Chapter 8: Opportunity

Chapter 8: Opportunity

I climb one of the towers to get a better understanding of my surroundings. A guard stands at the top, he’s a look-out. He seems surprised to see me.

‘What is a knight doing up here?’ he asks.

‘I’m looking for the werewolf which caused some trouble earlier’.

‘I heard it died’.

‘Really?’ I ask, I was expecting it to last longer than that, ‘Thank you, I hadn’t been informed. I suppose my mission is over’.

There’s a large war horn in the tower, in case of attack, and it gives me an idea. When the guard turns around, I choke him out. We’re too high up for anyone to hear him struggle, and he’s out cold within seconds. I pick up the horn, it’s lighter than I thought. A deep, thundering sound echoes between the castle walls, through the village, and over the mountains as I sound the alarm. The rushed footsteps of an army bring the cold courtyard to life. My blood resonates with every step I hear. I’m ready.

‘Where is the enemy army?’ the general asks.

I manage to descend the tower and blend into the crowd without being noticed.

‘Tell me where they are, that’s an order!’.

Nobody notices that I’m already in the throne room. There’s a large, wooden beam next to the door. All it takes is a little push for it to barricade the entrance.

‘What’s the meaning of this?’ the king asks, ‘Are we being attacked?’.

‘No’ I say, ‘You are’.

‘Guards! Guards!’ he screams as I come closer and closer.

‘They’re outside’ I laugh, ‘It’s just us’.

People are banging on the doors outside, desperately trying to get in.

‘Let us in!’ the general yells at the top of his lungs.

I take out a knife and swing it around a bit.

‘You wanted me to assassinate the king, remember?’.

‘You’ll pay dearly for this!’ the king screams, ‘Your little wife will hang from the highest tree!’.

With the flick of a wrist a knife flies through the air, nailing his hand to his throne. Another one shatters his knee.

‘That’s enough!’ a voice echoes through the room.

An old man emerges from behind a pillar. His armour shimmers brightly in the well-lit room.

‘This won’t be easy’ he says, as he unsheathes a large, two handed sword, ‘for you’.

My knife bounces off of his armour, he barely seems to notice it. He slowly walks towards me, swinging his huge sword at me. I make a feint, changing direction and attacking him in the back. My blade resonates as it hits his shoulder. He grunts, but keeps on going. He swings around, almost decapitating me. He makes a full circle as he misses me, then starts chasing me again.

‘You’re fast, for an old man’.

He laughs, ‘You’re not so bad yourself, too bad you have to die’.

I dive behind a pillar, his sword sends rubble flying as it’s swung into the stone column.

‘I’ll make this quick, just sit down and accept it’ he says casually.

He charges forward, his sword coming down on top of me. I manage to roll away, but I hear my sword shatter behind me. It must have fallen out of my hand. I throw another knife at his head. He blocks it, giving me enough time to grab what’s left of my sword. It looks more like a dagger, now that it’s broken. I charge him. He swipes at me from the right. I dive onto the ground, sliding to his feet. I plunge my broken sword into his foot, causing him to yell in pain. He swipes at me again, but I evade it just in time. The velocity of his attack forces him to spin around, but his foot’s stuck to the floor. I can hear the bones in his leg shatter as he spins around.

He yells in pain, his leg is broken.

‘You’ve lost, old man’ I say, ‘Just give up and you’ll live’.

The old man pulls the sword out of his foot. ‘Foolish boy’ he responds, ‘Do you think I’ll just give up?’.

He pulls himself up with his sword, then slowly walks towards me. He falls back down again when he tries to swipe at me.

‘You can’t fight with that injury’ I say.

The man lets go of his sword and grabs the remainders of mine. He manages to stand up. Slowly, he makes his way towards me. I ignore him, the king’s more important. I walk around the old man and pick up his two-handed sword. The king begs as I come closer and closer, he’s lost too much blood to run. I raise the sword high above his chest, and let it come down with all my anger. A simple twist to make sure it really hurts.

Only now do I notice how silent it is. Nobody’s knocking on the doors anymore, they’re looking for another way in.