Slipping through the siege lines as silently as the clouds passing through the sky, Elucard, Avalon, Timber, and Calsoon made their way to the walls of the mountain pass city. The walls reached high and were not smooth. Stones jutted out and were riddled with various cracks, allowing them to serve as fine footholds. The shadowy team crouched in the darkness of the walls waiting for a pair of night patrolmen to pass. Elucard had his team inch closer to the wall to avoid the rim of the illuminating torchlight. Once the two patrolmen had passed by completely, Elucard nodded to Timber. Timber moved to an appropriate angle from the wall and a watch tower on top of the battlements and, with excellent accuracy, shot a guard above. The arrow was well placed and quick to kill, piercing the throat. Beyond the reach of the ever watchful eyes of the enemy, the infiltrators made their way up and passed their first obstacle.

Upon making it to the battlements, the squad leapt like the Rabbits they were from rooftop to rooftop. Timber held the rear, spotting and taking out several rooftop archers guarding the city sky.

“This seems too easy, Elucard,” Timber whispered as she sniped a third archer, “Or are we just that good?”

“A little of both, I suppose,” smirked Elucard, although a bit on edge.

“Rabbit!” Avalon hissed as she spied an assassin fleeing a neighboring building.

“I’m on it!” Timber called out in a low voice. However her arrow did not fly true. It skimmed off the Rabbit’s right shoulder as he dropped out of sight behind an adjacent building

“Calsoon, take him out! We’ll continue forth,” Elucard ordered.

Calsoon swiftly leapt after the enemy. He soared through an open window and hurdled through the upper room, landing next to the now surprised assassin.

The assassin did not pause for introductions and dashed out of the building with breakneck speed, knocking over crates and hopping over wooden fences. Calsoon followed closely by making his way through the makeshift obstacle course.

The chase made its way throughout the wide array of alleys and across the cobblestone streets. They raced, passing over hay carts, under horses, and around wagons. Finally Calsoon stopped dead in his tracks as the Rabbit crashed into the doors of a large temple. Just inside the archway, the assassin could be seen. His labored breathing echoed off the walls. He stumbled on his backside, further into the church as he watched the motionless Calsoon.

Calsoon smiled a wicked grin. His toes barely grazed the border of the temple’s doors.

“Sala’Esh Ru’Ala Vey’Dako.” ‘No angel’s embrace will save you from my reach,’ Calsoon hissed in a bizarre ancient tongue; a tongue that no elf or any priest of that temple had ever heard.

Calsoon’s eyes drained into a dark amber, he beckoned to the now frightened assassin, “Come friend, you and I are kindred spirits. We both worship the same god. We both want to walk out of this night alive. In another lifetime we could have been friends.”

The Rabbit shivered uncontrollably as he walked toward Calsoon, “I don’t want to die. Promise me I won’t die.”

“Hush now, my friend. Allow me to sing you a soothing song; a song that will put your mind at ease in such a troublesome time as this.”

May the angels sing to you, my dear child

May they bring comfort to the king and the exiled

Let them come forth when you are helpless and scared

Let them give heart to the cowards and the unprepared

Until sunset, angels will fight until they must sleep

The assassin now stood before Calsoon swaying in the cool night breeze. He was calm, locked in Calsoon’s hypnotic gaze. Tears rolled down his cheeks. Somewhere deep inside, he knew he was in the deadly grasp of an adder. With a flash of steel and a cool slice, the assassin’s head bounced onto the ground.

“Until sunrise, in the darkness I shall reap,” Calsoon whispered, finishing the song. His eyes returned to a cold blue once more as he wiped his sword clean from the Rabbit’s blood.

Calsoon looked up at the stain-glass window that embellished the archway above the entrance’s keystone. It was decorated with an image of the All-Father. His eyes seemed to look saddened. Calsoon bowed to the decorative piece.

“Not everyone can be saved, my friend.”

***

A trail of blood made its way through the city hall’s courtyard and up its steps. Soldiers’ bodies lay crumpled on the ground, throats neatly slit. Through the lobby, guards leaned against the walls, daggers and arrows pinning them upright. Elucard, Avalon, and Timber made their way up the curling stairwell silently. Each step was measured so as not to burden the old wood with too much pressure. The last thing they needed was for the floor to creak, alerting their prey of their presence. Avalon reached the top floor and glided to the door. With her Silencer at the ready, she pulled the door open, but stopped short of rushing inside.

In front of her stood thirty soldiers armed to the teeth. A barrage of polearms thrust forth with surprising speed. Avalon was caught off guard as one of the iron spades pierced her shoulder. She leapt backwards, nearly stumbling down the stairs. Elucard grabbed her by the coat to keep her stable. Timber fired several arrows in rapid succession, trying to cover the retreat of her companions, but the platoon of soldiers barreled through the storm of arrows and forced the trio down the stairs.

Elucard pushed Avalon against the banister on the lower part of the stairs just long enough to examine her wound.

“I’ll be fine, do you have any blistercloth?” Avalon winced as she flexed her sword hand. The pain would be too much of a burden, so she opted to use her left hand instead.

“I’m pretty sure Essie would kill me if I had blistercloth,” Elucard said jokingly as he ripped off a piece of his red cloak and wrapped it tightly around Avalon’s wound.

“Will you two stop bantering? I’m dangerously low on arrows here!” Timber yelled. Her arrows flew wildly at any solider that dared make his way around the bend.

“Master,” a familiar voice called from on top of the stairs, “did you really think Legion wouldn’t have thought that you and your little Red Rabbits would come and take our commander this night? The final night before the great King Koda’s historic surrender? You disappoint me.”

Elucard narrowed his eyes and made his way to charge back up the stairway, but was caught by Avalon.

“Don’t be so foolish, Elucard. He’s toying with us. He wants us to be on his territory. Let us make our way back outside and figure out a way to out maneuver him. Don’t play into his hand!” She could feel the hatred seething off the young elf.

“You’re right,” Elucard said, nodding to Timber to follow him and Avalon as they ran to the city hall’s exit.

As the trio barged out into the courtyard, it became exceedingly clear that they had just walked into the actual trap that Inle had set. Forty guards quickly swarmed them while the others closed in behind them. Commander Unrick and his lieutenant waltzed up to the defeated squad as they were having their weapons confiscated.

“So, dis es how Koda dinks he can vin dis battle?” The lieutenant scoffed as he lifted the chin of a furious Avalon, “By sending his biggest failures to assassinate you, my commander?”

Avalon clenched her teeth and palmed a dagger beneath her sleeve. In a flash, she took the officer by his head and sliced his throat open. The lieutenant gurgled blood as he lurched awkwardly toward Unrick before collapsing in a bubbling and bleeding mess at his boots.

“You vill be de first to die, girl!” Unrick shouted. He snapped his fingers to have a soldier move forward, but a shadowed figure stepped between him and Avalon.

“Commander, my clan will pay your Div’Rah handsomely to keep these three as our prisoners,” said Legion as he eyed Elucard. Elucard glowered at the sight of his former master.

Unrick gazed at the three would-be assassins and thought for a long moment, “Very vell. Take dem to the prison tower.”

Calsoon watched from above, hidden in shadows of the rooftops as his companions were ushered forward, unable to help them.