Chapter 4:

The Gray Mouser was clinging to the blackest shadows as he quietly slipped down a dark alley in the Temple District. He was headed generally south toward home using only the light of the stars above to allow him to track his course down the alley.

He was a bit frustrated that he hadn't found his old boots or his necklace, but he figured he'd make enough from this haul that he'd be able to repay Fafhrd the money he'd borrowed, pay his share of the overdue rent, and maybe buy a new necklace medallion. It was then as he was thinking of a new design that he heard an out-of-place noise.

It was a gentle thrum that he immediately associated with the sound of a taut bowstring being plucked. He froze and searched his surroundings as carefully as he could in the darkness with his eyes, ears, and nose.

At first, he thought he heard a hesitant breath, but he wasn't sure until the breather moved ever-so-slightly. The man was less than ten feet ahead of him on the right side of the alley, hugged tight against the side of a building.

The Mouser was considering his options when the thrum happened again. This time, however, the silence was broken by a sharp "Shhh!" from just a few feet away on the other side of the alley. Another figure slowly resolved into view as it moved and whispered, barely audibly, "Be quiet! They'll be here any time now."

Just as the second shadow finished his comment, the Mouser heard the sound of marching and then the faintest sign of light coming from around a bend just ahead.

~F&tGM~

She wasn't sure what it was but the sound of thuds followed by sharp cries alerted Princess Altennia to the fact that something wasn't right outside her palanquin. She started to draw back the curtain only to have Mistress Sherena gently swat her hand away. "Careful, Princess! Keep the cover closed where we'll be safe."

Altennia shook her head as she replied, "Mistress Sherena, if you think this cloth covering can keep us safe if there's danger, you're crazy. Personally, I much prefer to depend on the good men of our escort." With a determined look, she reached out and drew back the curtain.

The porters were standing still but appeared to be in fear for their lives. As indentured servants promised their freedom for a defined length of service, they would be sold into permanent slavery in the galleys if they failed to fulfill their contract. That threat kept them rooted in place.

Altennia looked back to see both of the rear torches on the ground next to two of her escort soldiers, with two others standing with spears before them as if ready to face an opponent. They were calling for the captain as they sought in vain for their enemies.

She glanced back to the front to see the captain and two guards running toward her as another sickening "Thuck" sound came from the rear. She turned back once more to see the one on the left starting to pitch to the side; it was then that she saw the glint of an arrowhead sticking out the back of his neck.

"Princess! Stay inside!" ordered Captain Delmar as he squeezed by the palanquin with his sword in his hand going back to assist his troops.

~F&tGM~

It happened quickly and was obviously well planned. Following the initial attack on the rear, the man who appeared to be the leader ordered the front two men to guard the forefront, with the others turning to follow him to help with the fight behind the palanquin.

As soon as this occurred, the front soldiers lowered their spears to guard against anything approaching from the front.

With the torchlight backlighting the men before him, the Gray Mouser now saw that there were actually four men in the forward ambuscade and that they were drawing arrows to cut down the remaining troops. With the torch near them, the escort soldiers could not see more than a few feet while the light made them perfect targets for the assassins.

The Mouser had dealt with death and destruction in the streets of Lankhmar for most of the time since his early childhood, so he had no qualms about seeing it happen here. However, he had something of a sense of fairness that he'd learned from Fafhrd, Glavas Rho, and, to a degree, Sheelba of the Eyeless Face. Seeing these soldiers die without warning or even a chance to defend themselves rubbed him the wrong way.

Pulling Cat's Claw as he silently stepped forward, he drove its point up and into the noisy assassin's heart before the man knew what had happened. Pushing him against the wall, the Mouser drew Scalpel as he stepped across the narrow alley at the rear man on the far side.

This assassin heard something from his noisy companion and started to turn to see, but it was too late. The Mouser made a precise slash just under the nearly drawn arrow, cutting through the bowstring and then immediately thereafter, the man's throat. Kicking him backward and out of the way, the thief turned toward the two kneeling archers in the front.

He was too late as he saw both arrows fly. One sunk into the left guard's chest while the second just missed the sergeant and hit the front right porter in the arm. That unfortunate man cried out in pain and the Mouser added to the commotion by calling out, "Guard! Ambush! Charge forward to engage or you'll die!"

~F&tGM~

Hearing fighting to the front as well as to the rear, Mistress Sherena drew back the curtain and screamed at the palanquin bearers, "Don't just stand there, you idiots! Run!"

The poor porters were well trained to follow orders, but typically those of an authority and not a hysterical passenger. With fighting in both directions, they remained where they were, though one did push the woman's head back inside and close the curtain behind her.

~F&tGM~

The forward sergeant must have had the same idea for he tossed the last torch forward, exposing the two assassins rising from their kneeling positions just as the Mouser shouted. He lowered his spear and charged forward to engage the archer on his side.

The Mouser considered leaving at this point since it seemed to be approaching a fair fight, but the front assassin on his side of the street had other ideas. Pulling a long, sharp sword as he rose, he tossed the bow and turned back toward the thief.

"You'll be sorry you interfered in our business, little man!" His sword darted out toward the Mouser, who met and deflected it with his own. Quickly thrusting and slashing, stabbing and cutting, the obviously well-trained assassin drove forward unmercifully, pushing the thief back, back, back.

When they were back far enough that the Mouser felt the man would have become a little overconfident and it would be more difficult for the man to see him as well with the dim torchlight well to his rear, he redrew Cat's Claw with his left hand, planted a foot as he parried, and with a couple of deft moves of his sword, moved inside the assassin's guard, thrusting the dagger into the man's torso and then twisting it to bring the man down. The dim reflection in the dying man's eyes briefly showed disbelief before they started to glaze over, seeing no more, not even the briefly arched eyebrows and little shrug from the man he'd been so disdainful of only moments before.

The sergeant just a few feet ahead seemed to be well matched with his opponent, so with the odds evened out once more, the Mouser decided it was time to leave to let nature takes it course. However, as he was about to turn away, he heard a woman in the palanquin scream.

~F&tGM~