Kaldalis barely had time to register the appearance of a slight shadow against the rooftops far to his left before an arrow cracked against the pauldron of his armor. Again, the metal held, but the impact was so hard it almost took him from his feet, and the spray of wooden shards of arrow shaft made him flinch back to protect his eyes.

He was a fish, and this alleyway was his barrel.

Kaldalis was going to have to do better than just standing here if he wanted to close the distance.

Ducking around the nearest corner would buy him some time. His shoulder ached from the arrow impacts it had taken, and he found himself grateful that his foe hadn’t landed a headshot. He had to acknowledge that every shot the assassin was allowed to fire was potentially fatal. Even if his Vigor stat was high enough that his skull could endure the impact, the power behind each blow was a clear warning that such a hit would knock him out cold, if it didn’t give him a fatal concussion.

The best defense wasn’t to count on his armor, or even keep his head up and focus on his movement. It was to simply not let them fire a shot at all. An arrow narrowly missed his calf as he ducked around the corner and pressed himself against the wall. He had to keep his eyes open for the moment they got a clear shot and duck back around.

He took advantage of the undisturbed moment to equip his sword and shield. He wasn’t exactly an expert on dueling versus a ranged opponent without being able to close the gap with a point-and-click gap closer. The shield might give him a slightly larger margin of error. Being able to block an arrow could save his life.

The delay before he next caught sight of the assassin let him know that he was against someone with the same abundance of caution that he had. They weren’t just charging straight at him and hoping for their skills to outweigh his. They circled wide. When the shadow appeared on the rooftops, it was almost the same distance away. Kaldalis raised his shield the second he saw the movement and dove back around the corner to cover from his attacker’s new position.

Kaldalis moved fast enough that he had broken line of sight before the first shot was fired. An arrow clattered against the stone of the alleyway. He heard a distant voice cursing. What struck Kaldalis as odd was that the voice wasn’t what he expected. He wasn’t facing the same assassin as before.

He could hope that it meant they might not be as tight-lipped about their employer. Or, at least, a little less lucky during their escape. Kaldalis had another chance to get a little more information. The margin for error was thin here, but the potential payoff was growing by the second.

The shadow appeared in the slot of sky at the top of the alley much sooner this time, and closer. His foe was either growing impatient or desperate. Kaldalis was caught off-guard, but his shield caught the first arrow, and he managed to get to cover again quickly.

A part of him wanted to try to taunt them, but they were falling into his trap already without the extra push. If he started talking a big game about their impotence against a 90-degree corner and a targe, they might realize what he was doing and wise up.

Kaldalis realized he was fishing. He just had to play the minigame. The line had to keep moving, but if he forced it, it would snap.

And snapping the line in this minigame meant that the fish might manage to kill him.

The next arrow wasn’t fired from right above him, but it was close, from the rooftop of the building he was right next to. They were less than a dozen yards away. The arrow crashed into the front of his chestplate, knocking the wind out of him. The shaft of the arrow broke in half, and the arrowhead spun past his ear, the blade of the broadhead cutting a long line across his cheek. He felt the heat of his own blood running down the side of his jaw, and pushed it to the back of his mind. He managed to raise his shield before the next shot, and staggered around the corner again, feigning that he was more hurt than he was.

As soon as he was out of sight, he changed weapons. Not just back to his spear, but to the War Weapon spear he’d gotten off of Onirioago.

He was done reeling them in. Now it was time for the catch.

There was a bark of triumphant laughter from directly above him. Kaldalis didn’t hesitate, and jumped. The laugh turned to a surprised shriek and the arrow went wide as the assassin tried to jump back. Kaldalis was right on top of them in a flash, the sinister spear lashing out. He aimed high, in hopes of taking their hood off, but they managed to turn aside and avoid the strike. But the real damage was done. Kaldalis was right on top of them with a melee weapon.

He didn’t expect the fight to be over, but he knew he’d forcefully snatched the upper hand from right under their nose. All that remained was keeping control of the fight, which might be a challenge. They were trying to kill him. He wanted them alive.

To that end, he drove his spear down at their leg. They wore leather armor, and the tip of the weapon was briefly bound up by the boiled leather. The pause was enough to let the assassin come away from the blow with just a small puncture and not a disabling wound.

The bow came up, and Kaldalis lunged forward again. The arrow was only half-drawn before the assassin let it go, and the reduced power behind the projectile meant that it only hit with bruising force, not crushing force, as it was deflected by the plate of armor over Kaldalis’s thigh. He lashed out with his spear again, and the edge of the weapon raked across their chest, slapping the bow aside to foul their next draw.

“What’s the matter?” Kaldalis demanded. “Are you new at this? Want to go back and get a do-over?”

They growled in frustration, but didn’t respond in words. Something about their tone was familiar. Up close, it was much easier to tell that they weren’t the same assassin. They were taller, and their body was a little more muscular than the previous assassin. Something in Kaldalis’s mind latched onto the idea that they were a woman, though he couldn’t definitively figure out what identifier gave that away.

The real difference was their fighting style. They were desperate now to reestablish the distance between them, but were unable to leverage any tools to do so. The passive movement speed offered by the bow was of limited benefit when Kaldalis was sweeping his twisted weapon vertically at them. They were allowing themselves to get caught up in avoiding the blows by dodging to the sides, which meant they couldn’t leverage their speed to get directly away from Kaldalis.

He was winning this fight. The opening that would bring the fight to a non-fatal end was all he was waiting for. It just took a moment of struggle on the rooftop for it to appear.

The would-be assassin stopped retreating as they realized they had reached the edge of the rooftop. At the far end here, there was a much longer drop than there had been to the alley; the sharp angle of the street here meant that it was roughly a forty-foot fall on this side. There was a moment of uncertainty when they glanced back and saw the fall. Just a moment’s hesitation. It was all Kaldalis needed.

He thrusted his spear with one hand, feinting at the assassin’s face. The wicked tip of the weapon cut through the air right in front of their nose, making them flinch. He immediately lashed out with his other hand, grabbing a hold of the staff of their bow. Thorny protuberances on the weapon bit into his hand, and he felt the sting of them as the assassin tried to struggle, but he had a firm grip, giving him control of the weapon.

A fist swept at his face, and Kaldalis tensed and accepted the blow. He tasted blood of his own teeth cutting into the inside of his cheek, but the fight was over now. Casting aside his spear gave him a free hand, and as his weapon clattered across the rooftop behind him, he grabbed the would-be assassin by the collar, shoving forward over the edge.

The struggle for control of the assassin’s bow suddenly became a struggle for the assassin’s life. They immediately let go of the weapon and both hands clamped down on the sides of Kaldalis’s breastplate.

“You can’t,” she said. Despite the fear in her movements, her voice was full of anger. It was much more familiar now.

Kaldalis cast the bow backwards, sending it to clatter against the spear. With his now free hand, he reached up and flipped back his attacker’s hood, over her horns.

What he found beneath was a terrifyingly familiar face twisted into a terrifyingly familiar expression of hatred.

Demriv.

“What?” Kaldalis stammered. “You? Why?”

“Onirioago told me what you did,” Demriv spat. “She told me what all of you did. She has grander plans for the information, but I can’t stand what you’re doing to her. I won’t let you put her away forever. Not when she’s going to save us all.”

“What the actual fuck are you talking about?” Kaldalis asked. He took hold of her collar with both hands, and shook her, threatening to let her drop. “What is her plan? What did she tell you?”

“Ask what you really want to know,” Demriv snapped with a smirk. “Ask how I intend to stop you.”

“I don’t care,” Kaldalis snapped back at her. “Not to be a dick, but between the two of you, you’re not the one I’m scared of. What is she doing? What does she think I did?”

Demriv yanked on his breastplate, and Kaldalis had a terrifying memory of Onirioago’s hands on the same spot, gripping him tight and pulling him in to an unwanted kiss. Demriv didn’t plant her lips on his, though. She spat directly into his left eye, and then shoved away. The combination of fear and shock loosened his grip, and the sudden shove broke her away from him.

“Murderer!” she shrieked as she fell off the roof. “Guards! Guards! Murderer!”

Despite her words, and impending death, she was smirking all the way down to the street.