laneys.info Beware of Yankees, drunks, and loose women.

Creeping heel-toe through the dark hallway, the assassin moved silently. He knew his targets had gone to bed some hours ago, so should be sound asleep by now. A state that they would enjoy eternally. Dirk in hand, he quietly reached for the handle to the door and listened for movement to find only the cool breeze drifting up through the stairwell beyond this room. Pulling slowly, he slid the bar from it's hold and pushed the door open. Training had taught him how to infiltrate not only palaces and locked churches, but also simple rooms such as this. He grinned to himself as he crept in and moved towards the leftmost bed as moonlight through the shuttered window's slats picked out the form under the blanket. All too easy, he thought to himself as adrenaline pumped. Raising his right hand for the killing blow, he could already see the praise showered upon him for this act.

Suddenly, a blade against the back of his neck stopped him cold.

"Tell your masters when they come to meet you in death that I said hello," the male voice behind him stated. As the assassin tried to duck the sword, he spun with dirk in hand to strike upwards, only to catch another blade which pierced his back. Reeling from the killing blow, the darkly clad agent fell to the floor in shock as his life ebbed away.

********

Howard looked down on the vaguely highlighted body laying still on the floor with pity. "Too bad he actually thought he was on the right side of this fight."

Adam huffed as he moved to the rightmost bed and grabbed his backpack. "The unfortunate part is they think they can win."

"True." He stepped over the body and reached for his own gear, then removed the pillow from underneath the blanket and tossed it against the headboard. Time to move from here before anyone else paid them an unwanted visit. Sword still in hand, he led Adam towards the stairwell and heard a metallic crash and scuffle in the main room below. Quickly running down the stairs, he noticed two forms standing over another as he and Adam reached the bottom. "Ryan? Ulthan?"

"Yes," his older friend replied. "Someone that just wanted to see us off," he stated sarcastically as he wiped the blade of his sword, then resheathed it. "I take it things went about the same upstairs?"

"Indeed," Adam informed as the other three sheathed their weapons as well, then continued to the front door to the tavern. Once outside, they climbed into the saddles of their horses and rode into the torchlit, quiet streets of Bakony towards the western gate with not but the occasional barking dog to bid them farewell. Another five day ride northwest would find them in Haun, a small walled town whose claim to fame was the templar compound to it's north and, their destination.