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The King's Assassination

The lock clicked and the door eased open, a cloaked and hooded figure slipped through into the King's chamber. It was filled with riches and fine things of which the king was fond. The humid and stuffy air of the room made several unpleasant scents even more noticeable. The heavy reek of ale was foremost. The moonlight from the window shed a pale ghostly light into the room. The king lay sprawled on a large couch, an almost empty bottle hung loosely from his fingertips. Spilled ale spread over the floor next to a discarded sword belt and knife. The king snored loudly, unaware of the intruder. The figure slipped through the room with an unearthly grace moving towards the couch, stepping carefully to avoid the various overturned objects on the floor.
He leaned over and there was the cold hiss of metal as he slid the King's knife out of its sheath. The moonlight glinted off of the naked blade. A floorboard creaked. The figure halted, eyes searching, but when he saw the shadowed figure in the corner he smiled then plunged the knife into the King's heart. The King jerked awake with a loud gasp. The King's eyes widened when he saw the assassin. The assassin took the dying man's pallid and sweaty hand and clasped it around the knife handle as he died. The King's hand tightened into a death grip on the hilt.

The assassin then slipped back through the room the same way he had come. The shadowed figure in the corner had not moved. The assassin had his hand on the door handle when he heard the hiss of flying metal, he stepped to the side and the thrown dagger impaled the door instead of his back. The assassin glanced at the quivering dagger and said softly, “Ah, so you were going to do it yourself then.”

The assassin left as quietly as he had come, shutting the door behind him. Only then did the figure step out of the shadows and cross the room to collect his blade. It was the Prince. “If you can kill one king you can just as easily kill the next. No matter what reasons you had.”

The prince stepped out the door. The guards at the door were yawning and leaning on their spears, they blinked and looked at him in surprise.
"My prince? What are you doing here?" One of them asked.

The prince froze and cursed under his breath. He was unable to come up with a response as the guards looked at him questioningly. All that he was able to think of was that somehow the assassin had set him up.

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Author
Hir i-Chorvath
Read time
2 min read
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944
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