The Assassination
The monarch glanced haughtily around at everyone present. Most of those present were indifferent to his person, but they did not show their displeasure in any way, but nothing could be hidden from an experienced ruler. 'bitches, you will show proper respect.' - The king thought to himself, and turned to the main culprit of this gathering.
"Lord Bondrewd, on behalf of the kingdom and my monarchy, I thank you and your men for your invaluable contribution to the defence of our city, may the gods protect you and grant you a thousand blessings. I would also like to mention..." the monarch continued his victory speech, it seemed he wanted to mention every single person who had once taken up arms. The speech would definitely be long.
Bondrewd stood on one knee and silently listened to the speech of the local chief, he was not particularly interested, but decorum must be observed, except that... something was wrong. His sense of danger had been troubling him ever since Avitus had appeared in the hall. The man watched the hall with half an eye, and Ozen and Dick at the same time. Ozen was less interested in all this than her master, the animal had drunk herself to death and could barely keep from falling asleep right there.
Dick was staring calmly into the void, if he had not been killed, then everything was all right, and the monarch's musings were to him a candlemark, "Now I'd like to crush some lard, with potatoes." The bandit's mind was spinning, the local delicacies were not to his taste.
"And according to ancient tradition, warriors who prove themselves are worthy of their due reward. Lord Bondrewd - it is with great pleasure and pride that I entrust to you the lands of Brown Rocks, near the capital, and the title of Duke that goes with them. Rule them wisely and justly, and personally from the royal family I give you 5000 gold pieces." The crowd murmured unhappily, everyone in the hall knew the royal family didn't have that kind of money, Mira and Aivina synchronously mouthed a disdainful face. Both were thinking the same thing. 'Yes, sag to him, do it even deeper, maybe you'll give your wife to him as a slave?'
"Quiet," The king yelled and immediately the whole hall fell silent, coughing slightly he continued. "I grant your squire Dick of Licholesia the title of nobleman, and give him a hundred coins in gold. Serve your lord honourably, and with good grace." 'Also, I won't hang you on the nearest branch for all your crimes, though I really should, so live, worm.' - True the last phrase he prudently did not voice out loud. Avitus paused for a moment and sipped from his glass of strong wine. The queen stood beside her husband, poisonous snakes coiled on her soul. Soon the king would make his final announcement, even if she didn't want to, but it couldn't be helped.
"Also, I wish to do Lord Bondrewd the greatest honour and allow him to enter the royal treasury and take one item of his choice. Lord Bondrewd may rise." Lord of Dawn did not hesitate and immediately rose, as did his retinue.
"Thank you, your majesty, for all the gifts and privileges that have been bestowed upon me." Bondrewd finished abruptly, which shocked the whole hall, many expected the same long speech, about eternal loyalty to the kingdom and blah, blah, blah. But it didn't happen, a slight shiver ran down the face of the royal cheeta, 'Bitch, man, don't tell me someone already bought you,' but trying to keep his face Avitus raised his glass, "So let's drink to our victory."
A footman with a tray came to Bondrude and handed the glass to the Lord, the whole hall froze in anticipation, and there was a reason, none of the locals had seen the face of the mysterious Lord, and they were literally bursting with curiosity. The whole hall held its breath.
The culprit of the celebration didn't pull the intrigue, he took off his helmet, exposing his face and raised his glass. The audience was a little shocked, but not by his incredible beauty or ugliness. In front of them was the most ordinary man of 30 years, without any features, at least somehow his face was distinguished by the colour of pure emerald eyes. The king exhaled quietly. 'Phew, and I was afraid, a very ordinary man.' The queen fanned herself vigorously, 'the danger is over, at least he is not ugly, and even though he was not handsome, he will get over it'.
The audience drained their glasses, and a loud whispering began to spread through the hall, each one thinking it his duty to discuss the newly minted hero. But they were harshly interrupted again by the king. "And today I want to make one more announcement, I am announcing the engagement of my daughter - Princess Lina and Lor..." he did not have time to finish, a dark projectile from the king was coming through the window and the king did not have time to react before everything was over. From somewhere in the hall a tray flew with great speed, a richly decorated, but still ordinary silver tray, and it flew to meet the black projectile.
The projectiles made contact, and a deafening explosion rippled through the hall. A couple of metres in diameter, it shattered the tray, and shards of it, like shrapnel, flew in all directions.
"Protect the king," the crowd of guardsmen were already leading the royal chita away from the balcony, Avitus stopped for a second and cast a glance, a look of admiration, at his saviour - a mysterious knight in black armour.
Bondrewd had suspected from the start that something like this would happen at the reception, his sense of danger had never failed him. He managed to react in time, and threw the tray that was so conveniently held by the footman standing next to him. The trajectory was not difficult to calculate.
Bondrewd did not hesitate, and in a couple of sharp jumps climbed the wall with the broken window. He looked frantically into the night city, a barely visible shadow flashed on the roof, a quick shot from the 'shaker' in its wake, but to no avail, the killer disappeared behind the roof of the house. 'And the assassin is no stranger to this, he has prepared a quick escape route.' Lord of Dawn came downstairs, the guests, accompanied by their bodyguards, were pouring into every open passageway. The crowd was not bad, and the Lord decided that he should not break with the 'noble' herd, firstly, he was not in any danger, and secondly, this action would be detrimental to his image as an invincible warrior.
And image is very important, especially to these pompous idiots.
"Well, who do you think did it?" Dick suddenly popped up from behind his patron, his patron, with an interested face.
"I don't know, but it was an experienced assassin, and there's not much to go on: either one of the unkilled necromancers, or what I believe much more, a mercenary hired by a rival faction."
"Quite an astute conclusion," said the head of the trade guild as she approached the men. "Lord Bondrude you are simply incredible, your throw may have saved our king's life, truly your skill is unbelievable." Letting the stream of flattery flow past his ears, Bondrewd noticed one important fact, he didn't notice this woman approaching at all, which made him slightly nervous. 'I wonder if it's some kind of magic or magical artefact.'
"Lord Bondrewd, please escort me to my residence, the capital is troubled, and I rely on your protection." Aivina bent down in a begging gesture, and did so in such a way that her breasts were as much as possible visible to the outside observers.
Dick swallowed nervously, and Bondrewd was not particularly impressed, but decided to play along and stared down at her boobs.
"I think I'll take it," Bondrewd replied, and grabbed Aivina under her arm and headed for the already vacant exit. Dick followed, but on the way out Lord of Dawn called out to him, 'Dick, take Ozen and go to Ritor's house, I'll be right there. - Dick nodded silently, and stroking Ozen's mane, headed through the night city towards the base.
The Lord of Dawn sat down in the ornate carriage, the man wanted to sit across from him, but Aivina planted her firm heel next to him, and wrapping her arm around the man's with her own, began a typical social dialogue. Bondrewd was listening with half an ear, his gaze was directed at the window, the guards and royal guards were pacing everywhere, looking into every house and nook, searching for the murderer. Lord of Dawn watched their efforts with curiosity, but he was sure of one thing, he would not be found.
If the assassin was hired by the locals, then I think they've already made sure he escaped, or more likely he's already dead. Extra witnesses never did any good.
...
Dick was walking down the street, looking round nervously, Ozen was with him, and the guards were hesitant to stop him for questioning, but one thing he didn't understand was why Bondrewd had gone with that woman. 'Politics, and far-reaching plans, or...or...or his patron just wanted to give someone a good shove, he's human after all, I guess.' - He hesitated at the last word, in truth he knew little about his suzerain as his squire, the Lord hadn't spoken much about himself at their nightly meeting, and no one had dared ask, 'So who are you?'
While Dick was solving this confusing puzzle in his head, Ozen took off, and turned down another alley, Dick only cursed and followed her, he couldn't lose her, Bondrud would kill him.
Running into another dark alley, he witnessed an animal with a loud slurping, appetisingly snacking on someone's corpse, coming closer to the man's nose hit the smell, yes, so that he almost immediately did not vomit, "Bitch, bait". The man thought, already pulling out his sword, at the exit they were waiting for him, one figure separated from the trio and came closer and spoke.
"There's no need to be so frightened, we just want to talk." Dick was a little surprised at this turn of events, and shouted back.
"'Well talk, I'm all ears."
...
After 20 minutes of leisurely driving they arrived at last, and Bondrewd, ahead of the late servant, opened the carriage door and helped the lady out. They entered a splendid three-storey mansion, decorated with expensive stucco and gold. Inside, the furnishings were even more ornate, but there was no arguing about taste.
"Bring wine and food to my office." Aivina said in a commanding tone, and a bunch of servants immediately scattered and they went up to the first floor. The pair entered the study and Bondrewd noticed at once that the woman had slammed the door shut. The man settled down in a comfortable chair, Aivina stood opposite him unexpectedly.
"So... what was it you wanted to discuss?"
"We'll have time to talk, but not now," Aivina replied, giving Lord a playful smile and slipping her dress off with a deft movement of her hands.