Chapter 14: Breaking a conspiracy against the King

The next few weeks were filled with practicing with the city guards and listening to whispers in the night. I was in the shadows between buildings when I heard the first whispers of pledges against the emperor. This time I had one quietly talking about their meeting later that night. I slipped from shadow to shadow while following them. It was when they entered the Merchant guild’s counting house that I knew we had reached their destination.

I slipped through an upper floor window and moved to the railing. I could hear them below me talking about overthrowing the king. That was not strictly something I enforced but the stability of the empire rested on the kings that ruled the separate countries. The men below planned for everyone to meet in the nobles common in two days time with all their followers.

I waited and then slipped away and went back to the inn. I had two days to think about what to do. It was evening two nights later that I stood in the shadows. In the center of the commons the gathering was starting to form. It looked like more than fifty strong and I sighed as I pulled my swords and started across in the moonlight.

I was only a few steps away when they saw me. Two men attacked suddenly and that decided the rest. I blocked and slid sideways as I used my other sword to cut his throat. The other man tried to lunge but slipped. I parried his sword and took his hand at the elbow. The next three men were on me quickly. I moved sideways and parried two swords before stabbing one in the groin. I shifted and spun to block a man sneaking up behind me and sliced his belly open.

I moved past him and turned to block two swords before parrying and thrusting a sword into another man’s throat. I moved into him and thrust over his shoulder into another man’s eye. I shoved the falling body to the side into a man as I shifted and moved back. I blocked two swords and took one man’s hand at the wrist. I parried the other sword and sliced across his throat at the same time.

They knew if they ran I would just hunt them so they continued to attack. There were so many though that they got in each others way. I kept moving, sliding in smooth shifting patterns as I blocked and stabbed, parried and sliced. It was a long time before I was down to the last three men. They were different than the others. They moved in ways that told me they were skilled at working together.

I could see city guards with lanterns all around us, watching. The ground was littered with dead or crippled men. I slid across blocking one man’s attempt to circle behind me. I parried his sword and sliced at his wrist but he yanked it back. I shifted and side stepped as one of his partners lunged. It fell short and I stabbed with a sword and tore the tip out, ripping his arm open.

I blocked another sword and the slid in suddenly. The man was surprised and brought his dagger up but my other sword slid smoothly between his ribs. I slid past him as he folded to the ground and turned to face the last man standing. He was closing fast and lunged suddenly. I slapped the sword away and back stepped as he attempted to step in and stab me with his dagger.