after feeling he had done his duty to save the one that always pets him and rubs his belly, when he received a mental image of himself carefully stalking the other human in black robes. So, he’d slowed to a crawl and did his best to imitate the way Lawk had been hiding his presence. By now, he was only a few body lengths away from the bad human and ready to pounce.

“That graytwolf pup is a natural at stealth, despite his clumsiness. It must be a natural trait of their kind,” Lawk thought. “Well, unless this assassin is a talented actor, I think he truly has no idea where I am.” Simultaneously, slipping into position behind a tree to the assassin’s left and sending a mental signal for Revlis to growl from behind the man, Lawk set things in motion.

Turning quickly to face the wolf, but also feeling an immense burst of killing intent from his right, the assassin went on the defensive, unfortunately exposing his back to where Lawk actually stood. The man had just enough time to see a wolf and an empty space, before he knew no more. A thick, glowing, opthenium bowie knife was buried to the hilt at a downward angle in his skull and protruding through the lower portion of his face.

Lawk flicked the blood from his blade, wiped it on the assassin’s robes and returned it to its sheath. He then proceeded to claim the man’s daggers, sheaths and all from his opponent’s body, adding them to his own belt. Revlis stood guard while he did this.

As he finished, the others walked up, and he noticed Lana had added two sheathed daggers to her hips as well. The two young friends really were very much alike.

“John, we need to figure out who you have royally pissed off. Someone is quite literally paying a king’s ransom to have you killed,” Lariat stated with concern.

“And, we know it’s not the traitorous former Hand anymore. But, perhaps he was involved in something bigger?” added Lariatta.

“It certainly seems that way. The problem is that unless we take one of these assassins alive and manage to get them to talk, which is (as I am sure you both know) unlikely, we don’t really have much to go on. It could be a personal vendetta due to old war grudges or it could be someone trying to eliminate Laramea’s defenses piece by piece, starting with me. But, I never would have expected anyone to have enough funds at their disposal to hire this many Dim Daggers, and especially not the elites. I’m starting to wonder if the assassin’s guild itself has put the hit out on me. In any case, there is no point in trying to figure out who is behind this until we acquire some more information. It’s a shame we missed the false tooth with the poison on the man we captured eight years ago, and we had to eliminate these two out of caution. But, it seems there will be plenty more chances at capture in the future, if this keeps up.”

“I think the best thing we can do for now is get Lana and Lawk to the Anchor as soon as possible. At least there, they should be quite safe, and we won’t have to worry about them getting caught in the middle,” Lariatta added.

“Agreed,” the two men stated in unison.

“Though, you two should consider staying there as well and undergoing more advanced training yourselves,” added John. “Just something to keep in mind.”