Chapter Eighteen
"I understand, then we shall continue." Grandfather says, smiling a bit.
"The Assassin stood up, without a further word, and simply stared down at his remaining enemies who were now charging full speed up the stairs to rush in and kill him. The King and the Princess retreated a bit, away from the impending melee.
Just then, something rather strange happened. Sir Otto, the first to rush up the dais, arched his greatsword in a huge chop of death directly over the Assassin's head. But the Assassin didn't even move! Not an inch." "What!?" the boy asks excitedly. "Just wait, here's the good part." grandfather says, and continues. "Sir Otto's sword hit it's mark, chopping all the way down to the Assassin's head, and his sword simply cut through him! As if cutting through a ghost!
With the power of his chop overextending himself, Sir Otto followed through with the chop, all the way to the floor, and promptly fell through the illusion of the Assassin, falling on his face next to the throne.
Lady Sandwind wasn't far behind Sir Otto in his charge, and she too didn't realize the mistake she had made until after she tumbled down atop Sir Otto, in a heap of plate mail, sword, helmets, and shields." Grandfather and the boy get a good laugh at this image, and Grandfather continues.
"The General and his Warlords stopped after seeing this, and suddenly began to look around, realizing too late that they were indeed in great peril, for the Assassin had counted on all of them to be too intent on killing him and pent up with rage to disbelieve his well-placed illusion, and had taken care to be in the right place at the right time, on the dais stairs, just behind the Warlords and the General.
Without a sound, the Assassin melted into view, his invisibility spell expended, as he cleanly dispatched the first Warlord with a vicious stab to his neck before the man could even turn around.
With only two opponents left, the Shadow Spinner came in, full speed, with his second dagger, lifting the man's sword arm up with his free hand before he could swing, and rammed the dagger to the hilt into the man's exposed armpit.
That left only the General, the most dangerous of the three, and a seemingly unarmed Assassin. He brought his great longsword to bear against the Assassin, cautiously striking and slashing, forcing the Assassin back down the stairs, into the shadow of a stone column. A big mistake that would be the General's last, and one that the Assassin had counted on.
For the Shadow-Spinner is a being related in many ways to the shadows. He draws his power from them, and in turn, they help him. The second the Shadow-Spinner's foot touched the Shadow, he vanished!
The General, cautious about this attack, was surprised, but to his credit, not fooled. He immediately spun around and saw the attack coming in, a dagger full on toward where his neck would have been. For the Shadow-Spinner had re-materialized behind him in from the shadow of the next column up!
The General stepped back quickly, and in doing so, lost his balance on the stairs. The Assassin, needing no prompting at this opportunity, did something that would become legend. He threw his dagger, deliberately an inch or two to the right of the General's head.
Then, quicker than thought, the Assassin vanished again. The General never had a chance. For the Assassin was behind him again, but this time, he had caught his own dagger!" "Whoa!" the boy says loudly, excited. "No way!"
"Indeed" Grandfather says, smiling a full smile this time. "The Assassin had thrown the dagger at himself. Vanished into the Shadow plane, and re-materialized behind the General just in time to catch his dagger in mid-flight. After catching it, he did a quick spin, and impaled the dagger right into the General's throat!"
"All the way to the hilt? Gran-pa?" the boy asks, recognizing a pattern here.
"Yep. All the way to the hilt, my boy. It's actually a favorite saying among Assassin's. They say "To the Hilt", meaning, "Go all the way, or don't bother going." It's a pact, one that Assassin's make to show how loyal they are to their profession. Even though they could get caught, killed, or tortured." Grandfather explains, happy to relate another lesson.