Nolan turned onto the street just in time to see the doors of the alley slam shut. There was no sight of Rori. There were a few people on the street and those nearest to the closing doors were staring in that direction. It seemed likely that they were staring at the two people who had just run by them and into that doorway.
He raced down to the doors scanning the area ahead for any signs that Rori had headed in any another direction, but his suspicions seemed confirmed as he got nearer and could hear the sounds of a fight coming from behind the double doors.
He searched his memory trying to remember what business had been here. The sign on the building had been removed and the windows were boarded up. But something was niggling in the back of his mind about this place.
The double doors were solid and there was no visible lock on this side. It seemed likely a bar had been dropped across the back side.
The sound of the fight inside had already died down. There was some conversation going on, but the sealed doorway and the low voices made it hard to make out anything. All of which didn’t bode too well for Rori. But the kid was tough, so anything was possible.
Now he just needed to get inside.
“How hurt are you?” asked the assassin in a low voice that was almost a whisper.
“One is dead. Another unconscious. He should live if he gets healing. Several others have wounds, but none should be fatal.”
“And him?” said the assassin pointing to Rori’s limp form on the ground.
“Unprepared to fight in total darkness. He’s dead,” the man said in a sneer.
“Fool! Even though you can see in the darkness, and he could not, he still disabled two of you and wounded most of the rest without actually firing a single shot. He deserves your respect. Even in death!” Though clearly angry, the assassin’s voice never rose above a harsh whisper.
“Of course. Though he did fall quite easily into your trap.”
“He’s na?ve that way. Someday it might get him killed,” said a voice in the darkness that seemed to come from no specific direction.
“Who is that?” shouted another of the attackers turning to face the walls. The other ambushers all moved to the center of the room and formed a circle facing outward. Two still held their short bows. The others held their swords ready to attack.
Though the business had closed down some time ago, there was still some refuse and debris piled around the room. Several empty and partially smashed crates were stacked together near one corner. Two long raised flowerbeds now containing not much more than dead weeds ran along the opposite wall. Besides that, there was only a small pile of trash that was too small to provide any real place to hide.
“Why do you say ‘someday’,” asked the assassin once again talking in a calm whisper. As he spoke, he slid the sword off of his back. “Is that day not today? Do you plan to bring him back from the land of the spirits? It is an honor he deserves.”
“You’ve got an accent. Is that why you speak in such a low voice? Are you trying not to be identified as Umidorian?” asked the disembodied voice of Nolan.
“You have few places to hide. We have no fight with you. Leave now and we will do you no harm,” the assassin gestured sharply to the pile of crates and two of the ambushers jumped forward and toppled them. The crates clattered to the ground, but Nolan was not hiding behind them.
“Actually, I don’t think you are Umidorian. Though it is clear you’ve spent time there. No, I think you whisper to hide something else. An intriguing puzzle.”
“You are stalling for time. Did you notify the authorities? They will not be able to help you in this matter.” This time the assassin motioned to the raised flowerbeds. Four of the ambushers moved forward, grabbed the front of the planters and pulled them over. Dirt and dead plants spilled onto the ground, but Nolan was not hiding there either.
“I have all the assistance I need in this room,” said Nolan’s voice. “Perhaps it is you that should surrender now before you get hurt?”
“Show yourself and we will see what you can do by yourself to all of us!” growled the assassin, this time moving forward himself to kick apart the small pile of trash, though it was clear Nolan could not be hiding within it.
“I’m not alone. I told you I have assistance in this room. Are you ready Rori?”
“I hurt. But it’s manageable,” said Rori from where he lay on the floor. He pulled his arms under himself and pushed up off of the ground and onto one knee. He reached up and pulled two arrows out of his chest with one hand and yet another arrow with the other. His face grimaced in pain.
“I thought you said he was dead,” said the assassin in an angry whisper to the other attacker.
“No man could survive the wounds he took,” the man replied.
“Clearly you are wrong,” the assassin whispered, still scanning the room trying to locate Nolan. “Now you should pray to your gods that it doesn’t cost you your life.”
Rori stood up and pulled another arrow from his thigh and let it fall to the floor with a clatter. “Okay. Let’s do this.”
A small blue cube that radiated a pale light came clattering out onto the floor. Two more were scattered to other corners of the room.
“Ah, there you are,” said Rori turning to face his attackers in the dim light.
Nolan stepped out of a dark but otherwise empty corner. His short sword in one hand. A dagger in the other.
The small room that used to be an alley did not leave a lot of room for combat. Rori used the narrowness of the space to his advantage. He caromed off the floor, walls and even the ceiling. He tumbled around constantly feinting in one direction as he shifted to another. He made no attempts to try and get the attackers to hurt themselves, instead he focused on keeping their attention and dodging their attacks. He was everywhere and nowhere at the same time. He invited attacks from all sides, but none of them landed.
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Nolan used the chaos of Rori’s flurry of movement to dispatch two of the attackers. Meanwhile, the assassin quickly moved from the center of the room to the corner opposite Nolan. While this greatly reduced the opportunities to make attacks on Rori, it also limited the direction Rori and Nolan could attack from. But equally important was that it allowed him to pick up one of the sources of light and extinguish it by simply putting it in his pocket.
“Idiots,” he rasped in a whisper. “You won before because he couldn’t see. Extinguish the lights.”
Two of the remaining ambushers each dove towards one of the other small blue cubes. One of them attempted to dodge past Nolan, but in trying to avoid the loose pieces of the broken crates he instead slipped on the spilled dirt, causing him to come a little too close to Nolan. The attacker landed beside the cube with a wet thud; a long, jagged gash ran the length of his side.
One of the two ambushers standing by the assassin fired three arrows in rapid succession at Rori. Two of the arrows missed as Rori spun and dodged. The final arrow looked as if it was directly on target until Rori’s open hand came up to knock the missile off target.
Under its new trajectory the arrow sped forward and imbedded itself in the back of the head of the man who had just triumphantly grabbed a light cube. The cube tumbled back to the ground as the man’s muscles went slack, and he toppled to the floor. Unfortunately, his body landed atop the cube. The goal he’d failed to obtain while alive, his corpse succeeding at by accident. There was now just the one cube remaining and it left the room deep with shadows.
Nolan’s hands, moving so fast they were just a blur, flung a series of knives across the room. Two of them ended in the chest of one of the archers. With a look of stunned amazement, the man reached up and pulled one of the knives from his own chest, only to watch as a fountain of blood spilled from the wound. The man sank to his knees and died without a sound.
The assassin quickly pulled several small packets from his shirt and threw them onto the ground. The air quickly filled with a blinding smoke that was so thick you could feel it in the air around you.
Rori dove from his current position and tumbled into a low crouch several feet away. He had no idea where anyone was or that this position was any better than where he’d been a moment before, but at least he wasn’t standing in the same place waiting blindly to be attacked.
There was a short scuffle off to one side which ended with a grunt and a thud. Moments later Nolan said, “Just the assassin left.”
Rori circled as quietly to his left as he was able. The smoke was so thick he couldn’t see the end of his own nose. But then it was likely that neither could anyone else. There was a clatter from across the room, but nobody said anything that enabled him to identify who or what had caused the noise.
“Why are you doing this,” Rori asked out into the smoke-filled room.
“I suspect you know the answer to that question,” answered the whispered voice of the assassin.
“It’s that simple? All this is just about you trying to get some money.”
“You have your path. I have mine.”
“Out of curiosity, what are people offering to knock me off?” asked Rori. “Maybe I can offer you more to go away.”
“It doesn’t work that way. Once I have taken a job, I would never betray my employer. If I did my future jobs would disappear. However, I will say that in this case, at the rate my expenses are climbing, it is not nearly enough,” answered the assassin. The thick, palpable smoke combined with only one light cube as a source of light meant the room was back to being utterly dark. In addition, the smoke made it impossible to determine which direction anyone’s voice was coming from.
“Who hired you?” asked Nolan.
“Normally I would also never reveal that information either,” the assassin said, “but in this case I will make an exception because I have not been hired. I am merely trying to collect a bounty that was put on your head.”
“Great, so I can expect more of this nonsense,” said Rori.
“Who put out the bounty?” asked Nolan.
“I cannot say.”
“Can’t or won’t,” asked Nolan.
“In this case ‘can’t’. Someone I trust told me about it and confirmed it was true. All he said was that Reibar was where he found the answers he needed. I know not who or what that is.”
“Rori,” said Nolan.
“Yes?”
“Duck.”
Without questioning why, Rori fell to the ground.
There was a startling explosion of noise followed by a shower of splintered wood flying through the room. In the direction of the explosion there was now light behind the smoke which made everything a gray color instead of pitch black.
“Nolan!” shouted Dade from out on the street.
“Many down. One assassin still creeping around,” Nolan replied.
“Fan out. Nobody gets past you and out of that room.” Dade’s command was followed by a chorus of “Yes sir”.
Another voice chanted something and then a continuous breeze flowed into the center of the room. The clear air began to swirl through the thick smoke causing patches of visibility. Rori got to his feet and for a brief moment he caught sight of Dade’s face not far away at the wrecked entrance to the alley. Then the smoke shifted, and he was engulfed again.
Crouching low Rori moved quickly out into the street and clear air. Standing in a semi-circle around the entrance was most of Dade’s squad with the added surprise of Trill who stood with his arms extended, hands spread outward magically providing the rush of wind that was quickly clearing out the smoke from the small alley room. The current of air had already cleared out the center of the room and now all that remained were thick walls of smoke that clung to the other three sides.
From the back wall a figure jumped out of the smoke and sped towards the entrance. As the assassin got to the mouth of the destroyed wall, he dove to the right hoping to tumble between the spot where Sean was standing and the next building.
Nolan’s hand shot out of the smoke on that side and attempted to grab the assassin. His fingers clutched onto the back of the assassin’s hood but without stopping the assassin twisted his neck to the side in mid-tumble and the hood slid off. A cascade of long black hair spilled out onto the assassin’s shoulder. Rori caught a brief glimpse of a pointed ear, dark freckles on a cheek, and a thin neck.
Sean moved to attack, but the assassin easily avoided the blows, somersaulted over some wreckage and was instantly up on two feet speeding down the road. Sean, Ian and Baxter turned to give chase, but it was immediately clear that the assassin was significantly faster than any of them.
Nolan stepped out of the smoke and threw the hood down in frustration. “She was not supposed to get away.”
“She?” said Rori in confusion.
“Didn’t you see her hair or face?” asked Nolan.
“I just thought she was an elf or something,” admitted Rori. “I’m pretty sure I saw an elvish ear.”
“It’s possible, but she was also definitely female. That’s at least part of why she was whispering.”
“Who else attacked you?” asked Dade.
“There are eight more bodies inside,” said Nolan pointing back over his shoulder. “But they are all hired goons. They won’t even know her name.”
“Eight hired muscle and a trained assassin? Doesn’t seem like you needed our help,” said Dade sarcastically.
“It probably wouldn’t have been a problem if Rori hadn’t walked right into their obvious trap.”
“Hey! If it was so obvious, why didn’t you warn me?” countered Rori.
“I tried. You were in too much of a hurry to pay attention to me.”
“I did wonder what all the arm waving was about.”
“Speaking of being in a hurry, when did you get so fast? It was all I could do to keep up with you two. And some of those jumps between buildings were thirty feet or more. You cleared them with no trouble at all.”
“I told you I was bursting with energy. Even after all that, I’m still not tired.”
“If you can do all that with just a simple kiss on the head from Ulbricht. Gods know what you’ll do if she takes it any further.”
“What? Who? Wait, Karyn didn’t kiss me on the head. That was Meredith.”
“That would explain it,” said Trill. “By the way, good to see you, Rori.”
“It’s good to see you too,” answered Rori.
“Wait, I think we are getting off topic,” said Ian with a grin. “Please do tell us, where exactly did Karyn kiss you?”
