Blades of Death

Chapter 7

The specialty of Asjata was its well-planned layout. While Krimagha was marked by congested places, Asjata had wide-open spaces. As Khizo and Kota trod across the streets of Asjata, they realized why Asjata was famous for its architects.

"Have you ever visited this city before?" Khizo asked, looking around with eagerness.

"Yes, I did once. I accompanied your father and his friends on an adventure." Kota replied.

"It's time to have one of my own then." Khizo said 

"Let's go and see the palace where King Vostok resides then." Kota said.

Aftet a journey of about ten minutes, Khizo and Kota finally arrived at the King's Palace, which was no doubt a wonder of architecture.

The most attractive thing about the Palace wasn't its pearl white walls that could be seen shining from a great distance, but the fact that it was surrounded by water from all its side. Only a single, beautiful and huge curved bridge connected the palace with the main land.

"So how should I infiltrate inside this palace?" Khizo asked Kota who was carefully examining the building.

"The bridge is heavily guarded by soldiers. You can't reach the Palace through the bridge."

"I will just swim to the palace then."

"No, you can't. There are crocodiles swimming in these waters."

"So how should I infiltrate inside the castle?"

"There are other ways to cross the water too. We'll deal with the water problem later. The problem is that you can't cross the water from the front. There are so many soldiers standing on balconies. Let's examine the back side."

While King Vostok had heavily secured the front side of the palace, the back side was vulnerable. The entire rear side was left in command of only four soldiers, two on each balcony."

"I think it's decided then. The backside is the safest way to enter the Palace." Kota declared.

"Is it possible that these four soldiers won't spot me?" Khizo asked.

"It will truly be a miracle if they don't spot you. And once you are spotted; these four soldiers will ring the alarm bell and all the soldiers guarding the bridge will come to the backside and start shooting arrows at you. However, it will take some time for them to come while the soldiers on the balcony of the front side may not be able to join the action at all. So, the backside is dangerous too, but it's the least dangerous way."

"What should I do about the arrows?"

"We will buy you a shield to keep yourselves safe from the arrows."

"Now tell me how am I supposed to cross the water?"

"With the help of a ropeway, you can reach the Palace."

"And what should I do once I've crossed the waters?"

"You'll climb up the palace the way I taught you. King Vostok's room is on the topmost floor of the Palace. You'll enter the top floor through a window, go to his room and kill him." Kota explained, "Now let's get you a shield."

After asking around, they finally got the location of a blacksmith.

"You sure you got coins?" Khizo asked Kota as they walked to the blacksmith's shop.

"I suppose so." Kota replied.

They arrived at a small blacksmith shop where a bearded man was slamming his hammer with anvil.

"What do you desire, sire?" the blacksmith asked, stopping his work.

"We're looking for a shield. However, we're low on money." Kota handed the pouch of money to the blacksmith.

The blacksmith counted the money and then frowned, "This many coins can only buy you this shield."

The blacksmith produced a thin copper shield. Kota examined the shield thoroughly and said, "This will do."

The blacksmith counted the coins once again and after that returned to his work. Kota handed the shield to Khizo, and then they both walked away. 

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After what felt like ages, the midnight finally arrived. They roamed around the streets of Asjata for many hours, hoping to pass the time until midnight. However, Khizo couldn't enjoy anything. All he could think about was his mission. He had tried his best to hide it from Kota that he was scared, but he didn't do a good job in it.

"I know Khizo that you're scared." Kota said as they stood facing the backside of the palace. "But I know you can do it. You have the blood of Larry Leigh inside of you. There's nothing you can't do."

"But I am not like my father."

"If a person who has never fought before can kill an important person and actually get away with it; I'll say that he can do anything."

"Thanks Kota for helping me with all of this. If I managed to succeed, it won't be because I have the blood of my father inside of me. It will be because I have such an excellent teacher."

"No, it will be because you're an excellent student." Kota replied, "Anyway; we shouldn't waste any more time. We have some work to do."

Kota handed the crossbow to Khizo along with a few crossbow bolts. He tied a rope to one of the bolts and then carefully took aim, firing the bolt at the wall of the palace. Kota tied the other end of the rope to a tree.

Khizo carried the crossbow on his back through a hook. He also had his sword with him, hanging from his waist along with another rope that he carried upon his shoulders.

Kota secured Khizo by passing a cloth through the ropes and attaching it to Khizo's back.

"Alright Khizo, take care." Kota warned.

"I will." Khizo replied.

He slowly started going ahead on his ropeway, using one hand to move forward while carrying his shield with the other hand.

However, after covering half of the distance of the rope, he heard alarm bells ring and the shout of a soldier, "I see two intruders."

Hearing the soldier mention two intruders left Khizo in shock. He looked back and found another man trying to get to the palace, the same way as Khizo. His face, however, remained masked by the darkness.

"Who are you? What are you doing here?" Khizo shouted at the man.

Before the man could reply, the archers started shooting arrows at them.

They both slowly advanced forward, deflecting all the arrows with their shield.

Upon reaching the wall of the palace however, Khizo stopped. He needed to shoot a bolt at the top of the palace to climb up, but Khizo realized that it was impossible to do it at his current situation. Firing a crossbow required great strength. And aiming at the building would leave him exposed to the arrows of the archers.

And that's when the other man came to his rescue. "If you are trying to climb up the palace, I can help you. Just guard me from the arrows." The man said.

Trusting a stranger with his life wasn't something Khizo would have done. Unfortunately, at that point, there was no other option left. Therefore, Khizo went ahead with it. 

He deflected all the arrows that were shot at them with his shield while the stranger carefully took aim and then fired the crossbow bolt tied to a rope with an accuracy much better than Khizo at the top of the palace.

"Climb up." the man urged.

Both of them started climbing up the palace, one hand for holding the rope while the other for deflecting the arrows.

The situation became more and more riskier as more archers came. Soon, it felt to Khizo as he was standing in the middle of a rain of arrows.

Khizo realized that the situation was out of control now. So he kicked open the next window he came across.

"Get inside." Khizo shouted at the other man. 

Khizo entered the room followed by the other men.

Inside the room, it was total darkness everywhere. However, bumping with a few barrels confirmed that the room they were in was a strorage room.

"We need to move ahead. Fast." Khizo said.

"I have been shot on my leg with an arrow. I need to remove it first." The man replied.

"I'll wait with you then."

"You don't have to."

"You helped me back there. It's the least I could do." Khizo smiled, "And I guess we still have some time to spare before the soldiers come inside this room, but you need to hurry up."

"So, what did you came here to do?" the man asked as he removed the arrow from his leg with a grunt."

"I came here to assassinate King Vostok."

"Our goals match then. What's your name?" the man was now tearing a piece of cloth and tying it around his legs as a bandage.

"My name is Khizo."

"Khizo?" the man stopped his work. His hands started to tremble. "No, this couldn't be happening."

"What happened? Who are you?" Khizo asked.

"I'm that man who lost his entire family because of your stupidity." The man pounced on Khizo, trying to strangle him.

"Cloris, stop this." Khizo choked.

With this chapter begins the main adventure of the book. Hope you have enjoyed it till now and will continue to do so ahead.