Avoiding being spotted by the guards on the walls was easy, but actually getting deeper into the noypeyyoyjh site while doing so was considerably more difficult. Even though the number of guards was low due to the ants making up for their lack of detection coverage, the actual patrol paths of the guards appeared to be carefully calculated to ensure that it was nearly impossible to go more than a hundred meters without bumping into someone. Additionally, certain sections of the walls were actually being illuminated by reflective metal dishes, carefully angled to not touch the battlements but cast light into the faces of passersby, making them highly visible from below.

We had to kill two more guards to get from the outer ring into the middle ring. The first one didn’t see the attack coming and was dead before he hit the ground, but the second one was actually just about to call out after having spotted Vaozey when Koyl shot him through the neck. As he tried to choke out some words, blood spurted over the edge of the battlements into the street below, thankfully not hitting anyone. A moment later I had him on the ground while Vaozey monitored the situation, ready to tell me if anyone else had noticed the commotion.

“This is why I told you to stay low,” I hissed, cooking the guard’s skull and pulling him off of the crossing into the second ring.

“You can’t seytoydh stay low in armor like this,” Vaozey growled back. Koyl was also jogging over, making enough noise that I was worried about the people below hearing him.

“Did anyone see him fall?” he asked.

“No,” Vaozey said, peeking over the side of the battlements. “Blood’s already been walked over, nobody saw it.”

“Good, but I think they might have noticed one of the others is missing,” Koyl said, gesturing behind him. In the extremely low light, it was hard to tell exactly what was going on, but two other guards were standing nearby where we had climbed the wall and disposed of the first body. “This is giving me flashbacks to Vehrehr.”

“Don’t have a freak-out rich boy,” Vaozey grunted. “We’re almost halfway there.”

“How are we getting out though?” Koyl growled.

“If you’re afraid, just leave,” Vaozey hissed back.

“Enough talking,” I said. “There are three reflector lights up ahead, there, there, and there.” I pointed out the three spots that I had noticed where guards who walked by were briefly illuminated. “Koyl, stay here while we approach, shoot anyone who spots us like you just did. Vaozey, stay low. I don’t care if you have to crawl, do not get spotted. Once we cross, we’ll be going left-” As I glanced along the path I was announcing, I realized that there was actually a guard sitting in the parapet along it, talking to a group of people in the streets below.

“What’s the issue?” Vaozey asked.

“I didn’t see that guy at first,” I replied. “He must have been hunched over.”

“It’s just one guy,” Vaozey replied.

“It doesn’t matter,” I sighed. “He’s talking to a group of civilians, we can’t kill him while their eyes are on him unless we have to start a panic.” Looking back, I saw reflected light shine onto another one of the outer ring guards who was slowly strolling in our direction. He didn’t appear to have noticed us because he was still about a hundred and fifty meters away, but if he chose to cross to the middle ring we would have no way to avoid him.

“Shoot that guard,” I ordered Koyl, pointing to the guard. “In the head this time.”

“I can’t just-” Koyl began to protest.

“You just did it,” I growled. “You shot this one in the neck, just shoot him.”

“I didn’t hit him in the neck intentionally,” Koyl replied. “I can’t make a shot like that intentionally from this distance, nobody can. We’d have to wait until he gets a bit closer.” Inhaling sharply through my teeth, I realized he was probably right. The tolerances that the crossbow was built to weren’t precise enough to allow for sharpshooting outside of maybe fifty meters. The same issue presented itself with the bolts as well, so magically launching them wasn’t necessarily a solution.

“Okay, wait here and keep an eye on him, follow behind us once there’s a good distance, and shoot him if he gets too close,” I said, picking up two bolts from the guard’s corpse and handing his crossbow to Vaozey.

“Have you finally decided to fight properly?” Vaozey asked, following me as I began crouch-walking counterclockwise along the wall.

“We’re going to kill the group of three over there,” I said, hovering one of the bolts along my forearm.

“Why not the chatty one?” Vaozey asked.

“If we wait for him to shut up, we might be waiting all night,” I said, gesturing to the five Rehvite civilians in the street who were making casual conversation with the young man. “Those three, meanwhile, aren’t being observed by anyone.”

“Yeah, because they’re looking for people like us,” Vaozey hissed.

“How close would you need to be to shoot one of them accurately?” I asked her.

“I don’t know,” Vaozey said, awkwardly leveling the crossbow towards the group of guards. “I don’t really use these things very well, in case my hunting wasn’t enough indication.”

“Then hand me the last bolt and make a distraction,” I said, grabbing the crossbow from her and removing its ammunition. “As quietly as possible, try not to alert anyone else.” Vaozey glared at me with a powerful mixture of frustrated emotions, but then sighed and stood up straight. Though we were thirty meters away, one of the three guards noticed her quickly. Vaozey, looking a bit stiff, began walking towards him, her hands free of weapons and her posture indicating no intent to fight.

“Disarm yourself, now,” the guard demanded, leveling his crossbow at her. Though his voice carried a bit, it didn’t appear that any other guards beyond those in his group took much notice of it.

“I’m not here to cause trouble,” Vaozey said, showing her palms but keeping her hands low. “Some detested are going to attack this fortress later tonight, from the north. I’ve come to warn you.”

“Ngiyvdoym,” the speaking guard spat, lowering his weapon and marching up to Vaozey while the two behind him took aim. Meanwhile, I waited for one of them to step forward so that I could shoot whoever ended up in the rear with the bolt I was charging up with electricity.

“They hired me, but they’re crazy,” Vaozey improvised. “They want to kill regular people, not warriors. They’re bringing barrels of oil to set fire to this place.”

“How did you get in here?” the front guard demanded. “Zhihl, go report this immediately.” At his request, one of the pair who was with him turned around and began to move inward. After she took about ten steps, I shot the charged bolt, striking her in the back and causing her to crumple to the ground. Time seemed to stop for a moment as I waited for her partner to turn around in response to the noise, but it seemed that he didn’t hear her fall. I began charging the second bolt as quickly as possible while Vaozey tried her best to keep the conversation going.

“We have repellent for the ants,” she explained. Another bolt flew from atop my arm, sinking into the eye of the second guard and likely killing them instantly. Unfortunately, the lead guard noticed either the noise or the motion as the bolt passed him by, and turned just in time to see his ally fall. He didn’t get a chance to yell though, because Vaozey shoulder-tackled him to the ground as soon as he looked away, then shoved one of her hands in his mouth to keep him quiet. By the time I had walked over to her, she had already finished killing him with heat magic.

“Let’s go before someone notices they’re gone,” I said, grabbing a few more bolts from the ground as I passed by. Looking back, I saw Koyl slowly moving in our direction, trying to stay out of the sightline of the guard who was now crossing from the outer ring to the middle ring. Our own path to the inner ring was mostly unobstructed, but we still had to walk along about one hundred meters of middle ring circumference before we would be able to reach the next unobstructed crossing. This is going fairly well, I thought, we’re half a kilometer from the end goal, and once we’re in the inner ring we can just descend and run the last hundred and fifty meters.

The sound of a piercing whistle cut through my hopes for the near future and sent me to the ground for visual cover. That came from our entry point, I knew immediately, peeking through the battlements to get some kind of visual on the situation. Another whistle sounded out, this time from the inner ring but further ahead of us, then one from the inner ring followed quickly after. Metal reflective dishes swept around, casting concentrated torch light along the walls more obviously than before, and making me duck back down to ground level.

“Can we please just fight them properly now?” Vaozey growled, crawling up beside me.

“YOU OVER THERE! STAY WHERE YOU ARE!” someone yelled, and a second later Koyl ducked down beside us. Idiot, I wanted to swear, but I kept silent.

“We need to run, now!” Koyl insisted.

“I agree,” Vaozey said, getting to her feet for a moment before ducking down with Koyl as a number of objects whipped overhead. “Seyt, there are at least fifty of them on the inner ring, where the seyt did they come from?”

“Doesn’t matter,” I said. “We’re going over the side, being up here just puts us in a shooting gallery.”

“You want to jump?” Koyl scoffed.

“Yes,” I said. “Land on your feet and don’t get knocked out, we don’t have time to carry you.” Without giving time for further argument, I went first, hopping through the parapet of the wall to my left and using force magic to grind my palm along the bricks behind me to slow my fall. The living area below us was shaped like three city blocks placed beside each other, so my landing point was going to put be right behind a two-story building that would provide plenty of cover. Some crossbow bolts clattered into the stone above me as I fell, but none found their mark before I was out of view.

Both of my ankles and knees broke on impact, the mass from the suit of armor greatly increasing my impact force, but healing magic had me on my feet just a second later. Vaozey impacted beside me, crumpling to the ground and cursing as her body knitted itself back together. Where’s Koyl? I wondered for just a moment before a loud crack rang out above us, and I looked up to see him dive off the wall, positioned completely wrong for any kind of soft landing. Scrambling to get under him, I held my arms out and used a magic detector to tell when he was in range, then slowed his descent as much as possible. The end result nearly crushed me, but we were both conscious once it was over.

“Sorry,” was the first thing Koyl managed to choke out once he caught his breath, disentangling himself from me while we got to our feet. “I think I got a few with the bomb.”

“Good,” Vaozey grunted.

“Doesn’t matter,” I said, drawing my sword. “Koyl, ready another grenade just in case, Vaozey you enter immediately after me.” Though they weren’t exactly well-trained, both of them seemed to understand my meaning, with Koyl pulling a grenade from his bandolier and Vaozey staying two steps behind me as I approached the back door of the building. Locked, I thought as I tried the knob, unsurprised. Taking a slight sip of magic booster to replenish my reserves, I shoved forward with all my weight, sending the door from its hinges.

“Die shahpeymoyt!” the man immediately behind the door yelled, running at me with a kitchen knife of some kind. I cleaved him through the chest, nearly bisecting him and spewing blood all over the room’s contents, including an old woman and child who were huddled in one of the corners, watching on with expressions of terror. Vaozey burst in just behind me, looking around for a moment, then locking her eyes on the pair of humans in the corner.

“Come on,” I prompted. “We need to move quickly before they shut any gates between the sections and we’re trapped here.” Throwing the table in the center of the room out of the way, I crossed to the front door, peeking out of it to check the street for guards. None, I thought with surprise, checking again just to be sure, are they all on the walls?

“Is it safe?” Koyl quavered, obviously trying to sound calm in spite of himself.

“Maybe,” I replied. “We’re crossing to the building on the left, make a straight line, and don’t deviate. Once we’re through there we do that one more time, cross another street, then we’re at the gate.” Shoving the door open, I broke into a sprint and heard bolts impacting the ground behind me. It only took about a second for me to cross the road and smash through the door to my target building, slicing through two more Rehvite civilian men who tried to draw knives on me, decapitating one and bisecting the other. Vaozey entered a second later, tearing a piece of the doorframe off as she tried to slow down.

“Seyt, how do you stop so easily?” she asked.

“Grip the ground,” I replied. “Where’s Koyl?”

“He’s coming,” Vaozey replied. I glanced back through the destroyed wooden door to see Koyl glancing nervously at the direction that the bolts were coming from. We locked eyes for a moment, then he put his head down and started running. Halfway across the road, two bolts struck him in the torso, penetrating the metal plate but not sinking deep. Still, it was enough to almost knock him off his feet, and he had to dive the last meter and slide along the ground into the house.

“I think they hit me,” he gasped.

“They did,” I said, grabbing the first bolt and pulling it out, prompting a pained groan from its victim. Doesn’t look like they’re poisoned, I thought. “Do you feel sick? Tired?”

“Not more than usual,” Koyl huffed, reaching for the second bolt and ripping it out. “Gods, that hurts.”

“What’s going on?” a female voice yawned from the floor above us, and light footsteps started to come down the stairs. The woman, a typical-looking Luwahriy in a nightgown of some sort, froze when she saw the two corpses and three bloody warriors in her home, then inhaled in preparation to scream. She never got the chance, as I launched my final crossbow bolt through her forehead, sending her to the ground. Vaozey scowled, and Koyl looked away, trying to find a point in the room to stare at that wasn’t covered in blood.

“Come on,” I said, crossing the building and kicking the rear door open to reveal another street, this time with a few civilians walking around on it. Unlike the ones whose homes we had broken into, the instant they realized who we were they began running away, screaming as loudly as they could. “Right building, weak door,” I said, pointing to my destination. “Follow me.”

“Wait,” Koyl shouted, grabbing my shoulder.

“What?” I snapped.

“Look there,” Koyl replied, pointing through the open window of the house at one of the walls. Ten Rehvite guards of a different variety were standing in a line, holding large bows fully drawn and waiting for us to emerge. “You can bet those will hit harder than the crossbows do.”

“They still won’t hit me,” I countered. “I wasn’t even moving at top speed last time.”

“Yeah, but what about me?” Koyl asked. “Even Vaozey isn’t as fast as you, what about her?” Gritting my teeth, I had to admit he had a point. Though I wanted to save my grenades if possible, I knew that this was a perfect opportunity to use one.

“I’ll take care of them,” I said, pulling a metal sphere from the bandolier around my waist. Standing near the doorway, I tried to entice the bowmen to shoot by waving my warm out in the open, but none of them took the bait. Fine, I thought, the hard way then. During the grenade testing in the woods, I had measured the timing of the fuses that we were using and knew that they took only about four-fifths of a second to go off. Not very long for a grenade, but since they were magic-activated it was possible to throw and light them at the same time.

As I dashed out of the door I lit the grenade that I had placed hear my left elbow and affixed with force magic. One and a half steps into my run, I heard bowstrings twanging, and kicked off of the ground to throw myself into the air in response. As the arrows flew beneath me, I knew that around half of the fuse had burned, and I pointed my left arm at the bowmen. Magic activated, and the grenade was launched as though it had been shot from a weapon, crossing the distance between us in almost exactly the amount of time the fuse had remaining. Just before my feet touched back down, an explosion shredded the bowmen, throwing three of them from the wall and making thick smoke that would obscure the vision of any who could potentially return fire.

“Go, now!” I yelled, continuing my sprint towards my target building. Just like the others, the wooden door splintered apart, though this time it revealed an empty room. Vaozey and Koyl both followed two seconds later, unharmed.

“Gods, that was insane,” Koyl huffed.

“We’re almost there,” I replied. “Don’t lose focus. Vaozey, make sure nobody comes down from upstairs while I check our route.” As I peered out the door I was expecting to have to duck back inside, as we were now quite close to the inner ring wall, but it seemed that none of the guards who had been on the wall were looking to shoot at us. In fact, the inner wall was nearly bare, with only a few human silhouettes visible against the night sky.

“Nobody’s in here,” Vaozey announced.

“We’re going right again,” I said. “It looks like the guards are repositioning so we have an opportunity to move. Koyl, keep a grenade out and be ready to throw it at the walls if this is some kind of trick.”

“We’re so dead,” Koyl murmured.

“How long are you going to need?” Vaozey asked.

“What?” I asked when I realized she was talking to me.

“At the noypeyyoyjh, how long are you going to need?” she asked. “I didn’t think we would, but we might actually get out of this alive, so how long are you going to need?” I have no idea, I thought.

“Don’t worry about that until we get there,” I said. “Now, let’s go before they get people out here to stop us.”

As I emerged into the street, I couldn’t help but feel that it was oddly calm when compared to the previous ones. There was no hail of bolts or arrows, no secret attack with explosives, just people fearfully glancing through their window shutters and rushing to find cover in alleys. I proceeded at a running pace to allow Koyl and Vaozey to stay nearby, anxiously waiting for whatever ambush was waiting to be sprung. When we arrived at the gate to the inner area, we found it open, as if to invite us inside. The noypeyyoyjh sat just under two hundred meters away, visible through the gate’s archway and apparently unguarded, tempting me to break into a run to reach it.

“Come now jhaoyeyl, approach your goal,” a familiar voice inside the inner circle taunted, and a figure walked into my field of vision. Just like the last time I had seen him, the man before me wore dark robes and a mask whose purpose I now knew, as I was wearing a near-identical one underneath my helmet. Handle-less knives floated around his arms and above his shoulders, their feather-like shape thinner and sleeker than the last time I had seen them. My left hand instinctively reached for my knife, and I took a step back.

“Who the seyt is that?” Vaozey growled.

“The assassin from Kahvahrniydah,” I replied.

“Assassin?” the man laughed. “Surely you project. I will admit, however, that we were not properly introduced during our previous encounter. I am R’vaajh Tahyn, head warrior of Rehv’s holy eastern temple-” Before the assassin could finish his sentence, I saw something fly over my shoulder at him. Without even moving a muscle, the assassin grabbed Koyl’s grenade and threw it upwards with force magic, then formed his blades into a shield above his head before it exploded. The ground around him was peppered with holes, but he was unharmed. “That was quite rude,” the assassin remarked.

“That seytoydh ngaazmayjh killed my mother,” Koyl seethed behind me, gritting his teeth so tightly that I could hear them squeak.

“Ah, the Zae’ey’yaob boy,” the assassin said, apparently hearing him even though his eardrums should have been ruptured. “Good, good. You’ve saved us plenty of time hunting you down. Though, to correct you, it was a student of mine who killed your mother, not me. Now, enough delays. None of you are leaving here alive, so act according to your natures and provide some entertainment during your struggle.”

“Fine,” I said, tossing the knife I had been charging up at the assassin. For seemingly no reason other than showmanship, he allowed it to sink into his chest, then made an exaggerated shrugging gesture and forced it out with magic, allowing it to clatter to the ground uselessly.

“You didn’t really think the same trick would work twice, did you?” he laughed.

“It’s not my only trick,” I said, reaching for a grenade.

“I think you’ll find that I’ve learned a few new ones as well, thanks to you,” the assassin said, and as if to punctuate his point, dozens of bolts of electricity snapped and arced between his floating knives. “Now, jhaoyeyl, it’s time for the rematch.”