Shadowdance 01 - A Dance of Cloaks

soldiers, frantic to avoid the arrows, were unprepared for the fury of his assault. He knocked aside swords, danced between thrusts, and slashed throat after throat. Bodies piled at the door, and although Kadish and his Hawks stood ready to aid him, Thren needed no help. After the first few the mercenaries had to climb over bodies to reach the door. That momentary loss of solid footing was all it took for a master swordsman like Thren Felhorn.
    When Maynard’s mercenaries pulled back, Thren signaled the charge. Over a hundred men in cloaks rushed through the windows, slashing with their daggers and swords. Thren nimbly leaped over the bodies, stabbed a soldier in the back, and then shouted to the rest.
    “Run, run! Kill them, and Maynard with them!”
    He watched the arrows rain down from the Wolf Guild stationed in the houses. The mercenaries had plenty of shields, lessening the effect of the bowmen. No bother. Even though their numbers were equal, Thren had them pressed on both sides. And besides, no one could match him in skill.
    Thren lunged into the sea of metal, spinning, cutting, and slashing with a wild rage that filled him with pleasure. This was what he was meant for. He belonged on a field of battle. Perhaps once the city was under his control, he might fulfill his potential, becoming a warrior general of a massive criminal empire.
    Thren was pushing his way through the soldiers, making his inevitable approach toward Maynard, when he heard the trumpets call.
    Alyssa Gemcroft stood in the center of her troops, Zusa at her side. She’d marched through the city like a returning conqueror, knowing that her father had already returned moments before her. She was done with their quarrel. Her plan was to kneel before Maynard and apologize for following the Kulls’ stupidity, and then pay back that stupidity with the heads of Theo and Yoren. Instead she came upon a great battle being waged before her very gates.
    “Hurry,” she told her mercenaries. “Kill the cloaks! Save my father and I will reward you greatly!”
    Beside her a mercenary captain raised a horn to his lips and blew. The clear call rang throughout the city. With a great shout her troops rushed the gates. A few split off into the houses with the archers. Not long after, the barrage of arrows halted. Now crushed between two sides, the Wolf Guild pulled back, turning tail and running in a manner appropriate to their name.
    “May I join in?” Zusa asked as the mercenaries turned on the remaining threat within the gates.
    “Go right ahead,” Alyssa said. Zusa flicked her hair over her shoulder and then dashed into the fray. Alyssa approached, still flanked by ten men. No arrows were being fired, but she felt safer with them there nonetheless. In the middle of the gateway she found her father lying on his side, an arrow in his chest.
    “Alyssa?” he said when he saw her. His voice was weak.
    Alyssa felt her heart harden at the sight of him. He’d thrown her in the cold cells. He’d insulted her, made her an outcast…
    No
, she thought.
I did those things myself. With my foolishness. With my pride.
    “Father,” she said, kneeling down beside him and wrapping her arms around his neck. Tears welling in her eyes, she kissed his forehead and held him close.
    “Daughter,” he said, a smile creasing his bloodstained lips. “You were right.”
    He coughed. More blood spilled across his mouth. The arrow was in his lung, there was little doubt about that.
    “No,” she said. “Please forgive me. I’ve come home. I’ve come back for you, Father, to pledge myself to…”
    “Quiet, girl,” Maynard said. He relaxed in her arms. “My daughter. My heir.”
    His voice failed him. His eyes grew distant. He died in her arms, his eyes closed by her fingers, his forehead bathed with her tears. All around them stood Maynard’s mercenaries, men of power and influence within the household.
    “We heard his words,” one of them said. “Give us your orders, Lady Gemcroft.”
    Alyssa looked up at them as if they should be obvious.
    “Slay every last one of them that killed your lord,” she said.
    Everything was falling apart. Thren fought to the very limits of his skill. Men fell like wheat under a scythe, yet still it was not enough. He watched the Wolf Guild scatter, and in his heart he could not blame them. He’d have done the same thing in their situation.
    “Fall back,” Thren shouted. Further fighting would only sacrifice whatever good