Prologue
"Hold the line!" Commander Raoul of Goldenlake shouted over the screams of dying men and the clashing of metal against metal. Third company, Lady Alanna and hundreds of soldiers had been marching up to Fort Giantkiller the second to assist Lord Wyldon in a big battle that Daine and Georges spies had picked up, heading towards Fort Giantkiller. But just as they were about to approach the crossover that lead them towards the fort they were ambushed by a huge Scanra army, led by the cruel King Maggur himself. Despite the advances of the enormous Scanra army, third company and the soldiers lead by Alanna were doing a good job holding them off. However, Raoul had lost three men and he could tell that the soldiers they were fighting were green. Sergeant Domitan cut down the last of the enemy and ordered his men who had shifted a little out of position back into formation. Everyman held their shields up for the next attack, as they stared up at the King and the thousands of men that stood behind him; swords out and ready. No one moved a muscle when silence descended upon the battle field. The only movement and sound that was being made came from King Maggur laughing and clapping his hands, echoing across the area.
"Well done!" King Maggur cried out with joy, as he stood tall a proud on his stallion. He would if been considered a handsome man, if the cold spark didn't glitter in his dark eyes or the scar that ran along firm face, giving him a monstrous look. All of the Tortall army shot him dirty looks but didn't from their positions. "What a performance. In fact I'm so impressed I might let you live if you join my side." He sneered down on the fierce warriors that stood before him.
"Over our dead bodies you sick bastard!" The Lioness hissed back, unable to control her boiling temper any more. The King glared back at the red headed woman with the infamous temper to match it. All of the subjects that stood surrounding King Maggur flinched at his glare but Lady Alanna stood unmoved, like a mountain trying to be blown down by wind with no success.
"Have it your way then." The warlord smirked back, rising his arm into the air to signal another attack, suddenly his hand froze. Time stood still. No one could move a muscle until King Maggur fell sideways off his horse with an arrow sticking out of his eye. Chaos erupted, as shouts cried out from the Scanra soldiers. More arrows flew from above as the hooded archer continued to shoot the enemy down. The Scanra's were so confused without their King (that had just been assassinated) they forgot about the Tortall army, giving the Tortall's a chance to take their enemy down. It took a couple of minutes for the Scanra's to finally make the decision to run for it while the Tortall's tore their army apart. They Tirtall's let them go, as they already had too many injured men that needed medical attention. Alanna took charge of getting the wounded back together, while Raoul went off to take care of the dead. He arranged to groups of men to collect the dead. The third group, which consisted of Raoul, Sergeant Domitan and two other soldiers went to search for King Maggers body. It didn't take long to find since King Maggurs armour shone beneath the bodies of soldiers that lay on top of him. Mithros! Raoul prayed when he examined the arrow. It was lodged into to his right eye and out just above his left ear. Whoever the archer was they were good; really good. He looked over to the direction where the hooded figure had been standing to find out they had disappeared. Raoul nodded towards Domitan and pointed to where he had just been looking. Dom nodded nd gathered up his horse to search for the missing archer, while Raoul and the other two men carried King Maggurs body away.
The council members sat around the table, listening to Lord Raoul and Baroness Alanna describe the battle that had taken place half an hour ago. Everyone was shocked when they had arrived announcing King Maggurs was dead, no one believed it; until they saw the body themselves. Alanna was explaining the surprise ambush that had appeared out nowhere, the army had kept the enemy off with a few minor causalities. When King Maggurs was about to order another attack someone shot him in the eye. After that the Scanra's were clueless and were easily defeated. Raoul added that the archer was not found but left behind over one hundred bodies.
"Over one hundred!" Sir Myles of Olau cried out with everyone else's faces turning pale in agreement. Sure an archer could kill that amount of people but not in the amount of time that the two knights had just described.
"And still counting." Alanna pointed out, earning more gasps from the men around the table. The only people that hadn't made any movements were Raoul, Alanna and the King, who sat on the top end of the table with his head in his hands like he always did when he was in deep thought.
"Do you think this archer will come forward?" The King asked suddenly, breaking the silence that had covered the room.
"I don't think so, since they would have stayed if they wanted to be known." Raoul replied, earning a nod from his friend. Jonathan suddenly stood and walked over to the open window and stared out of it.
"So, how do we tell Tortall that we don't know who killed King Maggur?"