"Artemis Entreri. I trust you have learnt a great deal from Timothy. He is a good teacher and one of our best fighters. " Pasha Basadoni said as a greeting when Artemis entered his room.
Basadoni was sitting on a huge chair, which was finely carved and had a lot of pillows in it. He had a servant, a young woman, next to him who held a tray and was ready to serve wine to her pasha if he requested it. The room was luxurious and showed clearly how much wealth the Basadoni guild had. Most found it difficult not to look at the riches that the room had but Artemis only looked at them casually and then ignored them. Basadoni noticed this and was surprised, this young man was poor and this was surely the first time he saw anything this valuable. It was strange that all these riches didn't seem important to this man.
Pasha Basadoni was quite puzzled. He was a guild master and he always knew how to control his guild members, whether it was by promises or by intimidating. Something about this man showed that he could not be controlled that way.
"But a young man has a young heart and practice is only practice. " Basadoni continued and decided to act nice. Perhaps he could learn more about Artemis that way.
"There is a mage, Tores Andelyn. He is a former member of our guild but decided to leave us. He is a bad example for other members. And not only that, but he also stole a quite valuable spell book, which Val Arnelan wishes to be returned. Anyway, I'm sure you understand why I wish him dead."
Artemis could see why Basadoni wanted this man dead. It was a matter of pride. Basadoni could not accept this kind of behaviour and the reasons were obvious. But there was the theft also, and that was the more important thing in Artemis' mind. There is honour among thieves and it was not acceptable to steal from your own. For this reason Artemis accepted the task, but he told nothing of his thoughts to Basadoni. He didn't need to know the motives, only that the task would be done. Basadoni could not give that many other instructions but he told some trivial information about the man, Tores. Artemis could not care less but listened anyway, he had seen this mage before a few weeks earlier and that was enough for him.
The streets were dark and the townsfolk asleep. This was the time for the thieves and murderers, when nobody walked without a weapon. Artemis moved quickly from one roof to another. He jumped over the narrow streets and landed softly so that the people living under the roof could hear nothing at all. The roofs were the best way to move in Calimport and they were also safer than the streets. It was much more common to be killed by a thief who cut your throat in order to steal your money than to die from an arrow. After a few more roofs Artemis reached "Bad Ale", a tavern that served extremely good wines but terrible ale. Artemis entered the tavern.
The tavern was clean and small with round tables and dark corners. There were only five customers and of course the tavern keeper as well. This was a common tavern for mages. Not the best, but very popular.
"I don't want any trouble here." Tavern keeper started as Artemis made his way to the desk.
"And you will get none, if you can only answer a simple question. I'm looking for Tores Andelyn, have you seen him?" Artemis went straight to business. He didn't actually think that the tavern keeper would tell even if he knew something about the whereabouts of the man but Artemis was very good in reading peoples impressions and he thought that the tavern keeper would revile something by accident.
"I don't know that mage." The keeper answered a bit too fast and Artemis knew that this was a lie.
"I never said he was a mage." Artemis continued with a little smile.
The tavern keeper paused for a while, obviously thinking a way to explain his error.
"If you come here to ask for someone, it is clear that you are asking for a mage, since this is a tavern mainly for mages."
"It is odd that you do not know this mage. After all, it is commonly known that this is his favourite tavern. And besides, I saw him leaving this place yesterday. So why don't you tell me the truth and guide me to him." Artemis continued. He hadn't seen Tores leave the tavern and had just assumed that the man might have been here yesterday, and the look at the tavern keeper's face showed that the guess had been right.
The tavern keeper, Matthew, was a big middle-aged man. He understood that it would be bad for business if people started to talk that he couldn't shut his mouth when needed. On the other hand he didn't want to risk his own life, many of the assassins in Calimport had a bad temper and were always eager to use their swords. Matthew looked at this young man that had quite neatly caught him of a lie and saw a young assassin that probably wasn't strong enough to take out Tores. Especially since the man was alert. There was strength in this young man that puzzled Matthew, but after a moment Matthew thought that it would be best to stay out of this. He gave Artemis what he wanted.
A long while later Artemis had made his way to the hideout of his pray. The big mansion where Tores was hiding was located a few miles outside of town. High wall surrounded the mansion and there was only one gate. There were two guards there and they seemed to take their duties seriously. The gate was locked and there was no way one could break it. Artemis might have been able to pick the big lock but in order to do that he would have to kill the guards. Artemis had no idea how good fighters they were and he didn't take any chances, and he wished to stay unnoticed anyway.
The wall was easy to climb over. At least it was to Artemis who practically sprung over the wall by using his right leg to jump from the wall and then placing himself against the wall by grabbing the few lines that combined the stones together with his strong fingers. Artemis then easily climbed the rest of the wall, and only paused for a second to look down before he jumped. He landed softly to the yard unnoticed by the guards.
There were many doors in the mansion, and Artemis decided to use the main door. It was likely that there were some detection spells or some kind of protection in the others. The only trouble in using the main door was that it was directly in line with the main gate. The guards were looking outside but they might look behind them, though it was unlikely. Artemis decided to take a chance. He run to the door and picked the lock easily. Artemis didn't look at the guards at the gate, after all what use would it be. If they would notice him he would know it. Artemis opened the door a bit, only just enough to fit through it. He closed the door behind him and saw that there were ten men in the hall where he now entered. The men were all guards and they were sitting in a table and playing dice. They hadn't heard anything and didn't look at Artemis who pressed his back to a wall and slide to left until he reached the corner. The room was lighted with huge torches and had several dark spots where a stealthy man could hide. Artemis didn't stay in the corner for long; he had noticed that it was the first place where people tended to look when they suspected something. Artemis took few more silent steps and stopped next to statue. A place where peoples look tended to go for the statue, not for its shadow.
The mage had to be upstairs and the stairs were next to a wall on the opposite direction where the soldiers were. Good luck there again. Artemis waited for several minutes and was just about to make his way to upstairs when the two of the guards stood up and started towards the door. They were probably about to release their companions and star their turn as "gate guards". A while after the men had stepped out from the door Artemis continued to the stairs and gently ran the stairs up as silently as possible. The stairs had a carpet on them and it helped Artemis since it took away some sounds. At the same moment as he reached the last two steps the two guards that had been on the gate entered the room and caught the attention of others.
Artemis stood in a corridor. There were three doors, one at the end and one at each side. Artemis thought about this for a while and came to conclusion that the one at the right or left was the room of the wizard. The one at the end probably belonged to the owner of this mansion. Artemis stopped to examine the left door before he touched it. There seemed to be nothing wrong with it, but that didn't make Artemis feel any safer. Magic was hard to detect if it was used carefully. Artemis still had not that much options. And he thought it to be unlikely that the door was trapped since almost anyone could touch it by accident on ones way to the mansion owner. He tried to open the door but it was locked. The lock was simple and Artemis picked it in few seconds. He stepped in and saw Tores sleeping. Artemis crept next to the wizard and slit his throat with his dagger. The mage was dead. Artemis laughed. This was stupid. The idiotic mage had made no protection spells and was completely unprepared. Entreri shook his head and turned around to leave.
"Mr Andelyn", came a call from the door, "I have brought your breakfast as you requested"
Artemis froze. There were no windows in this room. He would have to get out the same way he came. Artemis thought about mimicking the mages voice but he had no idea how the man sounded. So he kept himself quiet and cursed the now dead mage for eating breakfast this early, it wasn't even morning yet.
"Mr Andelyn", the voice was louder this time. After still no answer the servant used his key and opened the door.
"I will leave the breakfast at your desk" the man said and moved to the small wooden desk that was in the room. The servant couldn't see Artemis who was hiding behind the door. Artemis waited for the man to leave but the servant had other ideas. He went to Tores and tried to wake him up by shaking him. Then he noticed the blood. Artemis cursed. He jumped the servant but was too late.
"Alert!!…Alert!!" were screamed loudly before Artemis jabbed his dagger into servant's heart.
"Now a servant shouldn't enter a room unless asked to." Artemis whispered into servants ear as the last of his life left him.
There was no time to waste. Artemis ran to the corridor and downstairs. The guards attacked him. Each of them was holding a broad sword and two of the men went for the crossbows that were placed to a table near the main door. Artemis picked a throwing knife from his boot and threw it at one guard who fell down dead. Six men immediately surrounded Artemis but before they had time to do any offensive moves Artemis had killed one of them. There were still eight guards left. One more went for the crossbows as the five attacked. Artemis whirled 360 degree and used his blades to gain some room but the benefit was momentary. Artemis shifted his balance from one leg to another as he avoided a low sweep and a jab from behind. Artemis desperately tried to avoid from being hit. He took a terrible risk and somersaulted under two sweeps and managed to reach the wall but caught a small wound to his left leg. This place was far easier to defend as only three or four man could attack him at once but now it was also possible for the crossbowmen to shoot him. Lucky for Artemis the guards were not used to fight together and so they couldn't use their numbers that effectively.
Artemis deflected the powerful blows if necessary but mainly tried defending himself by moving away from strikes by altering his stance and balance. He caught a few wounds but all of them were only scratches. Artemis was looking at the three crossbowmen and his hands were using his blades without that he had to put any thought to it. Then one of the crossbowmen was about to shoot. Artemis could see the change in mans face impression and he gave one of the guards an opening by furiously attacking the three others who were caught by surprise by the sudden attack. The man stepped forward in order to slice Artemis into two by a two hand vertical swipe. All this happened so quickly that the crossbowman made his shot as he thought it would hit Artemis. It struck the wall between Artemis and the guard behind him and startled the man, which caused him to hold back his swipe.
Artemis spun around and made three lightning fast strikes that were too fast for the guard to deflect and threw the dying guard to the three other guards and jumped to the man that had been in reserve. Two bolts were shot but they didn't hit Artemis who pressed his attack to the right side of the guard. Too fast for the guard to counter Artemis turned his back to the guard as he held his sword to keep the guards sword at left leaving the right side totally open for the dagger that pierced the guards lungs. Artemis dodged immediately after his killing blow and avoided a bolt that hit the dying guard just in time to fight the three guards he had distracted earlier.
This all seemed too easy and Artemis was almost smiling. This was all what he had wanted. He could sense the frustration and even fear in the guards and he enjoyed it. Artemis quickly pressed his attack and managed to push two of the guards back a bit but he also caught a crossbow bolt to his side, which was first serious wound Artemis had caught during the battle. The hit wasn't perfect and pierced through Artemis' side but it hurt like hell. Artemis tried to ignore it for he knew that he now had a while to go one-on-one against a single guard. Artemis made four fast strikes that aimed higher and higher and forced the guard to keep his sword high. Artemis then quickly kicked the man to his stomach and as the man bended over he caught Artemis' knee to his face. As the guard was falling to the floor Artemis was already ready for the next attack.
He saw a bolt coming and managed to swipe it away with his sword. He took yet another chance and deflected the two guards with his sword alone as he threw his dagger to one of the crossbowmen. The throw hit the man in the stomach and he fell to the floor and it also caused other crossbowman to lose his aim as he jumped away from the throw just in case.
Artemis backed away wisely since he now had only one weapon but the remaining two guards surrounded him. Both men attacked at the same time, other from behind and other from the front. The guard in front made a sweep upwards from right to left and the one behind downwards from right to left. Artemis quickly stepped backwards and used his head to hit the guard in the chin since the guard was a bit taller than Artemis. He was now too close to the guard that the swipes could hit him. Artemis threw the guard over his shoulder and caused the last one to move back a step. He immediately followed his throw and made a fast swipe with his sword as he stepped forward. The strike hit only air but Artemis managed to punch the guard to his nose. The guard briefly lost his balance and Artemis plunged his sword through the man. He couldn't defend himself if the guard would somehow have strength to make an attack but the sword fell to the floor harmlessly. Artemis used the dead man to deflect a crossbow bolt and then viciously kicked the man to the floor.
"Drop your crossbows or die." Artemis said as cold as he could.
The two remaining guards had seen all their companions slaughtered and they knew that they could get only one shot before this man would reach them. They did as they were told. Artemis walked to them and killed them.
"Fools" Artemis said to himself. He then made sure everyone was dead and went upstairs to get the spell book he had forgotten earlier. He looked for some healing potions also but found none. He was tired and had many wounds so he didn't press his luck and crept away from the mansion and didn't engage the two guards at the gate who hadn't heard a thing since the yard was big and the front door far away. Artemis climbed over the wall and left the same way he had came.