"Mogu, can you hear me?"
Joseph headed to the north towards the base of The Order of Assassins. He had no time as the enemies could move Mogu out any minute.
"Joesph, I can hear you," responded Mogu. "They are taking me somewhere. Come and save me, my hero Joseph."
"I am coming, Mogu. Just wait for me," He responded.
Meanwhile, Kyther had body-slammed an assassin. They had surrounded him with their blades in their hands. They were trying to drain his energy first and then capture him. Some of them were still after Joseph. Kyther struggled and tried not to let them get closer to himself.
"Surrender and we will not kill you," said an assassin as another one jumped at Kyther from behind.
Kyther somehow grabbed the arm of the attacker and head-banged his nose. He did it multiple times until the assassin passed out. There was one other assassin who threw a dagger at him. It pierced his right shoulder as he did not see it coming.
"Ah!" He moaned, and somehow pulled out the dagger while struggling with pain. He continued to fight them, but it was a matter of time before he was captured. He had received multiple cuts and wounds on the non-fatal areas of his body. He was drained out of his energy as well. The assassins were successful in their plan.
He panted and looked at the sheer number of the enemies surrounding him. "You guys never end. Just how many are you?"
"We are everywhere. We are everyone," said an assassin at the moment when someone attacked Kyther from behind again. They had hit his head with a blunt object to knock him out. He dropped his blade and fell down.
"Let's take him to the base. The leader might forgive us for letting that blonde boy escape in return for this one," said an assassin.
Joseph leaped in the forest like a cheetah. He quickly covered a good distance in a short amount of time. He had no time to waste as Mogu told him the assassins had begun to move him. He had to reach the headquarters before it was too late.
"Damn it, just how long it would take to reach there?" He increased his pace but could not do it enough as he was exhausted. A dagger flew by close to his face. He feet halted just then. He turned and saw the assassins who were in his pursuit. They had reached him now.
"You can not run away. Surrender or face death," An assassin barked. "So bold of you to run away from our captivity. Did you think we would let you go?"
Joseph sighed. "I have heard so much about you people. To think about it, I was fascinated by your organization somehow even when I knew you were a bunch of criminals and nothing else. But now that I have looked at you closely, you people are nothing but coward dogs."
"You sure talk a lot for someone who spent some time under our mercy," The assassin responded.
"Don't waste my time. I have things to attend to." Joseph pulled out his blade. "Hurry and finish this, you rabid dogs."
As expected, the assassins could not stand a chance. They gave in to his provocations and let their guard down. Soon they were flat on the ground, bleeding from their chests, and other parts of their bodies.
"They have already wasted my time enough." Joseph hurried to the headquarters again. "Mogu! Can you hear me?" He expected an answer but got none. "Hey, Mogu?" He had a bad feeling about this silence.
Kyther opened his eyes after a while and found himself tied to a wooden pole just where he had fainted. Those assassins had surrounded him. They also had a surprise for him. "So, you finally chose to wake up," An assassin said.
"Why am I still alive? What are you planning to do?" asked Kyther. His head was still hurting from the hit he had received earlier.
"Do not you worry. We will kill you soon enough," replied the assassin. "But before that, we will have some fun."
This, obviously, did not sound fun to Kyther. "What do you mean?" One of the assassins untied him. He thought to resist again but discarded the idea when the other assassin warned him. They had regrouped and increased their numbers, so it was a suicide to resist at the moment.
Although he wanted to apply the fool's idea and charge in, but his instincts told him to wait. Just when he was untied, he witnessed a peculiar scene. The assassins began to howl together like a pack of wolves. "What the hell are they doing? Why are they howling?"
His eyes suddenly enlarged in perplexity when he sensed someone approaching, rather a group of them approaching. He could see their eyes and silhouette in the dense forest. "What are they? Do not tell me…" He realized just then they were wild dogs. "Are you kidding me? Are they trying to give me the worst death possible?" The very idea of getting torn apart by those hounds sent shivers down his spine.
…
"That seems to be the headquarters." Joseph could spot a huge greyish domed architecture. Although it was dull and looked old, but still could play as a small palace for some royalty. "They must have a larger space underground to hide their exploits."
He could spot a number of assassins around the place. He had hid himself among the leaves and branches of a tree to avoid getting spotted. It was game over if they get the wind of his hidden presence. "I have to enter somehow." He saw a few assassins entering the large metal gate at the entrance.
"I have to somehow use that entrance." He devised ways to enter the building when he saw a bunch of assassins approaching the gate with a cart loaded with goods. It seemed they carried rations.
The carriage stopped at the metal gate after Joseph had blended among those assassins. But he tried to stay a few steps back so that nobody could recognize him. The guards at the gate checked the carriage and let them pass. Joseph felt he had made it inside successfully with no one to notice him, but the guard stopped him just at the moment.
"You, stop." The assassin guard scanned him up to down. "I do not recognize you. Are you new here?"
"How the hell he could tell I am new when my face is covered?" He wondered. He scratched his head and replied, "Ah, yeah. I have just been recruited."
"I see." The guard gave him a suspicious look. "What is your code name then?"
"Code name?" Joseph never thought they would ask for a code name. What would that be? He tried to guess in his head.
"Do you not know your code name?" The guard grabbed the dagger on his waist and gave him an even suspicious look.
"Wait, wait, I do know it. Let me remember." Joseph pressured his brain to think of a code name suitable for assassins. "Ah, I guess it is… Red-Butted Monkey."
He looked at the guard and got tensed when the suspicious look he gave did not change. "Ah, I guess I messed up," He thought and prepared himself to battle dozens of assassins at once, but a miracle happened suddenly.
"Oh, so you are the Red-Butted Monkey," said the guard. "Keep your code name in your mind always. You do not want to make us suspicious of you and die a worthless death. Always remember this. You can go."
"Ah, yes, sir. I will keep it in mind," Joseph replied awkwardly before entering the metal gate. He could not comprehend how it worked, but he had no time to waste now. He had to hurry and find Mogu now that he was inside.
On the other hand, Kyther was thrown into a ring. The assassins surrounded him with big brown tamed hounds at their discharge. "This is bad." He had thought of every scenario that could transpire from here, and he died in each one.
"Why do not we make it even more fun?" The assassin said. "What about a one-on-one battle first? The man versus animal fights in the royal stadium have always fascinated me."
Kyther thought he might be able to handle one of those hounds. Maybe he could devise ways between the struggle to escape. He was angry on his not-genius-like brain which Tyler had. All he had was brawl with no brain.
But he had to think at this moment. But before he could think, the assassin discharged the hound at his bay. It groaned and sprinted towards him with bloodlust. He had thought he could handle one of those but he realized he was being naive when he found those canines lusting to tear his flesh apart.
"Oh, shit. I am dead."