At first I thought he was kidding. I mean, who would be willing to storm the fortress known as Quasar. Not even the legendary Dwarven Deathseekers would attack such a heavily guarded stronghold, let alone someone who wanted to survive that attack.
But when I looked at his face, I knew he could not possibly be joking. He was dead serious.
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That night, right after the switch between the evening and night watchmen of Quasar, we crept towards the edge of the clearing around the castle. Just out of view, we went over our attack plans. I was to be with our group leader, John, in the group of three who would actually go inside and assassinate our target. The other nine men involved were to cause a distraction so that we could get past the guards unnoticed. They had brought a mule and some gunpowder. Their job was the riskiest, but the weakest of them could keep his cool. We split up to our assignments. John, Dredd, and I waited for the signal while the nine others went out into the open, away from our position. As they got closer to the castle, they started to act like they were drunk. The watchmen yelled at them to go away, but the warning fell on deaf ears. When the watchman called for the guards, we all knew the trick had worked.
Right then, we burst out of the bushes and ran strait for the sewer opening only fifteen feet away from us. We practically leapt in; we had no time to climb carefully.
As we came up to the opening in the kitchen that refuse was thrown into, we heard an explosion. All we could do was hope that our friends had gotten away safely and that the hole that had been blown in the wall would cause a great stirring to that area. But, of course the king would not go near danger the he knew about; he was very afraid for his life, and very much a fool to trust his men to guard him. And if all went well, he would not see that light of day again.
We climbed up into the kitchen, hoping that the dogs had already gone to the site of the explosion or were chasing the fake trail we had lain earlier. We were right. There was no sign of the warhounds anywhere; we were safe.
That was where we split up. John when out into the main dining room, Dredd into the pantry, and I went up the stairs to the supply room. I knew of the secret escape route from the king's throne room to his castle's supply room, which of course led to the sewers and was a great exit route. But the king had never thought that it might be used as an entry route. I crept slowly into the hidden corridoor and walked up the sloped floor towards the intersection. I turned left, heading for the throne room; the first place I was to check for him at. But he was not there.
So next, I tried the bedroom, straight across from the throne room. As I entered the room from an obscure section behind the king's closet door, I heard the sound of snoring. Surely no one would have slept through the sound of the explosion? I carfully crept towards the sound, I knew I should have gotten one of the others first, but I was sure I could do it myself.
Big mistake. To my utter supprise, the floor below me opened up and I fell through it into a net below, hanging above the main dining hall. Fortunatly, I was able to get John's attention, and he helped me free. Just as I came loose, an alarm went off.
We had to think quickly; what could cause them to lose suspicion of intruders? "Meow" came the sound of a cat crawling upon one of the support beams of the ceiling. 'Of course!' I thought. I could put the cat in the net, and the guards would think the cat had triggered the alarm. Now John and I needed only get the cat and hold onto it long enough to get it entangled in the net a bit. Its strugling would entangle it more while we would escape.
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As John and I went into the king's chambers from the hidden corridor, I again heard the snoring. John quietly suggested an invisiblity spell, and I agreed. We both quickly, silently cast it on ourselves, then crept into the open, careful to be silent. As we came upon the king sleeping in his bed, I raised my dagger to kill him. But again to my surprise, a wound appeared in his chest, then a knife appeared in the wound. John had beat me to the kill. But something was up. I knew something was wrong with John. I quickly cast True Sight, allowing me to see invisible things, and I saw the leech-like creature attached to John's head that was obviosly never visible to anyone before.
I knew that if I didn't stop that creature, something terrible would happen, but Instinct told me that killing it would also kill my friend...
(edit: Fixed spelling: D w arven Deathseekers )
(This message has been edited by Mouse (edited 09-02-2001).)
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