Chapter 40

The grease that had been used in darkening my light hair smelled bad, but I didn’t care. Also, I didn’t care very much what happened to those four officials who Tofi, Baggi and I had knocked unconscious so that we could take their clothes and walk through the city without looking suspicious. First I had been against the idea of Baggi coming with us, but then I understood that if I denied him, he would come anyway - and he claimed that his wound was securely bound. Tofi would be the high officer and Baggi and I the soldiers escorting him.

During the short time in this city it had been very clear to me that there were no rebels nor big groups of thugs. Not here. Nothing important happened here without permission from the Prince - and if you looked like a high official, nobody would stop you if you walked through the city to the palace of the Prince. Nobody stopped us.

“Tofi, I’d like you and Baggi to stay on guard by this gate.”

“But there are probably at least a dozen guards inside the gates.”

I allowed the warrior in me to surface and I smiled. It probably wasn’t a very pleasant smile.

“After those two by the gate have been taken care of, there are only ten. Then there are probably some servants who may be able to act as guards, but no more. Besides, I don’t want anybody outside to see that something odd is happening here.”

“But...”

“No, Tofi, I don’t want to worry about you two while I’m in there.”

“But...”

“Tofi, you were still lying on the ground by the pier and you didn’t see him in action there. I did.”

I understood why the Prince felt himself safe in his home and inside his palace. With one gate, high walls and a dozen guards, the place was quite easy to defend. Especially when the first two guards were behind a locked gate.

Most likely the guard just couldn’t believe that there might be such a thing as magic that would make him think some very high official would be at the gate demanding access. I didn’t exactly know what that extremely high officer would look like, but I didn’t need to know. It was enough that the guard knew and came to look at us. The other guard was stupid enough to come so close that I could throw one of the knives I had brought with me.

The lock at the gate wasn’t as complex as some locks in Aston had been that Frode had taught me to pick, and the fact that I had to put my hand between the bars and reach it from inside was only a small delay. A part of me wondered again how much good bronze they had wasted on these gates and their bars. Most likely just so people could get a glimpse of the luxury that was inside.

Once the lock had been picked, I asked Tofi and Baggi to stay there as new guards as though nothing had happened. After all, I had tried to kill those guards without totally ruining their uniforms. I had had to control my internal warrior who tended to like something more ... spectacular. Gorier.

Once I turned my back on Tofi and Baggi, I allowed my warrior to take the lead for real. After all, I had lied to them about the number of the people inside. But just a bit.

My sensing was now as sharp and focused as it could be, and it told me that there were four more men in the first building on the left and there were twelve more in the bigger building attached to the palace. Then there were more people inside the palace, but I ignored them for now. I had to, since Kara was also there and I couldn’t distract myself by thinking about her yet. How did I know which of these people were men and which women - I didn’t really know, but the warrior in me seemed to know.

I didn’t argue with my internal warrior. I knew that it - or he - had studied all the fights I had been in, followed closely all the armored people and armored units, their behavior and habits. So, now I - or he - was quite sure that the four people inside this first building were four more guards while the twelve people in the other building were warriors close to the Prince. His personal security. His elite fighters.

I silently opened the door to the Guard House.

The warrior was slightly disappointed by the guards inside the house, but in a sense he had gotten what he had wanted - gore. The uniform I was wearing was no longer shining white but covered with splatters when I walked towards the door that would get me to those elite warriors of the Prince. I wasn’t fully happy with the sword I had taken from the Guard House since it might be good for shows but not that good in fighting. Well, it wasn’t really that bad, since at least it was sharp.

Outside the door, I stopped and allowed my warrior to know the results of my sensing. The positions of the fighters inside the building. Somehow I could recognize that four of them had been among those who had attacked us at the pier and six had been shooting the arrows. I had had no idea that I could remember the internal shimmers of the people that precisely - or maybe I couldn’t. My warrior could. Besides those four, there had been some men that had reminded me of common thugs and the four dead ones had been from that group. But I had wounded two of these fighters, just slightly, but had wounded them.

I closed my eyes for a moment, took a deep breath, opened my eyes and then allowed the warrior to take over. The first decision was to climb the wall and enter the building from the second-floor window. The warrior might like to fight, but there was no need to be stupid. Once inside the dark room, the door to the corridor opened without making noise. The warrior made me smile.

Without doubt those twelve men would had been able to kill me - or the warrior in me - if they had been prepared, and if we had been fighting in an open space. After all, they had been trained to fight as a controlled group, with practiced maneuvers and movements. Protecting each other while attacking and killing the enemy. The warrior in me knew all this and all the other ways to fight - and kill or incapacitate the enemy. How to kill with the blade, how to kill or incapacitate with the dull edge or with an open hand. How to use the movement of your opponent to your benefit. The warrior knew the rules - and how to fight without the rules. He also knew that, in order to win, you might need to take some wounds yourself, but they could not be fatal or even serious.

The first two men died or were incapacitated by the knives I threw with my right hand while the sword was in my left hand. I wasn’t as good with my left hand as I was in my right hand, but I was good enough to kill an unprepared man easily and wound another badly. The fifth one was surprised when I moved my sword to my right hand and hit his nose with my left palm from below. The sixth fighter got the blade between his legs. There’s not much risk of getting the blade stuck.

Those twelve men were now down to six, but those six had now had time to pick up weapons. Now the warrior in me grinned. I grinned.

If those six men had been smarter, they would have been able to kill me - especially if two of them had escaped and had been able to get some support. Four men would have been enough to keep me occupied for that long, even if they might have died while doing it. However, none of these men made any effort to leave, no. Each and every one of them wanted to be to one who would kill me as I had killed so many of their friends. The warrior in me saw that urge and used it to my - our - benefit.

Only after I had cut the throat of the last fallen fighter did I allow myself to notice that I was breathing heavily and I was bleeding from multiple cuts in my arms and legs. I took a deep breath to balance myself and then I sensed my surroundings. Nobody was close or getting closer and Tofi and Baggi were still by the gate. I wanted to rush inside the palace and save Kara but I knew that I would need to take care of my wounds, first. I’d also need to regain my knives as I would probably still need them. There were still more people inside the palace, I could sense it.

I waved my hand towards the gate once I started walking the short distance to the front door of the actual palace. There were some torches outside that gave enough light that my friends could see me and know that I was fine. I couldn’t help wondering what Baggi had actually seen by the pier, but then I shook that thought away and concentrated on the people, men and women in the palace in front of me. The number of people inside was almost surprisingly small except for an area where there were six women - somehow I was quite sure they would not be a problem, but the man close to them might be.

Again, a part of me wanted to rush to Kara but since I didn’t know if there was a way to call help from outside the palace I could not take any chances.

So, I became the gentle wind of death that blew through the halls of the palace. The only persons I didn’t kill were the two women working in the kitchen, but I tied their mouths and rushed them through some hallways towards the back of the house where the rest of the women were behind a blocked door. I had already taken care of the guard outside the door, and, once these women were inside the room, I could go upstairs.

Upstairs, where Kara was - with the Prince.

Again, I took a deep breath before starting to move. I knew, without doubt, that the people I had killed inside this palace would come to haunt me in my dreams. Killing the fighters had been okay, but some of these people had probably just been working here, happy to be in such a high and secure position. I shook my head - if that was the price I would need to pay, I would pay it for Kara, the mother of our son. I was afraid that Kara had already paid a much steeper price than I would ever have to pay.

The man who had been positioned next to the bell hanging at the bottom of the stairs seemed to look at me with empty eyes when I started up the stairs.

I had had no idea that you were able to feel so much anger and tenderness at the same time. The first thing I noticed when I entered the room was the bruise on Kara’s cheek as she was lying in the bed with her hands and legs tied to the bedposts. Naked. It took the prince a moment understand that somebody had entered his private room, and, as soon as that happened, he pulled the rope that ran to the corner of the room and obviously to the bottom of the stairs.

While he was still holding the rope, I moved between him and Kara and took one of the knives I was carrying and, before the prince could understand what I was up to, I had buried the knife through his instep deep into the wooden floor. In a way that was stupid, since if he had been prepared and an expert in fighting without arms, he might have been able to hurt me. He wasn’t, however, nor was he brave or strong enough to pull the knife out of the wooden floor. Only when he started screaming I wondered if I had made a mistake in not killing him immediately. However, when I raised the sword I was carrying he stopped his screaming but started saying something to Kara. Again, moving the sword silenced him.

Once I was sure that there were no weapons hidden that he could use against me I turned towards Kara.

””Kara, my love. I’m so sorry that I couldn’t stop them from getting you or that I didn’t get here sooner. I’m so sorry.””

While saying that, I was also busy cutting the leather straps with another knife. Once that was done, I pulled Kara into my arms and just held her there for a moment.

””Stian, you’re bleeding.””

””Those are just little cuts, nothing serious. Please let me clean you, Kara, and then we need to find some clothes for you...””

””Stian, stop. Just hold me for a moment, please.””

I did what Kara asked and it was as though the connection we had made us one for that moment, exactly what it had sometimes been with the other women. Why did this need to happen in order for that bond to form?