Dere leapt from shadow to shadow, approaching the thing with each successive hop. It moved in the opposite direction, slowly patrolling the halls with a single-minded intensity. As it turned a corner, Dere dove into the shadows again, reappearing five or so feet behind it. Two steps forward and a quick flash of his sword sent the thing’s head tumbling away. The body, though, turned around and swung at Dere. Thankfully, he had been anticipating that reaction. He rolled under the slash and past the faceless man. Whirling around with sword in hand, he cut it in two, separating its legs and torso. As it flopped around on the ground, Dere walked up to the head and plunged his sword in the gap between the visor, finally killing it.

The things were everywhere, patrolling every hall, each as difficult to kill as the last. They were inhumanly alert as well. Even Dere, once the God of Shadows, struggled to avoid their detection. Were he himself, this wouldn’t be an issue, but he wasn’t.

He had made it up to the fifth floor, the second highest floor in the keep. As of yet, he’d found no sign of Marcella. Frustrated, he finished his loop of the floor and found the stairs up. He kept low as he strode up them, sticking to the wall and the shadow. When he reached the top, he peeked out around the corner.

This floor was smaller than the rest and actually had some signs of habitation. Carpeting padded the floor. Tapestries, old swords, and large windows adorned the walls. Two suits of armor lined up like an honor guard in front of a door at the end of the hall. Dere couldn’t spot any of the faceless men, but that set him more on edge than the alternative.

With quiet steps, he sidled along the wall towards the door. One step after another, each sense pushed to its limit. Eventually, he reached one of the windows and dashed between the beam of moonlight it let into the room. He leaned into the shadows on the other side, eyes darting around for a sign of someone, anyone who might have spotted him. Nothing. Nervous, Dere kept moving, trying to maintain a faster pace. Then, he heard it. Quiet and subtle but distinct, nonetheless. Metal scraping against stone. Operating on instinct alone, Dere dove to his right. One of the decorative swords that had previously adorned the wall flew above his head, missing him by mere inches and impaling the stone behind him.

Dere searched around, eyes frantically scanning the narrow hallway. Behind him, he heard a familiar noise. He drew his weapon and turned in time to bat another sword out of the air. It hit the ground with a clang and Dere kicked it away. Ears as alert as they ever had been, he listened desperately for the telltale sound of incoming death but it didn’t come. The blades remained inanimate. Instead, he heard the rustling of fabric. Ten or so yards in front of him, one of the tapestries moved. From behind it, an armored figure stepped out.

“I have to admit, I’m a little impressed. Had I not heard the commotion below, I would have never known you were here.” It was a woman of an age Dere couldn’t guess. Anywhere between thirty and fifty. Her hair and eyes were steel grey, and her features were sharper than the rusted blades on the wall.

“I’m sorry. Who are you?” Dere asked, body tensed to dodge at any time.

She laughed. It was hoarse and rough but not altogether unpleasant. “I could ask the same of you. I was expecting Markus.”

“Oh, he’s here too.”

“You’d sell him out like that?”

“He’s kind of the worst.”

She gave another full-throated chuckle. “Yeah, but he grows on you.” The smile slid from her face. “I’m sorry. You seem like a likable fellow, but I will have to kill you.”

“Then, why talk to me?”

She seemed to consider the question for a while. “It’s easier to kill people when you don’t know them, but doing so makes you feel less human.”

“Some would argue the opposite.”

A genuine smile crossed her worn face. “Maybe it’s just me.” She paused for a second. “What’s your name?”

“Sorry, can’t tell you that.”

“Fair enough. I am Simone, Blessed of Kiin.”

Dere didn’t bother to acknowledge her introduction. The conversation was over. They both knew it. Feet shuffling in tandem, they each prepared for the fight. Dere stood in the middle of the hall, resting on the balls of his feet, prepared to move at any time. She waited some yards away, eyeing him with an unnerving calm. Dere cracked his neck and grinned a challenge. Then, it began. She raised an arm and whispered a prayer. Three swords released from the walls and flew towards Dere. He deflected one to the side, contorted his body around another, and caught the handle of the third with his opposite hand. In a single motion, he whirled around and threw the caught blade straight at her. She didn’t even budge, the blade stopped in midair before it ever reached her. With a twist of her hand, she turned it around to use it against Dere, only to realize he no longer stood where he had been a moment before. He had disappeared. Unbeknownst to her, Dere had used the distraction, however minor, to dive into the nearest shadow. The easy confidence, which she had worn since she started talking suddenly faded. The fight suddenly became very real to her. Steel grey eyes scanned the hall, looking for her missing opponent. Then, Dere burst from a shadow behind her and leveled a precise slash at her left leg. She reacted surprisingly fast, channeling her power into the armor and stiffening the metal. Dere’s blade simply bounced off, leaving only a tiny scratch. Cursing, Dere darted back into the shadows before she could try and counterattack.

She searched the dim half-light of the shadows for him and nearly missed his next surprise. While she searched for Dere, a shadowy figure lunged at her from the darkness. Dere had split from his shadow when he disappeared. It had melded into the wall and attacked while she was distracted. Its blade managed to penetrate her unprepared chest armor. The shadowy weapon didn’t manage to get too deep. The armor of a Blessed of Kiin, god of metals, was never easy to pierce. However, it did draw blood. Simone grunted at the wound, the first she’d gotten in a long while.

“You have quite a few tricks up your sleeve.” She said, while she sent several of the discarded swords in the shadow’s direction. It dodged and weaved between them. As it did, Dere reappeared from another shadow and aimed a thrust at her head. Before it could land, however, a sword came soaring down and parried the attack. Dere dove backwards out of reach of the expected counterattack, but some sense within him, forged through millennia of combat, warned him of danger. On pure instinct, he held his sword above him, just in time to block a halberd swing from one of the suits of armor that had been flanking the door.

He heard her voice a little away. “I happen to have a few tricks as well.” Keeping up a constant stream of swears, Dere dodged another downward swing of the halberd. He whirled around the suit of armor and cut upward at its torso. His sword cut through well enough, but the suit of armor didn’t even seem to notice the gash he had torn in its chest. Unbothered, the knight swung at him again, but the swing was too slow and clumsy to catch an expecting Dere. He ducked under it and grabbed the halberd with his free hand. With all his strength he ripped the halberd out of the knight’s grasp. Another one of Simone's blades came flying towards him after he snatched the halberd, but Dere batted it aside with a casual flick of his sword. Using his left arm, he flipped the halberd and swung it at the knight’s legs. The force of his swing knocked it off balance and sent it tumbling to the floor.

Dere took advantage of the brief respite and looked to where Simone and his shadow fought back and forth, swords darting through the air. Fight was perhaps a generous term, all his shadow could do was dodge the swords as they swarmed. Dere charged in to help it. Before he could get there, he heard the familiar sound of metal scraping stone. Dere dropped to the ground as another sword hummed over his head. As it passed him, he touched the airborne blade’s shadow and absorbed it into himself.

The sword plunged into the stone wall and Dere sprang to his feet, closing the gap between himself and her. She saw him approach and sent three more blades in his direction. He weaved between the first two and caught the third. Like before, he flung it towards her. She caught it in mid-air without even looking at him, still preoccupied with his shadow. However, once again, Dere had never intended for the sword to reach her. He used the distraction to disappear into the shadows.

She swore and swiveled her head around to look for him, sending a few blades at his shadow to keep it at bay while she did. This time, she didn’t have to wait long. He reappeared behind her, almost immediately, and dashed towards her. However, this time, she had expected him to come from there. With a quick prayer, several blades flew towards his unarmored torso. Dere gathered his remaining strength and jumped both over them and over her. As he flew past her, he contorted his body in midair and held out his hand. From it, the shadow of the sword he had absorbed earlier launched at her exposed back. The attack surprised her enough that she couldn’t strengthen the metal in time. The sword pierced through, not fully, but enough to once again draw blood. She screamed and stumbled a few steps backward towards one of the windows.

Dere landed and twisted around to face her. Her grey eyes met his for a long second. Then, he sprinted towards her. She prayed and sent one last desperate blade to try and intercept him. Dere simply had to move his head a few inches to dodge it. As the sword flew harmlessly to his side, he gathered his sprint and jumped once more. This time, he brought his legs up in front of him and kicked her with all his might. Contact with the metal sent a reverberation through his entire body. He fell to the floor with a painful crash. She, though, was flung back by the force of Dere’s kick, straight towards the window. The weight of her armor broke the glass with ease. Unable to maintain her balance, she propelled through the shattered glass and careened downwards, straight to the ground sixty feet beneath her. He never saw her body hit the cold earth. He only heard the horrible clang and crack as it did.

Sore, Dere pushed himself up and away from the shattered glass. His shadow hovered a few feet away from him, awaiting his next command. He touched it, reabsorbing it into himself. It reappeared behind him, the moonlight giving it a clear outline. Tired from the use of his powers, he balanced on unsteady steps and tottered towards the door, past the now inanimate knight, wondering what or who might await him inside.