Tale of the White Witch

Chapter 4 - An Assassination Attempt

Their planning was meticulous, down to the very last detail. It had to be! A mission with this level of importance could not be messed up by any means. If they failed tonight it would mean certain death, not only for them, but for their entire Kingdom.

Tonight these masked men would attempt to assassinate the Emperor.

There were ten men in total including their leader, the merciless King Lucius. Each wore a full-body black armoured suit with a hood, gloves, boots and a silver mask covering their face. Their numbers were intentionally small due to two things; their lethal nature and unbelievable skills of sneaking unseen into heavily fortified places. These men could get the job done.

It was late at night, a warm breeze blew through the many open windows of the Palace. It appeared that there were several ways for them to sneak in undetected.

As they had been informed, the guards standing by at one of the many entrances began their routine change-over. It was time for them to make their next move.

Lucius lifted his gloved hand, silently signalling his men to take the guards out.

Moving as swiftly as the wind, two of his men ducked out from their shadowed hiding place and each grabbed one of the guards, pulling them into a strong headlock.

The surprised guards grunted and fought against their attackers, but to no avail. Within seconds the masked men had slashed their drawn daggers across each guard’s exposed throat, silencing them for good. They were careful to slowly lower the bodies to the ground without making a sound as the group continued to move forward.

Lucius looked up and noticed an open window not too far away from where they were. He turned to his men and pointed to that exact location, once again giving his command in silence. His men nodded before followed along after their King. Lucius began climbing up the side of the wall, using ledges and windowsills as footing along the way, as did the others.

Normally several darkly-dressed figures would easily be seen against the pearl coloured brick of the palace, but luckily for them the night had shadowed them in darkness, masking their attendance from view.

Hoisting himself up into the dark room Lucius immediately unsheathed his dagger, prepared for any kind of attack. He and his men continued inside, making certain to tread lightly and not to make a sound.

The room appeared to be empty and they quickly made their way for the doorway.

Stopping at the door, Lucius turned back to face his men as he listened against the wooden door for any signs of movement. There were none.

With a nod, the King slowly opened the door and led the others out into an empty corridor.

-

After several minutes of sneaking through the palace corridors and taking out unsuspecting guards along the way, Lucius stopped at what was believed to be the Emperor’s bed chamber door. One of his men were silently finishing off one of the guards behind him when Lucius slowly reached for the door’s handle.

This was it, their moment to take the tyrant out once and for all.

As the door opened, Lucius and his men quickly slid inside, making sure to close the door behind them. Each of the darkly-dressed men moved to surround the large bed positioned in the centre of the enormous room, where a sleeping figure rested in silence. Unsheathing their weapons and preparing to make their fatal attack, the figures all waited for their King’s signal.

Reaching down, his gloved fingers grasped at the blanket covering the sleeping figure and in one swift motion he threw it back to reveal… a woman?

And not just any woman, it was Esmara.

Immediately feeling the absence of her blanket, Esmara awoke and gasped, sitting up in her bed and clutching the silken sheet up against her chest in an effort to cover herself from the masked intruders. Her breaths were short and shallow and her eyes were wide, taking in the group of masked men currently surrounding her, weapons in hand.

Had they come to kill her?

Though she could not see it, all ten men had puzzled expressions hidden behind their masks as they stood in silence for a moment, confused about what their next move would be.

Lucius too was baffled.

“It’s her, sire… the White Witch.” one of the men announced.

Lucius stood staring at this clearly terrified woman sitting before him, flooded by disbelief at what they were seeing before their very eyes. Was it really her?

They were meant to be in the Emperor’s chambers. Had they taken a wrong turn? He stepped forward and grabbed her firmly by the wrist, causing her to gasp with shock.

“Where is he? Where is your Emperor?” he demanded sternly, pulling her in closer towards him.

Esmara narrowed her crystal coloured eyes in defiance, “What makes you think I care where he is?“

Suddenly their conversation was interrupted as a horn sounded, signalling that there were intruders in the palace. They had been discovered!

“f**k!” one of his men cursed aloud.

“We’ve been made. Sire, we need to get the hell out of here!” another pointed out.

Lucius cursed as he and his men all sheathed their weapons. Their mission had apparently failed after all. They must have been fed false information about the location of the Emperor’s bed chamber. He would deal with that matter later.

But for now, they needed to make an escape and fast.

Suddenly he got an idea, one that seemed too good to pass on. Being the wise King that he was, Lucius had always been open to new opportunities whenever they arose. And this seemed to be a golden opportunity staring him right in the face. With someone like the White Witch as their captive, they could easily arrange a meeting with the Emperor and take him out.

“New plan, gentlemen…” he announced.

Releasing her wrist, Lucius bent down and grabbed the silk sheet, violently tearing several long pieces from it while the others stood by watching in curiosity.

“My lord, what are you doing?” one of them questioned, desperate to be filled in on the King’s sudden idea.

“With all due respect sire, would you care to fill us in on this new plan of yours?” another added.

Lucius reached for both of Esmara’s arms as she struggled feebly against him. Overpowering her, he began to bind both of her wrists together with one of the pieces of torn silk, knotting it tightly to prevent her from freeing herself.

His next command confused everyone.

“The witch comes with us.”

“Like hell I will!” Esmara snapped angrily.

With both of her hands bound she tried to pull away from the masked King, but Lucius’ men were way too fast as they quickly closed in on her, lifting her off the bed. She tried screaming for help but was quickly gagged by Lucius himself as his men continued to restrain her.

One of the masked men moved to stand beside Lucius, apparently concerned.

“My lord, you can’t be serious about this? Kidnapping her, it wasn’t part of the plan. And it could be dangerous.”

“I said, she comes with us!” he commanded sternly, then turning to the others.

“Head for the window, all of you. Quickly, we must make our escape before they realise she’s missing.”

Although confused by their King’s actions, all nine of his men obeyed his command and made their way for the large balcony window, dragging the bound woman along with them.

-

By the time it had been discovered that they had intruders lurking somewhere in the palace, Lucius and his men had already put a substantial distance between them. They were currently riding on horseback along the long and winding dirt road leading out towards the neighbouring mountain ranges.

Esmara had been mounted along with Lucius on his jet-black stallion, seated in front of him as the giant beast galloped along at a tremendous pace, with the others galloping along behind them. Lucius’ arm was wrapped possessively around her waist as they bobbed up and down.

They may not have been successful in their mission to assassinate the Emperor tonight, but Lucius had a new plan of attack.

And it involved his newest prisoner.