A loud uproar erupted within the inn, followed by the gushing exodus of men squeezing through the entryway with shouts and yells to flee. The ones who fled the inn in chaos ran without turning back.
Yinyue and 02 halted outside the inn. The scattered frantic words escaped the mouths of those running past — 'swords', 'assassins', 'flying daggers' and 'dead men', enough to confirm an ongoing fight in the inn, but not the details.
Long sleeves billowed past both master and bodyguard. Startled men flapped their arms and hands in the air and flapped in the air while their feet never stopped.
They reminded her of scared chickens running around in panic when the foxes came. Not unlike the morning scene.
Her ears pricked up at the sharp clashing of metal blades within the inn.
"Don't go in." The innkeeper panted as he limped past her and grabbed her sleeve. "FLEE!"
With a stare, she pulled back. He let go and continued making his way out, shaking his head.
"FLEE, DON'T GO IN!" cried another man, sprinting past 02.
The warnings meant nothing to Yinyue. Countless assassination attempts happened in her life numbed her. First one got her heart pumping from the excitement, panic and fear. After the umpteenth time, she felt nothing.
All she needed was information about the number and skill level of the assassins.
She and 02 walked against the parting tides of fleeing men. Some almost tripped in their haste to flee.
"Young ones, don't be stupid!"
"Those are skilled assassins having a fight!"
"Don't give your life for nothing!"
"You said twenty?" She asked 02, ignoring the well-intentioned warnings of the passing men. "Why do I think there's more?"
Her acute hearing told her over twenty were inside.
Twenty, thirty or fifty attackers didn't matter. Just more lives to take as fighting practice to improve her killing skills. No point running away from danger when she could eliminate them.
02 smacked his forehead and mumbled, "They could've been hiding among the inn's customers. We only counted the ones in the forests."
Excuses. Unlike 01, 02 slacked too much as one of her longest serving bodyguards. That annoyed her. Maybe she'll send him back to scouting boot camp for retraining to refresh his memories.
She glanced at the sloped thatched roof of the inn and spotted the familiar face of 04 peering above.
04's hands signalled the number of men with him - ten, and with a finger, pointed downwards with another number - over thirty.
She signalled back with her hand to stand by. 04 nodded.
Her hand moved to the hilt of her sword on instinct while making their way through the thinning crowd. 02 led her around the entrance to the back. The clanging sounds of clashing blades grew louder.
Yinyue broke into a run around the bend of the building towards the back while controlling her breathing. Execution of her next move needed precise timing.
Now or never.
She pushed her foot from the ground, channeling part of her internal strength into the base of her foot as a launcher, and took a deep breath using Qinggong, the martial arts technique of maintaining lightness, to scale upwards.
Against the wall, her feet felt the lift from the invisible air tensions. Her arms open wide like the wings of a bird taking flight, she flew onto the external wooden ledge, protruding from the structure.
Yinyue landed on the wooden ledge like a leaf falling on the ground. Her breathing slowed down from the momentary exhilaration.
She grabbed the external pillar jutting out of the building structure and leaned close against the wall. Her gaze fell upon the open window of the private room just a few steps away.
02 followed suit as the rest of her team stood squatting by the edge of the roof, watching both of them below.
"GIVE UP, UNWANTED PRINCE. SOMEONE PAID GOOD MONEY FOR YOUR LIFE!" an unknown man's voice hollered amidst the blade clashing.
Halun and his bodyguards seemed cornered and fighting for their lives now. Small room with too many people. A sword could get stuck into the furniture or pillars if swung wrongly. A dagger seemed more efficient.
Yinyue bent down and fiddled inside her leather boots to pull a hidden dagger from her boot.
A faint sour coal-like scent seeped into her nostrils, causing her eyes to snap open. She froze at the distinctive smell of a peculiar firestarter.
"ARGHHH…"
The sound of someone in pain from inside the room snapped her out of her unwilling hesitation.
"Your chicken shit skills can't kill me."
Halun's calm voice drifted out the open window. She sensed no panic or fear in his voice, which she found surprising. Was the firestarter his trump card?
"Too many of them." Another man said in the room.
She guessed it must be Halun's bodyguard.
"SHUT THE WINDOW!" His attacker shouted while the sounds of blades clashing increased.
Her instincts told her to run.
"RETREAT," she yelled.
Her men leaped to the ground together with her. Two figures jumped out of the window after them.
One landed near her feet with a thud and looked up. It was Halun.
Without a word, he scrambled to his feet and grabbed her wrist before she uttered a word.
His two bodyguards rolled to the ground. One spewed a splash of red across the frosted ground and the other helped him up.
Halun broke out in a dash, dragging her along.
"RUN!" Halun shouted without turning back.
Her men, stunned at the sudden change of events, snapped to their trained instincts and ran after Halun and her.
"CHASE!" hollered the assassins from the window.
"GET DOWN!" someone cried from behind. "GET DOWN!"
A mild rumbling in the air and a bright light burst from behind them. Halun pulled her to the ground and both of them fell face flat on the soft snow laced ground.
A thunderous roar of fire burst out, unleashing an intense heat wave. The burning force swept across her back.
Agonizing screams filled the air. The stench of burning human flesh assaulted her nose.
A dazed Yinyue pushed herself off the ground and sat down. The warm air against her face made her realise the mask fell off. She looked around and saw the silver mask next to her.
She picked it up, dusted off the snow, and looked at her men. They also sat with Halun's two bodyguards on the snow. All of them stared at the burning building.
Moving bodies came falling out from the raging inferno. The assassins turned into human torches. Those horrifying screams came from their mouths.
"You owe me an explanation." She glared at a sheepish-looking Halun who yawned while lying on his side.
He sat up and grinned at her. The unusual color of his eyes caught her attention. Why hasn't she noticed it before?
Their meetings always took place in rooms which shaded them from the sun. Halun had the habit of sitting in shaded areas, masking the true colour of his eyes as light brown, a common trait of some Central Plains people.
Under the bright afternoon sunlight, his eyes bore a resemblance to the golden amber eyes of a wolf. Wolf eyes, as her people called it, were a mark of an unusual Xirong heritage, like the different colored eyes of 01.
Unlike 01, Halun could melt into the crowd with his Central Plains features as long as he stayed in the shade.
"Worth it, since I've seen your face now," he chuckled, only to feel a cold and sharp blade against his neck.
His wolf-like eyes showed no fear or surprise when most men would start begging her for their lives.