I leaped off the building and rolled forward, carefully navigating through the back alleys. As I approached a building near the cart, I climbed to its roof and perched on a ledge. With my bow in hand, I nocked a rope arrow and aimed for the city walls.
After shooting the arrow and ensuring it securely embedded into the stone of the city walls, I took the other end of the rope and tightly wrapped it around a sturdy iron railing protruding from the building's rooftop. Testing the tension with a strong tug, I confirmed it was secure enough to hold my weight. Satisfied, I carefully stepped onto the rope, balancing myself as I traversed across the narrow gap between buildings.
"Don't fix the tire yet, don't fix the tire yet, don't fix the tire yet."
I jumped to the next building, the closest one to the cart, and crouched low, observing the coachman as he cursed under his breath while kicking the tire angrily.
With a small rock from my pocket, I aimed and struck one of the horses. The impact startled it, causing it to rear up on its hind legs. The coachman hurried to calm the agitated animal, distracted from noticing my approach. This was my chance.
I leaped down from the rooftop, rolled to absorb the impact, and quickly moved behind the cart. A nearby dog barked loudly upon seeing me. Ignoring the commotion, I scrambled onto the cart's back and yanked off the white sheet covering the corpses beneath.
The sight was grim. Ten lifeless figures lay there, their faces pallid and their eyes sunken with death.
"Disgusting. Damn it. Ugh… Fuck me, fuck me, fuck me." I said to myself in revulsion, hastily lying down and pulling the sheet over myself.
Ten minutes passed, and with the help of the guards, the coachman finally fixed the tire. The horses began to move toward the mausoleum at a slow pace. I kept my eyes shut tightly, knowing that opening them would likely make me throw up.
"Come on, you stupid horses. Move faster…"
"Halt," the guard at the entrance commanded. "Papers."
"Here you go," the coachman said. "Bad weather, huh?"
"It is," the guard confirmed. "How many dead are there?"
"Four men, two women, one kid," he replied. "Poor sods. They were attacked by goblins."
"Where?"
"A village not too far from here."
"Mm – okay. Papers are good. Pass through and park it in the back garden. The attendants will take it from here."
"Okay," the coachman said.
The cart moved again and I slipped the white sheet off a little, checking if the area was clear. The guards had their backs turned, and the coachmen was on the front. This was my drop.
I dropped off the cart and crouched, taking cover behind a stack of crates.
"Back entrance… okay."
I snuck along the crates, keeping my steps long and quiet. I peeked around a corner to check if someone was guarding the back entrance. And just my luck, there was a bowman there, sitting on top of a freshly-cut tree stump. He seemed a bit sleepy, his eyes fighting to stay open.
The coachman stopped the cart, hopped off, and went to the back. He began hauling the corpses to the ground, piling them up one by one. After getting everyone out, he sat on the cart again and pulled the reins.
"Oi! We have dead here, morticians!" the bowman yelled. "Fuck, there's a kid. God damn it."
Two women and a man exited from the back entrance, dragging the corpses inside. Not the best way to handle someone who had died, but hey – who was I to judge? I'm just a thief. A shadow on the ground.
"I can teleport inside if I get a little closer," I whispered to myself. "Damned guard, shoo. Shoo."
The bowman sat back on the stump, watching as the morticians brought the corpses inside. He didn't seem too happy with the kid there, so he was keeping his gaze away from her. He shook his head, his face flashing with anger as he bit his lip.
"Oi! Get the damn kid first! Why are you leaving her for last?"
"Ah!" A voice in the mausoleum yelled. "Help!"
"Huh…" The guard said. "What's going on inside!"
"Help! Help!"
All of a sudden, a woman clad in black and brown light armor burst through the back door, sprinting. She was holding someone. At first, I didn't realize what was happening as I was caught off guard. But narrowing my eyes and furrowing my brows, I came to the realization that it was my target, Mia, she was holding on her shoulders. The corpse I was meant to steal!
"Oi, stop!" the guard yelled. "We have a thief! Raise the alarm!"
The woman dropped the body to the ground and drew her sword. She moved with the speed and precision of a seasoned fighter. She slashed through the first bowman easily, killing him instantly. The other guards, four of them, rushed forward, their weapons drawn.
The woman fought like a whirlwind. She parried their attacks, her blade dancing through the air. One by one, the guards fell. Her movements were fluid and lethal, each strike finding its mark with deadly efficiency. Blood sprayed and pooled around her.
I knew I had to act fast. I dashed forward, timing my move perfectly. As the last guard fell, I slammed into her with my shoulder, pinning her to the ground. She struggled fiercely, but I managed to pull out my baton-like weapon and struck her on the head. She lost consciousness, her body going limp beneath me.
Breathing heavily, I looked around. The guards were dead, and Mia's body lay on the ground. I secured my weapon and quickly checked the woman's pulse. She was alive, just unconscious. I had no intention of killing her.
"Stay down," I muttered, more to myself than to her.
I hid her in a thicket of bushes and turned my attention to Mia's body. Time was running out, and I needed to get out of here before more guards arrived.
The strange box inside my pocket tore through my armor, hovering above me. It opened fully, and the blade inside it began to glow a faint red.
"Master!" a voice inside my head yelled. "She's dead!"
"What the fuck! What the fuck, fuck this job. I'm out." I ran without even looking back, I had to get out of this place. "No, no, no."
As the alarm blared, more guards appeared, closing in on the front entrance. At least ten, maybe fifteen. They advanced with weapons drawn, eyes ready to kill. I hated to admit it, but I wasn't much of a fighter.
"Okay!" I threw my hands up. "We can talk, boys. Let's be civil about it."
"That mask – Shadow Dancer!" a guard shouted. "Got you now, fuckface. Kill this bastard and be done with it."
"No, no!" I said. "I surrender! I surrender!"
"Fuck your surrender, ya cunt!"
I turned and began to run away. The blade, now glowing a vivid crimson, blinded me for a second. Covering my eyes with my hands, I watched as the blade lost its glow and fell to the ground, appearing as nothing more than an ordinary blade, not the mysterious artifact I had hoped for.
An arrow struck me in the back, near my heart. I collapsed, paralyzed by the pain. Each breath was agony. I tried to get up, but another arrow hit my right leg, pinning me to the ground.
"No… no…" I said as I crawled away. "Can't die… can't die…"
"Kill this poor bastard," a guard said. "We'll get the bonus of a lifetime, boys. Killing the Shadow Dancer? That's worth at least five thousand gold."
"Sura… James will… no." With great effort, I picked up the blade from the ground and got to my feet. "I can't… I need gold. I'll kill you all…"
"Fucking thief still thinks about gold," another guard remarked. "This guy is weird, man."
"I can't…" Without realizing, I squeezed the blade, making my hand bleed. "No… no. Sura. She can't be alone…"
To be honest, I didn't even know what I was saying. All I could think about was my sister Sura and the degenerate bastard James. Without this gold, Sura wouldn't be able to pay the protection money. And she'd be in loads of trouble…
A bowman nocked an arrow, aimed it, and shot it. The arrow hit me cleanly in my left eye and exited through the other side, embedding itself in a tree.
I was dead, hitting the ground with a loud thud.
Shadowy hands, dripping with black goo, emerged from the earth beneath me. One hand covered my mouth, another hand covered my eyes, and body. Then, they dragged me into – something. It felt like being swallowed by mud, but much worse.
"Shadow Dancer," a voice inside my head said. "My new master."