Luke awoke at dawn, to started a fire, so he could cook breakfast. Dante and Liam were already up, and were talking by an already lit campfire.
"David's going to be a problem." Dante said.
"We can't just get rid of him, the King would probably accuse us of murder." Liam replied
As Luke approached their conversation died down.
"Want some greens, and quail Luke? We've also got some fresh water" Dante said, "Liam and I got up about an hour ago, turns out Mr. Bandit here is good at trapping, as for me, I found the greens growing next to a spring pretty deep in the woods. Of course if you don't want any, there's more for the rest of us."
"Sure." Luke said, "Why are you two sitting here chatting like old friends? Yesterday you wouldn't care if the other got an arrow in his head.
Dante smiled, " I find it's easier to travel with someone if you're friendly. The only exception is Mr. high and mighty, over there, sleeping in."
"Personally, I wouldn't mind bumping him off, but apparently Liam here is the voice of reason, he may not look like it, but he's pretty tactful. No offense, Liam." He finished.
"None taken." Liam replied, "The last thing we need, is to finish this, and the King executes us for killing one of his brother's friends."
"Maybe he'll get killed." Dante said thoughtfully. "Then it won't be our fault, but then again, the King would probably accuse us of murdering him. I'm sure he would love to get out of the promises he made, when we come back alive."
Luke started making himself a plate, and poured himself a cup of water. "I can't stand David either, he thinks he's better than us, but clearly he's expendable. The King said that he couldn't spare any of his skilled soldiers, that's why we were chosen for this suicide mission." He smiled. "If we don't come back, at least David won't either."
Dante raised his glass, "I can look forward to that." And they all raised their glasses to it.
"What's all this racket?" Sir David got out of his tent with a scowl on his face. Behind him, Tomas got out of his tent.
Luke called to him. "Tomas, over here! We've got breakfast for you, it's quail, greens, and water.
Hope you'll enjoy it."
"Thank you, master Luke, I'm sure it's delicious." Tomas said, humbly.
He came over to the campfire and Dante gave him a plate of food, and a cup of water.
"I said, what's all the racket? David said, an infuriated tone in his voice.
Luke saw Dante look at David distastefully.
"Oh, it's you, he said " I thought someone important was asking." And with that Dante turned away.
"Curse you, Assassin," David said "I hope you're the first one that dies."
Luke turned on him, "Why do say that David? You want the King's plan to fail? Got a trick up your sleeve so only you return?"
"I don't know what you're talking about Archer, I was simply stating the inevitable. I suppose I must serve myself?" he snarled.
"You got that right buddy," Dante said.
"Fine." David said, so he went, got a plate, and served himself. Then he turned around, walked off, sitting in the grass a few meters away.
"Good riddance." Dante muttered, "I thought he'd never leave."
*******************************************************************************************************
They had been on the road for a few hours, and Luke was Bored. They were approaching The Churning Shallows.
The Churning Shallows was named because it wasn't deeper than two meters. From afar it looked like the water was white, but when you approached it you could see that the water was traveling so fast that the shallows churned, and left foam on the surface of the water.
Which was swept away, and replaced with more. It was a narrow river, only seven meters across, and there was only a singular bridge that led over it for miles. The bridge was about ten meters across with railings on either side.
It was a dangerous place, Luke knew. He had crossed it before, and had witnessed a man get murdered there.
He had been traveling from place, to place searching for escaped criminals, when he had come to The Churning Shallows, where he had seen a man push someone into the river.
Seeing how fast the river was going, he knew the person was dead almost instantly. Without thinking he had drawn his bow, and shot the man in the shoulder. The stunned the man had fallen into the river, and suffered the same fate as the person he had murdered.
Luke shook his head, he knew he shouldn't focus on the past, all it did was weigh you down.
The wagon was soon over the bridge.
That's when the attack came.
*******************************************************************************************************
The assassins had come from Gelicasa, tasked with killing these would be assassins. There were ten of them hired by the King himself. Their orders were to kill all of them except one.
Luke sensed something was wrong, and saw Donte and Liam tense up as they got to the other side of the bridge.
Dante acted first. "Everyone get down! Thomas get down!" He yelled
As they dropped to the ground they heard the hiss of crossbow bolts above their heads, tearing through the wagon cover. As soon as the hissing stopped, Luke and Dante rolled out of the covered wagon, followed by Liam and David.
They were surrounded by nine men in black cloaks, with the hoods covering their faces. They all had crossbows on their backs, and had scimitars drawn. Luke drew his short sword, Dante one of his daggers, Luke his war axe, and David his broadsword. Dante moved first, pulling out a throwing knife, and throwing it between an assassins eyes, he smiled,
"One down."
Chaos erupted, the assassins charged, and they all sprung into action.
Sir David swung his broadsword at the two assassins that came at him, and they leaped out of the way.
Dante charged at the assassins, and flipped over them, using the palm of the gauntlet from the blacksmith to scrape one of their faces.
Liam used his axe to cut the first of the charging assassins in half, but the other danced away out of his reach.
Luke had his short sword in one hand, and an arrow in the other. When the assassins charged he threw the arrow at the first, who instinctively blocked with his sword. Luke bolted past him, slicing his throat on the way.
Sir David was trying to defend against both of them, and was failing. One of the assassins distracted him and the other hit him over the head with the hilt of his scimitar, knocking him out.
The assassin Dante had scraped collapsed all of a sudden, convulsing, and passed out.
Dante smiled, and charged at the other assassin. Confused the assassin backed up, and Dante threw his dagger into his exposed chest, the assassin then collapsed, dead.
Liam was at a disadvantage. His war axe was not designed to fight nimble enemies, it was designed to be a straightforward weapon, used for close quarters, and straightforward enemies.
He threw the war axe at the assassin, catching him off guard, Liam charged,as the assassin clumsily swung his sword, Liam dodged the blow, and grabbed the man's wrist, twisting the scimitar out of his hand. Liam then brought up his knee, and smashed the assassin's face into it, before snapping his neck.
Luke fought like a tiger with the assassin, and they went back and forth. Then the assassin blocked with his sword, grabbed the back of Luke's blade, and twisted it quickly out of his hand. Luke disarmed now, unslung his bow, and fired point blank in a heartbeat. The arrow imbedded itself it the assassin's throat, and he collapsed, choking on his own blood.
The two assassins that had knocked out Sir David, were noticed by Donte, and he sent two throwing knives into their temples, and they fell dead.
Luke and the others noticed the last assassin too late. He came out of the shadows with his crossbow aimed at Luke.
"Drop your weapons." he said coldly. They all complied and laced down their weapons.
A figure in black arose from the ground behind the assassin, and a hand reached out holding a knife.
The figure slit the man's throat, and quietly sunk back into the ground.