“Just two at the end of this tunnel,” I said. “Keep your wolf fangs in your gums and your claws retracted, though—we need this to be a clean and silent takedown. Rhuz and I will take care of that. Beyond the two guards at the end of the tunnel, there are a lot patrolling the maze, but none of them are in stationary positions. I’d prefer to avoid them and sneak by rather than kill them—at least up until we’ve got our hands on the goods and found out who this mysterious prisoner is. Everyone follow me now. We’ll take care of the guards, then Yollah will take over and lead us through the maze to the Inner Vaults, where our prizes are.”
We all crept through the corridor until we came within earshot of the guards and could hear the murmurs of their conversation. At this point, the rest of the group hung back, and Rhuz and I went on ahead.
A thrill coursed through me, one that I hadn’t felt for quite some time. This scenario took me all the way back to my first days as an assassin, and the adrenalin rush that would surge through my veins in the final seconds before closing in on a mark for a swift, stealthy kill. Even though the warriors we were approaching were elite, highly trained fighters, I felt like a panther in the night, approaching a hapless monkey in the jungle.
Rhuz and I coordinated our movements with silent hand signals—all assassins were trained in a unique sign language for scenarios just like this one—and we swooped from shadow to shadow, taking advantage of the gloom in the dimly lit tunnel. We neared the two guards, so close we could hear them breathing and smell the reek of their sweat. They were clad in full plate armor, forged by the most masterful armorers of Luminescent Spires, and there was barely a weak spot anywhere in their suits, but that wasn’t about to stop us.
We didn’t need to penetrate their armor to snap their necks.
I communicated to Rhuz that we needed to go with an unarmed takedown; I didn’t want to spill any of their blood and thus leave traces of their deaths on the floor in the form of blood splatters. As assassins, we’d learned the standard ventriloquist’s trick of throwing one’s voice, to make it appear as if the voice was coming from a different direction entirely. I gave Rhuz a hand signal to indicate that I was about to do it, and that we would strike immediately. He replied, signaling that he was ready for this.
“Hey, assholes, you smell like a pair of rotting goblin testicles!” I yelled, throwing my voice to make it sound as if my voice was coming from in front of them, rather than behind them in the tunnel.
“Who goes there?” one of them yelled, drawing his greatsword.
“Show yourself, scoundrel, and prepare to meet your doom!” the other snarled, his weapon at the ready as he spun around to face the direction he thought my voice had come from.
Without a word, Rhuz and I pounced from the shadows, moving with brutal speed and feline grace. I hurled myself into a tumbling leap, vaulting over the guard I was targeting and coming down out of my tumble with my arm hooked suddenly around his neck. He barely had time to gasp with surprise, let alone attempt to defend himself, before my momentum and savage grip snapped his neck like a twig. I landed with his head lolling in the crook of my elbow on his limp, broken neck, and glanced across at Rhuz, who had used the same maneuver on the other guard. We gave each other a quick nod of mutual respect for a job efficiently done, then I sent a low whistle down the tunnel, beckoning to the rest of the group.
While they came up the tunnel, I resurrected the two dead guards as zombies. They wouldn’t be fighting alongside us—not yet, at least. They would stay here in their positions, and any other guard who walked past wouldn’t suspect for a moment that any foul play had taken place … unless he tried to talk to them, of course. Even so, I could keep part of my spirit in their bodies and observe this place through their sensory organs and growl out a wordless grunt if needed.
“We could go this way,” Yollah said when he reached us, pointing to the left. “It’s a longer route, but it’ll take us directly to the Inner Vault.”
“You said ‘could,’” I said. “What’s the other option?”
“The other way takes us past the entrance to the secret dungeon cell first,” he said. “It’s shorter but might be riskier.”
Instinct, or some sort of sixth sense, seemed to be drawing me toward this unknown prisoner.
“We’ll take the route past the dungeon,” I said. “Take us that way.”
Yollah gave me a nod and took off at a brisk pace. We followed along, staying close behind him and keeping our eyes and ears wide open for any sign of patrolling guards. We stuck close together; if anyone fell behind and took a wrong turn, they could end up vanishing for good.
Soon enough, though, Yollah stopped before one of the many perfectly identical doors that lined the walls of the maze. “Through here,” he said. “But there’ll definitely be guards to deal with behind this door. Are you sure you want to do this?”
I nodded. “This instinct that’s guiding me is growing stronger and stronger; I have to discover who this prisoner is.”
Outside this door, I felt an irresistible
