Yolden Company (4)

The silent sound of knocking echoed throughout the second floor of the inn, the night in full swing as everyone, even the drunkards whom would occupy the lower floor had left for their rooms earlier. Since the village was a checkpoint for many travelers, it was largely frowned upon staying up late and creating lots of noise and ruckus, as many travelers simply wanted a good nights rest after a long time out.

As such the inns of the village made deals with the local guards, similar to protection money in Trowan, yet this time there was an actual threat to protect against and the deal was backed by the Merchant Guild and Adventurer Guild. Simply every inn was allowed to assign a curfew time, typically being midnight, where people were to disperse from the main eating area and go to their residences for the night.

These guards secured the lower levels at the curfew, but after that they simply left for their posts or to patrol through the night, meaning that once they were gone, activity could continue upstairs as long as they did not alert the owners. That is why Nia had no qualms with exiting her room in the dead of night in order to start her own patrol.

The first place she intended to stop off at was Silvo's room.

"Who is it?"

A quiet yet clearly afraid voice came out from behind the door, something Nia took note of. It was Silvo's voice, yet all the confidence and bravery he had shown during their deal making was lost, the silent night likely scaring him too much to be able to sleep. Nia had refrained from informing him about the assassins for two reasons, one was simply a lack of opportunity, as the duo had not spoken to each other beyond their initial deal, and two was the worry of alerting the enemy.

Nia was afraid that telling Silvo would mean he would do something rash, increasing the difficulty to protect him, such as trying to rest in another inn or sneak out in the night. It was clear he held little trust in Nia, and the only reason he made this deal initially was because of fear and desperation.

"It's me."

A short silence followed, then the sound of a lock being unlocked, followed by the slow opening of the door. Although the doors to each room were locked, just like in Trowan, their quality was by no means good and even brute force would easily breach the room, let alone a foundational skill in lockpicking.

The man looked down the hallway, and only after he had seen no-one did he open the door fully to let Nia inside. Even though Nia had already checked and would have naturally heard if anyone was moving through the night, the paranoia of the merchant did not allow such a level of trust.

As for Fenrir, he was waiting as backup. It would prove impossible to conceal Fenrirs involvement should he use any arrows, and whilst his close quarters combat skills are not poor, especially against those who used short ranged weapons like daggers or clawed gloves, it was simply better that he ambush them whilst they are busy dealing with Nia.

As such the wolf-boy waited ready to get involved should the situation be too dire for Nia. It wasn't like she was afraid of losing, but should Silvo die, then it would all be for nothing.

"Come in."

Even with the fear of death, the merchant held together his dignity as he greeted the noble. Unlike when he had first saw her however, Nia was now wearing her leather armor that Prowess had acquired for her, something that would work better in the much tighter confines of the inn room.

Here they were smaller than the ones in Trowan, so small in fact that Nia was slightly concerned on whether or not she would be forced to abandon her spear in the fight. If there was one advantage to the small size, is that there was no way of separating Silvo from Nia once the fight begins, and their only way to reach him by that point would be to overwhelm Nia.

Despite the small size of the room however Nia still entered with her spear in hand, ready to fight.

"Is it just you?"

Nia never directly mentioned Fenrir, nor did she make any actual comments about having a companion, yet during their setup of the deal and dealing with the finer print Nia did insinuate she was not moving alone.

Instead of immediately answering his question, Nia closed the door behind her and moved to the window to look outside beyond the curtain, only to be welcomed by a silent night with guard lights in the distance. Knowing where the guards were depended on how long Nia could fight for and how loud she was allowed to be, as the sooner the rest of the people in the building heard the fighting, the sooner the guards would arrive.

"For now."

Once again Nia didn't confirm nor deny the merchants superstitions, yet to him the words sounded like a playful remark despite the dreadful situation he was in. A cheeky comment about how the assassins would soon be entering the room and trying to kill him.

Nia didn't intend for it to be a threatening response, but the worries and concerns of the merchant didn't matter to her as long as he stayed out of the way. Once she had confirmed how long it would take for the guards to reach her from where they patrolled and rested, she moved around the room, searching for a spot to get launch an easy attack without making a lot of noise.

"Get in bed, don't make a noise even when you hear them entering."

It was unlikely for them to try breaching another point than the door, as the window was high up and the walls, although wood, would create too much noise and be too confusing. As such she simply prepared for a fight at the door, where Nia was allowed to funnel her opponents into a one vs one situation.

Silvo followed her words with a frown on his face, both for being ordered around by someone who was in a situation basically the same as his, but also because of the lack of information Nia was sharing with him. Merchants fight their wars with information and money, so knowing nothing and having nothing felt miserable to him.

His defeated mood however changed quickly into fear, as the sound of someone trying to pick the lock echoed throughout the silent room. Even though they were willing to attack someone in the middle of a protected village, it was clear the assassins still intended to live after today as otherwise they would have simply breached the room and killed Silvo.

Even with his immediate desire to shout out, the merchant held his tongue, curling up in the corner of the room at the farthest point away from the entrance, which sadly for him was still relatively close. As for Nia, she had already heard the footsteps approaching and prepared to fight, ready to hide behind the opened door and immediately stab the first person to enter.

As such when the assassins entered the room, all they saw was darkness in the night, and the slight sound of frightened breathing in the far corner of the room atop the bed. It was dark, yet not dark enough for the first man to notice the merchant, nor was it dark enough for Silvo to not notice the greedy smile forming on the mans face.

"I, I'll pay you."

Even though Nia had told him not to say a word, Silvo was scared more than he had ever been, a slight hint of anger forming in his mind at Nia's inaction for now. As such he constantly glanced towards the women, who was still concealed within the darkness with the only noticeable feature being the red eyes glaring into the darkness.

The assassin didn't pay any attention to the promise of the merchant, despite the likelihood he was doing the job for the money, as such took a step closer towards the frightened man and drew his knife. Before there was even any greedy response to the merchants plea, Nia twisted her spear around the door between the two, a rather uncomfortable move that had a low chance of hitting his vitals, yet it was not his vitals Nia aimed for.

Instead her stab came down at his leg, a point that was easy to attack since he stepped forward, as such stabbing right into his thigh. Immediately the man let out a groan of pain and looked down to his thigh, too focused on the pain to fail to notice Nia had already pulled out her spear and struck towards his neck.

For many knights and even trainees, this attack was far too obvious and would easily be dodged, however a combination of the complete surprise of the attack and the poor skills in fighting from the assassin led the blade of the spear right into his throat. The sound of him choking on his blood echoed throughout the bedroom, yet were no where loud enough to alert the others in the building.

"Fuck!"

The shout from his companion however was loud enough, as when the man stumbled backwards holding his sliced neck, they took charge and rushed Nia, fury in their eyes. There was little hope for her success however, as the nature of the room and the initial distance between the two meant that Nia's spear was the perfect weapon for the fight.

Despite the limited space however and the many quick strikes, the assassin managed to evade them enough for the strikes to not be lethal, yet they were serious enough wounds that should they not be treated quickly, they would die of blood loss. Soon they entered too close for Nia to safely attack with the blade of her spear, at that point pulling out a dagger they had hidden up their sleeve.

It didn't seem they were interested in killing Silvo anymore however, instead focused entirely on getting revenge for the death of their companion, something Nia was slightly pissed about. Both shared the desire for revenge, yet whilst Nia's revenge was against those who killed her innocent parents, this assassins revenge was a petty justification despite they held the intent to kill someone in the first place.

Because of this fury Nia fought a little more furiously, using the staff of her spear and her legs to hit the assassin where it hurt the most. Nia was still adept at fighting close quarters and even more so when using the staff of the spear, plus the assassin as blinded by anger, whilst Nia's anger made her colder and crueler.

As such the pummeling began, is what was initially an even fight, soon turned into Nia simply beating the assassin to death, uncaring for their pained wails or silent pleas for help. By this point the other people resting in the remaining rooms in the hallways had noticed the fighting, many screaming as they fled outside for help, whilst some watched from the slight creeks in their doorways, in both horror and glee.

Silvo, was in absolute horror, but had the biggest smile on his face. He had heard it once in passing when attending a noble gathering, that Nia Roguepalace was a so called untouched gem that had the ability to conquer the continent. It was simply a passing comment, at when Silvo heard it was a Roguepalace, he immediately dismissed it as simple fable talk since it was no secret how passive the Roguepalace family was.

Now however, he knew those words were not lies.