We stopped at the height of a cliff, beyond the river and beyond the gates of the city. A little ways off to the side of the city where the sands were almost pearly white, shavings of the mountain itself. Here we looked on, at a little flat land, where high-grown hedges grew like towers along the flourished boundary-walls of the estate. Estate. Castle. Fortress. A giant block of green and yellow walls, red and white insignias etched in the stone. Long gates with guards who wore even longer faces. Patrols around the perimeter, ruthless. I stooped and bit my nails. One of my hands rubbed the pommel of my blades.

“You’re the one who wanted to wait for him.” Lowell said.

“Shut up.”

“How the hell are we getting in?” He asked.

Kal and Edwin looked at each other and shrugged. Lowell shook his head, his long pony tail drifting side by side. Blond brothers, this one more youthful and excited.

“We’ll have to break in.” I said.

“So we’re killing the guards.” Lowell asked.

“Not necessarily, but it won’t be pretty.” I said. “We’re going to have to hit hard and fast.”

“You’re going to fight them all?”

“Not all.” I said. “We’re doing this. Sneaky, no witnesses.”

I looked back, to Kal.

“That means you can’t really join, buddy.” I said. “But you’ll be our get away. Go back to the city. Get a cart.”

“Get a cart?” Kal asked.

I threw him a bag of silver. He clutched it and opened the pouch, then he ran his finger through the coins.

“This isn’t enough.” He said.

“Figure something out. Would ya?” I asked. “Go bribe someone. Go steal it for all I care.”

“Well…when am I supposed to come?” He asked.

“Thirty minutes.” I said. I pointed up, to the city, in the corner where a burning watch tower glared with fire at its tip-top. Dwindling, angled wild against the occasional gust. “The time it takes for that fire to change. Start coming up.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me. You’re starting to sound like that crazy old man now.” Kal said.

“Lowell. Edwin. Let’s go.” I said. “Venryr’s the main target.”

“Uh uh.” Edwin said.

They shook their heads, both brothers looking at each other. One sighing, the other smiling; shrugging his shoulders.

We hung low, hiding behind stones decorating the surrounding, beyond the ferns. The dark so thick that not even the estate torches could spot us. We came up to the gate and stuck close to it. I put my palm and felt the surface. Too smooth. I looked to Lowell and ran my pointer finger in circles.

Lowell nodded and took out a hook and rope. He spun it in his hand and looked up. A guard walked casually, sighing and putting his arm against the rail. He turned around, still snoring. The guard took out a little tin and held his glove with his teeth. With the open hand, he picked and rubbed black snuff from the tin. His hand went thick in the murk, black stained and grotesque like he’d just reached into a gutter and plucked whatever the city had dumped. He put the black stuff in the back of his teeth and masticated, the drool darkened with his tobacco.

The tin fell. He cursed and chased after it as it rolled on the floor. Lowell shot out his hook and it plopped and scratched against the stone. I started up, running up the wall.

“What the fuck was that?” The guard asked. He turned around, putting his tin in his pockets and squinted. He picked up a torch and walked up to where the scratching noise had been. He got close. And that’s when I grabbed him by his armor and pulled at him. I yanked him against the wall, his head slamming against the rock. Once. Twice.

He went dizzy and fell. Landing face first, his body shaking along the floor. I climbed and stomped on his head. Out. Not quite dead. As close as any man could get, though.

“We’re moving.” I said. I went along the wall, checked around and below, watching the moving torches of the other guards wandering about.

We ran down some steps to the rear, following the walls as we ran. We came to the bottom floor, upon the beautiful hedge-line that spanned the perimeter of the estate. You wouldn’t even see it as anything else but beautiful, ignore the guards and all it would have appeared to be is a paradise. Long pools with cool waters, floor-covered with azure gems. The colors waved and formed lights against the white stone walls. Gentle yellow sunstone in giant slabs formed paths in between gardens, in between lush lawns. We hung low and walked through. I choked out two guards along the way before we had come to the house proper, and opened the door. There were no lights, no real presence of anything.

“Lowell. Edwin, we’re going to split. Look around.” I said. “Watch the top floors, I’ll check the bottom.”

They nodded. We split. They ran up some steps, I continued my way through the rear door and into the kitchen area. An old woman labored over a bucket of water, she yawned and scrubbed a pot with steel wool. She set it up on an overhead rack. I braced against the wall and waited for her, watching her walk past me and into the living room. Down the hall. Through more doors. Past showers. The floor was smooth and cool, concrete and gray. The walls were lined with mount heads. With masks. With weapons. With artifacts bizarre. A boar, white haired at its ears, stared me in the eyes. It’s fangs bare and yellowed.

My shoulders couldn’t help but shake. It was down the hall from this pig head that I came to the guarded room. Two of them, specifically, protecting a steel door with a golden knob. Candle lights by their sides. I edged myself along the wall and looked around the corner, narrowing my eyes.

Underneath the door frame was the movement of shadows, some moaning. Crying. Loud bangs and pops and bed creaks. I felt my stomach turn.

I looked to the light sources, just candles, a low hanging chandelier. The hall was narrow with only one door at its end and I figured there was no capacity to be sneaky, to even try.

Instead I bolted.

They flinched and reached for their swords. I threw my knee to the first man, coming off a spring, my whole body weight clashing into his face. He hit the wall and his head bounced against the floor. The other got a punch. I grabbed his blade hand and removed his helmet and slammed his skull over and over with it.

The sounds stopped in the room, now it was a gasp. Still screams.

I opened the door and looked.

Venryr. With the two children with dead stares, tears along their cheeks. They laid underneath the covers, barely propping their heads from small gaps.

“Wha-who the hell are you?” Venryr said.

I grit my teeth. I was supposed to capture him. Threaten him. Get him out. But- But-

I saw the children. The light of a bedside candle came upon their faces. There was a sheen. Two long streaks where they had cried.

“Guards. Guards!” Venryr screamed.

I walked over and raised my knife and I stabbed him through the neck. I brought him close to me and clenched my teeth and stared at him, watching that moment where his eyes dilated. Where the blood left his rosy cheeks and pointy nose. Waiting for him to finally fucking die.

This was never the plan.