The underground tunnel was dark and musty. But to Laban's great pleasure there were no rats. They were hurrying but tried to take make as few sounds as possible, for they didn't know who could possibly hear them. After a few minutes they arrived another small gate, a simple, but fully unharmed wooden door. The former palace guard tried the knob, and the door swung open with a slight creaking sound. They entered a dark basement room with shelves full of food and drink - they had come to the pantry. The door was shut, and Brendan pressed his ear against it. "Nothing!", he said and opened the door as careful as he could. He spied through the door crack into a hallway that led to some stairs that ended at a larger door. Brendan sneaked forward, not waiting for his fellow warriors, and again listened closely at the door. "Nothing!", he whispered again. The soldier said: "Behind that comes another corridor leading to a small stairway that winds up the watchtower until it ends in the king's room. We have to past the soldier's dormitory and have to be very careful!" Laban and Coran looked at each other and nodded. Laban said: "Let's get this done!"

Brendan again opened the door and spied into the corridor. He grew nervous. Why the fuck was nothing to be seen or heard? They moved forward and came to the door of the dormitory. Again, Brendan listened closely. Now he heard something! Many men were snoring and breathing loudly, one man was talking in his dreams. Beds were squeaking. Brendan looked at Laban. "We could end this now and slit their throats or just burn them alive. The garrison is made of thick stone and will only burn on the inside." Laban was conflicted and looked at Coran who was staring into the dark. "Coran, how many men can normally sleep in the dormitory. And do you know where in the palace the other warriors could be?"

"If I must estimate I would say that there are 25 men in the dormitory. As far as our intelligence know had many warriors and especially their leaders taken room in the palace." He spit to the ground. "They are fouling our palace!" Coran's face darkened: "Although I hate myself for saying this: Let's bring this behind us. When we burn the warriors, the fire will spread slowly. That gives us time to slay the chieftain, and the other warriors will be dragged out of the palace from the fire and our deeds. We will kill two birds with one stone!" Coran looked at his men: "This is war, and war has its own rules. They didn't spare us, so we will have our revenge. Morgan, Lagarde, get some stuff, set fire and bar the door and then follow us up the stairway!" Coran hit his chest in a warrior-like style, turned away and followed the corridor. Morgan and Lagarde nodded grimly and began their killing work. Brendan smiled in content. Reza, Mabon and Dil-Shad said and did nothing. Especially the sorcerer and the woman were afraid that all of that could take a bad end.

Only two minutes later the commando arrived at the door behind that the king's rooms were to be found. Laban and Coran conferred. "We will take the king's rooms and slay the chieftain and his guards. Then we wait some minutes until we can see the fire from the garrison. Then we hurl the corpses out of the window into the inner yard before the garrison and wait what will happen. That really would be a stroke of bad luck if they didn't bolt. Usually, our friends shut have taken the harbor by now and burned some of the ships. Let's use momentum!"

Brendan opened the door as silent as he could. They looked into a splendid room with rich furniture and a large canopy bed equipped with richly ornamented cushions. Candles were burning brightly. In the bed a huge, fat bald man was sleeping, a grim sword was leaning against the bed. Armory was placed on a chair next to the bed. At the door, two guards were sleeping on chairs. Laban looked at Brendan and Reza. "Take them now. Coran, I would like to leave the pleasure of killing the king to you." Brendan and Reza sneaked off; Coran nodded. "Thank you, it will be my pleasure." His eyes flashed with hatred. "So much to your high nobility. You are as crooked as we are", thought Laban while Brendan and Reza were killing the guards and Coran had reached the bed. The warrior drew oneself up to one's full height, murmured something that sounded like "revenge" and hit the head of the sleeping chieftain from above again and again. After the second hit the bed was soiled with blood and brains. After ten hits Coran breathed heavily and finished his massacre.

Suddenly Reza raised his arm and Brendan looked alarmed. "What's next to this room? We can hear something!"

The former palace guard, Janus, said: "It's another castle sentry. In the past we were guarding the king's rooms with four soldiers from this sentry."

Laban gave quick orders. "I will lure them into the room. Brendan, Reza, you take them out when they have entered the room. I will kill the first one. The others hide in the stairway." Reza and Brendan took place at the sides of the door each, Laban positioned himself off-center from Reza, his sword ready. He yelled something in this brutal language he talked with the guard when they had entered the city. To Brendan it sounded like a boar with a sore throat. Shortly after the door flung open and five sloppy equipped warriors came rushing into the room. Before they could react, the warriors had slain them. The bodies crushed wide-eyed to the ground. "I told you, they are stupid as horseshit. Do you know of other king's guards forgetting their weapons when someone is yelling from their king's room in the middle of the night?" Brendan was right: Beside the one that had come in first, no warrior was carrying a weapon.

Coran came back in and looked out of the window. Flames were flickering from the window if the garrison, so could they strike with the second part of the plan. Laban, Reza and Coran put up the heavy body of the dead king and hurled him down into the inner court. Then, they started to make as much noise as they could. More and more windows were opened, warriors came running into the court, seeing the bloody mess. There was utter chaos. Some warriors tried to put out the blaze, others were eying the dead body of their king, other were seen leaving the court through the gate with piles of loot. A huge captain was yelling orders, but no one reacted, and ever more warriors fled the palace. Laban heard one crying: "To the ships!" The pack watched the spectacle interested from the above window, but no one recognised them. Brendan grinned: "As I said, stupid as horseshit."

"Let's see we get out here alive!", Laban ordered, and Coran said: "We have a problem. Our way out over the escape route is blocked. But we can take another path. Come on!" Coran was first in the hallway of the uppermost level of the palace and and led them to a balcony. "Above us is the roof of the palace. It's high, but it has several levels at the back. If we climb down and jump to the adjacent building, we should get into the city unseen. Follow me!" Mabon and Dil-Shad still didn't like it at all and felt useless. But they had no choice.

And so, they climbed while Brendan was trembling like a leaf. He suffered from vertigo what he would never admit, but Laban and Mabon knew about it. The sorcerer looked pitiful at his friend who held on for dear life on every projection on the wall with weak legs. “I hope that nothing happens. And foremost I hope the other warriors will not recognize it. They will make Brendan butt of jokes for the locals. And that wouldn’t be for good.” So, Mabon stuck close to Brendan and helped him as much as he could. Once a time, Brendan turned and gave Mabon a thankful smile.