Lisia successfully broke into the storehouse. In any normal circumstances, the guards would have been alerted to the sound of glass breaking, but not with Lisia.
Yes, the glass was shattered, but every step she took produced no sound. Anything she did, and touched couldn't alert anyone. She was pure silence.
She crouched, scurrying against the boxes and crates that were stacked towering above her. The storehouse had naturally formed halls between all the crates to celebrate...
Something at the Palace...
She thought that it may have been important to gather all the information on the assassination target, but with that amount of coppers on the table she was in a position where she couldn't refuse.
Didn't even care to listen.
Frankly, Lisia could care less. Skeethian diplomat? Duke Tayrnn? It could be the King himself. For that amount of copper, this person must have been a real terror.
Lisia peered around a crate labeled FISH. She had completed her sweep, and only counted these two guards. Most of the protecting force for the party must had been stationed inside. For a moment, Lisia recalled the blueprint she glanced at before the mission. She had a general idea where the ventilation shaft was, that led to easy access in the kitchens, which led right to where she needed to go.
It was important to be able to take a mental picture of the building you are going to infiltrate. Doesn't give your position away, with the sound of crinkling paper.
This was not an issue of Lisia's. With little grace, she reached into her pack; which was securely fashioned to her back and double checked the actual blueprint.
No sound. The paper wasn't making a sound, even as it fluttered from the air currents directed by the temporary crate place.
She was close. She thought it was one hall over from where it is actually located.
"Blades made you dull," Lisia thought to herself. She returned the blueprint to her pack and pulled out her blade. There was no sound of the metal scraping on the sheath.
When you had a blade, that could hide all forms of sound on your person, and in an impressive radius around you, you got dull. Lazy. Complacent.
Lisia was hoping this could be the end of her days hunting targets.
Hoping was indeed the reality of this dream.
Lisia walked up to the guard, sending the blade right through his back, and piercing the heart. The mans gasp, shifting of armor, and final collapse made no sound.
She didn't even crouch to sneak. Didn't need too. She made no sound, and that was enough. She retreated, hiding in a tight nook where the placement of boxes made a space big enough to hide the assassin.
She could hear the approaching scraping of metal on stone as the guard continued his round.
Click
Clack
Click
Silence.
He was right on her, and with a quick lunge after a quick dart from her hiding spot, she killed the second guard.
----------------- § ------------------
Bardo was in charge of the Kings Party security. Bardo was certain to place guards at specific checkpoints. Groups of two, with alarm bells stationed nearby.
The men were instructed to immediately ring the bell if it be an assassin, or some type of harm the would harm the King of Rulea.
Bardo even said that he would rather a few false alarms than a dead King. The gathering wasn't to sign any treaty, or commemorate a special even, the King was feeling generous and wanted to share it with his friends.
That's what Bardo was told, but he knew the King only had gatherings for a purpose.
What could his reasoning be? Maybe to lure out the assassin? There had been reports from other kingdoms of an assassin taking contracts and killing specific individuals.
Assassinations were meant to take out important figures, to upset a bloodline or force a Succession War. All the targets of this assassin was a variety of council members, one guard, and an entire cooking staff for one of the outlying Dukes.
"Didn't make sense" Bardo would tell himself, attempting to convince himself that everything would go smoothly.
Bardos thoughts were interrupted by an approaching guard. He jogged up to Bardo, letting out shallow breathes as he fought to catch those breaths.
"All guards posted are accounted for and all checkpoints have seen no suspicious or harmful activity's," the guard recited.
"So the East end of the palace is good. Excellent soldier. Now to do the West," Bardo ordered.
The guard inhaled deeply and blinked.
Bardo was serious.
"Yes, sir," the guard saluted, running down the hall that led to the west side of the castle. Bardo wanted to be thorough. He reached over a podium, that held the scrap of paper he sketched the lay out on.
Not like anyone else could read it, but it made sense to him. The poor scribbles and crooked lines told Bardo everywhere he put a guard.
It looked correct, but didn't FEEL correct.
Bardo ran has hand through his hair. Brown curls springing back up where his hand has just been.
"Why does it all feel...wrong," Bardo said aloud.
"It feels wrong, because you can't be everywhere, as much as you would love to be omniscient and control every aspect," an elderly voice interrupted. Bardo's eyes immediately identified the voice.
"Ah, Bishop Leonis," Bardo greeted.
The man was older, thick white eyebrows with hair hanging onto the final strands of black as the rest had gone grey. He had a longer face, and a nose that the youth would tease Leonis call it a beak.
"Bardo, how goes the evening?" Leonis asked.
"Well, fine for the moment. I don't disagree with your thoughts Bishop, but I just have a feeling".
"What type of feeling"?
Bishop Leonis sat on a small bench, near the spot Bardo had posted himself.
"Just that something bads going to happen," Bardo replied.
The elderly bishop looked toward the ground and folded his hands.
"When you get this feeling, does that premonition come to pass"?
Bardo looked over his shoulder.
"No, not always".
"Then I believe you are suffering from something we call nerves," Leonis said with a playful clap.
He rose to his feet, his robes straightening out, showing the detail of the ornate stitching depicting giant lizards?
Bishop Leonis was always an odd one.
"I understand, it is a lot of responsibility to be on guard detail for an event. You are not the only general tasked with this," Leonis said.
"I know that, but I would like to avoid the shame and the humiliation if something were to happen". Bardo looked back to his paper.
"I've seen the checkpoints and the guard detail. I am frankly impressed you were able to move enough troops to have this many. Usually the events only have half as many," Leonis said.
"That's what bothers me. The King of Rulea runs a guard detail that would frankly be laughed at from any other region. The King needs to be protected". Bardo said looking to the bishop. "I just want to be sure I did a good job. Even if something goes wrong".
Bishop Leonis gave a warm smile. He gently placed his hand on Bardo's shoulder.
" The King doesn't give guard detail to just anyone. You may be young, and frankly the youngest general I have seen in a long time in this position. If you were chosen, he has no doubt that you can do the best you can," Leonis said.
"I appreciate the kind words," Bardo said setting his paper down. With a quick pat Leonis continued onward. Heading down toward the East Wing.
He was probably off to pray and give blessings to the East Temple.
Bardo tightened his belt, being cautious and alert, but a bit more at ease thanks to the Bishop.
---------------- § ------------------
Lisia had scrambled up the ventilation shaft that landed her right in the royal kitchens. There were only three staff in the kitchen and by their attire they looked like slaves. Ratty tunics and dirty trousers.
She moved down the shaft, finding the next opening that led into a small room. She leaped out, not make a single sound.
There were a few desks, with ledgers and documents. Ruleans were very detailed in their trade documentation. She moved passed the desks and cracked the door ajar.
No sound of patrols or of guard detail? She boldly, and an amateur move to her craft, stuck her head out and looked the other way.
"Nothing?" She thought. She slipped out, but was wary. The kitchens were connected to the slave quarters, which then led up a set of stairs to the palaces main floor.
Lisia scurried down the halls, being observant, and keeping an eye on her back.
This was so very strange for her. Once she reaches the top of the steps, she discovered where all the guards were. They were stationed all over the main floor. Groups of two, scattered down most hallways, creating different sightlines. They may be all in one spot, but they are positioned in such a way that turned this easy infiltration to something with a challenge.
Lisia cracked a smile.
She noted the lighting, and how brightly it was. A combination of torches and strategically placed glow stones. Torches could be put out, but to kill the light from a glow stone you needed to break it.
Her tightly bound black tunic and trousers wasn't going to help conceal her. She retreated a short distance, and reviewed the blueprint. She identified a pattern in the hallway structure, and she could clear the floor if needed.
She'd rather not, but if she has too she could. Lisia was always good with find patterns in most things. She could see routes, secrets and answers that no one else could. From reading the blueprint, she identified that if she followed the hallway, starting from the west and moving across toward the East. Any moment that a guard would be able to see anything she would be moving on to the next group.
Her blade also would make most if not all things silent on this level.
She could make the field even bigger, right? She could do that?
Also she would call Grendel to help with this one to catch any stragglers or guards she missed.
This was the only way through this level. No ventilation shafts leading throughout this section of the palace.
Ruleans loved to fill their palaces with sculptures and murals depicting their heroes and shapers of their society. Too fluffy for Lisia. She preferred the simpler, quieter life.
Simpler didn't mean safer though. Lisia preferred the solving of issues with a blade face to face with whoever you had an issue with.
Ironic that she worked for the people who used her to solve their issues instead of doing it themselves.
She noticed a guard darting around to each group of guards. He would ask something to the guards and run to the next guard.
---------------- § ------------------
Bardo paced anxiously.
"How long is this party?" He thought.
Hands clasped behind his back, sword clinking on his side.
"Why were parties so long?"
The question still echoed in his mind.
"Why was the King having a party? This time of year? What is there to celebrate? No territory was conquered, no wedding uniting houses, not even a potential conflict. So why celebrate"?
This perplexed Bardo.
The guard charged up to him from the West.
"Nothing to report?" Bardo asked as he scratched his beard. The guard shook his head, gasping for breath.
"Take a moments rest, get some water. I will then ask for you to do it again," Bardo said.
The guard took a seat and pulled from a water skin.
"Let me know when," the guard said between gulps and gasps.
"Maybe I am nervous. Maybe I am overreacting a little," Bardo thought. He decided to leave the guard at this post.
"I am going up to check on the Princes quarters and those men. I will return shortly," Bardo said. The guard saluted in understanding as Bardo headed toward the stairwell.
"A walk would do me good," he thought.
----------------- § ------------------
A guards head smashed into the stone. He collapsed, unconscious. Lisia dashed toward the other guard, sweeping his leg out from under him and sending a fist to his face the moment his head hit the ground.
Unconscious.
She darted down the isle, slid into another guards legs, having him fall backward and with a quick punch to the head, he was knock uncouncis too.
If she could, she tried not to kill the men between. They are simply doing their job. Paying their wages, providing for someone. Not their fault they are in a system.
Just trying to survive.
She brought down the next guard, knocking him out. Then she saw it.
The attacks around her made no sound, but that didn't mean that she was invisible. A guard looking up, just at the right time.
Right time for him, wrong time for her.
Immediately, Lisia charged the guard, sword drawn. She could see his mouth open, and the expression looked like he yelled something, but nothing came out. A lack of sound was always disorienting. The man was more startled that he couldn't speak than the woman charging him.
She ran him through. The other guard stationed with him had ran to the nearby bell, wildly ringing it. But not a single sound.
Silence.
A throwing knife quickly ended that guard, as the dominoes began to fall. She had to fight her way through. As each group of guards started to notice the last. Disoriented from the lack of sound, and the surprise that no one heard their killer approaching.
---------------- § ------------------
"The servants are in there keeping him busy. Chasing him around pretending to be Scree, from what I have heard through the door," the guard said.
"That kid knows what a Scree is?" Bardo asked.
"Sir, it's the son of the King. OF COURSE, he is aware of what a Scree is," the guard replied.
Bardo chuckled to himself.
"You are correct. I would just assume that we hide the horrors of the world from our youth until their a little older".
The guard looked at him in confusion.
"I understand you Sir, but I don't see it as that bad. At least the King's son won't be naive and wander into a nest of them. Horrible way to go," the guard replied.
"Fair point," Bardo replied as he looked toward the stairwell. The hall outside of the princes room opened into a rather roomy hall, with ornate pillars lining the edges of the hall.
Banisters, tapestry's, and sculptures depicting different events in Rulean history decorated the hall.
Bardor step forward, and witnessed a bizarre sight. A guard, bloodied from a side wound appeared, but he made no sound. No scraping of metal, no cries, no thud for when he collapsed.
"Is that...," Bardo started, but was interrupted by three silver balls, soaring through the air. Bardo lunged for a nearby shield and brought it up.
The other men noticed their generals action, and started to follow suit.
It wasn't enough though
The silver balls suddenly stopped, mid air and hovered. They only hovered for a moment before they cracked, sending out sharp wirery tendrils in every direction. Many of the guards tasked with protecting the prince where killed immediately.
The sharp tendrils piercing skin, bone, and passing through sticking to the stone walls. Two guards were impaled and lifted with a few tendrils piercing their skulls, putting an immediate halt on their twitching.
Bardo was set skidding backwards. He held his posture, but just barely. The tendrils hit the shield with violent pings. They didn't pierce the shield, but did bend it where it caught the sharp tips.
Bardo grunted as he held for a moment. He then dropped the shield and brought out is blade. The remaining six guards who weren't immediately killed, pulled out their weapons.
How were they going to fight, between all these strings. Bardo wasn't even sure if those things were string, given how it massacred quite a few guards.
Suddenly, as quickly as the tendrils launched from the balls, then vanished. Bardo could have swore he saw them all go back into the silver balls? It was so fast he wasn't sure.
They fell the the ground with a clack, spewing a small amount of smoke into the air.
The assassin made themselves known. She was dashing across the room at the group of guards.
"Where did she come from? I didn't even hear her," Bardo swore as the assassin reached the guards.
Her blade pierced the guards gut. There was no sound. Nothing. Not a thud, or a grunt.
"Blade!!!! SHE HAS A DRAGONS BLADE" Bardo shouted. There was no sound however.
"Damn! Those wicked weapons"! Bardo cursed as he charged toward the assassin.
The assassin cut another guards down.
"No!"
Bardo got closer.
The assassin, in a flourish, brought down another guard. Bardo pushed forward. This assassin easily took out guards twice her size. A dragon blade was incredibly deceptive. They were granted strange powers, given the dragon bones carved into the blade itself.
Two more men died.
"Damn you"! Bardo sneered as he finally met the assassin.
The assassin parried the blow, sending Bardo off balance.
She struck at him, blow after blow being parried. Bardo attempted to regain his footing, and pushed the offensive. The assassin didn't expect this, as she kicked off a pillar in an attempt to regain her offensive.
Bardo swore to himself, that if he broke. It was going to be one hell of a fight to break him.
He swung with all his might as the assassin narrowly dodged. Then, Bardo felt pain. A sharp pain.
A dagger in his stomach. From the assassins other hand.
He stumbled back, dropping the sword from the sudden shock. The sudden pain.
"No, I can fight," Bardo cried.
The assassin came in with a flurry of stabs and swings. Bardo, instinctively pulled the blade from his gut and parried two of the hits, but took the rest of them. Deep cuts, and a few stabs but nothing more life-threatening than his stomach wound.
He stumbled back.
------------------ § ------------------
Lisia walked over to the door. All the guards were killed, and that last one was going to bleed out.
He collapsed on the floor.
She sheathed her weapon, and suddenly sound returned to the area around her. She pressed against the door, then jiggled the handle and pulled on it lightly.
Bolted and heavily too. She wasn't sure whose room this was, but this was the spot. She stepped back from the door, and pulled a strange cone shaped silver needle. She held it with both hands, but it looked like a large needle to her.
She aligned it with the door. And pressed a few buttons and grooves on the object. It suddenly lifted into the air and hovered for a moment. It hummed and distorted the air around it.
"This mark has to be killed with this," Lisia said, taking a few steps back. She repeated the state as a reminder of her orders.
"NO"! The wounded man shouted. He attempted to stand, but didn't have the strength.
Lisia let out a sharp whistle. In a flash, a broadsword came flying into the room, and hovered inches away from his throat.
The man swore as the sword hovered. Stains of blood covered the blade.
"Kill him," Lisia ordered. The blade hovered for a moment, and then it launched at the man . He lunged to the left narrowly dodging. The blade bounced off the stone as the blade vibrated.
The silver needle started to spin.
"Get him Grendel! Come on!," she shouted as she watched the needle.
The man continuously dodged Grendel's strikes. Her attention was aggressively torn toward the door.It started to shake. She could hear shouts at people telling someone to keep the door shut.
"Are they unlocking the door? What are they thinking?" Lisia thought stepping backwards.
The man had now wedged himself under some debris, avoiding Grendels stabs. She rolled her eyes as the needle started to emit a hum. It's rotations started increasing in speed, emitting a high pitched hum.